If BIG size is not an issue, Galaxy Note is for you

Yes. It is a phone+tablet (Phablet?). This is the fastest Android phone available till now with 1.4 GHz Dual Core processor and 1GB RAM. Amazingly beautiful Super AMOLED 5.3"(800 x 1280) screen with 2500 mah battery, 16GB built in storage expandable with additional 32 GB memory card. 

The 5.3" screen is not as big as I assumed it to be in the hand. Looks very slim and decent. This is the phone for the people

1. Who do not want to carry a laptop

2. Who do not want to carry around a tablet in addition to the phone

3. Who does most of their work with emails, spreadsheets, social media and android apps

4. Who do not mind the carrying around approximately 1.5x size of Galaxy S2.

5. Who enjoys convergence to the extent that the phone and tablet are in a single device. 

6. Who would love to use the special features by SPen.

This is definitely more than a smartphone and size wise less than a tablet. However the hardware and software are on par (may be more). 

I really like the special functionalities of SPen. There are plenty of things one can imagine to do with this SPen. Samsung seems to be very serious about their SPen and released a SDK for developers.

Display, Speed, Size and SPen are the specialties of this phone. Samsung also promised that they will be updating the OS to latest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) by 2012. Looking at aggressiveness of Samsung it may release it in 1st quarter of 2012. This is available in Bangalore at Rs. 32,500. Samsung showroom (Mantri Mall) was selling at Rs. 31,900 as promotion offer. Samsung is also providing a designer cover along with the package.

The only feature that is futuristic and catching up rapidly is absent in Note is NFC (Near Field Communication). I think with the commercial focus on this technology this may come to India in a year, where you do not need to carry your Credit Cards with you but just tap your phone on NFC scanner to make a payment at shops. This can also be used to transfer files, photos, music, contacts from one phone to other as promoted by Nokia Lumia 800. The technology is catching up very fast. Google Nexus has the NFC antenna in its battery. In future it may be possible that a non-NFC phone can be converted by just inserting a NFC enable battery or Memory Card.

There are going to be rain of smartphones in the 1st half of 2012. If you can wait, you may consider Galaxy Nexus, Lumia 900, iPhone 5 etc.

Hi-Fi Home Theatre System

The desire that was in my mind from past 10 years suddenly became strong to buy a best home theatre within my budget. Started my research again. Visited almost all showrooms available in Bengaluru.

ProFX - Barton Center
Onkyo - Barton Center
Jamo - Infantry Road
Klipsch - Lavelle Road
JBL - Forum Mall
UniqueSys - Varthur Main Road

Contacted and discussed on Phone with many others.

The first and foremost thing I need to highlight about high end HT system is you have to focus on the speakers first. These are the expensive components of the system similar to lenses of DSLR. The technology has not changed much in Speakers but has been continuously changing in amplifiers and AV receivers. Most of the people who buy the HiFi systems expect the system to reproduce the sound as it is produced (mastered) in the Studio. Usually many of the systems either boost up Bass or Treble to make them sound "better" in showrooms. The sales person usually increases the volume to more than 80% of its capacity as if we are buying them for blasting them at loud parties every day.

In my experience you have to carry your own (CD's preferred over MP3s) to the store and test them with your favorite songs. Listen to them at sound levels that you listen at home. Also listen to them at low volume and high volume just to verify the clarity. Some of the speakers give away at high volumes with a lot of distortion. There are heated discussions on whether the HT system will serve for both Music as well as Movies? My suggestion is : if you have budget you can invest on both separately. However the balanced approach will save a lot of money.

Somehow the packaged HT systems will not give as much clarity as custom configured HT systems. The brands I have tested are:

AV Receivers: ONKYO, Marantz, Denon, Yamaha, Sharewood
Speakers : Polk, Elac, Energy, KEF, Focal, Paradigm, Jamo, Klipsch, MK all series, JBL, Boston

Each person will have his/her own taste for the Low, mid & treble combination. You cannot judge a system as best for all. The best way is listen again and again and again to them and find out if they match to your way of listening. I did test all the above systems. It is not necessary that you have to buy all speakers from the same brand. The front speakers can be from different brand and centre+surround can be from different and Sub woofer can be of other. However if you think that a single brand is suiting to your listening taste you may buy all of them from single brand.

My opinion on the brands:
Elac and Energy lack a bit on Mids.
KEF, Klipsch and Paradigm are high on treble and bass.
Focal is good but could not find the model in my budget.
JBL and Boston did not taste good.
MK 750 series is best for movie viewing as it is also THX certified and are usually used in Studios. However not so good for listening pure music.

Happened to listen Polk RTI A7 series speakers. They sounded very good with right balance between Low, Mid and Treble for my taste. Could not get the black color and had to upgrade my purchase to A9 series.

Remember every new speaker has to run for a least of 100 hours to sound better.

Onkyo is value for money. However I read a lot of complaints on them.
Marantz and Denon are from the same company. Marantz sounds more melodious than Denon. Both of them are equipped with Airplay feature.
Yamaha has their own proprietary technology on their Aventage series.

I was more leaning to ONKYO TX-NR809 (THX) until I heard Denon-AVR 2311. Every store has their own agenda to sell the brands. I came across UniqueSys store while searching to test Paradigm speakers. Mr. Saif gave me a good demo and was very keen on meeting my requirement than selling a particular brand.

At the end came up with this combination:

Front Floor Standing speakers: Polk RTi A9 (2X500W @ 8 Ohms)
Centre Speaker : Polk CSi A6 (200W @ 8 Ohms)
Surround Speakers: Polk FXi A6 (2X150 @ 8 Ohms)

I have almost selected Marantz SR6006 and dropped because of 110W per channel output as my front speakers are 500W per channel and will be under powered.

Thought of buying Yamaha RX2067 then found the latest Yamaha RX-A2010 Aventage series with 140W per channel @ 8 Ohms. Bi-Amped the front two speakers to theoretically getting 280W per channel. The only thing I have to change in the setup now is my 5 years old Samsung 40" LCD to some 3D LED. I am waiting for this excitement to settle down so that I can focus my next research on TV.

***You have to listen to the system again and again and again before finalizing. Do not go by brand value or word of mouth or sales person's hidden agenda***