Galaxy S II is a real success to Samsung

Samsung Galaxy

Also fastest selling smartphone after topping 3 million units in 55 days.

My first Android Phone is Samsung Galaxy 3 i5801 (sister version of Galaxy S). Very exciting phone under Rs.12K. However the excitement did not last longer as the phone started hanging now and then. Had to do a lot of technological circus to connect to (then version of) Kies software on PC. Landed up formatting the phone twice after trying to jailbreak with custom firmware from xda-developers. Installed task manager app and forcibly started killing unwanted apps. But still the phone did not leave its hanging habits. With the latest update of Kies software it became bit easy to connect to the PC. Had trouble in connecting to my office email which forced me to switch over to iPhone 4. My wife took it after her iPhone 2G lost its touch on the screen. Now with the latest firmware (android firmware 2.2 FroYo) the hanging became built in feature.

Samsung Galaxy S II has solved all the above issues. In addition, it has beautiful hi-tech hardware and thinnest to date in the market. Intelligent display technology. Excellent camera (8MP). Except that there are few areas where it can improve such as hubs other than Reader Hub (I like the integration of Kobo Reader). Could have been better with metal than plastics (no complaints though). Few of my friends still use laptops less powered than 1.2 GHz dual core, 1GB RAM of SII.

Since Android doesn't impose stringent rules on the apps (as apple does), the onus is on the users to install the apps at their own discretion.

Dont forget to properly protect your beauty with screen guards and skins/covers etc. It may affect the outlook but will protect it for a long time. Keep updating your phone with official firmware (current 2.3.3).

For indepth review :

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/28/samsung-galaxy-s-ii-review/


If you can wait for a while you may also consider HTC Sensation (I love HTC Sense than Samsung TouchWiz). If you don't have budget for S II watch out for Galaxy Z (younger brother of S II).

Kindle - I love it

Recently during my visit to USA, I bought Kindle 3G+WiFi 6". I must say it is a great device one must have. Thanks to Arvind to prime me to buy one.

Advice: Create an account on Amazon website (you need your credit card details to be entered) before buying Kindle. Go through the books available on Kindle bookstore. See if they are useful to you. One of my friends (CA) could not find the book he wanted on taxation (the basic motive to buy Kindle). I would also suggest using Kindle apps on your PC, MAC or mobile and experiencing it before investing on Kindle device. There are thousands of free books you can get from Kindle bookstore. Just sort them by "Price: Low to High".

There are a lot of eBook readers in the market. What makes kindle so special is:
1. The Free 3G connectivity to buy books wherever you are in the world (as long as you have GSM network in that area) under 60 Sec.
2. The "Buy once and Read on many" approach of Amazon (up to 6 devices)
3. One need not be disappointed by the Grey scale (B/W) eBooks on Kindle, as there are apps that can be installed on PC, MAC, IPhone, Android and Blackberry to read the same in Color.
4. Excellent support & service.
To elaborate on this: My Kindle gave up after 70 days. It was not connecting to my account. Wi-Fi works but only on the browser and 3G is not at all working. I called up the support and asked them what to do. They asked me to perform few basic things on the device to revive it. After it failed, they sent a fresh device configured to my account and the new Kindle reached my home in less than 96 hours (from Cincinnati, USA to Bangalore, India). All this without a single Rupee spent by me except an international call to their support center.

The Device:
I liked the package of Kindle, as it is hassle free unpacking. When I held the device for the first time in my hand, there were instructions on the screen, tried peeling that paper off to see the screen. To my surprise the instructions were on the screen. This is superb. This is as good as reading any book holding in hand. If you have ordered through your Amazon account, & if you already have books in your account, they are pre-loaded into your device and you are ready to go. There are more you can do here:
1. Change the font size or orientation of the screen to suite your reading comfort.
2. Highlight the sentences or words, just like we do in the normal book
3. If you come across any tough word, just move the cursor onto it to see the meaning in the dictionary.
4. Read highlights done by others
5. Bookmark a page as you fold your page in the normal book
6. Let your friends on Facebook or twitter know that you have completed this book and give your recommendations or share your notes or highlights with them.
7. It also has a built in browser (the most basic) provided on experimental basis. (a free 3G browser wherever you are ;-))
8. You can play MP3 songs (to be uploaded through your PC or MAC by connecting the device) Not a great idea but not a bad one too.
9. If you are traveling in a bus and cannot read it as your eyes may get strained, just press (shift+sym) it reads it for you. You can use standard headphones to isolate the sound only to you. I think some of the books don’t support this feature please check the Kindle store.
10. If you have read a book on other devices using Kindle app, when you connect Kindle device to network it synchronizes pages where you stopped on the other devices.
11. You can also subscribe to magazines, news papers etc.
12. Up to 2 months battery charge.

You can go through a huge list of shortcuts and tricks at http://blog.diannegorman.net/2010/09/kindle-3-keyboard-shortcuts-et-al/

Please remember to buy a good cover for your Kindle. I bought the one that has light in the cover (uses Kindle battery) to read in the dark. Kindle does not emanate light.

Now talking about the new trends in the competition: Barnes and Noble has recently launched new Nook (touch). This seems to be a great device with complete touch. Also faster than Kindle 3 and very intuitive. However only WiFi.
It also has the color nook (readers tablet). Actually you can hack and installed Android OS on it. I found a lot of readers preferring a b/w device than a color one.

A lot of others are also in the market Sony, Samsung, Kobo and a dozen of them. I am interested in watching how Kobo does as they seems to be fast catchers of technology.

What Amazon is doing: Amazon 'may' come up with color + touch Kindle very soon. Going by Jeff's words "it will complement the existing Kindle readers stay tuned". The e-Ink technology is growing faster. No surprise if you see a complete tablet with e-Ink technology (except that you may need a table lamp to read them in dark).

Which Digital SLR?

Recently I have attended a workshop from 'Better Photography' to satisfy my inner photography desires. Got tempted to buy a DSLR camera. Went to a shop at Bangalore and compared prices at both official & grey market. Zeroed down on two brands Canon & Nikon. On the lower side 550D from Canon & D3100 from Nikon. On the higher side 7D from Canon & D90 from Nikon. The lower range was from Rs. 35k to Rs. 50k & higher was from 80k to 90k.

When I took the camera (7D) in hand the temptation was such I went to ATM to draw money. Just before entering ATM I called up my friend (Anand Joshi) a great guy with a lot of pro knowledge on photography (http://www.flickr.com/photos/anandjoshi/). He said in another one month there are new models being launched and it is worth waiting for them.

Now Nikon has launched 7000D. A wonderful camera with almost all features for a person who is serious about photography. Costs Rs. 85k with kit lens, a bag & 4 GB memory. Canon has launched 60D with swivel LCD monitor & a lot of movie options & costing around 65k. My friend (Kiran Raj) wanted to buy a DSLR. Looking at the features & his budget I suggested him to go for 7000D. Surprisingly he readily invested on that marvelous piece.

Now I am planning to buy 60D.

Things I like in DSLRs:
1. The clarity in the picture even with low light
2. The number of customizable options right from PSAM to white balancing, metering etc.
3. With new gen Cameras we can also take FullHD movies ( may not have many options to tweak)
4. The option to change lenses to suit the requirement.

The things I wish in DSLRs:
1. Lighter cost ( USA is cheaper than India)
2. Built-in GPS location tagging (Geo tagging). Most smart phones have.
3. Bluetooth transfer facility.
4. WiFi capabilities
5. Multiple memory cards ( 7000D has)
6. Allow a bit more customization options in terms of memory management such as frame buffeting etc.

After all the research I learnt that the photography mainly depends on the person who is taking that wonderful snap and not on the camera. A simple DSLR with a very good lens will produce great pictures than a great camera with average lens. One must have the lighting sense & picture composition sense. First thing we have to remember is what our eye can see (with our amazing brains behind them) the camera cannot see. For example I have seen many people taking snaps during sunset (low light) thinking that what they see through their eyes is what they will get through the camera. So we have to train our brains to see through eyes of the camera which is the biggest secret behind the best snaps. Also one has to remember to tell a story through the snaps. I have seen some photographs that are very impressive by the story that they convey than the technicality of the photo.

www.dpreview.com, www.kenrockwell.com, www.the-digital-picture.com, www.cameralabs.com are few of the good websites that give a complete review of latest cameras & lenses.

Enjoy Photography.

iPhone 4

IPhone 4 through online ordering via Singapore (factory unlocked). Thanks to my close friends who brought this to India. However was shocked to see apple's Q/A fumbling. The earpiece was not functioning properly and had to spend Rs. 1000 to get it repaired.

Now coming to the func

tionality it is very great as usual. But if you are trying to get one from USA please think twice as there is no unlock available yet. Tried my best googling for it in vain.

The great things I was hearing about the AppStore proved right as it is really amazing.

Also got hands on iPad really a piece of excitement. Part from no camera, swf etc.

Finally got the taste of Airtel 3G. Superb speeds. More on this soon.

Internet Connection

Bangalore the highly appreciated (envied) by the world over, has trouble to get a broadband connection for me since 40 days.

Airtel Broadband. Could not believe that Airtel employee can take customers like me for a ride by taking the booking knowing that there is no port available. Got the cheque back with a sorry note from Airtel.

Reliance broadband (wired) has abnormal prices for their speeds.

BSNL, as expected post to pole running & still waiting.

High speed data cards from Reliance & Tata Indicom are low speed in my area (Sanjay Nagar). MTS is little better. However lacks interest in serving customers. I had to almost call them every 6 hours for a week to get the data card but yet to get. The only attractive option they have is pre-paid. Yet to try BSNL 3G card.

This is really painful for a person like me who works from home.

Still waiting to see light at the end of the tunnel.

Blackberry 9700

Finally bought Blackberry 9700 (knowing that it may not upgrade to OS6). This is one of the mobiles that has so much capability. The beauty is the keyboard. very easy to use. Once I got use to this key board it is very difficult to imagine the virtual keyboards.

I am still exploring things like cannot open PDF directly except from email attachment (Purchased DocOnGo, cannot mute the key sound while dialing the phone number, rebooting without battery pull & Not able to configure exchange emails unless you have BIS or BES connectivity (charges applicable).

There are very good apps from Blackberry app world as well as dataviz. However once you configure the things you cannot resist getting addicted to it.

Windows Phone 7 Series

Recently I had a glance at http://www.windowsphone7series.com/. This shows that unless iphone comes up with great innovation again it is going to take a beating from windows mobile.

Now google is also arming up with its Nexus One. iPad being so successful can we expect iPhone would be path breaking? Lets wait and see...