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...

Blackberry Tour

After experimenting a lot with Symbian, Windows Mobile I have decided to switch gears to Blackberry. In my research found that Blackberry Tour is very good phone for both official & personal use. Good thing is it works in both CDMA and GSM in 3G. so we don't need to worry about the connectivity all over the world.

The complaints I heard about it are
1. The track ball does not work properly after sometime and gets stuck.
2. No wifi.

I also read lot a of rumors that the next version of BB Tours 2 (9650) will be launching during 1st quarter of 2010. This solves both the above issues with optical track pad and wifi.

Rcom.co.in is offering the current version (9630) at 27K INR. If I take this with 1063 INR (Month) plan I will have two things done
1. Blackberry with 3G connectivity
2. 3G tether modem for my laptop

So per month if would be around 1500 INR with my heavy voice usage will be reasonable. More about it after I buy this smart device.

HTC Touch Sense

Recently saw a demo from HTC site on their HERO handset (combination of Android and HTC's own Sense. I am really impressed the way they did it. I was wondering if I could port the sense part of it on my Xperia.

The guys at XDA-Developers are manzing. They ported HTC sense on Xpreia with combination of Windows mobile 6.5. Among all of them I liked itje's cooked ROM for Xperia (V11 Release).

I also liked the simplicity of Gtrab's Pure and barebone version from XDA-Developers for the people who wants their Xperia to run with Windows 6.5 OS. This ROM is very simple, stable and more efficient on battery.

Overall I would say windows mobile is coming up very well. However there are still some glitches and stability issues.

I am also eagerly waiting for HTC HD2 (LEO). The only thing is it does not have HW Keyboard. With the huge screen size it may not be a drawback. It is capacitive screen as Iphone. With HTC Sense on it with SnapDragon 1GHz chip it must be as smooth as butter. According to some reviews the Windows core (6.5) plays funny in few instances such as suddenly slowing down or freezing to death.

TED India

Recently I was watching ted.indiatimes.com. I was really facinated by the passion & dedication of each participant. Especially Pranav Mistry's astonishing inventions that remind us the magical deeds of our mythology. The other speaker wide opened all the audience eyes by showing & telling us how we are abusing our l(i)ovely rivers. Other gentleman has done research on bringing eye sight to the blind children.

This made me to realize that every humanbeing has a purpose for living on this planet.

The Experience of Xperia X1i

Real surprise. One of my dearest friends bought X1i & happen to visit me. after observing that he is not using X1i to its potential, I requested him if I can have hands on it. He was very generous to agree. That's it, without any delay I exchanged my N85 for E66 & gave him E66. For his way of usage E66 is perfect.

The texting in N85 is a pain as I use my corporate email on it. Also I was vary on spending 4K on Quick Office update to edit my Office 2007 documents. Actually I was waiting to trade my N85 for N97 once it arrives(there too have spend for Qoffice upgrade). The concept is more or less the same in X1i. So thought it is better option to make the Best use of this X1i.

My Xperience with X1i:
Initially it was Xiting. I found that there is a fresh firmware available now. I wanted to Xperiment all possibilities before I update the firmware. I must say it is worth Xperience. As it is manufactured by HTC, installed Touchflo3D HD interface. enjoyed it for a day or two. But the enjoyment short lived as it used to hang forever whenever I switch between panels.

Finally upgraded firmware. It was really great to work with panels. It is very new concept for me. Soon had trouble with media panel. As an experiment started doing one by one installation of the programs& checked media panel every time. Nothing wrong with any of the additional installations. Then after two three hours of breaking my head on this found that it starts properly and after few seconds stops (freezes). Ultimately found that my >1000 contacts are the issue with media panel. When I reduced them to <1000 it works like magic. I really like the media panel behaviour.

More in next post.

T9 or QWERTY

I was always confused between whether it should be T9 (predictive Text) or QWERTY keyboard on the mobile phone.

I was also curious to see Half Keyboard. I have not tested though.

Blackberry Pearl, Sony P1i HTC touch Dual were few to name with half QWERTY (2 letters per key). Now Nokia has come up with first time with this keyboard in their E55. Seems to be the best of Eseries phones till now with S60 3rd edition FP2. It has accelerometer, usb charger, half keyboard, HSDPA & HSUPA. 3.2 MP camera with EDOF (Extended Depth of Field), 3.5 mm Audio port, built in GPS with A-GPS, front VGA camera.

I would have traded my N85 for E55, if it had 30fps video and 3.5mm AV port. E55 has only 15fps video. 

In my opinion it is the best business phone ever within Rs.16K budget.

If someone is not satisfied with N85, now you have N86 with 8MP camera and hopefully metallic body. Remaining specs same as N85 such as OLED display etc.

More soon.

At last Nokia N85

At last bought N85 on 26th Oct for the price of Rs. 24100. This is an excellent piece. I could not afford INNOV8 as its price is nearly Rs.43000. N79 looks too basic and I would miss the great AMOLED display.

The things I have observed.
Pro: 1. Excellent display
2. Animated Themes
3. Navi Wheel
4. FM transmitter
5. Nice glossy finish without showing selection and menu keys (while on standby)
6. Better sliding than N95
7. Seems to be stable software
8. Very good keyboard (better than N95)
9. Good position of speakers
10. 8 GB card included
11. Power save mode
12. Dedicated keypad lock key
13. Settings to have horizontal, vertical or basic toolbar on standby screen
14. More settings for screen saver
15. 3 months license for Nokia Maps
16. 10 free games (choice of 10 of 15)
17. Zoom in & out through Volume keys in Camera Mode
Con: 1. Build quality could have been better
2. Chances to slip out of hand (box should have included hand tag)
3. The Navi Wheel does not work in all menus
4. No explanation about how 'Power Save Mode" helps
5. The download tool does not contain many programs that are compatible
6. Could not install Google Search (Later found that it is already included in Nokia Search)
7. Windows Live cannot be installed (Don't know why?)

Over all I am happy with N85. I hope Nokia will correct their download tool to be compatible with FP2.v