Anyhow, kudos to HTC Desire aside, I am back on the market for a android smartphone. This time around, I want a big screen, atleast 4.7″, Quad Core Processor, 2GB RAM, good battery and atleast 16GB internal storage. This brings me to a small list of available devices in no particular order within a certain price range of 300 – 400 AUD

1. LG Nexus 4
2. LG Optimus 4X
3. Samsung S3

All these phones have been exhaustively reviewed online and they all have their pros and cons. So, just quoting the most obvious and relevant ones here

1. S3 – excellent battery, great screen, SD Card Slot and multi-tasking
2. Nexus 4- 2 GB RAM, great screen, excellent battery
3. Optimus 4x – great screen, SD Card Slot, nice masculine design

I like the Optimus 4x for the nice lines and good to hold feel of the phone as opposed to Nexus 4 which is a bit too slippery. Leaving the design aside, battery is quite important, since I had to carry a spare batter for my HTC Desire. All the 3 phones listed here pretty decent battery, but I have to say that the S3 takes the lead here – I have seen my friend’s phones with over 70% battery at the end of the working day with moderate usage and all-day 3G on with active updates. The other 2 phones come close behind. In terms of performance, the Nexus 4 takes a significant lead with the 2GB RAM, the phone is blazingly fast. Although I cannot say that I have found a big difference for day to day use for these phone. But, running heavy applications and certain games work a lot better on Nexus 4. So far, no significant deal breakers. When it comes to screen sensitivity and screen size, the S3 takes the clear lead here – I am just not referring to the 0.1″ difference, but rather the significant difference due to the on-screen buttons on Nexus 4 which eat up quite a bit of real estate. Also, the AMOLED display sensitivity is much better on S3. The Optimus 4X screen size is quite good and the color reproduction is quite good. I am kind of starting to lean a bit away from Nexus 4 now. Moving on, these days applications hog more and more memory, that said, the Nexus 4 has 16GB with non expandable memory. However both the S3 and Optimus 4x have expandable memory. At this point, its safe to say that Nexus 4 is lagging quite a bit behind the other 2 phones. The only good thing about Nexus 4 is that it offers a better gaming experience and also generally more snappier. However I am not planning on playing heavy games on my phone, given the associated battery drain that accompanies it.

So, I am for now voting out the Nexus 4 based on practicality more than any benchmarks. The real contest is between LG Optimus 4x and S3. These phones are more or less equally matched, so I am not planning bring those up. However there is one aspect in Optimus 4X which puts me off; the phone speaker sucks big time – its just not loud enough to playback songs or even conversations on the phone. Also, there are more accessories available for S3 on the market. The only pro for Optimus 4X is that it is almost 100AUD cheaper than S3. Would I pay 100 AUD for a better screen, better speaker and availability of accessories? I am inclined to say Yes.

For now, I am going to go for the S3 3G version – hear the 4G version has battery issues.

Although I am not too excited about the display and the bloatware of Samsung, the device is just more practical. Oh yes, it is more practical than an i-phone  !

_>Vijay

Simply put, my wants in a smartphone include being able to customize my phone, transfer files without using a infuriating product like itunes, and share pictures and kind on the go with my friends using bluetooth, irrespective of whether they have a different brand of phone or a different device itself.  I believe it is safe to say that a majority of smartphone users desire these capabilities in addition to capabilities offered by the iphone.  The HTC Hero came very close to doing that only to be defeated by the one level lower generation hardware.  Quite impressively, the Nexus one rolled out with a native version of Android sans multi touch capabilities.  Again, this came millimeters close behind the IPhone. Then it happened, HTC came out with its latest venture, the HTC Desire, which has taken the market by storm !

I have been waiting to get my hands on the unlocked version of the phone for almost 3 weeks into its launch.  Finally, I bought it from Handtec for 387 pounds which is considerably lower than the 450 pounds charged by Carphone warehouse. I am extremely delighted to declare that the HTC desire is everything I wanted in a smartphone. The capacitative touch screen works like a speedy charm with a gorgeous display. There are seven desktops which can be customized any which freaking way I want.  The audio clarity is very good and the camera functions and the flash are quite reliable.  There are apps for almost everything I want to do and most of them are free. Hopefully there would be more apps coming up for the gaming crowd.

With that, I am off to explore my “Desire”. Forgive the silly pun. Cheers and peace.

I own a N73… I know, I know… its a pre-historic phone… But, it was quite useful.  Anyways, it is high time I bought a new mobile one that is consistent with the times.  Well, my first choice is the IPhone 3GS with its sexy touchscreen and its cool applications. But guess what, everybody has an iPhone. I don’t want to be one of the crowd. Besides, I am not a big fan of Apple. (I absolutely detest iTunes)

Having said that, I got to agree that iPhone is best at what it offers. It is unrivaled.  Will a superhero emerge to contest the iPhone. It so happens, there is a blip on the market radar.  Coincidentally, it goes by the name ‘Hero’. I got to say that HTC has done some pretty impressive work on the device. Without going directly into the details, there was one thing that kept me from buying the HTC Hero; the laggy response. But, not anymore.

HTC has launched a firmware update which has gotten rid of the lag that persisted when loading a lot of applications on the home screen.  Even then, I can’t help cribbing about the fact, HTC should have had better hardware for the Hero. The existing Qualcomm 528MhZ processor and 288MB RAM doesn’t do justice to the OS running atop.  A processor like the one in the iPhone 3GS would have made the Hero pure pleasure.  Anyhow, with the firmware update, the Hero seems to be usable.

I read the many reviews about the iPhone as well as the HTC Hero. It is clear to me that both phones are excellent. However, I am the guy who uses social networks and blogs and stuff a lot. From this perspective, the Hero has much much more to offer than the iPhone.  I am also the guy who loves gaming, the iPhone offers gaming capabilities and has a pretty good video chip in it. But then at the end of the day, I can play games on my laptop. But to be in touch, to synchronize, to receive feeds, to read messages, the Hero has a leg up.  The way the home screen can be customized in the Hero is fascinating to say the least.

I feel that the i-phone has become so common, so easy to use that it does not offer that sense of exclusivity that I expect from gadgets I own. I love to tweak around with my gadgets to make it my own. Somehow the makers of iPhone have strongly deterred such activities. A ride in the London Tube reveals that 5 in 10 people own an iPhone.  This definitely goes onto prove the undoubted success of the iPhone, but to me it’s just a brick in the wall

Vijay

The game is set in Manhattan and the environment is a pretty good reproduction of the city.  Alex Mercer gradually finds out that he can turn his body into many types of weapons. The weapons are really cool and I especially find the Whipfist pretty funky which has a large area of coverage.  In fact, with an upgrade, the whipfist can be used to attach to vehicles, enemies and so on. Alex also has two defensive shield modes one of which covers his entire body. In this mode, his agility and speed drop drastically, but offer superior protection.

Radical entertainment has done a great job not making it just another beat ’em up kind of game, but rather it includes tactical elements of disguising and achieving specific goals with minimal destruction.

Coming to the best part, I was able to free roam Manhattan scaling up walls at ground breaking speed and jumping off the roofs of the empire state building and gliding along the streets. Guess what happens when Alex lands… a nice crater… Awesome! Simply great to just run around and jump off buildings. In addition, the game has these small missions where Alex is supposed to go from one place to another or beat the crap out of zombies/cops/etc within a time limit. This is pretty intense and not so easy to get the gold medal.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the game. I am waiting for Metal Gear Solid 2 to hit the PC’s.  

Game on, gamers.

_>Vijay

Kindle 2

However, there is another product in the market, which has these features. The Irex iLiad 2nd Edition has an excellent touchscreen on which I can scribble freely or open a new text document and scribble notes. This is well developed in the iLiad. However the wi-fi is again meant to purely download content and updates. Although, the retail version doesn’t support mp3, web browsing, etc…, these are still possible, thanks to the Linux based platform iLiad runs. There are many applications available which make the iLiad a pleasure to use. Check outhttp://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Iliad_Software for information on 3rd party applications.  Even though, the iLiad is the closest thing that comes to a book replacement, the features doesn’t justify the price. At over 600$, it doesn’t really appeal to the consumer segment. Apparently the iLiad’s positioning seems to be business oriented. Even though the third installment of the iLiad is a little lesser priced, it is still way too expensive to appeal to the masses.

IREX iLiad 2nd Edition

Kindle 2 outscores the iLiad on two counts, the price and the support. There have been numerous complaints that the iLiad support is almost non-existent. Check out http://www.amazon.com/iLiad-Book-Edition-iRex/dp/B000WJB1WA for some reviews. Maybe IREX can address these problems.

Observing all these, I have to say that e-readers are still in a rudimentary stage at best. Even though the Kindle is priced lower, it is still expensive to reach everyone.  I wonder when a company will release a 150$ version which does only e-reading & provide scribbling options, the very thing e-readers are expected to do.

_>Vijay

The best part about all of this is that the platform is called Plaszma, which is open to developers to develop nice games, cool applications which can run on the Egg.  Its not a big surprise when I say that Google’s Android OS is run on the computing device.

Is that all? No way!!! The egg takes full advantage of the superior media processing capabilities of the nano chip and features HD video recording capabilities & HD out video playback facility. More impressively, the device has a hardware GPS unit in it and hence has awesome GPS capabilities!  It’s a developer’s dream come true.  The phone has multi-touch capability which means more good news for developers. 32 GB inbuilt + 32 GB SD is not shabby, either

It is strange, how it has a GPS receiver and not a normal phone receiver. If it had, it could have posed itself as a direct iPhone competitor.  With all the communication possibilities and Androids OS and the nano chip, it could have actually become the much famed “iPhone killer” that everyone on the market wants to be.

Anyhow, great job, Creative !

Check out the product demo @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZvJtt25Lpk&feature=related

and for product features visit http://www.zii.com

_>Vijay

Though WordPress attempted to force me into writing a “Hello World” post, I refrained myself from doing so.

I move directly onto the latest buzz about Microsoft. BinG!

Microsoft wants the world to move from “googling” to “binging”? At first thought, I would actually call it a blind man’s quest. But hey, you know what, the makers of Windows have actually done a good job with bing. Functionally, bing is good, I daresay, even comparable to Google. But, I got to agree with the rest of my digital friends when they say that it looks like a knock off of google. The travel service looks like a knock off of Kayak. It is strange why Microsoft needs to resort to such measures to compete with Google. If they had used the $ 100 million  they are going to use for advertising on innovation, a truly superior product might have emerged.  However, this is solely my view.

Pros:

Nice website previews

Very nice thumbnail video play

X-Rank Interesting, but the volume is not explicitly mentioned.

Cons:

The outlook is very similar to Google

Travel looks a like  knock off of Kayak

Microsoft has outrightly declared that they are going to spend a $100 million on advertising. Even though MS is a leader in marketing, I feel that they are underestimating the “brand loyalty” that google has created.  I am not a person who is “affected” easily, but I find it difficult to disengage myself from Google and use Bing. I guess, I respect the simplicity, functionality and reliability of Google too much to switch to Bing.

_>Vijay