Harish Answers

31 FULL ANDROID HD GAMES+SDCARD FILES Torrent Pack(Tested on Galaxy S Series)

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Thu, 2 Jun 2011 19:09:00 -0700

Gameloft has the best Android games currently available, but for some unknown reason they refuse to list their HD titles in the official Android Market and force potential customers to use their wonky online store.

List of Games included in the pack.

1.Asphalt 5 HD
2.Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD
3.Avatar
4.Brothers In Arms 2
5.Dungeon Hunter HD
5.Dungeon Hunter 2 HD
6.Fast Five the Movie: Official Game HD
7.Gangstar: West Coast Hustle HD
8.Gangstar: Miami Vindication HD
9.GTRacing hd
10.Hero of Sparta HD
11.Modern Combat: Sandstorm HD
12.Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus HD
13.Realfootball 2011 hd
14.Shadow Guardian HD
15.Sacred Odyssey The Raise of Ayden HD
16.Starfront: Collision HD
17.Spider-Man: Total Mayhem HD
18.The Settlers HD
19.Tom Clancys Splinter Cell Conviction hd
20.Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X HD

Tera 2 Games

1.Pinball HD
2.Riptide GP
3.Samurai_II_Vengeance
4.Hardwood Solitaire IV

Other

1.AirAttack HD
2.Chess Battle of the Elements
3.Contract Killer
4.Dungeon Defenders First Wave
5.Nfs shift
6.Further Beyond Fighting
7.TNA Wrestling iMPACT

All games tested on samsung galaxy s i9000,i9003

Note: This Is A Torrent App To Download & Please Seed After Download

Download 1: 31 FULL ANDROID HD GAMES + SD Cache FILES Torrent Pack

Download 2: 31 FULL ANDROID HD GAMES + SD Cache FILES Torrent Pack By bala242

Top Android Phones of 2010-2011 -(2)

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Thu, 3 Mar 2011 08:30:00 -0800

In my previous post i have mentioned couple of popular smartphone series....but since then things have changed drastically,The smartphone market is really taking off with many extremely compelling devices available all over the world.!The new nvidia tegra chip now comes with 2 cores..!!and Intel is joining the party too....Last month Intel announced that they are releasing some powerful Smart phone chips...!!@CES everything was about Dual core phones..So i have shortlisted some phones that i liked the most.

1.Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II
Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II is the updated version of Galaxy S I. Galaxy S II will be operated by Android 2.3. 8 megapixel camera, FM-radio, social network apps, Music player, GPS, microUSB, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi connection, Google Maps are included in Galaxy S II. It has 16GB/ 32GB internal memory. It has dual-core processor and 4.3 inch large screen display that will become competitor of iPhone.

2. Google Nexus S

The latest addition to Google’s Nexus superphone lineup is the Samsung Nexus S, and it’s the first Android handset to sport the Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS. It’s loaded with bells and whistles. Google’s Android 2.3 OS brings a refreshed user interface to the table, trimmed with new apps, new icons, and a snazzy new keyboard. Samsung endowed the Nexus S with a first-of-its-kind concave display and an NFC chip that’s capable of reading those new-fangled NFC tags that the folks over in Mountain View are starting to seed to businesses in the US. The Nexus S is clearly a force to be reckoned with.

But, the Nexus S has some big shoes to fill – the shoes left behind by the original Nexus One. It lacks certain key features that could be deal breakers for some, but makes up for it with an exclusive (for now) version of Android OS. Does the Nexus S do Google and Samsung proud as the heir to the Nexus throne? Read on to find out!

Specifications (Specs-sheet)

4.0-inch Concave Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen WVGA (800 x 480)
1 GHz Hummingbrid processor
5 Megapixel rear-facing camera with LED Flash
Front-facing camera
480p video capture
16 GB of internal memory
WiFi (B/G/N)
Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS
3.5 mm headphone jack

The Good

Beautifully sculpted concave face
Light and sleek in the hand
Big, bright Super AMOLED display
Stock Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS with UI tweaks
4-inch display size hits the sweet spot
3G Hotspot feature enabled out of the box
Front-facing camera

The Bad

Slim and slippery
microSD card slot? What microSD card slot? Exactly
No support for T-Mobile’s HSPA+
3G only on T-Mobile
No 720p HD video capture/recording
The lightweight composition can feel cheap in the hand
No touch-to-focus autofocus
No notification light

3. Motorola Atrix 4G

The Atrix 4G — it needs no introduction. As a sign for the future of computing, this phone is definitely one of the highlights of the show. The Atrix 4G, running on AT&T’s 4G network, sports a 2 GHz dual core Tegra 2 processor and 1 GB of DDR2 RAM. When a phone has beefier specs than most laptops on the market, you know you’re dealing with a serious device. Throw in a qHD 4” 960 x 540 display and you’ve also got a Retina Display competitor. A front camera and rear one capable of HD video recording are present as expected. Storage is not an issue as you can get up to 48 GB of flash memory with this phone, with 16 GB already built in. To power all this, Motorola has dropped a monstrous 1,930 mAh battery in the device.

But that’s not the most exciting part; say you’re loading a webpage on your phone and then plop it right into the laptop dock. Not only will the webpage be done loading but you also will get a full desktop OS. Lo and behold, finally achieved is the fantasy that we’ve been having of carrying around a “larger than iPhone” device which would contain all our data, be very powerful, and stay connected all the time. At the same time, we want to keep the advantages of a full sized computer (mainly the screen and keyboard). With the Atrix 4G, you get blazing “4G speeds,” quite ample storage, and the screen size of 4”.

4. Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc

In a world of bland slate styled Android handsets, the Arc really sets itself apart. We’ve seen the Anzu/Xperia X12/Arc leaked previously and knew we were going to be amazed by this set. The ridiculously thin Xperia Arc features what Sony calls the Reality Display with the Bravia engine (from the Bravia HDTV’s) on a 4.2” display. Of course, this is a Sony device so the 8.3 megapixel camera features Sony Exmor R. The 1 Ghz Snapdragon isn’t shabby either. Unlike the X10, which SE abandoned at Android 2.1, the Arc will run 2.3 with the same skin on top at launch. One of our favorites from CES for sure but we hope the company actually updates this phone when it hits the market, presumably in April.

5. HTC Verizon Thunderbolt/ AT&T Inspire 4G

We categorize both of these phones under the same device just simply due the fact that both are Americanized versions of the Desire HD. We adored the unibody aluminum construction and overall build quality on the Desire HD and just hoped that HTC would bring them to the States. Looks like our wish came true. As a refresher, both feature the new version of HTC Sense on Android 2.2 along with similar specs - 4.3” 800 x 480 Super LCD, 1 GHz Qualcomm MDM9600 processor, and an 8 megapixel rear camera, among other specs you would expect to find among the highest end smartphone on the market today.

6. LG Optimus 3D
LG Optimus 3D has 4.3 inch glasses-free LCD display and dual-lens 3D camera that gives 3D effect. You can take 3D videos with help of dual cameras and view them in 3D set through HDMI. HDMI-out port and DLNA video streaming permits users to watch 3D content on whatever 3D set you have.

7.Sony Ericsson Xperia Play
Xperia Play, world’s first playstation certified smartphone, has been revealed by the Sony Ericsson. It indicates that it will access PlayStation game content by using the PlayStation Suite initiative, which is certified content of Android based phones. Based on Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system, Xperia Play supports both the version GSM and CDMA. 3D gameplay will be provided by the Sony for 60 frames per second. It has 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor including Adreno 205 GPU. It will be come in the market at March 2011 and price was not declared by the company.

8.HTC Desire S
HTC Desire S is redesigned of HTC Desire with 480 x 800 pixels resolution, 3.7" LCD screen and works on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It supports 5-megapixel camera with 720p recording, 1GHz processor, 1450mAh battery. Users can use Bluetooth, WI-Fi, usb for connectivity. It will be available in second quarter of 2011.

9.HTC Incredible S
HTC Incredible S is well equipped with 1GHz 8255 Snapdragon processor HD video, 8 megapixels and 1.3 megapixel cameras on the frontage. It runs on a 1GHz Qualcomm chip the Android 2.2. Other specifications include 768MB of RAM, Wi-Fi b/g/n, FM radio, GPS, Bluetooth. Customers will able to purchase HTC incredible S in Q2 of 2011 at Asian and European markets.

How to Connect A2DP Bluetooth Stereo Headset to your Laptop/desktop.??

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 07:19:00 -0700

The coolest Option lets you to connect both your laptop/desktop and Phone to the same headset.

Recently i have been thinking of getting a new blue-tooth head set for my phone,and as you all know that the laptops have bluetooth pre installed , and even you can use the bluetooth devise for Desktop pcs as well.

Both PC's bluetooth and Phone's bluetooth use same frequency and are of same speed class, So it is a common sense to think ,Why cant i connect my phone's bluetooth headset to PC...???instead of buying separate head set for PC.

Some how i got it working with my friend's Motorola Motorokr S9-HD Bluetooth Stereo headset.

So here is how to connect A2DP Bluetooth headset with Laptop/Desktop(I have tried it only with Windows 7 ,not sure about Xp and vista) :

1. Make sure Bluetooth is active in your computer. Click the Start button and type Bluetooth in the Search box. From the results in top select Bluetooth Devices under Programs. (Note: If Bluetooth Devices is not listed then it means you computer does not have Bluetooth)

2. From the Options tab, make sure all the options are checked.

Allow Bluetooth devices to find this computer
Allow Bluetooth devices to connect to this computer
Alert me when Bluetooth device wants to connect

Also if you prefer select options like Show the Bluetooth icon in the notifications area.

3. Now turn on the Bluetooth headset. Click the Devices tab in the Bluetooth Devices window and click Add.

4. In the Add Bluetooth Device Wizard check My device is set up and ready to be found and click Next.

5. It will search for all the nearby turned on Bluetooth devices and it will list all the devices including Bluetooth headset. Choose the headset and click Next.

6. Choose a Passkey in the next window for security purposes. Usually the device may come with some documented security code (For example, Motorola S9 HD Bluetooth Headset has the Passkey 0000)

And many headsets has the same passkey.

7. Now it will connect and install the drivers needed.

8. In the next window click Finish.

Now even if the Bluetooth headset is connected, you may not be able to hear any music from the headset.

So here is the tweak you need to do to make it work. Go to Bluetooth Devices and select the headset under Audio Devices and click the Properties at the bottom.

Select the services tab and make sure you have Headset checked, this is what is responsible for A2DP stereo connections. Check all necessary and click OK.

Now go to Audio tab in the Bluetooth Devices and make sure Bluetooth Stereo Audio says its connected. If not select and click Connect at the bottom.

Even now you may not be able to listen through your Bluetooth headset using A2DP.

So, Go to Start –> Control Panel –> Hardware and Sound –> Sound –> Manage audio devices. Now under Playback select Bluetooth Stereo Audio and select Set Default.

Some Points to be Noted:

1. Now you should be able to hear the music in both speakers using stereo mode. If not try closing the players or browsers and start them again.

2. Make sure you don’t play anything while changing any options that I had mentioned above. It may cause the program not to respond or crash.

3. If you are absolutely sure that you have done all these steps, try restarting the system.

Disappointed About the Battery Life of Your New Phone? Dont worry here is the solution!!

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 06:35:00 -0700

Every time when a new device comes out, people are complaining about the battery life. It’s always the battery that gets the blame. On one side I do understand that – it is obviously quite frustrating when your battery doesn’t make it the full day – but on the other hand it isn’t something new: you will soon notice that your older phones hold it much longer. XDA People call it as the “NEW GADGET SYNDROME” – the battery drains so quickly because you are intensively using the phone. Everyone wants to play with his new toy, and this will drain the battery very quickly.

I'm writing this post after i personally experienced the same,, I got My HTC Desire 2 months back and i was frustrated by the battery life, I couldn't get One full day out of my Desire...I have searched in many sites and Got tons of suggestion, Even after trying all that Tricks and tips my desire's battery life was not up to my expectations..!!

But now after 2 months I dont now how but the battery lasts for 2 days..!!isn't it a miracle ,,and then i realized it is definitely "NEW GADGET SYNDROME"..!!

Yet there are some things to do about it...

1.I have noticed that the screen is factor number #1 when it comes to battery drain. To do something about this, it is a good idea to put the brightness of your screen down, as low as possible.

2.When bought a new gadget ,,And charging for first time Dont forget charge it for at-least 8hrs,,,this is a very imp tip.

3.Dont drain your battery too much ,,Lithium ion batteries get worse if you drain your batteries too often..!!

4.Always use the genuine chargers that you get directly form the manufacturer.

5.Dont leave your phone to charge more than 3 hrs,,,,as i noticed many people leave their phones charging over nights, this affects the battery a lot ,, i strictly suggest you ,,, don't do this .!!

So, next time when you just bought a new device, don’t worry about the battery. Soon, it will turn out better than you thought at first, and with some small tweaks and reducing the screen brightness, you can almost be assured that you will enjoy your battery life much more!

Top 10 Best Smartphones Mid 2010 reviews-2

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:06:00 -0700

In my previous post i have mentioned couple of popular smartphone series....but since then things have changed drastically,The smartphone market is really taking off with many extremely compelling devices available all over the world. Check out my list of top 10 smartphones that have been announced or are currently available..!

This time i'm dealing with some really powerful devises...!!Some of them are even capable running desktop operating systems like Ubuntu..!!! I think now you are feeling the power of a real smart phone...:)

Here are the 10 best smart-phones available today.

*Declaimer: All reviews posted here are written by gsmarena.com ,i've just modified some stuff and given the ranking.

#1: Google Nexus one And HTC Desire

Google Nexus one and HTC desire have same hard ware configuration and the htc desire is the successor of Nexus one...HTC desire is bundled with Great looking htc sense UI...So they both share the first place..!!

Google Nexus one:

All droids are equal but some droids are more equal than others. Google it. You’ll get the Nexus One. There are around 50 smartphones and tablets running Android today. That’s right, out of all the offspring they fathered with the Open Handset Alliance, Google finally have one to proudly call their own. What does it mean? Well, not that the ones we’ve seen so far are some poor half-blood droids but the Nexus One is supposed to be THE thing. For one, it’s the first Snapdragon-powered Android and it shows. The Nexus One is wickedly fast. The WVGA touchscreen is a treat to look at and it’s only the second AMOLED display to find on an Android handset. D1 video is sure to sweeten the deal too, and perhaps so will the Live Wallpapers.

Official photos of Google Nexus One

Awash in rumors well before launch, the Google Nexus One was officially revealed in January 2010 and it became available right after the unveiling event. Of course, the first units were to sell only in a very limited number of countries (UK, Singapore and Hong Kong).
Anyway Google are to start shipping their Nexus One through various carriers across Europe, starting with Vodafone this spring. That’s about the time when Verizon subscribers will be getting a CDMA version of the device. Google have a phone to sell, so it’s a fair guess they’ll be seeing to it that everyone can have it. Now, will everyone want to? Let’s see.

Key features

Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support

7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA support

3.7" 16M-color capacitive AMOLED touchscreen of WVGA (480x 800 pixel) resolution

Android OS v2.1 with kinetic scrolling and pinch zooming

Slim profile and some great build quality

Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 1 GHz processor

512 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM

5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geo-tagging

D1 (720 x 480 pixels) video recording @ 24fps

Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS

microSD slot, bundled with a 4GB card

Accelerometer and proximity sensor

Standard 3.5 mm audio jack

microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1

Trackball navigation

Main disadvantages

No DivX and XviD video playback

No Flash support for the web browser (update is on the way)

No smart and voice dialing

Somewhat clumsy camera interface and limited camera features

No dedicated camera shutter key

Non hot-swappable memory card

No FM radio

The soft keys below the display are somewhat unresponsive

The Google phone has HTC fingerprints all over it. We just had the pleasure of the HTC Desire at the WMC and we quite liked what we saw. There’s no reason to expect less of the Nexus One – quite the contrary in fact, a little bit of nepotism only seems right.

Google Nexus One at ours
The Google Nexus One won’t come with the HTC Sense of course, but who would’ve expected so! The Android 2.1 novelties will keep you busy enough anyway, but the first thing on everyone’s mind will be: Is there any special Google treatment the Nexus One is getting?
The latest of the Androids is in a way the firstborn, for all the good and the bad of it. It’s all in the name really: a name that will open doors but that carries a certain obligation too...!!

HTC Desire:

You've already seen the Google Nexus One, Desire is almost similar. End of story. We liked the Nexus One so be our guest, HTC Desire. But is it all that simple?
HTC are so good they build phones for the competition. HTC are so mean they have no issues competing with their own clients. And is it us or are the clients ultimately left with a rather disturbing question: do HTC work for us or do we work for them? Go ask Sony Ericsson and Google.
It doesn't quite make sense to go as far back as the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 and the HTC Touch Pro. Today's story is about another couple of twins. And because the children are nearly identical, we'll try to see what it's like being mom's favorite or dad's.

Official photos of the HTC Desire
The Desire produced a good deal of anticipation and its prompt release after this year's MWC proves HTC know good timing. But by no means can it match the hype that surrounded the Google Nexus One. What's in a name? No, really.
And while we're at it, any other - less cheesy - name would've really suited the top HTC Android better. But well, that's minor stuff compared to what's inside. Here it goes.

Key features:

Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support

7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA

3.7" 16M-color capacitive AMOLED touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480x 800 pixel)

Android OS v2.1 with kinetic scrolling and pinch zooming

Slim profile and great build quality

Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 1 GHz processor

576 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM

5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging

WVGA (800 x 480 pixels) video recording @ 15fps

Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS

microSD slot, bundled with a 4GB card

Accelerometer and proximity sensor

Standard 3.5 mm audio jack

Stereo FM radio with RDS

microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1

Optical trackpad which doubles as a button

Smart dialing

Main disadvantages:

Limited storage available to the user on the system partition (you are left with only 120 MB for installing apps)

No DivX and XviD video playback (Lots of application available which supports all video foramts)

No voice dialing

Non hot-swappable memory card

While the Google Nexus One is still confined to selected countries, its twin, the HTC Desire, is already in stores across the globe. And that may be great news for users on markets still ungraced by Google. It's the same phone - take away the Google logo, and add a few nice little things.
But it's not the differences that you'll care about. It's what both devices have in common that make them so attractive.
Of course we mean the large capacitive AMOLED touchscreen, the fresh Android OS v2.1 they run, the great performance on the 1GHz Snapdragon processor, and the 5-megapixel autofocus cameras they come with.

HTC Desire live shots
Eventually, you'll notice that these are actually two different phones. The Nexus One's trackball is gone for an optical trackpad. The controls on the Desire are actual buttons instead of the capacitive keys on the Google phone. On the homescreen, you'll see the latest Sense UI waving Hello.
Some platforms just don't seem to change for years. The Android OS is evolving at amazing speed. The Desire is one of the first devices to come with the latest version of the Android operating system but more importantly, being so powerful, it's among the few to reveal what ?clair is actually capable of.
Those lines sound as if the Desire is free from sin. It really isn't. There is always room for improvement - and that's especially true for Android handsets. But before we get to that...!!

#2: Samsung I9000 Galaxy S

Introduction

Even though i personally hate Samsung phones, this one comes with My favorite OS of all(Android) and even i'm pretty much impressed with its battery life,the GPU .....and the super AMOLED screen..

Samsung I9000 Galaxy S
The Samsung I9000 Galaxy S has so much muscle that trying to impose your will with brute force is pointless. No sir, this creature needs to be befriended, patted on the back until it starts to trust you. But once it lets you jump on its back it will give you the ride of a lifetime.

Key features

Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support
7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support
4" 16M-color Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480 x 800 pixel) resolution
Android OS v2.1 with TouchWiz 3.0 UI customization
1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird CPU; 512 MB of RAM
5 MP autofocus camera with face, smile and blink detection
720p HD video recording at 30fps
Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g and n support
GPS with A-GPS connectivity; Digital compass
8/16GB internal storage, microSD slot
Accelerometer and proximity sensor
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0
Stereo FM radio with RDS
1500 mAh Li-Ion battery
Great audio quality
Slim waistline at only 9.9mm thickness
Document editor
File manager comes preinstalled
Secondary video-call camera
Swype predictive text input
Excellent choice of preinstalled applications

Main disadvantages

The build quality is not up to the mark (Samsung did the same mistake again)
UI is not as good as htc sense and home screen looks kinda clumsy
No Flash support for the web browser
No flash for the camera
No dedicated camera key
The all-plastic body is a real fingerprint magnet
Feeble loudspeaker

The largest Super AMOLED display in business is a great feat but the Samsung I9000 Galaxy S won’t stop there. The slim-fit case has room for a 1GHz processor and a 5 megapixel camera with HD video recording, while the Android 2.1 (Éclair) OS is the latest… uhh, wait a minute, there’s a weather update. We’re getting reports of a Froyo drizzle on Samsung’s party.
Anyway, Éclair it is – with the Samsung’s home-brewed TouchWiz UI on top, which we’ve already found to notably improve the usability of the interface. Oh, and you are also having a choice between 8 and 16 GB of internal storage, which should be more than enough to store those DivX and XviD videos the Galaxy S can play right out of the box.

Samsung I9000 Galaxy S at ours
Is there really anything more to want in a full-touch smartphone? Of course there is – it’s how all those parts come together.

#3:Motorola DROID X

Dipped in clarified cyborg testosterone as it comes off the assembly line, the Droid X is sci-fi machismo congealed into a phone. Yet it's gelded by steroidal software—a fussy, awkward android with acne the size of asteroids.

Available today, the Motorola Droid X on Verizon for $200 after rebates.

The Droid X is the latest module in a curious outgrowth of smartphone evolution. An industrial slab as vast and barren as a desert planet, it revels in being the most colossal thing that could possibly be called a phone, stretching categorical credulity—and pocket fabric.
Unbridled masculine aggression isn't simply a side effect—it's a marketing tagline. "Are you man enough for this phone?" prods the cyborg eye ripped from a Terminator endoskeleton, chosen by Verizon to be Droid's wordless representative. Is this insecurity? Or is it confidence?

The Droid X is even more mondo than the other Android phone of epic proportions—HTC's Evo, also a juiced-up technical demonstration of how much fancy silicon can be stuffed inside of a phone. The ice scraper-cum-phone is hardware unabashedly designed to provoke the most raging nerd boner possible:

Key features

>4.3-inch 854x480 screen (slightly higher res than the Evo's 4.3-inch screen),
>1GHz TI OMAP processor (a methed-out rendition of the chip inside the original Droid and Palm Pre),
>512MB RAM, 24GB storage,
>8-megapixel stills,
>720p HD video, DLNA compatibility w/ HDMI Micro out,

three mics for noise cancellation and wireless N with 3G hotspot powers.
As a pure expression of the limits of mobile hardware and industrial design, the Droid X is kind of a beautiful thing. But that's about the only good thing about the Droid X.
The software—a discordant melange of the not-so-fresh Android 2.1 and various bits of the Blur "social networking" interface from Motorola's lower-end Android phones—is the shudder-inducing poster child for the horrors that can occur when most hardware companies try to make software. It's ugly, scattershot, and confusing. It feels almost malicious.

(Click to embiggen.)

The creeping feeling that Android is the new Windows becomes an overwhelming sensation the first time you boot up Droid X. Seven sprawling desktop screens, littered with widgets, oodles of little programs—the vast majority of which you probably don't want or need. It's overwhelming and utterly incomprehensible if you're not the kind of person who's seen at least two non-JJ Abrams Star Trek movies. The minutes lost to clearing them to get to a reasonably clean desktop, one press-and-hold-and-swipe gesture at a time, brought me back to the sullen days of removing crapware from whiny relatives' Sony Vaios. Breathtaking hardware, filled to the brim with crap. Why would Motorola make this the first impression of its phone? Stuttering and confusion?
A grizzled nerd would see, on the surface, that the Droid X's interface is a only slightly customized spin of Android—things are mostly just skinned to be Droidier—reds, greens and shades of steel. A more pronounced navbar at the bottom announces which of the seven desktop screens you're sitting on as you slide between them, while a semi-permanent widget keeps the phone app and contacts at the ready. The overt Motoblur interface, upfront, is reduced to a handful Motorola widgets for things like the calendar or social networking. (They're attractive by themselves, but amidst the cyborg orgy they stand out in a bad way.) The gimmick is laid thick, but it's on top of Android, rather than replacing parts of it wholesale.

As soon as you dive into the bits that Motorola aims to seriously augment—the social networking aspects from its Blur interface, things gets really messy. Droid X comes with its own accounts and contacts system for Twitter, Facebook, Picasa, Exchange, MySpace, and more, that all resides on the phone. The idea is that you can update your status for every network simultaneously and keep track of all your friends, across every possible service, using Motorola's widgets and contacts system. While it offers more services, it doesn't work nearly as seamlessly as Android's native apps for Facebook and Twitter. The whole setup feels more like an elegant hack. And God help you if cross streams between Android's official Facebook/Twitter apps and Motorola's. We've reached the point where custom interfaces on top of Android really don't do anything better than Google does. They're almost universally worse.

#4:HTC HD2

Introduction

Quietly brilliant is what HTC like to call themselves and they've been giving enough proof lately. But allow us to disagree. The last thing to call the HD2 is quiet - the monster of a PocketPC simply screams rock'n'roll.
We just got a glimpse of the Snapdragon-powered giant in the preview we posted a few days back. It's now time to let it off the leash and hope we can keep up with its speed. The HTC HD2, a.k.a. Leo, is the company's first Snapdragon-based device and also the first Windows Mobile smartphone ever to have a capacitive touchscreen (read: super thumb-friendly).
A capacitive touchscreen on a PocketPC? No way? Well, you'd better get used to it because they are just going to keep on coming. The HTC HD2 may be the first of its kind but the next ones are just around the corner. And what's even more important, a capacitive screen gives WinMo unmatched and absolutely unexpected user friendliness. With the large screen, icons are big, almost huge, and you can easily thumb your way around the menu and apps.

HTC HD2 official images
We've met the HD2 already and we guess it's ok to cut the civilities short. It's a device that likes to be in the thick of action and we're not paid to keep it idle either. The HD2 promises an exciting ride and it sure has horsepower to spare.

Key features

Huge 4.3" 65K-color WVGA glass-covered capacitive touchscreen

Multi-touch input

Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional OS with Sense UI

Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 1 GHz CPU and 448MB RAM

Quad-band GSM support

3G with HSDPA 7.2Mbps

Wi-Fi connectivity

Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS support

Stereo FM radio with RDS

5 MP autofocus camera with dual LED flash and touch focus

VGA video recording at 30fps

microSD card slot

Standard microUSB port and Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP

Standard 3.5mm audio jack

Great audio quality

MS Office Mobile document editor

Opera 9.5 web browser

YouTube client, Facebook and Twitter integration

Excellent video playback performance

Good battery life

Main disadvantages

It's a pretty large phone

Poor sunlight legibility

65K color limitation of display has color gradients banding

Card slot under the battery cover

Disappointing photo and video quality

No dedicated camera key and no lens cover

No DivX/XviD video support out-of-the-box

Preloaded CoPilot Live navigation software is a trial version

No secondary video-call camera

No voice dialing

No handwriting recognition

Dodgy web Flash support

The HTC HD2 may be a tad smaller than the monstrous Toshiba TG01 but that's nowhere near compact. And it all comes down to one simple thing: the 4.3" display. The huge touchscreen is an absolute treat but may be not that simple in the end. In tablet terms, the HD2 is sweet to use landscape but not every user will be happy with singlehanded operation and actual phone calls. But then you look at how thin it is, what it's packing inside and perhaps it doesn't seem so big. You know you'll adjust and get used to it in the same way that people got used to the less than compact size of the iPhone.

HTC HD2 live shots
And while we're at it, a side by side comparison of both devices may not be enough to convey the size issues of the HD2. In all fairness, a phone this size is not the most comfortable to hold next to your year but it's an impressive package that's worth the inconvenience. Against the iPhone, the HD2 has a much larger and higher-res touchscreen, as well as a faster processor, multi tasking and a 5 megapixel snapper with dual LED flash. HTC have also done a lot to transform TouchFLO into their new Sense UI, but it still lags slightly behind the user interface of the iPhone.

#5: Nokia N8

The Nokia N8 is probably Nokia's most anticipated handset to date and we got our hands on a prototype at NYC's Dolby Labs to see exactly how amazing the Finnish manufacturer's smartphone really is.
It may seem a little strange that the viewing was hosted by Dolby, but it becomes quite clear when you see that the N8 is primarily a smartphone (of course) but with a strong leaning toward being a multimedia powerhouse.
A few journalists/pundits got to see - and touch - a number of very early N8 prototypes. Not everything worked at peak performance yet, as expected with early hardware and software. But the video worked just fine.
We all watched a number of movie trailers coming from the N8, all with Dolby surround sound encoding (you knew they had to be involved with the phone in some manner). That was very, very impressive, as was the video quality and the audio playback.

Key features:

>AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
>Multi-touch input method
>3.5 mm audio jack
>12 MP, 4000x3000 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, Xenon flash
>16 GB storage, 256MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
>Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, UPnP technology
>ARM 11 680 MHz processor, 3D Graphics HW accelerator
> A-GPS support; Ovi Maps 3.0
>Supports USB flash drives(pendrive with biult in micro usb port and come with an usb adopter to plug pen drives directly in to the phone)
> Scratch resistant Gorilla glass display
>HDMI output
>Symbian ^3 OS

#6:Apple iPhone 4

Introduction

You can't make a phone that everyone loves and Apple is not even trying. Much like any other iPhone so far, the iPhone 4 is a phone that everybody loves AND hates.
Apple’s latest is always the greatest – you have to give them that. Sometimes it seems they put less effort into making it than in letting people know they did. But with the Apple iPhone 4, they were obviously hard at work. The 4th generation iPhone has an all new look, new feel and plenty of new skill. We already caught a glimpse of the iOS4. But there’s much more: a 1GHz chip, two cameras, HD video and of course the Retina display – the highest-res screen we’ve seen so far on a GSM phone.

Apple iPhone 4 official photos
Surely there are still enough blank spots on the feature list but that’s Apple and its iPhone. Compromises are being made in every phone out there anyway. But the simple fact is Number 4 is the best iPhone to-date. Let’s see how good that is.

Key features

Quad-band GSM and quad-band 3G support with 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA

3.5" 16M-color LED-backlit TFT capacitive touchscreen of 640 x 960 px resolution

Scratch-resistant glass front and rear, with fingerprint-resistant coating

1GHz Apple A4 SoC; 512MB of RAM

5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and touch focus

720p video recording at 30fps

Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n

GPS with A-GPS connectivity; digital compass

16/32GB storage options

Accelerometer, proximity sensor and three-axis gyro sensor

Active noise cancellation with a dedicated secondary microphone

Standard 3.5 mm audio jack, stereo Bluetooth v2.1

Excellent audio output quality

Slim waistline at only 9.3mm

Secondary front-facing camera

Some degree of multitasking

Rich AppStore

Main disadvantages

Hardware design is prone to reception issues

MicroSIM card support only

No Flash support in the web browser

No true multitasking for all applications

FaceTime video calls work only over Wi-Fi

No file transfer over Bluetooth or USB Mass Storage mode

No hardware shutter key for the camera

No FM radio

No stereo speakers

No microSD card slot

No smart dialing

Too dependent on iTunes for loading multimedia content

Poor loudspeaker performance

As you can see, most of the main disadvantages are simply passed from one generation to the next but - whatever iPhone you’re coming from - the Number 4 will tick most of your boxes. Upgraders will be used to the shortcomings, and unbiased observers will have less points to complain against.
It just seems some features will be forever missing. The iPhone’s memory isn’t expandable and you can’t use the thing as an external drive (this also means that files are only transferred via iTunes, again). Bluetooth has been upgraded to cover not only for music and calls but a compatible wireless keyboard too. File transfers however are a no-go.
The lack of Flash support in the Safari browser is no surprise given the Apple-Adobe feud. Luckily there’s the good old YouTube app to partly make up for that but Flash games are still out of the question.
There is now a secondary video-call cam but the “reinvented” FaceTime video calls feature only works over Wi-Fi (for now) and between two iPhone 4’s.

#7: Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10

Introduction

Sony Ericsson have been working on the X10 for quite a long time, taking the utmost care to make sure its software offers the best user experience possible. They wanted their first droid to be perfect and perfection requires time. That’s right – the XPERIA X10 is the first Android to roll off the Sony Ericsson assembly line, hard as it might be to believe. But it certainly is not the kind of the phone to quietly disappear in the crowd of first-generation droids.
Androids just keep coming and a look at our front page will tell you any newcomer will need big ideas to make a splash. The popularity of Google’s mobile OS is reaching unprecedented levels and the handsets adopting Android grow in number every day. And while Microsoft will try to unify their Windows Phone 7 and limit customization, Google favor the opposite approach.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 official photos
Sony Ericsson immediately took on board the possibilities offered by customization and really ran with it. Their blue-themed interpretation breathes new life into the familiar Android OS and tries to give the user a whole new experience. But they didn’t stop there. The unique Timescape and Mediascape interfaces are supposed to give the XPERIA X10 a much-needed edge in the high-end class. Trying to compete with the HTC Sense is a tough job, but Sony Ericsson have managed to offer something completely different – giving media and communications a central place in their UI.
XPERIA X10 comes with top-notch hardware to meet its software demands. Here is the impressive specs sheet along with some potential drawbacks.

Key features

Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support

7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA support

4" capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480 x 854 pixel) resolution and scratch-resistant surface

16M-color ready (65K effective colors under Android OS v1.6)

Android OS v1.6 with complete Sony Ericsson UI customization

Timescape and Mediascape UI

Excellent social networking integration

Excellent build quality

Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon 1 GHz CPU, OpenGL ES 2.0 support; 384 MB of RAM

8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, touch focus, image stabilization, geotagging, face and smile detection

WVGA (800 x 480 pixels) video recording @ 30fps

Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS

1GB storage, microSD slot, bundled with an 8GB card

Accelerometer and proximity sensor

Standard 3.5 mm audio jack

microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1

Document viewer

Li-Po 1500 mAh (BST-41) battery

Great audio quality

Main disadvantages

No DivX and XviD video playback

No smart dialing

Limited storage available to the user on the system partition (you are left with only 512 MB for installing apps)

No secondary video-call camera (or videocalling whatsoever)

No free GPS navigation solution

No Flash support for the web browser

No FM radio

An extra xenon flash would’ve made the very good camera perfect

Feeble loudspeaker

Most of the XPERIA weaknesses are hardly deal breakers and most people could live with them. Sony Ericsson have done enough though to reassure everyone that the XPERIA X10 will be on a par with its Android rivals at the time of release. Don’t underestimate the amount of hard work put into the X10 during the long manufacturing process. The delay was definitely worth it.

#8:HTC Legend

Introduction

It took a little Magic and a Dream but Android eventually got a Hero to champion the OS. Now, the HTC Legend comes in an aluminum suit of armor to join the ranks of the Android army. So, is this knight in shining armor set to be the vanguard of the explosive growth of Android?

HTC Legend official photos
The predecessor of the HTC Legend, the Hero, pioneered Sense UI and this latest gadget follows suit, but brings some innovation of its own.
The HTC Legend borrows a page from high-end laptop design – the aluminum unibody. The unibody design was touted as a game-changing breakthrough when it hit the laptop market. A lot of that was marketing hype, but the fact is that unibody metal designs still have a distinct quality feel to them.
Before we jump into any details, we’ll go over the key aspects of the HTC Legend and what we found lacking.

Key features

Aluminum unibody design

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support

3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps

Android OS v2.1 with latest Sense UI

3.2" capacitive AMOLED touchscreen of HVGA resolution

Qualcomm MSM 7227 600 MHz CPU, 384 MB RAM

5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and VGA@30fps video recording

Web browser comes with Flash support

Multi-touch zooming in gallery and web browser

Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and GPS receiver

Digital compass for automatic navigation of maps

Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and turn-to-mute

Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP); File transfer over Bluetooth

Standard microUSB port for charging and data

Standard 3.5mm audio jack

FM Radio with RDS

microSD card slot with support for up to 32GB cards (2GB one included)

Tethering support right out-of-the-box

Social networking integration with Facebook and Twitter

Direct access to the official Android application repository

Main disadvantages

No video-call camera (or videocalling whatsoever)

No dedicated shutter key or lens cover

No TV-out port

No voice dialing

No DivX or XviD video support out of the box

Dodgy flash video support

The aluminum body isn’t the only hardware upgrade the Legend got over the Hero, the TFT display technology has been switched in favor of AMOLED and that’s not all. Some of the other specs have alos received a refresh.

#9:Samsung S8500 Wave

Introduction

Smartphone for the masses or feature phone of the future? Samsung would gladly have it either way. The question rather is, will the Bada OS keep up the pace of its debut device. We’ve been following the new smart platform since its first public appearance. It’s not a particularly hard one to follow anyway, with a single phone announced so far and potential successors of the Samsung S8500 Wave only a whisper of a rumor.
It will certainly take more – and equally convincing – devices for Bada to do as well as Samsung want it to. Proper developer support and a fast growing app store will be a must too. So, it’ll take hard work but there’s something to be optimistic about – the firstborn is promising. OK, cautiously optimistic is more like it with Android, Windows Phone 7 or Symbian ^3 predators lurking around.
We’re about to see what the Samsung S8500 Wave is really capable of. We’re getting ready to enjoy it. The S8500 Wave did well in our preview and - fingers crossed - unpleasant surprises are not on today’s menu. The OS is trying to combine feature-phone ease of use with the versatility of smartphones. The Super AMOLED touchscreen is the envy of the industry, with image quality that no other phone display could match.

Samsung S8500 Wave official photos
Being the first of a kind has its implications. Some may be willing to forgive a few flaws but a brand new OS needs a flagship capable of facing up to the competition. The S8500 Wave fits the bill. Trademark Samsung exterior and premium build are inviting enough to encourage exploring a wealth of features.

Key features

3.3" 16M-color Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, WVGA (480 x 800 pixels), multi-touch input support, scratch-resistant glass surface

Solid 10.9mm-thin metal body

Bada OS with Samsung Apps

ARM Cortex A8 based 1GHz CPU

Quad-band GSM support with dual-band 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 2Mbps HSUPA

Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n connectivity with WPS support, Wi-Fi tethering app

Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS support, digital compass, Samsung Mobile Navigator

5 MP autofocus camera with touch focus, geo-tagging, face, smile and blink detection and LED flash

720p video recording at 30fps

390MB user available memory, 1GB Bada apps storage and 550MB messaging storage

microSDHC card slot

Standard microUSB port and Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP

Standard 3.5mm audio jack, TV out

Stereo FM radio with RDS, FM recording

Webkit-based Samsung Dolphin Browser 2.0 with full Flash support

YouTube client, Facebook and Twitter integration

DivX/XviD video support

Impressive audio quality

Main disadvantages

I'm not satisfied with the samsung bada OS and the UI(but looks great compare to previous Touch viz interface).

Limited number of available applications

No lens cover

Card slot under the battery

Inbuilt SatNav software has only a 30-day navigation license

No ambient light sensor to change screen brightness dynamically

The S8500 Wave tries to give it all and hopes the Samsung app store will eventually catch up. As good as this phone looks and feels, and for all the technology it holds inside, its success or failure hinges on the developer support it will get. The Apple app store took a year to open after the launch of iPhone but look at it now.

#10:HTC Wildfire(Desire mini)

Introduction

Occasionally HTC takes a little break from high-end smartphones and dips its toes in the waters of the lower midrange. The HTC Wildfire is a down-sized, down-clocked and down-priced version of the HTC Desire. If Sony Ericsson can do it with the X10 mini, then HTC have all the right in the world to make a Desire mini too.

HTC Wildfire official photos
But while the Desire was something that easily snatched everybody’s attention, the Wildfire is a bit more toned down despite its fire-some name.

Key features

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support

3G with 7.2 Mbps HSDPA

Android OS v2.1 (Éclair) with Sense UI

3.2" capacitive touchscreen of QVGA resolution

Multi-touch support

Qualcomm MSM 7225 528 MHz CPU, 384 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM

5 megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash and touch focus

Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and GPS receiver

Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate

Turn-to-mute, lift-to-tone-down

Proximity sensor

Smart dialing

Standard miniUSB port for charging and data

Bluetooth with A2DP, file transfers

microSD card slot, a 2GB card in the box

Standard 3.5mm audio jack

Social network integration: Facebook, Twitter and Flickr through Friend Stream

Flash-enabled browser

Direct access to the official Android repository

Stereo FM radio with RDS

Main disadvantages

Poor screen image quality, QVGA doesn’t do Android OS and the display size justice

No video-call camera or videocalling whatsoever

CIF@15fps video recording (352 x 288 pixels) is below par

No voice dialing

No DivX or XviD video support out of the box

No TV-out port

The Wildfire is certainly the right phone for those who like to always stay in touch. The high-end connectivity is all there, along with solid social network integration and browsing. It seems the display and CPU are the only downgrades from the Desire.

*Declaimer: All reviews posted here are written by gsmarena.com ,i've just modified some stuff and given the ranking.

"Burn In" your new headphones to vastly improve the sound quality.

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 22:32:00 -0700

What is burn-in ?

Generally,burn-in is the process for excising new audio equipment. Some high-end headphones require 100-400 hours burn-in to reach its "best state". In reality, many people noticed the sound quality improvement after burn-in process,,even me,I noticed drastic change in the sound quality and clarity, specially bass...with my Soundmagic pl-21 headphones...!!

Procedure for "Burn in":

Things required:

1.New headphone

2.An audio source..ex: ipod ,laptop or desktop etc...

3.Hours of patience

Step 1:

First you need a burn in wave ,,you can download it from here http://www.burninwave.com

Everything you will need will be at this site. You can use pre-recorded .wav files or the Burninwave Generator software to "burn-in" your new headphones. Most headphones require over 100 hours, so you should download the software available on the.....

1.If you are using the computer then you can install Burnin wave generator software and burn your headphone using pink noise or white noice....i prefer pink noise.

Download Burninwave Generator here:

http://www.burninwave.com/download/biwavegen.zip

Note: keep the audio source volume slightly higher than your normal listening level....

2.If you are using the MP3 player or I-pod as audio source you can use pre recorded .wav file...i.e
Download pink noise from here :
http://www.burninwave.com/download/pinknoise.wav

Step2:

1.Play the pink noise in your MP3 player keep it repeat mode.

2.Listen periodically to monitor the progress, but really you don't have to. Whether your head is in between the cans doesn't matter. The higher the quality of headphones the longer it may take. My Soundmagic pl-21 in ear headphones made a dramatic change somewhere between 80 and 100 hours, and I noticed the pronounced difference. Out of the package they had no bottom end. They got pronounced mids sooner than lows, but now they have clearly defined balanced lows.

3. I recommend you to burn in minimum of 100 hours for better result..

Step3:

Stop the burn in whenever you want. There are no rules. All you are doing is speeding up a process that would happen anyway with normal use. Once burned in your headphones should be close to the way they will sound the rest of their life

Some FAQ's about "burn in" before you actually perform the procedure...

Why do people choose to burn in a new pair of headphones shortly after getting them?

Fresh out of the box, a pair of headphones may not sound as good as a well used pair, as the designers have intended. Often, people want their headphones to sound the way that they are intended as soon as possible. Most people don’t want to wait for weeks or months of regular use, so the choice is to expedite burn in by getting the process over with in the first week of ownership. Others choose to listen to their headphones as they change over the burn in period.

How do I burn in my new pair of headphones?

You can simply play music through them continuously. Some prefer using pure tones, sine wave sweeps, pink noise, or AM/FM static for burn in. Some recommend using bass heavy music. The method of burning in a headphone does not change depending on model or manufacturer.

Which burn in method is most efficient?

There is no scientific evidence proving that one is better than the other. Choose the method that you prefer.

What do I do with my headphones while they are burning in?

You can set them on a table, put them in a sock drawer, put them under some pillows, or put them on your head. It’s up to you.

Do I have to burn in my new pair before I listen to them?

No. You can listen to your new pair of headphones straight from the box. Whether or not to burn in your headphones is your choice. As you listen, you may hear gradual changes in the sound through use. Some people choose to listen periodically during the process, while some hold out until the process is complete. While still others listen for the burn in throughout the entire process listening from day one and enjoying the evolution in sound.

How much does burn in effect the sound of the headphones?

Some say burn in has a drastic effect, some say there is little effect, and some say that there is no effect. The amount of change resulting from burn in will be different for each model of headphones.

How long should I burn in my new pair?

Many recommend approximately 100 hours for most headphones. Some recommend as many as 200 hours or more. Different headphones may take longer than others for a so-called ‘complete’ burn in, and there is no exact or set length of time for burn in. It is best to use your ears to listen for changes to decide when you should stop the burn in process.

When is burn in complete? Can I burn in too much?

The idea behind initial burn in is to reach the point at which audible changes stop occurring and you are left with drivers than have settled into the sound that they will have forever after, the sound that it was designed to have. After that point, regular use of the driver won’t cause significant change in the sound, until perhaps years and years later when thousands upon thousands of hours have passed and the life of the driver is at its end. However, some say that burn in is never complete. The argument is that regular, long-term use constantly wears on the drivers and that wear always has an affect on the sound. Still, it is safe to say that, after a driver has reached its designed parameters through burn in, regular use won’t cause significant audible changes.

Is there a wrong way to burn in my headphones?

You risk damaging your headphones at any time by using extremely high volumes. Some recommend setting the volume to a comfortable listening level during burn in, while others recommend a volume slightly higher than your normal listening level. If you hear distortion, pops, or cracks due to high volume, you are likely doing damage to the drivers. Also, using very low volumes will not be very effective in burning in your headphones.

Is burn in actually real?

The idea of burn in has always been controversial. Some people say that there is evidence that proves it while others say that there is evidence to disprove it. Some consider the phenomenon to be purely psychological conditioning while others insist upon physical changes to the drivers, and some agree upon a combination of the two. You are free to be a believer, and you are free to be a skeptic. Whether or not you believe in it and the position you take on the subject is a choice that you should make for yourself.

Is there anything else that I should know?

Burn in has been discussed at length over the years of Head-Fi. Any question you have concerning burn in has likely been asked numerous times, and by using the search function and reading through previous threads, you will almost surely find answers and opinions. This FAQ has been created to limit the number of redundant threads posted by newcomers or especially curious existing members of the Head-Fi community asking the same questions that have been asked in the past. The subject of burn in is not especially complicated or involved, nor is it something to have great concern about, nor is it an exact science. Opinions, methods, and results vary from person to person, headphone to headphone, system to system.

SoundMagic PL-21, awesome IEM for $20 (Rs.900)...!!

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:19:00 -0700

SoundMagic PL-21/MP-21 Review

A few months back finding a ‘value for money’ IEM with exceptional sound quality in India was almost impractical. There was the mighty Creative EP-630 which was everyone's favorite, Other than that the only additional options we had were a few Sony, Philips lineup which really didn't sound all that great, barring a few models; ofcourse, Sennheiser was available as well and had a price tag which would empty your wallets.

I dint find any reasonable yet truly effective IEM....Until people started talking about a company called SoundMagic, i saw one of the post highlighting this great company,,whose flagship model- the PL-30 took all the IEM lovers and audio enthusiasts on head-fi by surprise. An IEM costing just about 25-30$ and sound comparable to twice-thrice it's price.

And immediately i ordered PL-21 in Mediahome.in and it was shipped to me 5 days back..!!I was impressed by first look itself.....here is some of it...[..]

SoundMagic PL-21 and MP-21.

Among all the brands available today ,Soundmagic still remains one of my most recommended personal choices as it is one brand which consistently delivers the best possible musical earphones for each price bracket.
Today we have a look at yet another new budget offering from SoundMagic -the PL-21 and the MP-21.With the MP-21 which is a PL-21 with an additional mic, Soundmagic has targeted a new segment of buyers -iphone and mobile phone users.

Basically the PL-21 & MP-21 are the same IEM with the exception of an added microphone on the MP-21 for receiving calls and music controls on iphone.

These specifications are common for PL-21 & MP-21.
Driver: 9mm Dynamic
Impedance: 12 Ω
Sensitivity: 97dB±2 dB / mW @ 1kHz
Frequency Response: 15Hz~22kHz
Plug: Gold-plated L-shaped mini plug (3.5mm)
Weight: 8g
Cable: 1.2m

The impedance is pretty low ,hence these should be really easy to drive and won't need any amping as such .

Packaging and Accessories :
The PL-21 and MP-21 both come in the new standard, small Soundmagic boxes similar to the one used for PL-30,PL-50 etc. It's a fairly miniature box with a tiny window on the front which lets you have a look at the design of the earbuds. Inside, the different eartips and accessories are well packed and immobile.I did receive all the accessories and different ear tips with both the IEMs which I've listed below.

The accessories consist of -
4 silicon ear tips -Small, Medium ,Large ,Xtra Large

2 Foam tips (for better isolation and bass)
Cable winder
Ear guides
a soft pouch

Sound Magic seems to have done away with the round hard case which is a part of the more expensive PL-30, and PL-50 .Looks like a part of cost cutting to keep the price lower than the PL-30. Anyways, a soft pleather pouch is a part of the accessories. It's nothing spectacular but decent enough to carry the IEMs and keep them safe. I still found the hard case to be classier and more durable but I guess you get what you pay for...

All in all considering the price ,it's a well thought accessory pack . Would give it a 3.8/5.

Design
As mentioned previously the PL-21 and MP-21 have identical drivers as well as the housing .Design is pretty simple and straightforward. No fancy curves and stuff. If you check out the Soundmagic lineup ,you might notice that the design is pretty similar to the PL-20, though the sound is completely different. The driver housing is made of tough plastic and is divided into two small portions. The front part has a bezelled ring around the earbuds and the rear part has the channel markings in the form of L & R. The nozzle which holds the ear tips is of the same diameter as the PL-50,hence the ear tips are interchangeable. Also the nozzle is bent at an angle for a more comfortable fit as well as better acoustics.

The earplugs can be worn straight down (traditional way ) as well as over the ears using the provided ear guides or even without them .So the users have the freedom to choose what suits them best.

Build Quality
The build quality of Sound Magic has improved by leaps and bounds with the latest models and this is seen in the PL-21 as well as the PL50 which I will soon review. Compared to the PL-30 the construction of the PL-21 is a lot more sturdier and solid .It gives you a feel of a more upscale product and makes you feel confident about the life of the earphones. The quality of plastic is on par ,infact slightly better than most earphones of this price range and should be able to withstand a little bit of beating .
The cable is medium, soft and pliable and proper rubber strain relief is provided at every sensitive place of the cable which is prone to damage-the cable entrance near the earplugs, the splitting of the channels and near the L-shaped 3.5mm connector. Overall the cable seems durable in the long-run.

Summing up the aesthetics,build ,comfort and isolation of the PL-21/MP-21 , I would rate it as 3.9/5. Build quality deserves a special mention as I find it to be the best for the price range and would rate it 4.5/5.

Sound Quality :
Before testing the earphones I gave them a straight 50-70 hrs burn-in .To get a fair idea of the sound signature and avoid any added coloration by the source ,the IEMs were tested using different portable as well as desktop sources.

Test Setup used :
Portable : Nokia 5800 Xpress music

*Also the PL-21/MP-21 are easily powered so no amp was used during testing .A cheap budget amp wouldn't make much difference to the sound quality but a better sounding source will.

So how does it sound ?
Every IEM has that first impression when you put them in your ears. Sometimes you love the sound , sometimes you hate it due to the sibilance ,bright treble etc.
When I tried the PL-21 for the first time, I was blown away! I knew I had a winner in my hand .It didn’t sound anything like a 20$ IEM. It immediately reminded me of the SoundMagic PL-30 because the sound signature is so very similar .The same lush , smooth midrange with a well extended treble and a soundstage unbeatable for this price. The only thing that gets better here is the solid amount of bass.

Bass :

The bass is solid and heavy and extends quite low.
*note- The bass varies with different tips and fit. I found the bass to be very low with the deep insertion of the tips.

Conclusion :

Soundmagic has done it again .They have successfully produced another budget champ which in my opinion is capable of outdoing any other IEM in this price range. For just about 20$ the PL-21s and especially the MP-21 with a mic are complete steal deals.

Pros:

+ amazing midrange + solid bass + excellent build quality + superb value for money - unbeatable for the price

Cons :
-slight treble roll -off
-fit/comfort could be better
-lack of hard case...

**you can buy it in http://www.mediahome.in

its a great site and dont worry your money is secure..!!

Control your computer through SMS..!!

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:14:00 -0700

The most convenient way to control the PC/System, while you are not at home is controlling it by SMS. Not only Home it can be Office also, in a way you can say controlling the computer wirelessly or remotely. This feature can be widely implemented in the country like India where SMS cost are very cheap.

You can control tour PC through blue tooth but how to control it through SMS....???

Coming to the point, to control a PC through SMS, your system should be connected to internet. The service I am going to tell is Free of cost, it depends only on your service provider SMS charges. If you have FREE SMS packs of 10 digit mobile number then its totally FREE.

Well the thing we will need to have is twitter.com account, if you dont have one then you can make it on twitter.
Second thing we will need to have " TweetMyPC " software which again is a freeware and can be downloaded from here : Click to download directly. TweetMyPC basically runs on the PC all the time to monitor the Twitter updates for the account which you created earlier in background. So, this software should run always on PC. After installing TweetMyPC you will need to configure it correctly.
For that here we go :

> Run TweetMyPC by clicking on its icon from Desktop. It will start running in background, you can view it in system tray :

> Right Click on the icon and select Edit Setting. Now a new window will appear asking you username and password of Twitter. Fill in the username and password of the Twitter account Correctly.

> Save and close the window.
Now we are done with this stage of setup.

For updating Twitter status/controlling PC through SMS :

> For completing this step, we will head on to a FREE status update service which is available in India. It is here: http://www.smstweet.in/

> Open the site, and click on " Sign in with Twitter " button. Allow the site to access Twitter. And enter you mobile number, through which you are going to update it. This is the one way of registering your mobile, or you can also Setup your mobile by Simply Sending SMS ' TWEET REGISTER ' to 09220092200.

Now you are done. Start controlling your system wirelessly. But before that where are the commands which you will use to control your PC ?

List of Commands to Control PC:

>To shut down the PC you will need to send SMS as " TWEET Shutdown " to 09220092200 , without quotation.
Here are some more commands, but before sending those you will need to add TWEET word before each command.

Further, you can also add your own custom commands in TweetMyPC software.

Free Farmville Hacking tool/ Revised

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 22:34:00 -0700

There are millions of cheat and hack for Farmville on internet. But few seems to work, oops not few but very few! Also, many are distributing trojans, spywares and virus in the name of hacking application. Most of them are either fake or waste time. Keeping all those things apart, here I am going to explain about this working hack which is very useful for saving time.....

Well first, I'm going to tell you that there aren't many real cheats for Farmville that I know of, most of them are fake since it's not like they've got cheats built into it, e.g. Cheat Codes....

I'm going to explain you about a program which looks at the way Farmville has been created and automatically plays the game for you. This program enables you to go to sleep while the bot continues to play the game for you. Tool is “Farmville Magic Tools 1.5”, which you can download from here: nessuno.org or from mediafire . Open the downloaded folder and run FarmvilleMagicTools file.

1. Open Farmville on Facebook. Now Farmville Magic Tools window will be active and look like this, if everything went well:

2. Drag the cow icon on Farmville, sure that the part of the farm is visible.

Full instructions are posted here: nessuno.org

Watch this video, if you need more help:

Thanks raeef for testing and informing us.

Zune HD vs New iPod Touch 3rd Generation

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Tue, 11 May 2010 23:27:00 -0700

Zune HD vs iPod Touch

Zune HD or iPod Touch, which one to buy?

Zune HD

While iPod Touch (and its big brother, the iPhone) remain the Kings of the portable media player world, there is a big challenge coming from Microsoft in the form of the Zune HD. Even though the original Zune went almost unnoticed as a rival to the iPods, things are set to change with the introduction of HD. Purely from the hardware point of view, the Zune HD is miles ahead of the current generation of the iPod Touch. What about the software, services and other aspects? Here is a table of comparison of these two portable media power houses.

iPod Touch

Zune HD vs iPod Touch: Comparison of specifications

Feature	Zune HD	iPod Touch
Capacity	16/32 GB	8/16/32 GB
Display Size	3.3 inches	3.5 inches
Display Type	OLED	LCD
Screen Aspect Ratio	16:9	3:2
Resolution	480×272	480×320
Processor Type/Speed	NVIDIA Tegra. Speed not known	620 MHz capable ARM11 running at 520 MHz
RAM	Not Known	128 MB
Format Support	WMA, WMV, MP3, H.264	AAC, H.264, MP3
Adobe Flash?	No	No
GPS	No	Wi-Fi triangulation provides approximate location identification
Input Interface	Multi-touch, Virtual QWERTY	Multi-touch, Virtual QWERTY Keypad
Radio	HD Radio	Only internet radio (through third party apps)
Integrated Speakers?	Yes	Yes
Connectivity	USB, Wi-Fi, HDMI	USB, Wi-Fi
Operating System	Windows CE based	Mac OS X based
Multi-touch?	Yes	Yes
Mic?	No	Yes
Accelerometer?	Yes	Yes
Integrated Camera?	No	No
TV Out	HD 720p, HDMI through Zune Dock	SD, through Apple Composite Cable
Third Party Apps?	Yes	Yes
Music Store	Zune Marketplace with subscription service	iTunes (No subscription Model)
Wi-Fi Sync?	Yes	No
Bluetooth	No	Yes
Product Page	Zune HD	iPod Touch

Note: As of now, Zune HD specifications are not completely published by Microsoft. The above specifications are based on protoype models.
As you can see, the Tegra processor, HD Capability, OLED screen, HD Radio and HDMI interface make the Zune HD a superior device in terms of hardware, while the iPod Touch shines with the associated services – iTunes, extensive third party app support and the integrated MobileMe. Choose the iPod Touch if you have plenty of iTunes purchased content already. If not, get the Zune HD and use it with a better DRM-Free music service like Amazon MP3.

Finally if you want to here quality music go for ZUNE HD...i personally hate apple product when it comes to music quality...!!
OR
If you are a fan of apple aaps and hav plenty of money!! go for I POD touch.....!!

20 Tips Every Windows 7 User Needs to Know

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:07:00 -0700

Your OS drives your whole PC experience, so it's your job as an enthusiast to keep it in a high state of tune.

After installing a new OS, most people just jump right in and start driving it through all their favorite applications and games. Makes sense, right? The problem, however, is that most people, even a lot of self-described power users, never take the time to really tune the new OS, exploring its menus and setting up the interface for the fastest, most convenient operation based on personal preferences. And as operating systems offer more and more user controls, it’s the curious, performance-minded enthusiast who has the most to gain from tuning an OS to his or her liking.

It’s been about six months since Windows 7 hit the market, For those who’ve made that jump, i present a bottle of my favorite Windows 7 tips, each designed to help you extract the very last bits of convenience and GUI-navigating performance from your own personal dream machine. And if you haven’t yet upgraded to Win7, we trust you will after reading this article, as its core features—let alone its actual Lab-benchmarked performance—kicks Vista and XP ass.

1. Keyboard Shortcuts for Committed Mouse Abolitionists

Let’s kick off this power-user party with keyboard shortcuts—tricks every enthusiast should memorize when mastering a new OS. We’re confident the following time-saving keystrokes will save you precious neural processing cycles, and make your mouse jealous with neglect.

Alt + P

In Windows Explorer, this shortcut activates a preview pane of your selected file, be it an image, sound, or video document. This panel is great for previewing images in your photos directory, obviating the need for fancier third-party software.

Windows + Up and Windows + Down

If a window isn’t maximized, pressing the Windows + Up arrow key will make it fill your entire screen. Windows + Down arrow will minimize that active window.

Windows + Shift + Up and Windows + Shift + Down

Hitting these three keys will vertically stretch an active window to the maximum desktop height (the width of the window, however, will stay the same). Pressing Windows + Shift+ Down will restore the window to its previous dimensions.

Windows + + and Windows + -

Pressing the Windows button with either the plus or minus key activates the Magnifier, letting you zoom in on the entire desktop or open a rectangular magnifying lens to zoom in on (and out of) parts of your screen. You can also customize the Magnifier to follow your mouse pointer or keyboard cursor.

Windows + Left and Windows + Right

These two shortcuts will make your active window fill up exactly one half of your screen—depending on which arrow key you use. And once a window is fixed to one side of the screen, you can repeat the shortcut with the same arrow key to flip it to the other side.

Windows + Home

This shortcut minimizes every open window on your desktop except the active window. Pressing this shortcut again restores all the minimized windows.

Windows + T

Like Alt + Tab (still our all-time-favorite Windows shortcut), Windows + T cycles through thumbnails of your open programs via the Taskbar’s peek menu.

Windows + E

Automatically opens up a new Explorer window to show your Libraries folder.

Windows + P

Manage your multiple-monitor setup more efficiently with this handy shortcut. Windows + P opens a small overlay that lets you configure a second display or projector. You can switch from a single monitor to dual-display in either mirror or extend-desktop mode.

Windows + Shift + Left and Windows + Shift + Right

If you’re using two or more displays—and you are, aren’t you?—memorize this shortcut to easily move a window from one screen to the other. The window retains its size and relative position on the new screen, which is useful when working with multiple documents.

Windows + [Number]

Programs (and new instances) pinned to your Taskbar can be launched by hitting Windows and the appropriate number key. Windows + 1, for example, launches the first application in the taskbar, while Windows + 4 will launch the fourth.

Windows + Space

This combo performs the same function as moving your mouse to the bottom right of the Taskbar: It makes every active window transparent (save faint outlines) so you can view the desktop underneath.

2. Track Your Actions with Problem Step Recorder

To aid their development of Windows 7 beta versions, the Microsoft engineers built in a diagnostic tool called Problem Steps Recorder that combines screen captures with mouse tracking to record your actions. You can launch this program from the Start Menu by typing psr.exe in the search field. Hit the Record button and the applet tracks your mouse and keyboard input while taking screenshots that correspond with each new action. When you stop recording, your session is saved to an HTML slide show recreating your steps, to which you can add comments and annotations. This tool is insanely useful if you need to create a tutorial for a computer-illiterate relative. Hi Mom, hi Dad!

3. Launch Games with Keystrokes

One of our biggest annoyances with Windows Vista was the Games Folder, aka the Gaming Grotto, aka the Gaming Ghetto. In Vista, Games for Windows titles and other game shortcuts automatically install to this directory, which you can only access with a Start Menu shortcut. This scheme prevents you from starting a game from the Start Menu search bar (aka the power user, keyboard-only method). Indeed, while you can launch any other application by mashing the Windows key, and typing its name in the Start Menu field, this isn’t the case for games installed to Vista’s Games Folder. Well, this oversight is fixed in Windows 7, and the universe is now home to slightly less evil.

4. Put an OS in Your Pocket

Also you can refer to my previous post for another method...here

How to load Windows 7 onto a bootable USB key

To complete your Windows 7 power-user experience, you may consider dropping the whole darn OS onto a USB drive. Whether you carry it around in your pocket or toss it in a desk drawer, it’s a perfect boot disk for emergency installs—including those times when you’re working with a netbook or some other computer that lacks an optical drive. Even better, your install times will be significantly reduced, thanks to your key’s flash memory—we shaved off minutes from our total install time.

Here’s how to create a schmancy-fancy boot key for either Windows 7 or Vista—but not for other OSes, so please don’t try! We’ve run a truncated version of this article in the magazine before, but because it was so incredibly popular—and so germane to this feature story—we’ve decided to share it again, this time with more detail and screens.

Step1. Format Your USB Key

Plug in your USB key and back up any existing data stored on it. You’ll need to format the key (thus erasing existing data) before you can make it a bootable device. We used an 8GB key, but a 4GB key will also work.

step 2. Partition that Key in CMD

Open up a command prompt as an Administrator. You can do this by searching for cmd.exe in your Windows/System32 folder, right-clicking the executable, and selecting “Run as administrator.” Alternatively, type CMD in the Start Menu search field and activate the command prompt using Ctrl + Shift + Enter.

You should now be under C:\Windows\system32 (assuming your Windows partition is the C drive). Type diskpart in the command line to enter the Disk Partition command-line tool, which lets you format and create partitions on active disks. Now type list disk to reveal a list of all your active disks, each of which is associated with a number. Make a note of which one is your USB key, based on the capacity. In this screenshot, our USB drive is Disk 2.

step 3. Format Away (Command-Prompt Style)

It’s now time to enter a load of commands to properly partition the key, and format for the NTFS (did you know this stands for “New Technology File System”?). In succession, enter the following—and type carefully, Jimbo!

Select Disk # (where # is the number of your USB disk. We typed Select Disk 2 for this job)

Clean (this removes any existing partitions from the USB disk, including any hidden sectors)

Create Partition Primary (creates a new primary partition with default parameters)

Select Partition 1 (focuses operation on the newly created partition)

Active (sets the partition to active, informing the disk firmware that this is a valid system partition)

Format FS=NTFS (formats the partition with the NTFS file system. This may take several minutes to complete, depending on the size of your USB key)

Assign (this gives the USB drive a Windows volume and next available drive letter, which you should write down. In our case, drive “L” was assigned)

Exit (quits the DiskPart tool)

step 4. Copy Windows DVD to a Desktop Folder

Insert the Windows 7 installation DVD into your drive, and view the files that it contains. Copy all of the files to a folder on your Desktop. We put the disc contents in a folder named Windows 7.

step 5. Turn Your Key into a Bootable Device

Now, go back to your command prompt, running it as an Administrator. Using the CD command, navigate your way to the folder where you placed the Windows disk ISO files. Your command line path should look something like C:\Users\USERNAMEHERE\Desktop\Windows 7\ if you followed our lead on folder placement. Now type the following commands:

CD Boot (this gets you into the boot directory)

Bootsect.exe /nt60 L: (this assumes L is the drive letter assigned to your USB key from the previous step)

In case you’re wondering, Bootsect infuses boot manager–compatible code into your USB key to make it a bootable device. Also be aware that if you’re currently running 32-bit Windows Vista or 7, Bootsect will only work if you use the files from the 32-bit Windows 7 install disc. The Bootsect executable from the 64-bit version will not run in 32-bit Vista. Don’t forget it!

step 6. Load the USB Key with Your Install Files

Copy all of the extracted ISO files into the USB drive. You don’t need to do this from the command prompt. Just drag and drop the files from the Windows 7 folder into the USB drive using Windows Explorer. We also recommend copying your hardware drivers onto the same key so the installation wizard can find them.

Your USB key is now all ready to go! Plug it into your target system and make sure you enter the BIOS (typically by hitting F2 or F12) to temporarily change the boot order to allow booting from the USB key before your primary hard drive or optical drive. Now, when you plug the key into a machine, your system should automatically begin speedily downloading setup files off of the USB key and entering Windows 7 installation.

5. Become More Wordly with Hidden Wallpapers

Besides its default desktop wallpaper, Win7 includes desktop backgrounds catered to your region (which is identified when you first install the OS). We Americans, for example, get six 1900x1200 images showing off National Parks and beaches. However, if your tastes run more international—don’t worry, we won’t hold that against you—you can grab wallpapers for other regions from a hidden folder. Type globalization in a search of your C: drive. The only result should be a folder located in the main Windows directory, and you should only be able to see ELS and Sorting folders nested here. Now search for MCT in the top-right search bar. This will display five new unindexed folders, each corresponding to a different global region. Browse these folders for some extra themes and wallpapers specific to Australia, United Kingdom, South Africa, and Canada.

6. Take Control of UAC

Despite good intentions, User Account Control pop-ups were one of the most annoying aspects of Vista, and thus UAC became a feature that most of us immediately disabled after a clean install. UAC in Windows 7 displays fewer warnings, but you can also fine-tune its notification habits by launching the UAC Settings dialog from the Start Menu. Just type UAC in the Start Menu search field and click the result. We find that setting the bar to just one tick above “Never notify” provides a comfortable balance between mindful security and incessant, Alice Kramden–caliber nagging.

7. Calculate Your Mortgage and Other Math Tricks

The reliable Calculator applet has been beefed up to do more than just basic arithmetic. You can now toggle between Standard, Scientific, Programmer, and even Statistics modes. In addition, the Options menu lets you pull out many new automated conversation tools, such as Unit Conversion (e.g., Angles, Temperature, Velocity, and Volume) and Date Calculation (e.g., calculate the difference between two dates). More templates give you the ability to crunch gas mileage, lease tipping points, and even mortgage estimates (yeah, right!) based on any variables you input.

8. Reveal All of Your Drives

If you use built-in memory-card readers in a 3.5-inch drive bay or on your desktop display, empty memory card slots will not show up as drives in My Computer. But that doesn’t mean they’re not still there. To reveal hidden memory card slots, open My Computer. Press Alt to show the toolbar at the top of the screen, and go to Folder Options under Tools. Hit the View tab and uncheck the “Hide empty drives in the Computer folder” option.

9. Use Devices and Printers to Quickly Dig into Hardware

Tired of switching between Device Manager, Properties menus for your devices, and the Start Menu to manage and use printers, digital cameras, mice, and other peripherals? Windows 7 comes to your rescue with its Devices and Printers dialog. Open Control Panel and select View Devices and Printers from the Hardware and Sound category. Right-click a device icon in Devices and Printers to configure the hardware, create shortcuts, troubleshoot, view properties, and run programs. Devices and Printers can save you a lot of effort. For example, when you use it to manage your computer, you have one-touch access to 12 different Control Panel and Explorer interfaces. And when you use a Windows 7–specific driver that supports Device Stage, Devices and Printers uses thumbnail art of the actual device, as shown.

10. Calibrate Your Notebook's Text and Color

After doing a clean install of Windows 7 on a notebook, the first thing you should do is tune and calibrate ClearType text and Display Color. Windows 7 includes two built-in wizards that run you through the entire process, pain-free. Launch ClearType Text Tuning by typing cttune in the Start Menu search field and opening the search result. You’ll go through a brief series of steps that ask you to identify the best-looking text-rendering method. For Display Color Calibration—useful if you’re using Windows 7 with a projector or large-screen LCD—search and launch dccw from the Start Menu. It’ll run you through a series of pages where you can adjust the gamma, brightness, contrast, and color of the screen to make images look their best.

11. Control AutoPlay Settings Like a Megalomaniacal Tyrant

Windows 7’s version of AutoPlay, like its predecessors’, lets you specify what to do with media types when you connect an external drive or insert a disc. Sure, you may have hated AutoPlay in Windows XP, but Win7 provides you with reasons to take a fresh look. As in Vista, Win7 lets you configure AutoPlay settings by media type, but you should poke around for more tweaking options. Open Control Panel, select Hardware and Sound, and then select AutoPlay. By default, Win7 uses AutoPlay for all media and devices; this can be unchecked, and from there you can personalize AutoPlay actions like a madman. Note that each type of media—music CDs, DVDs, software and games, media files, blank media, and video discs—offers you choices based on Windows utilities as well as third-party programs. Choose your favorite app as an AutoPlay default, or to keep the traditional pop-up AutoPlay menu, select Ask Me Every Time.

12. Solve External Hard Drive Hassles with Convert.exe

Windows 7 prefers hard disk drives that use the NTFS file system: Its integrated backup program cannot back up files from or to drives that use the older FAT32 file system. So, if you select a drive that uses FAT32 as the backup location, Windows 7 displays an error message. FAT32, a leftover from the days of Windows 98, works with both MacOS and Windows (which is why most external hard disks use this file system by default), but it lacks the features needed to fully support Windows 7 backup. Use Convert.exe to solve this problem. Open a command-prompt session and use the following command to change your external hard disk’s file system: convert x: /fs:ntfs (replace x with the actual drive letter of your external hard disk). Convert.exe will check your external hard disk for errors, verify there’s enough space for conversion, and then convert with abandon. While this theoretically will not destroy your data, we recommend you back up your files first.

13. Convert WMC Recordings for Use with Vista and XP

Windows Media Center (WMC) improved in the jump from Vista to Windows 7—you’ll find better integration of cable, broadcast, and Internet TV in the program guide, better support for widescreen displays, and a refined user interface, among other changes. But if you want to share your recordings with Windows XP or Vista users, or use the dozens of recording and file-conversion utilities made for those versions of WMC, you’re sort of screwed, as Windows 7 no longer uses the DVR-MS file format for recording. Instead, it uses WTV (Windows TV), and WTV files can’t be used by older versions of WMC or Windows Media Player.

You can, however, convert a TV recording from WTV to DVR-MS by using the conversion utility provided in Win7.

TV recordings are stored by default in the Public Recorded TV library. Open the library, right-click the recording, and select Convert to DVR-MS Format. At the end of the conversion process, the Recorded TV library contains both your original .wtv file as well the .dvr-ms conversion. The .dvr-ms file can be used with programs designed for Windows XP and Windows Vista Windows Media Center, and can be played on Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player in Windows XP and Windows Vista.

14. Command Windows 7 to Generate an Energy Report

As a power user, you may be concerned with power consumption, making the command-line utility powercfg.exe a must-see. To create a report on your PC’s energy appetite, press the Windows key and type cmd in the search box. Right-click cmd and select Run as Administrator. Now, select the box and type powercfg –energy at the command-line prompt, and hit Enter. Powercfg will run for about 60 seconds, then generate a report called energy-report.html in C:\Windows\system32. This report will notify you of anything in your computer that is keeping the CPU cycling, thus burning power and sucking notebook batteries dry. After you run the report, you’ll likely find that USB devices never entered Suspend state. While you might think the power consumption of a USB key is pretty insignificant, if it prevents the CPU from cycling off, that device can really hit where it hurts—in your battery’s nards.

15. Cling (Desperately) to Vista's Taskbar

Let’s start with the bad news: Windows 7 eliminates the option to use the classic grey Windows 2000–style Taskbar. You’re also committed to the modern version of the Start Menu. But the good news is that you can still tweak the Taskbar to make it run like it did in Windows Vista, replacing the program icons with the names of each open app. Right-click the Taskbar and hit Properties. Check the “Use small icons” box and select “Combine when Taskbar is full” from the drop-down menu under Taskbar buttons. You still get the peek-view thumbnail feature of the Taskbar, and inactive programs remain as single icons, but open programs will display their full names.

16. Exile Programs to the System Tray

All active programs show up as icons on the Taskbar, whether you want them to or not. While this is useful for web browsing or word processing, your taskbar can get cluttered with icons you would normally expect to be hidden away, like those for Steam or a chat client. You can, however, keep active instances of these programs hidden away in the System Tray/Notification Area by right-clicking their shortcuts, navigating to the Compatibility tab, and selecting Windows Vista under the Compatibility Mode drop-down menu. Just be aware that this only works for programs that would previously hide away from the Taskbar in Vista.

17. Manage Your Jump Lists

The Jump List, a list of shortcuts to files or tasks for a particular Start Menu or Taskbar item, is one of the most significant improvements in Windows 7. Each time you open a file or website, or run a task with a program that supports Jump Lists, Windows 7 stores the shortcut to the file, website, or task for reuse. Unlike Windows XP, however, Windows 7 doesn’t group these shortcuts into a single location. Instead, it stores shortcuts for each program’s files, websites, or tasks in a separate shortcut list—aka the Jump List. To see the Jump List for a program in the Start Menu, simply click the right-arrow icon. To see the Jump List for a program icon on the Taskbar, right-click the icon. Windows eventually removes items from the Jump List when it runs out of space, but you can override this. To make any Jump List item a permanent entry, highlight it and click the pushpin icon (reverse this process to unpin it). And if the idea of leaving an icon trail of all your recent history disturbs you, you can disable Jump Lists entirely: Right-click the Start Menu, choose Properties, and uncheck the two boxes under Privacy.

18. Organize Your Taskbar and System Tray

The programs that you pin to your Taskbar can be moved around to any order you want, whether they’re just shortcut icons or currently active applications. The Taskbar, if unlocked, can also be dragged to latch to the left, right, or even top of your desktop. As shown below, Windows 7 improves side-docked Taskbar support with better gradient rendering and shortcut support. It really works well if you’re using a widescreen monitor. Just as the Taskbar icons can be rearranged at will, the icons in the System Tray (actually called the Notification Area) can be dragged and set to any order, as well. Hidden Icons can be dragged back into view, and you can hide icons by dragging them over the white triangle, and dropping them into the Hidden Icon well—much easier than working through the Notification Area Customization menu.

19. Accelerate Your Start Menu

The Start Menu hasn’t changed much from Vista, but there are some notable improvements. The behavior of the power button has been changed to Shut Down, as opposed to Hibernate, which was the asinine default in Vista. But you can also change the button default to do other actions. Right-click the Start Menu, and choose Properties. From the Power Button Action drop-down, you can choose a new default button behavior. If you hit the Customize button, you’ll enter a world of opportunities that help you control what the Start Menu displays. Most options are turned off, but you may want some on, like the option to display recorded TV files, a feature that’s new in Windows 7. Also be aware that Start Menu items should be set to “Display as a link” if you want them to open up Jump Lists.

20. Arrange Files by Type, Month, Artist, and Other Options

Windows Vista introduced the concept of using the Details folder view to group files by criteria such as name, date modified, type, size, and other options. These choices are still available in any folder by right-clicking inside the folder and selecting them from the options menu. But Window 7 does Vista one better with its new Libraries scheme, which enables you to view the contents of multiple file locations in a single logical folder. And as you’d expect, each Library comes correct with contextual file-arrangement options that vary according to what’s being viewed. For example, in the Pictures library, you can choose from Day, Rating, Tag, and Month. For videos, maybe arranging by Length, as in our screenshot, is most relevant. You get the point.

21. Pin Folders to Favorites and Start Menu

Explorer’s Jump List shows your seven most frequently visited folders, but you can manually bookmark some favorites to the top of the list by pinning folder locations. Just right-click any folder—either on your desktop or from an open instance of Explorer—and drag that folder icon to the Explorer shortcut on the Taskbar. You’ll see a message that reads “Pin to Windows Explorer” before you release the mouse button. The folder will appear under a Pinned section of the Jump List, and you can remove it by clicking the “Unpin from this list” icon on the right side of the panel. You can also right-click and drag a folder directly to the Start button to pin that folder to the general Start list.

22. Burn a Spittin' Image

You can quit messing around with ostensibly free, malware-infected burning software, because Windows 7 comes loaded with a DVD and CD ISO burning application. Just double-click your image file and Windows will start a tiny program window to help burn your disc. It’s a bare-bones app, but it works!

Top 10 touch phones in india,reviews-1

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:03:00 -0700

If you're looking for a touch-screen smart phone, however, you won't be lacking for choice..but that is the real problem here ,many dont know which phone will fit them better and they do need some guidance ,so if you are one of them and willing to purchase a new touch phone and confused!! you are in rite place!!This post will help you to decide a phone of your interest. I've given the ranking based on my personal experience and opinion[...]

*NOTE: All reviews posted here are written by gsmarena.com ,i've only given the ranking.

#1:Nokia N97 mini

Introduction

The Nokia army of touchscreen smartphones gets larger by the hour and the Nokia N97 mini is surely one of the most interesting new recruits. The Finnish company has obviously reconsidered its priories and now focuses on optimization, rather than expansion with its flagships.

Nokia N97 mini official photos

The original Nokia N97 was the first sign of that as it hardly offered any ground-breaking features, instead relaying on the good all-round performance. However the first high-end S60 touchscreen handset left enough room for another similar handset in the portfolio and Nokia feel that its downsized version is enough to fill the gap.

Key features

Slide-n-tilt 3.2" 16M-color resistive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution
5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash and VGA@30fps video recording
Symbian OS 9.4 with S60 5th edition UI with kinetic scrolling
Slide-out three-row full QWERTY keyboard
ARM 11 434MHz CPU and 128 MB of RAM
Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G with 3.6Mbps HSDPA support
Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
Digital compass
8GB onboard storage
microSD card slot with microSDHC support
Built-in accelerometer
3.5 mm audio jack and TV-out
Stereo FM Radio with RDS
microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.0
Web browser has full Flash and Java support
Nice audio reproduction quality
Office document viewer

Main disadvantages

The S60 touch UI is still inconsistent
Outdated camera interface and features
No DivX or XviD video support out-of-the-box
No smart dialing
No office document editing (without a paid upgrade)
No camera lens protection
No FM transmitter (though that may be stretching it too far)

Nokia N97 mini vs Nokia N97

More compact (113 x 52.5 x 14.2 mm, 75 cc vs 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm, 88 cc)
Lighter (138g vs 150g)
Smaller display (3.2" vs 3.5")
Less internal memory (8GB vs 32GB)
Smaller battery (1200 mAh vs 1500 mAh)
No lens cover
No FM transmitter
Arrow keys vs D-pad

The N97 mini has quite a task on its hands, constantly being compared to the moe high ranking Nokia N97 even though it comes later to the market. As usually happens in such cases, the price difference that would have been present if both handsets were launched simultaneously is reduced and the balance of powers has shifted.

Nokia N97 mini at ours

Still the reduced display (and mostly body size) is a welcome change for many users, who used to find the Nokia N97 intolerably bulky. We certainly hope it's got a few tricks up its sleeves so it can put up the original N97 a good fight and differentiate enough beyond size and pricing. Well, we're about to check that and much more in one of our trademark reviews, starting with the unboxing on the next page.

**NOTE: All reviews written here are by gsmarena.com ,i've only given the ranking.

#2:Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

It's touchscreen o'clock for Nokia and the stage is set for the 5800 XpressMusic. Go ahead and touch it. We did and we've got a story to tell.
Now, it's technically not the first time Nokia get their hands dirty with touch screens, but it sure feels they really mean business this time. For Nokia 5800 is not the only story here. The smart platform with the most influential touch receives its first trial by touch. Being the first device running Series 60 5th alone is enough for the 5800 to be remembered by.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic official photos
Update, 03 Feb 2010: After this review was published Nokia optimized several aspects of the performance of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic through firmware updates so we felt an update was due. You'll find the updated bits and pieces throughout the review marked in bold.
You can check whether you have the latest firmware for your Nokia 5800 XpressMusic over here.
It's a first try and proceeding with caution is only fair. Nokia 5800 is unthreateningly and unobtrusively positioned in the mid-range and the XpressMusic branding helps share some of that first-S60-touchscreen weight. Still, it's way more than an affordable music-centered handset. The 5800 has a strong and unmistakable Nokia identity and delivers multimedia prowess. So, let's touch, shall we?

Key features:

3.2" 16M-color TFT LCD 16:9 touchscreen display (360 x 640 pixels)

Symbian S60 5th edition

ARM 11 434 MHz CPU, 128 MB of SDRAM memory

3.2 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash

VGA video recording at 30fps

Dual-band 3G with HSDPA support

Quad-band GSM support

Wi-Fi

Capable GPS receiver and Nokia Maps 2.0 Touch

microSD card memory expansion, ships with an 8GB card

TV out

FM radio with RDS

Bluetooth and USB v2.0

3.5mm standard audio jack

Excellent audio quality

Landscape on-screen virtual QWERTY keyboard

Proximity sensor for screen auto turn-off

Accelerometer sensor for automatic UI rotation and motion-based gaming

Rich retail package

Affordable price

Office document viewer

OVI and MySpace integration (direct image and video uploads)

Main disadvantages:

Limited 3rd party software availability

UI is still immature with somewhat dodgy user experience

Touchscreen sensitivity not the best in the class

No smart dialing

Poor camera image quality

Touch web browser not quite polished

No office document editing out-of-the-box

Doesn't charge off microUSB

Now, you're not the only one waiting for Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. A legion of touchscreen phones have been busy delivering more and better, and owning that market. They sure won't be giving Nokia and S60 5th the warmest of welcomes.
At this point, Nokia 5800 may as well be more of a trespasser than a worthy rival. We mean, stealing even the tiniest bit of market off such formidable competition should be a win to savor for every newcomer. And still, we shouldn't be looking at the actual handset alone. Maybe the 5800 isn't make or break for Nokia, but S60 5th should darn well be.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic at ours
We're looking at the first S60 touchscreen. A lot less hoping for the best than preparing for the worst may sound like the right kind of attitude. Because a first try will be measured by just anything that lives and breathes, and has a touchscreen. So, let's see what Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is up against. Just mind you that it's more than just the names of a few handsets - it's generations of touchscreen development.
Apple may be looking down with amused detachment at yet another iPhone-killer wannabe. We guess Nokia 5800 XpressMusic doesn't want that label but it won't escape it. We are talking the market leader against the touch interface pacesetter. Maybe not this time, but this one is worth keeping an eye on in the long run. At this point though, for the price of an unlocked contract-free iPhone 3G you can easily obtain two Nokia 5800 XpressMusic handsets - sounds a bargain, doesn't it?

The Nokia 5800 vs Apple iPhone 3G
Windows Mobile is well into the picture too. Recent HTC models (Diamond, Touch HD) and Samsung i900 Omnia have shown that powerful multimedia is no orphan in the WinMo world. Loads of 3rd party software and cool and nifty UI plug-ins (TouchFLO 3D, TouchWiz) are great assets but the heftier price tag sets them back a bit. The Diamond comes closest to the Nokia, but it's still about 30 euro (40 US dollars) more.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic next to HTC Touch Diamond and Samsung i900 Omnia
LG and Samsung are also quite versed in the ways of touchscreen. Both makers have sizeable touch portfolios, ranging from affordable, non-smart touchscreens to 8 megapixel multimedia monsters. Samsung do boast a bunch of WinMo touch devices too. What's more, the company is keen enough on Symbian too, so that's potentially another "touching" chapter in the rivalry between the top two market-share leaders.
So, obviously the touchscreen game is no joke - it's getting tougher by the minute out there. Let's now check if the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has what it takes to play along. We just took a peek in the retail package and - boy, are we impressed.

**NOTE: All reviews written here are by gsmarena.com ,i've only given the ranking.

#3:HTC Touch Diamond

We called it a game for the Diamond and Omnia but the crowd is still on their feet, so there we go with the HTC Diamond's lap of honor. The latest HTC squad member, HTC Touch Diamond, might as well be starting a new era for Microsoft OS-powered mobiles.
Never before has Windows Mobile looked this sharp, nor has it been as feature-loaded. Gem-inspired design, VGA screen, GPS and a built-in accelerometer might just be enough to get WinMo fans exited but the HTC Touch Diamond reaches beyond. A usable 3 megapixel camera and the latest edition of the TouchFLO UI are running on the brand new 6.1 version of the Windows Mobile Professional OS. And all that is packed into a package that's as compact as they get.
We already saw the Diamond in action - and up against some cutthroat competition. It now has the spotlight all to itself and we're about to see if it's got the diamond-hard performance to become a true blockbuster.

HTC Touch Diamond official photos

Key features

2.8" 65K-color VGA display
TouchFLO 3D Home screen and gesture controls
4 GB of internal storage
Wi-Fi
Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 Mhz CPU and 192 MB DDR SDRAM
Dedicated graphics chip (64MB RAM reserved for graphics)
HSDPA 7.2Mbps
Built-in GPS receiver
Standout design
Compact and lightweight
Stereo FM radio with RDS
3.15 MP auto focus camera
Active magnetic stylus
Touch-sensitive scroll wheel
MS Office Mobile document editor
Opera 9.5 web browser
Standard miniUSB slot and Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
Comes with the amusing Teeter game
YouTube client
Excellent video playback performance

Main disadvantages:

Poor battery life
Fingerprint nightmare
Average sunlight legibility
No memory card slot
Questionable build quality
Tri-band GSM support only
No TV out port
No standard 3.5mm audio jack
Back panel design has negative impact on usability and camera image quality
Back panel finish started to wear off in a few weeks of usage
Limited scroll wheel usage

It's rather hard to find a Windows mobile device to boast the same extras as the Diamond and be just as pocket-friendly. The compact size of the HTC Touch Diamond and the VGA screen are its best ammo in the market share war.

HTC Touch Diamond all over

We already stood the HTC Touch Diamond against the other most interesting WinMo device to recently surface - the Samsung i900 Omnia. You can replay the PocketPC championship game here.

HTC Touch Diamond and Samsung i900 Omnia head to head

Alongside the Omnia, there are a couple of other devices to fight the HTC Touch Diamond for a place under the sun. Here are a few alternatives to check out before cashing out for the Diamond.

Eten glofiish X900 has virtually the same feature pack as the HTC Touch Diamond, although it weighs a good 37 grams more. However, it packs quad-band GSM and tri-band UMTS (with HSDPA), which might make all the difference for frequent travelers. The glofiish V900 is another interesting offer by Eten not to be overlooked, especially with that built-in DVB-H/DVB-T/T-DMB/DAB TV broadcast receiver in mind. Neither of Eten devices however has hit the shelves, so we are yet to see if their performance is a match for the Diamond.

A few members of the Gigabyte g-Smart lineup also feature VGA screens and comparably lightweight bodies. i350, t600 and MW998 are a few names that come to mind. We doubt it however that the PocketPCs manufactured by the relatively less popular GigaByte can be considered as a serious rival of the Diamond.

**NOTE: All reviews written here are by gsmarena.com ,i've only given the ranking.

#4:Samsung S8000 Jet

Introduction

It's that time of the year and the living is easy: pool parties, blockbuster movies and new gadgets. The Samsung S8000 Jet sure knows good timing and gallantly promises a bit of everything - style, entertainment and impressively light and lively handling. It's a thing to show off to your friends and help you enjoy and capture the hot moments of the season.

The S8000 Jet is not exactly jet set stuff but claims a big piece of the touchscreen action. And it knows who it needs to kill to get it. The Jet is the direct and brave answer to the LG KM900 Arena and boy isn't it a tough call between these two. The S8000 Jet has the fancy 3D interface upgrade, 5MP camera with D1 recording, Wi-Fi, GPS and all the stuff to put this touchscreen phone in the desirable category. We have a thriller of a local derby and the high-end contenders need to do everything and do it well.

Samsung S8000 Jet offical photos

We were impressed in our preview with the new visual upgrades of the TouchWiz interface, which combine the best part of the 3D LG cube and page-organized iPhone menus. But now it's time for the final and deciding round with the Samsung S800 Jet.

Here is the full ammo of the S8000 Jet, along with what might be the deal breakers.

Key features

3.1" 16M-color resistive AMOLED touchscreen of 800 x 480 pixel resolution
800 MHz processor
5 megapixel auto focus camera with dual-LED
Geotagging, image stabilization, face detection, Smile Shot, Wide Dynamic Range (WDR)
Latest TouchWiz 2.0 UI with Motion UI, Media Gate 3D, Smart Unlock
Quad-band GSM support and 3G with HSDPA 3.6 Mbps and HSUPA support
Wi-Fi
GPS receiver
2 / 8 GB onboard storage
microSD card slot with microSDHC support
Built-in accelerometer for screen auto rotate and turn-to-mute
Proximity sensor for display auto turn-off
TV out
3.5 mm audio jack
Stereo FM Radio with RDS
microUSB port and stereo Bluetooth v2.0
Web browser has full Flash and Java support
DivX/XviD video support
DNSe and SRS sound effect
Smart dialing
Speaker Call

Main disadvantages

microSD slot is under the back cover
No preinstalled GPS navigation software
Touch sensitivty is less for its range
As always Touch wiz creates lotta problem in creating good user interface!
No 3rd party java application support!

As the specs suggest, the Samsung S8000 Jet is nothing short of a multimedia monster. The picture is complete with full Flash support - still quite a rarity among today's handsets - DivX/XviD video codecs and great music package. The camera is a high-end snapper with premium features that the LG Arena doesn't have, while the Smart Unlock, Speaker Call and Motion UI just add to its uniqueness.

#5:Nokia 5230

Introduction

When touchscreen handsets start to take over the lower segments of the market you know the rules of the game have changed. The Nokia 5230 is a smartphone but it doesn’t mind rubbing shoulders with the common run of handsets. So, it’s free to explore grounds where few smartphones have ever gone, let alone full touchscreen gadgets.

Nokia 5230 official photos

The land of affordability was the last territory for touchscreen phones to settle in and not quite the place smartphones would call home. So it was, but Nokia just won’t wait for a special invitation when a niche is wide open. And they’ve got quite a fleet already of low key touchscreen smartphones that’s certain to make an impact. The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic had a great bang for the buck and the 5230 is welcome to try and beat the bargain.

Cheap is nice but free is even better – and we guess the 5230 will be available both ways through retail stores and carriers. But let’s see what it has and what’s been left out.

Key features:

3.2" 16M-color TFT LCD 16:9 touchscreen display (360 x 640 pixels)
Symbian S60 5th edition
ARM 11 434 MHz CPU, 128MB RAM memory
Quad-band GSM support
3G with HSDPA 3.6Mbps support
Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS support; Ovi maps
2 megapixel fixed focus camera with and VGA@30fps video
microSD card memory expansion
FM radio with RDS
Bluetooth with A2DP and USB v2.0
Standard 3.5mm audio jack
Accelerometer sensor for automatic UI rotation, motion-based gaming and turn-to-mute
Ovi integration (direct image and video uploads, Ovi Contacts)
Landscape on-screen virtual QWERTY keyboard
Excellent audio quality
Price tag on the cheap side
Changeable color battery covers (two extra ones available in-box)
Plectrum dongle available in the retail package

Main disadvantages:

No Wi-Fi support
Display has poor sunlight legibility
Default font size is a bit small due to the smallish but high-res screen
3rd party software is still somewhat limited
Extremely limited camera
Doesn't charge off its microUSB port
No smart dialing
No DivX/XviD video support out of the box
No TV-out functionality
No data-cable or memory card in retail package
No office document viewer
Below par speaker volume

It’s pretty obvious where Nokia are heading with the 5230. In this price range it is impossible to give users every available feature, so the Finns are at least giving them a choice.

There is Nokia 5230, 5530 XpressMusic,and that basically means you can choose between Wi-Fi and 3G with GPS. You can have them all in a single device too, but for a price premium (5800 XpressMusic). Custom made phones to completely match one’s taste and needs are not yet an option. You don’t get to choose the level of equipment like you would when buying a car. So, until that becomes available – if ever – we cannot see a better dealing with the problem than Nokia’s approach.

Nokia 5230 at ours

The R&D costs to release three similar models are probably low enough and there may be plenty of users to find the given choice absolutely adequate. What’s left to see is if there are any differences in performance or is it just the level of equipment that sets those three handsets apart.

#6:Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1

There's a lot to fall for in Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1. Possibly the hottest looker of a PocketPC is also heavy on skill. Heavy enough to not just scratch out a living as a one-hit-wonder but aim for the WinMo top.
The extra solid metal looks, gorgeous screen and the right pinch of novelty called XPERIA panels look to us as good enough reasons for the X1 to be hyped and romanticized. By the way, romance or not, Sony Ericsson and HTC have hit their perfect shape with that one.
The XPERIA X1 is surely the most eagerly anticipated device in the world of Windows Mobile. Getting our review out was surely quite a wait too, we know. Better late than ever, as some folks say. We'll still have our say 'cause for the XPERIA it's a load of high expectations to live up to.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 official photos

Key features:

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support plus HSDPA 7.2Mbps
3-inch 65K-color WVGA touchscreen
Qualcomm MSM7200 528 Mhz CPU and 256 MB DDR SDRAM
3.15 MP auto focus camera with VGA video recording
Four-row full QWERTY slide-out keyboard
Wi-Fi and built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS
X-Panels interface
Optical trackpad
Exquisite and solid metallic body
Standard miniUSB port and Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
microSD memory expansion
FM radio with RDS
3.5mm standard audio jack
MS Office Mobile document editor
Opera 9.5 web browser
Excellent video playback performance
Superb audio quality

Main disadvantages:

Body is a bit on the bulky side
User interface is hardly thumb-optimized
Mediocre camera performance
No built-in accelerometer
Poor display sunlight legibility
Records low quality VGA@30fps video in 3GP format
No TV-out port
No full Flash support for the browser (hence no full-featured YouTube)

The XPERIA X1 is one of the best-equipped Windows Mobile devices to ever set foot on the market. But hey, is it not the most elaborate and charismatic PocketPC too? As to skills, the high-res 3" screen and the full QWERTY keyboard seem the most important parts of its magnificent ammo though its processing power is not to be neglected either.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 in our office

Many devices find their identity in standing up to a rival. The XPERIA though is fatefully bound to always have one foot on alien ground. The haunting name for the X1 is HTC - manufacturer and main competitor.

As you probably guessed by yourselves the main alternative to the XPERIA X1 is HTC Touch Pro. It has a smaller screen than the XPERIA X1 and features a slightly lower resolution. In addition it is heavier and, if we were to be asked, not nearly as hot as the XPERIA.

However, the QWERTY keyboard of the Touch Pro is well ahead of what the X1 has to offer. The Touch Pro accelerometer and active magnetic stylus are small but nice touches that add to its allure. There are other advantages too, but we'll try to list them in the dedicated chapter of this review.

HTC Touch Pro

Furthermore, the Touch Pro had a nice two-month advantage since it hit the shelves back in August and this could be quite decisive for the sales. After all two months is quite a long time in the world of mobile phones, isn't it?

#7:BlackBerry Storm 9500

It's not everyday that you see a BlackBerry review on our homepage but it's not like RIM routinely churn out devices like the Storm either. Messaging is still the legendary name but… well… touchscreen is the game. Keeping the business appeal of its siblings, the 9500 Storm sure stands out in the Berry crowd. But it also tries to set itself apart from the other touchscreens by promising a whole new touch experience.

BlackBerry Storm official photos
The Canadian manufacturer RIM is walking an unbeaten path by adding unique clickability to the fluid precision of the capacitive touchscreen technology. The award-winning SurePress screen may not be everyone's cup of coffee but we're not talking teacup either, just yet.

Key features:

3.25" 65K-color capacitive touchscreen of 360 x 480 pixel resolution

A new touchscreen experience thanks to SurePress screen

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 2100 MHz 3G with HSDPA support

3.15 MP autofocus camera, LED flash

BlackBerry OS 4.7

Qualcomm MSM7600 528 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM

Built-in GPS and BlackBerry maps preloaded

1 GB internal storage

Hot-swappable microSD card slot, ships with an 8GB card

Landscape virtual QWERTY keyboard goes as close to hardware keys as we have seen

Great build quality

Solid looks

3.5mm standard audio jack

Bluetooth and USB v2.0

Really nice web browser

Document editor

Excellent audio quality

Main disadvantages:

No Wi-fi

No email support without BlackBerry Internet Service account

Interface not as quick as competitors

Chubbier than most touchscreen phones

Mediocre camera

No FM radio

No Flash support

Fingerprint-prone front panel

No video-call camera

Now, this isn't one of those all-about-email BlackBerry reviews where the 9500 Storm gets only compared to its own kind, for the lack of meaningful competition. We are more than confident that the Storm does its BlackBerry thing just fine, so instead of focusing on it we'll try to give a different view of the device. Our objective is to see how it fares against all those other "regular" touchscreens that have the crowd's attention: Apples, Renoirs, Omnias, Diamonds and the likes.

BlackBerry Storm 9500 views
Well, our approach may seem like comparing apples to oranges but only at first sight. The first thing about the Storm 9500 is the attempt to reach beyond the core group of diehard BlackBerry users. We're talking stealing some market here, so if Blackberry are playing to win, they should well be ready to take some hard beating too. First-rate email is nice and all, but the Storm will only be as good as its user interface and multimedia. For the rest (which means WLAN too) there's Curve and Bold.

The BlackBerry Storm 9500 next to the Samsung i900 Omnia and Apple iPhone 3G

**NOTE: All reviews written here are by gsmarena.com ,i've only given the ranking.

#8:Samsung i900 Omnia

Introduction

Now that the dust of the Diamond vs. Omnia PocketPC battle settles down, our up close and personal look at the rivals continues with Samsung i900 Omnia. Slick looks, great feature-pack and ingenious software solutions are things that hold true for the i900 Omnia in the same extent as for the Diamond.

And since the Samsung i900 Omnia boasts loads of character and personality it's no wonder it holds the crowd hooked ever since it was announced. The first five megapixel Windows Mobile cameraphone has inspired quite a following and now that it's already market available in Europe we are more than happy to welcome the Omnia back after a well deserved breather. Well then, we've seen it race, let's watch it cruise.

Samsung i900 Omnia official photos

Key features:

Quad-band GSM support
3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS
624MHz Marvell PXA312 CPU and 128 MB RAM
3.2" 65K-color touchscreen with resolution of 240 x 400 pixels
5 megapixel autofocus camera with wide dynamic range mode, face tracking, smile detection, geotagging
8 to 16 GB of storage memory, microSD expansion
Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS
Wi-Fi
Stereo Bluetooth and USB connectivity
FM radio with RDS
Optical joystick with virtual mouse functionality
Built-in accelerometer for auto screen rotation and call muting
TV-out
Solid build and great finish
Slick design and slim body
Nice battery life
Fast response and performance
Excellent thumb-optimized software package
Thumbable virtual QWERTY keyboard with optional landscape mode
TouchWiz UI
DivX video support right out of the box
Above average audio quality
Headset comes with a 3.5mm audio jack

Main disadvantages:

No stylus slot
Poor sunlight legibility
Memory card not hot-swappable
Non-standard display resolution
No dedicated 3D accelerator
Non-standard USB port
Web browser lacks real Flash support

The PocketPC mid-season may as well be a hush before the storm with the HTC Touch Pro and Xperia waiting to be unleashed. But for now we have two other bitter rivals to keep us busy: Samsung i900 Omnia and HTC Touch Diamond. It truly is a great achievement for Samsung to have a gadget fit to stand up to the top PocketPC manufacturer HTC.

Samsung i900 Omnia all over

The two devices are doing a great job standing their ground to the Apple iPhone 3G and it's no wonder since each of them is technically more advanced than Apple's creation. In fact, they have a lot of things in common with the iPhone - the full Touch UI, the nice multimedia capabilities and the superior web browsing experience. But we digress.

We already saw the Diamond and Omnia in action and you're free to replay the game here. The Diamond surely has a few things to offer over the Omnia (VGA screen, smaller size, 3D acceleration, and magnetic stylus) but it also has its issues here and there to make it a tough call indeed. We do hope however that this review will bring you a little closer to deciding your allegiance.

Some of you that have already gone through the Diamond vs Omnia article might be probably wondering if this review is worth your time. Well, truthfully, we have put our every effort to make it worth it.

#9:Samsung I7500 Galaxy

Introduction

Android is set on grabbing the number two spot in the smartphone market by 2012 and the Samsung I7500 Galaxy might be the type of phone to get it there. Perhaps less for the Galaxy at this point, and more for the Samsung, but we'll see about that.

Samsung I7500 Galaxy official photos

The I7500 Galaxy is a "Google experience" phone, and has the intrinsic advantage of having the search giant's infrastructure behind its back. For one, YouTube and Picasa integration sure add value to the 5-megapixel camera.

And as to people who spend their time digging around the Internet for oft hard to find information, we really appreciate the improved search widget. And that thingy is about to get better - Android is a bit like Google's other projects, a perpetual work in progress that keeps getting new features and polishes the occasional rough edges.

The I7500 Galaxy is the company's first take on Android but if we put the OS aside, it should be a solid Samsung touchscreen with all the gadgetry we've got used to in smartphones. Of course, the Android platform still has a few issues to address and get some annoying limitations out of the way. Let's see what this here Android by Samsung can do for you and where it might fail.

Key features

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA 5.76Mbps
Android OS v1.5 (codenamed Cupcake) without customizations
3.2" capacitive AMOLED touchscreen of HVGA resolution
Qualcomm MSM72000A 528MHz CPU, 128MB RAM
5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash, geo-tagging, YouTube and Picasa integration
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and GPS receiver
Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and turn-to-mute
Digital compass for automatic navigation of maps
Standard microUSB port for charging and data
microSD card slot with microSDHC support
8GB internal storage
Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)
3.5 mm audio jack

Main disadvantages

No smart dialing
Camera features are a bit outdated
No videocalling
No multi-touch gestures
No Flash support in the web browser (coming soon via the Open Screen Project)
No DivX/XviD video support or a third-party application to play that
No FM radio
No TV-out port
No voice dialing
Somewhat limited 3rd party software availability
No Bluetooth file transfers (not without rooting)
No tethering (not without a custom ROM)

Samsung I7500 Galaxy live shots

Samsung have established a strong presence in the touchscreen market. Their usual weapon of choice is TouchWiz, which brings PocketPCs and feature phones closer together, projecting a consistent brand image.

With the Galaxy, they're stepping out of their comfort zone - a new OS and a new interface. TouchWiz for Android is yet to come (and in the case of I7500 never is more likely than later).

To make sure it does well, Samsung have equipped the Galaxy to match to specs of the top Android phones available on the market. And it sure needs every bit of ammo if it's going to challenge the well-entrenched HTC Hero. The I7500 Galaxy can take it on spec for spec and even win a few rounds.

#10:LG KM900 Arena

One of the most exciting handsets the season - the LG KM900 Arena - returns to our office and this time it is going to stay a bit longer. After getting off to a flying start in both sales and reviews the Arena certainly looks like the next big thing from LG. In these tough economic times no company can afford too many blunders so it better live up to those high expectations.
The LG KM900 Arena grabbed our attention for the first time back in February at the MWC and even more so last month when we previewed it. Let's see if it's third time lucky and if it will be able to completely sweep us off our feet in a full review.

LG KM900 Arena official photos

Key features:

3" 16M-color capacitive TFT touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
S-Class Touch UI
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
3G with HSDPA (7.2 Mbps)
Wi-Fi and GPS receiver with A-GPS
5 megapixel autofocus camera with Schneider-Kreuznach optics, LED flash, geotagging
D1 (720x480 pixels)@30fps, VGA@30fps, QVGA fast-motion video and QVGA slo-mo video
8GB built-in storage
Hot-swappable microSD card slot
Standard 3.5mm audio jack and TV out
USB Mass Storage
Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
Accelerometer for screen auto rotate
Multi-touch input
3D hardware accelerator
DivX and XviD support
Dolby for Mobile audio enhancement
FM radio with FM transmitter
Office document viewer
Smart dialing

Main disadvantages:

Poor sunlight legibility
Inadequate flash performance
No voice-guided GPS navigation software available
No standard USB port
Records video in 3GP file format
Maximum email attachment size is 1MB only (both ways)
Limited DivX/XviD video support

The LG KM900 Arena is the pioneer of the new UI designed by the South Korean company, boldly named S-class. Promising fluidity never seen before and uncompromising looks and functionality, it is starting to take the world by storm. We doubt that it will be of a measure equal to the hurricane created by the iPhone's UI but the whole package might well surprise us.

We enjoy having the LG KM900 Arena back on board in a retail outfit

Mainly because the LG KM900 Arena has none of the (absurd) limitations of the original iPhone - no proper Bluetooth functionality, no FM radio, lack of file manager and so on. Instead the Arena comes as a exceptionally well equipped phone with almost every feature in the book included. From 3G with HSDPA, through Wi-Fi and GPS to FM transmitter - the LG KM900 has it all.

The Arena is ready to take on the iPhone - and most other full touch phones for that matter

................................................................................................................................................................................

Conclusion
So, which touchscreen to take? Well, it's not an easy question, even after we've run down the Top 10.
The Nokia's always been a good choice for many a more casual user, and we definitely miss IPHONE 3G S HERE . That doesn't mean it's for everyone though. The top-end Samsung phones have far superior hardware ,(only if you are ready to compromise touch sensitivity ),while HTC's workings with Android are giving the iPhone's ease of use crown a run for its money. If you're after a Qwerty though, HTC and Blackberry is the way to go.

*NOTE: All reviews written here are by gsmarena.com ,i've only given the ranking.

How To Update Firmware on SAMSUNG STAR / STAR 3G.

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 00:25:00 -0700

Hello Guys, this is my second attempt to make JAVA work on this phone. I was able to do this one also successfully with help of Dark Forest website!! :) Thanks Mate . (If you don't want to upgrade your firmware have a look at my previous post here)

OK so now the question is how to do the FIRMWARE UPGRADE & WHY TO DO IT??

Well for starters you can't INSTALL JAVA on STAR or any other samsung touch phones ....as you would do on any Nokia or Sony Ericsson phone .

Now if you haven't encountered any bug on the phone I'll mention some.

The message storage is suppose to be 500, but around only 200+ messages are stored in the phone & then it says inbox full. Also when you have an incoming call or outgoing you cannot see the number to which it is going (provided you have the number stored in your phonebook) When you have multiple numbers stored under single name this is a problem, this has been fixed as you get to see along with the name of the person calling you his/her number.

To overcome all these bugs you have to upgrade your firmware!!!

Now before going on further with the actually FIRMWARE UPGRADE(FLASHING) a disclaimer.
I HAVE NOT CREATED THIS METHOD NOR DO I TAKE CREDIT FOR IT. DARK FOREST & HIS TEAM ARE THE REAL INVENTORS , I AM JUST WRITING A METHOD SPECIFICALLY MENT FOR SAMSUNG STAR and star 3G (Dont confuse it may lead to phone crash). IF IN THIS PROCESS YOU END UP SCREWING YOUR PHONE I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE....but if you follow ALL my steps carefully i'll assure you nothing vil happen it works fine..!!!

So lets begin....:)

1st -> You have to check if you have SIM LOCK enabled on your phone.Type *#7465625# and see. SIM LOCK SHOULD BE OFF. Do not proceed if you have it ON, get it to a shop & have it disabled.

2nd -> BACKUP YOUR PHONE!!! Your contacts, messages, pictures, wallpapers, ringtones, music, gprs settings etc..

3rd -> You will require USB cable (The one which came with your phone) & PC Suite. Make sure PC suite is installed before you start the process as it has the drivers necessary for communicating with your phone.Make sure the phone is communicating with your PC using PC Suite.

4th->You need to download the firmware from here ....(FOR SAMSUNG STAR)
Download the firmware here ....(FOR SAMSUNG STAR 3G)

5th -> Now unpack the FIRMWARE files in a folder
Now that you have done this, switch off your phone, remove the battery, sim & micro SD. Place the battery back inside & press the volume down button,camera button & the power button all together. the phone will power up & will have a screen as shown below. In the mean time also restart you PC (This is very IMPORTANT)

**DONT FORGET TO EXIT YOUR PC STUDIO PROGRAM

Side by side also download Multiloader from here

HERE ARE SOME VIDEO GUIDES BEFORE YOU FLASH ,YOU MUST WATCH THIS....

FOR SAMSUNG STAR

*Register in http://darkforestgroup.com/forum/ before you watch this video

Now thats clear, lets begin.

1st -> Open up MULTILOADER & select the options in the exact order as shown below.

2nd -> Now after selecting the MSM6275/MSM6280/MSM6290 (FOR STAR 3G) AND BCMR2133 (FOR STAR)option, select the option as shown below.

3rd -> Now that the BOOT LOADER files are in place lets proceed to FULL DOWNLOAD. Do EXACTLY as shown below.

4th -> Now with Rsrc1

5th -> The next step is VERY IMPORTANT, choose Rsrc2 (LOW) & not (MID). MID is know to have problems while booting the phone.

6th -> Now the Factory Setting files.

7th -> & finally the MASTER ROM.

8th -> At last the MULTILOADER should look like below, now click on the PORT SEARCH

9th->Once you have pressed PORT SEARCH, the COM PORT will come up in the filed shown, Click on DOWNLOAD.

10->Now sit back and wait, Multi loader will erase the rom and prepare it for rewrite in a matter of seconds. immediately after, it will begin the download process, this could take up to 20 minutes depending on you computers speed.

** When it’s finished, it will show “ok complete”.

11th-> Unplug the phone from the USB cable, reinstall the sim and SD card.
*NOTE :Some models and some will not, if yours does not restart at this point, take out the battery a few seconds then reinsert it. NOTE ***

12th->Now with every thing is complete, You can perform a hard reset by typing *2767*3855# into the hand set (but not necessary.)

13th-> When the phone resets type *#1234# into your handset to check your new firmware ver.

That's it you are done.

**NOTE**

If your phone fails the flash for any reason, DO NOT TRY AND RESTART IT!!!!! Restart the computer and try the flash again! YES YOU MUST RESTART THE COMPUTER and try again.

How To Install Java Games/Applications on Samsung Star/Star 3G

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Fri, 9 Apr 2010 19:03:00 -0700

Hello to all the Frustrated users of "THE ALL NEW SAMSUNG STAR & STAR 3G". The reason you are on this page is because you were looking for a way out on HOW TO INSTALL Java Games / Applications I personally went thru a HELL trying to figure that out. I tried all the possible ways Google results had to offer... on this awesome phone.

Its not as simple as you think,,but don't worry i'll help you get through this....

Hi, I have updated the blog with one more alternative method & some troubleshooting steps, so if the Method to Install TKEXPLORER doesn't work for you I have an alternative method.

That's you have to update your firmware!...that's again a big issue ,i'll write it in my next post here.....
On how to update the FIRMWARE of SAMSUNG STAR ..
Also Samsung CORBY users, this method should work for you & enable you to Install Java Games on SAMSUNG CORBY!!

Before we start, I HAVE NOT INVENTED THIS METHOD,NOR DO I TAKE CREDIT FOR IT. I JUST TRIED OUT A METHOD MEANT FOR SOME OTHER PHONE & IT WORKED OUT FINE FOR ME,IF IN THE PROCESS YOU SCREW UP YOUR PHONE IT'S NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY.

Ok, lets start. We will require 3 things

TKFileExplorer
Jar creator (optional, required only if your Java file ".jar" does not have a .jad file.Download here)
Java App/Game you want to install. :)

Step 1 -> Download and install TKFileExplorer from here Also if you haven't installed PC STUDIO or the USB driver, now will be a good time to do that.

Step 2 -> Open TKFileExplorer and go to Settings then choose COM. On Port,
click the drop down menu and choose the only port that is visible (something like port 5/port 6). In my case it was port 8. (IF COM PORT IS NOT PRESENT, TYPE IN MANUALLY.START FROM COM1,COM2.. so on, until you find it)

NOTE* You must NOT be connected in PC Studio program.

Now click on FILE and CONNECT or in the icon as shown below.

Step 3 -> On the bottom Left of TKFileExplorer, browse through these folders Exe -> Java -> Games.
Now that you are in Games,
>Create a folder on your machine with the wht ever name you want & paste the .jar & .jad file in that folder.
>Now go back to TKFileExplorer & browse for that location where you have made the folder right click & Select Download.

>Thats it you done for the TKFileExplorer part. Discconect your phone by clicking the icon or by File -> Disconnect.

>Now open up your dial pad and enter the following, *#6984125*#.
>Choose INTERNALS and enter the following, *#9072641*#.
>Now scroll down and choose Storage Settings.
>Then Update Java DB, followed by update Apps database.
Now you are finished.

>>Go to Menu - Applications -> Games & More. Your newly installed App should be visible!!! :)

Now That you have fixed your JAVA issue.!!

Enjoy.!!!

5 Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do ..!

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Thu, 8 Apr 2010 04:51:00 -0700

There are some things you never knew your cell phone could do. Your mobile phone can actually be a handy tool in desperate times. Check out the things you can do with it.

1) The emergency number worldwide for mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of coverage and there is an emergency that you are dealing with, dial 112 and your mobile will search any existing network to establish a connection with the emergency helpline, and interestingly this number can be dialed even with the keypad locked.

2) Another good reason to own a cell phone is it comes really handy when you have left your car keys inside your car and its locked Surprised? well if you have locked your keys inside the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a feet from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone at their end.

3)Subject: Hidden Battery power

Imagine your cell battery is very low , you are expecting an important call and you don't have a charger. Nokia instrument comes with a reserve battery. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

4) How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?
To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

5)
Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now. This is the kind of information people don't mind receiving, so pass it on to your family and friends.

What is SVCHOST.EXE ? and How to Remove this virus manually

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Sat, 3 Apr 2010 22:27:00 -0700

Symptoms:

Do any of these symptoms sound familiar?

1.Your system becomes sluggish and you find that something called svchost or dllhost is taking nearly 100% of your CPU.

2.Your system reports that svchost has performed an illegal operation and will be terminated. After that, various things fail to work properly, if at all.

3.After you log in, your system automatically reboots in one minute

If so, then it's almost certain that you either have a virus or your system is currently vulnerable to a particular type of exploit known as the "RPC buffer overflow". We'll look at addressing both.

But just what is svchost?

Let me tell you what it is not: On Windows XP, 2000, and 2003, svchost is not a virus. On those systems, svchost is a required system component. If you happen to successfully delete it, your system will not run. You'll be much worse off than before. (Win95, 98, and Me users)

Do not delete svchost.exe. Don't even think about it. [Important: do not confuse svchost, which we are discussing here, with scvhost, which has two letters transposed...see again !! They are not the same thing. The presence of scvhost may indicate a virus.]

Svchost, which is short for "service host", is a core part of the operating system that provides support to many of the required services that are Windows. You can see all the copies of svchost and what services they are running by typing "tasklist / svc" in a command window. If you don't have tasklist, or just prefer not to use the command shell, you can use SysInternals Process Explorer instead. (Check out my previous article "What is Tasklist.exe, and why don't I have it?" for details.) On my machine, one copy of svchost is responsible for 30 separate services, another is hosting 4, and the remaining 3 host one service apiece.

"On Windows XP, 2000, and 2003, svchost is not a virus. On those systems, svchost is a required system component."

How to Remove It :

OK here we go, you must follow this step on how to remove this virus in manually method:

* Restart your PC and press F8 and select the option Safe Mode Command Prompt Only
* And after you log-in the command prompt you must log-in as Administrator.
* Type cd C:\windows\system32
* Type dir /ah, to display all hidden files on this directory folder. You will see the following files which is used by the virus to spread itself: AUTORUN.INI, BLASTCLNNN.EXE, and SCVHOST.EXE
* Type ATTRIB -H -R -S SCVHOST.EXE
* Type ATTRIB -H -R -S BLASTCLNNN.EXE
* Type ATTRIB -H -R -S AUTORUN.INI
* Type DEL SCVHOST.EXE
* Type DEL BLASTCLNNNN.EXE
* Type DEL AUTORUN.INI
* Type CD\
* Type ATTRIB -H -R -S AUTORUN.INF
* Type DEL AUTORUN.INF

You are almost done, reboot your PC you may seat back and relax.. :) while loading...

Go Start Menu and click the Run and type the REGEDIT command. Take note guys before make any changes into your Registry Editor you must make a full back-up to your registry to avoid system errors. :)

Look the location entry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, if you see an entry Yahoo! Messengger (it’s spelled like this) with a value c:\windows\system32\scvhost.exe, Delete this entry.

Look the location entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon, in the entry named: SHELL, a value = Explorer.exe,SCVHOST.EXE. Edit this value, delete the SCVHOST.EXE only and the value must be Explorer.exe. Once you delete all this value, your computer will not login anymore.

OK you are now done.. Please Restart your PC now and Enjoy!!!

Mafia Wars Cheats and Tricks

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 19:01:00 -0700

So What Is Mafia Wars ?

The basic idea behind Mafia Wars is simple. Start your Mafia family, Run 3 kinds of crime business and eventually try to rule all of New York City. OK, great, so how do you do this? Well one of the biggest flaws in the game is there really is no guide or directions. Your kinda left hanging with this but, most people will pick it up pretty quick.

Your 2 main goals are pretty simple, grow your family and level up. Recruit as many people into your mafia family to gain strength. You want as many people doing jobs for the family as well as a lot of people for fights. The more people you have the better off you are. Recruiting is pretty simple, first invite your friends and after that there are loads of places on Facebook to find new recruits. Remember, to have someone in your mafia family you will have to make them your friend on facebook.
You level up by doing various jobs and winning fights. As you increase in level you will have the opportunity to gain more properties, better weapons and other inventory items as well as earn money.
The game itself is really addictive once you start. You will find yourself signing in just to see if you made any money or if anything new has happened. IT can get crazy but all in all it's a lot of fun. To start playing just do a search for Mafia Wars on Facebook. It is also available for yahoo and MySpace and I am pretty sure the iphone now too.

How To Get All Looted Items And Weapons in Mafia Wars Cheats Revealed

Doing the following jobs will score you the items listed below. Remember that you may not get the item the first time around. You might need to do the job again but you will eventually get the listed items by completing the jobs associated with the items. Enjoy!
Beat Up Rival Gangster (1e) = .22 Pistol (2A 0D)

Collect Protection Money (2e) = Butterfly Knife (2A 1D)

Rough Up Dealers (2e) = Brass Knuckles (2A 2D)

Rob a Pimp (3e) = .9mm Semi-Automatic (3A 2D)

Take Out a Rogue Cop (3e) = .45 Revolver (3A 2D)

Perform a Hit (3e) = Tactical Shotgun (3A 2D)

Destroy Enemy Mon Hideout (5e) = C-4 (5A 2D)

Kill a Protected Snitch (5e) = Stab-Proof Vest (2A 5D)

Bust a Made Man Out of Prison (5e) = Automatic Rifle (4A 4D)

Fight a Haitian Gang (6e) = Semi-Automatic Shotgun (5A 4D)

Smuggle Across The Border (7e) = Armored Truck (4A 8D)

Repel the Yakuza (13e) = Grenade Launcher (14A 10D)

Disrupt rival smuggling ring (15e) = 50 .50 Caliber Rifle (16A 11D)

Invade Tong-controlled Neighborhood (25e) = Armored Car (14A 15D)

Sell Guns To The Russian Mob (25e) = RPG Launcher (20A 12D)

Protect your City against a Rival Family (35e) = Bodyguards (8A 25D)

Assassinate a Political Figure (35e) = Night Vision Goggles (5A 16D)

Exterminate a Rival Family (40e) = Napalm Attack (25A 9D)
Want even more great tips? Learn how to stop losing fights, wasting energy points and grow your mafia faster then you ever dreamed.Also learn the fastest way to gain Godfather points. Read the Top Secret Mafia Wars Guide
This is the ultimate strategy guide to help you build your mafia quickly, earn cash fast and just watch those Godfather points climb.

Mafia Wars Is On Tagged.Com

To be honest I really never heard of Tagged until Mafia Wars. Tagged is another community like Myspace and facebook claiming over 70 million members. Well, with that many people you knew the Mafia was going to have to move in soon right.So now if your a Tagged member you can join in on all the fun that is Mafia Wars. All of the above tips and tricks will work for you and with it being a little newer to tagged then the other networks now is the time to build you mafia and take over on Tagged.
The only thing I have heard,I am not yet a member at Tagged, is that the game can be a bit buggy.This is always the case with a new release and rest assured Zynga will get things running smooth in no time. Mafia Wars did not become the success it is by not keeping things up to par for its gamers.
If your not a member of Tagged now would be a great time to stroll in and start building your mafia.As with everything the sooner you are in the better your position is in the long run and with the tips above you can take over in no time.
Welcome Tagged members to the Mafia ;)

Mafia Wars Cheats What Is Your Biggest Asset

When you first start playing Mafia Wars it is very tempting to just go for the big money right away. Everyone see's all the big money stats and wants to get their fair share but the truth is, your biggest asset is actually energy packs.As you level up you will want to manage your energy wisely so you can complete your jobs as well as not get killed. If you use and save your energy properly it will become that much easier to make more money and keep it. You need energy for everything so make sure you save as many energy packs as possible.
A great way to have more energy is to choose the maniac class when you start off. You will have more energy to complete missions and win fights. Completing missions will bring you the cash and weapons that you will need to move up in the Mafia Wars World.
There are some people that may not agree with this strategy but, it has worked VERY well for me. I was able to do more jobs, make money and become stronger very quickly. Once you make some money you just invest it and you will make more money without doing anything at all and you can concentrate on other things.

Godfather Points With Surveys

One of the hardest things to build up quickly is Godfather points when playing Mafia Wars. You only get one point when you level up and will want to find other ways to build them up quickly. There is also the daily chance lottery but again that is just what it says, a chance.You can buy points from Zynga if you like but there is a free option.
Taking surveys is a great way to build up your Godfather points easily. It can be a little time consuming but the pay off is well worth it. If your going to take the surveys you will want to set up a seperate email acount for these surveys. Basically you will find your inbox flooded with emails once you have taken some surveys so keep this all in an email account just for surveys. This will help you keep from cluttering up your regular email account. There are plenty of free email services so just choose one and you will be ready to start building up those Godfather points in no time.
Remember the points are not applied to your account right away but you will see them in your account in a couple of ours to a couple of days. Zynga is very good about making sure you get your points. So if your looking for more Godfather points, go set up a new email address and start taking surveys now!

Over a Quadrillion bucks in this Mafia Wars Account

Mafia Trivia PT. 1

In November 2007 Sicilian police reported to have found a
list of "Ten Commandments" in the hideout of mafia boss
Salvatore Lo Piccolo. Similar to the Biblical Ten Commandments,
they are thought to be a guideline on how to be a good,
respectful honorable mafioso. It's funny that the Mafia
would have any kind of morals, but when it comes to family
relationships, it's no secret that those are still considered
sacred.
The Mafia's Ten Commandments are as follows:

1. No one can present himself directly to another of our
friends. There must be a third person to do it.

2. Never look at the wives of friends.

3. Never be seen with cops.

4. Don't go to pubs and clubs.

5. Always being available for Cosa Nostra is a duty - even
if your wife is about to give birth.

6. Appointments must absolutely be respected.

7. Wives must be treated with respect.

8. When asked for any information, the answer must be the truth.

9. Money cannot be appropriated if it belongs to others or
to other families.

10. People who can't be part of Cosa Nostra: anyone who has
a close relative in the police, anyone with a two-timing
relative in the family, anyone who behaves badly and doesn't
hold to moral values.

Mafia Trivia PT. 2

The game Mafia Wars is a fun and almost addictive game, it's
by far my favorite game to play online. The idea is violent
conflict between criminal organizations, but what about the
real mafia wars in the 20th century?

The First Mafia War was the first high-profile conflict
between Mafia clans in post-war Italy (the Sicilian Mafia has
a long history of violent rivalries).

In December 1962 some heroin went missing from a shipment to
America. When the Sicilian Mafia Commission could not decide
who was to blame, one of the clans involved - the La Barbera
clan - took matters into its own hands. They murdered a mafioso
from the Greco clan whom they suspected of stealing the heroin,
triggering a war in which many non-mafiosi would be killed in
the crossfire.
In April 1963, several bystanders were wounded during a shootout
in Palermo. In May, Angelo La Barbera survived a murder attempt
in Milan. In June, six military officers and a policeman in
Ciaculli were killed while trying to dispose of a car bomb.

The fact that the conflict spread outside Sicily and claimed
innocent lives provoked national outrage and a crackdown in
which nearly 2,000 arrests were made. Mafia activity fell as
clans disbanded and mafiosi went into hiding. 117 suspects
were put on trial in 1968, but most were acquitted or
received light sentences.

Our online gaming is, of course, not meant to be disrespectful
to people who lost their lives due to organized crime, but
it's impossible to deny that there is something attractive to
the 'mafioso' lifestyle.

What Games Do You Play Other Then Mafia Wars

With Mafia Wars being literally such an addictive game, I started wondering what else do you play. I used to play a lot more games before the real world caught up with me lol. I loved my shooters, Quake 3, Unreal Tournament and some may remember Rune like Unreal with swords. I also enjoyed going through a good RPG when I had time. Never really played the MMORPG's as that was when I started finding less and less game time. I liked some of the older games like Elder scrolls 3 Morrowind, Planescape Torment, Kings Quest series and a few others. I usually went back and forth between just crazy shooter play and the more thinking style needed for an RPG. If I had to choose a favorite from then it would probably be a shooter simply because I could play a quick round any time..
I can also remember how I got started in video game play. I am about to date myself but I owned one of the original pong games and an Atari 2600. I actually still have the Atari in the basement and half of the games still work. I find myself going back to some of the older arcade style game like we used to play, back in the day, at the local video arcade. I like to load up the simple card and puzzle games for a quick play, which can take longer then expected if I really get into it ha ha.

Tips for Buying a Desktop Computer

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:39:00 -0700

Like most consumers, you probably have an idea of how much you want to spend on a desktop. But how do you ensure that you get exactly what you need? The different range of configurations, and the seemingly constant arrival of new and faster technology all make for a difficult decision.In this post I’m going to go through the 6 main components that you need to worry about when choosing your dream machine and also the different things you’ll be looking for depending on your computer needs.

The 6 main components that you need to look at are:

Processor
Motherboard
RAM
Hard Drive
Graphics Card
Monitor

To help you find the right mix, i've outlined the 3 basic types of PC user.

The 3 main consumer groups I’ll use are:

Casual Use: Internet, mail and word processing (0 – 30 minutes a day). Price range: less than Rs.25,000 ($550)
Moderate Use: Casual Use + photo / video editing, light gaming (30min – 3 hours a day). Price range: between Rs.25,000 to Rs.35000 ($550 and $800)
Heavy Use: Moderate Use + heavy gaming, lots of editing (3+ hours a day)Like me..!!!. Price range: greater than Rs.35,000($800)

Before we get started, I’m going to say that all of the prices listed are current as of the day of this post and are listed in INR and U.S dollars. You could probably find cheaper prices if you search but I’m just going off the prices that I can find. Also, the prices listed above are just an estimate of what the average user in each group would need. Some people in the Casual Use group want a machine that will beat out most of the competition so they’ll spend more. Let’s get started.

Processor

Processors are the heartbeat of your computer. If you pick one that’s too slow you’re applications will get bogged down. If you pick on that’s too fast you’ll just be wasting money. Picking one that’s right for you can be difficult.

Casual Use: Since you’re not going to be doing any processor intensive things, spending the extra money on a fast processor (or anything above a dual core) is unnecessary. The AMD Athlon2 X240 X2 240(2.9GHz) or the Intel Core2Duo E6550 (2.3GHz) processor should be perfect for you.
Moderate Use: You’re going to want a faster processor to run all of your applications. Video editing and gaming need faster processors that your basic everyday use. The AMD Phenom 9600 (2.3GHz quad-core) or the Intel Core2Duo Q6600 (2.4GHz quad-core) will suite your needs perfectly.
Heavy Use: You’re going to be gaming, using CPU intensive applications and you’re going demand the best. A high end quad-core processor is a necessity. The Intel Core i7 (3.0GHz) will blow all of the other processors out of the water. This quad-core processor will run anything you throw at it for years to come.

Motherboard

The motherboard is the foundation upon which your PC is built. Here's how to buy one that can accommodate all the components you want.

Form factor :The form factor sets the standard for a motherboard's dimensions and layout, as well as the positioning of mounting holes, expansion slots, and ports. Your case must support the form factor of the board you choose. Most of today's motherboards are laid out in the ATX form factor. Home theater buffs looking to build a PC for the living room should consider a smaller MicroATX board. These boards use the general ATX design but include fewer I/O slots, allowing for a shorter board that can fit in a smaller case.

RAM slots

Most motherboards feature two to four memory slots. (Because of their size, MicroATX boards tend to offer fewer slots than their ATX counterparts.) Regardless of the board you choose, make sure it has enough slots to accommodate your needs. For optimum performance, look for boards that support faster DDR2 memory.

CPU socket

Your most important decision when buying a motherboard is the processor family you want the board to support. AMD's various Athlon 64 CPUs are compatible with Sockets 754, 939, 940, and AM2, depending on the particular Athlon 64 subfamily. The socket number, in the first three cases, simply corresponds to the number of pins found on the bottom of the processor; the AM2 socket, the latest iteration, uses 940 pins and is the first AMD socket to work with DDR2 SDRAM. Sockets 478 and LGA775 support Intel Pentium 4, Celeron and Core 2 Duo processors, the only difference being that the LGA775 design has the pins located on the motherboard CPU socket, as opposed to on the CPU itself.

Storage

With Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives becoming increasingly popular, most new motherboards offer both IDE and SATA connectors. If you want to future-proof your system, make sure your board supports SATA drives.

PCI slots

Most ATX motherboards provide at least four PCI slots for expansion. While these standard PCI slots are usually present for expansion cards like sound cards and Ethernet cards, faster PCI Express (PCIe) slots also appear on most mainstream boards. PCIe slots differ among themselves, however, according to the number of links, or lanes, they support. For instance, a PCIe x16 slot provides greater bandwidth than a PCIe x1 slot. (A single lane can transmit 2.5Gbps in each direction.) As a result, PCIe graphics cards employ x16, whereas an Ethernet card might use x1. Any expansion cards you plan to use must be compatible with the specific slot types, of course.

RAM

RAM is the main component when it comes to speed. In general the more RAM you have, the faster your computer will run. This is because Application instructions are put into RAM and they can be executed faster from RAM. If you want to run Vista, you’re pretty much going to need 2GB of RAM.

Casual Use: If you’re not runing Vista, 512MB – 1GB will be sufficient for your every day use. If you’re going to run Vista, I would recommend 2GB. Any more and you won’t really notice a performance difference.
Moderate Use: 2GB to 3GB (DDR@ or DDR3)will everything you ever need as a Moderate user. 3GB will run all of your applications.
Heavy Use: If you’re running a 64bit OS, max out with 8GB (DDR3)of RAM. If you’re only running a 32bit OS than the most you can put in is 4GB. Whatever OS you have, make sure you max out the amount of RAM you can have because you’ll need it.

Hard Drive

Storage space is totally up to your own preferences. Some casual users will want to store a large amount of data and some heavy users may only want a small storage device. If you’re gaming a lot, a 10k RPM drive will run your applications a lot faster. Other than speed, theres no reason not to get a 7200 RPM drive. The size of such a drive will vary depending on how much data you’re going to save.

Graphics Card

The graphics card is very important if you’re going to be doing any gaming at all. If you’re not going to game, most motherboards have an integrated graphics card that will be sufficient. I personally think ATI makes a much better graphics card than Nvidia does so I won’t be talking about ATI’s old cards.

Casual Use: An Intel integrated graphics card that’s included with your motherboard should be sufficient for all of your needs. If you do want a dedicated graphics card the Nvidia 8600 is a fairly cheap card that will do well.
Moderate Use: Since you’re going to be doing a little more gaming, you’re going to want a fairly decent graphics card to keep up with the current games. The Nvidia 9800 gt is a very good card, but it is a little more expensive. The 9800GT is a little cheaper, but not quite as good.
Heavy Use: Gaming is your life. You’re going to want the best graphics cards possible (and more than one). The ATI radeon hd 5970 ,i will be your best bet. There are some motherboards now that can even do 3-way SLI, which will run even the most graphically intensive games.

Monitor

Like storage space, the monitor is very much a personal choice. Some people like one smaller screen, some like one large screen and some like dual medium screens. If you’re going to be gaming or doing any editing you’re going to want a computer screen with a quick refresh rate ( less than 5ms) and a good contrast ratio. If you’re only looking at emails and surfing the web, it really doesn’t matter which monitor you pick.
My recommendation is DELL or ASUS.

Conclusion

There are a number of different desktop computers out there and picking the right one for yourself can be difficult. The following links are from Best Buy and showcase computers that are in the price range of the different categories:
Casual Use
Moderate Use 1 and 2
Heavy Use 1

Hopefully you’ll find a computer thats right for you. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask in the comment section below.

10 tips for buying a new laptop..!

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 23:03:00 -0700

Is a new laptop on your shopping list? Whether you're shopping for someone else or for yourself (you've been especially good this year, right?), here are 10 things to keep in mind as you do your research and get ready to buy. From test driving potential PCs in the store, to knowing your warranty options and the store's return policy,this article we'll help you find the perfect laptop for you.

1. Getting started

Not sure what you’re looking for? Do "RAM" and "processor" sound like Greek? Our interactive guide will take you through a quick laptop crash course and recommend a set of PCs based on your needs. We'll even provide a handy sheet customized just for you that you can print out and keep for reference.

2. Test drive

Would you buy a car without taking it for a quick spin? Visit your local retailer to get up close and personal to the PC you’re eyeing and don’t be afraid to ask the salesperson for some time on your own. Take your time to see if you like the way it feels, think up additional questions, or consult with that expert friend you brought along.

3. Ask to see a laptop with similar features.

With two models side by side, you may find that one is clearly superior or a better fit for you. You can also get a head start and compare some of our top PCs virtually here.

4. Don't panic about price differences.

Two laptops can look identical but differ greatly in performance. Ask about the specifications of two laptops that look the same but vary wildly in price. If the specs match, you might be onto a good deal. Most likely, prices differ for reasons like processor quality, storage, installed software, and unique features like solid-state drives (SSDs).

5. Check out the different editions of Windows 7

Windows 7 is Microsoft's latest and greatest operating system. Whether you’re a media buff, someone who dangerously walks the line between work and play, or you just want it all, there’s an edition of Windows 7 just for you. Read up on Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate and scan a handy side-by-side chart here.

6. Ask about the cost of upgrades like more RAM, a bigger hard drive, a Blu-ray movie player, and more.

For a little extra, you can boost your laptop's capabilities, so be sure to ask these questions. It's cheaper to buy extra RAM when you buy the laptop. If you think you'll use it, get it now rather than later. If you're buying online, you can usually add upgrades. You also might do a little research ahead of time to make sure you're getting a good deal on the extras.

7. Know what accessories are included.

Remember what it's like to get a gift that needs batteries only to discover that batteries aren't included? Don't let that happen to you with your new laptop. Be sure to ask what's included, and make sure that everything is in the box. If you need a keyboard, mouse, or cable, you'll want to get them at the store before you get home and unpack your new laptop.

8. Know your warranty options.

Check out the manufacturer's standard warranty first. Many problems, if any, happen right away or within the first few months of use, so a manufacturer's warranty (which typically lasts a year) will give you coverage without the need to pay for an extended warranty. But you also need to think about how hard you are on your laptop. Do you travel a lot? Do you have a herd of Great Danes? An extended warranty can be valuable insurance if you think your computer may experience some extra wear and tear.

9. Ask about the store's return policy.

Many stores offer a 14- to 30-day grace period during which you can return a product for a full refund, no questions asked. Some stores will charge a restocking fee, however, so make sure you ask about that too.

10. It's easy to switch over from your old computer to your new laptop.

We've got some great resources and tools to simplify your switch once you've found your perfect PC. You can transfer over all your data with Windows Easy Transfer (see page for details and instructions). And the Compatibility Center is there for you to figure out which of your favorite programs will run on your new machine as is, along with which ones just need some upgrades.

Computer Beginners Maintenance Checklist

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:43:00 -0700

"First, do no harm:" ie, don’t start your computer career by trying to delete everything, modifying the heck out of your registry, or racing around to various exotic tweak and tips sites that are all too easily, abundantly, and alluringly hailable, available, and accessible over the internet. You need to learn before you can truly 'tweak.' ;)

Disk Defragmenter. - run once a week, and/or after installing a new program, or uninstalling an old one. ( avoid installing too many extraneous programs, especially 3rd party free- and share-ware off the Internet. XP doesn’t really like it, or cooperate with such an approach.)
Run chkdsk in run command ... I do it every day: others may settle for once a week, maybe longer.
Left click Disk check with bad sectors check (requires reboot, as prescribed...whole process can take 20 minutes or more.) I doubt if this would hurt anyone if you ran it once a month.
Delete temporary internet files, from Internet Explorer > Tools > Internet Options > General tab ...oh, once every few days. ( I delete mine every day.)
Delete cookies, from same.
6. Delete history, from same.
Delete *.tmp, .gid, .cnt, .fts, .dmp files occasionally. Leave .old, .bak, and .log files until you learn more about them. It can be a drag to lose them, only to find your system needed them to load or uninstall a particular program ( oh, those tedious error pop-ups!)..and XP is nothing, if it isn’t ‘particular!’
Uncheck unneeded services in msconfig (run command) on start-up tab. Don't mess with the other tabs in System Configuration for a good long while!
run SFC /scannow (type in run command line) with OS disc once a month (takes about 20 minutes.)
Reboot often, more or less ( after running a given program, even if it doesn’t tell you to, for example. As a general rule, if your rebooting, say, about once every half-hour, I can hardly think that is excessive, even today, with our 'new and improved.')
Resort to power off, occasionally, for that reassuring clean sweep effect.(Start, Power off, Turn off .) Wait a half minute or so, and reboot with tower button.
Remove old programs you no longer use, from Add/Remove.
Make extra restore points, and resort to System restore, when necessary.
Review and learn how to do a repair reinstall, should the necessity ever arise.
Do automatic updates, if so inclined (Some download them all, some are more selective, and some daring souls neglect them completely.)
Run Anti-virus scan once a week, and keep steady scan on all the time.
UseWindows firewall as present. Disable temporarily if necessary for downloads. 3rd party fire walls, even the free ones, are for the slightly more advanced. They can be frustrating. ( Also, disable anti-virus, if necessary, to exectue difficult or slow downloads. You can always save the file to disc, and scan it for viruses, before you open it. Ie, you don't need to run anti-virus during the actual downloading, itself.)
Download and run (Lavasoft) Adaware 6, if necessary, if you play with third party software downloads off internet. ( A pleasant way also to remind you of all the 'cookies' and such you left sitting on your system, no doubt draining your resources and slowing the system down!)
Avoid deleting surplus refernces to deleted files and removed software in the registry. You need to be really sure you know how to do this before you can
Consider full system reinstall.
Get one or two more hard drives, and keep OS on separate hard drive.
Check for, and download, new drivers for the stuff you know you have (ie, in device manager.) from the various manufacturer's website.
Always use Add/Remove programs in Start > Control Panel to remove unneeded software. The uninstall programs provided with downloadable freeware and such are not necessarily good for your machine. XP is not overly fond of uninstalling software, except thru Add/Remove. (Use the right tool for the job!)
Consider upgrading to at least 256 RAM. ( that’s the basic message I get, wherever I go.)
If you want to, disable Messenger, Indexing, Automatic Updates, Remote Desktop, and the annoying Error Reporting service, if you must … but leave the rest of the System Configurations ( ie, those found by typing in services.msc in the run command, and pressing OK button) alone, for now ( the engaging www.blackviper.com to the contrary.)
Disable hibernation (Control Panel > Power Options > hibernate tab ) unless for some reason you anticipate needing it.
Disable audio card System Sounds, if you like ( pleasant not to hear them, and pleasanter still to know they take up no extra power when turned off, especially the EXIT sound.) I do this via Media Player 9 > Tools > options card > Devices tab > speakers > properties button > Sounds and Audio Devices card > Sounds tab.
Run Disc cleanup - skip compress old files, as I don’t recommend it (others may disagree.) Disc cleanup is also a pleasant way to remind yourself of all those Temp Internet Files, Temp files, and the junk still hiding in your recycle bin.
Download and install a second freeware media player like vlc (VideoLAN) that will play the files which Windows Media Player won’t play, like those nice high-kilobyte SVCD files you can glean from Kazaa lite, and play so easily on your vlc. (It’s so heartbreaking and pathetic to watch Media Player struggle to try to download a codec from its meager resources, when vlc, or perhaps WinAmp, will play them so much easier and quicker, without all the fuss!)
Searching the Internet? Stick with Google, until you have a bloody good reason to graduate to another search engine. I’ve messed with many for 3 years, and always run back to Google.)
Don’t bother downloading screensavers and ‘desktop themes’ (!) off the internet. They are too risky: ask your guru for the lowdown on 3rd party software.(I have had fun downloading, saving, and selecting/installing sound waves from a couple of different Clint Eastwood screensavers, however! ( I then select and delete the rest of the other screensaver material in the file.) ...however, you have to learn how to do such things.
Be considerate. Get a pair of headphones, to spare your housemates and neighbors your Metallica rock sessions.
Delete old pics, music, and video files you don’t need. Get a DVD /CD - RW (rewritable) to avoid having all that stuff accumulate.
Get a good computer guru. An experienced one. Or a few experienced ones.
Consider saving yourself the agony of wondering if someone hacked your private info by keeping your financial and thins like personal address info. off your computer. Less convenient, but you may be happier in the long run.
Print hard copies - off your printer - of whatever you are typing into your Word program or whatever, ASAP ( as soon as possible.) This is so even though you may already be 'saving to disc'(ie, floppy disc in your A: drive.)This saves one the agony of losing the material should your computer act up, power outages or whatever cause disconnect/freeze-ups, or some as-yet-undiscovered subatomic particle disables something. Relying just on the ‘Save’ and/ or ‘Save As’ options, or just leaning on one or more A: drive/’floppy’ disc copies, may not do the job. Printing a page each as you go, is the safest bet for a backup: modify according to your tolerance and creative powers.
Shared computer? You’ll still be happier resorting to keeping some hidden files within your own account/profile.
Acrobat reader freeware can be useful for reading off the Internet. (PDF files or what-not.) but as a general rule, avoid third-party software, no matter how much fun it is. Removing it can be a nuisance, and is just an extra strain for XP.Nothing wrong with an ad-free Kazaa LITE or an extra media player like vlc Videolan, or WinAmp.I have never found a 3rd party audio freeware that truly out did Media Player 9, vlc, or the WinAmp, however. I wouldn’t bother with those others if I were you, no matter how exotic or sophisticated they make themselves sound ( grass is always greener over there, right?) or look ( actually, some of them are so gothically hideous, you'll save yourself some misery by not ever having to look them. Some are so space-age-nerd looking, they make you laff: and both 'goth' and nerd types take too much time, in my opinion, for the effort it takes to navigate their control buttons. Stick with the players mentioned above.Investigate and consider freeware WinMX, as a download source similar to Kazaa lite.
Don’t go relocating your music, pictures, or video files all over the place. It’s so dangerously simple to move files, once you learn how! However, it can make them alot harder to find and/or access, especially when trying to access them via the file hunter in your Media Player, or an unfinished file in Kazaa's Shared Folder feature.Keep it simple.
Try to avoid running two or more programs at once. With more ram, or perhaps an extra hard disc, you may get away with it better than low ram and a 1 gig. hard disc drive. and don't let your computer frustrate you. It's only a machine. Don't let it confuse you. It is loaded with a miriad of 'factulae' which will simply take awhile to gracefully arrange themselves on your humanoid system disc (ie., your brain.) Take a break from your computer once in a while ( remember those friends and that fresh air you once had ?)

(P.S. : I apologize, as I am not a gamer, that I have little to offer in that direction. I do know, however, that you usually need to use game software that is specific to your system make and OS : any old disc won't do, so I hear...and it helps to have plenty of ram, and a 3-D card for gaming.)

32 and 64 bit processors: what is the difference..?,what does it really mean..?

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:30:00 -0700

You might have heard or even used 32 bit and 64 bit processors.....But you still asking yourself, what difference does it makes...? what does it really mean.??
Well Here is the answer

First, I’ll talk about the pure mathematics and structure of the processors that are involved here. I’ll keep this part short and sweet.

A bit is short for “binary digit.” It is basically how a computer stores and makes references to data, memory, etc. A bit can have a value of 1 or 0, that’s it. So binary code is streams of 1’s and 0’s, such as this random sequence 100100100111. These bits are also how your processor does calculations. By using 32 bits your processor can represent numbers from 0 to 4,294,967,295 while a 64-bit machine can represent numbers from 0 to 18,446,744,073,709,551,615. Obviously this means your computer can do math with larger numbers, and be more efficient with smaller numbers.

Now see, that description wasn’t too bad, but the question is how does this affect you, the average PC owner? The largest benefit will go to academic institutions and private companies, where large calculations are being performed, huge databases are being accessed, and complex problems are being solved.

Everyone that doesn’t fall into that category will see some benefit of using 64 bit processors over 32 bit processors, but not much in today’s marketplace. The AMD Athlon 64-bit processor is completely backward compatible, meaning you can currently use it with 32-bit operating systems and software programs. You will see some benefits by using this setup, but because the programs weren’t written to take advantage of the extra power, they won’t use much of it.

The true benefits of this set up don’t come from the amount of bits, but by the improved structure of the 64 bit vs 32 bit processor's older structure. A 64-bit processor is made with more advanced silicon processes, have more transistors, and faster speeds. This is currently where the true benefit of switching to a 64-bit processor lays.

As for 64-bit operating systems and software, many are in the works, but nothing is in final version. Microsoft has released a beta version of Windows XP that takes advantage of the 64 bit technology, but there are still issues. The problem is when you run 32-bit software programs in the environment of a 64-bit operating system. Many programs won’t work properly, such as Adobe Acrobat and Windows Media Player, for example. Another issue is RAM. You really need about 4 GB of RAM to take full advantage of the capabilities offered by a 64-bit processor, while most PC owners have less than 1 GB under their computer’s hood.

So, the question now is should you buy a 64 bit processor now, or wait?

Disadvantages:

You’re currently not able to take full advantage of the technology because the software vendors haven’t made the switch from 32-bit to 64-bit processors.

Most AMD Athlon 64 bit processors are not much expensive...compare to intel.

Advantages:

Better performance out of a 32-bit operating system.

FarmVille Cheat Codes

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:56:00 -0700

Farmville cheat codes are available for coins and experience as you play the game. Find cheats for Farmville throughout the page below. Listed within this page are the speed cheats, along with the fastest growing crops.

FarmVille is a social game developed by Zynga,

and available on social networks and iPhones.

Launched in June 2009, it became one of the most popular applications on Facebook, garnering 10 million users in less than a month. This is one of the most popular games on the largest social networking system in the world.

In this MMORPG game, you can buy the farm in a good way. You learn how to plough, plant, reap your harvest, and help your friendly neighbors on this game. This game is for people of all ages, and is easy to learn. Yes, players will find some cheat codes, along with strategy tips and hints for everyone to use.There are links to other Farmville cheats are included in this page.

Facebook Farmville Cheat Codes for Speed
Clear a section in your field of plots, you need to create a nice section of land. Clear nine spots in a formation. Now ‘walk’ your person in the middle of this section.

Go to the market, purchase the cheapest fences, and set the fences around the person. After you have set four fences down you will need to turn two of them. You can click on the fence when it is placed and turn it sideways. This effectively blocks in the person and now you can plow and plant much quicker.

This fence trick is super handy if you have a large amount of area to plow or plant. If you use other items to block in your person, he or she will walk around the perimeter and proceed to plant or plow.
Facebook Farmville Cheat Codes for Crop Growing
Crops grow and ripen at various times. There is no way to stop the crops from growing while you are away from your computer. Plant the crops that take longer to grow when you go away from your computer for a while.

If you are planning on being away from your computer for 8 hours try planting tomatoes, pumpkins, or sugar cane. All of these items are available at different levels and they can really make the difference in rotting fruit. This saves money and time from clearing rotted crops.
Farmville Cheat Codes For Growing the Best Crops
Planting a field full of strawberries will make a player a lot of money, and although this is not considered one of the cheats, it does help a player to accumulate money and experience quickly. Strawberries in this game take four hours to grow, so this is perfect for people who can log into facebook often.

The strawberries will give a player the experience needed and the cash to move up the levels quickly. It is time consuming, but well worth the effort if one wishes to make the levels fast.

Planting a field full of peas which take a day to grow will net the player 7.652 coins an hour and will earn the player 3 experience points per hour. Onions, sunflowers, sugar cane, lilies, grapes, tomatoes, and asparagus are also good buys, but these crops are only available on the higher levels.
Other Important Farmville Information
How to get money in Farmville list several ways a player can gain money without using the cheat engine or doing any cheats. For instance, the page on Farmville on Facebook crop whisperer explains how the badge is won. As each of the four levels of that badge is won, a player gets a bonus.

Although some people may think stacking fences, or bales of hay is a cheat is it not. Perhaps players might be interested in the page how to put fences on top of another on Farmville. Stacking these items makes the individual farms look more interesting.

All players of the game may want to check out the Farmville class action suit, because it is important to know that information.

FarmVille Cheat Codes Videos Powered by YouTube

20 Ways To Increase Laptop’s Battery Life

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:48:00 -0700

Mobile computing has got better with lighter components, better chips and faster processors. But the Achilles heel of a laptop has remained its battery.

So here are we are going to look at ways to increase laptop battery life.

Modern graphic intensive operating systems and resource hungry applications are cutting down the life of your laptop’s battery every day. The average battery life per continuous use still stands at a maximum of three to four hours.
So, a fast depleting battery could very swiftly put the crutches on your ‘mobile’ road trip.

Falling just short of carrying an extra pack of batteries in the back-pack, are several ways to keep the juice flowing through the batteries.

1. Ship shape with a defrag

Regular defragmentation helps to arrange data more efficiently thus making the hard drive work less to access the data. The quicker the moving hard drive works lesser is the load placed on the battery. Thus, your batter can last longer. The effect is minimal, but this efficiency goes hand in glove with hard drive maintenance.

2. Kill the resource gobblers

End the background processes that are not vital. Monitor the resource usage through a ‘Ctrl-Alt-Del’ which brings up the Windows Task Manager (in Windows). If you’re not on the internet, it is safe to shut down the immediate non-essential programs running in the taskbar like the antivirus and the firewall. Weed out unnecessary programs running as start-ups by launching the System Configuration Utility from Run – Msconfig – Tab: Startup. Uncheck the programs which you don’t want to launch and reboot the computer once.

3. Pause the scheduled tasks

It may be a defrag or a virus scan, but make sure it is scheduled for a time when you are near a power outlet. If not then nix them for the moment.

4. Unplug external devices

USB devices are the biggest drainers of battery power. Unplug all external devices like an external mouse, PC cards, Wi-Fi, external speakers, Bluetooth and even an attached iPod.

5. Empty the CD/DVD Drives

Even if you don’t intend to use it, don’t leave any CD/DVDs as leftovers in the drives. A spinning drive sucks battery power like a sponge.

6. Go local

Desist using the DVD/external drives while running on batteries. Shift the content to the hard drive or run using (free) virtual drives like Pismo File Mount or even Microsoft’s Virtual CD ROM Control Panel.

7. Lower the lights

The LCD screen of a laptop is another huge power sink. Calibrate the brightness to the lowest level you can tolerate using the Function key toggles or using the Display Settings applet in the Control Panel.

8. Kill the sounds

Mute the speakers and try avoiding the use of multimedia software to maximize the battery life. Installed sound schemes also drain a battery perceptibly.

9. Rid the screensaver

To maximize battery life by a little, switch off the screensaver.

10. Visit Power Options

Get familiar with power management through the ‘Power Options’ applet in the Control Panel. Both XP and Vista come with advanced power management features which shut off components like the monitor and/or the hard drive after specified intervals. This again depends on the chosen ‘Power Schemes’ (for XP) in the same applet. For instance in XP, ‘Max Battery’ under Power Schemes can be selected for maximum battery optimization.

Similar settings can be found under ‘Mobile PC’ in the Control Panel of Vista.

11. Turn off the looks

Today’s OS’s like Windows Vista come with features like ‘Aero Glass’ which are resource guzzlers. One can turn it off and go for the ‘Classic’ appearance which consumes less power. In Vista, click on Desktop – Preferences – View Colour – Appearance – Classic Appearance and Windows Basic graphical interface. In XP it’s – Display Properties – Theme – Windows Classic.

Linux and even Macintosh are better optimized for longer battery life.

12. Hibernate is better than Sleep

In the Stand By mode (or sleep mode), the computer turns of the hard drive and the display but memory remains active while the CPU slows down. This draws on the battery. In contrast, hibernation mode is better because the computer saves the current state and shuts itself down completely thus saving power.

13. Get the most…work on the least

Working on too many programs while on the battery is a sure fire power drainer. Keep use of graphic intensive applications to a minimum. Working on a spreadsheet consumes much less than playing your favourite game. To increase the life of the battery open just one or two programs concurrently.

14. Ram in more RAM

Adequate RAM reduces the load on Virtual memory which by default resides on the hard drive. Though every extra bit of RAM uses up more power, it increases overall savings by short cutting access to the power hungry hard drive.

15. Keep it clean

A laptop with blocked air vents will generate more heat thus reducing the life of the battery. Clean the air vents regularly to keep operating temperatures low. Allow for open space around the vents for air to circulate freely. Keep the area around the laptop clean to avoid entry of dust.

16. Temperature is a silent killer

Undue heat kills off a battery slowly but surely. Avoid leaving the laptop under direct sunlight or inside a closed car.

17. Avoid the memory effect

A problem more for the older Ni-MH batteries than for Li-Ion batteries on which most modern laptops run. Memory effect relates to the loss of battery charge when they are repeatedly recharged after being only partially discharged. It can be prevented by discharging the battery fully and then completely recharging it. Li-Ion batteries on the other hand have no problems with partial discharges and re-charges and complete discharge is never recommended for this type.

18. Update software and drivers

This sounds a bit incongruous but then newer drivers and software are often designed to be more efficient (and hopefully less resource hungry).

19. Use the right adapter

Ensure that the adapter you use to charge the laptop battery is an original one or one with the correct specifications. A mismatch in the wattage could cause an overload thus damaging the laptop and the battery.

20. Pack it up

If you don’t plan to use the laptop on batteries for quite some time, ensure that the charge is nearly 40 percent – remove the batteries and store it in a cool place.

A typical lithium ion battery has an overall average life of 2-3 years. With some care and caution, its mortality can be delayed.

Have you found your own way to increase battery life of your laptop? Share the ‘life giving’ tips with us in the comments.

How to extend the battery life of your mobile?

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:41:00 -0700

Following are some simple tips show how to increase the life of your mobile....

1. When you buy a new mobile phone, use it until its total battery is drain out till the phone gets switch off. Then charge it fully and use it till the battery gets down before next recharging. This will ensure how your mobile functions. Do this every month for optimum performance of your mobile.

2. When you turn the Bluetooth on for sending and receiving any application you do not turn if off this may take much battery from the mobile. Turn Bluetooth off when not in use to save battery.

3. If not necessary turn off the backlight and brightness of the screen to get better backup.

4. Putting animated themes, logos, screensaver, and high resolution images looks good sometime but they take much battery power. It’s good to remove them to save battery.

5. When not in use try to keep the phone on the silent mode because ringtones makes loud sound and consume more battery.

6. If you use GPRS and wi-fi on services on your mobile switch them off as soon as you finish the work.

7. Do not open much application at one time this will take more mobile memory and battery or your mobile may hang.

8. Reduce the power saver time-out and light time out to get better back up.

9. For better battery life use only original charger for your mobile. Using fake charger may damage your battery and it does not last longer.

10. Many people keep their mobile charging overnight. Leaving the mobile charging for overnight do not damage the mobile but it reduces the performance and battery backup. Normal hours for charging a mobile is 1-2 hours depend on the charge mobile need. Always keep the specified charging for your mobile do not overcharge it.

Tips to Protect Against Computer Viruses

noreply@blogger.com (Harish) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 12:05:00 -0700

When your computer gets infected with a virus it can be a devastating experience. A virus can consume your precious computer files and even damage your computer hardware. Is this worth ignoring? I don't think so! Anything you can do to avoid a computer virus has to be a good thing and is well worth spending your time on. We all know prevention is better than a cure so I am going to share my top 10 tips on how to protect yourself against computer viruses [....]

The first thing that I recommend is to research and become knowledgeable about viruses. How can you protect your computer from viruses if you don't even know what they are. Here are some previous tutorials I have written about viruses. See What is a Virus and how do I know if I have one? and What's the difference between a virus, spyware, Malware, and adware?
Arm yourself with the best Antivirus software to suit your needs. Not everyone can get away with using free antivirus software because it depends what you do on your computer. It depends on factors such as if you download files or not, if you open email attachments, and if you surf suspicious websites. See my reviews for the best Virus Removal Software. Lets face it, if you do not have protection against viruses installed on your computer, you will without a doubt, get a virus within the first hour of surfing the internet. It is that easy.
Having a great Antivirus program installed on your computer to protect you against viruses is great, however if you do not regularly update the virus definitions, then the program is useless. New viruses are produced daily and this is why we constantly have to update the viruses definitions and stay ahead of the bad guys.
When surfing the internet avoid websites that contain illegal software downloads, sexual references, free screensavers, cracks or serials, etc. I am sure you get the picture. If you go near these sites you are immediately asking for trouble.
Always update Windows. These updates contain security updates that will help in your fight against viruses. If you do not perform regular Windows updates you are leaving your computer in a vulnerable state.
Be careful when opening emails. There are obvious emails that you know you shouldn't open, however what about the ones you get from people you know? What if your friend has a virus and it is spreading itself through emails? An email cannot be important enough to risk getting a virus. Delete the email and send a fresh email to your friend asking them if they actually did send you the email.
If you are really serious about protecting your computer you can change your email settings and receive text emails only. You can also disable the ability to open email attachments. Virus travel in HTML enabled emails and file attachments. They cannot travel in text email messages.
Do not use peer to peer (p2p) file sharing programs. These include programs such as Limewire, Bearshare, Gnutella, Morpheus, Torrents, etc. These program let you download files from other computer users connected to their program network. You have no way of knowing what you are actually downloading until it is on your computer. Even if you share files from a cd from a friend, it may have a virus.
Do not download files from websites. Again, there is no way of knowing what you are downloading. The file can appear to be named like the file you want, however it could be anything. Most of the time, this is how a virus is unleashed, it usually seems like a harmless, familiar object.
Make sure you have a firewall enabled on your computer. Windows comes with an inbuilt firewall or you can use a third party firewall program like Zone Alarm. Either way, make sure the firewall is on...To check the Windows Firewall go to the security settings in your control panel.
90% of the viruses transferred through pen drives so be careful while inserting others pen drive to your system....make sure you scan the disk before you open it...install "usb disk security " its a lite-weight application never slowdown your system....

>>>Download "USB Disk security" here.

If you are careful and are serious about protecting your computer from invading viruses, it is possible to stay safe. My top 10 tips will help you keep your computer running smoothly, and virus free.