gizmo portal

G'five android mobiles MediaTek MTK 6575

2012-09-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

G’Five, the little known Chinese brand which has been selling low cost dual-sim phone for a couple of years, as well as cheap knock-offs of the Nokia S60v5 series phones mainly the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic has finally decided to take things to a new level and launch their first Android based budget smartphones in India.

G’Five plans to launch a total of 42 smartphones by January 2013. G’Five is also launching their exclusive Cloud service G-Cloud. This month, they release 5 new Android smartphones. A few are powered by the latest Android 4.0 ICS, while one of them has a 3D display (much like the HTC EVO 3D and the LG Optimus 3D). Let’s have a look:

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:

Today i have gone to Gaffar market (Indian grey market) and after the exit of gaffar there is a G'five showroom, there they have many android phone than given in the description and most of these phones are based on MediaTek MTK6575 chipset. I think they can give competition to companies like spice, Karbonn, Micromax.
Please post comment if someone know more about these kinda phones.

G’Five A79

4″ HVGA (480×320) display
5 MP camera
Android 2.3 Gingerbread
1850 mAh battery
Dual-Sim
Price: Rs. 6,999

G’Five A86

4″ WVGA (800×480) display
1 GHz processor
8 MP camera with LED flash
0.3 MP front camera
512 MB RAM
MediaTek MTK6575 chipset (checked personally)
Dual-Sim
Android 4.0 ICS
Price: Rs. 7,999

G’Five I88+

4.3″ WVGA (800×480) display
1 GHz processor
8 MP camera with LED flash
0.3 MP front camera
512 MB RAM
Dual-Sim
MediaTek MTK6575 chipset (checked personally)
2800 mAh battery
Android 4.0 ICS
Price: Rs. 8,899
NOTE: camera quality of this phone is very nice.

G’Five G9

5.3″ WVGA (800×480) display
1 GHz processor
8 MP camera with LED flash
0.3 MP front camera
512 MB RAM
Dual-Sim
Chipset: not sure haven't checked but possibly MTK 6575
2800 mAh battery
Android 4.0 ICS
Price: Rs. 9,499

G’Five G3

4″ WVGA (800×480) 3D display
1 GHz processor
8 MP camera with LED flash
0.3 MP front camera
512 MB RAM
2800 mAh battery
Android 4.0 ICS
Price: Rs. 11,799

PETITION: ARM Release OpenMax codecs for arm v6!

2012-05-19T12:36:00.001-07:00

With this codec, on the ICS ROMS for our devices, we will finally can have a decent camera on our smartphone, we can use the Panoramic Mode, HQ on Youtube, HW acceleration mode for the videos, & much more...

Developer community is working very hard to give us better modified Aftermarket ROMS, which require lots of effort, hard work but in every great work there are difficulties are there, but we can contribute to their work by signing this petition for the release of OMX (Open Media Acceleration) codec to give us fully working ICS roms for our ARMv6 devices.

so, my request to you all plz sign this petition:http://www.change.org/petitions/arm-release-openmax-codecs-for-arm-v6

;)

FREE AND FULL ANDROID HD GAMES - TORRENT

2011-07-31T12:15:00.000-07:00

ANDROID HD GAMES

GET FULL ANDROID GAMES WITH SD CARD DATA AND INFORMATION HOW TO INSTALL

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

DOWNLOAD:http://www.mediafire.com/?lpce4ucupin1kvb

NOTE: CREATE A FOLDER gameloft IN SD CARD AND A FOLDER games IN gameloft FOLDER
NOW PASTE THE SD CARD CONTENT OF THE GAME IN THE games FOLDER.
IF GETTING ANY PROBLEM PLZ COMMENT

FEEL FREE TO COMMENT :)

Upgrading Samsung galaxy S SL i9003 to android 2.3.4

2011-06-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

By, NITIN KUMAR

S/W Download

• Android 2.3.4 for i9003 (click here to download password=samfirmware.com)

• Downloader Program(Odin3 v1.0.exe)

• GT-I9003 Mobile Phone

• Data Cable

NOTE

Make sure your device is fully charged!

BE sure to backup all your data!

You are doing this at your own risk, Although, This will NOT void your warranty!

Your phone does not need to be rooted to get this working.

STEP-1

Load the binary download program by executing the

" Odin3 v1.0.exe " ← Run this file.

STEP-2

Option Selection

- Check Re-Partition, Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time, then select PIT File

STEP-3

Enter Device into Download Mode

- Enter the device into Download Mode by pressing down on Volume Down button and OK button and Power On button at the same time.

STEP-4

Connect the Handset to PC via Data Cable. Make sure ID:COM box highlighted

yellow that the handset is connected to the PC.

STEP-5

Start Downloading PIT file by clicking Start Button. Then wait for "Pass" to be

appear on the screen

STEP-6

Click on Reset button, then unselect Re-Partition box. Then select PDA, PHONE

and CSC Files.

STEP-7

Remove the battery, then enter Device into Download Mode again as in step-3.

then connect to the PC.

STEP-8

Start Downloading PDA, PHONE and CSC files by clicking Start Button. Then

wait for "Pass" to be appear on the screen

STEP-9

Once the device boots up, confirm the downloaded version name and etc. :

*#1234#

Full Reset :

*2767*3855#

HAPPY FLASHING........ :P

Google tricks

2011-05-09T22:20:00.001-07:00

7 Clever Google Tricks Worth Knowing

Below I have compiled a list of 7 clever Google tricks that I believe everyone should be aware of. Together I think they represent the apex of the grand possibilities associated with Google search manipulation tricks and hacks. Although there are many others out there, these 7 tricks are my all-time favorite. Enjoy yourself.

1. Find the Face Behind the Result – This is a neat trick you can use on a Google Image search to filter the search results so that they include only images of people. How is this useful? Well, it could come in handy if you are looking for images of the prominent people behind popular products, companies, or geographic locations. You can perform this search by appending the code&imgtype=face to the end of the URL address after you perform a standard Google Image search.

Examples (notice the differences in each URL):

2. Google + Social Media Sites = Quality Free Stuff – If you are on the hunt for free desktop wallpaper, stock images, Wordpress templates or the like, using Google to search your favorite social media sites is your best bet. The word “free” in any standard search query immediately attracts spam. Why wade through potential spam in standard search results when numerous social media sites have an active community of users who have already ranked and reviewed the specific free items that interest you. All you have to do is direct Google to search through each of these individual social media sites, and bingo… you find quality content ranked by hundreds of other people.

Examples:

3. Find Free Anonymous Web Proxies – A free anonymous web proxy site allows any web browser to access other third-party websites by channeling the browser’s connection through the proxy. The web proxy basically acts as a middleman between your web browser and the third-party website you are visiting. Why would you want to do this? There are two common reasons:

You’re connecting to a public network at a coffee shop or internet café and you want privacy while you browse the web. You don’t want the admin to know every site you visit.
You want to bypass a web content filter or perhaps a server-side ban on your IP address. Content filtering is common practice on college campus networks. This trick will usually bypass those restrictions.

There are subscription services and applications available such as TOR and paid VPN servers that do the same thing. However, this trick is free and easy to access from anywhere via Google. All you have to do is look through the search results returned by the queries below, find a proxy that works, and enter in the URL of the site you want to browse anonymously.

Examples:

4. Google for Music, Videos, and Ebooks - Google can be used to conduct a search for almost any file type, including Mp3s, PDFs, and videos. Open web directories are one of the easiest places to quickly find an endless quantity of freely downloadable files. This is an oldie, but it’s a goodie! Why thousands of webmasters incessantly fail to secure their web severs will continue to boggle our minds.

Examples:

5. Browse Open Webcams Worldwide – Take a randomized streaming video tour of the world by searching Google for live open access video webcams. This may not be the most productive Google trick ever, but it sure is fun! (Note: you may be prompted to install an ActiveX control or the Java runtime environment which allows your browser to view certain video stream formats.)

Examples:
- Axis Webcams: inurl:/view.shtml or inurl:view/index.shtml
- Cannon Webcams: sample/LvAppl/
- MOBOTIX Webcams: control/userimage.html
- FlexWatch Webcams: /app/idxas.html
- JVC Webcams: intitle: intitle:”V.Networks [Motion Picture(Java)]”
- More info. - More info.

6. Judge a Site by its Image – Find out what a site is all about by looking at a random selection of the images hosted on its web pages. Even if you are somewhat familiar with the target site’s content, this can be an entertaining little exercise. You will almost surely find something you didn’t expect to see. All you have to do is use Google’s site: operator to target a domain in an image search.

Examples:

7. Results Based on Third-Party Opinion - Sometimes you can get a better idea of the content located within a website by reading how other websites refer to that site’s content. The allinanchor: Google search operator can save you large quantities of time when a normal textual based search query fails to fetch the information you desire. It conducts a search based on keywords used strictly in the anchor text, or linking text, of third party sites that link to the web pages returned by the search query. In other words, this operator filters your search results in a way such that Google ignores the title and content of the returned web pages, but instead bases the search relevance on the keywords that other sites use to reference the results. It can add a whole new dimension of variety to your search results.

Examples (notice the added variety between search results):
allinanchor:”google hacks” vs. basic search for Google hacks
allinanchor:”wordpress exploits” vs. basic search for Wordpress exploits
More info.

Bonus Material:

Here is a list of my favorite Google advanced search operators, operator combinations, and related uses:

link:URL = lists other pages that link to the URL.
related:URL = lists other pages that are related to the URL.
site:domain.com “search term = restricts search results to the given domain.
allinurl:WORDS = shows only pages with all search terms in the url.
inurl:WORD = like allinurl: but filters the URL based on the first term only.
allintitle:WORD = shows only results with terms in title.
intitle:WORD = similar to allintitle, but only for the next word.
cache:URL = will show the Google cached version of the URL.
info:URL = will show a page containing links to related searches, backlinks, and pages containing the url. This is the same as typing the url into the search box.
filetype:SOMEFILETYPE = will restrict searches to that filetype
-filetype:SOMEFILETYPE = will remove that file type from the search.
site:www.somesite.net “+www.somesite.net” = shows you how many pages of your site are indexed by google
allintext: = searches only within text of pages, but not in the links or page title
allinlinks: = searches only within links, not text or title
WordA OR WordB = search for either the word A or B
“Word” OR “Phrase” = search exact word or phrase
WordA -WordB = find word A but filter results that include word B
WordA +WordB = results much contain both Word A and Word B
~WORD = looks up the word and its synonyms
~WORD -WORD = looks up only the synonyms to the word
More info.

Leaning CSS

2011-05-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

What You Should Already Know

Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following:

HTML / XHTML

What is CSS?

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets
Styles define how to display HTML elements
Styles were added to HTML 4.0 to solve a problem
External Style Sheets can save a lot of work
External Style Sheets are stored in CSS files

CSS Demo

An HTML document can be displayed with different styles: See how it works

Styles Solved a Big Problem

HTML was never intended to contain tags for formatting a document.

HTML was intended to define the content of a document, like:

<h1>This is a heading</h1>

<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

When tags like <font>, and color attributes were added to the HTML 3.2 specification, it started a nightmare for web developers. Development of large web sites, where fonts and color information were added to every single page, became a long and expensive process.

To solve this problem, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) created CSS.

In HTML 4.0, all formatting could be removed from the HTML document, and stored in a separate CSS file.

All browsers support CSS today.

CSS Saves a Lot of Work!

CSS defines HOW HTML elements are to be displayed.

Styles are normally saved in external .css files. External style sheets enable you to change the appearance and layout of all the pages in a Web site, just by editing one single file!

source: http://www.w3schools.com/Css/default.asp

NOTE: For learning css3 follow the above link, every thing explained and get video tutorials at:http://www.thenewboston.com/?cat=61&pOpen=tutorial

popular codes and styling technique coming soon!

History of CSS

Style sheets have existed in one form or another since the beginnings of SGML in the 1970s. Cascading Style Sheets were developed as a means for creating a consistent approach to providing style information for web documents.

As HTML grew, it came to encompass a wider variety of stylistic capabilities to meet the demands of web developers. This evolution gave the designer more control over site appearance but at the cost of HTML becoming more complex to write and maintain. Variations in web browserimplementations i.e. ViolaWWW and WorldWideWeb^[4] made consistent site appearance difficult, and users had less control over how web content was displayed. Robert Cailliau wanted to separate the structure from the presentation.^[4] The ideal way would be to give the user different options and transferring three different kinds of style sheets: one for printing, one for the presentation on the screen and one for the editor feature.^[4]

To improve web presentation capabilities, nine different style sheet languages were proposed to the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) www-style mailing list. Of the nine proposals, two were chosen as the foundation for what became CSS: Cascading HTML Style Sheets (CHSS) and Stream-based Style Sheet Proposal (SSP). CHSS, a language that has some resemblance to today's CSS, was proposed byHåkon Wium Lie in October 1994. Bert Bos was working on a browser called Argo, which used its own style sheet language called SSP.^[5]Lie and Yves Lafon joined Dave Raggett to expand the Arena browser for supporting CSS as a testbed application for the W3C.^[6]^[7]^[8] Lie and Bos worked together to develop the CSS standard (the 'H' was removed from the name because these style sheets could also be applied to other markup languages besides HTML).^[9]

Unlike existing style languages like DSSSL and FOSI, CSS allowed a document's style to be influenced by multiple style sheets. One style sheet could inherit or "cascade" from another, permitting a mixture of stylistic preferences controlled equally by the site designer and user.

Lie's proposal was presented at the "Mosaic and the Web" conference (later called WWW2) in Chicago, Illinois in 1994, and again with Bert Bos in 1995.^[9] Around this time the W3C was already being established, and took an interest in the development of CSS. It organized a workshop toward that end chaired by Steven Pemberton. This resulted in W3C adding work on CSS to the deliverables of the HTML editorial review board (ERB). Lie and Bos were the primary technical staff on this aspect of the project, with additional members, including Thomas Reardon of Microsoft, participating as well. In August 1996 Netscape Communication Corporation presented an alternative style sheet language called JavaScript Style Sheets (JSSS).^[9] The spec was never finished and is deprecated.^[10] By the end of 1996, CSS was ready to become official, and the CSS level 1 Recommendation was published in December.

Development of HTML, CSS, and the DOM had all been taking place in one group, the HTML Editorial Review Board (ERB). Early in 1997, the ERB was split into three working groups: HTML Working group, chaired by Dan Connolly of W3C; DOM Working group, chaired by Lauren Wood of SoftQuad; and CSS Working group, chaired by Chris Lilley of W3C.

The CSS Working Group began tackling issues that had not been addressed with CSS level 1, resulting in the creation of CSS level 2 on November 4, 1997. It was published as a W3C Recommendation on May 12, 1998. CSS level 3, which was started in 1998, is still under development as of 2009.

In 2005 the CSS Working Groups decided to enforce the requirements for standards more strictly. This meant that already published standards like CSS 2.1, CSS 3 Selectors and CSS 3 Text were pulled back from Candidate Recommendation to Working Draft level.

[edit]Difficulty with adoption

Although the CSS1 specification was completed in 1996 and Microsoft's Internet Explorer 3^[9] was released in that year featuring some limited support for CSS, it was more than three years before any web browser achieved near-full implementation of the specification. Internet Explorer 5.0 for the Macintosh, shipped in March 2000, was the first browser to have full (better than 99 percent) CSS1 support,^[11]surpassing Opera, which had been the leader since its introduction of CSS support 15 months earlier. Other browsers followed soon afterwards, and many of them additionally implemented parts of CSS2. As of August 2010, no (finished) browser has fully implemented CSS2, with implementation levels varying (see Comparison of layout engines (CSS)).

Even though early browsers such as Internet Explorer 3^[9] and 4, and Netscape 4.x had support for CSS, it was typically incomplete and afflicted with serious bugs. This was a serious obstacle for the adoption of CSS.

When later 'version 5' browsers began to offer a fairly full implementation of CSS, they were still incorrect in certain areas and were fraught with inconsistencies, bugs and other quirks. The proliferation of such CSS-related inconsistencies and even the variation in feature support has made it difficult for designers to achieve a consistent appearance across platforms. Some authors resorted to workarounds such as CSS hacks and CSS filters to obtain consistent results across web browsers and platforms.

Problems with browsers' patchy adoption of CSS along with errata in the original specification led the W3C to revise the CSS2 standard into CSS2.1, which moved nearer to a working snapshot of current CSS support in HTML browsers. Some CSS2 properties that no browser successfully implemented were dropped, and in a few cases, defined behaviors were changed to bring the standard into line with the predominant existing implementations. CSS2.1 became a Candidate Recommendation on February 25, 2004, but CSS2.1 was pulled back to Working Draft status on June 13, 2005,^[12] and only returned to Candidate Recommendation status on July 19, 2007.^[13]

In the past, some web servers were configured to serve all documents with the filename extension .css^[14] as mime type application/x-pointplus^[15] rather than text/css. At the time, the Net-Scene company was selling PointPlus Maker to convert PowerPoint files into Compact Slide Show files (using a .css extension).^[16]

[edit]Variations

CSS has various levels and profiles. Each level of CSS builds upon the last, typically adding new features and typically denoted as CSS1, CSS2, and CSS3. Profiles are typically a subset of one or more levels of CSS built for a particular device or user interface. Currently there are profiles for mobile devices, printers, and television sets. Profiles should not be confused with media types, which were added in CSS2.

[edit]CSS 1

The first CSS specification to become an official W3C Recommendation is CSS level 1, published in December 1996.^[17] Among its capabilities are support for:

Font properties such as typeface and emphasis
Color of text, backgrounds, and other elements
Text attributes such as spacing between words, letters, and lines of text
Alignment of text, images, tables and other elements
Margin, border, padding, and positioning for most elements
Unique identification and generic classification of groups of attributes

The W3C no longer maintains the CSS1 Recommendation.^[18]

[edit]CSS 2

CSS level 2 specification was developed by the W3C and published as a Recommendation in May 1998. A superset of CSS1, CSS2 includes a number of new capabilities like absolute, relative, and fixed positioning of elements and z-index, the concept of media types, support for aural style sheets and bidirectional text, and new font properties such as shadows. The W3C no longer maintains the CSS2 Recommendation.^[19]

CSS level 2 revision 1 or CSS 2.1 fixes errors in CSS2, removes poorly-supported or not fully interoperable features and adds already-implemented browser extensions to the specification. In order to comply with the W3C Process for standardizing technical specifications, CSS 2.1 goes back and forth between Working Draft status and Candidate Recommendation status. CSS 2.1 first became a Candidate Recommendation, but it was reverted to a Working Draft on June 13, 2005 for further review. It was returned to Candidate Recommendation status on 19 July 2007 and was updated twice in 2009. However, since changes and clarifications were made to the prose it went back to Last Call Working Draft on 7 December 2010. Later it went into Proposed Recommendation on 12 April 2011.^[20]

[edit]CSS 3

Instead of defining all features in a single, large specification like CSS2, CSS3 is divided into several separate documents called "modules". Each module adds new capability or extends features defined in CSS2, over preserving backward compatibility. Work on CSS level 3 started around the time of publication of the original CSS2 Recommendation. The earliest CSS3 drafts were published in June 1999.^[21]

Due to the modularization, different modules have different stability and are in different status.^[22] As of March 2011, there are over 40 CSS modules published from the CSS Working Group.^[23] Some modules such as Selectors, Namespaces, Color, Media Queries are considered stable and are in either Candidate Recommendation or Proposed Recommendation status.^[24] Once CSS 2.1 is finalized and published as Recommendation, they are likely to go to Recommendation as well.^[25]

source: wikipedia

Installing android 2.2 (Froyo) Samsung Galaxy 5 i5500/i5503

2011-04-05T22:40:00.000-07:00

What you will NEED!

1. A Samsung Galaxy 5

2. The 2.2 Firmware i5500( click here to download password = samfirmware.com).

2.2 for i5503 is now available (click here to download pass = samfirmware.com)

OR you can choose from available ROM's on the site http://www.samfirmware.com/WEBPROTECT-i5500.htm

NOTE- Don't download the ROM for i5508 version as it it galaxy 5 with resistive touch screen and your touchscreen will not work

UPDATE : WE HAVE REPORTS that the i5503 is not working properly with the above rom. So try it at your own discretion.

3. ODIN downloader (click here to download).

4. OPS files (click here to download).

5. A windows PC + samsung data cable.

Important NOTES:

If you get errors after upgrade : i.e. error: phone application has stopped working or get constant crashes,do the following:

To fix phone not working, initiate restore phone to factory settings command from Settings – Privacy

TAKE SERIOUS CONSIDERATION BEFORE UPGRADING AND HAVE YOUR BACKUP IMAGE READY IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG – use the OLD FIRMWARES: (passwords next to link)

ASIA : I5508ZCJH2 : ANDROID 2.1 : DOWNLOAD (pass: samfirmware.com)
Europe:I5500XWJK3 :ANDROID 2.1:DOWNLOAD (pass: samfirmware.com)
USA :I5500LUYJI1:ANDROID 2.1:DOWNLOAD (pass: samfirmware.com)

NOTE

Make sure your device is fully charged!

BE sure to backup all your data!

You are doing this at your own risk, Although, This will NOT void your warranty!

Your phone does not need to be rooted to get this working.

UPDATE : AFTER BACKUP – FACTORY RESET YOUR PHONE BY ENTERING THE FOLLOWING CODE

*#*#7780#*#*

TO AVOID PROBLEMS

STEP 1

Download all the files above, and make sure you have the latest version of KIES software installed.

STEP 2

Extract the RAR to get a .tar file.

STEP 3

Open ODIN Downloader.

MAKE SURE you select One Package, Auto Reboot and Protect Ops checkboxes.

Select the Ops file (the file we downloaded earlier).

And finally select the tar package we extracted from the RAR earlier.

NOW CLOSE ODIN.

STEP 4

Backup you phone and data with the KIES software (after you are done exit KIES)

Turn OFF the Galaxy 5 and remove the Battery

Reinsert The Battery and Press the following buttons together

VOLUME DOWN + CENTER HOME BUTTON + POWER BUTTON (END CALL)

Hold the buttons together till you see the downloading screen

Step 5

Now Connect your Phone with your PC using the ORIGINAL DATA cable and wait for windows to finish installing the hardware

Once you get a prompt – “the device is ready to use”

Fire up ODIN DOWNLOADER (make sure the settings are same as before) Your phone will now show up connected in Com Port

STEP 6 (Final Step)

CLICK START and wait for process to finish, once done your device will automatically reboot and will have Android 2.2 running on it.

Enjoy!

NOTE- THE ROMES GIVEN IS OF EUROPE SO AFTER INSERTING YOUR SIM CARD DEFAULT APN MAY BE NOT LISTED SO YOU HAVE TO SET THE SETTING ON YOUR OWN.

FOR ANY QUARRY OR HELP YOU MAY CONTACT ME AT http://www.facebook.com/thenitin

AND LEAVE COMMENTS

Sony Ericsson Upgrading Xperia X10 to Android 2.3 Gingerbread

2011-04-05T22:23:00.000-07:00

Sony Ericsson announced Friday that its Xperia X10 smartphone will be upgraded to Android 2.3 Gingerbread by the third quarter, though it might not be available to all users.

Sony Ericsson upgraded the X10 to Android 2.1 in November, and had planned to stop there, but customer demand and technology advances prompted the company to consider another upgrade.

"We have listened to our consumers," Sony wrote in a blog post. "In addition, the development of the software for our new 2011 range of Xperia phones gave us a solution that made it possible to deliver Gingerbread on Xperia X10."

Sony Ericsson decided to bypass the Android 2.2 update because it has been focused on Gingerbread for its upcoming line of Xperia phones, including the Xperia Play "PlayStation phone."

The rollout, which will technically be Android 2.3.3, is planned for the end of the second quarter into the third via the company's PC-based upgrade client. At this point, the Xperia X10 is available from carriers and in a version not tied to a specific wireless company, and the Gingerbread update will initially be provided to X10s not tied to a carrier.

"Due to the resources available in this special project, we will focus on delivering trade versions of the software," Sony said. "Regarding possible customized operators kit we will have to get back with more information on this at a later stage."

"We want to be very clear already at this stage on the fact that some of you may not get this upgrade," the company said.

The first phone to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the Nexus S, was released in December. Key features in the OS include support for near-field communications (NFC), built-in voice-over-IP calling, faster speed, better power management, more sensors and front-facing cameras.

Still, Xperia X10 phones that are upgraded to Gingerbread will find that some of their features will be lost or altered, Sony said. For example, Gingerbread will include the standard Android camera user interface, so things like face recognition and smile shutter will be lost. Also, the Moxier software will be replaced by native Gingerbread functionality and Mediascape will be replaced by the media experience widgets and music player Sony added to its 2011 phone lineup. Things like DRM keys for protected content and the Sony Ericsson Backup and Restore client will also be deleted, while support for bi-directional languages will be reduced.

"In short, the intention is that the Xperia X10 will receive similar software and functionality that we have in our new 2011 Xperia smartphones," Sony said. "The final scope of the software is still work in progress but we are working to minimize the differences. We will get back with more details closer to launch."

There are no plans to upgrade the Xperia X10 mini, mini pro, and Xperia X8. "We have had to prioritize our resources and have therefore focused on delivering the upgrade to Xperia X10," Sony said.

Spice Mi 310 Specs & Price in India

2011-04-05T22:07:00.000-07:00

Spice mobile entering into the android mobile wars with their new mid ranged Android based Smartphone called Spice Mi 310 and it will be launching soon in the Indian market by the end of March 2011. The new Spice Mi 310 has stylish metallic design body with quite impressive features and Specs offers 3.15-inch capacitive touch screen display with 320x480 pixel resolution and it runs with latest version of Android 2.2(Froyo) OS, 2 mega pixel camera with digital zoom option and video recording support, a small Trackpad is integrated in the phone for easy navigation, a lot of connectivity options like GPRS, 3G HSDPA with 7.2 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1.

The most two interesting features in these android mobile is, it supports USB Tethering for accessing internet on laptop using mobile and Wi-Fi Hotspot Facility users can use phone as a Wi-Fi router. Finally the Spice Mi 300 provides decent battery life up to 2.5 hours in talk time and up to 150-200 hours in standby mode and it will available with price tag around RS. 7,500 in India.

Detailed Spice Mi 300 Android Specs

Android 2.2(Froyo) OS

8 cm (3.15-inch) Capacitive Touch Screen , HVGA 320x480 pixel resolution

2 mega-pixel Camera with Digital zoom with 1600 x 1200 pixel resolution and Video Recording

Inbuilt Android Music Player and Video Player supports all kind of video and audio formats

Internal memory 85MB and Expandable memory up to 16GB via Micro SD card and T-Flash card slot

Supports USB Tethering - Access Internet on laptop using mobile

Wi-Fi Hotspot Functionality – use phone as Wi-Fi router

Trackpad for easy navigation

3.5mm audio-jack, FM Radio and Stereo Speakers

Wi-Fi 802.11n, GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, WAP Browser, Bluetooth 2.1, USB 2.0 Port and GPS with A-GPS support

Preloaded Applications like Naukri, Ibibo, nimbuzz and Microsoft Exchange Support

Proximity Sensor

Push Email, MMS, SMS facility

Dimensions 116 x 60 x 11.95 with 120gm of weight

NOKIA’S MEEGO DEVICE WILL BE ENTITLED N950, RELEASING THIS YEAR ?

2011-04-05T21:56:00.000-07:00

Nokia MeeGO aka N950

Regardless of the turn over to Windows Phone 7, Nokia will still dispatch a MeeGo device this year. It’s going to be the descendant to the Nokia N900 and will be entitled as the N950. Snapshots of the device aren’t yet on hand, but Nokia conferred encouragements that they are steadfast to MeeGo on the same hand their traditional Symbian, Qt and S40 as well.

What’s new with this device has been stated by CTO Rich Green at Nokia’s Developer Day that there platform is working with devotion on the N950 and has procured some “exceptionally well-designed” hardware integration and appealing User Interface.

With this news emerged, you may be thinking that what happened to the highly rumored upcoming MeeGo operated device namely the Nokia N9, then it might have been disregarded, on the other hand Nokia didn’t come up with any of their devices at the MWC event which was held this year.

Green guaranteed the present developers that the Nokia N950 is in a good hoard as a developer platform and made a statement that “we’ll see how that goes”. Whereas an additional update came along that Nokia’s line of attack will still rely on Qt development for in collaboration Symbian and MeeGo and approaching to the fore with Java on Series 40, so progress on those platforms persists. S40 will be endowing with a new-fangled OVI Browser that endeavors to bridge the gap between Mobile Internet and its users.

MICROSOFT PAYS NOKIA $1 BILLION TO CHOOSE WINDOWS PHONE 7 INSTEAD OF ANDROID

2011-04-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

Microsoft will be paying an amount of $1 Billion to the best selling mobile company that’s Nokia just for choosing Windows Phone 7 as their next OS instead of Android. Wow, this is something really interesting and let’s go in-depth of it to have more fun. According to some local sources, we have confirmed this news that an

agreement between these two high-profile companies have been signed,after which Nokia would use windows phone 7 OS as a new user interface in their hand-sets. Android would have been a better choice because we have seen a true class in all Samsung, HTC, Google and other mobile phone companies, who have remained successful after choosing Android OS.

Nokia will pay a fees on each copy of Windows used in its up coming phones and it is pretty much sure that these two companies are willing to work with each other, I’m sure they’d thrive in the future if they keep up with this bond. One of the researchers have said that the final agreement is yet to be signed but there is not any way this would be ripped off at the last moment. This agreement is expected to run for straight 5 years and the outcome would be fascinating.

People think if this business related collaboration works out then this would help both the companies to get arisen up financially and a new scope for Windows Phone 7 would come up, let’s just say a new door would be opened at Microsoft. At the other hand Nokia has to keep an eye out on Microsoft’s Os performance because it has just been around 5 months that this interface has been released and we haven’t heard much about it.

Lg will make the Nexus Tablet for Google

2011-03-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

According to information gained by Mobile Review, LG has been chosen by Google to produce the Nexus branded Tablet. According to Mobile Review the device will be used as Google’s base for development, run the latest Honeycomb (Android 3.0) and will be ready in “mid-summer or early autumn.”

What is also Interesting, the device may be a test unit for Google’s internal purposes. But, that also means that LG has in-fact upped it production quality standards enough to impress the likes of picky engineers at Google.

New Symbian^3 phone in the works; Nokia T7-00 spotted online

2011-03-28T06:37:00.000-07:00

A listing of an as yet unknown Nokia device has been spotted on the Ovi Publishing Tools site by MobileGuruji (see below), called the Nokia T7-00. This marks the first time we’ve heard of the T Series of phones from Nokia, and sadly the information about the device is limited, so what the series is geared towards is still not known.

The only thing known about the device is that it is a Symbian^3 phone, and has a 360x640 resolution. As the resolution is the same as the N8 and E7, as well as the smaller C7 and C6-01handsets, it is probable the T7-00 has the same NokiaClearBlack Display, sized anywhere from 3.5-inches to 4-inches.

We’ll keep you posted as soon as more details about the Nokia T7-00 leak.

8 things to know about IE9 & DOWNLOAD

2011-03-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

Software giant Microsoft has launched the latest version of its browser, Internet Explorer 9 (IE9), in India. Unveiled at TechEd India 2011, Microsoft claims that Internet Explorer 9 uses full capabilities of Windows and enables a Web that is faster, cleaner and more trusted by default.

The IE9 launch comes at a time when the race to capture browser markets share is heating up. The browser market is becoming increasingly competitive with an increasing number of devices going online every day. According to one report, when all versions of browsers are taken together, Internet Explorer leads the pack with 45% market share.

Available for download in 30 languages, the latest version of Microsoft Web browser reportedly tallied 2.3 million downloads on its first day of release.

Here's looking into all that's new in Microsoft's latest browser.

Internet Explorer 9 claims to be much faster than its predecessor.

According to Microsoft, IE9's new graphic capabilities boost the browsers' performance. This means high-definition videos can now run smooth, graphics would be clearer and responsive and colours will be more clear, claims Microsoft.

Hardware-accelerated text, video, and graphics speed up performance and make websites perform like programmes that are installed on the computer.

The latest version of the Internet Explorer has all several design changes. The back button has gone larger, the address bar and search box are combined into one address bar, and the multiple menus from previous versions of Internet Explorer are consolidated into a single menu.

The Pinned Sites feature in IE allows users to get their favourite sites directly from the Windows taskbar without having to open the browser first.

To pin a site a user just needs to click the icon on the left of the Web address in One Box, or the tab for the website, or the website's icon on the New Tab page, and then drag it to the taskbar.

Once a site is pinned, it shows up as its own thumbnail, separate from Internet Explorer.

The latest version of Microsoft IE comes with One Box which has the functionality of combined search and Address bar.

One Box allows users to either navigate to a website or start a search from one place. With this, users can start typing a Web address and AutoComplete helps them get to the websites quickly.

And with the integrated search functionality, users don’t have to remember the full web address.

With IE9, users can get a quick access to the sites they visit most often and can also reopen closed tabs or the last browsing session, or start an InPrivate Browsing session.

The New Tab page also gives suggestions and information to help users decide what to browse next.

Add-on Performance Advisor tells users if an add-on is slowing down the browser. The features works by identifying add-ons that may be slowing down the browser. It gives users information about which add-on they need to disable or how to fix the problem.

IE 9 has also added several new privacy features. There's a Tracking Protection that limits the browser's communication with certain websites to keep users' browsing activities private.

The Tracking Protection feature helps users decided which third-party sites can receive their information and track them online.

Internet Explorer 9 has also got a Download Manager. The feature lets users see the status of their downloads, provides information about whether they might be potentially harmful, offers security checks on the downloaded files, and shows the final location of downloads.

Download Manager keeps a running list of the files downloaded from Internet, notifies if a file could be malicious, and allows to pause and restart a download.

Download IE9

http://internet-explorer-9.en.softonic.com/download

Airtel GPRS hack working!!

2011-03-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

Do the following setting in your mobile phone to get free GPRS in your mobile:

APN---------airtelgprs.com
Proxy--------cinipac.net
Port----------80
homepage----http://0.facebook.com

Revised- 7-8-2011

If any problem feel free to comment

or u can mail me at: thenitin@facebook.com
or connect to me at: http://www.facebook.com/thenitin

crysis 2: Be the weapon

2011-03-27T06:53:00.000-07:00

Review-- by, Nitin Kumar

The most awaited and discussed game of 2011 is now here and showing awesome feedback from the players It is the most leeched game on the biggest torrent server http://thepiratebay.org/. Now lets talk about the gameplay containing its graphics, texture, audio fx, etc. As a gamer i think that you should know the latest trends and extents of gaming.

Crysis 2 is desined on Crytek engine highly advanced development solution that surpasses all expectations for the creation of blockbuster games, movies, high-quality simulations and interactive applications.The third iteration of Crytek's proprietary CryENGINE® is the only all-in-one game development solution

for the PC, Xbox 360™ and PlayStation®3 that is truly next-gen ready.

The genres of the games is basically Shooting. It is claimed with the launch of crysis 2 that is is game with the highest quality graphics and reality like textures and after the launch of the game it seems to be very correct.

For professional gaming reviews of famous game riviewing sites goto link below:

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/295326/news/crysis-2-reviews-in-full/

If you like to see the pros and cons of the game you can read the few paragraphs below or scroll down the page to see Torrent download link for the game and gameplays(video)

The PROS:

1) THE GAMEPLAY a. Almost all I have heard so far on various forums is that “Crysis 2 is a Call of a duty clone”. What people mean to say is “Crysis 2 shamelessly steals everything that makes Call of Duty so addictive, everything that gives it such mass market appeal.” You have classes, kill streaks, a leveling system, etc etc. Its as-if Crysis 2 sought to give us the 2015 version of Call of Duty. b. However, beneath that shiny, superficial surface, Crysis 2 actually provides an unbelievably innovative gameplay experience, particularly tailored to PC gaming. Compared to most modern games, players have a TON of health. You can win a battle even if someone starts shooting at you first—and a highly skilled player can take out a boatload of n00bs. (The weapon damage and health is remarkably similar to Crysis 1—which was designed to offer the best possible hardcore, PC Gaming experience, without consoles in mind whatsoever.) c. The suit powers are more brilliantly done than I could have imagined. “Nano vision” offers something similar to an always available thermal scope. The balance between frustrating invisibility and a useful stealth mode seems to have been struck perfectly. Sprinting and jumping provide a movement experience that brings the depth of Mirror’s Edge to mind. And all of this is based on the energy bar—a good player will be practicing resource management so that when they show up to a fight, they can flick on armor mode and have more health than the n00b who is sprinting and bunnyhopping around the map. In one swoop Crytek found a way to punish behavior that is traditionally frowned upon in shooters while also increasing the skill-cap so that good players CAN make use of these things in moderation and at the right times. d. The suit powers, the advanced movement, and the high health—which I should mention makes head-shots VITAL—makes this a great PC game. It gives us more things to focus on, more things to manage, and raises the skill cap immensely. Crysis 2 is not a point and click adventure—it is the first shooter in years that seems to have a skill-cap that might rival the good old days of Quake or Unreal.

2) THE GRAPHICS a. Crysis 2 takes an amazing engine and gives it the addition of an amazing environment (wtfpwnt New York City is absolutely gorgeous) and an amazing art-style that mixes dramatic realism with good coloration and overdone effects. The graphics are a bit less realistic in the vein of Unreal Engine games, meaning that it looks better while performing better, at the cost of some realism. Frankly, I’m in awe of how well this runs, and this without any driver updates or patches yet. b. Many are complaining about a lack of DX11, but its possible Crytek simply found that for the performance hit they got out of it, it didn’t improve graphics enough and don’t want to release it yet so that people don’t kill the game’s hype complaining about how nothing can run it maxed—Crysis 1 style.

3) THE MAPS/Details a. While we only have access to two in the demo, the level of skill put into the design of these maps is blowing my mind. The last few years of Call of Duty titles has made me forget what good map design can mean. The flow of the matches I’ve played so far has been glorious, and I can’t wait to see the additional game modes. And really this section should just proclaim all the small things that Crysis 2 got right: The menus are aesthetically pleasing and reasonably PC friendly. No ridiculous mouse acceleration issues or menus designed for a controller. The music and all that is very tastefully done. This was not a game cheaply designed to knock off Call of Duty– it is a serious, expensive, and carefully designed product meant to be immensely enjoyable– and I think it has succeeded.

THE CONS:

In this section, I hope to bluntly share with Crytek and people who are on the fence some glaring issues with this game that I fear could hurt its PC launch. Like most PC games, a ton of these will get fixed very rapidly and represent an oversight caused by publishers who simply don’t care about as much as we would like because we are not as profitable as consoles—for various reasons. Most of these issues are so small that Crytek could get them fixed by launch.

Gameplay--

Download--

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/6269113/Crysis_2-FLT

If you like my post or have any quarry or suggestion feel free to leave comment

And you may connect to me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/thenitin

Install Android apps remotely via internet

2011-03-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

Android apps can be installed via the Android market app on the Android phone. The android market allowes you to search and install apps on the phone. Sometimes searching and installing directly from the phone is cumbersome.

Now, the Android gives you an option to install applications without touching your phone at all. Android now gives option to install apps via the internet.

This method has some advantages:

You can install apps even when your phone is not with you

When you search for apps, even the apps that are not relevant (or cannot be installed on your phone) are shown in the search results.

To do so, just go to: http://market.android.com. Here search for apps and install directly from the internet. This app will then automatically be installed on your mobile.

There are somethings that you need to take care to do this:

You must sign in with your same google account as configured in the mobile.

If you have configured multiple accounts in mobile, then there will always be one primary account. Sign in with primary account

That’s all. Now you can easily install apps directly via the internet.

At the time of this operation, if your mobile is not having internet connectivity, then the app will be isntalled whenever the mobile gets an internet connection.

Samsung Galaxy S2- Review

2011-03-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

SAMSUNG GALAXY S2

Samsung Galaxy S2, The phone runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread on a 1GHz dual-core processor. The Galaxy S2 screen has a 4.3” diagonal. The phone is just 8.49mm thick and weighs 116 grams.
The connectivity specs of the Samsung Galaxy S2 are very curious - “4G” (actually HSPA+), Wi-Fi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0+HS. The 802.11a standard uses the 5GHz band rather than the more common 2.4GHz so perhaps the WLAN radio of the Galaxy S2 will be dual-band for the other protocols too. There's also Bluetooth 3.0+HS, which should support 24Mbps data transfers.
At the back there’s an 8MP auto-focus camera with LED flash and digital zoom, capable of 1080p HD video recording and at the front there’s a 2MP one for video calling. As far as RAM is concerned, we are a bit disappointed, as Expansys suggests it’s going to be the same as the Galaxy S - 512MB.
The storage options are the same as well – 16GB with a support for a microSD card support. The usual Wi-Fi b/g/n/, Bluetooth 3.0, A-GPS, and microUSB port are present, as well. Near Field Communications chip is also confirmed.

Specifications

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
	Announced	2011, February
	Status	Coming soon. Exp. release 2011, Q1

SIZE	Dimensions	125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5 mm
SIZE	Weight	116 g

DISPLAY	Type	Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	480 x 800 pixels, 4.3 inches
		- Gorilla Glass display - TouchWiz UI v4.0 - Multi-touch input method - Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate - Touch-sensitive controls - Proximity sensor for auto turn-off - Gyroscope sensor - Swype text input

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	Yes

MEMORY	Phonebook	Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
	Call records	Practically unlimited
	Internal	16GB/32GB storage, 1 GB RAM
	Card slot	microSD, up to 32GB

DATA	GPRS	Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	EDGE	Class 12
	3G	HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct
	Bluetooth	Yes, v3.0+HS
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, v2.0 microUSB (MHL), USB On-the-go

CAMERA	Primary	8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
	Features	Geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization
	Video	Yes, 1080p@30fps
	Secondary	Yes, 2 MP

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
	CPU	Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, Mali-400MP GPU, Orion chipset
	Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS
	Browser	HTML
	Radio	Stereo FM radio with RDS
	Games	Yes
	Colors	Black
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support
	Java	Via third party application
		- NFC support (optional) - TV-out (via MHL A/V link) - SNS integration - Digital compass - MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player - Organizer - Image/video editor - Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF) - Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration - Adobe Flash 10.1 support - Voice memo/dial/commands - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1650 mAh
	Stand-by
	Talk time

Nokia C2-01 review: A little something

2011-03-25T08:28:00.000-07:00

Price- Rs.3600/-
Introduction

Little cash in your pocket and a good phone on your mind. Is the Nokia C2-01 it? A still camera, 3G and a memory card slot sound like we’re on the right track. In contrast to the C2-00, this one omits the dual SIM handling but there are other goodies to make up for that.

Nokia C2-01 official photos

It’s a cheap phone alright, nothing too flashy, nothing to shout about. But the Nokia C2-01 deserves some credit for squeezing a number of nice little features into its budget. 3.2MP still imaging does sound refreshing after reviewing a VGA primary camera recently. Data speeds top EDGE and a microSD card slot means there’s more than enough room for your music collection. A 3.5mm audio jack too perhaps is better than expected for the price you pay.

Key features

Entry level phone with decent features
Quad-band GSM/EDGE connectivity
Tri-band 3G connectivity
2.0" 256K-color QVGA TFT display
3.2MP fixed-focus camera
QVGA@15fps video recording
Series 40 UI, 6th edition
Stereo FM radio with RDS
Bluetooth 2.1 (with EDR)
Standard microUSB port (charging)
microSD card slot (16GB supported)
3.5mm audio jack
Dedicated Facebook app

Main disadvantages

Poor video recording
No smart dialing
Miserable display (almost no such thing as a viewing angle for this one)
Relatively poor audio reproduction quality

We have some complaints (seriously, it’s 2011 and S40 still lacks smart dialing) but other than that the C2-01 looks pretty decent. Arguably, you can hold the lack of dual SIM support against the Nokia C2-01. This feature though is obviously left to the most basic of handsets in the C-series. The C2-01 is a budget phone but not that much of a penny pincher.

Nokia C2-01 live shots

You know, phones with a flashlight have long been bottom of the Nokia barrel. Recently, it’s dual SIM phones. Well, the C2-01 is neither. Now, how good is this – or how bad? Jump to the next page, as we try to find out.

But there’re other questions to be answered first. What’s in the box? Is the Nokia C2-01 durable? Out tour of the phone’s hardware is about to begin.

Unboxing, design and construction

The Nokia C2-01 comes in a plain cardboard box. Once you take the phone out, all that’s left is a charger and the good old one-piece headset that ends on a 3.5mm audio jack. There is no USB cable and no microSD card enclosed: keeping the price down was their main objective.

The Nokia C2-01 retail package

The Nokia C2-01 is not the most compact phone around though its size and shape are the norm in this class. It measures 109.8 x 46.9 x 15.3 mm and weighs 89 g: a simple all-plastic handset.

We wouldn’t mind if the C2-01 was a bit thinner, but durability counts more than styling as far as such phones are concerned. The Nokia C2-01 is solidly built though its body is likely to get scratched pretty quickly. Aesthetics will suffer but overall, the phone will keep working – it’s what this kind of phones do.

The design of the Nokia C2-01 is as basic as it gets – screen, two soft keys and call buttons around a D-pad and a phone keypad below. The D-pad is a five-way key – unlike the most basic of Nokia phones, it has confirm action. And by the way, we don’t mean basic in a bad way. This layout has been used just about since the dawn of time (of mobile phones anyway) and it’s proven to work.

The 2.0” TFT screen has QVGA resolution (240 x 320) and is OK as far as colors and brightness go, but viewing angles are terrible. Sunlight legibility isn’t any better.

C2-01’s display

The softkeys and D-pad are well-sized and have a good feedback. The call keys are rather small knobs but sufficiently raised. Calling is after all the primary function of the Nokia C2-01.

The keypad and navigation deck

The 12 keys of the keypad are decently big and the slightly convex shape makes them quite comfortable. We don’t quite agree with making the bottom row taller – the extra height should have been spread out equally, which would have looked better too (more symmetrical at least).

The exposed 3.5mm audio jack and the charger plug are up top both clearly marked with easy to understand symbols. On the left and right respectively are the microSD card slot (cards up to 16GB are supported) and the microUSB port (charging), both of which are covered by plastic flaps.

Our memory cards had an annoying tendency to get stuck in the slot and we had to pull hard to eject them.

There is no volume rocker, nor a dedicated camera key – the D-pad is used instead.

Well-connected: microUSB port, card slot and 3.5 mm audio jack

Rearside are the large hole of the 3.2MP fixed-focus camera lens and the loudspeaker grill.

Under the back cover lies a 1020 mAh BL-5C battery that is rated at 16 to 19 days of standby (depending on network : 2G or 3G) and the C2-01 will give you up to 8 hours 40 minutes of talk time (in 2G, about half that in 3G).

The camera lens and loudspeaker grill at the back • the battery and the SIM bed under the rear cover

Budget puts limits to what the C2-01 can do and we’re glad Nokia spent most of it on good build. The choice of materials and the finish are unexceptional but the different parts of the phone are well put together – no gaps, no squeaky noises. With a durable battery, the C2-01 does a great job of being a phone and the Finns even managed to add a few bells and whistles before they reached the price limit they set for themselves.

User interface

The Nokia C2-01 is yet a S40 6th edition device. The user interface is very basic and easy to use. No need to spend hours with the user manual or digging through the menus without a clue. It’s simple and intuitive: everything is pretty much where it should be.

The Active standby is the trademark homescreen layout. If you’ve ever used a Nokia device you should be familiar with it by now. It divides the screen into tiles that can be scrolled with the D-pad and edited as users see fit. They can be rearranged but the default layout is the most logical. The General Indicators tile is on top, featuring date, time and missed events.

The S40 Homescreen • Homescreen options

The second one is Radio and Media, and the next one is dedicated to email.

Active standby options • Re-ordering the tiles • Tile options

The bottom section of the homescreen is the Shortcut bar. It holds user-configurable shortcuts to favorite functions. The default selection features Facebook, camera, Messaging and Ovi store.

A handy feature is that pressing the end key while the keypad is locked, displays a lockscreen showing the time and date.

The main menu has the usual optional layouts: Grid, Grid with labels, List and Tabbed.

The main menu • Menu options • List view

The major complaint with S40 handsets is they don’t have multitasking. Another thing to consider is the lack of smart dialing. Some of the competing feature phones have had these features for a long time.

No-frills Phonebook

The phonebook of the Nokia C2-01 will store up to 2000 contacts, which isn’t as good as unlimited storage but is enough for most people. You can set the phonebook to display contacts from the phone memory, SIM memory or both.

Contact view • Contact search

Each contact can be assigned a variety of fields but the phone numbers are limited to 5. First names are separated from last names, eliminating problems, which may occur with synchronization. You can assign ringtones to each contact.

Adding a number • Adding E-mail • Detail selection

Telephony

Nokia isn’t one to skimp on proper telephony, even in the lower end of the market.

The Nokia C2-01 was good at holding onto signal. In-call sound is clear but not too loud even at the highest setting.

Calling Dexter • In-call options

There’s no smart dialing on the C2-01 – not surprising for an S40 device. There’s no voice dialing either, nor the Voice Clarity feature that many other S40 phones have.

We carried out our traditional loudspeaker test to find out the Nokia C2-01 is a solid performer. You won’t have trouble hearing this one even if it’s hidden deep in you pocket or purse. You can find more details about our test, as well as the results of all other tested handsets here.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overal score
Nokia E72	65.7	60.2	66.3	Below Average
Nokia X2-01	70.2	65.5	71.8	Average
Nokia C2-01	72.8	66.0	79.7	Good
Nokia E5	75.1	66.2	75.7	Good
Nokia C3	75.8	66.6	77.5	Very Good
LG GW300	78.6	75.7	80.7	Excellent

Messaging does the job

The Nokia C2-01 handles messaging without a problem, though with no fanfare either. It’s as basic as you can get on a phone. Don’t get us wrong, that’s not a bad thing and we are quite aware this isn’t an E72.

The Messaging app

The supported formats are SMS, MMS, flash and audio messages and the C2-01 handles email too.

Choosing attachment • Creating MMS

The keyboard of the C2-01 will give you reasonable typing speed. It’s a good package in terms of software support too, with Conversations enabled.

Conversations • Creating a message

The message editor is very simple and easy to use. You start typing your message (you have the available character counter and number of messages available), when you’re finished and happy with it you can pick a contact. You look up contacts, or choose from the recently used numbers, the call log or contact groups. You can have a favorite contact too (just one).

Typing a message on the Nokia C2-01

The email client does pretty well to meet most user needs. It works with POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 protocols and supports multiple email accounts. The email client supports SSL, which enables it to handle a Gmail account for example.

E-mail client • Gmail inbox • Gmail options • Creating an E-mail message

Setting up the email client was extremely easy. It just required an email address and entering and confirming the password – the phone took care of the rest.

Photo gallery and File Browser got a divorce

A dedicated gallery is a relatively recent feature in S40. The gallery app – Photos – handles your image files hassle-free. There’s no eye candy, no fancy transition effects but it performs fast enough.

The Gallery

The gallery can be viewed in either portrait or landscape mode. In landscape mode, images load full screen.

Portrait mode • Landscape mode

Zooming in on a single picture is pretty comfortable with the zoom in and out shortcuts placed on the D-pad and the right soft key. It’s also fast and relatively smooth, even for pictures of higher resolution. We even tested it with photos made with the Nokia N8 and the C2-01 handled them like a pro.

Zooming on photos in the Nokia C2-01 gallery

You can organize photos into albums, view them in a timeline (they are ordered by the date they were taken) and of course you can set up a slide show.

As for the regular Gallery app, it’s still here – but it’s hidden in the Applications menu. It’s quite a capable file manager, especially for a feature phone. It can manage folders and files – both one by one and in bulk.

Regular Gallery is hidden in the Applications menu

Music Player is great for the low end

The music player of the Nokia C2-01 has decent looks and a solid set of features including a fair number of formats supported.

The music player • Sorting by artist

The music player can be accessed from either the media menu or the gallery, and you can add it as an Active standby shortcut on the Homescreen too.

Tracks can be filtered by artist, album and genre. The player handles MP3, WMA, WAV and eAAC+. Naturally, the A2DP profile is supported, allowing Bluetooth streaming of stereo sound.

Music player interface • Music player options

As usual, the artist and title of the currently playing song are shown on the homescreen. They appear in the Radio and Media tile on the homescreen – it has to be enabled in the Homescreen mode settings.

The music player has several equalizer presets and two slots for users to configure. The loudspeaker of the C2-01 is quite strong.

The equalizer presets • Creating your own preset

Radio Player is standard too

There’s an FM radio on the Nokia C2-01 too. It has the standard S40 6th edition interface, which is very easy to use. RDS support is enabled. All you need to do is plug in your headphones and you’re good to go.

FM Radio interface • Options • The Radio has RDS

You can manually tune in to a station or let the Nokia C2-01 do an auto scan.

Video player is practically useless

Let’s face it, watching a movie on this small low-res display is not exactly our idea of fun.

The Video player menu • Viewing a clip in portrait and in landscape

For the record though the Nokia C2-01 supports MP4, H.264, H.263 and 3GP. The lack of DivX or XviD support isn’t a surprise.

Playing an occasional clip someone sent you via MMS is as much use as this player might be getting.

Videos can be play in fullscreen mode, and you get play and skip buttons.

Disappointing audio quality

Unfortunately, the Nokia C2-01 output was pretty disappointing. We've used to seeing flawless output from every Nokia handset we have tested recently so this came as a pretty big surprise to us.

Now the C2-01 is actually excellent (and almost as loud as it gets) when connected to an external amplifier (such as your home or car stereo). If that is how you plan to use it disregard the first paragraph.

However when you plug in a pair of headphones the degradation is so severe that you are left with mediocre output. The intermodulation distortion skyrockets and the frequency response deteriorates significantly. Then there's the usual increase in stereo crosstalk and this time it's garnished with lower dynamic range. We suppose that most of the C2-01 users will end up listening to music on headphones so you can understand why we are disappointed with the overall results.

Fixed focus camera
The Nokia C2-01 has a 3.15MP fixed-focus camera, capable of taking shots of 2048x1536 resolution. No, it’s not a cameraphone though being able to take an occasional picture is something users will appreciate.
In terms of settings the C2-01 is limited to white balance, various effects and a self timer.
No flash, no autofocus and no shutter key, this phone could’ve made sense with a 2MP camera as well – or even VGA. 3 MP is quite a surprise in this price range.
When it comes to the actual image quality, the Nokia C2-01 has its ups and downs. The colors are pleasant and punchy but detail is where the camera falls short – and it’s not due to the 3 megapixels sensor, but rather to the heavy noise reduction. Still for a low-end device, the Nokia C2-01 delivers above expectations.


Nokia C2-01 camera samples
Photo quality comparison
The Nokia C2-01 enters our Photo Compare Tool to join the other 3MP fixed-focus shooters. The tool’s page will give you enough info on how to use it and what to look for.

Nokia C2-01 in our Photo Compare Tool
Video recording
Video recording on the Nokia C2-01 matches the price tag. It does QVGA at 15fps, which is right at the bottom of the food chain: good for an occasional MMS and not much more.

The video recorder • Options in video recorder
Here’s a QVGA@15fps sample for you to enjoy.
Connectivity
The Nokia C2-01 is no internet-centric phone. But it does pretty well for the price. You get quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and stereo Bluetooth, and even UMTS 384kbps.
The microUSB port is the easiest way to transfer files and charge the phone (you can’t always find a 2mm charger, but microUSB cables are common enough). The easily accessible microSD card can help with bulk data transfers. And it’s hot-swappable so you can handle it without having to reboot.
Browser: Opera Mini reporting for duty
The Opera Mini 4.2 is the default browser on the C2-01. It’s long been part of the standard S40 package: a good data-efficient choice. The Opera Mini browser supports multiple tabs and the compression notably improves loading time and saves on data charges. For example, GSMArena.com clocks in at about 370KB through Nokia’s S40 browser and just under 70KB through Opera Mini.

The Opera Mini 4.2 interface
Organizer and apps
Nokia have always been on top of things in the organizer department. And the C2-01 has that written in its DNA.
The Calendar is the full-featured app we all should be familiar with by now. It has month, week, and day modes and five types of events to set up.

The Calendar application
The alarm clock is repeatable: it can be set to go off on any selected day of the week, even when the phone is switched off. You can also customize the snooze time if you wish.

The Alarm application
The other organizing functions available include a voice recorder with a 60-minute limit, a stopwatch and a countdown timer.

Voice recorder • Stopwatch • Countdown timer
The Nokia C2-01 calculator offers two versions - basic and advanced. In addition, a loan calculator is also available.

The Calculator
The consistently useful unit converter tops the list of additional applications. It offers all kinds of converting options and, if provided with enough information about the rates, offers currency conversion too.

The Unit converter
If you are into sharing images, video and audio files with your buddies straight from your handset have a look at Ovi Share. After a quick sign-up process, selecting files for uploading is easy enough.

The Ovi share
The Search application offers Google Search or Bing Search initially, though other search engines might be available depending on your country and region.

The Web search
The World clock can tell the time in any time zone at the cost of only a few clicks.

The World clock
Finally, there’s the Facebook app. It’s a pretty capable piece of software – you can manage your profile and post status updates, but also browse your friends’ profiles and photos. There’s even an option to take a photo right in the app and upload it.

The Facebook application in action
What’s missing though is the ability to receive notifications of new messages and status updates – you can’t run the Facebook app in the background and there’s no panel to put on the Active standby, like there was on the Nokia C3 for example.
Final words
It’s hard to criticize a phone like the Nokia C2-01 – it was built to a budget and with beginner users in mind. A good first phone to give to a kid. A phone with mom and dad on speed dial rather than one used for complex and important grown-up tasks like playing Angry Birds. Alternatively – it’s a phone for the emerging markets and that’s where Nokia are doing quite well.
Two and a half weeks of promised standby and generous talk time are a great asset and the C2-01 can take on other duties too.
The native functionality of S40 is rich enough with Java apps filling in the holes: the data-efficient Opera Mini is a great example. And the phone can play music too (radio as well) which is as good a bonus as you can expect in the entry-level segment.
And if you feel the Nokia C2-01 is missing something there’re enough options to choose from in this price bracket.
The Nokia C2-00 has more modest specs but it is a dual-standby phone with a hot swappable second SIM card. Or if you’re not in a hurry, you might want to wait for the Nokia X1-00, which offers a powerful loudspeaker and dedicated music keys (with a target price of 35 euro). The Sony Ericsson Cedar is pretty popular and it does add HSDPA/HSPA to the mix.
The Nokia X2 demands a slight price premium but makes up for it with copious features such as a bigger screen, loud stereo speakers, built-in FM antenna, dedicated music keys, excellent audio output quality, a bundled microUSB cable and microSD card, and USB On-the-go functionality with an optional adapter.

Nokia C2-00 • Nokia X1-00 • Sony Ericsson Cedar • Nokia X2
The typical user of the Nokia C2-01 is indifferent to touchscreen but there are affordable offers already if some are willing to consider such a bold step. These three are a good sample: a 2.6” or so touchscreen with social networking added in.

Sony Ericsson Yendo • Samsung C3300K Champ • LG Cookie Style T310
Nokia knows how to make good hardware in mass numbers. The C2-01 will give you your money’s worth – actually, considering the price, maybe even more than that. This is what counts in the end – more important than carefully considering all the available options.

iPad: IPS Screen Technology Explained

2011-03-25T08:06:00.000-07:00

By Nitin kumar, nitinkumar's blog

During Wednesday's unveiling of the long-awaited iPad, Apple CEO Steve Jobs detailed that the new 9.7-inch tablet will make use of In-Plane Switching display technology. So, what excatly is In-Plane Swicthing, what does it do and why is Apple choosing to make use of this display technology for their new device?

In-Plane Switching (IPS) is an LCD technology first introduced in 1996 by Hitachi. It was initially developed to correct the poor viewing angles and color problems that LCDs had at the time.

Due to initial high-costs, IPS adoption was low at first, and mainly found only in high-end monitors, aimed primiarliy at the professional sector. Of course, over time, IPS was improved and refined, and as is the case with most new technologies, costs eventually came down to an acceptable level for mass-production. For example, Apple's newest iMacs use IPS displays..

The IPS display used int he iPad is a 9.7-inch 1024-by-768 resolution LED-backlit LCD screen. IPS gives the iPad an impressive wide viewing-angle of up to 178 degrees. Other LCD technologies tend to have narrower viewing angles, especially in the vertical direction.

Ensuring that the device can be held in a variety of ways without major viewing angle issues was clearly of great importance to Apple, especially considering that you'll rotate the iPad depending on what you're viewing, and Apple positions the iPad as a casual use 'living-room' device, perfect for consuming an assortment of multimedia.

Typical casual-use devices, namely netbooks, use a twisted nematic (TN) display technology. TN although cheaper, offers inferior color reproduction (only 6-bit color, while IPS supports richer 8-bit color), and lower viewing angles, so Apple's use of a higher quality display techology (IPS) for such a casual device is welcomed.

You can find out more about how IPS technology works at PCTechGuide, and for a full run-down of iPad specs, see Jason Cross' story on the topic.

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