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Lava Iris 455 Android Smartphone Review

Hashim Khan — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:20:42 +0000

The tagline of this phone is sensibly smart. This tagline suits this phone very well. For the price of just Rs.7799, this phone offers so many features that make it a really sweet deal and all rounder phone which can be used without any problem today and to quite an extent it’s a future proof device as well. Supporting the trusted MT6577 1GHz Cortex™-A9 dual core processor, qHD screen and jelly bean OS, this phone is a delight to use. MT6577 is a system on chip (SOC) which integrates CPU and GPU fused in one single chip which leads to good efficiency and performance. GPU on this phone is PowerVR™ Series5 SGX. Phone has 512mb RAM, 4GB ROM and expandable memory upto 32 GB via microSD card. Jelly bean OS works butter smooth on this phone without any lag. Temple Run 2 and subway surfer also shows no sign of slightest lag.

Looks wise as well it’s a treat, phone is very well built and in no way it looks inferior to any major brand phone. Talking about the display, it’s a 4.5 inch TFT display with qHD 960×540 resolutions and pixel density of 244 ppi which is equal to what we have seen on HTC One VX and LG Optimus L9. Even when the display is non IPS, viewing angles are quite good. There are just two physical buttons on the left side of the phone, power button and volume rockers. Buttons give good feedback when pressed and give a long lasting feel. On the top there is headphone jack and micro USB charging and data syncing port.

On low budget phones we mostly find absence of most sensors like light sensor, accelerometer, g-sensor etc but on this phone you will find all five sensors namely: orientation sensor, magnetic field sensor, accelerometer, proximity sensor and light sensor. These sensors are very much necessary in any android phone. The light sensor will auto control the screen brightness which enables comfortable viewing in all light conditions and saving battery as well. Proximity sensor is also used in android to sense the position of phone and switch off the display completely when you are talking on phone and thus saving even more battery. These sensors are also needed for various apps. For example if you are in a train or bus and what to know the speed of the train, there are apps which makes use of accelerometer and GPS together to give you speed.
Battery on this phone is just 1500 mAH but its of good quality and gives decent talk time and standby. If you play games and use Wifi for few hours then you will need to charge this phone everyday. Otherwise you can stretch its backup for two days. We have tested it with just one SIM, since this phone is a dual SIM phone and using two SIM will consume slightly more battery. Charger provided with this phone pumps out 5 volts at 1000 mAh (common is 500-800 mAh) and it means you get your phone charged in lesser time. If you charge this phone with USB port on your laptop, it takes more time to charge. While charging the home button glows red and when fully charged, it turns green. This is a nice little feature added by Lava.

Phone has two camera, a front VGA camera for video calls and back 5MP auto focus camera for taking pictures and recording videos. This phone can record HD videos in 720P resolution. Quality of the camera is not very good but decent enough. You can say it can be compared to a very good quality 3.2MP.
In the box you will find some goodies like extra back panel in silver colour and a screen guard. I have applied screen guard and it fits perfect, although concern is finding screen guard for this phone in future. Also you will find regular stuff like headphone, USB data & charging cable. Charging cable is of very good quality and length of the cable is good.

All sounds very good for this phone however there are things in this phone which are left to be desired. Notification LED is one important thing that Lava missed on this phone. Also a textured back panel or silicone type material could have improved the grip of the phone. Headphone provided with this phone though in-ear type lacks bass and their design looks funny, not matching with the phone at all. Overall for the price, this phone is a great value for money and good performer.

Network Attached Storage

Hashim Khan — Fri, 17 May 2013 05:14:41 +0000

Data on our computer keeps getting bigger and unmanageable day by day. Thanks to faster internet, better hardware and software, files keep getter larger day by day. Taking the example of a simple jpeg image from a digital camera; earlier we had low pixel cameras which produced images of few kilobytes, but look at today’s modern DSLR and you will know how large one image can be.

Storage of all such large media files especially in offices and commercial places is a challenging task. The storage area network needs to be bigger and better, and this does not mean just adding more hard disk to your desktop, but having an NAS which not only increases your data storage capacity dramatically, but also makes data more easily accessible and productive. An NAS is “network attached storage” with a large amount of very fast hard disk and each connected to the network making data accessible round the clock at any corner of the world. Think about the terabytes of data which is increasing every day, managing it with a proper storage technology like ISCSI storage, is the only option which is feasible and efficient. We never know how much data we will have to manage in future but you can plan yours by doing a rough calculation and always expand later if requirements increase.

The iscsi storage is quite reliable and secure, making it best for commercial usage where losing data is not an option. As the data grows, we know it becomes hard to manage and we tend to get rid of it just to make space for new data. Obsolete and redundant data is also a big issue. Keeping everything online and ready for use by using NAS is the best option. These data storage marvels are available in various sizes to make sure there is one to fit your requirements.

Webdesign and SEO together is awesome

Hashim Khan — Fri, 17 May 2013 05:10:01 +0000

A website is like a home, just like we build our home with certain things in mind, a website also needs to be built keeping all the things associated with a website in mind. You are not building the website just for the sake of it, but you want it to be seen by other people on the internet and convert them to your customers or users which depend on the type of website you own.

The majority of people will come to know about your website and visit it thru search engines. Search Engine Optimization or SEO comes to play a big role here. Affordable SEO Services are available in every corner of the web but you should trust only the experts. Like I said, building a website is like building a home, you plan rooms, halls, garage and everything, similarly while building a website if SEO is taken in consideration then it makes optimization much quicker and results in a better executed job as well. You will get more ideas here at i4 web solutions page, where they explain how you can get a perfectly search engine optimized website from them and reap the benefits of both an advanced website that helps you organize it the way you like it with simple drag and drop features, and search engine optimization which will help you get maximum visitors.

Since these visitors have come to your site from search engine, they are most probably searching for your service, chances of converting these visitors to buyers is maximum. As your website gets more and more visits from various keywords, its position and rank also increases which gives addition credibility to your website. A good SEO can do wonders to any website and any business but without optimization the website remains hidden from potential customers. Just like SEO, social media marketing and link building is also very important and should never be taken for granted. Presence of your brand at every major social media websites is important. There are many layers involved in building your house, just as there can be many levels to your house!

Extend old lead-acid battery backup time

Hashim Khan — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:50:17 +0000

If you have an old lead acid battery (mostly used in cars, bikes, home UPS and inverters) which is giving low backup, here is a small trick to increase its backup and make use of the battery until it gives up fully. When a lead acid battery is new, it takes longer to get fully charged and also gives long backup. When the battery gets old, it takes very little time to reach its charging cut-off voltage and hence your charger thinks that battery is fully charged and it stops the charging leading to even poor backup. If you check the acid gravity of these old batteries, you will always find it low.

Now the trick is to overcharge this battery so that it gets charged even when it reaches its cut-off voltage and acid gravity gets improved. Suppose you have a 12v lead acid battery and its cut-off is at 14v, connect a battery charger to it which can charger it at 14v and does not have any kind of cut-off. Also the current rating of this charger should be at least 10% of the battery connected to it. For example if you are trying to charge a 12v, 200Ah battery then charger should give 14v, 20Ah. Before you connect the charger and start charging, check the water level in each cell of the battery and if it’s low or overfilled then make the water level between minimum and maximum level. Too little water will damage the battery and too much water (till max level) will prevent battery from getting properly charged. You may need to keep an eye on the battery temperature, just check it every 3 hours and keep the charger connected until acid of the battery attains correct gravity. If battery overheats while charging then lower the charging current. Once battery is put on charge, remove all the caps of battery and in each cell look for bubbles. If at any of the cell you do not see these bubbles or very less bubbles then that cell needs magnesium sulphate treatment. For more information, look at this post on how to renew battery with dead cell.

I have tried this method on a 4 year old lead acid battery of 12v, 135Ah capacity connected to a home UPS and its backup time got almost doubled!

The High Standards Behind Venu XD 1070 Projectors

Hashim Khan — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:50:08 +0000

With today’s technology, there are several ways in which a person can view their favorite movie or take in an informative multimedia presentation. Out of those choices, it is hard to beat the quality, the versatility and the portability of the Venu XD 1070 Projector. This compact media wonder will make images pop with clarity and color in a screen size that will fit almost any application. The performance of the Venu Projector will immerse you and your audience in a high definition experience that will have you coming back for more.

The Venu XD-1070 Projector starts by being built to the highest quality standards. It meets or beats all ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 qualifications; and it is tested for durability, for environmental concerns and for any signs of dust before it leaves the factory. You will be able to count on the Venu Projector XD 1070 to deliver its stunning performance for many years to come.

This performance is easy to see when you are enjoying the 40 to 200 inch image in a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. The dual or quad lamp system achieves a 15,000:1 contrast ratio, and 4000 lumens with a 180 Watt LED lamp.The Venu XD 1070 Projector produces high definition images that explode off of the screen with deeper blacks and grays by using special contrast plates. The lamp is designed to reproduce lifelike colors through technology that increases the intensity of the reds. This high quality lamp is expected to perform for an average of 20,000 hours with average use.

The Venu XD-1070 rounds out the multimedia experience with built-in 5 Watt speakers to bring life to any presentation or movie. It has technology to keep the cooling fan super quiet to a maximum of 22 decibels allowing the audience to enjoy the sound system without any distractions.

Packed with many other features, the Venu XD-1070 makes is easy to customize the viewing experience. It has two HDMI ports that support XV and DeepColor. The Venu Projector has a screen so that the picture balance can be tweaked to fit just about any situation. There are two 12 volt triggers making it possible to integrate other devices such as lights, motorized screens and other home theater devices. The Venu Projector XD 1070 comes with all the necessary cables and a remote control to have you up and running right away. It even has a picture in picture feature so that you can be watching one thing while keeping an eye on something else.

When you compare the Venu Projector XD-1070 to media displays like plasma or LED screens, it is really no contest. Having a super portable, high definition option that can size its picture to fill up just about any space is an invaluable multimedia option. It can go from a powerful business presentation to a relaxing movie without even breaking its stride. The Venu XD 1070 is so user friendly and solidly built that it will be a joy to use for many years.

Micromax Canvas HD A116 Android Phone

Hashim Khan — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:41:45 +0000

This is the third series in their canvas range and it has broken all the sales records of Micromax. Phone is so popular that it’s getting out of stock everywhere and some places sold at premium price. Phone has features as good as any major brand premium model phone and still comes at half the price. Although with low price comes poor after sales and doubtful lifespan of the device. Previous models of canvas series had issues with screen and really shoddy built quality of chargers.

However everything looks great with this new model and overall quality of phone looks decent. Notification LED at top of phone which was seen in previous model is still present but placed at very unusual place of speaker grill. Back side of phone is glossy which might make the phone slippery and we still prefer the textured version found in previous model. Improvement in this phone consist of better processor (quad core), better display quality and overall good built quality of the phone.

Specifications:

8 MP Primary Camera
2 MP Secondary Camera
1080P HD Recording
1.2 GHz Quad Core Processor
Android v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) OS
5-inch IPS display (1280 x 720 Pixels resolution)
Wi-Fi
Dual SIM (GSM + GSM)
2000mAh battery
1GB RAM, 4GB ROM
Sensors: G-Sensor, Accelerometer, Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor

Laptop Repairs and Spare Parts

Hashim Khan — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 04:09:54 +0000

Laptops are the most used gadget and are found everywhere. They have become one of the most common forms of the personal computer. The good thing is that the prices of new laptops are coming down, but sadly their manufacturing quality has also come down in some cases. Keyboards are coming off, hinges are breaking and power adapters are failing earlier than they should; these are some of the common things we see with laptops today. Unlike desktop PC’s which are kept indoors and mostly in a clean environment, laptops face all types of abuse like dust, mechanical shock and high temperatures. Due to these reasons some parts may fail early, like if you are using your laptop mostly outside in a dusty environment; which can result in its cooling system getting clogged sooner with dust and dirt.

Laptop repair does not come cheaply if your laptop warranty has expired. Also something to consider, is that older models will face an availability problem regarding spare parts. Most local vendors don’t stock each and every part because some of the parts are not very fast moving, so they keep only those which are sold fairly often. There has to be a solution to this problem, and for Dell laptop users I found it in a form of online store which stocks almost every possible spare parts of every dell model out there! You may want to visit the site and see for yourself the big collection of spare parts and accessories. Let’s say your laptop has a broken hinge, all you have to do is select your model there and order the hinge. Then it can be either a DIY job where you install it yourself or call any dell repair guy and to fix it for you.
Otherwise what happens if you take your laptop for repair to a private shop, they may take their own sweet time to fix it and keep your laptop for quite awhile, making the excuse of non availability of spare parts.

Please make sure that your dell laptop repair is carried out by professionals and not by just anyone with a screw driver in hand. Opening a laptop requires some practice and knowledge about the product due to it’s delicate components.

ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6 Software

Hashim Khan — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 17:25:02 +0000

Every day we browse web sites, share data thru pen drives, install software and download stuff from the internet. In all these activities there is a risk of getting your computer infected with virus. If not virus then maybe a Trojan or malware which are quite a nuisance and hard to remove. Some innocent looking software that you get free from various popular download websites (and although listed as safe download) often include some adware’s that install in your computer and give you all sorts of trouble like slow performing system etc.

Being a user of PC since the time of DOS, I had time to test almost every popular antivirus software’s available today. And to cut short, ESET NOD32 Antivirus is the best of all antivirus software’s I have ever used till date. In five years of experience since I started using it, I never ever had any kind of virus or Trojan of any type of infected system problem. What else can we really ask for from an antivirus? And if you say my system was not much prone to attacks let me tell you that being a web designer by profession I have to manage several clients websites and sometimes these websites are infected with iframe attached Trojans. As soon as you open the page, it will infect your system. But with the confidence of NOD32, I don’t really need to worry as it stops any kind of infiltration to happen right from the beginning. Here is a screenshot below of how NOD32 protects my system when I happen to open an infected webpage.

Although advanced web browsers like Chrome and Firefox do block infected web pages but they only do when there are some complains received of malicious codes present on that website. For sure shot prevention of virus from infected website you always need good antivirus software like NOD32. Another most popular form of virus infection medium is your pen drive. You plug your pen drive in various systems and you never know what kind of malicious programs might be sitting there just waiting for some pen drive to be plugged in so that they can replicate and infect more systems. Computers in the office, cyber cafes, college labs and even your friend’s laptop, all of them might be infected and as soon as you reach home and plug the pen drive in your system, all the virus that you gathered silently gets copied into your system without your knowledge. Not only pen drives but all kinds of storage media are known to spread virus. I was scared to share pen drives with friends just because of virus problem but ever since I started using NOD32, I know no matter how many virus gets into my pen drive, they will never make it into my system as they are caught and deleted as soon as I plug the pen drive into my system.

Another feature which not only me but every NOD32 antivirus user will tell you about is its low system resource usage. This means when you switch from other resource hungry antivirus to NOD32, you will find your system performing better because it will have more available RAM. NOD32 is also a sensibly designed antivirus which understands that it’s bad to bug user with too many unnecessary notifications and sound and hence it does its job silently with minimum user interaction.

NOD32 antivirus protects your PC from every type of infiltrations and whether you are a pro user or novice, you will find this antivirus very easy to use. It’s the antivirus which I use myself and recommend my friends and relatives. The offline installer is mere 49 mb in size and just takes about 5 minutes to install. Download the latest version of NOD32 Antivirus 6 which is free to try for 30 days. A fully functional trial version is available here for download.

Harley Bikes parts and modifications

Hashim Khan — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 05:30:51 +0000

When it comes to biking different people have different choices. Some like sports bikes which are built for racing but some men like cruiser bikes or easy riding bikes. When it comes to easy riding bikes, Harley Davidson is the first brand that comes into mind. What makes Harley different from other bikes on that road is that you can get it built according to your taste and there is no limit of customization that can be done on these bikes. You change its look either by buying harley accessories or by getting it custom built right from the Harley factory. When you buy a used Harley then only option to customize it is by buying accessories for it or taking it to bike modifier. Owning a Harley bike is not just for commuting, it’s a passion that passes on from one generation to other.

Vitiligo cure found by scientists

Hashim Khan — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 18:37:57 +0000

Finally, after so many researches and trials, scientist claim to have found a cure for vitiligo. Till now doctors and scientist were clueless about what causes this skin disorder to occur in some people. There is no medicine available in the market to treat vitiligo. The medicines prescribed by dermatologist for this condition were tropical steroids and immune suppressants which caused pigments to re-appear to some extent. However in most cases the white spots would re-occur and these treatments were only possible for patients with fewer white spots.

Now researchers in Chicago’s Loyola University Stritch school of medicine claim to have found a cure vitiligo. From previous researches it was already clear that vitiligo is a result of immune system disorder where our body immune system destroys the melanin under the skin which gives the skin its colour and thus resulting in white patches. A special HSP70 protein has been developed by scientist which reverts the action of immune system responsible for killing of melanocytes cells. Lab tests on mice showed good results and human trials are left to be done. All we hope now is human trials go well and we soon see patients getting benefit from this research.

Here is the link (PDF link & opens in a new tab) if you want to read the research paper on this topic.