UNTOLD

HTC Rhyme review

2011-12-14T11:06:00.001+05:30

Introduction

Alright. This one's a bit different. So we act accordingly. And because we're not quite versed in all things fashion, let's move straight to what we're good at. Meet the HTC Rhyme.

Key Features

Comes in colors no man can name
Has a purse charm
Mirror app preloaded

Main disadvantages

There’s no period calendar pre-installed

Seriously, now. Tough job building a ladies phone - but hey, that's what accessories are for. Before we get to them though, the HTC Rhyme is a delicious little phone, except that it's not that little at all. The good thing is the trademark unibody design is less industrial but softer and more delicate. And the colors… Apart from the accessories, the paintjobs are the only thing that makes the handset different. Feminine?
The HTC Rhyme is hard to define. It almost feels like they didn't plan this one as a phone for girls. When they later decided to target the female audience, they came up with all sorts of relevant accessories. You'll never hear anyone at HTC call it the ladies smartphone. But it's being marketed as one. They are extra careful to avoid references to Android and don't even call it a smartphone in any of their ads.
That's not what we're gonna do. We'll look at the smartphone inside the Rhyme. And see if it could be his smartphone too, as much as hers. That's what HTC would gladly have people think. It'd be a win-win for them.
But let's see what's in the HTC Rhyme for users. We have the full list of features and possible deal-breakers coming up.

Key features (the real thing)

Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support
14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
3.7" 16M-color capacitive S-LCD touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)
Android OS v2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense 3.5
1 GHz single Scorpion CPUs, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 chipset
768 MB RAM; 4 GB storage
microSD card slot (class 4 8GB card in the bundle)
5 MP autofocus camera with single LED flash; face detection, geotagging, HDR mode, image auto-upload
720p video recording @ 30fps, slo-mo videos (2x at WVGA)
Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
GPS with A-GPS
Stereo FM radio with RDS
Accelerometer, proximity and ambient light sensor
Front facing camera, video call
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0
Smart dial, voice dialing
Office document editor
DivX/XviD video support
HTC Locations app
HTCSense.com integration
HTC Portable Hotspot
Ultra-fast boot times
Rich set of accessories

Main disadvantages (sadly, the real thing)

Average display
Non-user-replaceable battery
No dedicated camera key
Pricey for a single-core smartphone (generously accessorized though)
Wi-Fi death grip issues

So, what's so special about the Rhyme? No, it’s not another Beats Audio phone - although we love the headset it ships with. We're looking at a pretty much standard unibody package running a familiar Android Gingerbread/Sense UI combo. But the accessories and paintjobs do make it different from the slew of Android handsets. There is a leather pouch, a docking cradle, specially designed headphones and the eye-catching Charm cube that lights up upon an incoming call or message.

It’s a feature-rich smartphone and the box is full of surprises, and useful too. Wanna have a closer look? Read on for our traditional unboxing and hardware checkup.

Design and build quality

The design has been recycled but the HTC Rhyme is undoubtedly a good-looking phone. And different enough. We obviously don't have the purple version, which isn't exactly gender-neutral. Our review unit came in the Clearwater variety - essentially, some pastel hues of blue. We have to say it - the colors are nice.
Otherwise, it's the much appreciated unibody design with the anodized metal front frame extending around the back. The downside is the battery is non-user-replaceable. But this may as well be irrelevant for the targeted demographic. Two bits of soft-touch rubbery plastic complete the design of the rear panel. One accommodates the camera lens and LED flash, the other is the battery cover.

HTC Rhyme
The Rhyme comes with a 3.7” S-LCD screen. And while you won’t get to enjoy any AMOLED blacks, it's a decent viewing experience. Our biggest gripe is the rather low contrast. HTC might have been aware of that too and did well to get rid of black elements in the interface graphics. Even the main menu background is grey. Overall, the pastel tones of the preloaded skins don't give away the screen's weakness. In the browser though, we wished the text was crisper and colors punchier.
The Rhyme's display has passable viewing angles and the sunlight legibility is up to scratch.

The HTC Rhyme has a 3.7" S-LCD screen
And here go the results of our now traditional display brightness and contrast test. As you can see, the Rhyme fares decently against its peers.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
Display test	Black, cd/m²	White, cd/m²	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m²	White, cd/m²	Contrast ratio
HTC Rhyme	0.43	265	609	0.58	402	694
HTC Sensation XL	0.22	231	1045	0.52	559	1085
HTC Titan	0.26	233	891	0.56	567	1007
HTC Sensation	0.21	173	809	0.61	438	720
Motorola Atrix 4G	0.48	314	652	0.60	598	991
LG Optimus 2X	0.23	228	982	0.35	347	1001
Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc	0.03	34	1078	0.33	394	1207
Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II	0	231	∞	0	362	∞
HTC Incredible S	0.18	162	908	0.31	275	880
Apple iPhone 4	0.14	189	1341	0.39	483	1242

Moving on, a video-call camera is right next to the earpiece above the display. There are also a couple of hidden sensors there – proximity and ambient light.

There’s a video-call camera right next to the earpiece this time
Underneath the screen, we find the four capacitive keys. The usual Android controls are haptic enabled, well spaced and very responsive.

Capacitive keys below the display
The long and thin volume rocker is on the right side, while the covered microUSB port is on the left. Some people find port lids a bit of a hassle but keeping the good looks intact is a priority for the HTC Rhyme.

The volume rocker and the microUSB port on each side
At the top we find the 3.5mm audio jack, which also serves the unique Charm cube. There's a secondary microphone used for active noise cancellation and the Power/Lock key.

A standard 3.5mm audio jack, the secondary microphone and a power/screen lock key on top
At the bottom of the phone is the microphone pinhole.

The microphone pinhole is located on the sloped bottom
The back panel consists of three parts – an anodized metal piece in the middle and two bits of plastic that feels soft and rubbery to the touch. The camera lens, LED flash and the speaker are at the top, along with the docking cradle pins. The lower half of the rear slides open to grant access to the memory card slot and SIM compartment. The bits of plastic have different colors but the whole thing doesn't look poorly patched together - a problem we had with the original HTC Sensation.

The Rhyme's back
Unfortunately, the Rhyme has some Wi-Fi death grip issues similar to those on the Sensation and the Sensation XL. Just place the phone flat on the palm of your hand and the phone loses a few notches of Wi-Fi signal. In fact, touching the area around the camera and loudspeaker can reduce the Wi-Fi signal to zero.
The rear cover is a bit hard to slide the cover open, but eventually you'll get the hang of it. The battery is non-replaceable.

Removing the battery cover
The microSD slot is hot-swappable and the phone comes with a 8GB card pre-installed.
The 1600 mAh battery of the HTC Rhyme achieved a score of the respectable rate of 39 hours in our battery test. This means that if you use your device for an hour each of phone calls, web browsing, and video playback every day, you will have to recharge it every 39 hours.

Design and build quality

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
Display test	Black, cd/m²	White, cd/m²	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m²	White, cd/m²	Contrast ratio
HTC Rhyme	0.43	265	609	0.58	402	694
HTC Sensation XL	0.22	231	1045	0.52	559	1085
HTC Titan	0.26	233	891	0.56	567	1007
HTC Sensation	0.21	173	809	0.61	438	720
Motorola Atrix 4G	0.48	314	652	0.60	598	991
LG Optimus 2X	0.23	228	982	0.35	347	1001
Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc	0.03	34	1078	0.33	394	1207
Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II	0	231	∞	0	362	∞
HTC Incredible S	0.18	162	908	0.31	275	880
Apple iPhone 4	0.14	189	1341	0.39	483	1242

Good enough codec support for the video player

Video files can be accessed in the All videos subfolder in the Gallery. There's no dedicated video player.
The video files are displayed as a grid and can be shared over MMS, email, or YouTube, Facebook and Flickr, even apps like Dropbox (comes pre-installed).

The Videos app is part of the Gallery
The video playing interface on the HTC Rhyme offers a full screen toggle (stretches the video to the screen's aspect) and you can scrub through videos. There's no subtitle support though.
The video player was hit or miss when it came to playing videos. Non-HD resolutions would play trouble-free for all formats supported but MKV. Even some HD videos managed to play but only just - we managed to get a 720p WMV and MP4 videos play smoothly, while the rest of the formats failed. Of course, the MP4 videos produced by the Rhyme’s own camera (H.264/AVC Baseline) played trouble-free.

The video player
DLNA connectivity comes handy too – the Rhyme can stream the videos wirelessly to your TV.

The music player is a looker

The music player has been updated a bit - the initial screen has two big buttons - a drop down for My Library/DLNA media servers switching and Categories.
The standard view for My Library is the Artists section, but you can easily switch to one of the other four categories (Albums, Songs, Playlists and Genres) through the Categories drop-down menu.

The music library • the player is DLNA-enabled too
The now playing interface is a Cover-Flow-like visualization of the current playlist – you can swipe sideways to skip songs but that worked rather strangely. You can skip between different albums/artists but not individual songs.

The new player interface is nice • Equalizers
The Rhyme offers the SRS sound enhancement plus a standard set of equalizer presets when you connect a headset.
Two shortcuts in the bottom corners act as toggles for shuffle and repeat. Other goodies include looking up a song on YouTube or updating the album art for the current or all songs. You can enable auto update too.
You can share a song or use DLNA to play the song through a DLNA-enabled audio system.

Sharing a song • Playing a song to another device without wires
The lockscreen has a neat feature - a 3D card stays on the lockscreen that lets you control the music player (previous, next and play/pause). The card also shows the album art and name of the song and artist. You can flip the card - it's backside shows album art and track info too, but lacks music controls (you can use that to prevent accidental taps that change the song).

The 3D "card" on the lockscreen that controls the music player

FM radio on board

The HTC Rhyme is also equipped with an FM radio, which has a pretty simple interface. It automatically scans the area for the available stations and allows you to mark some of them as favorite. It also supports RDS and allows loudspeaker playback.

The FM radio UI

Audio output is nothing to frown at

The HTC Rhyme did fairly well in our traditional audio output test.
When connected to an active external amplifier, the Rhyme produces really loud and nicely clear output. The scores it achieved are pretty great, save for the only average stereo crosstalk.
Sadly, volume drops to average levels when you plug in a pair of headphones and while the stereo crosstalk only suffers mildly, the intermodulation distortion rises quite a bit. Overall, the Rhyme isn't the audiophile's dream device, but it should easily do for the average user.
Here go the results so you can see how the Rhyme did for yourselves.

Test	Frequency response	Noise level	Dynamic range	THD	IMD + Noise	Stereo crosstalk
HTC Rhyme	+0.07, -0.33	-90.4	90.3	0.014	0.038	-75.4
HTC Rhyme (headphones attached)	+0.62, -0.17	-90.4	90.3	0.021	0.470	-53.1
HTC Sensation XE	+3.46, -0.38	-91.7	91.7	0.012	0.026	-90.7
HTC Sensation XE (headphones attached)	+3.87, -0.56	-91.5	91.6	0.031	0.632	-63.7
HTC Sensation XL	+3.35, -0.42	-85.2	87.2	0.025	0.084	-75.1
HTC Sensation XL (headphones attached)	+3.77, -0.54	-80.2	81.2	0.072	0.569	-64.2
HTC Sensation	+0.05, -0.34	-90.2	90.2	0.012	0.021	-91.1
HTC Titan	+0.06, -0.34	-86.9	87.8	0.015	0.244	-75.5
HTC Titan (headphones attached)	+0.34, -0.18	-76.8	77.1	0.057	0.581	-56.4
HTC Sensation (headphones attached)	+0.71, -0.15	-89.1	90.1	0.019	0.522	-70.6
Apple iPhone 4S	+0.02, -0.11	-91.2	91.2	0.0020	0.012	-93.0
Apple iPhone 4S (headphones attached)	+0.05, -0.10	-91.3	91.3	0.0068	0.071	-66.7

Nokia Lumia 800 review..

2011-12-14T10:55:00.001+05:30

Introduction

It will take crowds erupting in delight to silence the ring of the "burning platform" speech in the Nokia Lumia 800's ears. The speaker being Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and the burning platform Symbian.
As Nokia are starting over, the Lumia 800 would do well not to look back. It's certainly beyond the ifs and buts. A shadow still lingers though. And there are people out there - loyal Nokia users too - who would've jumped in the fire with MeeGo rather than the freezing waters of Windows Phone................................

Nokia Lumia 800 official photos
But it was for others to decide. The N9 was ordered to share its impressive unibody design with the Lumia 800. Good decision by Nokia - not saying fair - to give its WP7 pioneer a strong start. There are some Windows Phone mandated changes like the touch-sensitive Back, Menu and Search keys and a hardware shutter key.
The screen lost 0.2" and 54 pixels in height to make room for the capacitive controls. The oddly positioned secondary camera is gone as well. Still, the image quality of the screen seems unchanged - and we quite liked that AMOLED unit.
What else has changed? Well, there's a new chipset, among other things. To make this short, here're the pros and cons of the Nokia Lumia 800.

Key features

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
Quad-band 3G with 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.7 Mbps HSUPA support
3.7" 16M-color AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of 480 x 800 pixel resolution
Scratch resistant Gorilla glass display with anti-glare polarizer
8 megapixel autofocus camera with dual LED flash, 720p@27fps video recording and fast f/2.2 lens
Windows Phone 7.5 OS (Mango)
1.4GHz Scorpion CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255 chipset, 512MB of RAM
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Non-painted polycarbonate unibody, curved screen
GPS receiver with A-GPS support and free lifetime voice-guided navigation
Digital compass
16GB on-board storage
Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack; FM Radio with RDS
microUSB port
Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and EDR
Impressively deep and coherent SNS integration throughout the interface

Main disadvantages

Display is much dimmer than the N9's display
No Flash or Silverlight support in browser
No USB mass storage (file management and sync pass only through Zune)
No video calls and no front-facing camera either
Non-user-replaceable battery
No memory card slot (and no 64GB version like the N9)
microSIM card slot
No native DivX/XviD support, videos have to be transcoded by Zune

A strong showing by Nokia, but it's a bit late to the Windows Phone party. They do have the design experience from being in the business longer than almost anyone else and they have Nokia Drive as their ace in the hole.
The fate of the company rests on Windows Phone Nokias being a success and much of that weight falls on the shoulders of the Lumia 800. It won't carry it alone, but it's the leader of the pack, the attention grabber.

Nokia Lumia 800 at ours
And sure enough, it has our attention. But it's you the Nokia Lumia 800 has to wow, so sit down and let us tell you about its hardware.

Design and build quality

The Nokia Lumia 800 is easy to spot in a crowd - the polycarbonate unibody with a distinctive combination of curves and straight lines can only be mistaken for the Nokia N9, though sadly there probably aren’t many of those around.
It is not the slimmest Windows Phone, but it makes a claim to be the most beautiful. It measures 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm (exactly the same as the N9) and weighs 142g (7g heavier than its MeeGo counterpart).
Here's the Lumia 800 flanked by the N9 and the Samsung Omnia W. The Lumia 800 and the Omnia W have the same screen size (3.7"), the same resolution (WVGA) and both are PenTile AMOLED units. We'll be having a closer look at them in a moment.

Size (and looks) comparison: Samsung Omnia W vs. Nokia Lumia 800 vs. Nokia N9
The body seems very sturdy, it can take a few knocks and not show it. The polycarbonate is colored itself rather than painted, so no peeling paint issues and even a deep scratch won't reveal anything but the same color as the rest of the body. Speaking of which, the Nokia Lumia 800 comes in black, cyan or magenta.
The Corning Gorilla glass makes sure the display won't get scratched either. Under that tough cover hides a polarizing filter that reduces reflections and improves the image quality.
The screen itself is a 3.7" AMOLED unit of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels). Yes, it is a PenTile matrix - meaning each pixel has two subpixels instead of three - but the high 251ppi pixel density means that most people won’t notice it.
The Lumia's closest competitor, the Samsung Omnia W also uses a PenTile matrix for its 3.7" WVGA screen, so we decided to put them under the magnifying glass. The Nokia N9 is also along for the ride. Here are the close-up shots where you can see the PenTile arrangement clearly.
As you can see, both look practically identical. There are slight differences due to different color processing (so some pixels light up brighter), but that's it.

The PenTile matrix up close
Indoors, the viewing experience is great - the display is basically glued to the Gorilla Glass on top, which makes it look almost as if the icons are painted on the surface of the handset when you look at an extreme angle.
The screen continues to impress outdoors in the sun too - it remains perfectly visible, while the colors keep most of their punch too. The anti-glare polarizer is certainly making a difference, as the Lumia 800 probably has the least-reflective screen we have seen.

The Lumia 800's screen is great
The Nokia Lumia 800's touchscreen is very responsive and the edges of the scratch-resistant glass that cover it are convex (the display itself is flat). This means your finger glides easily from side to side - and using Windows Phone involves a lot of sideways swipes.
We measured the maximum brightness of the Lumia 800's screen to see how it stacks up against other AMOLEDs and the LCDs. As usual, contrast is theoretically infinite though reflections mean it's practically some really high number. The low reflectivity of this particular screen makes it that much more impressive.
As for the brightness, the Nokia N9 had one of the brightest AMOLED screens we've seen, easily topping SuperAMOLED in this regard. We expected the same from the Lumia 800, but we were disappointed - at the brightest setting, the 800 was only as bright as the N9 at 50% brightness.
It's comparable to the SuperAMOLED on the Omnia W, for what that's worth, but it doesn’t defeat it soundly as we expected based on the N9's performance.

Here's a list showing how the Lumia compares to the competition:

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
Display test	Black, cd/m²	White, cd/m²	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m²	White, cd/m²	Contrast ratio
Nokia N9	0	349	∞	0	596	∞
Nokia Lumia 800	0	108	∞	0	369	∞
HTC Radar	0.26	204	794	0.59	471	797
HTC Titan	0.26	233	891	0.56	567	1007
HTC Sensation	0.21	173	809	0.61	438	720
Motorola Atrix 4G	0.48	314	652	0.60	598	991
LG Optimus 2X	0.23	228	982	0.35	347	1001
Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II	0	231	∞	0	362	∞
HTC Incredible S	0.18	162	908	0.31	275	880

One trick that the Nokia N9 does that leverages on its AMOLED screen is that the clock is visible even when the screen is off. The Lumia 800 doesn’t do that, most likely because Windows Phone can't. We miss that feature, a cool and easy way to tell the time with a single glance.
Once you shift your gaze away from the screen, you'll see the earpiece above the screen and if you look closely, you'll spot the proximity and ambient light sensors.
Below the screen are the three Windows Phone keys - Back, Menu and Search - which are touch-sensitive and light up in white when the screen is on. Thanks to the deep blacks of the AMOLED screen, the three keys almost look like a part of the screen itself.

Earpiece, proximity and ambient light sensors on top • Three Windows Phone keys below the screen
We move on to the Nokia Lumia 800's right side to find the three hardware controls. You get a flat volume rocker that's not the easiest thing to use and a Power/Lock key just underneath it.
A little further down is the two-step shutter key. It's raised higher than the other keys and fairly comfortable to use. Because of the lower positioning of the camera lens on the back, you can hold the Lumia 800 much like a standard point-and-shoot.

The only two hardware keys on the Nokia 800
The left side of the Nokia Lumia 800 is completely bare, while the bottom features the loudspeaker grill. The microphone pinhole is also supposed to be at the bottom, though we couldn't spot it so it might be under the same grill as the speaker.
The loudspeaker won't get muffled when you place the phone down on a table but the grill quickly gathers dust.

The loudspeaker is on the bottom of the handset
The top of the Nokia 800 features the 3.5mm audio jack and also the microSIM compartment and microUSB port.
The microUSB port is covered by a plastic lid that has a small nub to swing it open. It's a clever design but has a downside - L-shaped USB cables won't work as the lid gets in the way.

The microUSB port, the microSIM card slot and the 3.5mm jack
After you open that door, you can use your nail on the small notch to slide the microSIM card compartment to the left slightly (or you can just push it down and slide left). The microSIM card tray pops out and you can pull it out.
We said "microSIM" a few times but it bears repeating - it's a new, relatively rare standard that the Nokia Lumia 800 shares with the N9, iPhone 4 and 4S. If you get the Lumia 800, you'll either have to ask your carrier to swap your regular SIM card (possibly at a certain price) or cut it down to size yourself.
We complete our tour at the back of the Nokia 800, which has its edges tapered very similarly to the front. It fits the shape of the hand perfectly.
The 8 megapixel camera lens is on the back, placed lower than on most phones. As we already mentioned, this makes holding the phone while taking a photo quite comfortable as you don't need to worry about your hand covering the lens.
Speaking of the lens, it's Carl Zeiss-certified, as the strip of metal that accommodates it is proud to announce. It has an f/2.2 aperture, which according to Nokia lets in 75% more light.
The sensor is pretty special too - it has 8.7 million pixels and works in two modes. You can choose between 4:3 8MP and 16:9 7.1MP photos. Other 8MP shooters typically drop down to 6MP when shooting 16:9, so a loss of less than a megapixel in widescreen mode is quite an achievement.
It’s worth saying that the Lumia 800 has exactly the same camera unit as of that on the N9, however allegedly they are tuned slightly different.
There's a dual-LED flash next to the camera and it promises to be 20% brighter than previous LED units by Nokia despite being smaller. It won't glow red during video recording like the N9's flash does.

The 8 megapixel camera and its LED companion
The non-removable battery has a 1450mAh capacity and Nokia say it's good for 265 hours of standby in 2G (335 hours in 3G). Talk times are respectively 13 hours and 9 hours and 30 minutes.
The Nokia Lumia 800 should last for 55 hours of music playback or 7 hours of video. We'll post our own numbers when the test completes.
The curved sides of the Nokia Lumia 800 make it very comfortable to wrap your hands around it. The polycarbonate shell is pleasant to the touch (though quick to gather fingerprints) and all the controls are easy to reach.

Nokia Lumia 800 in the hand
The phone feels solid but not too heavy and even though it's not the slimmest handset around, its beveled edges should make it easy to slip into pockets.
Okay, so this part felt rather familiar. The software part will have equal measures of deja vu, but several Nokia add-ons (like the free SatNav app, Drive) should be enough of a plot twist.

8MP Carl Zeiss camera fails to impress

The Nokia Lumia 800 has an 8MP camera with a lot to brag about - it has a 28mm wide-angle F2.2 lens by Carl Zeiss and as we already mentioned in the hardware section of this review the sensor behind the lens is quite clever too. It produces 8MP photos with 4:3 aspect ratio or 7.1MP photos if you want 16:9 aspect ratio for your shots.
The camera UI is pretty simple – you have your viewfinder and some controls on the right. From top to bottom they are the still/video camera toggle, virtual zoom buttons and an extended settings menu. On the left you have an arrow that takes you to the images taken with the camera, alternatively you can do a swipe gesture too.

Camera app
The camera app on Windows Phone offers very extensive settings, ranging from scenes and effects to white balance, contrast, saturation, sharpness, ISO and more. You have a dedicated Macro focus mode but no face detection. The flash can be set to auto, forced or off.
The camera key will wake the phone with a single press – that is unlock it and start the camera. There's an option that prevents the shutter key from starting the camera if the proximity sensor is triggered (to prevent accidental launches when the phone is in your pocket). This option is off by default.
The Lumia 800 may have the same camera module as the N9, but the new chipset has different image processing. The amount of detail is good, but there's noticeable color noise left in the photos. The noise processing in the N9 did better by eliminating the color noise and not losing as much fine detail. Sill, the Lumia 800 has accurate white balance and good color rendering. The dynamic range is as impressive as it was on the N9.
Here go some Nokia Lumia 800 full-res camera samples:

Nokia Lumia 800 camera samples
We also snapped a macro shot, here it is.

Nokia Lumia 800 macro shot

Photo quality comparison

The Nokia Lumia 800 steps up in our photo quality compare tool to face other 8MP shooters. The tool's page will give you more information on what to look out for.
While we were lining up the shot for the first chart, we noticed a huge pink spot. That was gone as soon as we snapped the photo. The color patches in the second chart look accurate, but you can spot color noise, especially in the blue patches. The third chart is shot under artificial lighting and the automatic color balanced produced a blue shot, so when shooting indoors, you might want to set the white balance to incandescent/fluorescent for more accurate results.

The Nokia Lumia 800 in the Photo Compare Tool

HD video recording can be great, but needs more work

The video camera interface is identical to the still camera one and has plenty of features too. You can use scenes, calibrate contrast, saturation and sharpness, change the white balance or exposure compensation and also add image effects. You can use the LED as a video light too.

Camcorder interface
Windows Phone has yet to break the 1080p barrier and the Lumia 800 isn't the phone to do it. It's limited to 720p, which is now within the reach of cheaper smartphones. Still, it's quality, not quantity that we're looking for.
Continuous autofocus is available while recording. The Lumia 800 was way too eager to hunt for focus - if there's constant action in the scene, the Lumia 800 would refocus every several seconds, which gets really annoying. There's no way to lock the focus and the camera would always focus at the beginning of the video (even if you make it focus before you start recording).
Much like the N9 (and a lot of other phones too), the Nokia Lumia 800 shoots videos with varying framerate. We've seen anything from 25fps (usually in dark scenes) to 30fps (in well-lit scenes). And depending which framerate it goes for, you would get either a smooth or a slightly choppy video. The Nokia Lumia 800 might be good enough for shooting not too fast-paced scenes, but for that price tag we really expected better.
The video quality is surprisingly good - there's a lot of detail for a 720p shooter, the image looks crisp and free of noise and artifacts. Videos are shot with 15Mbps bitrate, which is more than some 1080p shooters and double of what the N9 does. Videos have stereo sound but at a low bitrate (it hovers around 50Kbps).
If Nokia would fix the autofocus issue and bump up the audio bitrate (the N9 des 132Kbps), we'd be very happy with the video recording.

Full-featured Office

Office is one of the key selling points of Windows Phone. Document viewing and editing is absolutely free and integrated into the OS.
With Mango SkyDrive integration is one thing that was improved. Now, docs are automatically synced between the phone and your computer through SkyDrive. In case you missed it, Microsoft are offering free 25GB of storage with each SkyDrive account (but individual files are limited to 100MB).
There's more - the Locations tab replaces the old SharePoint tab. This lets you browse Office docs stored on the phone, in SkyDrive, through SharePoint or in Office 365 (a paid service that includes Office web apps).
The Office hub breaks down into three sections – Documents, Locations and Notes.

Office app
Anyway, let’s look at the two most important apps – Word and Excel. They share the Documents panel, which lists all available documents of the relevant types (in order of last used). Both viewing and editing of files is supported.
The Excel section of the Office hub got better too - it grew the all-time favorite Auto-sum function and you can now tap and drag to select multiple cells.

Editing a Word document • Editing an Excell doc
Editing is pretty straightforward and easy to use even on a mobile device. You type in the text and you can use the Format key to change the formatting of the selected text. You can also insert comments.
Formatting options include the standard bold, italic and underline, as well as text size, highlighting and font color. For highlighting and font colors you have only three colors to choose from, which is a little limiting but should be enough for most cases.
PowerPoint files will thrive in the Documents section too – but they are for viewing only, you can’t edit them or create new ones.

A PowerPoint document
Collaboration for both Word and Excel files is enabled with SharePoint. It allows syncing, sharing and web publishing but you’d need to use the right SharePoint server. You can attach those files to emails, though you need to do that from the Office hub. You can't do it from the email editor, which caused a little confusion at first.
OneNote is Microsoft’s collaborative note taking tool. It has great (and easy to use) support for lists of multiple levels, you can add photos and voice memos and you can send notes via email when you’re done. OneNotes can be synced with your SkyDrive or Windows Live account so that they are accessible from everywhere. Pin-to-homescreen is available too and so is the To-Do feature that turns the selected line into a to-do item that can be checked off.
Anyway, the apps support pinch zooming and work very well for viewing even complex documents. But Microsoft’s fondness for simplicity may have over-simplified the editors. Still the innovation that Mango has brought to Windows Phone Office is great and shows Microsoft is dedicated to improving the Office experience further.

Organizer and apps

The business side of Windows Phone has its own list of cool updates in version 7.5.
The Calendar can view sub-calendars for each account you have and you can give each a different color to make it easier to tell apart. You can also disable sub-calendars if they're getting in the way.
The calendar offers day and agenda views too for more comprehensive hour-by-hour browsing of your appointments.

Calendar • Day view • Agenda view
To-dos can be created too. Those can only be synced with Live accounts, and not a Gmail account for example. Each to-do can have a priority reminder, due date and notes. Later, to-do's can be sorted by priority.

Creating a To-Do
The WP calculator is nothing extravagant - it has the simple portrait view of basically all calculators on the planet, while turning it over to landscape reveals the more complex scientific mode.

Calculator app
The alarm app is simple to use and has an iOS-esque interface. You get the alarm time with an on/off switch to the right.

Alarm app
Windows Phone Mango provides users with the basics in smartphone organizing but should you need anything more the Marketplace is there too - it offers apps for just about everything - most of which are free.
There's an app called Contacts Transfer, which does just that - it pairs with another phone over Bluetooth and leeches out your address book. This makes switching from your old phone to the Nokia Lumia 800 a smooth sailing.
Your Nokia Lumia 800 might come with some more regional apps preinstalled. For example, the British version comes with a British Airways app and another one called Ministry of Sound.

WindowsPhone.com remotely protects your data

The Windows Phone website is the cloud of sorts for all WP7 smartphones.
All you need to do to use the site is register your email (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) and then setup an account on your Windows Phone device.
The options given to you on the windowsphone.com website are limited to billing information and security. You can update your billing information, view the apps you've bought and go to the web version of the WP Marketplace and buy new apps. Note that they will be sent to your phone to be downloaded locally on the device, unlike on the Zune app for your PC or Mac.
The features most important to users are the Find, Ring, Lock or Erase. To use them you'll have to input a phone number out of a total of 37 countries. After you've done this the website will have access to your phone's location so you'll be able to pinpoint its almost exact location.

The windowsphone.com interface
The other features are pretty self-explanatory - Ring will use your phone's ringtone to send a single if you've lost it around the house, Lock will lock it with a 4-digit PIN code and Erase will wipe all your sensitive data off the device so you don't have to worry about it falling into undesirable hands.
What we didn't like about the windowsphone.com cloud is that it doesn't allow wireless sync like on the iCloud, for example. We just think that any cloud-based service should offer this. Also the number of countries that allow tracking your device is limited and many countries where WP is available won't have access to these much-needed features.
The rest of the website includes guides on each individual feature of your phone and depending on where you live there's a very detailed list of providers and operators that offer WP handsets.

Azhikode-Mohanlal war comes to an end!

2011-12-13T20:49:00.003+05:30

Cochin, Dec.11 (NR): The war of words that had been going on between Megastar Mohanlal and prominent literary figure Sukumar Azhikode, finally draws to a close.................................

Mohanlal rang up Azhikode, who had taken ill and was admitted to a hospital, following which their respective lawyers announced that the issue has been amicably solved.

It had all started with actor Thilakan being banned by AMMA, and Azhikode taking up cudgels on behalf of the veteran actor. What followed was a verbal duel between Azhikode and Mohanlal.

'Nadodimannan' to start soon

2011-12-13T20:48:00.001+05:30

After a short gap, director Viji Thampi is back to films with big stars in 'Nadodimananan'. ............

The director who had been with lesser known starts in the last few years will have Dileep in the lead in this movie which is scheduled to start by next week at Kochi. Ananya, Mydhili and Archana Kavi are the heroines of this project which will have music by Vidyasagar. Produced by Subhash in the banner of Chithram films, the movie will have the scripts by Krishna Poojappura.

K.J. Yesudas

2011-12-13T20:43:00.001+05:30

Singing legend K.J. Yesudas will celebrate his golden jubilee as a singer Nov 14 as it was on this day half-a-century ago that he recorded his first song which marked his arrival in the film industry.................

In 50 years, he has sung over 35,000 songs in 14 languages. Some of his popular Hindi numbers are "Surmayee Ankhiyon Mein", "Dil Ke Tukde Tukde Karke", "Jaaneman Tere Do Nayan". Down south, he gave hits in movies like "Vadakkum Nathan", "Madhuchandralekha" and "Pattanathil Sundaran".

State Minister for Culture K.C. Joseph said that the Kerala government will honour him in the most befitting manner.

"Even though a request did come up to give the status of 'State Singer' to Yesudas, the constitution does not permit state governments to confer titles on individuals, but we will certainly give him a Lifetime Achievement award. The details of this are being worked out," said Joseph.

The 71-year-old veteran was born in Fort Kochi to Augustine Joseph and Alicekutty. His father, who was a well-known Malayalam classical musician and stage actor, was his first guru.

Later he joined the R.L.V. Music Academy in Trippunithura near Kochi and then studied at the Sree Swati Thirunal Music College, in the capital city under the training of Late Semmangudy Sreenivasa Iyer. But he had to leave his studies midway due to financial crunch.

For a brief period, he was with Sri Vechur Hari Hara Subramania Iyer, after which he took advanced training from Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar.

Incidentally, it was M.B. Sreenivasan, well-known South Indian music director who after his first meeting with Yesudas in 1961 had predicted that a star is born and was the one who gave Yesudas his first singing assignment.

Sreenivasan sent Yesudas a telegram asking him to rush to Madras (now Chennai) for a recording.

But when the young singer reached Madras, he was told that he would have to wait for two months because there's a change in plans.

Yesudas was shattered because he had no money. He even suffered a typhoid attack. When the recording date arrived, he had not recovered but the organisers were kind enough to allow him to sing a four-line 'shloka' of Sree Narayana Guru in the Malayalam movie "Kalpadukel".

This marked the first recording for him and there was no looking back for Yesudas, who even after 50 years continues to be one of the most sought after singers in the industry.

On numerous occasions the veteran singer has said that he has struggled to keep his career afloat right from the time he was a student, when poverty was giving him a tough time.

One incident the singer often quotes was when he was 16 years old and studying at the Sree Swati Thirunal Music College. During those days he used to eat at a small hotel.

One day when hungry Yesudas sat down to have lunch and a bearer was about to serve him rice, the hotel owner growled and said that Yesudas need not be given food till he pays the outstanding balance of Rs.35.

Many years later when Yesudas was flying high, he was told that the hotel owner who shooed him away was sick. The singer immediately reached the hospital and told him not to worry about the money and took care of his medical expenses.

The singer clarified to the hotel owner that he was not trying to clear his long standing debt of Rs.35 because that unpaid bill will keep alive a relationship between them.

Over the years he has been conferred the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan besides winning seven national and 17 state film awards in singing.

Yesudas has three sons and his second son Vijay Yesudas too won the state film award for singing in 2007.

Even though settled in Chennai, Yesudas comes to the state often and also owns a home in Florida.

asin

2011-12-13T20:41:00.001+05:30

Asin Thottumkal

Asin Thottumkal was born on 26 October 1985. Asin is one of the prominent face in the film industry of Bollywood and Kollywood.....................................

Personal Life :

Asin was born to Joseph Thottumkal originally from a Nasrani travancore Christian family in Thodupuzha who managed several businesses. Her mother, Seline Thottumkal remains a surgeon, who moved settlements from Cochin to Chennai to Mumbai to live with her daughter.

She attended Naval Public School from L.K.G.(Pre.K) through 10th standard (grade). She then attended St. Teresa's School in Kochi for her Plus Two education. After that she attended St. Teresa's College for Women in Kochi, a college affiliated with MG University, where she earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in English Literature.

Career :

Making her acting debut in Sathyan Anthikkad's Malayalam film Narendra Makan Jayakanthan Vaka (2001), Asin had her first commercial success with the Telugu film Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi in 2003, and won a Filmfare Best Telugu Actress Award for the film. Its remake M. Kumaran son of Mahalakshmi (2004) was her debut in Tamil and it was a huge success and she was nominated for Filmfare Best Tamil Actress Award.

She received her second South Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her critically acclaimed performance in her second Blockbuster Tamil film, Ghajini (2005). She played the lead female roles in blockbusters such as the action comedy Varalaru (2006), the action thriller Pokkiri (2007) and the big budget production Dasavathaaram (2008) which established her as a Superstar in South. In late 2008, Asin made her début in Bollywood, with Ghajini, the remake of its Tamil namesake, subsequently winning the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award also starred in another blockbuster movie Ready (2011) opposite Salman Khan which marked her as one of the top Bollywood actress.

She is the second actress after Sridevi who made it big in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi film Industry.

The film which provided the breakthrough for Asin was Ghajini. The film, co-starring Surya and Nayantara and directed by A. R. Murugadoss, earned her the Tamil Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Her role was that of a vivacious young model named Kalpana. Sify.com praised her portrayal as "magical", descriving her character as a "lovable chatterbox", played with "sheer ability in the romantic interludes, the poignant and heartfelt scenes when she rescues minor girls from villains and her gory end are touching".

The following Diwali in 2005, Asin had two releases, Sivakasi and Majaa. Despite the latter becoming an average grosser, the former went on to be a successful venture at the box office, despite Asin's poorly etched out role

Accoldes :

Asin appeared in her first dual role in K. S. Ravikumar's Dasavathaaram opposite Kamal Haasan, who portrayed ten roles. The film, which was under production since September 2006, became Asin's largest film till date. Despite being overshadowed by Haasan's ten roles, Asin's portrayals in the film were praised as her "best-to-date" with one of her roles being that of a Vaishnavite in 12th century Tamil Nadu; whilst the other character was a Brahmin girl from Chidambaram for which she won her first ITFA Best Actress Award.

Dasavathaaram subsequently went on to become one of the biggest blockbusters in South Indian film history.

Asin has bagged a number of awards for her performance in various films in the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi industries, including the Kalaimamani award by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 2009.

She also won the Giant award along with Shahid Kapoor in the same year.[42] She has won various Filmfare awards and other prominent awards for her acting skills in all three major industries which she has been part of in her career. The three Filmfare awards, she has won so far includes, Filmfare Best Telugu Actress Award for Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi, Filmfare Best Tamil Actress Award for Ghajini and Filmfare Best Female Debut Award for her Hindi debut in Ghajini.

She has also won Stardust Award for Superstar of Tomorrow - Female, IIFA Star Debut Award and Star Screen Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female and was also nominated for Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance in Ghajini. Apart from her Filmfare awards, she has also won Santosham Best Actress Award for her performance in Shivamani alongside Nagarjuna and ITFA Best Actress Award for her portrayal of a Brahmin girl opposite Kamal Haasan in Dasavathaaram.

Jagathy Sreekumar reveals his secret to humour

2011-12-13T20:35:00.001+05:30

Jagathy Sreekumar reveals his secret to humour

Jagathy Sreekumar, one of the best comedians in the Malayalam film industry recently revealed the secret to his success and the way to make people laugh.........................................

Speaking about his unique sense of humour, Jagathy Sreekumar said, “You laugh while watching a comic scene. If the same comic sequence makes you laugh even after days of watching it, then it is real humour."

Jagathy Sreekumar will be seen in the upcoming film Padmasree Barath Dr Saroj Kumar in which he essays the role of Pachalam Basi, a comic character. The role that Jagathy portrays in the film is reportedly very unique and is expected to make you roar with laughter.

Jagathy Sreekumar bags Narendra Prasad award

2011-12-13T20:33:00.003+05:30

Jagathy Sreekumar bags Narendra Prasad award

Jagathy Sreekumar, well known comedian actor and well-known literary critic B Rajeev have been selected for this year's Narendra Prasad Foundation award for their outstanding contribution to Malayalam cinema.........................

Narendra Prasad Foundation award, instituted in memory of actor, the late Narendra Prasad, constitute a cash prize of Rs 15,000 and a citation, Foundation Chairman Jayaraj told reporters.

The award would be presented to the winners at a function in Mavellikara on December 26, 2011.

Some of the best films of Jagathy Sreekumar include Bombay March 12, Adaminde Makan Abu, Janapriyan, Kudumbasree Travels, Manikyakallu, Makeup Man and Ithu Nammude Katha amongst others.

Remya Nambeesan interview

2011-12-10T11:23:00.000+05:30

Remya Nambeesan

► When you started your career as an actor?

I started my acting career in 2001, while studying in 9th standard.

► Which was your first film and how you rate yourself?

'Sayahnam' Directed by R. Sharath was the first film. I was fortunate and blessed to have the presence of O Madhavan Sir - the legendary actor in ‘Sayahnam’. Infact Madhavan sir was also apperaring in a movie for the 1st time. It was a film based on socio-political issues and I played a full length character as the grand child of Madhavan sir’s character.

I didn’t know much about cinema or acting then. Cinema was never a passion during that age and I didn’t have any plans of making acting my profession. And so there weren’t any sort of analysis or review from my part. During that time I had regular training in dance and music and that alone was my background. Infact I got the opportunity to act in the film through my dance teacher.

I just did whatever the director instructed me. In the very first shot in my career, I had a combination scene with Madhavan Sir. I was really tensed, but first shot first take was ok.

► As a heroine you had been through great times for the past few years, making big names all through the South Indian film industry? What was your experience in other language?

I have done films now in Tamil & Telugu. Cinema is the same every where, but way of film making seems to be different. In other languages, film making is a lengthy process. Minimum 4 to 5 months have to be allocated for a single film. Here in Malayalam films are made in 25 days. Other language films prefer to adapt new technology, spend time, energy and money to make film visually appealing and rich. In a sense approach has an innovative feel.

Malayalam films would always have more of a realistc feel while Telugu is fantasized. Tamil has all sorts of films – realistic, fantasised, technological etc. Each industry has its own identity and market and so is good in its perspective. As far as an actor is concerned, working in these variant atmospheres help to refine ones acting abilities. Malayalam film got its own identity in Indian cinema. Am proud to be a part of Malayalam cinema.

► How do you assess your performance in each film? What improvement you bring to your acting when you took up new project?

Till date I have not been able to perform in such a role which demanded a big home work. I fell sad at times about that, but I think its too early for that. I love to do such a challenging role and is keeping myself prepared for that. Coming to assessment, I have an understanding that I have improved from one to the other. I always try to understand the exact thing expected by the director from me in each shot. I also make a good assessment about the character, so that I can maintain my mannerisms and expressions to suit the mood of the film.

Doing 'Shalabham' was a good learning process. As of now I have full satisfaction in my performance in Shalabham. I had the scope to make a lot of contribution. The film is set against a rural background and I played the character of Meera – a village girl, facing the agonies of life, but seen always with a pleasing character and soothing smile. The film was directed by Suresh Palanchery, scripted by Madambu Kunjikuttan and cinematography by M J Radhakrishnan.

Generally I concentrate much on my mannerisms, expressions, continuity and dialogue delivery. In Malayalam I have started to dub for my characters and now that too is one area where I am trying to keep on improving. I think improving acting would be a never ending process for an actor. An actor should always fall short of his satisfaction limit while making a self analysis.

► Could you tell us your role in ‘Chocolate ’?

Chococlate is a typical campus film. All the flavuors of a mainstream commercial cinema are belnded brilliantly in that film by Shafi Sir. I play a modern girl for the first time in that film. The character ‘Susan’ was widely accepted and I could hear crowd yelling ‘sussammo’ at times of my public appearance. Whenever I see the songs or sequences or stills of Choclate, I get filled with happiness and satisfaction on being part of such a big hit.

Susan was a bubbly and naughty girl, one among a three member gang of a women’s college. It was a bold character and modern in attire, thoughts and language. Chocolate gave an unusal feel. It was as if we were in our college. Shafi sir, Prithviraj, Azhgappan sir, Roma, Samvrutha all teamed up as in a campus

► How was your experience working with Jayaram and Pritviraj?

Even now i get excited when i think about ‘aanachandam’. Jayaram ettan is one person on screen whom i had adored right from my child hood. So acting with him, remain in the back of my mind as a divine dream. He helped me to study the basic aspects of acting like expressions, dialogue delivery etc. He was supportive through out the film, took pain to make me understand things and correct me and that always boosts ones morale.

By the time I joined Choclate, i had fairly good experience in cinema. And being in the company of Roma and Samvrutha, the entire session had a holiday feel. We all developed the same frequency – a thick relation which still remains. Earlier it was heard that Raju was one with a tough in nature, but he is really cool and supportive. Teaming up with him was also a learning process to me. I value him as one of the most genuine guy that I have met. He is a man who is traveling ahead of time.

► Which are the new projects at your hand?

I have completed the Tamil film 'Raman Thediya Seethai’ opposite Cheran and Produced by Moser Bear. Film is directed by Jagan nath. The film got completed in 4 schedules and took almost a year. It is now ready for july release. I lost the opportunity to do few Malayalam films due to this commitment. But i have the satisfaction of being able to do a film with Cheran Sir.

Discussion for the next tamil film are nearing conclusion and most probably it may begin by July mid. I am getting offers from Tamil, Telugu & Kannada, but i prefer to choose only those films suiting the parameters which I have fixed for my characters.

► If not an actress, what would you have become?

No doubt, I would have become a teacher. It was an ambition which i was nurturing since my childhood. I always wanted to be a biology teacher. I chose science form for my plus two studies with an intention to reach my ambition. But some how, i got into acting. Now cinema is my world, it is my passion, it is my profession and it is all to me. Hope i can remain and full fill my present aspirations

► Your Favorate food, color, dress?

Masala Dosa is my favorite and mostly prefers vegetarian food. At times I fall for chinese foods and dishes, but only occasionally. Usually I take homely foods. I love to cook my foods and try new combinations during leisure.

Sky blue, pink & black are my favorites and dressing depend upon the occasion. Usually I am inclined to casual wear. Sari, Salwar, jeans and top are favourites. I always make sure that I am comfortable in my dressing.

Samvratha Sunil interview

2011-12-10T11:22:00.000+05:30

Samvratha Sunil

Could you please tell us something about your family and schooling?

Father: Sunil into hotel business and my mother Sadhana, house wife. I have a sister Sangutha, +2 student and grandmother.

How come you entered into this fascinating world of cinema? Your first break?

During my college days at St.Teresas, Lal uncle and Rajeev uncle called me for a screening test at Rasikan’s shooting location, where I got selected and my career started of from there..

As a new comer what is your opinion about the latest trend in cinema?

Like Tamil and Hindi film industry, Malayalam cinema should also promote new comers.

Your intimate friend in cine field?

Kavya, Bhavana, Gopika and ……(the list goes on …seems all the girls in this field are friends  )

Secret of your beautiful silky hair?

Nothing in particular …will keep the hair neat and tidy.

Which is the favorite role you have played so far?

I really love the role in Achanuranagatha Veedu.

Do you do your homework before getting into a character?

Eg ; the character in Achanurangatha veedu.
Nothing much…but in Achanurangatha veedu I just practiced the customs and prayers.

Any dream role?

Uh…roles that done by Manju chechy…

‘Nottam’ was a huge break for you. Could you please share the experience you had at the sets of ‘Nottam’.

I really enjoyed when people identified me as a “pachapanamthatha”

How do you react to gossips?

Gossips ….I don’t care…

If you would have not ended up as an actress, what would have been your choice?

During my studies I didn’t aim for an engineer or doctor…but by God’s grace, now I am here …Its all because of the people who encourage me…I request the same support from all of you.

About marriage?

Hey man..I am too young to get hooked to someone…(laughs)

How did you evaluate yourself on the varied roles from a simple village girl in Rasikan to modern girl in Moonamathoral?

I got several offers which are very different from each other…Yes I am lucky to get that….

According to you what is love?

About Love….. (gave an innocent smile…)

Your favourite colour,dish , dress..?

Color: White, Blue, Black
Food: Ice Cream
Dress: Saree

Your favourite location?

Location: Peerumedu (Achanurangatha Veedu)

If you had a rebirth, then who would you like to be?

I love to be Samvrutha itself…

Any message to the upcoming stars…?

Every field has its own pros & cons, So don't just go back romours. It is a fasinating field where one can get an identity of their own.

bhama interview

2011-12-10T11:20:00.000+05:30

Bhama

Bhama an up-coming talented Actress from the blooming Malayalam Film Industry, is dazzling everyone with her striking performances & abducting hearts of millions through her cute & innocent looks is with us to share some of her minutiae & experiences from the Glamour World.

So, Ms. Rekhitha alias Bhama, tell us how it feels to be a part of the Glamour Industry?

I feel myself proud and its my luck to be working in the industry...i thank god almity.

How you got into the fascinating field of Cinema?

As i was doing a temporary tv programme after my schooling, on seeing that programme director Lohitha das sir given me a call soon. He was invited me to his new film named 'NIVEDYAM'.

Your debut Film “Nivedyam” directed by reverend Director Late Lohitadas had offered you with a Big Career Leap. Did it open doors to promising roles?

It was my great opening for me to this industry and with god grace. i was blessed to work with great director Lohi sir.

Where do you rate “Nivedyam” on your performance scale?

I can,t judge myself..as it now i think i should have done little more better at that time.

Moving on… Tell us something about your family?

Father (late), mother, two elder sisters and grand ma.

Did your parents support you, to take-up acting as a profession?
Yup...with full support.

Where did you do your schooling? Did you try your acting skills in School days?

Infant jesus bethany convent girls high school and St.mary’s higher secondary school, Manarcadu, Kottayam...i never used to participate non of the programmers on my schooling days.

You were into anchoring before getting into films; did it help you in anyway?

Anchoring is different Acting is different. So it never worked out each other.

If not being a actress, what was your ambition to be?

I was not in the industry; I would have continued my studies.

Some of your films post “Nivedyam” didn’t do well in the Box-Office & now you are back with a smashing hit in “Ivar Vivahitarayal”. How was the experience working in “Ivar Vivahitarayal”?

Everything was god’s gift to me. It was my great experience and luck to work with that crew.

How do you assess your performance in each film? What improvement you bring to your acting when you take up new project?

When i came to 'Nivedyam' i was like a new born baby. From that film i have got lot of experience. When reached up to this film''EVAR VIVAHITHARAYAL'' i was so confident and i would present my blessed in me.

You possess a cute & serene look, but the characters portrayed by you are contrarily different. So what kinda person are you in real life?

I,m a simple girl...

What are your upcoming projects?

malayalam film 'KHILAFATH' dubbing pending. upcoming project 'NEELAMBARI'.next two films discussion ongoing.Telugu film named, 'MANCHIVADU' releasing on may..banner Super Good films. Kannada film named, 'MODALASALA' releasing on April. Tamil discussion going on.

Your dream Holiday location?

Kolloor Mookambika Temple...

innu anu aa kalyanam review

2011-12-09T22:37:00.006+05:30

Apart from the breaking down of scenes for shooting and training the actors, it is the realisation of the sensibility of a scene or plot that makes a winning and quality director. Perhaps, that seems to be the whole thing missing with the film 'Innanu Aa Kalyanam' and its makers.....Yes, loads of sensibility. Denied that, you will find girls pleading for love in heavy melodrama where the lead man's father is dead, waiting to get buried.
You can witness the lead lady employing her closest pal to convey her love to her lover in sequences that goes on for at least for a year or more. And you will find a guy, living off a wealthy man demanding lakhs at regular intervals, for donating two bottles of blood in a critical stage. Adding to these all is that old fashioned plot where the virtuous hero from a poor background is wooed by the rich girl, who doesn't have the courage to reveal it.

The movie has Malavika (Of 'Malarvady' fame) as Neelima, the only daughter of the wealthy Nair played by Saikumar. Neelima who is ready to do anything for his college mate karthick (Rajath Menon), is trying to impress him with the help of her bosom friend Ayesha(Sharanya Mohan), but don't have the strength to speak a single word about her feelings to him. Karthick on the other hand turns up from a poor background and finds Ayesha to posses everything that she can lookout in a girl of his future. Into the confusion drama, pulls in the spoilt brat Kunjumon (Roshan of 'Plus two') son of Sundhareshan (Jagathy) who has taken a avow to somehow marry Neelima. The movie is all about this tad old campus track in which the hero finally succumbs to his silent lover.

Then being a campus story, there is that mandatory moronic principal (Suraj venjaaramoodu), the sexy teacher who woos him, the peon who is the local post master of loving hearts , the tour, camp fire and the attached group dance, which all continues in its cliched sequences. Rajasenan has tried this time to make Saikumar and Ashokan (who is an NRI here with a foul-mouthed Malayalam), play some silly jokes which backfire really ending up as senseless buffoonery.

The problem with the film is that its script is as old as the hills; with the love triangle lifeless and outdated leaving you cold from the very start. Since the writing is so childish, so amateurish and fragile, its crash is imminent. The execution of neither the subject, nor the forced comedy tracks manages to catch your attention.

The four young man in the lead has tried their level best to keep the proceedings under control but fails as the scripts offer them little new to built on. But even in this regular chaos, Saranya Mohan, does a lovable job and is the only actor in the movie who makes an impression. Roshan as the baddie plays to the demands of the role and is a, while Malavika and Rajath appear wooden and just manages to be in the characters.

Rejasenan has marginally improved his quality in the technical front with Vinod Illampally doing fine job in the cameras. All the songs by Bijipal are hummable, while a couple may enter the hit charts.

With a lot of experience in store, it is high time directors like Rajasenan do some serious homework on the changing standards and viewing patterns of cinema, rather than continuing with his old memories and practices of making wits. Or else, he is destined to face the doom with movies continuously going down in the Box Office without a trace. After going through this, who will be still interested in this 'Kalyanam'? If you still dare to take a chance, go with the minimum expectations.

Distributors ban Kamal, Jayaraj

2011-12-09T21:29:00.001+05:30

Distributors' Association has decided to ban Kamal and Jayaraj,
accusing them both for unilaterally releasing their films on November 25th, even after the Distributors' Association requested them not to release their films before November 27th.

Refusing to pay heed to the association's direction, six distribution companies took initiative to release Jayaraj film Nayika and Kamal's Swapna Sanchari on November 25th itself.

Considering the release of the move as an insult, distributors' association decided to ban both directors and serve a show cause notice to those distribution companies, which released those films.

Responding to the news Kamal said "I feel this ban a comedy. How can they ban me as I am not a member of distributors association. Producer and distributors have decided to release the film. It is my duty to stay with the producer to release the film on 25 itself."

Director Jayaraj was not ready to respond. But he said, he would discuss the issue in the meeting of FEFKA. Secretary of FEFKA, B Unni Krishnan said that he got to know about the ban only from media. If they send a letter officially, surely he would respond to it. However, Exhibitors' Federation said that they would continue providing their support to both the directors in future.

clash on dec 16

2011-12-09T21:20:00.003+05:30

Mammootty’s Venicile Vyapari and Mohanlal’s Arabiyum Ottakavum P Madhavan Nairum...............

will release on the same day – December 16, 2011.

There will be tough competition on December 16th between Mollywood’s two superstars – Mammootty and Mohanlal. It was earlier decided that while Mohanlal’s Arabiyum Ottakavum P Madhavan Nairum would release on December 16th, Mammootty’s Venicile Vyapari would release on December 23. This way, there would have been a gap of one week between both the big Christmas releases.

However, the plan has now changed. Madhavan Nair of Murali Movies, who is the producer of Venicile Vyapari has confirmed that the film will release on December 16 in approximately 80 screens.

Meanwhile, Seven Arts Vijayakumar, the distributor of Arabiyum Ottakavum P Madhavan Nairum has also confirmed that his film too will release on December 16 in 80 screens!

Get ready for the biggest clash between the two big superstars in the Malayalam film industry – Mammootty and Mohanlal.

beautiful review

2011-12-09T20:50:00.011+05:30

Malayalam filmmakers cinema has always been known for the sensitive handling of topics. Malayalam filmmakers have always been brave enough to touch topics with high emotional content. The audience also have been mature enough to respond positively to films with strong themes. Beautiful, directed by VK Prakash is one such endeavour. The film stars Jayasurya, Anoop Menon and Meghna Raj essay pivotal roles in the film.

Beautiful bares resemblance to Bollywood film Guzaarish, starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai. The film also seems to be inspired from Hollywood flicks The Seas Inside and The diving bell & The butterfly. However, you cannot call it a copy as it retains its’ strong Malayali flavour.

There is a particular scene in Beautiful where Jayasurya’s maid (Thesni Khan) tells him why one of his acquaintances is angry with her. She tells him that the guy forces her to have sex with him, but she refuses to oblige. When Jayasurya asks why, she replies in a calm and composed manner, “Nothing. I was not in the mood then.” This shows Malayalam films willingness to touch and explore taboo subjects.

Though script by Anoop Menon is imaginative, it could have had a more strong storyline. However, we need to appreciate director VK Prakash for his excellent narrative. Music by Ratheesh Vegha is average.

Camera work by Jomon T John is outstanding, and so is the crisp editing by Mahesh Narayanan. VK Prakash has managed to extract some wonderful performances from the star cast. The narrative of Beautiful slows down a bit in the second half. However, some nice twists in the script keeps the audiences interest intact.

STORY

Stephen Louis, played by Jayasurya is a paraplegic and can hardly move his body. Stephen is extremely rich and loves to live his life to the fullest. Few of his relatives, however are trying to amass his wealth. Stephen, however never reveals what’s on his mind.

Stephen finds happiness only when he finds friendship in a struggling musician John (Anoop Menon). Though John is vary about his future, it is Stephen who instils faith and confidence in him. Stephen teaches John to face life’s challenges with a smile.

The story gets interesting with the entry of Anjali (Meghna Raj), a beautiful home nurse.

PERFOMANCE

Jayasurya has handled the role of a paraplegic with aplomb. Beautiful is undoubtedly one of Jayasurya’s best career performances.

Anoop Menon as John has also done a convincing job. All other actors have performed extremely well.
Overall, Beautiful should be appreciated for the courage to experiment with a bold and novel theme.

CAST: Jayasurya, Anoop Menon, Meghna Raj

DIRECTOR VK Prakash

PRODUCER: Yes Cinema Company

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jomon T John

MUSIC:: Ratheesh Vega

How much does Sehwag matter to India?

2011-12-09T14:37:00.001+05:30

How much does Sehwag matter to India?

ഭ്രാന്ത്

2011-12-08T17:27:00.002+05:30

നീലാകാശം ഇരുണ്ടു തുടങ്ങിയിരിക്കുന്നു .......

സൂര്യ ദേവന്‍ ആഴിയില്‍ താഴുകയാണ് ......

കള കള ശബ്ദങ്ങള്‍ക് വിട ചൊലി..
അവരും തങ്ങളുടെ കൊട്ടാരങ്ങളില്‍ പ്രവെഷിച്ചിരികുന്നു.....
ചന്ദിനിയും കുട്ടികളും ചിരിച്ചു തുടങ്ങിയിരികുന്നു
ഒരു ദിവസത്തെ അലചിലിനും പഴിചാരലിനും
വിട പറഞ്ഞ് ഭൂമി ദേവിയുടെ മക്കള്‍ കൂരകളില്‍ കയറിയിരിക്കുന്നു.....

വീണ്ടും പുതിയ ഒരു തുടക്കത്തിനു വേണ്ടി ...........................

2011-12-05T17:40:00.000+05:30

Don't cry over the past, its gone. Don't stress

about the future, it hasn't arrived.

Live in the present and make

it beautiful...........

Thoughts....

2011-12-05T17:22:00.003+05:30

I don't regret my past, I regret the time I wasted on the wrong people..........

Trust

2011-12-05T11:37:00.001+05:30

The weakest part of a relation comes ................

                                                            when one of the person has to give explanation .....

                                                                                                     to prove the...TRUST....

life

2011-12-05T10:07:00.003+05:30

മനുഷ്യന്‍ തനെയാ

മനുഷ്യന്‍റെ ഇപോഴത്തെ അവസ്ഥക്ക് കാരണം

ആകാശത്തിലെ കിളികളെ നൊകൂ , അത് വിതയ്കുന്നില കൊയുന്നിലാ
എന്നോകെ jesus christ പറഞ്ഞത് വെറുതെയാണോ !!!!

എന്നാലും നമ്മള്‍ മാറില .......

നമ്മള്‍ തനെയാ നമ്മുടെ ജീവിതം complicated ആക്കുനത് .....

science ഒത്തിരി വളര്നിടുണ്ട്
പക്ഷെ എല്ലാം നമുടെ ടെന്‍ഷനും

stressum കൂട്ടുകയല്ലെ ...

lyfe is busy
only due to this.................................

എന്തിനാ ഇങ്ങനെ ജീവിക്കുനെ .....
ചുറ്റുപാടും നൊകീ ചുറ്റം ഉള്ള natural beauties നൊകീ എല്ലാം അസ്വതിച്ചു
ഈ പ്രകൃതിയിലെ കായ്‌ കനികളെ ഭക്ഷിച്ചു.......
ആര്‍ക്കും ഉപദ്രവമാകാതെ നമുക്ക് ജീവിച്ചുകൂടെ .............

GO GREEN..LIVE IN NATURE...

ചില ചിന്തകള്‍

2011-12-05T10:04:00.002+05:30

ജിവിതം അങ്ങനെ ആണ്‌

പലരെയും എന്നും നമ്മള്‍ കാണുന്നു..

പലരെയും പരിചയപെടുന്നു....

നഷവരമായ ഈ യാത്രയില്‍

ചിലരുമായി വല്ലാതെ അടുക്കുന്നു

അതില്‍ ചിലര്‍ പുതിയ തലമുറയുടെ

വിളിപെരായ "ബെസ്റ്റ്‌ ഫ്രണ്ട്സ്" ആകുന്നു......

ചിലര്‍ എന്നകുമായ്‌ ജീവിതത്തിന്‍റെ ഭാഗം ആകുന്നു ..........................

അറിയില്ല

അറിയില്ല

ഞാന്‍

ആക്കുന്ന

പുഴ

എങ്ങോട്ടാ ഒഴുകുന്നത്

എന്നു......

കടലില്‍ തന്നെ പതിക്കുമായിരിക്കും.......

അല്ല

പതികണമലോ......

അതാണാലോ ....എന്നനില്‍ നിഷിപ്തമായ കടമ ..........................