Nothing but the truth...

My new Android App - Never Miss The Call

2011-07-06T07:31:00.001+05:30

Finally I have my first Android App, up and running in the Android Market

https://market.android.com/details?id=org.vikramkumar.nevermissthecall

Check it out. Basically it creates a whitelist of numbers which would ring even if your phone is on silent/vibrate mode.

Try it out.

Airtel MobileTV Sucks Big Time.... You would not be unable to unsubscribe to it once you subscribe

2011-05-15T20:30:00.004+05:30

You read it right. Airtel has finally managed to touch the zenith of ripping off money from their customers with this Mobile TV Service. I subscribed to this service for IPL matches @40 Rs weekly in addition to Rs 10/day for IPL matches. Subscription was done immediately.

The major challenge came in when I tried to unsubscribe to the service, sending the text UNSUBTV to 54321 did not generate any response, and as I write it's been over 10 days since I have been trying to unsubscribe to this service, called up multiple times to the customer care (I don't know why they still use the word "care", "scare" seems more appropriate) and nodal officer.

Looks like in a hurry Airtel actually forgot a way to build an un-subscription option in this service.

Any of you out there facing similar issues ?

Update - 24th May 2011

Finally Airtel Mobile TV was unsubscribed. Teaches me a lesson not to subscribe to any more Value Based Services from Airtel again. :-)

Web Based Version of Angry Birds Out....

2011-05-14T00:14:00.002+05:30

Another unique way of killing time in office. Web version of the killer iphone/android and Symbian (yes it's still there) is now available for your desktop browser. Click here and start shooting...

Works flawlessly on chrome. Try it out

http://chrome.angrybirds.com

Unofficial upgrade guide to Android 2.2(Froyo) for Samsung Galaxy 5 (I5003) in India

2011-02-18T10:03:00.004+05:30

Disclaimer:-

This is my experience of upgrading Samsung Galaxy 5 I5003 to Android 2.2 (Froyo) release. Before attempting the below steps, kindly understand the risk associated with this. This voids your warranty and may even brick your phone, so kindly do it at your own risk. I have no affiliation to Samsung, Android, XDA or samfirmware.com
Do take a backup of all your stuff before performing the update as all data, applications would be wiped off. (The application which you bought on the Android Market, may be downloaded again but again a backup would not harm).

Credits:-

XDA Dev Forum especially the link http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=781149 based on which this article has been written.
www.SamFirmware.com – Site which contains the link for the firmware.

So you bought a shiny new Samsung Galaxy 5 I5003 in India, but are pretty frustrated by the fact that it still ships with Android 2.1 whereas Android 2.2 has been around for around 8 months. In addition to giving a shiny new fast UI Android 2.2 offers 2 new features which all of us are looking forward to

Wi-Fi Tethering
Ability to install apps on the SD card instead of Phone Memory (which is just around 150 MB for Samsung Galaxy 5 handset).

Not sure about the future of official firmware upgrade from Samsung (as they have a similar priced phone in Samsung Mini launched with Android 2.2), I decided to take the plunge and install a custom Firmware for Android 2.2 on Samsung Galaxy 5. Following is the step by step instructions which I followed

Download and unzipped Odin and Ops file as linked on the forum http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=781149
Next question was a tricky one, that which firmware should be used for my phone. I started with the Asia version of the firmware (I5508ZNJP3 Android 2.2 - Froyo (Asia)) , but the touch screen would not work on Samsung 5 (I5003) phone in India as it is built for resistive touch screen and not a capacitive touch screen.
Finally I zeroed down on the USA firmware (I5500LUYJP2 Android 2.2 - Froyo (USA)) for which the installation process went pretty smoothly.
Rest of the steps have to be followed as mentioned http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=781149 except Step #2 where we have been told to select multiple files. This is not the case while updating to this firmware as we would just extract a single tar file from this rar file. As a result we need to select “One Package Option” and then select the tar file as the last option (Screenshot to be attached)
Do not forget to do a factory reset after installation is successful by pressing the keys *2767*3855#
After this your language would be set to Spanish, to set it back to English go to “Settings” menu from the home screen and select the 11th option from the top which contains the icon “A” and select the language English. Kindly note that this firmware version does not contain any Indian languages.

Voila you have a shining new Android 2.2(Froyo) running on your Samsung Galaxy 5.

Problems Solved

You can finally install applications on the Memory Card (SD)
Wi-Fi Tethering is built out of the box.
The nasty alarm problem seems to have been solved since the past few days http://vikram-kumar.blogspot.com/2011/02/alarm-problem-in-android-21-samsung.html

Bugs in this firmware

The icons for the applications installed on the SD card go away after restart. This can be circumvented by installing an application like “Launcher Pro” from the Android Market http://market.android.com/details?id=com.fede.launcher. Alternatively you could also stop TWLauncher (Samsung Touch Wiz) service from Settings  Manage Applications. Once you go back to the home menu, it restarts on it’s own and brings back the lost icons.
Some people have reported the compass to be broken on this firmware, though I haven’t use compass nor do I plan to use it hence can’t confirm this.

Am planning to upload videos, pictures for the same soon.

Android - No Google Navigation in India ? No Problems WAZE is here to stay

2011-02-16T12:39:00.001+05:30

Undoubtedly for my Android 2.1 powered (which has been hacked now to uninstall the unofficial Froyo 2.2 firmware) new Samsung Galaxy 5 had been a welcome change for me, after almost 10 years of Nokia use. Overall it was a good move, except the fact that Google Maps still does not provide Voice navigation for India on its Android platform. This seems pretty strange since India is definitely one of the emerging markets.

Being addicted to voice based Navigation, I stumbled across Waze (http://world.waze.com) for Android. I had used Waze on my Symbian device before, but was not impressed primarily due to it's sluggish behaviour on the underpowered handset.

But once I installed Waze on my Samsung Galaxy 5 device, I was in bit of a pleasant surprise. The voice based navigation works as a charm, and POI (Points Of Interest) search also fetches results from Google. Additionally at the time of writing I guess Waze is the only navigation software providing real time traffic updates (Based on Social collaboration).

Waze also provides other regular features like your speed, ETA, time remaining for travel etc. Also it is supposed to use most frequently used routes and propose new routes accordingly.

On the flipside the maps are not stored locally(This is one luxury which was only available with Nokia OVI Maps, even Google Maps currently does not support this), though the data transfer is not humongous.

Two thumbs up for WAZE and definitely a must try, if you would love using GPS on your Android Handset in India.

Alarm Problem in Android 2.1 | Samsung Galaxy 5 driving me crazy

2011-02-05T23:45:00.001+05:30

Though a good phone to own, Samsung Galaxy 5 currently running on Android 2.1 is actually driving me crazy. Except the first day the alarm never rings, even when it rings the volume is set to 0 which possibly does not make much sense of the alarm.

For today have tried the solution #47 in the attached link http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=1109 . Hoping it does solve the problem for you. Anybody else facing the same problem?

Android 2.2 update coming to Samsung Galaxy 5

2011-02-01T00:49:00.000+05:30

Finally some good news for Samsung Galaxy 5 owners. Apparently the Samsung team is already working on the Android 2.2 update (Froyo) for Samsung Galaxy 5 and the same may be out sometime soon. Though the below post mentions about i5500, the name by which Samsung Galaxy 5 is known in Europe, pretty confident (or optimistic :-) ) that the update would also be available to the Indian version Samsung Galaxy 5 (i5503)

http://www.samfirmware.com/apps/blog/show/5995922-froyo-for-i5500-will-come-soon-

My new Toy | Samsung Galaxy 5 i5503, Powered by Android 2.1

2011-01-30T11:14:00.006+05:30

First things first, I have been a huge fan of Nokia mobile since I bought my first mobile in 2001. Strong build quality (definitely needed for India) clubbed with ease of use and a good service network always meant that Nokia was a good choice.

Got hold of my Samsung Galaxy 5 device last Thursday (http://in.samsungmobile.com/mobile-phones/samsung-galaxy-5-i5503) , 20th January 2011 and have a good chance to play around with it for the the past few days. So did this move from Nokia really pay off ( I was using the fully loaded Nokia N79 for the past 1.5 years i bought for 14k and disposed off for 4k)? Read ahead to find out more.

The Initial Feel

The phone is really compact and light (esp coming out my Nokia N79 experience), has a good 2.8 " capacitive touch screen which makes it really easy to use with your fingers (In fact the touch screen was the only differentiating factor, which made me chose this over Micromax A 60 which i was getting for around 6k. The only downside of Micromax was the resistive touch screen it was offering). The package contains of the regular pair of earphones, data cable, the handset, battery, leather pouch, 2 GB micro SD card and a travel charger along with the customary set of user manuals with a couple of s/w DVD's.

The initial experience of setting up the phone was great, as I already had my contacts synched up with Google, so it was just a matter of entering my Google credential before the phone had all my contacts, email and Picasa web pics on the phone.

The apps performed pretty well with the 600 MHz processor and 256 MB of RAM. Even after installing multiple applications never noticed any sluggish behavior with the phone.

Overall pretty impressed by the touch screen though it does not support multi touch (so lets forget the pinch to zoom feature on photos, maps etc. with which Apple has spoilt us off late).

The Good

Shipped with Android 2.1 which offers a hosts of additional features on the prior version of Android.
The voice quality is actually superb, much better than the Nokia handset I was using for the past 1.5 years.
Good Network reception, GPS receiver and built in speaker (though not stereo)
Integration with Google works like a charm.
Lastly but not the least, Android means option of millions of apps unleashing the true potential of your phone.

The Bad

Battery life is a big bummer (mine hasn't lasted for more than a day with high usage and and synchronization on).
Camera is another let down (an just 2 MP, no flash and no autofocus), If you would like decent photos (other than just sharing online or regular 4X6 prints) I would recommend you look out for some other phone.
Google still does not support Voice Navigation in India, so if you want voice Navigation you would need to shell out some extra amount (I opted for mapmyindia and it works great for me).
Not sure about it's upgrade to Android 2.2. Though rumoour has it that it might get an upgrade in Q1 this year http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_i5500 , but no official announcement from Samsung on this. Unless this happens it means you wouldn't be able to install applications on the SD card (Until you install a custom firmware, which looks possible search XDA forums) and no wifi tethering unless you root the phone (again possible, search XDA forums)

Final Words

At a price tag of around 8.8 k is a definite buy for the budget/entry level Android user. Scores over Micromax just because of capacitive touch screen and a better brand. Battery problems could be overcome by some great Android Apps (Talk about that in my next post, the Top 10 Android Apps)

Back After a Small Break

2010-02-13T00:14:00.001+05:30

Hi All. Know I have been missing in action for almost an year now. Lot of things have been keeping me busy. Became a father in March 2009, switched to a new job next month had a couple of business travels followed by a couple of vacations.

But now I am back. So keep watching this space for more...

Check out www.mynetainfo.com if you are a true Indian

2009-04-30T22:45:00.002+05:30

With any elections round the corner i was always under a dillema to choose the best posisble candidate for which i should vote. Well this election round, this problem seems to have been solved by a website http://www.myneta.info . This site contains the details of almost all the candidates in the upcoming lok sabha election (including age, qualification any criminal cases etc) and as per the website the source of this information are the affidavits submitted by the candidates.

So this time exercise your right and check out the site http://www.myneta.info before casting your vote. Jai Hind

My new phone - Nokia Navigator 6210 - Never get lost again

2009-04-22T10:18:00.009+05:30

What are the top two foolish things for a person do do during these time of recession?

Changing a job
Unnecessary spending money on gadgets

Having done both of them the past month, lets throw some more light on my the second one(the first is going to a boring talk anyways) i.e. shelling out around 14k for a GPS enabled phone in India where roads are re routed daily, house numbers are more randomly defined than a Java random number generator :-).
Nokia Navigator 6210 is my latest phone. Being a loyal Nokia fan for almost the last ten years, my first task was cut shot when i decided to go for a GPS phone was that I would be looking out only for Nokia. Call me biased, but i personally feel Nokia platform (Symbian) has got some great support and usability of Nokia phones is definitely an USP.
Quite a few phones are now available in the Nokia stable offering GPS facilities. But the cheapest one at this time was Nokia 6210 with 6 months on Navigation license (though being a Navigator series phone an unimited Navigation license was expected).
To clear your doubts first what is Navigation and is it the same as GPS. Though Nokia's site does have a good explanation of the same, for the impatient ones Nokia Phones now come bundled with an application called Nokia Maps (2.0). GPS Feature is free for life and you don't pay anybody anything for them (except minimal data transfer charges if you use AGPS which quickens up the initial GPS process). Using GPS you can find your current location on the map which is updated as you walk or drive. This feature is free for life across all Nokia GPS phones i know of.
But navigation takes this a step further by providing various value added services like routing of directions, voice based navigation, POI (point of interests) etc. In Nokia 6210 this comes free for the first 6 months and 8 Indian cities and later on you can buy a license of your liking.
Besides the default Nokia 6210 Navigation, you can also installed third party apps like Google Maps (+ves reliable, free, -ves no voice based navigation, data transfer charges as maps are downloaded over the internet), mapmyindia.com(one time license fee) etc. Personally i am a big fan of Google Maps.

Coming back to the phone, below i briefly mention some of the pros/cons of the handset and my recommendation about the same. You can get a details of the phone features and specifications from its official website http://www.nokia.co.in/link?cid=PLAIN_TEXT_934156

Pros

Good navigation features (AGPS, 6 months free navigation)
Digital compass for pedestrian navigation
Great screen size and display
Battery life is good
A true smart phone with lot of support for third part apps (like voip, messengers etc.)
Firmware is pretty stable and hasn't crashed on me after 3 weeks of continous use.
Works as a pretty good music phone too.

Cons

Build quality is a real bummer has a plasticy feel written all over on it, and is very much susceptible to dust.
The top three keys below the sliders are not very easy to operate. So this phone is a strictly no no if you are an avid texter
Being a Navigation phone a lifetime navigation license was expected. But it comes bundled only with a 6 months navigation license.
Images taken from the camera could have been better. The LED flash sucks

Recommendation

Go for it if you are looking for a great GPS smartphone. If you are loooking for good build quality or a music phone there are definitely better options out there.

Rating 7/10

Internet Problems (Edge) on Nokia Navigator 6210 with Airtel Mobile Office in Delhi, India

2009-04-21T23:10:00.006+05:30

I have a Nokia 6210 phone bought from an authorized Nokia Care Center in Delhi two weeks ago. The software version on the phone is 3.08 dated 11-June 2008. It also mentions custom version as 03.08.c00.01

I am an Airtel Prepaid customer in New Delhi, India and had been using Mobile Office service on my prepaid number for some time. It worked perfectly fine for my Nokia 6233. On my current Nokia 6210 the Internet connection works fine for the first time through the built in browser or though any other application (like Google Maps, Gmail etc) which required internet and displays the sign signifying that the edge connection is active.

The problem is that once I close the application the standby sign for Edge network is displayed as follows and no matter what I am unable to use the internet connection on the phone until I do the following

Restart the phone (which definitely isn’t a good option)
Wait for around 8-10 minutes after which the Edge on hold sign disappears and is replaced by which means that the edge is available
I found this out accidentally, but if I press the keys *123# which I typically use for enquiring balance, the on hold sign goes away and is replaced by the Edge available sign.

Not sure where the problem is. I really doubt it’s got to do something with Airtel as the same number worked perfectly fine with my previous Nokia phone in the same area. In addition my wife’s phone (again an Airtel prepaid number) is working great in the same area. So either this has got to do something with the handset or the compatibility of the handset with the Airtel, New Delhi.

I have tried various sets of setting from the following sources

The wizard in built in the handset
Getting the settings from the Nokia site
Getttng the settings from Airtel Customer Care

But with all of them I am facing the same set of problems.

Anybody out there facing similar problems or have any suggestions for the same?

Update 22nd April 2009

This most likely looks like a problem with Airtel or compatibility issue between Airtel and this handset. The reason i say so is that recently Airtel has also launched daily plan for mobile office with the following tarrfis. You can view this menu by keying in the following *567# and pressing the dial button and choosing to activate internet (if you get an message that mobile office is already activated, deactivate it once and then activate it again)

Rs 10 per day for 3 MB
Rs 20 per day for 8 MB
Additional data for the above to be charged at 20 paise for 50 kb.

Already existing plan 30 paisa for 50 kb

Once I migrated to plan 1 or 2 above the problem ceased to exist. So this means once the internet connection is stopped and i get an update form Airtel regarding the balance in my prepaid account, that seems to be the root cause of this issue. As this thing does not occur with Plan 1 and Plan 2, the problems do not exist there.

Any ideas anyone?

Airtel Drops a Bombshell in the form of "Airtel' Fair Usage Policy"

2009-03-01T09:23:00.004+05:30

Comcast did it, so did AT&T in the US along with numerous other ISP's. It's the turn of Airtel to follow suit. As per the notice put up by Airtel they would be implementing an "Airtel' Fair Usage Policy" which gives them the power to cut down your bandwidth speed to half (at the same charges) after you cross a specified data transfer limit in your unlimited(They should now remove this word, isn't it?) data broadband limit.

The details of this awesome :-) plan are available here

http://www.airtel.in/applications/xm/Fair_Usage_Policy.pdf

The rest of the details are pretty sketchy here, not to mention since when this has been implemented, where we may check our usage, whats our usage etc. etc.

Strange that we do get automated calls and all kind of advertisement with our Airtel Bill, but Airtel found it quite unnecessary to inform us about this update from their end which would be hitting us directly. I found an online petition against this move from Airtel which can be accessible here http://afup.broadbandforum.in/

If you feel this issue is important to you, use the power of Social Media (twit, blog, social networking sites etc.) to spread the word around and make people aware of it, as looks like Airtel is not gonna do that for sure.

Delhi 6 Music Review

2009-02-08T11:41:00.004+05:30

Movie - Delhi 6

Music Director - A.R. Rahman

Director - Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Lyrics - Prasson Joshi

After creating magic with Rang De Basanti in 2006, the trio combination of A.R. Rahman, Prasoon Joshi and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra are back with Delhi 6. So do they manage to carry on their RDB phenomena forward? You bet they do...

Rating 9/10

Slumdog Millionaire Music Review

2009-01-25T22:57:00.007+05:30

After winning the Golden Globe for best music and getting four music related Oscar nominations Slumdog Millionaire "original" audio cds are finally avaiable in India. So does the music lives up to the hype it has been creating for the past two months now?

Ringa Ringa

Singers - Alka Yagnik, Ila Arun

For some strange reasons the Indian version of this album opens up with the typical bollywood item number "Ringa Ringa". You can definitely feel the hangover the song "Choli Ke Peeche" in this song and the fact that the same set of singers have been used for the same heightens the same. Personally I thought this was the weakest link of the album, but surprisingly this still made as the opening track. Ila Arun and Alka Yagnik are great as usual.

Jai Ho

Singers - Sukhvinder Singh , Tanvi Shah , Mahalaxmi Iyer, Vijay Prakash

One of the song which has won A.R. Rahman an Oscar nomination is definitely the picks of the album. Allegedly this song was created for the film "Yuvraaj" but unluckily (or luckily ;-) ) Subash Ghai decided not to use it in his film and hence it was used for SDM. Poetic lyrics by Gulzaar sahab are great with Sukhvinder Singh again not disappointing. Definitely one of the tracks to look forward to in this album.

O Saya

Singers - A.R. Rahman, MIA

This song produced in collaboration with MIA has got SDM one more Oscar nomination. Song played alongwith the titles in the movie is amazingly picturized in the slums of Mumbai and A.R. Rahman and MIA lend some great vocals to this song. My favourite in the album, but I guess this may lose out to "Jai Ho" as the frontrunner for an Oscar winner.

All of the rest are typically instrumental songs, gelling really well in the movie though my favourite being "Latikas Theme" and "Liquid Dance". The album is finally concluded by the soulful number "Dreams On Fire".

To conclude I would not recommend this as Rahman's best work, but this definitely another gem in Rahman's cap. Go and enjoy this wonder. :-)

Airtel Offering "Mobile Office" service to Airtel Prepaid in Delhi. Does it rocks or shocks!!!!!

2008-12-16T12:28:00.000+05:30

Airtel finally listened to their prepaid customers and recently started offering "Mobile Office" services to their prepaid customers. Though "Airtel Live" services had been available to Airtel prepaid customers for some time, using which we could access limited internet services through the mobile but there was no way we could access the internet using laptop/desktop using our mobile device.

"Mobile Office" to the rescue. One fine day I got a message from Airtel stating that "Enjoy internet services on your Airtel mobile! Dial *567*1#(free) to activate GPRS. 30 paise for 50kb of download without any monthly rental". Not bad I thought, after this at least I would be able to access gmail on mobile (as it never worked with Airtel Live settings on the mobile.). In addition I thought this might also be used for accessing internet on my mobile during my 2hours + of commute daily (at least for chatting if not for browsing purposes due to bandwidth constraint.

Finally I did activate "Mobile Office" on my mobile, and things worked pretty fine, for a few weeks. But with Airtel you can always expect the unexpected. I suddenly noticed that while i am using the internet on the laptop via the mobile for a data transfer of around 2 MB I was charged Rs 150 instead of being charged around Rs 12. I thought maybe it was an error on my part, so for the next two days i specifically noticed my balance before and after connecting to the internet and below were my findings

For 800 kbs I was charged around Rs.50
and
For 300 kbs I was charged around Rs.10

Surprised and shocked when i called the customer care (121) and was regularly juggling between their complaint desk (198) and customer care (121). Nobody had a clue what to do, finally one fine guy at the Airtel Customer care did register the complaint and gave me a reference number. Though I am not very optimistic of this issue being resolved in the near future (being Airtel of course) - refund of my balance is obviously out of question. So just wanted to make all of you aware in case you were planning to use "Mobile Office" for connecting to the internet.

Ghajini Music Review....

2008-12-12T09:20:00.003+05:30

This has been a lucky year for A.R. Rahman fans. Begining with a grand opening in "Jodhaa Akbar" followed by a peppy young album in "Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na" alongwith the melodious "Ada". There was no stopping for Rahman with Subash Ghai's magnum opus "Yuvraaj" and finally wrapping up the year with probably the year's most awaited films "Ghajini". For starters being an Aamir Khan movie (and the so popular haircut) , being sold for a record 90 crores even before the release and A.R. Rahman's music made it one of the most sought after movie of the year. So does Rahman does justice to the hype which this movie has managed to create even before it's release ? Read more to find out

Guzarish - Javed Ali, Sonu Nigam (Guest Vocals)
The track begins with a soothing song in the form of "Guzarish". This was the song which was first played in the teasers/promos of Ghajini and really does lives up to the expectations. Javed Ali has done a great job with the vocals with the surprise package being Sonu Nigam, who I believe for the first time has provided his vocals in the background which has really added magic to this song.Lyrics are good an undoubtedly one of the better songs of the album,

Aye Bachchu - Suzanne
To begin with I thought that this was one of the worst song which A.R. Rahman had ever composed and that too for a movie like "Ghajini" was highly disappointing. After a few listenings in typical Rahman's style this turned out to be really addicive and turned out to be favourite in the album. Enjoy the song at high volume to get a feel of this "electric" song with fast beats and liberal use of the "Electric Guitar". I am sure this might turn out to be the song of the movie, once the movie hits the theatre.

Kaise Mujhe - Benny Dayal & Shreya Ghoshal
This slow romantic number of "Ghajini" boasts of some simple but powerful lyrics by Prasoon Joshi. This slow and romantic number grows on you and forms an integral part of this album. Benny Dayal and Shreya Ghoshal look in great form in this song and looks like Rahman's knack of getting the best out of his singers continue.

Behka - Karthik
Visually the most popular song of this album because Aamir Khan features in 5 different looks in the songs and in the end all of them come together. Now this is what i call a typical Rahman song with a lot of freshness. The kind of hip hop beats adds a lot of magic to the song and the best part of the song for me is definitely the segment from 3:58 - 4:08 in which the singer sings in a single breath non stop. Now this is something which only A.R. Rahman can extract from his singers.
In addition from 2:20 - 2:40 the song reminds me of "Maangta Hain Kya" from Rangeela. Karthik has done well with the song and voice blends pretty well with the mood of the song.

Latoo - Shreya Ghoshal
For me this in definitely the weakest link of this amazing album. Looks like a typical situational song with kind of funny lyrics like "Latoo Latoo mein tujhe pe Latoo". Lot of english lyrics thrown in tries to add some punch to this song, but fails. This might catch up once the movie releases.

Kaise Mujhe (Instrumental)
Now there is one thing with A.R. Rahman that at times the instrumental version of the song sounds more powerful than the actual version of the song. "Kaise Mujhe" falls in that category, with just the background music and the background vocals this song is real winner and definitelty one of the high points of the album. Listening to this one would really transform you into a whole new world.

So the final verdict for me this is definitely Rahman's album of the year and his best since "Rang De Basanti", though i still need to hear Rahman's two upcoming albums supoosedly releasing this year "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Connections". Go ahead and grab this album right away.

Airtel Delhi Half Marathon - Run Delhi Run

2008-11-09T19:15:00.001+05:30

365 days later and around 15 kgs lighter, time had come once again for the "Delhi Half Marathon" this time sponsored by Airtel instead of Hutch(now Vodafone) which had been the title sponsor for the past three years. Don't get me wrong, I was in no mood of competing for the 21kms Half Marathon but just the 6 kms long ( if you could call it so) "Great Delhi Run".

My timings for the last two years had been more than an hour each, but this time I had a target of completing the same in less than an hour. Reached the venue pretty much on time and started the race without seeing much of the celebirities this time round (Though Saifeena, A.R. Rahman were there on television but not on the venue for the Great Delhi Run.)

After the flag off, the first 4 kms were pretty smooth finishing them easily in less than 15 minutes, but the next 2 took another 20 minutes and i finally clocked a finishing time of a little below 41 minutes, not excellent but definitely a tremendous improvement over my last year's performance.

Check out my marathon pics out here

http://www5.marathon-photos.com/scripts/event_entry.py?

event=Sports/CPUK/2008%20Sports/Airtel%20Delhi%20Half%20Marathon&search=1

and meanwhile I am getting all geared up to finally participate in the Half Marathon in Delhi next year :-)

“Yuvraaj” is just like any other A.R. Rahman’s Album – It really rocks…

2008-10-21T21:38:00.001+05:30

A.R. Rahman’s gift for this Diwali is “Yuvraaj” an ambitious musical project by the showmaker Subash Ghai. After not having such a good run lately with his movies Subash Ghai is in a real need for hit, and he couldn’t have had asked for a better start based on the response “Yuvraaj’s” music is getting.

"Main Hun Yaavraj" – Salman Khaan
More than a song this is just Salman Khan churning out some dialogues, to the “Fifth Of Beethoven”, this is something which only A.R. Rahman could have tried and manages to pull it out pretty well. Though Salman’s fake accent needs some correction but overall sounds pretty good.

“Tu Mera Dost Hain” – Benny Dayal, Shreya Ghoshal and A.R. Rahman
This is the song which had been doing round of promos for some time now. A.R. Rahman starts the song and again joins the song at the end giving the song it’s real punch. This song is already a hit and I can well imagine it going up the charts in the weeks to come.

“Tu Muskara” – Alka Yagnik and Javed Ali
After giving “Javed Ali” a dream debut in Jodha Akbar, Javed Ali is back with a soft number. Alka Yagnik as usual has done great with the vocals with Javed Ali also giving in his best. Though this may not become a chartbuster, but is definitely worth a listen.

“Mastam Mastam” – Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, Naresh Iyer
This is what I call a truly “Rahman’s” song which has got A.R. Rahman written all over it. Sonu Nigam along with Alka Yagnik have given some great vocals to this song backed by some fun lyrics by Gulzaar sahib. One can imagine this song to be picturized on a feel good situation in a family or something similar. Around 2:40 minutes into the song when the tempo is increased in typical Rahman’s style it gives you a real high, something which only A.R. Rahman can do.

“Zindagi Zindagi” – Srinivas
A slow number from Rahman on the lines of “Tu Hi Re” or “Roja Jaaneman” and boy o boy Srinivas sure does sounds like Hariharan, and in my first listening I definitely thought that I was listening to Hariharan. This is one of the better numbers in the album and watch out for this one once the movie release.

"Dil Ka Rishta" – Sonu Nigam, Roop Kumar Rathod
This is more like a theme music for the movie with some lyrics at the later half of the song. The song is powerful , and takes you altogether in a different world. One of my favorites from the album. At 7 ½ minutes + this is one of the longer songs of album and also one of the most enjoyable.

"Manmohini Morey" – Vijay Prakash
Watch fusion music in it’s full flow with this number. Probably one of the best pieces of fusion I have heard for a long time, and Vijay Prakash’s vocals are something to watch out for – completely in synch with the mood of the song. “Tum tum tana tum tum..” is really catchy.

"Shano Shano" – Sonu Nigam , Srinivas, Kartik
After “Pappu can’t dance” this is another “party” number which would be doing rounds of the various discos in the months to come. For me this is better definitely than “Pappu can’t dance” but honestly speaking you would need some time to love this song. In this first listening I couldn’t love the song , but after a few hearings you wouldn’t be able to leave this song.

"Shano Shano" (Remix) –
Normally I am not too much a fan of remix, but this remix rocks. Adding hip hop to this song really pepped it up, and is definitely worth a listen. This is one of those few songs in which the remix song may outdo the original song. Way to go.

"A Wednesday" movie review

2008-10-01T18:49:00.001+05:30

It's been a long time since I have seen a good hindi thriller movie which actually thrills. There have been lots of "Dhooms" on the way but "Wednesday" truly excels in the genre of "Thriller". In a nutshell the movie is all about the happenings of 4 hours on a Wednesday and how it changes the life of the people.

The lead protagonist played by Naseerudin Shah and Anupam Kher as the ACP of Mumbai poilce. Also are Jimmy Shergill has the bad tempered but honest cop and .

This movie again strenthens the fact that Naseerudin Shah is definitely one of the most talented actors Bollywood has ever had. The way he handles his role in the movie you are made to believe that he is actually the person he is depicting on the screen.

Divulging anything more about the movie would spoil the fun in you, but all in all its a great movie which is not to be missed.

Rating - 4/5

Rock on!!! really rocks....

2008-09-18T23:48:00.003+05:30

"Meri Laundry Ka Ek Bill.... Ek Aadhi Padi Novel..." with lyrics like these I was expecting a dud movie from a talented person like Farhan Akhtar. But man I was surely proved wrong, big time.

To begin with the music for Rock On was nothing more than loud glaring music, but after watching the movie i have really started loving the music. In addition the real hero of the movie is the music and Farhan Akhtar - the singer.

In a nutshell the movie is all about a band of four people who decide to reunite after a long gap of ten years to bring back their magik (the name of their band). Adi (Farhan Akhtar) is the lead singer of the band, Joe (Arjun Rampal) is the lead guitarist , Purab is the lead drummer and Lenny is on the keyboard. The movie can truly be called a band movie in which the music plays a very crucial role and Farhan Akhtar really rocks in the 7 of 9 songs which he has sung in the album.

Another revelation in the movie is Arjun Rampal for whom this is by far the best performance of his career. He fits into the role of the real guitarist really smoothly and performs to excel. Prachi Desai who debuts with this movie also does a great job , but it still remains to be seen that how well is she able to perform in a typical "heroine" role.

Being a Hindi movie the movie has its set of cliches also esp. the one at the end but overall these minor problems don't negate the overall positive effect of the movie.

All in all this is pretty well made movie and hats off to Shankar Ehsaan Loy for the great music and Abhishek Kapoor for directing such a gem of a movie.

Rating 4/5

www.phulki.com really rocks !!!

2008-08-20T09:41:00.002+05:30

If you are a Hindi music fan right from the oldies to latest albums phulki.com is the place for you. In simple words you could call it as the google for Hindi music. It has got a clean simple interface in which you just enter the song / album name which you want to hear and voila it returns you a list of matching songs displayed googlish style.

Whats more - from within the list you get direct links for listening to the song without navigating away from the page, and the song gets added to your playlist. You could add multiple songs in your playlist and even save your playlist (for which i guess you need to register). Also phulki provides some pre-defined playlist which are also pretty neat.

In addition against some songs you also get a direct download link - not being a legal expert not sure if that might have been the right thing to do or not.

Overall its a pretty great experience and I would definitely recommend this song to all hindi movie buffs. Also if any of you could tell me what "phulki" actually means ? Check out www.phulki.com

Moviemart.in - Online DVD rental in India - My Initial impressions

2008-07-20T22:33:00.001+05:30

I finally decided to start with an online service for DVD rental. The neighborhood DVD rental store was too expensive with very limited collections. So just reviewed the internet for some options in India and shortlisted to the following options

BigFlix
SeventyMM
MovieMart.in

As expected with BigFlix being a Reliance company poor customer service was the de-facto standard, and the same was confirmed by the reviews which i read online. I guess BigFlix with the kind of investment being put into it may become the cheapest option, but definitely not the best in terms of Customer Service.

Regarding SeventyMM i got mixed response for the same both from my friends and the reviews posted online. I was getting a good corporate deal with seventy mm, but still getting not a too positive feedback didn't help.

Finally came moviemart.in probably the oldest DVD rental company in India (looks like a couple of years old) and not the biggest (they are based out of Delhi but i guess serve in most of the country via TNT courier). The reviews looked positive almost all over the net so I finally decided to give it a shot. I opted for the weekend plan (Currently available in NCR only) i.e. @Rs 249 i get to see eight DVD's a month and am able to borow 2 DVD's at a time making the cost at around Rs 31.25 per DVD, definitely not the cheapest but not too sky rocketing also. MY account was activated in an hour and the DVD's were delivered on that day itself.

So based on my two days experience with moviemart.in i really found their customer service to be worldclass (quite unlike any Indian company out there). in addition you can always expect prompt responses from their end and they always look eager to help the customer out. In addition they do have a decent collection of movies which definitely would keep me hooked on for the next few months.

Though it would be too early to make a judgement based on just 2 days with moviemart.in but it definitely has been a great start. Great Job moviemart.in for that. Keep it up . Would post my experience after about a month of movie watching with moviemart.in. Hopefully they would be maintaining their standards.

Finally Managed to upgrade my ipod Touch to iphone 2.0 Firmware

2008-07-13T15:29:00.002+05:30

After 24 hours of struggle finally managed to upgrade my first generation Ipod Touch to iphone 2.0 firmware which made my waller lighter by $9.95.

With this upgrade came the Januray upgrade to ipod touch free (for which ipod touch users had to shell out $ 19.95). Some of the great enhancements coming up with formware 2.0 support in addiion to the normail January Upgrade (i.e. Stocks, Notes, Email, Google Maps) is

Cisco VPN support
Support for Microsoft Exchange Server
Support for Apps (around 25 % of 500 odd applications available at this time are free. The rest start from 0.95 $ and range upto $40)
Out of the host of free Apps availbale on the ipod store the remote seems to be really cool. You can actually control your itunes/Apple TV etc. using the ipod touch over the wireless network. No more reaching for the computer everytime you got to change the track/playlist playing on the itunes.

All in all $ 9.95 are well spent it though the iphone users would be getting this firmware upgrade for free.

Apple ITunes Store crumbles under its own load

2008-07-12T00:23:00.001+05:30

Check this out. Looks like Apple's itunes store is having a hard time managing load of new iphone 3g users as well as older generation iphone and ipod touch users trying to upgrade their firmware.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1594632&tstart=0
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/11/itunes-activation-server-pining-for-the-fjords/
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/07/11/iphone-apple-brick-tech-iphone08-cx_dme_0711brick.html