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Balckberry Curve 800 -Review.!

About the phone -

Form Factor Candybar;

Performance -

The BlackBerry Curve runs on a 312MHz Intel XScale processor.As with most Berries, the Curve is responsive and performs most tasks with good speed. The BlackBerry 8300 has 32 megs of RAM (used like RAM in your computer) and 64MB of flash memory for storage. Before loading data and applications, the Curve has 21.8 megs of free storage. When you first setup the phone, it will ask you if you wish to delete languages other than English, and after doing so you will have 21.8 megs of free memory.

Operating Frequency and Reception quality -
Quadband - GSM 850, 900, 1800 , 1900;

The BlackBerry has EDGE for data but unfortunately no 3G.
Call quality is good and volume is loud by GSM standards.
The speakerphone is clear and loud. The Curve has good but
not stellar reception.

As such it is not recommended for areas with marginal coverage.

Connectivity -
HSCSD, WLAN, IRDA - No

GPRS, EDGE , BlueTooth , USB - Yes

Dimensions -

Height (mm) 107
Width (mm) 60
Depth (mm) 15.5
Weight (g) 111 g

Battery -
Standard battery, Li-Ion 1100 mAh
Standbytime (h) Up to 408 h
Talktime (m) Up to 4 h

The Curve has an 1100 mAh Lithium Ion battery that's user replaceable. It ships with RIM's standard world-friendly charger with fold-down prongs. As with most GSM BlackBerry phones, the Curve has excellent battery life (being EDGE-only helps). Push email generally greatly reduces battery life on competing smartphone platforms, but somehow RIM manages to give us phones that last 2 to 3 days on a charge. Claimed talk time is 5 hours. Standby is 22 days-- very long by smartphone standards.

Messaging -
SMS Yes
Email Yes
MMS Yes

Camera -
Camera Yes, 2MP,
1600 x 1200 pixels
Video recording Yes
LED flash and self portrait mirror

The Curve features a 2 megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom and a built-in flash along with a self-portrait mirror. The camera application offers three picture qualities and three still image resolutions (1600 x 1200, 1024 x 768, 640 x 480), and it uses the screen as the viewfinder. The photo quality isn’t the best you will see on a 2 megapixel camera, but photos have good amount of useful image data that can be corrected using Photoshop or RIM's photo editing tool on the desktop to yield a good image.

Display -
Color display, 65000 Colors
Display width (pixel) 320
Display height (pixel) 240
LCD Type Color
LCD Size (pixel) 320 x 240

Like the BlackBerry 8800 series of smartphones. the Curve has a QVGA (320 x 240) TFT display that’s very bright, colorful and crisp. It has a light sensor that adjusts to ambient lighting conditions, and you can turn this feature off -- though it works well except in near-dark rooms where the display sensor opted for too little backlight. The screen is capable of displaying 65k colors and is extremely bright at 100%; too bright! The screen is viewable outdoors, more so than Windows Mobile Professional (Pocket PC) and the Palm OS Treo PDA phones.

Memory -
64 MB flash memory with 21.8 megs available for storage and program installation.
Memory card not included
Supports microSD card slot

Multimedia -
Ringtones Polyphonic (32 channels), MP3
Polyphonic Yes

The Media Player application has been jazzed up with a skin compared to the 8800's dull media player. There are 4 icons for music, video, ringtone and photos viewing/listening. The music player has options for shuffle, genres, play by artist and play by album. The image viewer is fairly fast and you can use it to set any image as the home screen background. the ringtone manager at The media player plays MP3, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ and WMA files. You can use the microSD card to store music and video. Sound is decent through the mono speaker and very good with the included 3.5mm stereo headset with inline mic.

Java & Games -
Games - Yes
Java - Yes
Voicedialing Yes

Misc. features -
Interface USB
Handsfree Yes
Vibrate Yes
Phonebook Capacity Yes, Photocall

Bundled Software -
BlackBerry push email client. BlackBerry IM client.
VoiceSignal voice dialing software,
BlackBerry Maps and TeleNav navigation software, media player for your MP3 pleasure and video playback.

PIM apps include address book, calendar, tasks and memo. Also Alarm, voice note, calculator, Password Keeper included. BrickBreaker game is bundled.

BlackBerry Desktop software for PC included for syncing and software installation.

Sales Package -
Stereo Headset
USB Cable
Travel Charger (lots of connector options)
Leather Pouch
Software CD & Manual

PROS AND CONS

The Internet Service keeps a constant eye on whatever POP3 accounts you ask it to and delivers emails it spots to your BlackBerry as it retrieves them. Of course how rapid this is will depend in part on the efficiency of the sender's, and your own, email server(s) and in part on network coverage. Either way, you can force a check for new messages whenever you want to.

Pros -

1. Good Screen
2. Browser supports both - WAP and HTML
3. PEARL trackball navigation,
4. QWERTY Keypad,
5. 3.5mm headset jack
6. Spellchecker
7. 2MP Camera,
8. Small Size makes it comfortable to hold for voice calls
9. Stylish,
10. Blackberry Maps Application included
11. Well Priced - Arnd Rs. 24.5k

Cons -

1. No Memory Card Provided,
2. Memory Card not hot-swappable,
3. No Protection for Camera lens and flash.
4. Absence of GPS Antenna
5. As SIM card slot is under the battery, and so unfortunately is the microSD card slot, so you'll have to power down the phone to insert or remove a memory card

New Technologies in Mobile Phone

MMS- MORE THAN JUST TALK

This is the age of Multimedia Messaging Service. MMS is in; a versatile feature that allows users to send colour pictures, photographs, voice clips, programs, videos and ofcourse text from their cell phones. The rates are a little higher as compared to SMS, but MMS opens up a whole new world of communication at your finger tips. All you need is an MMS-enabled phone and a subscription to a service provider that supports MMS. With MMS, you can, not only send your messages from one phone to another, but also from phone to email, and vice versa.

You can send, store and edit picture messages. There are a number of sites online that let you download pictures free of charge. Some MMS phones even come with an inbuilt camera, so a person can click pictures spontaneously and send them across to another MMS cell phone user. But with phones that do not have an in-built camera, these pictures have to be obtained from the Internet. The messages sent and received are either in text or graphics, once again depending on the phone model. With MMS, you can even download MP3 music, games and video clips on your phone! The following networks offer MMS: BPL (Mumbai) - MMS and GPRS only for post-paid users at Rs. 199 per month with 100 MMS free. If you exceed the 100 limit, MMS are charged at Rs. 3. Hutch- Rs. 99 per month. Prepaid users have to also pay Rs.50 as the initial activation charge. Messages can be downloaded from the Hutch site at Rs. 8 per MMS. Sending MMS is free. Airtel- Offers free MMS service. To activate, you need to send an sms to 222 from your MMS enabled phone. Spice (Bangalore) - Rs. 99 per month. 25 outgoing messages free, after which there will be charge of Rs.5 per MMS. Idea- Offers downloading of video messages from their site. Also allows sending and receiving pictures and music.

SMART PHONES- (PDA PHONES)

One step further are PDA-enabled phones, more commonly known as smart phones. These have a Digital Organiser, Excel, Word and Internet capabilities- all in one phone. Some even have an integrated camera and a MP3 player. These phones have large screens and allow you to write into it (after you learn the easy technique). They also have voice recognition capabilities. These features make the phone bulkier and costlier but then these gizmos sure do separate the men from the boys.

E-MOBILE...REDIFINING TECHNOLOGY

GPRS AND WAP GPRS and WAP let you enjoy a continuous wireless connection to data networks (Internet) and access favorite web sites, entertainment services and other web applications. With WAP, GPRS, you can go online on your cell phone. All you need is a GPRS/WAP enabled phone and activation from the service provider. Call up the Customer Care number and ask them to activate the service, afterwhich you need to download the GPRS settings as instructed and GPRS is activated.

Airtel charges Rs. 600 per month for GPRS and airtime. MMS, however is free. Reliance India charges Rs. 200 + usage charges Rs, 40 paise per minute, whereas Hutch charges Rs. 99 for GPRS + airtime. Using your cell phone as a modem: Alternatively, you can connect to the Internet using your cell phone as a modem. For this your cell phone should support HSCSD. If your phone supports HSCSD, you can connect to a laptop, desktop or a PDA, using infrared, data cable or Bluetooth and then dial your ISP connection. This method is useful if you want to check some urgent mails or access a site when on the go. The connectivity is slow and also is expensive as compared to a normal Internet connection using a modem. You pay the ISP for the Internet hours and the cell phone service provider for the airtime charges. With Internet connectivity, you can download a variety of groovy ringtones, logos, and graphics to jazz up your phone. If you are tired of the monophonic tones, polyphonic ringtones is the latest craze. All phones do not support poplyphonic ringtones, especially the old models. If your phone does, you can download a range of polyphonic ringtones from the Internet. What's more, you can even acquire information about current news, movies, stock markets, weather, forecasts, jokes etc. All this is just a click away from your phone and all for a nominal fee. Checking email, acquiring information about current news, movies, stock markets, weather etc. is just a click away from your mobile phone.

Games:

With the advent of GPRS and Java-enabled phones, gaming is no longer limited to basic games like Snake and Space Impact. The GSM as well as the CDMA subscriber base is growing at a good rate and with Reliance offering Java support on its CDMA phones, the basic cell phone has turned into a pocket-PC!

So, what do you need to play games on your cell phone?

1) Lots of in-built memory
2) GPRS or Java enabled phones and
3) Colour screen (optional)
How can you get games on your cell phones?

You can get games either from your cell phone service provider such as Hutch (Orange), BPL, Reliance by downloading them from the internet using WAP or GPRS or you could get them uploaded onto your cell phone at a manufacturer's showroom. (e.g Nokia)

HUTCH (ORANGE)

For downloading games using Hutch (Orange), it is necessary to have GPRS enabled on your cell phone. This can be activated through Hutch (Orange) by paying Rs. 99 if you are a postpaid user. Prepaid users can activate GPRS by paying Rs. 99 as activation fees + Rs.99 every month. Both pre-paid as well as post-paid users can download the games from the Hutch (Orange) site by paying Rs.20 per game for 20 rounds. For Rs. 50 you can play the game as many times you want, plus you get a free Photo Messaging facility. You need to check if Hutch supports gaming on your cell phone model though.
BPL

For downloading games using BPL website, you need to have either MMS or GPRS enabled on your phone. If not, you can go to a BPL showroom and get the games uploaded onto the phone. The charges are the same as that of Hutch, Rs. 20 per game for 20 rounds and Rs.50 for an unlimited usage, except that you'd have to shell in an extra Rs. 25 as service charges if you get the games uploaded at the showroom.

RELIANCE (CDMA)

Reliance Infocomm in India allows users to download games on their Java-enabled cell phones using their 'R-World service'. With R-World, you can access and download from a huge variety of Java games such as Arcade, Boards, Puzzles, Cards, Sports, Casino, etc free of charge till March 2004.

NOKIA

Nokia is offering its own games to the Nokia cell phone users through cell phone service providers such as Hutch (Orange), Airtel, BPL etc. As of now, only Hutch and Orange subscribers can access the WAP-based content, whereas the Airtel, RPG (Chennai) and BPL Mobile customers can access only the SMS-based content. You are charged Rs. 49.9 per games apart from the GPRS activation and rentals. You can download from a variety of games such as Pooltime, Crashn'burn, AlphaWing etc at www.nokia.co.in. This facility is available only on a few Nokia phones at present.

How to solve battery low problem of mobile phone in an urgent call?

Your Mobile Battery is Very Low, you are expecting an important call and you don't have a c harger". Nokia instrument comes with a reserve battery. To activate the battery, the key-in *3370# your cell will restart with this reserve and your instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your mobile next time.

For more see www.swing.co.nr

Choosing the Right Cell Phone

The world of cell phones, plans, and extra features can be overwhelming at times. If you're in the market for a new cell phone, here are a few tips to guide you.

Navigating through the world of wireless technology can be intimidating for anyone. The technology changes so quickly that the phone you bought when you last renewed your contract is probably obsolete now. And while it’s fun to shop for bright, shiny new phones, the reality is that you’re signing a new contract—in most cases, one that lasts two years. So it’s important to keep these tips in mind while you’re shopping around.

Make sure you’re happy with your current carrier. If not, shop around. A lot of people blindly renew their contracts at the end of their term, even if they’re not completely happy with the service. With so much competition in the wireless industry, there’s no excuse for this. Does your phone work when and where you need it to? If not, ask local friends and family who they have service with and if they’re happy with it. It’s great if you have the coolest phone or the cheapest plan in town, but if you can’t actually make calls when you need to, it’s not worth having.

Ask about the refund/cancellation policy. Almost all carriers will hit you with a hefty service fee if you cancel your contract early. But any reputable carrier should offer you a trial period of at least 15 or 30 days if you’re just starting service with them. If they don’t offer this, walk away. You need a couple of weeks to determine if the phone and service will actually work for you before you commit to a contract.

Know what you really need in a phone. Everyone needs to make calls on their cell phones. Most people need some sort of text messaging service for times when calls aren’t possible. Some people need extras, like the ability to access e-mail from their phone. Only you know what you need in a phone vs. what you might like to have or what you totally don’t need. That PDA phone that can play music and videos, go online, create spreadsheets, and cook breakfast for you might look cool, but will you really use all of its features? If so, great. If not, you’ll be better off with a phone with fewer bells and whistles.

Beware of bundle packages More and more cell phone companies are starting to bundle a lot of their features together. How many times have you seen something like, “Unlimited minutes! Unlimited messaging! Video and music! All for $99.99 a month!” For people who use their phones all the time, this might be a good deal. However, in order to figure out if it’s a good deal for you, you need to know how much you actually use your phone. For example, if you use your phone mostly on nights and weekends, and if most of your friends are on the same network, you’re probably not using very many minutes. And if you’re only using 200 text messages a month, you can save a lot of money by buying a text package a la carte than you would if you got the bundle. Bottom line: Only pay for features and services you’ll actually use. Anything more is throwing money down the drain every month.

Don’t be afraid to walk away. Sales reps work on commission, so it’s in their best interest to get you to buy today. It’s in your best interest to be completely sure of your decision. So if you’re not ready to sign, don’t let the sales rep pressure you into it.

If you really know what you’re getting into, you should end up with a cell phone and service plan that works for you.

For more visit: www.swing.co.nr

Apple iPod nano Third Generation

Music videos make music more fun to listen to and can even give you a new appreciation for a song—unless you happen to own a first- or second- generation iPod nano, in which case you'll have to appreciate an error message telling you that videos cannot be played on your iPod. Apple's new third-generation nano, on the other hand, supports video playback at long last. Although there are still a couple of areas that leave room for improvement, the third generation is easily the best iPod nano to date.
Honey, I Shrunk the Vids!

Measuring just 2.75 x 2.06 x 0.26 inches, the third-gen nano is 0.75 inches shorter than the second-gen but 0.46 inches wider. Weighing in at just 1.74 ounces, the third-gen is only slightly heavier than... nothing. The new nano follows the same basic design as previous generations, with a screen and click-wheel on the face of the unit, a hold switch, Dock connector, and headphone jack on the bottom edge, and no other physical controls or indicators anywhere on the device.

The 8 GB version of the nano is available in black, silver, blue, green, and Product Red editions; a 4 GB version is also available, in silver only, for a suggested retail price of $149. Eight gigabytes is enough to hold about 8 hours of video, 2,000 audio tracks, or approximately one zillion photos (okay, more like 7,000). The latest nano also supports drive mode for storing other files, just as previous iPods (but not the iPhone) have done. Although 8 GB is obviously a massive amount of storage space, the new nano might have established itself as a more impressive leap beyond its predecessors, and served the needs of more demanding users better, if there were a 16 GB version available.

Watching videos on a tiny nano screen may sound like a bit of a challenge, and the third-gen's 2-inch screen is indeed even smaller than the one found on fifth-generation full-size iPods and the iPod classic (which is 2.5 inches). However, it is also substantially larger than the 1.5-inch screen of the previous nano, as well as having a higher resolution. In fact, the 320 x 240 screen on the third-gen nano has just as many pixels as the iPod classic and even the Microsoft Zune, although they are squeezed into a smaller area. This admittedly may be tough on people with less-than-ideal vision, but for most people, it really is possible to watch videos comfortably on the nano's screen. Apple says the display is also 65% brighter than the previous model, but, although the brightness level is impressive, it is still not as bright as the iPhone's screen and also washes out in direct sunlight much more easily than the iPhone.

Apple says the nano's battery can play up to 5 hours of video on a single charge. Considering how small the device is, I frankly cannot figure out how they crammed any battery in there, but in my testing, I found 3-4 hours of video playback to be a more realistic estimate. This is still pretty good, considering the backlight must be kept on at all times when playing video, but it is not really in the same league as the almost unbelievably long battery life of the iPhone.

Reinventing the (Click) Wheel
The nano's user interface, which involves using the click-wheel to navigate through menus, is similar to previous iPod and nano models. This isn't an "iPod nano touch"—there is no touch screen or wireless connectivity. Apple has made a few updates and enhancements to the "classic" interface, most of which will drive longtime users to exclaim, "Finally!" (Of course, many users will already be saying that because of the video playback capability.)

For example, many of the menus now take up only the left half of the screen, while the right side displays previews of your videos and music, somewhat similarly to the Front Row program for Mac OS X. Apple has also replaced the "Easter Eggs you weren't really supposed to find" games with games that other users have actually had to pay for —namely, Vortex, iQuiz, and Klondike solitaire. Finally! The Vortex game seems to have been enhanced slightly from the version on the iTunes store... as in, the stats screens now display correct information! The third-gen nano is compatible with other games available from the iTunes Store as well.
The updated interface also includes Cover Flow, a popular method for browsing your music library by scrolling through a collection of virtual album covers. Cover Flow has previously been available on Mac OS X and the iPhone, but it was not available on older iPod models.

Unlike previous nanos, the third-gen model can output a signal to a television (both still pictures and video), using the same type of cable as the iPod 5G and iPod classic. Finally! Unfortunately, the new nano doesn't work correctly with DLO's HomeDock Deluxe, although DLO could potentially release a firmware update to add this compatibility.

Apple has also "finally" paid some attention to how you turn the device off. Like all click-wheel iPods, the third-gen nano is turned off by pressing and holding the Play button—but unlike previous models, this finally works easily and reliably. With previous iPods, turning them off frequently required multiple tries, sometimes to the point that some users simply gave up and waited for the iPod's timer to make it turn itself off. Thankfully, the press-and-hold method works consistently on the first try on the third-gen nano.

The new iPod lineup: iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano and shuffle.
Previous iPods have also had separate audio and video sections, where videos would play back as audio-only unless they were accessed through the video section. Although it does make sense to have an audio-only mode available through some method, most users have regarded this particular design as an odd decision or even an outright flaw. Alas, there isn't going to be a "finally" here, because the new nano works the same way as previous models, still requiring you to access video and audio through separate sections. For some reason, the music video section is now sorted by song name instead of artist name, which is not necessarily a “downgrade” but almost certainly not an improvement. Inexplicably, Apple did unify the audio and video sections for podcasts this time around, even though they didn't do the same for music or anything else.
"Geekability"

There are lots of numbers, features, and options to report for the third-gen nano... but how does all this add up for everyday usage by the average geek (or by other people)?

The tiny size of the nano makes it convenient and easy to carry along with you, but it is still comfortable to hold even for people with larger hands. The screen is bright and crisp, and I found it comfortable to look at despite its small size, except in very bright sunlight. Considering the size of the nano, the screen is really as big as it could possibly be, unless the device were redesigned without a click-wheel. The bottom line: if you do try incorporating the third-gen nano into your daily routine, you might not be willing to go without it in the future!

The Third Time Is Charming
iPod nanos have always scored high in the "coolness" department, and the third generation is no exception. Even though the sleek, tiny design is now even sleeker and tinier, the new version also adds video support, an enhanced interface, and better games. Unless you are extremely demanding in terms of storage and battery capacity, the latest nano will leave you without any errors to "appreciate" - but don't worry, Microsoft's engineers still have that covered.

Pro: Supports video playback, can output to TV, supports Cover Flow; very compact and sleek design, bright screen, enhanced user interface and games.

Con: Battery life and storage capacity are good, but could be better, audio and video sections are still separate.

In the Box: iPod nano, earphones, USB 2.0 cable, dock adapter, quick start guide.

Price: $149 for 4 gig and $199 for 8 gig

For more visit : www.swing.co.nr

Beginners Guide to Buying a PDA

Are you considering the purchase of your very first PDA? If so, what should you look for? How much should you spend? What features should you get?

Before making the final decision to purchase a PDA, have you thoroughly researched what they can do, and if you really need one or are you just intrigued by having a new gadget like your friends? Let's start with this question. One of the first and still major uses for a PDA is an appointment book or calendar. If you are currently using an appointment book like a Franklin Planner, the PDA can certainly replace this. One advantage of a PDA over an appointment book is that changes don't require constant erasing and re-writing. A PDA is usually backed up on your PC, so there is always a back-up.

A new PDA does not have to be purchased every year like a Franklin Planner, so in the long run it will be cheaper. This plus the previous mentioned advantages may be enough to make the switch. Of course there are many other features and uses for a PDA besides an appointment book, among which are:

Address book
Calculator
Internet Access
Notes and document management
Games
GPS

Given that you are ready to go forward with the purchase, your choice of a PDA model will depend on what you need it for-what you want it to do. Following are some of the important considerations:

Memory - If you plan to use your PDA for storing large documents and other reference works, then you'll need the corresponding amount of memory. Also check to see if the memory can be expanded. You'll need to consider the other software that you might want to run on your PDA.

Size - All the features do you no good if you don't bother to bring the PDA with you due to its bulky size.

Input Options - If you plan on using the PDA to take notes with, a compact external keyboard is essential. The built in stylus input is designed for small amounts of data only.

Battery Life - Again, dictated by your specific needs.

Finding the best place to purchase your PDA can be done easily with online shopping portals. Ebay of course always has offers. One thing to consider for a PDA is a buyers protection plan that is offered by many local retailers. Normally these end up costing more than they are worth, but just one drop of your PDA onto a hard surface can destroy it. If you are buying a high end PDA and will be running around with it daily, a buyers protection plan may be worthwhile.