Phone Review - Micromax Andro

Yesterday,i had the opportunity to get my hands on Andro - the new phone from Micromax. With the price tag if INR 6800, it is the cheapest 3G Touchscreen Android available in the market.

At first look,Andro looks a big bulky phone,with a good big touch screen. Its quite bulky for sure. Its the form factor that gives it a minus point. The screen is quite responsive,much more responsive than Dell's XCD28. The menu keys are good,responsive and neatly seperated.

The menu displays crisply on the touch screen. The phone does not need any kind of stylus for regular usage. Stylus is provided only for phones where touch sensitivity is low. Browsing through men otions was like a walk in the park.

Andro runs on the outdated Android 2.1 upgrade 1, and can be upgraded to 2.8(as a local cellphone dealer claimed). Anyways,it'd be ugradable to 2.2, and even 2.2 seems fairly okay. But i'd rather say that such an old Android might have some support drawbacks.

Andro seems to be a decent hone. All seems good with Andro, that is till when you do not take a look at the other Android phones available.

Considering everything, i'm giving Andro 3 out of 5 for being the cheapest usable Android available.

Do you think the same, or have a different opinion? Feel free to pour in your comments

Phone Review - My New Phone S3350

On Saturday, i finally bought a new cellphone- The Samsung Chat 335, also known as GT3350, or S3350.
I had enquired on the web for the phone's review , so i decided to buy this new phone for myself.

When i unpacked the phone box,i found the shining black handset which looked quite like the blackberry.I removed the backpanel, inserted my vodafone sim,and switched it on. I was greeted by the Samsung logo, followed by a "How are you today" message.

I tried the media player,and the perfomance was quite good. Infact, it was as good as my old Nokia Xpressmusic handset.

The user interface is good. Customisation to it can be done to a very large extent.

The Full qwerty keypad is brilliant, infact better than some of the Blackberry's out there. After using it, using a friend's Blackberry curve seemed a bit difficult.

The Wi-Fi has loads of customisation options. It gives users the ability to use proxies and ports like corporate networking features a walk in the park. This is a feature that many of the expensive handsets out there. Handsets, such as Nokia's X6, or Sony Ericsson's Xperia X8 don't have.

The phone's good. The accessories which came bundled are just ordinary. Samsung's PC Suite Kies seemed troublesome when i installed it. Although i haven't been able to figure out how to get it working, i do hope Samsung improves it, by building Kies on the Java platform instead of the dot net framework.

For around INR5500-6000, its a nice option to buy. I'd give it 4.5 out of 5.

Hope you found it the same as i did. Comments/Suggestions are welcomed

No Decent postpaid plans for Vodafone in the NCR

Since months,i've been screwing my mind over carrying two phones. Carrying two phones has given me quite some trouble with billing, and the trouble carrying it. Using Vodafone for its good service,and Reliance GSM for its cheap tariff(even though the service is terrible) has become requirement to me,not an option.



I decided to visit the nearest Vodafone store. And i was greeted with a wait of two hours to get my info. I finally had to call up the MNP service department to find out that infomation. And whats the information i get - the call rates are terrible in prepaid. When i enquired about the various plans in postpaid,i was amazed to find that even my existing plan was taken off, and no other new plan was available. And all the other plans had freebies only for local cellphone numbers, none for landline or STD numbers.

You guys at Vodafone India, bring in some new sensible plan. Either reduce prepaid call rates,or addin/extend freebies for local landline and long distance STD numbers.

A good show after ages - Mukti Bandhan

Today, i couldn't stop myself from writing about a show which i feel has shown me the real entertaining power of media. There's this new show on Colors which has changed the way i used to think of the daily soaps,and classified the other soaps as literally 'stupid'.

Mukti Bandhan, which went on air in January, has been based on a famous novel called "Mukti Bandhan" by an eminent author. The show has some resemblence to real life characters,but what overpowers everything else is the story,the screenplay, and most importantly the teachings we often tend to forget,or not care about.

Mukti Bandhan is a story of an eminent industrialist Ishwar M. Virani, who hails from a very small town in Gujrat. Born in the family of a government school teacher, he battles lack of funding and poverty in his childhood. But later,as he sets out to Mumbai to chase his ambitions, he becomes one of the most prominent businessman in the nation But in the pursuit of this success,he starts forgetting the value of relations,and considers success evrything.
The soap depicts the continuous tussle between relations,career,success,status,fame, and relations. A brilliant show to catch on to.

This show has restored my faith in television and media. Otherwise, i had taken hindi entertainment channels 'stupid' for granted with their nonsense soaps.

A good show after ages - Mukti Bandhan

Today, i couldn't stop myself from writing about a show which i feel has shown me the real entertaining power of media. There's this new show on Colors which has changed the way i used to think of the daily soaps,and classified the other soaps as literally 'stupid'.

Mukti Bandhan, which went on air in January, has been based on a famous novel called "Mukti Bandhan" by an eminent author. The show has some resemblence to real life characters,but what overpowers everything else is the story,the screenplay, and most importantly the teachings we often tend to forget,or not care about.

Mukti Bandhan is a story of an eminent industrialist Ishwar M. Virani, who hails from a very small town in Gujrat. Born in the family of a government school teacher, he battles lack of funding and poverty in his childhood. But later,as he sets out to Mumbai to chase his ambitions, he becomes one of the most prominent businessman in the nation But in the pursuit of this success,he starts forgetting the value of relations,and considers success evrything.
The soap depicts the continuous tussle between relations,career,success,status,fame, and relations. A brilliant show to catch on to.

This show has restored my faith in television and media. Otherwise, i had taken hindi entertainment channels 'stupid' for granted with their nonsense soaps.

A good show after ages - Mukti Bandhan

Today, i couldn't stop myself from writing about a show which i feel has shown me the real entertaining power of media. There's this new show on Colors which has changed the way i used to think of the daily soaps,and classified the other soaps as literally 'stupid'.

Mukti Bandhan, which went on air in January, has been based on a famous novel called "Mukti Bandhan" by an eminent author. The show has some resemblence to real life characters,but what overpowers everything else is the story,the screenplay, and most importantly the teachings we often tend to forget,or not care about.

Mukti Bandhan is a story of an eminent industrialist Ishwar M. Virani, who hails from a very small town in Gujrat. Born in the family of a government school teacher, he battles lack of funding and poverty in his childhood. But later,as he sets out to Mumbai to chase his ambitions, he becomes one of the most prominent businessman in the nation But in the pursuit of this success,he starts forgetting the value of relations,and considers success evrything.
The soap depicts the continuous tussle between relations,career,success,status,fame, and relations. A brilliant show to catch on to.

This show has restored my faith in television and media. Otherwise, i had taken hindi entertainment channels 'stupid' for granted with their nonsense soaps.

A good show after ages - Mukti Bandhan

Today, i couldn't stop myself from writing about a show which i feel has shown me the real entertaining power of media. There's this new show on Colors which has changed the way i used to think of the daily soaps,and classified the other soaps as literally 'stupid'.

Mukti Bandhan, which went on air in January, has been based on a famous novel called "Mukti Bandhan" by an eminent author. The show has some resemblence to real life characters,but what overpowers everything else is the story,the screenplay, and most importantly the teachings we often tend to forget,or not care about.

Mukti Bandhan is a story of an eminent industrialist Ishwar M. Virani, who hails from a very small town in Gujrat. Born in the family of a government school teacher, he battles lack of funding and poverty in his childhood. But later,as he sets out to Mumbai to chase his ambitions, he becomes one of the most prominent businessman in the nation But in the pursuit of this success,he starts forgetting the value of relations,and considers success evrything.
The soap depicts the continuous tussle between relations,career,success,status,fame, and relations. A brilliant show to catch on to.

This show has restored my faith in television and media. Otherwise, i had taken hindi entertainment channels 'stupid' for granted with their nonsense soaps.

Phone Review - Dell XCD 28

A friend of mine bought Dell's new entry the XCD28 cellphone. Operating on the Android platform,it is the cheapest phone available from Dell. Priced around INR7800 in the retail market, its closest competition is from Micromax Andro(INR 6800).



When i first came across the phone,the phone seemed to be quite nice looking one,with its matter back cover finishing. The display seemed nice and colourful,but not as sharp as of the Galaxy S(or even Micromax Andro in case).

The phone seemed small in size to me. You have to go back top the screen home very soon in order to flip through the menu items. Also,the resistive touch screen is less responsive than expected. Even Micromax Andro has a more responsive screen than XCD28.

The phone's standby time is okay,nothing very exciting. Had it been Samsung or Micromax,it would have been something better. The bundled headphones are nice,but their quality is less than what Nokia offers in its 5130, or other products in that price range.

In India,it comes with an outdated Android 2.1,which can be upgraded to 2.2 . Now considering that 2.3 is already out,and updates upto 2.8(or 3.0 for tablets) are out, its too outdated.

The video playback is good. HD videos play flawlessly crisp and clearly. The audio playback's good too,but its a little low pitched for situations when one needs slighty loud audio(especially when outdoors). So Personalising audio clips for ringtones might not work good.

I used the phone on Idea's network. I didn't find the audio quite clear. On using the camera,the picture quality of the image captured was good,but the preview of the camera application seems a bit blurred.

Dell India doesn't have any local service for its phones. This means that wheneever your phone stops working,Dell would replace it free of charge. But this means that you'd have to wait for your relacement phone to ship.
It's quite surprising to see that Dell who has such a customer base for laptops,doesn't have a service centre for hardware. Infact,their computer hardware service/warranty is provided by Wipro India.

In the end,to sum it all, i'd give it 2.5/5 .

Do you think similar on Dell XCD28, or have a different opinion? Feel free to pour in your comments

Best 3G handset - Sony Ericsson Cedar

I had been considering to buy a new 3G phone, since my old Nokia 5130's firmware had crashed for the 27th time. Frankly speaking, i feel shamed mentioning the fact that i owned a Nokia.



Coming back to the point, among all the phones i've come across,the phone i've liked the most is Sony Ericsson's Cedar. This 3G enabled phone is the best non-front camera 3G phone available in the market. Here are a few dymanic features which made me ponder over it

3G(HSPA 7.2mbps)
Social networking at one touch
Hassle free phone book transfer
Push email with Exchange active Sync
280Mb internal memory and external memory expandable upto 16Gb
3.5mm audio output jack
3.12Megapixel camera
clean and stylish design



The phone's design is quite good too. The design reminds me of the Xperia X10, curvy yet sporty.

The phone comes in three great color combinations. My favourite would be the silver white combination(white backpanel, with silver front screen panel).

At net INR 5100(around US$110), the phone is the best buy for me in the entry level 3G segment phones. If i buy a 3G phone,this will be my pick. Unless something strong,with dual sim and wi-fi options from a known tested brand catches my eye,this is my pick

So what do you think? Is Sony Ericsson Cedar worth the money for me? Or you'd like to suggest some other phone. Feel free to comment.

Congress a shame

On the eve of the 61st Republic day,the nation came to face with a new,sad and critical reality. It came to face the state of the nation that has been made by corrupt politicians. The shocking chain of events has shaken the nation and media.

In Nasik,Maharashtra(a state ruled by Indian National Congress for the last ten years) had witnessed one of the most barbaric scenes in Indian history.

The ADM(Assistant District Magistrate) Yashwant Sonawade, who was currently serving as additional collector for the district was returning from some official work when he saw a few tankers exchanging their content. He stopped and looked what was happening, and exercising his rights, went to inspect the tankers. He found that the people were mixing Kerosene with petrol. This was a mafia which had been doing this for years under the blessing of the Congress government.

On finding themselves under legal threat,the mafia members tried to bribe the ADM. But he was an honest government servant,and he refused it straight away. The mafia wasn't pleased with it. They were too many in number for the ADM to escape. They poured petrol and kerosene oil on the ADM,and set him ablaze. Yes,they SET HIM ABLAZE.

This is what honest law abiding citizens get in return from their STUPID CORRUPT ROTTEN ruling party INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. It is a shame we have such cheap corrupt politicians which allow such anti-social elements to hijack law and order.

Maharashtra has leaders like Sharad Pawar(accused of numerous scams in cricket,agriculture,human resources development,distribution,coal to name a few), Vilasrao Deshmukh(Adarsh Land Scamd uring his tenure as Chief minister), Ashok Chavan(Adarsh Land Scam,Airforce Land Scam during his tenure as Chief minister) just to show their honesty. And for Congress, Ex-prime minister P.V. Narsimha Rao(guilty found), Haryana Chief Minister B.S. Hooda(accused in 150million land scam), Rajiv Gandhi(assisting Bofors and Bhopal gas tragedy culprits escape India). And Congress allies, well they can just be represented with A. Raja(INR 175000000000000 2G spectrum allocation scam). Such CORRUPT and DISHONEST is UPA. No wonder the PM tries to impress the prince of congress rahul 'rahul baba' gandhi(who i consider is misusing the title 'Gandhi').

Its INC in power in the centre,as well as the state. And still such HORRID law and order. Already Congress was under attack by the media,as ever since they came in power,farmer suicide rates had been rising alarmingly. The police has been continuously complaining political pressure stopping them from taking actions against culprits. And now this bare display of the fact that CRIMINALS ARE FEARLESS AND PROTECTED IN CONGRESS RULED REGION. This shows how CHEAP,PATHETIC,CORRUPT,ROTTEN,DISGUSTING,IMMORAL this party has become.

From the great Gandhi's leadership, congress in the recent days has emerged as a party, WHO IS ENSLAVED BY AN ITALIAN AND HER FAMILY. And this ITALIAN has already been named in the BOFORS scam. Yes,you guessed it right. Sonia Gandhi is the ITALIAN whose been named to aid Quattorochi in the multi-million dollar BOFORS launcher scandal which shook the country in the early 1990's.

So its time for all us Indians to THROW AWAY THIS CORRUPT ITALIAN SLAVES PARTY, and EMBRACE THE NATIONALISTS. THROW AWAY CONGRESS OUT OF EXISTANCE. Its time to TEACH EACH AND EVERY CORRUPT GUY OUT THERE A LESSON THEY SHOULDN'T FORGET IN THEIR LIFE.

And support the NDA for a better INDIA.

Congress a shame

On the eve of the 61st Republic day,the nation came to face with a new,sad and critical reality. It came to face the state of the nation that has been made by corrupt politicians. The shocking chain of events has shaken the nation and media.

In Nasik,Maharashtra(a state ruled by Indian National Congress for the last ten years) had witnessed one of the most barbaric scenes in Indian history.

The ADM(Assistant District Magistrate) Yashwant Sonawade, who was currently serving as additional collector for the district was returning from some official work when he saw a few tankers exchanging their content. He stopped and looked what was happening, and exercising his rights, went to inspect the tankers. He found that the people were mixing Kerosene with petrol. This was a mafia which had been doing this for years under the blessing of the Congress government.

On finding themselves under legal threat,the mafia members tried to bribe the ADM. But he was an honest government servant,and he refused it straight away. The mafia wasn't pleased with it. They were too many in number for the ADM to escape. They poured petrol and kerosene oil on the ADM,and set him ablaze. Yes,they SET HIM ABLAZE.

This is what honest law abiding citizens get in return from their STUPID CORRUPT ROTTEN ruling party INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS. It is a shame we have such cheap corrupt politicians which allow such anti-social elements to hijack law and order.

Maharashtra has leaders like Sharad Pawar(accused of numerous scams in cricket,agriculture,human resources development,distribution,coal to name a few), Vilasrao Deshmukh(Adarsh Land Scamd uring his tenure as Chief minister), Ashok Chavan(Adarsh Land Scam,Airforce Land Scam during his tenure as Chief minister) just to show their honesty. And for Congress, Ex-prime minister P.V. Narsimha Rao(guilty found), Haryana Chief Minister B.S. Hooda(accused in 150million land scam), Rajiv Gandhi(assisting Bofors and Bhopal gas tragedy culprits escape India). And Congress allies, well they can just be represented with A. Raja(INR 175000000000000 2G spectrum allocation scam). Such CORRUPT and DISHONEST is UPA. No wonder the PM tries to impress the prince of congress rahul 'rahul baba' gandhi(who i consider is misusing the title 'Gandhi').

Its INC in power in the centre,as well as the state. And still such HORRID law and order. Already Congress was under attack by the media,as ever since they came in power,farmer suicide rates had been rising alarmingly. The police has been continuously complaining political pressure stopping them from taking actions against culprits. And now this bare display of the fact that CRIMINALS ARE FEARLESS AND PROTECTED IN CONGRESS RULED REGION. This shows how CHEAP,PATHETIC,CORRUPT,ROTTEN,DISGUSTING,IMMORAL this party has become.

From the great Gandhi's leadership, congress in the recent days has emerged as a party, WHO IS ENSLAVED BY AN ITALIAN AND HER FAMILY. And this ITALIAN has already been named in the BOFORS scam. Yes,you guessed it right. Sonia Gandhi is the ITALIAN whose been named to aid Quattorochi in the multi-million dollar BOFORS launcher scandal which shook the country in the early 1990's.

So its time for all us Indians to THROW AWAY THIS CORRUPT ITALIAN SLAVES PARTY, and EMBRACE THE NATIONALISTS. THROW AWAY CONGRESS OUT OF EXISTANCE. Its time to TEACH EACH AND EVERY CORRUPT GUY OUT THERE A LESSON THEY SHOULDN'T FORGET IN THEIR LIFE.

And support the NDA for a better INDIA.

Crazy in love back on board after 5 years!

Yesterday,while watching Vh1 Top 10 - a show which showcases the top 10 tracks of the week,i was in for a surprise. And the surprise was this

Beyonce's "Crazy in love" was at number 3 in the list.

Now how the heck did this happen was my first reaction. A track,which was released way backl in early 2003's is the no. 3 track in the list. This track was the first one to hit in the music scene when Beyonce made her debut. Also,this is the track where she first collaborated with Jay-Z. Even when i listen to that track,i do feel if its one of the few all time good ones(Along with all the other tracks back in those days). Good ol' days they were.

As the say, timeless old is gold !

A best of luck to the Indian team

The ICC Cricket world cup 2011's round the corner. So with less than a week left to go, here's my wishes to the Indian team whose going to play the world cup in the Indian subcontinent pitches.

A very best of luck to Sachin and the rest of the Indian team

Just like other Indians,i'm too a fan of Sachin's great feat, and would like this greatest Indian cricketer to bring home the final destination for any cricket playing nation. I thought wishing the team over the net would be a better way than to use the media platform, which has been blowing the matter unnecesarily way out of proportion.

Lockheed Martin with Tata !

On the 14th Feb, Aviation giant Lockheed Martin decided to collaborate with India's Tata Advanced Systems for going into a joint venture. The joint venture would be aimed for production of LMC's C-130's. The plant for the new joint venture to be formed would be in India only. The new JV was named as Tata Lockheed Martin.



I had been keen about knowing about Lockheed Martin for sometime now. Rochak Chadha,an old friend of mine had been an intern for Lockheed Martin for his college's UAV project,and Lockheed Martin had generously helped them by providing them the autopilot mechanism they needed.

Well, V-day brings in some really good news.

Only 2 Grammy's for Eminem !

In the 53'rd Grammy's, Eminem managed to get just two awards for his album Recovery, with one for being the best Rap/Hip-hop album. It is quite a surprise that a rap legend who is competing for ten grammy's, recieves just two, and that too where he'd got literally no competition.



I had expected that he'd get atleast 4-5 for his album. Recovery had been a tale of struggle and fightback for him, and captures the moments that show how strong a man really is. The success of recovery had been so huge that Rihanna had taken 'Love the way you lie' and get an adaptation for her so that she could cash in on her 'Love the way you lie' sideact. A big name like Rihanna needs a track from Eminem to sail her career,and still Eminem gets just two is surprising. My personal favourite would be 'Not Afraid',a track on the 'never say die' spirit.

Some things are too difficult to find out

Tri Valley's a FakeTr

In the recent days, a 'fake' American university has been in the news for holding its Indian students captive unless they pay up large chunks of money. This university is the Tri Vally University.



The university had first come in news when a leaked footage showed that the university had installed RFID trackers to the legs of the children who were suspected to leave the university,and were asked to . This university had been a known name with students who had funding issues with their degree. Some of the students had left some state universities who charged about $9000 to migrate to Tri valley, who charged $5500.

And now, when this university has found itself amidst so much controversy, that it has been shut down. The Indian government has been adamant to the United States government to help the Indian Tri-Valley students shift to some other university without much trouble and delay.

Its a shame how people can stoop so low just for money