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Sonar: Tech-enabled Telepathy

Cool Tech Toys — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 12:57:22 +0000

This post on Dialect Magazine talks about TechCrunch Disrupt and Sonar: Tech-enabled Telepathy says:

At SxSW and again at TechCrunch Disrupt, I saw lots of fantastic social applications. At least, I think they were fantastic, it’s hard to tell without a userbase. I think I could use the LiveShare photosharer to create hilarious group photostreams after a party, but without a base of real life friends using the same app, I can’t tell.

New location-based social app Sonar.me, though, takes that into account and works as an add-on over your existing social profiles. Sonar’s goal is social telepathy, an app showing your Facebook and Twitter connections to people around you. You might walk into a party or a conference, and check your phone to see if you share any mutual friends with the strangers in the room.

Sonar’s online-offline integration also leads to a fascinating social question: What’s the etiquette around this new connection? Is it socially acceptable now to walk up to a Sonar connection, and introduce yourself?

Via Sonar: Tech-enabled Telepathy

Major release of Windows Phone every year

kurosaki — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 02:56:34 +0000

Microsoft has promised it will release a major edition of Windows Phone every year.

The promise was revealed in a Microsoft job posting on Monday. Engadget notes that the timeline shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that iOS and Android both push out major releases months apart. Microsoft’s job posting states the following:

There has never been a more thrilling time for the Windows Phone team! Windows Phone 7 launched and is building momentum in the market. Do you want to be part of driving the next big business for the company? If you believe Windows Phone is a critical area of investment for Microsoft and if you have a passion for creating compelling mobile user experiences then come join the Windows Phone Customer Experience Engineering team (CXE) and help shape the future of mobile. We are passionate about delivering world-class products to our users and partners. We aren’t just building a me-too iPhone or Android competitor; we’re changing the way customers use and experience their device. The Application Platform team is building the new development framework for Windows Phone applications, responsible for defining the application model and delivering the application manager, execution framework, integration with the OS, notifications, data services, integration with cloud services and delivering the ecosystem for supporting mobile application developers.

This Senior Program Manager position will be the CXE Feature PM that drives all development work on the Application Platform for update releases between major yearly releases. You will work closely with the Application Platform team who is working on major yearly releases and with the best technologies/teams across the company (e.g. Silverlight, XNA, .NET Compact Framework). We believe leveraging our partners, combined with building phone specific technologies within our own engineering team, results in leveraging the best technology from Microsoft for our developers.

Microsoft is currently on track to release Windows Phone Mango in the fall. The software giant unveiled a number of new Windows Phone Mango features last month. Mango will include over 500 new features ranging from multitasking through to some major Bing search improvements.

Shutdown of Windows Marketplace and My Phone Service Notification

kurosaki — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 02:53:03 +0000

Dear Windows Mobile 6.x customer,

Microsoft will be discontinuing the My Phone service for Windows Mobile 6.x. We will also be discontinuing the Windows Marketplace for Mobile web site. Because you may be affected, please review the details below:

Windows Marketplace for Mobile Web Site To Be Discontinued

The Windows Marketplace for Mobile web site at http://marketplace.windowsphone.com will no longer be available starting on July 15, 2011. After July 15, 2011, you will no longer be able to browse, buy or download applications for Windows Mobile 6.x phones via the Windows Marketplace for Mobile web site.

The Windows Marketplace for Mobile service will continue to be available on your phone, however. You will continue to be able to browse, buy and download applications for Windows Mobile 6.x on your phone.

My Phone To Be Discontinued

On August 7, 2011, the My Phone service will stop saving content from phones to the My Phone service. If you rely on the My Phone service to back-up the content on your Windows Mobile 6.x phone, you will be affected.

Starting on August 7, 2011, Microsoft will begin moving your My Phone content to Windows Live SkyDrive. SkyDrive is Microsoft’s free online storage service that helps you access and share your files such as photos and Microsoft Office documents. Contacts, calendar entries, text messages and photos will be moved to SkyDrive for you. Once moved, you will be able to access this content by logging into SkyDrive using the Windows Live ID that you used to register for the My Phone service.

Other content types, including videos, music, documents and favorites will not be moved from My Phone to SkyDrive for you. If you want this content, you must save it from the My Phone service to your local PC.

On October 6, 2011, the My Phone web site at http://www.microsoft.com/myphone will no longer be available. On this date, you will no longer be able to log in to the My Phone service to access your content stored to the My Phone service. Microsoft will continue to store your My Phone content for one (1) year. Physical copies of your content can be shipped to you upon request until October 5, 2012.

Take Action

To learn more about the My Phone service shut-down, including information about your content moving to Windows Live SkyDrive and how to save other content to your local PC, please visit this web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2557520

Microsoft is committed to making this transition easy. In the meantime, we want to sincerely thank you for your use of Windows Mobile 6.x.

-The Windows Phone Team

The 3D Innovation, Gimmick or Game?

mohseen lala — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 20:31:54 +0000

Forget HD (high definition) TV, the future is 3D. So we are led to believe by major entertainment and electronic companies. If a practical and budget concise view is taken towards the whole 3D trend, it honestly seems like a complete gimmick.
First of all it should be noted that 3D technology itself is an amazing piece of innovation, the problem is with its implementation. Also a major problem with 3D is that it has almost no compatibility with any modern existing technological standard, as a result users have to fork out extra cash to enjoy their 3D TV’s or game consoles. Speaking of extra peripherals, the following is a list of major reasons certain 3D outlets should be avoided, and also a list of 3D outlets that you should consider using if you do truly enjoy 3D.
3D CINEMA: the biggest craze for 3D content right now is in the form of movies, and this is a double edged sword. Some movies are certainly excellent when viewed in 3D, their storyline, shooting format and genre lend themselves very well to 3D technology (Transformers 1,2,3, Avatar). Unfortunately Hollywood disagrees, a majority of movies are coming out whether or not they would fit into the 3D realm of movie watching, a crying shame really. What’s worse is the cost, you have to fork out extra cash for those gigantic and awful looking 3D glasses to watch a movie that would have been perfectly suited to either IMAX or plain 2D.
3D TV: 3D TV is another piece of gadgetry made to suck your wallet or purse dry, most users are dismayed when they realize the only piece of 3D media they will be able to watch on their TV’s are 3D DVD movies and games, which require the purchase of 3D compatible games. Watching 3D DVD’s usually requires the extra purchase of a compatible DVD player, glasses and of course the actual screen. So just save your money and purchase a nice big HDTV, you will much better off as a result.
3D Games: 3D Games are generally worth the cost, especially if you are buying the Nintendo 3DS, whether or not to buy 3D compatible games for a Playstation 3 Depends on how big a fan you are of the game in question, but over all 3D gaming is a good way to spend your money as a 3DS fan.
3D Phones: There are only two 3D phones in the market right now, the LG Optimus 3D and HTC EVO 3D, both phones are definitely worth buying, particularly the LG Optimus 3D as it comes with 3D TV OUT, which means you transfer your 3D content to a 3D TV. It also shoots 3D video.
So there you have it, 3D cinema is only worth it if the movie compliments a 3D avenue, otherwise it a gimmick.
3D TV is a complete gimmick, requires a dozen or so peripheral and extras to work. Please avoid. 3D gaming is worth it on the handheld Nintendo 3DS, otherwise it depends on the game being played. 3D phones are definitely the future of 3D, as they do not require glasses or any other peripheral. So in short 3D games are good to go, so are 3D mobile phones. Otherwise 3D is still just a gimmick.

A Review: Samsung Jet S800

mohseen lala — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 19:45:54 +0000

The Samsung Jet S800 was launched with the tagline “Smarter then a smart phone”, and Samsung was not joking. It is not as good a a high end smartphone certainly, but specs and performance wise it certainly outdoes most low to medium range smart phones. Don’t believe me? Take a look a the specification sheet:

GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900
HSDPA 900 , 2100
HSDPA 850 , 1900
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth2.1 (AD2P/EDRS)
microUSB 2.0

3.1 inchesAMOLED
Resistive Touchscreen
16M colors480 x 800 pixels
TouchWiz v2.0 UI

Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
Motion UI
Media Gate (3D CUBE)
Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
Smart unlock

3.5MM Headphone Jack
DNSe (Digital Natural Sound Engine)
Virtual 5.1 channel Dolby surround
MP3/WMA/eAAC+/WAV player
FM Radio (RDS) with FM Recording

5 MP Camera
2592 x 1944 pixels,
Autofocus
dual-LED flash
Geo-tagging
Face Recognition
Smile Detection
Blink Detection
Wide Dynamic Range

800Mhz processor
Qualcomm MSM6246 chipset
2GB (internal)
microSD/microSDHC (32 GB)

Video 720x480at 30FPS (frames per second)
Slow Motion at 12FPS (frames per second)
TV Out
DivX/XviD
MP4 (H.263/H.264)
WMV player
Video editor

Messaging
SMS
MMS
Email
IM (instant messenger)
Push Email

Miscellaneous
WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
Digital compass
Organizer
Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
Voice memo
JAVA (MIDP 2.0)
Predictive text input
Photo call
Vibration
MP3/WAV ringtones

So as you can see from the spread sheet the Samsung Jet packs a very powerful punch, the only drawbacks are the lack of an OS, Old UI (TOUCHWIZ 2.1), and a very finger print prone screen.

The only option for applications and games is the JAVA platform, which works very well. Also the phones has a standard Li-Ion 1100 mAh battery, it easily pulls off a impressive 7 hours of talk time, 6 hours of video playback and 20 days of standby time. As the is the first real 3D innovator in the touchscreen phones genre, it has the Media Gate 3D Cube and Motion UI, both of which are fullscreen 3D cubes that support multimedia functions.

Speaking of multimedia, the phones true calling is in playing movies, music, surfing the web (it has Flash Lite 10.1 support) and playing JAVA games, so if you want relatively cheap, very powerful multimedia device, the Samsung Jet is your dream phone.

A Review: Huawei Ideos

mohseen lala — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 17:37:12 +0000

Now the Huawei Ideos is being touted as the cheapest Android phone on God’s green earth, while this statement is true for the time being, one should not assume a cheap price tag will automatically equal a terrible smart phone experience.
First we should note the excellent build quality, Huawei have worked closely with Google to insure this is a phone the search engine can stand behind proudly. The Idoes is built from a strong combination of plastic and steel, and it is finger print resistant. Call quality ranges from good to average, and the loudspeaker is adequate enough without being extremely loud.
Battery life unfortunately is not one of Ideos’s strong points, it barely manages to pull off 5 hours on average use, most users will be charging it daily. The browser lacks Flash and Multi-touch, please keep in mind this phone costs no more then $100 contract free, as such the browser is very adequate indeed.
Here is a list of basic features that the Huawei Ideos comes with:
2.8 TFT capacitive touchscreen,
256K colors
240 x 320 pixels

GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
HSDPA 900 / 2100 / AWS
HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 / 1700
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth 2.1 (AD2P)
microUSB 2.0

Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
Proximity sensor
Swype input method

3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels

Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo)

Processor:
528 MHz ARM 11 processor
Adreno 200 GPU
Qualcomm MSM7225 chipset

Memory:
200 MB storage
256 MB RAM
512 MB ROM

Messaging: MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM (all in threaded view)

Others features:
Stereo FM radio (RDS)
GPS/A-GPS
Digital compass
Google Search, Maps, Gmail, Talk
MP3/WMA/eAAC+ player
MP4/H.263/H.264 player
Organizer
Photo viewer/editorVoice memo/dial/commands
Predictive text input
So in short, the Huawei Ideos is a good, cheap, smart phone that does not compromise more then it has to. It makes the perfect smart phone for first timers or users on a budget.

A Review: Huawei Ascend

mohseen lala — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 15:27:53 +0000

The Huawei Ascend is average smart phone, no real bell and whistles, but it does have a good build quality, nice design and comes running the Android 2.1 (Eclair).

Some smart phones, despite being cheap, generally perform well, the Huawei Ascend is not really among them. It has some serious call quality issues, voices tend to sound both muffled and squeaky, the loudspeakers output volume is low even on its highest setting, so overall call quality leaves a lot to be desired.
The battery life is another downer with the quoted 7 hours of battery life highly over stated, actual times are close to 4 hours, it’s even worse on 3G.
The web browser fortunately on the other hand is Android so at least it isn’t to crappy, there is no Flash support or even Multi-touch, but pages do render fast enough and text re-flow is relatively smooth. Another major problem with the Huawei Ascend is that it does not have a normal 3.5 mm head phone jack. Instead it has a 2.5 mm jack, which means you either need a special set of earphones, or an adapter.
Here is a basic list of features that the Huawei Ascend comes with:

3 inch screen 256,000 colors
3.2-megapixel fixed-focus camera
320 x 480 pixels
Android 2.1

Music Player (MP3, AAC+, WMA, WAV)
Video Player (MPEG4, 3GP,)
FM Radio (RDS)

CDMA 800, 1700, 2100, 1900
EV-DO Rev.A,
Bluetooth 2.1 AD2P
WI-FI
microUSB

Web browser WAP2.0/HTML/xHTML

Processor: 600 MHz, 256 MB RAM / 512 MB ROM.
microSD, microSDHC (16GB)

These are the basic set of features available on the Huawei Ascend, so what makes the Ascend worth buying? The simple answer is its price tag. It costs only $150 unlocked, but frankly you should consider buying the Huawei Ideos, a review of which will be coming up shortly.

A Review: ZTE Blade

mohseen lala — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 19:23:37 +0000

Front and Back View

Here is a question; Which is the cheapest Android phone with the best features? The answer is the ZTE Blade, also known as the Orange San Francisco.
Most cheap smart phones have a miserable 320×240 resolution with a 3 inch display with and support for only 265 thousand colors.
The ZTE Blade has a Amoled screen and support for 265 thousand colors, your weren’t expecting that were you? It has a 600 MHz processor, 512MB RAM and 160 MB of memory plus optional 32 GB of storage.
All of the above costs one $100 dollars, this makes slightly more expensive then the Huawei Eidoes but the specs of this phone would easily make it worth $200 dollars.
Specifications:

2G: GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G: HSDPA 900 / 2100

Dimensions: 116 x 56.5 x 11.8 mm
Weight: 110g

Screen: AMOLED or LCD capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors, 480 x 800 pixels, 3.5 inches
Inside: Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Proximity sensor for auto turn-off, Multi-touch input method

Operating System: 2.2 (Froyo) Android
Storage:160 MB storage, 512 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
Processors:600 MHz ARM 11 processor, Adreno 200 GPU, Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset

Connectivity: USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.1 AD2P, WI-FI, WI-FI Hotspot, 3.5 mm Headphone Jack, microSD card slot.

Features:
Digital compass
SNS integration
MP4/H.264/H.263 player
MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player
Google Search, Maps, Gmail
YouTube, Google Talk, Picasa integration
Organizer
Voice memo
Predictive text input
GPS-A GPS
HTML Browser
JAVA MIDP 2.0
Stereo FM radio with RDS

So the ZTE Blade is quiet a whopper at only $100 isn’t it? There are some problems that should be noted before purchase though. The reason it is so cheap is because it is being sold on contract by the telecommunications company Orange, this phone is exclusive to Orange. In an effort to of sett the cost they have crammed the ZTE blade with tons of useless and expensive applications, not to mention a custom browser and music player. Both of which look ugly.

You can easily get rid of all the “bloatware” from the ZTE Blade by switching to native the Android home screen or simply re-loading the OS, you can either go for the older 2.1 (Eclair) or the newer 2.2 (Froyo).
The ZTE Blade has very few problems, almost all problems are a result of Orange tinkering with the OS, a fresh install should have the phone up and running in no time at all.
This is the only Smart phone at a $100 in the market with a AMOLED screen and strong video playback, it is your best bet for a good smart phone experience that will not break the bank.

The Galaxy Tab

mohseen lala — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:33:32 +0000

Tablet computers, they are the craze of town. Everyone wants to or already owns a tab, they might not be a good as a Netbook, ergonomically easy to hold or even cheap for that matter. But if you must have one, give the Samsung Galaxy P1000 Tab a try.

Specification:
2G:GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G:HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100

Dimensions: 190.1 x 120.5 x 12 mm
Weight: 380 g

Screen: capacitive touchscreen,
16M colors
Size 600 x 1024 pixels,
7.0 inches
Gorilla Glass display

User Interface: TouchWiz UI
Internal: Multi-touch input method
Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
Three-axis gyro sensor
Touch-sensitive controls
Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
Swype text input

Features: Social networking integration
Digital compass
Full HD video playback
Up to 7h movie playback
TV-out
MP4/DivX/WMV/H.264/H.263 player
MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player
Organizer
Image/video editor
Thinkfree Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration
Readers/Media/Music Hub
Adobe Flash 10.1 support
Voice memo/dial/commands
Predictive text input
GPS
JAVA MIDP 2.0
HTML Browser

Peripherals:
Primary 3.15 MP with 2048×1536 pixels, autofocus and LED flash.
Secondary 1.3 MP camera.
USB 2.0
Bluetooth 3.0 with AD2P
WI-FI

Internal memory: 16/32 GB, optional microSD card slot

Processors: ARM Cortex A8 processor, 1 GHz processor; PowerVR SGX540 graphics, 512 MB RAM.

Operating System: 2.2 (Froyo) Android

Battery: Standard battery, Li-Po 4000 mAh with 28 hours (2G) and Up to 25 hours 30 min (3G).

The Galaxy tab is a cheaper and more capable alternative to the traditional iPad, as it has a SIM card slot, so it can be used easily as a wireless phone.
Games and Apps look very good on the screen, everything looks clear and crisp and with 7 hours of video playback you won’t be charging you Tablet often.
Unfortunately not everything is dainty on the Galaxy, there are some issues to keep in mind. First major problem are the viewing angles, trying to view the screen form any angle other then face to face is a nightmare. Secondly there is no FM radio or USB Host support. Thirdly images appear to ghost because the LCD display is has a rather slow response.
Speaking of images, all photos in the Gallery are downsized. Also for people who enjoy music via loudspeakers, the ones on the Galaxy Tab are rather low. Finally there are some Apps that are incompatible with the resolution, but games like Angry Bird and Tank play flawlessly.

In short the Galaxy tab is a very good and cheaper alternative to the iPad, or even iPad2 as they both lack Flash while the Galaxy Tab does have Flash. Also the Android market easily rivals the AppStore in terms of Apps and their quality.

Gigabyte GSmart G1317 Rola

GNSX 5.0a — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 00:24:39 +0000

The GSmart G1317 Rola is a Standard 3G Phone Supporting networks of configuration GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 on dual sims and 3G Networks HSDPA 900 / 2100. THe Phone was announced in November 2010, And is expected to hit markets in the first quarter of the 2011. It is 113.5 x 60 x 13.3 mm is dimensions.

Talking main aspects, it houses a TFT resistive touchscreen, showing 16M colors on 240 x 400 pixels, 3.2 inches wide.
It also supports an accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate and Proximity sensor for auto turn-off.

ALert types include Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones.The Phone supports a 3.5 mm audio jack for flexible audio connectivity.
Talking about its capacity it has Practically unlimited entries and fields for contacs and Practically unlimited Call Records too. It has a Internal 512 MB ROM and a 256 MB RAM. Memory can be expanded using a Card slot [microSD, up to 32GB]

Looking at the connectivity it supports GPRS Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 – 48 kbps,EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G, 384 kbps,Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP.

Wired connectivity pretty standard on the microUSB v2.0.

It comes with a primary 3.15 MP camera allowing you to click still images of 2048×1536 pixels and also record Videos
but Gigabyte forgot to put a Secondary camera for Video calling.

The Software :- The Phone features the Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo) which runs on a Qualcomm MSM7225 528 MHz processor.

Also Supports SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push email,HTML browsing, Stereo FM radio and GPS.
It has Java MIDP 2.1to expand your Applications.

Special Feares of the phone would be its Dual SIM (Dual standby), Social networking integration and a Digital compass.
It supports MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+,MP4/WMV/H.264/H.263 formats for playback.

Talking Battery it has a Standard battery, Li-Ion 1260 mAh.
On average its a Cool Android Phone with shiny edges
but a camera in front for voice chatting would do better for a 3G phone like this one.
Even the Primary camera could’v been a higher quality edition something above 4megapixels would do justice.