So, some new phones at my house. I sold my BlackBerry Pearl two months ago and bought a used iPhone 1.0, unlocked it using the Pwnage tool and am currently running it on T-Mobile's network. I don't have a data plan, just the same voice plan I had before with the Pearl, so for internet, I have to use WiFi. Not that big of a deal, since most of the places I go have networks anyways. How is it? Its fine, probably the ultimate convergence device and an excellent iPod and internet tablet, but not a very good phone. It works though, and its pretty good for texting due to the very good touch keyboard.
The Nokia N70, my new backup phone, is one of the most popular phones on the Indian subcontinent, and I can see why. Its reasonably feature packed, with the Symbian S60 smartphone operating system, a 2MP camera, and a videoconferencing camera in front, along with quad band GSM radio, bluetooth, MP3 playback and an MMC expansion card slot. I got the Music Edition, so it came with dedicated music controls and a 1GB MMC card bundled in the package. Picking up the phone, it is easy to understand why Nokia has such a high marketshare in India - the N70 has phenomenal build quality and feels solid to the touch, with a weight that gives it a very substantial feel in your hand, similar to the original iPhone. It has some issues, like the unremarkable screen, the cramped keypad, and the use of MMC instead of something more common like mini or micro SD, but taking into consideration the excellent build quality and the relatively good price for an unlocked phone (Rs. 8000 in India), these are just minor quibbles.
And lastly, the Samsung T819. Its just a midrange slider phone from the Korean giant (is that all they make for the US market now? Budget sliders on T-Mobile and the Instinct?) and has the standard slate of features at the midlevel - a 1.3 megapixel camera, MP3 playback, speakerphone, voice dialing, bluetooth connectivity, and A2DP stereo bluetooth. In fact, its like a cheapened version of the LG Shine - both are attractive, shiny, feature mirror finished screen bezels, and have rather middling feature sets. However, the LG has 3G, a metal casing that gives it a higher quality feel, and a metal keypad as opposed to the Samsung's plastic. The Samsung is pretty decent for what it is, especially considering that its the latest free phone that T-Mobile offers.
These are the latest gadgets that I've gotten to use, and there are more to come.
The Cupertino giant has started selling the second coming of its massively hyped iPhone today. Featuring updates such as 3G mobile broadband, 3rd party apps, built in GPS, and a non-recessed headphone jack (a sore point for many an iPhone 1.0 user), it represents a rather hefty update over the first generation iPhone that His Jobsness unveiled at MacWorld 07 and started selling last June. How is it and is it worth upgrading from the iPhone 1.0? We will find out.
Stay tuned for some interesting news on the 3G iPhone later today.
UPDATE: Or not, since activation screwed over everything. The review should be up sometime over the week. Stupid Apple and their bloody servers. Oh well, and we all keep coming back for more.
Its back from the Asus repair center in California, sporting a new motherboard and looking seriously awesome. I now remember why I love the W7 so much, so so much. Words cannot describe its heavenly beauty....
Major props to the Asus repair center, they received, repaired, and shipped my notebook out in one day. In stark contrast to Sony, who ended up keeping my notebook for two weeks each time it was sent in (thrice), this one day turnaround is really quite commendable. Now there are three notebooks on my desk, each an inch apart; from left: MSI GX600 (15"), Sony VAIO FJ (14"), Asus W7S (13").
the tech"ni*cist\, n. He who is overconfident in technology as
a benefactor of society.
Technicism, by the Wikipedia
definition, is an over reliance or overconfidence in technology as a benefactor
of society. Thus, we can say that a technicist is someone who is over-reliant
on technology in daily life. Certainly, this is an apt description for a
computer nerd such as myself.
So, who am I? I am an ordinary
college student with an extraordinary passion for technology, along with an
obsession with automobiles that borders on unhealthy and a deep love for the
game of tennis. While I enjoy technology in general, I am specifically
interested in computing and mobile devices, such as notebook PCs, UMPCs,
netbooks, smartphones, etc, and how
these devices can be used together to enrich ones life. As such, the main focus
of this blog will be the mobile computing space.
Now, down to business. Possibly
the most important question for a tech to answer: “What gear do you use?”
Here’s my list, and a bit of explanation to go with it.
MSI GX600 (from notebookreview.com)
Specs: Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz
(overclockable to 2.4GHz), Nvidia 8600M GT 512MB, 2048MB DDR2 667, 250GB
5400RPM SATA, 15.4” WSXGA+, Vista Home Premium
Won in a giveaway at NotebookReview.com
in January 2008, the MSI has become my primary computer after the recent death
of my Asus (more on that shortly). Possibly the most obscenely extroverted
object I have ever owned, with bright red flame graphics spanning the palmrests
and lid, plus red accents throughout the computer (speaker grilles, F keys,
etc). Very fast, a rather gimmicky but awesome Turbo button that provides a 20%
overclock on command (the GX600 was the first overclocking notebook on the
market), a dedicated number pad (a rarity on a 15.4” notebook) and a matte
screen (a dying breed) make this a pretty quirky, but very cool computer to
have.
Asus W7S - A1B
Specs: Intel
Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8400M GS 128MB, 1536MB DDR2 667, 120GB 5400RPM
SATA, 13.3” WXGA, Vista Business
This is still my favorite
computer of all the ones I’ve had, regardless of being dead at the moment. The
graphics card died a couple of months back, and I am sending it in to Asus
repair this week, as I have not had time to do so until just now. Anyhow,
coming back to the notebook itself – it packs a lot of power into its small 4.2
pound frame, especially with the dedicated graphics card. However, all this
combines to torpedo battery life into the oblivion, but I can live with the
rather poor runtime. The W7S also has excellent build quality, a great screen,
elegant styling, and a superb keyboard.
Apple iMac
Specs: Intel
Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz, ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 128MB, 1024MB DDR2 533, 160GB
SATA, 17.1” WXGA+, Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and XP Professional SP2
I purchased the iMac at
CompUSA’s going out of business sale in early 2007. It was an excellent deal,
$550 for a fully equipped Apple computer that originally sold for upwards of
$1200. It not only gave me a reliable system during a time when my Sony VAIO
spent a majority of its time in the repair depot, but was also an opportunity
to play around with the Mac OS. While I found that OS X was better than
Windows, it was not as great as it was rated to be, and I quickly installed XP
in order to make use of the iMac’s dedicated graphics for gaming. However,
after getting an Xbox and the GX600, I had no need to use the iMac for gaming
and have since been using Leopard on it.
RIM BlackBerry Pearl (from jkontherun.com)
Given to me by James Kendrick and Kevin Tofel at JKOnTheRun last month, for which I am immensely grateful, since my RAZR died the day before I recieved the Pearl. I am not really an enterprise user, but I find the keyboard quite nice for text messaging and data entry, and the multimedia capabilities are quite nice - I put in a 2GB microSD card for music and have since dumped my iPod altogether.
Accessories: Sony HS95 19” SXGA external monitor, Logitech VX
Revolution mouse, Wacom Bamboo Fun drawing tablet, Western Digital Passport
120GB external hard drive, Targus CityGear Chicago backpack, Shure E2g headphones.
Previously owned notebooks: Dell Vostro 1500, Sony VAIO FJ270
Software and websites I support:
Mozilla Firefox 3 – best web browser out there, bar none.
Digsby IM client – supports a ton of IM clients, including Facebook
Chat and Google Talk; is free, has a nice interface.
VLC Media Player – has every media codec known to man.
uTorrent – a light BitTorrent client with no frills.
NotebookReview – the best place for anything related to
notebook PCs
JKOnTheRun – a blog about the mobile computing space with
interesting insights on the daily use of these technologies
GraphXService – an excellent site offering free graphics work
Engadget – one of the most complete tech news blogs
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