Phones and us!

I recently started mind storming about a new article, then when a certain someone asked what people think about certain phones and what we actually use our phones for, I set out on a little survey!

I divided mainly on the basis of gender cause that's the easiest way to break it down to all of you.

I'll start with women! (See, Chivalry hasn't died......yet!)

For most women at least, phone's are status symbol's or fashion accessories to start of with, next comes functionality and features.

For instance, if a woman really liked the way a certain phone looked, she would go an extra mile to learn how to use the phone and its features rather than to use a phone which isn't as good looking.
The iPhone is such a big hit with women cause of this. It's the best of both worlds! It's got the moviestar looks, but its also as easy to use as it is to drive a go-kart.

Women also spend a lot on fashion, I've come to notice that when women say "Fashionable Phones" They don't exactly imply high-end phones with a lot of Precious material's on them. Not the Vertu's and stuff.

Most women don't use their phone's for too many functions, Especially the multimedia ones!
They usually use the main communication features of these devices.

Example, They're more interested in Texting interface, The Facebook app, The twitter app, Email and stuff.

I found very few women who've bought a phone for either its music or camera or web browsing capabilities!

Recently an online survey revealed that 73% of Android users are male. Meanwhile, on the iPhone, iPod Touch and Palm platforms, the ratio of male-to-female owners was more even. However, males were still in the majority even on those devices, accounting for 54% to 58% of the users.

There's lately been a sudden outburst of the number of youngsters wanting to own blackberry's. The reason for this is rather simple. All this comes down to the "HIP" Factor for the majority. I mean look at the number of blackberry's in India without BB Services activated. It's a huge shame.

That said, There are women who buy BB's for their functionalities and lately its rather goodlooks. Functionality here means mainly the paid BB Services. The Push E-Mail and BlackBerry Messenger(BBM) mainly.

"After BBM, I've completely stopped texting people. Texting has become Alien to me." said a Young women owner of a BB 8520 Curve.

Men.

Men on the other hand buy phone's based on their usability. The Vibrance of the phone and the feedback it gets. The Multimedia features, the E-Mail Capabilities and the Browsing experience.

It's a known fact that men are more tech-savy than women(No Offense) . When a man wants to buy a device, he usually goes with a fixed mind and know's what he wants. They don't wait around to be impressed by a looker!


Men want features, Blazing speed, Braggin rights of sort. Men use their phone camera's more than ever now as due to the improvement in connectivity, You've just got to snap a picture and sharing is just a few steps away! No more transferring to your PC to share kinda burden.

Music is also another feature. For most men, Audio Quality doesn't matter, it's just how loud your phone rings. For the others, its about proper music, having big memory filled to the brim with audio.

Internet browsing is also on the rise, in India especially with 3G right 'round the corner', There is a huge increase in people buying phones for internet browsing. With Edge , the speeds just weren't enough. With the world moving to 4G (LTE), the browser now is more important than ever before.

Then there are the one's who need the Blackberry.

Unlike women, MOST men have BB's for official purposes. They're the ultimate business phone's. Mainly for its neat Enterprise E-Mail servers. Nowadays most work in the offices are actually done off your e-mail account. So, If you've your complete email with you everywhere you go, it just makes life easy.

Assume that you're late for work, you can start working from your blackberry before you even arrive at work. That's how simple it makes life of a businessman.

Also Unlike women, Men aren't hugely addicted to BBM. It's just an add on service for them. The younger crowd however is hooked onto BBM.


They're on it all the time, They share video's, images, the latest songs and almost everything imaginable under the sun with each other. They're always in touch, they're always updated on each other's location and doings through BBM.

As a conclusion, all I would like to say is that while women share a more showy relationship with their phones, men share a real one.

PR :)

Brand iPhone.

iPhone's are the most popular phones in the world. You know what it looks, like, you know how simple it is to use!

This is the phone that really started the touch revolution. If it hadn't been for it, we'd still be using non touch phones. Try now to count how many of your friend/colleagues/family have touch phones. It's a growing number!

For maybe 1/4th of them the number has become 1/2 and its growing at and astounding rate!

The iPhone introduced us to proper touchscreen. I don't mean that it was the first touch phone, it introduced us to capacative touch. How else do you think suddenly every phone is accepting proper feather touch input?
The iPhone brought about the app revolution. It introduced to the common man, not only us tech junkies that these applications are easy to install and pretty useful.

The iPhone has always been evolving, little by little its features have been improving,
Look at the current generation iPhone 4, It's got so many drawbacks, still its a best seller.
It's got a lot of things going for it, take nothing away from it.

A fancy retina display, a nice design, a  nice camera, and a lot more!

But compare it to the present generation Android's, its got hardly anything on them!
A retina display is matched by the Samsung Galaxy S with its equally fantastic Super AMOLED display!
Similar processor 1Ghz processor, but the Samsung just feels so much more snappy than the iPhone!

Multi tasking in the iPhone is just leaving the application on pause and letting it run in the background, Android's got proper multitasking!

Widgets!!
They're something Apple hasn't heard off apparently cause nil. The iOS supports NO widgets of any form!
Android on the other hand is all widgets. It's a neat touch as I can do almost everything from the home screen itself!

Flash support.
From the start, everyone was wondering what about flash support for iOS?
Suddenly out of the dawn, this relatively new OS called Android pulls an ace out of its sleeve with its new version(2.2 froyo) of its OS coming with flash!

That was a huge blow. Flash wasn't such a big deal when everyone was on 2G networks, suddenly when we got onto 3G and speed started to improve, people started opening sites which were made for computers with full flash support expecting to see similar pages on their mobile phones, only to find that all they've got is box telling them that their devices don't have flash.
With android all that's changed!

I used to be an iOS fan. Suddenly, one day someone offered me a go at the nexus one!
Everything changed, that live wallpaper, that simple idea of Homescreens and widgets just captured my attention!

Now that I'm an Android user for good, its weird everytime I use an iPhone, when I wanna go back, I keep frantically searching for the back key, then realise its absence and I realise that I've got to search for a rather outdated tab to go back in the iPhone on the screen!

At the end of the day, an iPhone will be an iPhone and an Android will be an Android. iPhone got the name, while Android which has so much more to offer just has due candy and function.
Android might be superior, but it needs a HUGE phone. Something on par with the success of the iPhone.
Marketed well, Designed well, and updated often.

Thus, an iPhone killer will only come into existence when it kills the iPhone name, not the single phone.

Samsung Galaxy 3: Review

Android as we know has been a software mainly for High-end phones, lately however, there are a Lot of entry level handsets coming out with Android offering a decent Android experience!

Its a great phone, as Long as you don't constantly compare it to the much more expensive Galaxy S.

Without further ado, Lets get into the Pro's and Con's


Pro's:

-627MHz Processor and 256 MB of RAM.
-3.2 MP Autofocus Camera w/ VGA Video Recording @15 fps.
-WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS.
-DivX Support(Out-of-the-box)
-3.5mm Audio Jack.
-Great Battery life.

Con's:

-Screen Performs poorly under direct Sunlight.
-Build Quality is not upto the mark.
-Bad Quality Video Recording
-No Flash for the Camera.

Unboxing:

The Galaxy 3 is a Budget Handset, keeping that in mind, you get a lot from the packaging. The Box isn't as compact as an Apple or HTC product but comes with:

-A Micro USB Cable.
-A Cleaning cloth.
-A Charger.
-A Battery.
-A Headset(Really good quality for the price).


 There is also the usual paperwork!

Exterior:

As Being the case with all Touchscreen handsets, the Phone's front is mainly dominated by the 3.2inch touchscreen. Below the screen are three Buttons, the menu, the back key, between these two lies a nice looking angled home key! If you're wondering where the 4th Android key is, don't worry, from anywhere in the OS, a long press of the Menu key will bring up the search option.


The Top consists of the 3.5mm audio jack, beside it the Micro USB port which is used for file transfers and charging covered pretty neatly with a Plastic flap. Beside the USB Port, there is a Power button which doubles as a Lock/Unlock key.

On the Left of the SG3 is a Volume rocker. The right being left alone. The only thing on the bottom of the phone is a microphone pin.

The Phone being made of all plastic and being Piano Black, IS A FINGERPRINT MAGNET. It's very tough to keep this phone clean, Especially the black piece. The Black houses only the 3.2MP Snapper.

Screen:

I must say, The SG3 has had to make a huge compromise when it comes to its screen. Its bigger brother the SGS has a SUPER AMOLED screen. Unfortunately with budget in its mind, Samsung instead used a regular LCD TFT Screen of a bad 240 x 400 Resolution. Internet Browsing on this wont be the best experience especially if you zoom a little into the text of images on any site.

User Interface:


The Galaxy3 runs Samsung's own TouchWiz 3.0 Overlay on android.
It adds a lot more functionality to android, without taking away of its Charm. 
You start off with 7 Homescreen Panes with the home button taking you back to the default function of the first homescreen(the leftmost) not the centre one unlike the HTC's and other Android's.


They can be filled with an array of widgets from Samsung or from Android. These are the main attraction of the Homescreen, rather their only Worthwhile function.



Then to open the Menu you use the Menu Button and it opens an iPhone type side scrollable menu. The bottom Contains 4 dock icons which remain constant and help as these are accessible from any page of the application menu.

A welcome change to the phone's UI is the notification bar. It performs the usual Android functions while also providing easy and simple access to toggle the WiFi and Bluetooth On and Off and change the Profile of the phone to silent or Vibrate. 

The Phone has nearly no lag unless you open stressful applications. The 627MHz Processor combined with the Low-Res Screen make a really nice pair as this helps it take on even 800Mhz Processor's like the HTC Legend and The Galaxy Spica.

Messaging:

The Messaging of is a stonghold of this phone. It manages the messages very simple.
It doesn't have a complex folder organising system like the Symbian's do. It very simply has an option for new messages, and also all your previous conversations saved as different threads for each contact. A very Nice feature here is that you can Swipe left to Start a new message and a Swipe to the right initiates a call to that contact. A very neat touch if you ask me. 


The Message editior is simple and you get both a Blank space to type your message, Just select the insert option to make it into a full blown MMS Editior, It even downsizes your images to save you network charges!


Also to manage a certain single message in the thread, all you need to do is to tap and hold on it. It will automatically pop up a menu with options to Forward, Delete, Lock Message, etc.


As this being an Android Device, It gains from the Google support, It's got the Best GMail app as expected, but setting up other accounts is a breeze.


GTalk takes care of all your Instant Messaging needs and the abundance of amazing Third Party App's from the Android Market is quite a Notable feature. 

The Last but the most useful feature of text input on this phone is the presence of pre-installed Swype. You can learn more about Swype Right Here!!

Phonebook and Telephony:

As all Droids do, The SG3 Also has a marvellous phonebook full of functionality and also Eye-Candy.
It combines all your phone, SIM and google contacts to form your Phonebook. In it contacts can be found either using the search key or by scrolling using the alphabetical list present on the side(TouchWiz Specific Feature).

Another amazing feature from the phonebook worth note is the swypeing functionality.

Just like the Messaging app, You can Swype left to intitate an new message or swype right to call the contacts default/primary number.

The fields of the contacts available for storage are more surplus even for the most picky of phonebook organizers.

Telephony is dealt with neatly and briskly. There is the presence of smart-dial. It works either with contact names or numbers making it very very user friendly. 

Cell Reception is good as calls aren't dropped easily and the proximity sensor ensure that you wont accidentally touch anything on the screen during a call!

Multimedia:


The SG3 is not exactly what you'd call a Multimedia power house. It's first and most showing flaw is the screen. Its let down by its artificial looking colours and its low resolution.


The Gallery is a looker, that said i don't mean its not one for functions. The Gallery finds all the images and videos stored on your phone and put them in sorts for you putting them in folders with valid names.

The Gallery has amazing 3D transitions and these 3D effects flair up the rather dull usual Android Gallery. The Images have options to share photos and thanks to the multitouch support, Pinch Zooming is enabled.


The Music Player of this phone is the very same one found on all other TouchWiz 3.0 devices. It's a highly funtional one with the music sorted by every possible category. Songs, Albums, Artist, Genre, etc.


The Music visualization is bang on along with the presence of a graphic equalizer presets. You can also search the song right out of the player into Google or You tube. The Results open straight into the You tube client. 
That's a really neat touch.

What is also to note is the presence of a separate Video Player, this player supports DivX and XviD clips directly upto DVD Quality. Sadly, 720p Support is a No go!

The Camera is pretty decent for a 3MP Snapper and also it's interface is a lot like other Eclair running devices. It offers easy access to scenes and Shooting mood. This is by far one of the most impressive 3MP Camera's I've used.


Connectivity:

This might be a Entry Level Handset, But that doesn't for a second mean that it's connectivity options are entry level too.

Bluetooth 3.0 w/ A2DP is a Surprise for this segment. It's also got WiFi with b/g and EVEN n support.


It's a worldwide phone, meaning it will work on every GSM Carrier throughout the world. The Presence of the 3.5mm Audio Jack let you plug in any headphones while on the go.


Browser:


The Galaxy3 being an Android 2.1 Eclair device doesn't support Flash! That being said, the browser is by no means bad.

It has the same classic Minimalist design of all other android browsers, It has an address bar atop and nothing else shows until you press the menu button which brings up your options.


It supports double tap zooming and also pinch zooming. Text is Reflowed very well with very little lag time thanks to the processor. 


The only let down for the browser again has to be the devices low resolution screen. This pixelates the text and images on even slight zooming!

Conclusion:


Well this phone has proved to me that all good Android's need not be high end phones. It has a nice entry level and the weight and size make it very pocketable and holdable. 


If all the Con's of this Baby Galaxy are not too important for you, I'd suggest you really take a closer look at it.


It's main rivals are


HTC Wildfire

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini

LG Optimus GT-540

PR:)

BLACKBERRY: The Future.

Blackberry, the smartphone icon. You wouldn't be wrong calling them the first actual smartphone's on the market!

They gained a cult following in the business sector thanks to its awesome push email capabilities.
Push e-mail for the newbie's is when your device is always connected to the network.. hence there'll be no delay between the arrival of an email and it actually appearing on your device(A blackberry in this case).
Blackberry ruled the smartphone world until lately Android and iOS decided to rain on its parade. Android and iOS with their fancy browsers, full touch input and the presence of fully developed app stores have spoilt the blackberry party.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a blackberry fan. I could go on and on about how satisfying the messaging services are, how much happiness a Flashing LED can give and and why Blackberry Messenger is amazing.
Recent complaints about the OS feeling outdated and it being a burden on the eye is not unfair.
OS 5 evolved slightly, looks wise atleast,but as you dig a little deeper into the device which you certainly shall it being a blackberry, you'll notice the presence of classically ugly text menus.
I'm a sucker for classic OS. And OS 6 is heading in the right direction with things, but what about the hardware?

In a generation where certain OS require a 1Ghz processor as bare minimum, Blackberry still happy throwing in there 624Mhz chip just isn't right. The device isn't laggy by any means, just It's their flagship device and you expect it to have the best of the best hardware!
I'm sorry, but in a generation of retina displays and Super AMOLED Screens, The Blackberry displays just don't make the cut!

It's certainly not the question of them not possessing the hardware, cause its going into the impressive Blackberry Playbook tablet device. Now these are two completely different platforms!
You would expect them to use similar hardware in their flagship mobile device too! Look at the iPad and the iPhone for instance, The main difference between them is the screen size and a few other minute changes, not the fact that you've got a completely different OS running on the two.
I'm an Android user. A HTC Desire is what I make do with, when I was going to get my phone, I was faced with a dilemma, you see I wanted multimedia powerhouse! The blackberry torch came very close in contention but a webkit browser, really?

Hence I got the Desire which now has almost all things the blackberry doesnt!

1Ghz Processor.
Big display.
Amazing browser.
Support for a large number of apps.
Open source.

And the list goes on! But in the bargain I have to say I lost a lot!

A brilliant qwerty keyboard.
Seamless connectivity.
Great cell reception.
Push E-Mail the right way.
Blackberry Messenger.

Now, look at the picture I've given you! The solution from here is pretty simple!
ALL THAT IS NEEDED IS A FLAGSHIP BLACKBERRY SMARTPHONE(With all its shortcomings looked into)!

When recently quizzed about this, RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis doesn't define the torch as its flagship!
He's rather referring to it being a launch vehicle for OS 6. So where is the company heading? Only time will tell.

PR :)

HTC Desire A8181 Review: Much to Desire.

The HTC desire is quite a unique phone. It's not much of a looker at first, you'll find it looking rather nice once you start using it!
That chiselled HTC chin at the bottom makes the desire ever so comfortable in your hand. The device seems well built and engineered to last.
Running Android 2.2 Froyo, It's snappy to say the least in terms of speed.

Pro's :

-1Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
-3.7inch 16M capacitive brilliant AMOLED screen.
-5 MP autofocus camera w/LED flash and 720p Video recording at 25fps.
-Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS and A-GPS.
-Seems built to last.
-3.5mm audio jack.
-Smart Dialing.
-Slim and very pocket friendly.
-Optical Trackpad.
-Amazing Loudspeaker Performance.

Con's:

-Roughly 100MB for installing apps available on the actual device.
-Memory Card not hot Swappable.
-Beauty of a camera is let down by the lack of lens protection.

Unboxing:

HTC Desire offers nothing out of the ordinary in the sales package, it's just the bare essentials and honestly I'd have wanted a little more. Maybe a carry pouch or something to set it apart from the competition.
The box isn't too big, still has the essentials. 
-A micro usb cable.
-A charger.(Uses the micro usb cable)
-One piece headset with audio controls on the remote.
-A cleaning cloth.
-A 4Gb Memory card(An 8GB card would have been much appreciated!)
And also came the usual paperwork!


Exterior:

The HTC desire in flesh is rather handsome. It's minimalistic at its best.
It's a sober phone, by no means an
"out there.. look at Me!" Handset.
It's thin profile and broad shoulders thanks to that 3.7 inch screen make it perfect to hold in the hand!
On the face of the device is are 5 actual hardware buttons.
They're the usual Android Search, Home, back and menu buttons.
The addition being a spherical Optical Trackpad.

The left of the desire houses the long yet sleek one piece volume rocker. The right of the device left empty.

Turn the device over and you'll be greeted with a soft touch rubber coating which grips on slant surfaces.
Also you'll notice the 5MP Shooter with grooved metal rings around it.
Beside it is the powerful LED flash, next to which is the loudspeaker grill.
Last on the rear is a HTC logo on glossy black inlaid into the soft touch rubber coating making the phone feel very elegant.


On the top of the desire is a Power/Lock and unlock key and also a 3.5mm Audio jack!
To the bottom there is the usual Micro USB port and the primary microphone.

Screen:

The desire has a 3.7 inch AMOLED capacative touchscreen which is nice and luminous.
The front of the phone is occupied by that large piece of real estate which makes watching videos, images and browsing the web a pleasure.
The screen is extremely responsive and responds to the slightest of your touches. Scrolling is a joy and pinch zooming is fast thanks to the blazing speed of the processor and partly the responsiveness of the screen.
Sunlight legality is a let down as with all other AMOLED Displays. This can be overcome by leaving the phone in auto brightness, this should sort things out if they get messy.

User Interface:

The desire run Android 2.2 with a HTC Sense overlay. It's basically the best add on pack you could have gotten for stock Android running on devices such as the nexus one and the Nexus S now.
Many changes have been made, and in my opinion, all for the good.
There are the regular Android widgets and a lot of add ons from HTC.
HTC also changed the look of most widgets and now offers 7 stock Homescreens!!
After toying with this phone and the type of widgets it offers, I wouldn't have minded a couple more screens.
Pressing the home button or pinching out of the homescreen shows you all the Homescreens at a glance.
All the widgets come in different sizes and looks. For example, there are 12 different clocks and 3different music players!
Your custom home screen setup can easily be saved and used again, or you can use a default configuration from HTC!
Such configurations are being called scenes by HTC.
Sense also redoes the whole organizer part of stock android making it pleasing on the eye without neglecting functionality and usability!
 


Messaging:

Messaging seems the stronghold of The HTC desire!
All messages between you and a contact are threaded. The phone has an amazing keyboard thanks to its slim side profile and the HTC redesign of the keyboard. Portrait mood typing is a joy and with the phone in landscape, it becomes a messaging monster.
To convert an sms to an mms, you just have to attach multimedia to that message. Simple!
Email setup is as simple as typing in your email address and password.
Poof! The desire gets you all your settings off the internet.
Gmail is most supported, it being a native Google app, its as simple as refreshing your email or selecting to use push email(beware as this drains battery crazily fast). Attachment support is almost near unmatched.

Phonebook:

HTC calls its Phonebook People. Rather apt.
The contacts can be linked to each other with relations, To their Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, Whatsapp and company directories.
The fields offered are more than anything you'd probably need.
There is more!
You can see all the messages, calls, emails, Facebook activity and any other activity between you and the contact to the last detail.

Telephony:

Telephony is simple and nice. There is a near unlimited call log.
There is smart dialing which is native. Searches for contact names and numbers.
The let down being the lack of native voice dialing which can be over come by using third party apps!
The signal reception is decent. It loses network at places you'd expect to, maintains it well at others!
Conversations are clear and the listeners are happy and can hear you pretty clearly!
The Desire uses its proximity sensor pretty well! It locks and unlocks the phone during calls.
It silences calls by turning the phone over, If you touch the phone while ringing, it rings much much more quietly.
Same goes for alarms!

Camera, video and music:

The Camera on the desire is decent. Colours are realistic and warm. Pictures do appear a little saturated during high amounts of flash at close distances.
The camera interface is also dated, but touch to focus and face detection(additions with froyo) do seem to be making progress.
My only complaint would be about the lack of any lens protection what so ever. That should drastically reduce image quality with time!

The same camera also records 720p HD video at 25 fps. Video quality is decent and a constant video light is a nice and neat touch!

The gallery is not much of an eye pleaser with white text menu's.. photo thumbnail's can be selected to view actual photo which can then be pinch zoomed and sent/uploaded straight from the gallery.

Music player is a bit primitive. It's got a constant coverflow with shuffle, repeat, next, previous and play/pause as the features!
The biggest letdown for the audiophile has to be the lack of an equalizer of any sort!

Browser:

The highlight of android 2.2 froyo has to be the ability to support full flash!
A simple Android market download will transform your browser into a PC browsing experience!
Pinch to zoom, video in screen support and even the blazing fast processor helps load pages in a blink of few eyes over wi-fi!

The browsing speeds are unmatched by almost any other mobile phone currently on sale!
Text and video are also crisp thanks to the high resolution screen!

Connectivity:

The HTC desire being a high end smartphone, has got its connectivity right up there with the best.
It's got wi-fi with b and g support, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP support and a built in GPS receiver with A-GPS.
3G HSDPA/HSUPA is flawlessly supported and doesn't drain much battery on standby.
The standout feature is the presence of a portable hotspot(wireless tethering). It converts your mobile data connection into a WiFi connection for upto 9 devices at a time!

GPS and Google Maps:

Google maps are a cornerstone of Android. It's amazing as it could lock position without the A-GPS switched on in less than 2 minutes. Impressive.
With the GPS switched on, It's got enough power and detail in every aspect to replace your car GPS unit.
It'll get you directions to places using Google's amazing array of resources.

Conclusion:

After all this I guess very few phones can go toe to toe with this fella in terms of speed and functionality.
Main rivals of the desire are the
Samsung Galaxy S

Blackberry 9780.

 Nokia N8

PR :)

Welcome

Welcome to All Bout Phones(ABP). I, Pranav Reddy am going to often review, compare and even suggest phones. All you've gotta do is wait for the review to come up.
Right now, I'm working on the review for
The ORIGINAL HTC Desire(A8181). I Will Post that as soon as its done! :)

TC,
PR.