Showing posts with label electronics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label electronics. Show all posts

Review – Blackberry 8820


I am not a big fan of Blackberry especially not their earlier models. Due to an odd twist of fate (see ‘Quest for a Camera-Less Phone’) I ended up with a blackberry 8820. Since the phone has been around for a while and has been discontinued from production it’s a bit too late to come up with a review for this phone. However I am not one to let trivial facts prevent me from posting my thoughts. Lets dive right in.

The Blackberry 8820, like its poorer cousin 8800, is a pretty handsome phone. It looks very professional and has a good build quality. It’s full QWERTY keyboard looks a bit cramped with no space between the keys, but let me assure you they are one of the best I’ve used. Something about the shape of the keys and the placement of the ridges that make hitting the precise key you were gunning for. Typing long messages or emails are quite simple and the spell check is also fairly good (however I do miss predictive text). Menu options are quite basic I have to say I quite like the trackball navigation. It’s very accurate and takes up only a small amount of real-estate. It’s a pity that the trackball is such a dust magnet and cleaning it could be a pain.

The Blackberry 8820 has a single (mono) speaker on top of the phone. It’s a pretty loud and clear speaker and is more than sufficient for a speakerphone call or listing to music. The media capabilities of the device are rather poor. It can only play a thin list of formats so most of your videos will need to be trans-coded for the device. Audio quality through the supplied headphones and about average. They can go quite loud but bass reproduction is severely limited. There another major negative point to be noted. The phone comes with a 2.5mm audio jack as opposed to the standard 3.5mm jack. Also this 2.5mm jack only supports blackberry and Motorola handsfree sets and not the Nokia ones so availability of replacement headphones will be another pain point. I personally suggest option for a good pair of Bluetooth headphones. I use Motorola S9 stereo Bluetooth headphones. They are very comfortable, give a good bass response but need to be changed frequently (because I use them a lot).

There are a number of applications and games for the blackberry 8820 however very few of them are free. Another issue is that most of the applications need BIS to be activated in order to function properly. As I did not do so I cannot comment on the apps. On the gaming front, from what I can tell blackberry’s cupboard is quite bare. Yes this is a business-centric phone but that’s no excuse not to have some fun fast paced action games on the phone. No wait I forgot, the hardware can’t take it. Yes the hardware is pretty low spec. Essentially packman is about as good as it gets.

Customizations – there are a number of themes for the device however most of the good ones are not free. In conclusion this is not for the young media consuming music playing mobile phone customizing gaming junkie but rather for a simple professional who just wants email, listen to the occasional tune and not bother about touch screens or sliding out keypads.

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GPRS without BIS on a Blackberry



There exists a definite hype surrounding Blackberry devices. Now many may argue that the hype is well warranted as Blackberry devices are the pinnacle of mobile engineering. To which I simple say “No they are not!!” Their secure and reliable services are definitely a plus however their device hardware is a significant let down for ‘some users’. The cost of their blackberry internet service also makes it unviable for a number of users.
That being said I still see a number of people itching to buy a blackberry handset in the hopes of seamlessly accessing the net. Many of my peer group have bought one or planning to buy one as they believe it offers them a desktop-like email experience and keeps them connected from a social-networking standpoint. Is that true? Well yes and no.
Blackberry devices are certainly a lot more powerful and feature rich then they were two short years ago, however what many don’t account for is the added expense of the Blackberry Internet Service. Without BIS you will not be able to use most of the Blackberry services and features. A vast majority of the Blackberry tailored apps requires a fully functional BIS in order to work. Even the core functionality of email will not function without it. Keep in mind that BIS rentals are usually significantly higher then your regular GPRS / data rentals and it is this steep monthly rental that keeps many people from opting for it.
Another issue (probably more relevant to emerging markets) is that Blackberry internet services are rarely offered on prepaid plans. This means that if you are a prepaid subscriber and have bought a shiny new blackberry specifically for your email/IM/social networking then what you have is a rather expensive paperweight. You could always switch to postpaid, activate BIS and cough up the monthly rental and never miss an email or status update again.
I however do not fall into that category. I do not want to be always connected and have work follow me where ever I go. As I am not the type to spend many hours browsing, chatting of emailing from my phone I did not see the point in activating BIS. Unfortunately for me (and many others out there) my telecom operator does not support GPRS on blackberry. Had I been using any other phone GPRS activation would be a snap but not on the Blackberry. Essentially ‘they’ want you to use BIS, that’s where the money is at.
There is a workaround however you would be limited to using a third party browser and no blackberry applications support. I have used Opera mini (4.2 and 5) however I believe the Bolt browser also works. First activate GPRS on your SIM card. Then go to your access point settings and type out the access point settings for your operator. Install the browser from your comp or download it OTA via WIFi. Once installed the browser will attempt to connect using the edited access point details. If it does not work try a battery pull. Switch the phone back on and try again. This worked for me and I am now able to browse on my Blackberry (8820). I can’t use the G-talk/Facebook or even the built-in browser however I can go to any website or check my email on the fly. It’s good enough for the casual user and let’s face it, most of our personal emails are spam or forwards anyway. If anyone figures out how to get a chat app to work without BIS do let me know. Remember consider your usage patterns before buying a Blackberry device. Hope this was helpful.

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Buyers guide – digital cameras


I consider myself a bit of a techie with a penchant for consumer electronics. It is this self-proclaimed status that often places me in a situation where friends, family, co-workers and random strangers seek my consultation on any and all electronic purchases. Noticing that I often repeat my suggestions I decided it would be far easier if I discussed some basic points in my blog and then direct all queries to it. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sound of my voice, but to repeat the same set of suggestions tends to become a bit annoying. In this post I will go over a few basic specifications to look out for while buying a digital camera. Please note that I am no expert but am merely giving my suggestions based on my experiences and common sense.

The first thing a camera-buying hopeful always tells me is that they want to go in for a camera they saw advertised somewhere because it has 10 or 12 megapixel or 5x digital zoom, or has 100MB etc. if it very easy to get caught up in marketing hype but honestly what is it most of us need from a camera.

(i) Forget Megapixel – in my experience most of us take snaps and then upload then on facebook/picasa. Occasionally we print out a few but that too only in regular postcard size or smaller. If this is true with you then what good is a 12 MP sensor? At best you will be looking at the photo on your computer monitor so technically a 2MP image would be more than sufficient. For those moments when you want to zoom/crop the image perhaps a 4MP may be more appropriate. Another issue with high MP count is the image size, it is practically impossible to send more than a handful via email and that does take a while to upload in the first place.

(ii) Forget digital zoom – digitally zooming into your subject while taking the snap will actually cause loss in detail and clarity. The greater the digital zoom, lower the quality of your image. Read the following point on optical zoom.

(iii) Ignore on-board memory – When all cameras come with memory extension card slots coupled with the low cost of high capacity SD cards, why bother with internal memory of the device. when buying your camera ask the dealer to throw in a high capacity SC card (SDHC) or just buy one separately, they are fairly cheap and make transferring your snaps a breeze. Yes – transferring your snaps. Don’t bother with the proprietary data transfer cables and clunky pc-suite shipped by the manufacturer. Once done taking snaps just pop your SD card into a card-reader (either inbuilt into your comp, or just buy one – cheap). It’s much faster and a lot more convenient.

(iv) Look for optical zoom – an extremely important specification especially if you want to get closer to your subject than physically possible. Additionally quality loss is minimal with optical zoom as opposed to digital zoom. I will not get into the details of how this is established (just wiki optical zoom, aperture and telephoto lens). Also the amount of zoom you need will factor into the type of camera you need to buy. Typical point and shoot cameras have about 3x to 5x optical zoom. Bigger-prosumer-cameras typically have mega-zoom bodies i.e. a zoom anywhere from 10x to 26x. They are usually more expensive, heavier and pack a lot more features (close to DSLR cameras in features but with a much smaller sensor and fixed lens).

(v) Battery type – most compact cameras (point-and-shoot) come with rechargeable lithium-ion batteries which are pretty good however I still prefer ones that run on standard AA size batteries. My reasons are simple – if run out of juice and don’t have my charger with me (which happens to most of us) I simply walk into any nearby store and buy regular AA batteries. If you are going in for a camera powered by regular batteries then my suggestion would be to buy a pair of NiMH (nickel-metal hydride) cells and a charger. Also go in for the highest milli-amps your camera will support. This should give you an excellent battery life and the rechargeable factor makes it cheaper in the long run.

(vi) Form-factor and size – this could be an important factor to take in to account. Many times my lady-friends would only want to carry a ridiculously slam purse (something about looks over practicality) so a boxy prosumer camera is a no go. Guys also may want to just put their camera in their pocket while going out so here again form-factor plays an important part (you would not want to be charged with conspiracy to impress women).

(vii) Online reviews – owner reviews are an excellent way to learn the pros and cons of a camera well before you buy it. One site I often visit is www.dpreview.com. It provides useful reviews on most of the popular models and allows you to generate detailed tabulated comparison of different camera models.

(viii) Other less known tech-specs to look out for are: Image stabilization – this is an extremely important feature especially if you are planning to take snaps at on a high zoom level as hand jitter is amplified through the lens and the images would turn out blurry. Look for cameras that offer dual IS (image stabilization) as only digital image stabilization is not nearly as good as optical stabilization or a combination of the two. Flash recycle time – which is the time it takes to recharge the flash between snaps; shot-to-shot time – minimum time the camera takes to capture successive snaps; flash distance – most smaller cameras only have an effective flash distance of a few meters which may not be suitable if you want to take snaps of say people in an open-air gathering.

Hope this helps you in your camera purchasing ordeal and remember the time you spend ‘researching’ for the perfect camera will greatly add to your satisfaction once you buy it. Readers are welcome to leave their suggestions on what other features buyers should look for.

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Quest for a Camera-Less Phone


Before I begin let me tell you that I am much the mobile geek (and many a fried will testify to that). I have always had pretty high end phones and spent many hours installing third-party apps to extend their functionality. I always considered those owing a non-smart phone as lesser mortals. How ironic life be.. To my horror my current place of work does not allow camera phones in the facility. After fruitlessly trying to fight against the system I finally gave in and decided to buy a (dare I say it) camera less phone.

Now seeing as there is a wide diversity of mobile phones available in today’s marketplace I was sure to find some decent smart phone without a camera. Boy was I wrong! Not only are there no new camera-free smart phones but even the decent midrange feature phones all feature cameras. To make maters even worse, most of the budget phones also had a camera on board (albeit a rather low quality one but a camera nevertheless). I was faced with two choices, (i) either succumb to my situation and use an absolute base of the pyramid mobile one twentieth the cost of my current phone or (ii) return to the dark ages where people did not have mobile phones.

Unwilling to do either I decided to use my research skills to scour the virtual globe for any last remaining vestiges of camera-free smart phones. My extensive research led me to three devices which fit the bill of being fairly intelligent devices minus a camera. The phones were :- 
1) The Sony Ericsson W950
2) The Sony Ericsson G700 business edition
3) The Blackberry 88xx series

Device comparison:-

The SE W950 was, in my opinion, was the best looking phone of the lot. It was compact and was said to have good sound quality (after swapping the headphones) and had a touchscreen. The drawbacks of the device were its less than average keypad (practically no tactile feedback), no extendable memory (fixed 4GB flash drive), below average battery and a few software issues here and there.

The SE G700 business edition is essentially the same G700 without a camera. On paper it looked ideal. It was compact, had a good keypad and fairly good touchscreen. In terms of audio quality it was said to be on par with other sony ericsson phones. The drawback was that is I did not care for the looks and the battery life was less than acceptable.

The Blackberry 8800 was one of the most popular BBs in its day however now it’s pretty hard to come by. The phone has a very good battery life, typical blackberry form factor, good screen and best of all the ability to use blackberry connect. The drawbacks of this phone are its size and limited support for third party games (yes I am a child). Apparently the device does have pretty good audio quality however one would need to swap the supplied headphones for more powerful ones (not to mention to 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter).

With my new found knowledge I set out look for these devices and not the quest really gets difficult. You see, all the above mentioned phones have been discontinued and are no longer available in the market. I will have to find working second-hand devices or tap various retailers to in-turn search the grey market for these devices. I even spoke to one dealer who said he’ll try and have one shipped from the Gulf if nothing comes up here.

I still have not decided on which phone to opt for as it also depends on what price they are quoted at. By my estimates they all should be around the same price but finding them would be the hard part. So fingers crossed… lets see how this goes. In the mean time feel free to post any suggestions you may have, I’d be happy to get someone else’s opinion.

Cheers
Prithvi

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