TOUCH PHONE

HTC, the company behind many of today's most popular Windows Mobile smart phones,has
once again pushed the limits of design with its latest innovation: the HTC Touch.
Featuring a sharp 2.8-inch touch screen housed within a stunning formation of brushed
metal and flawless faceted edges, the HTC Touch Diamond is as beautiful to behold as it
is to use.

The Touch Phone offers a completely new user interface called TouchFLO, it allows you
to operate the fone just by swiping ur finger across it.It can also be operated by a
stylus, unlike Iphone.
However,the lack of a keyboard is huge drawback, especially when it comes to
messaging or entering contacts, it slows down the process.

Features:

The HTC Touch runs Windows Mobile 6 Professional on a 201MHz processor with the
standard 64 megs of RAM and 128 megs of flash ROM. It's an unlocked triband GSM phone
with EDGE for data. The first version released will be triband 900/1800/1900MHz.
Touch has WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, a 2 megapixel camera and a standard QVGA resolution
display. The HTC Touch is available in two colors: black and wasabi green.

Design:

The Touch Phone looks elegant and is extremely light and slim.Check out the comparison
b/w Motorola RAZR V3 and Touch Phone below.

There's a 5-way directional pad below the display which works well and easily, the
power button up top.The SIM card and Micro SD card slots are under a pop-out section of
that chrome trim rather than under the battery.

Audio:

Built in speaker, mic and HTC's ExtUSB multi-function stereo headphone jack. Voice
Recorder and Windows Pocket Media Player 10 included for your MP3 and video pleasure.
HTC music player also included. Stereo headset with inline mic and volume control
included.The output was good with clear stereo separation, strong bass and non-harsh
trebles with plenty of volume.

Camera:

Touch Phone comes with a 2 megapixel CMOS camera. It can take a maxixmum of 1600x1200
resolution images and can be even downgraded to take images in the VGA mode.It has a 8x
zoom.There are 4 quality settings, center and average metering options and a
self-timer. There are two video modes: standard and MMS. Standard video resolutions:
128 x 96 and 176 x 144.The camera does not have any flash.

Wi-fi and Bluetooth:

The Touch Phone boasts of great Wi-fi connectivity with good data speeds averaging 1097
kbits/s.It has Bluetooth 2.0 and supports most common profiles.

Battery Life:

The Touch Phone has an amazing battery life with upto 5hrs of talktime and 200hrs
standby battery life.Wi-Fi will consume the battery faster.

IPhone-Is it really worth the hype

Hi guys,
u know the big news, Iphone 3G is out in India with a price tag of ahem,ahem........31000 for a 8 GB phone and 36000 for a 16 GB.
So if u can cough up the money, here are a few reasons to do just that.

Apple Iphone is a touch based, virtual keyboard, a 2 mega pixel camera, a media player equivalent to an ipod,also supports internet browising,email,visual voicemails and u can make make calls and send messages of course(bad one i know).

The Iphone's HVGA screen is 9 cm (3.5 in) liquid crystal display (320×480 px at 6.3 px/mm, 160 ppi), touch screen designed to use with a finger.The touch pad also understands complex gestures like multi touch.The iPhone 3G includes A-GPS but also uses cell towers and Wi-Fi for location finding.There is a single home button beneath the display which brings up the main menu.It also has 3 additional buttons for wake/sleep, volume up/down, and ringer on/off.

The Software:

The OS is the IPhone OS which that runs the iphone as well as the ipod touch, which is derived from the Mac OS kernel.
You need itunes 7.3 or later to manage the iphone on XP and Vista(32-bit). Itunes 7.6 is expected to be released to incorporate 64-bit versions.
The web browser is Safari which supports web applications written with AJAX.

The Audio:

Need i talk about the audio where Apple is concerned?....Its equivalent to an ipod when it comes to music...awesome sound quality though not quite the same disk space as an ipod would have but no holding back as far as the quality of sound is concerned.The iPhone's headphones are similar to those of most current smartphones, incorporating a microphone.A multipurpose button in the microphone can be used to play or pause music, skip tracks, and answer or end phone calls without touching the iPhone.
You could also try the wireless earpieces.

The layout of the media library is very much like the ipod. The music is organised under Cover Flow,songs, artists, albums, videos, playlists, genres, composers, podcasts, audiobooks, and compilations.The iPhone allows users to purchase and download songs from the iTunes Store directly to their iPhone over Wi-Fi with the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store.

The Battery:

The battery in iphone 3G is fitted with the help of a connector rather than being soldered in, as in previous iphones.
The iPhone 3G's battery is stated to be capable of providing up to seven hours of video, six hours of web browsing on Wi-Fi or five on 3G, ten hours of 2G talk time, or five on 3G, 24 hours of music, or 300 hours of standby.It has a one year warranty.
Applications:

There are several applications located on the Home screen: Text (SMS messaging), Calendar, Photos, Camera, YouTube, Stocks, Maps (Google Maps), Weather, Clock, Calculator, Notes, Settings, and iTunes (store). There are 4 other applications at the base of the screen Phone, Mail, Safari, and iPod.
The youtube application can stream only a select few videos from the site as very few have converted to the required codec.

Features:

The iPhone allows audio conferencing, call holding, call merging, caller ID, and integration with other cellular network features and iPhone functions. Voice dialing and video calling are not supported by the iPhone.
The iPhone includes a visual voicemail feature allowing users to view a list of current voicemail messages on-screen without having to call into their voicemail.

GPRS and Internet:

The Iphone can connect the internet through EDGE or a GSM network.The iPhone 3G supports third-generation UMTS and HSDPA, but not HSUPA networks.It automatically detects all the Wi-Fi
netowrks available in the region and prompts for the password when required.The iPhone is able to access the World Wide Web via a modified version of the Safari web browser. The web pages
are displayed in a landscape mode and it also supports zooming by double tapping the screen.The iPhone does not support Flash nor Java technology.

The iphone also has a built in email application that supports veiwing attachments like photos,videos,pdfs, ppt presentations etc.Yahoo! offers a free push-email service for the iPhone.


Camera:

The camera in iphone is downright bad..... Its a 2 megapixel camera, just for still photography....... nothing else. No optical zoom, no autofocus and DOES NOT support video recording.

Bluetooth:

The built in Bluetooth 2.x+EDR DOES NOT support stereo audio (requires A2DP), laptop tethering (requires DUN and SPP), or the OBEX file transfer protocol (requires FTP, GOEP, and OPP).
The lack of these profiles does not allow the user to connect to any other bluetooth enabled cell phone.


Specs:

* Color: Black (8 GB or 16 GB) or white (16 GB)
* Size: 4.5 inches (115.5 mm) (h) × 2.4 inches (62.1 mm) (w) × 0.48 inch (12.3 mm) (d)
* Weight: 133 g (4.7 oz)
* Headphone jack (non-recessed)
* Battery has up to 10 hours of 2G talk, 5 hours of 3G talk, 5 (3G) or 6 (Wi-Fi) hours of Internet use, 7 hours of video playback, and up to 24 hours of audio playback, lasting over 300 hours on standby.
* Tri band UMTS / HSDPA: UMTS 850 / 1900 / 2100
* Assisted GPS, with preference to location based on Wi-Fi or cell towers
* Digital SAR Rating: 1.38 W/kg

BLU RAY DISCS- FAQs

How fast are BD discs written and read?

At single speed (1x) information is written to or read from a BD disc at 4.29 MB (4,495,625 bytes or 35,965,000 bits) per second. Spinning the disc at higher velocities increases these rates, which are then expressed as multiples of these figures (e.g. 2x, 4x, 6x, etc.).

To accommodate its extended set of features (high bitrate video and audio encoding, out-of-mux streams, etc.), a BD-ROM AV disc is played at 1.5x speed (6,743,438 bytes or 53,947,500 bits per second) to achieve normal viewing speed.

How much time does it take to write a BD-R and BD-RE disc?

BD-RE was first introduced to market with 1x (CLV) writing but both BD-RE and BD-R specifications now define 1x and 2x (CLV) operation. Since 1x BD writing transfers 4.29 MB (4,495,625 bytes) of data per second it takes, roughly, 93 minutes to write a full 25 GB disc or 46 minutes at 2x [(25,025,315,816 bytes ÷ 4,495,625 or 8,991,250 bytes per second) ÷ 60 seconds = 92.78 or 46.39 minutes].

What computer operating system is required to play BD movies?

According to recommendations from CyberLink, InterVideo, ArcSoft and Nero, to play BD movies a PC system must have either Windows XP SP2 or Vista installed. No Mac OS or Linux support is yet available.

What type of computer software is required to play BD movies?

As with traditional DVD, playback software is required to view BD movies on a computer. It can be purchased separately, as part of a larger package or bundled with a drive or recorder. Like consumer electronics (CE) players, various programs support different BD features and capabilities (BD-Video, BD-Live, audio codecs, etc.). Be aware that Internet access is necessary to periodically renew the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) encryption key required by commercial movies. As of Apr. 2007, CyberLink, InterVideo, ArcSoft and Nero offer playback software for PC systems but no Mac OS and Linux versions are yet available.

How much computer system memory is required to play BD movies?

According to recommendations from CyberLink, InterVideo, ArcSoft and Nero, to play BD movies a PC system must realistically be equipped with at least 1 GB of RAM.

What type of computer CPU is required to play BD movies?

According to recommendations from CyberLink, InterVideo, ArcSoft, Nero and NVIDA, to satisfy the significant processing demands of playing BD movies a PC system must realistically be equipped with a high performance dual-core CPU. Also note that playing VC-1 and MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 titles may require additional horsepower over those encoded with MPEG-2. Mac system guidelines have yet to be published.

Manufacturer	Model
Intel	Pentium Extreme Edition — 955 (3.46 GHz) or higher
	Pentium D 900 sequence — 945 (3.4 GHz) or higher
	Core Duo — T2500 (2.0 GHz) or higher
	Core 2 Duo — E6300 (1.86 GHz) or higher
	Core 2 Extreme — X6800 (2.93 GHz) or higher
AMD	Athlon 64 FX — FX-60 (2.6 GHz) or higher
	Athlon 64 X2 — 4200+ (2.2 GHz) or higher
	Turion 64 X2 — TL-60 (2.0 GHz) or higher

Blu Ray Discs-Part 2

Disc Structure and Reading Mechanism:

Discs store digitally encoded video and audio information in pits -- spiral grooves that run from the center of the disc to its edges. A laser reads the other side of these pits -- the bumps -- to play the movie or program that is stored on the DVD. The more data that is contained on a disc, the smaller and more closely packed the pits must be. The smaller the pits (and therefore the bumps), the more precise the reading laser must be.

A blue laser has a shorter wavelength (405 nanometers) than a red laser (650 nanometers). The smaller beam focuses more precisely, enabling it to read information recorded in pits that are only 0.15 microns (µm) (1 micron = 10-6 meters) long -- this is more than twice as small as the pits on a DVD. Plus, Blu-ray has reduced the track pitch from 0.74 microns to 0.32 microns. The smaller pits, smaller beam and shorter track pitch together enable a single-layer Blu-ray disc to hold more than 25 GB of information.





THE HARD COATING TECHNOLOGY MAKES THE BRDs PRACTICALLY SCRATCH RESISTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Recording speed:

Drive Speed	Date Rate Mbit/s	Data Rate MB/s	Write time for Single Layer	Blu-Ray Disc(mins) Double Layer
1x	36	4.5	90	180
2x	72	9	45	90
4x	144	18	23	45
6x	216	27	15	30
8x *	288	36	12	23
12x *	432	54	8	15

* Theoretical
Codecs:

The BD-ROM specification mandates certain codec compatibilities for both hardware decoders (players) and the movie-software (content).

For video, all players are required to support MPEG-2, H.264/AVC, and SMPTE VC-1. MPEG-2 is the codec used on regular DVDs, which allows backwards compatibility. H.264/AVC was developed by MPEG and VCEG as a modern successor of MPEG-4. VC-1 is another MPEG-4 derivative codec mostly developed by Microsoft.

For audio, BD-ROM players are required to support Dolby Digital AC-3, DTS, and linear PCM. Players may optionally support Dolby Digital Plus, and lossless formats Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

Region Codes:



Region code Area

A(Orange) Americas; East and Southeast Asia; U.S. territories; Bermuda
B(Green) Africa, Europe, Oceania; Middle East; Kingdom of the Netherlands; British overseas territories, French territories; Greenland.
C(Voilet) Central and South Asia; Mongolia, Russia, and People's Republic of China.

Digital Rights Management:

Digital rights management (DRM) is an umbrella term that refers to access control technologies used by publishers and copyright holders to limit usage of digital media or devices. It may also refer to restrictions associated with specific instances of digital works or devices. DRM overlaps with software copy protection to some extent, however the term "DRM" is usually applied to creative media (music, films, etc.) whereas the term "copy protection" tends to refer to copy protection mechanisms in computer software.

Formats:

BD-ROM (read-only) - for pre-recorded content
BD-R (recordable) - for PC data storage
BD-RW (rewritable) - for PC data storage
BD-RE (rewritable) - for HDTV recording


Competitors for BRDs:


Blu-ray and HD-DVD are the two major competitors in the market, but there are other contenders, as well. Warner Bros. Pictures has developed its own system, called HD-DVD-9. This system uses a higher compression rate to put more information (about two hours of high-definition video) on a standard DVD. Taiwan has created the Forward Versatile Disc (FVD), an upgraded version of today's DVDs that allows for more data storage capacity (5.4 GB on a single-sided disc and 9.8 GB on a double-sided disc). And China has introduced the Enhanced Video Disc (EVD), another high-definition video disc.

There are also professional versions of the blue laser technology. Sony has developed XDCAM and ProData (Professional Disc for Data). The former is designed for use by broadcasters and AV studios. The latter is primarily for commercial data storage (for example, backing up servers).


FAQ next time

Blu Ray Discs-Part1

Some time ago when Microsoft released hotmail Bill Gates had said 3mb(inbox space) is more than enough space ones ever going to need. In today’s perspective it seems a really nice joke. With hard disk sizes growing like anything (1 TB) one can still never have enough space on the hard disk to store all the movies, tv series, games and what not. CDs became ancient a long time ago when DVDs took over, but it seems that 4.7 GB per DVD is not enough (specially for us, living in a hostel).So ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for Blu Ray Discs(BRD) which is going to revolutionize the way people think about Optical discs.
With 27 GB on a single layered and 54 on a double layered BRD,it seems that it will settle the storage issue for some time to come.

The main reason why this had to come:

None of us want to watch movies with a bad print, do we?.A current, single-sided, standard DVD can hold 4.7 GB (gigabytes) of information. That's about the size of an average two-hour, standard-definition movie with a few extra features. But a high-definition movie, which has a much clearer image (see How Digital Television Works), takes up about five times more bandwidth and therefore requires a disc with about five times more storage.

Why the name?:

The Blu-ray name is a combination of "blue," for the color of the laser that is used, and "ray," for optical ray. The "e" in "blue" was purposefully left off, according to the manufacturers, because an everyday word cannot be trademarked.

A little peek into the history:

With the launch of HDTV sets it was imperative to have an inexpensive and commonly accepted medium to record and play HD content. Infact the only way was through JVC's Digital VHS and Sony's HDCAM. It was known for long that using a shorter wavelength laser would enable a optical device with higher density When Shuji Nakamura invented practical blue laser diodes, it was a sensation, although a lengthy patent lawsuit delayed commercial introduction. The first consumer devices were in stores on April 10, 2003. This device was the Sony BDZ-S77; a BD-RE recorder that was made available only in Japan. The recommended price was US$3800.

BRDs vs. DVDs:


More to come people keep looking here....

Xbox 360 Part 3

Well folks, here is the final look at the Xbox 360... The technical details will be provided by Voldie in our next post..

























































































NEXT TIME, We will look at the Sony Playstation 3....... keep in touch and leave your comments...

Xbox 360 Part 2

Owe all an apology for not producing this at an earlier time... having been snowballed with work i took some time off to check out the retail configurations of the Xbox 360... Sorry i might have to add the technical hardware in the next post...

Retail Confiurations..

Xbox 360 Elite is the latest Xbox in response to Sony's Playstation 3. This still cannot beat the Playstation in terms of the processing power offered by the Sony console but Microsoft's game packages are too good to make anyone want to atleast look and consider the new console...
The other versions of the Xbox 360 are

• Xbox 360 Core
• Xbox 360 Arcade
• Xbox 360 Premium

I'll have a table with their technical configurations in the next blog post later...
The Elite version sports a Matte Black finish with a 120 GB HDD and a HDMI 1.2 port

What is HDMI?
High Definition Multimedia Interface.... it's a compact AV(audio video) connector interface for uncompressed digital streams to be transmitted providing an alternative to RF coaxial cables, VGA, S-Video.
HDMI connects digital audio/video sources such as set top boxes, blu ray readers, PCs and ofcourse the Xbox 360 Elite to audio devices like DTV(digital television) video monitors which are compatible.
The founders of HDMI are Hitachi, Matushita Electric, Philips, Sony, Silicon Image, Thompson and Toshiba.

For the 360 Elite the distinct advantages are:-

1. high definition of video and audio all in one cable.
2. 1080p resolution
3. Audio via the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound output.
4. 2 meter long shielded cable

(images from www.xbox.com and google images... )

Some special versions of the Xbox 360 include the Halo 3 version(introduced in 2007), the unique Spartan green and gold with an option for great dashboard theme and downloads. Ofcourse for the Simpsons movie promotion, a specially designed yellow console was given to winners of drawings between July 18th and July 27th of 2007. This was similar to the Xbox 360 premium except for the unique console look as well as wireless controller option

More to come...

Sony NWZ-S718F

This is the latest addition to the Walkman series of Sony’s portable media players, looks similar to the previous versions of Walkmans. It boasts of Integrated Noise Cancellation, but the problem is, the circuitry works solely with the included earphones. This player is the NWZ-S718F, but it belongs to the NWZ-S710F series.
Offered in 4GB ($150) and 8GB ($200) capacities.(as per macdiner.com)



Specs:
Player Type: Flash MP3 Player
Radio: Yes
Recording, Voice: No
Recording, Line In: No
Video Recording: No
Music Playback Formats: AAC, MP3, WAV, WMA
Photo formats: JPEG
Video Formats: MPEG4
Audio Battery Life: 27.48 Hr
Dimensions: 3.2 x 1.6 x 0.5 inches
Screen Size: 1.8 inches
Display: 320-by-240-pixels
Storage Capacity: 8 GB

For detailed specifications check out:

reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/
sony-walkman-nwz-s718f/4507-6490_7-32893506.html

What is Noise Cancellation?
The NWZ-S710F's noise-cancellation feature is broken into two parts--the player, which handles all the signal processing; and the earphones, which have small microphones built into the outside of each earpiece to monitor external noise. While the two-part design delivers great results), the Achilles heel of the NWZ-S710F is the possibility of losing or damaging the proprietary earphones. Any standard set of headphones can be used with the NWZ-S710F, but its active noise-canceling feature will work only with the supplied earphones.

Design:
The front face has four arrow buttons, a central Play/Pause button, and two more buttons above them (Home/Back and Power/Option). There's a proprietary connector, so you have to use the supplied cable to connect the player to your PC.

Formats Supported:
File support is not extensive. Having AAC, MP3, WMA, and WAV is acceptable for audio, but providing only MPEG-4 SP (simple profile) for video and JPEG for photos may be limiting: You'll probably have to convert most of your files to make them viewable on the player. And the included Sony Media Manager software needs to be upgraded to the "Pro" level (for $12.95) in order to convert videos, which is a touch disappointing.

Navigation and Menus:
Menus are more or less similar to the previous walkmans, the addition of a home button helps. The option button, on the upper right-hand side of the control panel, offers additional choices-like access to EQ settings.The FM radio is easy to operate but it does not support FM recording.

Battery Life:
Sony rates the battery life at 33 hours for audio playback, and 8 hours for video.

Alternatives:

If noise cancellation isn't a must, you could save a couple of bucks on options like the Sansa Fuze or the Creative ZEN and get better video file support in the bargain.

The Xbox 360

The second game console unveiled Microsoft in May 2005 on MTV was the successor to the Xbox which signaled the end of a partnership between Nvidia and Microsoft for the development of the GPU for the console as Nvidia ceased production as of August 2005 with rivals ATI taking over. It was officially released in the US on November 22 and in Europe on December 2 of the year 2005

Well the Xbox competed with the Sony Playstation 2 as well as the Nintendo Gamecube during its release in 2001. However the Xbox 360 soon found competition from the Sony Playstation 3, which boasted the Cell Broadband Processor(3.2 Ghz) which sort of put Microsoft's console to shame in terms of performance. However the good folks at Microsoft managed to rope in some really enthralling game titles such as

Quake 4 Mod Version Of The Xbox 360

Halo 3(8 million already in sales), Forza Motorsport, Call Of Duty 2(2005's best selling game for the Xbox 360) and the latest big name being GTA 4(i can't wait for that)

In the next post we will look at the technical config of the Xbox 360 as well the various types or versions released over the years

Note that the end of HD-DVD production by Toshiba has made it tougher for Microsoft to work around this development as Sony's Blu-Ray technology makes its way into markets across the world(why not... the benefits are massive but the price makes you look away in shame)

Microsoft Xbox...

We currently are in the seventh generation of video games(yes seventh)... The Xbox is Microsoft's first venture into the gaming console arena which turned heads the first time it was released

More coming soon...

Gaming Consoles

The year 2008..... many of us have drooled or 'aaaaaah-ed' while viewing latest gaming consoles hitting the markets.All of us slowly becoming techno savvy than ever and the gaming console is the latest attraction in what is a long list of "expensive" toys out there(boy do i want one at home....sigh.........)
Be it a mega-mall or posh electronic goods shop, we all have wanted to try them out. Our eyes growing wide as we peer through the glass and see the boxes containing an Xbox or a PS3 or even the Nintendo Wii. Our parents frowns are the answe,which well, we did expect but the brutality of their expression was never to be expected(its India people, you know the rules....)

Anyway, I decided to write about the three consoles by splitting the article into 3 posts, each dedicated to a different console of different make. At the end of the 3 sections, we will match the 3 heavyweights together and make sense of which console today is the best in the world(ofcourse this will be judged on the basis of a number of factors...)

Coming soon... check the space in the days to come....