Prakash Advani's Blog

After  the HTC Desire, HTC has announced the HTC Desire HD. Here are the specs:

• 4.3 inch LCD screen: Thats big!
• 8 Megapixel Camera
• 1 GHz Processor (same as HTC Desire)
• 720p High Definition Video Capture
• HD Video Playback
• DivX playback
• Surround sound.
• 4 GB Internal Memory: Nice but more the better.
• Android 2.2.: Will also be available on HTC Desire, Wildfire and Legend.

If you are looking for a Qwerty phone, wait for the HTC Desire Z, which has a qwerty or look at Motorola Backflip.

These phones are expected to hit the market by the end of the year/Early Next year.

Linux powered devices are experiencing an exponential growth. E-book readers are gaining popularity because they can carry huge volumes of books, are environmental friendly and can do other things amongst being a book reader like listen to music or run apps.

I didn’t realise that so many of the popular e-book readers run Linux:

• Amazon Kindle DX
• Sony Reader PRS-900
• Spring Design Alex
• enTourage eDGe
• PocketBook 302

I find the enTourage very interesting. which is a dual screen one is e-ink based (easy for reading) and another is a LCD.

Read More.

What happens when a Taiwan ODM (Original Device Manufacturer) starts making their own phone? Result is you get good value for money, it start selling well and as a result they also get sued!

For those who came in late, ODMs are the actual manufactures of the device sold by the likes of Apple. ODMs actually make the devices and these are branded and sold by the big MNC brands.

HTC is  an ODM for many big brands. For example they manufactured the Google Nexus One for Google which is similar to HTC Desire. They have now been releasing their own phones.

They are so successful, that Apple sued them for patent infringement cause they enabled multi-touch on their phone and actually did a better job than Apple did on its iPhone.

HTC the number 1 brand as per GSMArena,  has launched some nice  phones to give customers a choice:

• HTC Wildfire
• HTCL Legend
• HTC Desire

Here is whats common between them:

• 5 Megapixel Camera
• LED Flash
• 3G with HSDPA for upto 7.2Mbps download speeds (network dependent)
• Wi-Fi
• Stereo Bluetooth
• GPS receiver
• FM Radio
• Touch screen with Multi-touch support
• Proximity sensor
• Accelerometer
• Optical Trackpad
• Flash Player
• 3.5mm standard audio jack
• Unlimited phonebook (limited by memory)
• MicroUSB
• Limitations: No front video camera for video conferencing. No Qwerty keyboard.

• All of them Run the latest Linux based Android 2.1 and are expected to be upgradable to 2.2 this quarter.

Android 2.2 will add:

• HTML 5
• Flash 10.1 support
• Faster speeds due to JIT compiler

Now here is the main difference between the three:

Features	HTC Wildfire	HTC Legend	HTC Desire
Display Type	TFT	AMOLED	AMOLED
Display Resolution	240×320	320 x 480	480 x 800
Display Size	3.2 Inches	3.2 Inches	3.7 Inches
Internal Memory	384 MB RAM	384 MB RAM	576 MB RAM
CPU	528 MHz Qualcomm	600 MHz Qualcomm	1GHz Qualcomm
Weight	118g	126g	135g
Price	$379/Rs. 15,000	$495/Rs. 21,000	$659/Rs. 26,000

The main difference between these phones are processor speeds, display quality and the price. The Legend and the Desire sports an AMOLED display which is the latest LED display, which is razor sharp.  The Desire also sports a slight larger display of 3.7 inches with the highest resolution. It also bundles a 4 GB MicroSD Memory Card. The processor speed is not so important if the OS works well and you don’t need to run too many apps simultaneously.

Here is my suggestion:

If you want an Android phone but not willing to shell out a bomb, the Wildfire is your best bet. Since the Wildfire is the latest amongst these, it also has some newer features.

If you don’t have budget constrains and wants to show off to your iPhone friends, then go in for the Desire. Its will also do justice in video playback capabilities. The Legend is ofcourse for people who want the best of both worlds: Lower cost than desire but with better display than the Wildfire.

Android has overtaken Apple OS (iPhone,itouch,iPad) to be number 2. Blackberry RIM is still Number one,  however they are quickly loosing marketshare to Android.

• RIM’s BlackBerry OS at 36 percent;
• Android at 28 percent;
• Apple iPhone OS at 21 percent.

Read more.

Our plain old hard drive is getting increasingly replaced by SSD, now Seagate is soon going to announce Hybrid drives (Momentus XT) which take advantage of both these technologies to give you the best of both world. Here is a summary.

Hard Drives (spinning Disk drives)

Advantages:

• Lowest cost per GB
• Easy availability
• Fairly reliable

Disadvantages:

• Not drop proof
• Generates Heat
• Slower than SSD
• Consumes more power than SSD

Solid State Drive (SSD)

Advantages:

• Fastest speeds today
• Drop proof, as there is no moving parts, hence rugged enough to be used in extreme environements
• Low power consumption, so increases your battery life
• Light weight so reduces weight of your portable device

Disadvantages:

• Most Expensive

Hybrid drives:

Advantages:

• Uses both SSD and spinning disk drive
• Gives cost advantages of spinning disk drive
• Provides performance of SSD
• Dynamically moves more often accessed file from spinning section to SSD

Disadvantages:

• Still not drop proof like the SSD
• Power consumption will be higher than SSD

Read full review and speed tests.

Seagate Momentus XT 320 GB 2.5 Inch Solid State Hybrid Drive for Laptops available for $125

Best Buy is firing its employee who made this funny video comparing iPhone 4 with HTC Evo. Perhaps Apple didn’t find the video funny and is pressurising Best Buy to take action.

Here is the scoop. The video has already had 2.3 Million views and growing rapidly. Its funny

If you want to build a Media Center PC to play your movies, music and photos on a high definition TV. Here is a simple way to build so.

Step 1

First get the tiny Zotac Media Center PC.

Step 2

Install Ubuntu, which is very easy just download from Ubuntu.com and follow the simple instructions. You can install via CD or bootable USB pen drive which is faster.

Step 3

After you install Ubuntu, install XBMC. XBMC (XBox Media Center)  is the coolest media center on Ubuntu.

Following  these steps:

Go to Accessories – Terminal.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc

It will ask for your password, once that is done, close the Window.

Then go to system-administration-synpatic

Search for “xbmc” (without quotes).

Check this package, select mark for installation and then click Apply. It will now install this package.

After that go to Applications-Sound and Video-XBMC.

If you want to try XBMC on a regular Ubuntu system follow step 3.

If you are a bit more adventurous, these are things you can try.

1. Buy a Zotac board and build your own box, here you can add blueray disk or a 3.5″ 2 TB hard drive. The Zotac PC supports only a 2.5″disk, so you are limited to lower capacities.

2. Add a remote control.

3. Made XBMC your default window manager.

Nice you tube video.

Zotac with Ubuntu

To all the people rushing to buy an iPad, you should know that Apple makes as much as 52% profit margin on the iPad. The devil is in the details.

BOM (Bill of Material) for iPad.

16GB iPad with WiFI costs US$270 which retails for $499. The margins go up further if you add a 3G Module or high capacity.

Here is the link for a detailed breakup.

Expect other vendors to launch products to compete with iPad with more aggressive pricing.

Marvell has already announced a $99 tablet!

I have used over a dozen bags from LowePro, Case Logic, Samsonite, Belkin, Hush Puppies to name a few known brands. I have also evaluated Targus, Swiss Gear and some other brands in detail.

I have founds that a few are well designed to carry laptops while others are well designed as professional camera bags. I have come across very few bags which are well suited for both. As a matter of fact most IT professionals, specially the young ones are buying Digital Camera. After the laptop their next purchase  is usually an expensive gadgets (iPhone/iPad) or high end cameras.

Remember bag is no more an accessory to carry your device, it provides security to the customer that all his/her devices are going to be safe in this bag.

For me, my bag is my office while I am travelling. I use the bag to carry a laptop, sometimes a second laptop/netbook for demos. Brochures, Business Cards and CDs. I also carry a camera with a lens and other accessories.

Here is my wish list for what a bag should do. Also I have found that most of the bags do a few of these well but not all of the following:

• Stroller backpack: Strollers are good to use when you have lots of stuff to carry around and don’t want to strain your back. The challenge is to make the bag light weight at the same time able to have a stroller. Solution: Explore alternative material like titanium/carbon fiber for stroller.
• All terrain stroller wheels: The stroller wheels should be big ones which can work in difficult terrains. I have used bags, where the stroller is designed only to be used in offices/hotels and not designed for outdoor use. You may not always have a smooth train specially if you go outdoor for photography. I am currently using a bag which has silicon wheels, lets see how that goes.
• Weight Bearing Capacity: Some of the bags that I have used, give way once you put all your things. Most of the bags don’t publish their weight bearing capacity so you don’t know how much you should or should not load. Solution:Publish the Weight Bearing Capacity.
• Solar Panel: I saw some bags which had solar panels on the top, these are nice for emergency charging of cellphones and other devices. They are also environmental friendly.
• Laptop Slot: Since the bag is primarily going to be used to carry a laptop, the slot must be well padded from all sides include the base. It should also not directly face the stroller metal bar as this could damage the laptop.
• Impact resistant base: The base should be designed to be able to take a small amount of impact/drop from a desk in case that happens.
• Mobile phone/mp3 player slot: Many people user their mobile phone as an Mp3 player, the bag should have a slot to put these. This should be easy to drop it as air travellers need to quickly drop their mobile phones at airport security.
• Removable Laptop Sleeve: The bag should have a laptop sleeve, so people can remove the laptop from the bag and yet have some protection. This is useful for airport security or if customer just want to take the laptop with him/her without taking the entire bag.
• iPad Compartment: Many customer already have a second device (Netbook) or will invest in a iPad like device. The bag must have a compartment for a second device such as a second laptop which is required for demos, second netbook or an iPad.
• Removable laptop battery case: in one of the bags that I used, it has a little case for laptop battery which was removable. This is a nice feature and can have Velcro to strap it inside the bag.
• Removable Camera Compartment: There should be a compartment to carry a digital camera with some accessories or an SLR. This should be removable so customer doesn’t have to carry multiple bags when he/she wants to keep the bag but move around with the camera.
• Adjustable pockets for accessories: Many people need to carry additional accessories/lenses, etc. The bag should have a pockets which should be adjustable to carry one big device or a few small ones.
• Water bottle/drink slot: A few bags have them, while others don’t. While travelling people want to carry water or their favourite drinks.
• Key ring hook: A key ring hook is a nice feature, so people can secure the keys inside the bag. A few bags have them, however a few of them have key-chains inside, which one needs to use to use the hook. Its better to just provide a key hook so people can use what ever key-chain they want to use.
• Secure compartment: Bags usually have a place to store your passports/cash but they need to be secure enough so people trust them and use them to keep their cash and other important document.
• Slots for Brochures, pens, business cards are given and found in most bags.
• Phone Slot: People still prefer to keep their phones in their pocket, but at times they need to keep their phones away like at Airport Security. They bag should have slot where they can keep their phone away at the same time have easy access.
• Sleeve for Luggage: Some bags have a sleeve which can be used to attach your laptop bag to the luggage, this makes it easy if you have to carry two bags.
• Not just black! I have see so many nice bags, but all that they have is a black colour. I know black is the corporate colour and many business laptops are black too but its time to experiment with more colours.

I must now like to admit, that after writing this article I came across Crumpler bags. They were able to satisfy most of the requested features but not all. I will write my review once I check them out.

After clocking 10,000 + Units of the Plug Computer, Marvell is releasing Plug Computer 3.0.

For those who came in late, Plug is a small lower powered computer which can do those nightly downloads, uploads, data captures, image captures from web cams and more.

What new?

• 2.0 GHz
• 1 Watt power consumption
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Wifi
• Bluetooh
• SD Card
• eSata
• Runs Linux

Read More.

Olympus has been bringing Micro Four-Third cameras to the market faster that expected. After the E-P1 and E-P2, they have now released E-PL1 which is cheaper by US$ 200.

Here are the specs.

• Kit includes 14-42 Zoom lens
• 12 MegaPixel
• 2.7″ LCD
• HD Video support
• List price US$ 599

E-PL1 has a few advantages over E-P2:

• Dedicated REC button
• Magnified live view button
• Up to 14x live view magnification
• Lighter low-pass filter
• Built-in flash

E-P2 advantages over E-PL1:

• Two control dials
• More direct-access buttons (including ISO and white balance)
• Superior image stabilization system
• AE/AF lock button
• Orientation sensor
• Larger, 3.0″ LCD
• More substantial construction
• 1/180 sec flash sync speed (rather than 1/160)
• Maximum shutter speed of 1/4000 sec (rather than 1/2000)
• Maximum ISO of 6400
• Virtual level display
• Built-in stereo mics/speakers
• Optional wireless remote
• Electronic View Finder (EVF) bundled, in EPL-1 it is optional

Detailed comparison of all the three models at DP Review.


USB 3 devices have finally started showing up in the US and expect them to be more widely available everywhere else in the world, later this year.

USB 2 has been around, but with serious bottlenecks. Its slow and gets slower when you connect multiple peripherals. Is USB 3 going to solve the problem? It looks promising. What is USB 3 all about?

• 10 times faster than USB 2.0 with 5Gbps.
• USB 3 is bi-directional so its much faster. In USB 2 data can flow only in one direction at a time.
• Realistically you should get 3 times faster transfer speeds for external drives.
• Backward compatible with USB 2. If you connect to older systems, you will still be able to use, but at slower speeds.
• More power. Since more and more devices are being powered by USB, USB3 provides more power to adequately power those external hard drives.
• Linux is the first operating system to support USB 3, and yes Microsoft has followed by including support in Windows 7.

The first place where USB 3 has started showing up is in external hard drives. If you are looking for one, you should consider USB 3. To get USB 3 performance, you will need USB 3 port on your computer, which is lacking in most of the PCs/Laptops sold today. However you can buy a hard drive with a card for your PC/Laptop.

From Amazon: 1 TB USB 3 external desktop hard drive with PCIe USB 3 adaptor.

USB 3.0 Expresscard for your laptop.

Now that the dust has unsettled on the iPad and more anxiety is being generated , I decided to write my two cents.

Apple is known to be an innovative company and they have done exactly that with this device, however they could do better. What they seems to have done is just zoomed up the iPhone , guess Mr. Jobs is getting old .

Apple realised that people liked the iPhone but found the screen size too small, so why not make it bigger while everything else remains the same.  Good strategy because you can use all your iPhone apps, bad one because it still has the limitations of the iPhone.

Here is what I liked:

• Nice 10 inch Screen which is sufficient for most work and entertainment.
• 1024X768 resolution which is decent for all apps.
• Slim .5″ and light weight 1.5 Pounds (700 grams).
• Option for WiFi or 3G (3G may be locked to service providers as this is common Apple Strategy.)
• Huge collection of applications, as all iPhone apps work.
• 10 Hours of Battery life.
• Flash storage (SSD).
• eBook reader, so you can use it as a ebook reading device, however dedicated eBook readers are easier to read because they don’t emit light.
• Orientation sensor, so you can use it vertically or horizontally.

What I don’t like:

• No expandable storage, as there is no memory card slot.
• No USB either so you cant add any peripherals or storage either. You need to purchase additional accessory (Camera Connection Kit).
• No Phone, who would want a 10 inch phone? But we also don’t want to carry so many devices. So phone capablity via bluetooth would be nice.
• No Camera? you got to be kidding. How the hell are we going to use this for our our Skype Videos? Note: Apple has filed a patent for in-screen camera, so this may show up in iPad v2.

Pricing:

This is attractive and offers a good alternative to Netbooks.

Full specifications:

Size and weight

• Height: 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
• Width: 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
• Depth: 0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
• Weight: 1.5 pounds (.68 kg) Wi-Fi model; 1.6 pounds (.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model

Display

• 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
• 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)
• Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
• Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Wi-Fi model

• Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology

Wi-Fi + 3G model

• UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
• GSM/EDGE (850, 900,1800, 1900 MHz)
• Data only2
• Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology

Location Service

• Wi-Fi
• Digital compass
• Assisted GPS (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
• Cellular (Wi-Fi + 3G model)

Other features:

• 30-pin Dock connector (same as iPod and iPhone)
• 10-hours of battery life (Over one month standby time)’
• Full capacitive multi-touch interface
• 16-64GB of Flash memory storage
• 1 GHz Apple-branded A4 chip (developed in-house)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• 802.11n WiFi
• Built-in Speaker
• Built-in Microphone

There is surely a market for devices between a phone and a laptop. The phone has a tiny screen, while the laptop is too big to carry around, so the iPad fills the space well. This will trigger many other OEMs to come up with similar devices, (Dell/HP/Acer are you listening?).  The competition should give us more choices and yes similar functionality can easily be achieved on a Linux platform.

I was comparing the pricing of External drives and here are the results. Its Amazing to see how we used to talk in MBs, then GBs and now TBs.

The cost per GB for two 1TB is the same as one 2TB. Unless you need more than 1TB which is a lot, I would buy a 1TB drive and keep the budget for another drive in the future. Who knows by the time you run out of your 1TB, you could get another 2TB a the same price.

The bottle neck will now be the data transfer, USB 2.0 is just not fast enough.. so look for eSATA. Your PC/Notebook should also have an eSATA port. A NAS box with Gigabit Ethernet would also be fast, provided your network card and your network is 1GBps.

I have been using the Jawbone, noise cancellation headset for a while. Its sold at a premium over other brands. It worked very well for a few days and did an excellent job in noise cancellation. However after a few days it started giving way, due to the poor build quality.

The ear hook was the first to break down. The unit ships with 3 ear hooks to fit different ear sizes, I have used up all the ones supplied and now I don’t have any left, as they keep breaking. Also the body plastic has come off, and that exposes the electronics.

Now only if they fixed the quality of plastic, it would be a great product.

LG launched a new LCD TV Monitor (Flatron M197WA) , here is my mini review of the product:

• Its a 18.5″ Wide, I was actually looking for 22″ but this turned out to be good enough.
• 1366 X 768 resolution which is HD ready (1080p).
• Built-in HDMI port which can be used with Blueray, new generation of up-scale DVD players and the new breed of HD digital cameras. They all use HDMI. Note: HDMI cable is not included and has to  purchased separately.
• 20000:1 Contrast Ratio: Not sure if that made any significant different but nice.
• 5ms response time: that’s good enough, but if you are into serious action gaming, you may want a 2ms.
• Built in TV function, for the couch potatoes. Also includes remote.
• Built in speakers, the sound quality is functional but nothing to write home about.
• Comes with a detachable stand, so it can be used on the desk or can be wall mounted. Wall mounting bracket needs to be purchased separately.
• She’s got the looks, the monitor is a good looking baby.
• Lots of ports: DVI, HDMI, D-Sub (standard monitor input), Composite AV.
• Power Consumption 35W, 1W on Standby.
• I tested this on Ubuntu 9.04 and was detected immediately with, no additional tweaking needed.

Street Price in India: Rs. 12,500/-

Overall a good buy. I have only tested the PC functions, have yet to test the TV capabilities.

Important Bits:

• Runs Linux, so full multitasking and no more crashes
• 3.5G and WiFi connectivity
• 5-inch resistive WVGA screen
• slide-out QWERTY keyboard
• ARM Cortex 8 processor @ 600 MHz
• 32GB of internal memory, big enough than most other phones.
• MicroSD slot for expansion
• FM transmitter
• 3D Graphic accelerator
• Flash Player
• 5-megapixel camera
• 3.5mm jack

Dell Ideastrom has this excellent suggestion: Standardize Power Cables for Laptops

This will be so cool! You don’t need to worry if you forgot to carry your laptop power cord, hotels/airlines can have direct supply for laptop power and the convenience will be amazing.

Its also necessary to standardise on the power adaptors for other devices. The good news Cellphones will have stand power adaptors by 2012. This has been agreed at GSMA 2009 by Nokia, Motorola, LG, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson. They will use the micro USB port as the standard. Can’t wait for this to happen! Apparently this move will good for the environment as they will save tons on adaptors as they can now be re-cycled.

Canon has launched the 500D/T1i, this fits in between the entry level 1000D and the professional series 50D. This also have video capabilities which all the SLRs are now adding.

Key Features

• 15 Mega Pixel. Same sensor as the 50D, which is a good thing but does megapixel  matter any more? Perhaps for some.
• High Definition Video (1080p) recording.This is at 20fps, while you can get 30fps if you shoot in 720p.
• Extendible ISO up to 12800
• Live view with Face Detection
• HDMI output
• 9 Point autofocus
• SD/SDHC Card
• 524g weight

Main advantage over 450D

• Video capabilities
• 15MP vs. 12
• Higher ISO vs 1600
• HDMI connectivity

If these are not important to you, then you could get a 450D at a bargain.

Advantage over Olympus E620

• Video as the 620 doesn’t have video.

Advantage of Olympus E620 over Canon 500D

• Image stabilisation in the Body

Its very easy to get a computer with what ever hardware configuration you want, you can go on-line and configure it with all possible permutations and combinations. Except for one.

Its very difficult to buy a hardware of your choice without Windows. What if you want to use Linux? What do you do? You may still end up paying for the Microsoft Tax, even if your Windows partition is just sitting there and doing nothing.

Solution: Buy a hardware of your choice and apply for a refund. Yes its possible, may not be very easy but definitely worthy a try. Venkat Raghavan managed to get a refund on Windows. Read his blog and enjoy your refund.

Now if more and more people start doing that, not that Bill would become a popper but vendors would give us Linux users a choice.