New Cool Gadgets

Yesterday I downloaded a hit movie from a popular file sharing network, but when I played back the file in Winamp and Windows Media Player 9, I could not hear any sound. After much researching on the net, I found that I needed an AC3 Filter (codec) to decode the audio on the AVI movie file.

So if you ever download an AVI or DVD movie from the net and there is no sound on the file, you need to download and install the AC3 Filter. Once installed, all your video players (Windows Media Player, Winamp, etc.) will be able to play the audio on the file.

The latest version is 1.09a which is still in beta. The 0.07b is the last stable version. You can download the codec from the AC3 Official site.

Nokia has finally started to pay attention to the growing CDMA market and is now launching several new CDMA phones. I recently changed my CDMA handset and bought the Nokia 6235 CDMA phone with camera. I am using a Reliance India Mobile connection and the handset came pre-programmed with the number. There is no need to use a SIM card as in a GSM phone.

First Look

The Nokia 6235 CDMA phone looks slim (98 grams) and smart with intelligent use of black and grey on the body and chrome accents on the keypad. The 5 way joystick makes navigation easy, although it felt a bit too hard for my comfort. Comparatively, the Nokia 6600 has a very soft feel joystick. The screen backlight is good enough to make the phone easy to use in the dark. The smart black strip on the rear which has the camera on one side adds to the look of the phone.

Features

The Nokia 6235 has an integrated VGA camera and video recorder. However due to the limited memory (12 MB max), you can only record a few minutes of video. The camera has a one-step digital zoom. The image quality is fairly good and there are three quality modes to choose from.

The Nokia 6235 features video streaming and can play live TV, a service which is now available on many CDMA networks, including Reliance. I tried watching NDTV news channel on the phone and found that the telecast was only a few seconds delayed than what was being shown on my cable TV! Wow, this is the coolest feature of this phone! Imagine as more and more TV channels are added to the service, you will be able to watch all your favorite TV shows on the move! For the radioheads, the Nokia 6235 features an FM Radio. The stereo earphones shipped with the phone are quite good and deliver excellent sound.

The phone supports a wide variety of media formats and you can store and listen to MP3 and AAC song files, watch videos and view JPG or GIF images. The MP3 decoder is excellent and I found the Nokia 6235 to have a better sound quality than my iPod! If only Nokia had provided a memory card slot in this phone. With the limited memory, I can carry only 3 to 4 MP3 songs. Another cool feature is that you can set any MP3 song as the ringtone! The phone has a handsfree loudspeker which can be turned on to listen to the radio or MP3 songs.

The 128x128, 65K color display is sharp and clear. The display supports both large and small fonts and can display upto 4 rows of text. The now popular Nokia user interface makes navgating through the menu very easy. The phone has all the standard features like Messaging, Infrared and MMS. However a Bluetooth option is missing. Voice dialing and voice commands are supported and there is a voice recorder to record your memos etc. The Nokia 6235 has a good battery life enough to give you about 3.5 hours of talktime.

Verdict

At around INR 8,000.00, the Nokia 6235 CDMA cellphone is a good package which is spoilt only by the limited memory. Nokia should atleast have given the option to expand the memory with a card. But with so many features, like Video recording, camera, MP3 player, FM Radio and MMS, the phone is excellent value for money. For a CDMA user who wants to have all the latest features and does not want to burn a hole in his pocket, this is the phone to buy!

Update - Nokia 6235 SIM card slot

A lot of people have written in to ask if they can use a GSM SIM card in the Nokia 6235's SIM card slot. The SIM card slot in the Nokia 6235 is a T-SIM slot and a GSM SIM cannot be used in it. Some CDMA service providers like Tata Indicom sell T-SIM cards which can used in the Nokia 6235. But you may need to unlock your 6235 to be able to use another service provider's T-SIM card. Maybe some mobile phone genius could make a GSM SIM card work in the T-SIM slot, but I have not come across any example yet. So there you are. If you have any more questions, you can write to me at the email address at the bottom of this page.

Any Laptop you buy in India will cost you approx. INR 8,000 - 10,000 less than what you will pay in the US, UK or Australia. For Gamers a good option will be to go in for AMD Turion 64 bit, instead of Pentium M which is still 32 bit. You see, 2 years from now all OS will be 64 bit, and most games will be available in 64 bit format. Windows Vista (Microsoft's new OS) is being released in 64 bit format. Microsoft Office is already available in 64 bit.

Also most Pentium M configurations use 915 chipset which comes with 128 MB shared Video RAM. Whereas with most AMD Turion 64 bit systems, you get ATI Mobility Radeon with 64 MB or 128 MB dedicated memory which is much faster for games. However Pentium M notebooks with ATI Radeon and GE Force are also available, although they are a bit higher priced.

You can checkout some "Gamer's favourites" Pentium M and AMD Turion 64 bit laptops I shortlisted for you below:

1. Acer TravelMate 4600

This is one of the best configurations in any brand on Pentium M platforms. It has a Pentium M, 1.60 GHz, 533 MHz FSB Processor. Has ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X700 with 64 MB of DDR VRAM, supporting ATI POWERPLAY™ 5.0, Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0, PCI Express™ and DualView™. Comes with 1 year International Travellers Warranty (ITW).

Price in INR: 62,500

2. HP Compaq nx6110

HP has this offering in the same price range. It has a faster processor; Pentium M at 1.86 GHz. But the drawback is that it has 128 MB shared Video RAM. Still, it is one of the best for its price. I could not find it listed on the HP site. However it is available at all dealers here in India.

Price in INR: 65,000

3. Toshiba Satellite A 80

This Toshiba has a Pentium M 1.7 GHz processor and the graphics are powered by ATI Mobility Radeon IGP 7000. Its unique feature is the 15" XGA TFT LCD with Clear SuperView Technology. This means that the screen is clearly viewable even from the side from any angle. Only Toshiba offers this technology currently in this price range. Another excellent machine for gaming on the go. It has WI-FI and SRS TruSurround sound technology. However it does not have DVD RW, only DVD R.

Price in INR: 62,000

4. Acer Aspire 5000

The Acer Aspire is a true 64 bit system with the AMD Turion ML 30 (1.6 GHz) , 64 bit processor. It has a 15" Widescreen format display. It is said to have better graphics capabilities than similar HP and Compaq Presario notebooks. Includes Wi-Fi, DVD RW and Win XP Pro. The most attractive part is its price. See below.

Price in INR: 50,999

5. Acer Ferrari 4000

This one is my pick for the true blue gamer! Buy this laptop, and you get the best graphics, the best future-proof machine (64 bit), the highest HDD space, best media writer (DVD RW - Double Layer writing), and the best compatibility (5 in 1 card Reader)

The Acer Ferrari is the official notebook used by all technicians who work on the 2006 Ferrari F1 car. The notebook features the top of the line AMD Turion ML 30 (1.6 GHz) 64 bit processor. The AMD ML 37 (2.0 GHz) is also available as an option. It features AMD PowerNow!™, AMD HyperTransport™, and 3DNow!™.

The graphics solution is powered by ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X700 with 128 MB of external DDR VRAM, supporting ATI POWERPLAY™ 5.0, Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 and PCI Express™DualView™ support.

It has an 80 GB HDD and DVD RW with Double Layer writing for DVD's.

This bad boy does not come cheap though.

Price in INR: 99,999

So there you are. You can do some more research on your own to find your best buy. You can check for laptop rates in India on http://www.ebay.in.

Happy notebook hunting!