Nokia N 97.

This review maybe a little late but I had to wait for Nokia to officially launch the N97. I like doing things by the book. But for this particular review, I decided to be a wee bit unconventional, so I'm writing it from the handset itself. These notes will be emailed to my editor from the phone.

Form Factor
Let me just get those off my chest - I was a little skeptical of the N97's 3.5-inch resistive touchscreen working out too well. For the record, it's brilliant. It's as responsive as any other touchscreen handset out there.

The simplistic singular button for accessing the menu is just that... Simple. The touch sensitive call keys, on the other hand are just a little too closely spaced. It took a little while to get used to but the UI compensates with onscreen options. The front camera and light sensor work without a hitch.
The slide out QWERTY keypad and screen angle are every bit as great as any ad or image you've come across. There are arch-sliders and then there's the N97. The keys are a bit small, but I'm quickly getting the hang of it. I found the on-screen alphanumeric keypad extremely handy as well for quick one handed typing with its large keys.

The N97 may not be a sleek handset and it is just a little bit on the hefty side, but its weight seems well adjusted for comfort and portability. It has a 3.5mm earphone socket built in and one on the handsfree as well. Didn't care too much for the bundled earphones. A micro USB is located on one side. It doubles as a charger port as well. A screen lock slider switch is right next to it. A set of volume/zoom keys and a camera button are on the other side.

The 5mp camera with a dual LED flash is at the rear behind a slide protector. My one main issue is the lack of a hot swap slot for the microSD card, then again with 32 Gigs of space, it's no big deal. The rear panel had a problem sitting back into the grooves. I didn't want to force it any more than i did. It stuck out a bit ominously though.

All relevant accessories are included with the packaging. All in all, the N97 is a trendy well designed handset. I like it so far. On to the next section.

Features and Performance -
UI
The Symbian OS version 9.4 with an S60 UI coupled with an ARM 11 434MHz processor makes for speedy usage and virtually no lag while multi-tasking. It's at least a couple of levels higher than the 5800's. There's a smooth flow to the system and a quickness that accompanies it when it comes to opening apps like the N-Series video browser section and files that I've normally had issues with. Touchscreen navigation is no problem either. Like i mentioned earlier it's quite responsive but not annoyingly so that it'll activate features if it grazes your pocket or any other surface.

The desktop can be customized to include all relevant short cuts to various options, settings and features. It's called 'Live Desktop' as you can stay connected to Facebook etc. all the time and access it from here. With a flick of your finger you can easily hide all of the options. In some ways though, the 5800's desktop is better. The History for contacts option is not available here in the N97 for some reason. That was rather helpful to keep track of in coming and outgoing contact with a specific person.

Media
The N97 is definitely equipped with one of the better music players in Nokia's multimedia range of handsets. The tones are clear and quite well balanced. The 8 band graphic EQ and presets with Stereo Widening only make things better and provide for a richer audio experience.

The lack of a Visual Radio application was quite a disappointment. I was expecting it to be part of the feature set as it showed up in the specs all over the place. It does have an FM Transmitter though. The FM radio with RDS was just ok and in no way anything to write home about.

Sadly, Nokia still didn't find it necessary to include a few relevant codecs like DivX and XviD for video playback. Having a great widescreen like this feels like a bit of a waste in this case. So you'll still have to get a hold of a decent converter to alter your videos for the N97 to MPEG4 and 3GP. The ability to Copy Paste videos would have made this handset so much more appealing.

Podcasting, a voice recorder and a quick link to YouTube are available. The games are not impressive so no big deal. A few editing options are also present for pictures taken via the camera. It all supports AV out but no cables have been included.

File Extension SRT..

Imagine viewing a Japanese cinematic masterpiece without subtitles?

A Chinese action flick minus subtitles?

With the advent of DVD we are getting subtitle options unlike the VCD.

The magic file extension used here is"File Extension SRT".The SRT files have made it possible to provide subtitles in multiple languages.It has made the subtitles writing program so easy that its been implemented even by very small linguistic population.

"File Extension SRT" is also used in some mobile phone software's for improving the sound file.

Its amazing how human curiosity and the desire to improve things around us led to this subtitle movement.

This small piece of software has opened the flood gates of foreign language cinema for the entire world to relish.It has given a new lease of life to classics from different cultures to transcend and be relished through out the world.

Thanks "File Extension SRT" for making our life simpler..

JPEG format..

The roadside cameraman from childhood is fading from memory.There was a tripod over which the blanket covered camera was put and it use to give passport sized pics thru it.Hilarious by today's standards when a mobile phone sports a 8 MP digital camera in it!

When i was introduced to the net in early 90s it was a slow and tardy affair with the dial in connection compared to today's age of broadband!

The best part of the net was the ability to see and send images the JPEG ones.

The images used the "File Extension JPG"  format.The surprise part is the success of this format from the old days to HD days now the format has not changed.Now even the home theaters come with an ability to read the File Extension JPG.

So one can see the images taken by a digital camera or mobile by inserting the memory card in the DVD players card reader slot!

I remember the times when the slow Internet speed took a lot of time and patience to open an image file but now we see streaming video or live TV on the net.

The File Extension JPG format is used by a commoner to a pro.The JPEG format is user friendly as it opens with most software's.

MY PDA..ASUS P 527.

GENERAL	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	Announced	2007, September
	Status	Available. Released 2008, October

SIZE	Dimensions	113 x 58 x 15.4 mm
	Weight	125 g

DISPLAY	Type	TFT resistive touchscreen, 65K colors
	Size	240 x 320 pixels, 2.6 inches

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, Midi, MP3, WMA, WAV ringtones
	Speakerphone	No

MEMORY	Phonebook	Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
	Call records	Practically unlimited
	Internal	128 MB storage, 64 MB RAM
	Card slot	microSD (TransFlash), buy memory

DATA	GPRS	Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
	HSCSD	No
	EDGE	Yes
	3G	No
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.0
	Infrared port	Yes
	USB	Yes, v1.1

CAMERA	Primary	2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, autofocus
	Video	Yes
	Secondary	No

FEATURES	OS	Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional
	CPU	32-bit TI OMAP 850 200 MHz processor
	Messaging	SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
	Browser	WAP 1.2.1/2.0
	Radio	FM radio
	Games	Yes
	Colors	Silver
	GPS	Yes, SiRF Star III chipset
	Java	Yes, MIDP 2.0
		- Business card scanner - Voice Recognition  - MP3 Player - Pocket Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF viewer) - Organizer - Voice memo - World time - Stopwatch

BATTERY		Standard battery, Li-Ion
	Stand-by
	Talk time

The PC revolution.

Many many year ago the IBM head proclaimed after inaugreting the first computer which was a room size"World will need seven of these".

Rest is history thanks to a man named Bill gates who dreamed of the PC in every home!

Today we cant imagine a life without computers..its omnipresent thanks to the PDA revolution.

Palm was the first to herald this revolution,but with time they sceded this pole position to companies like HTC and Samsung.

The Palm revolution was based on a solid piece of software called PRC or File extesion PRC.

This format is used by Palm to store the program files and textual information.

The correct file extension PRC helps in resolving problems like viewing the program files of palm and picture gear pocket.

Some other popular softwares for PDA use the File extension PRC like the Mobipocket an e book reader.

Online booking of Tata Nano..

Tata Motors is offering what insiders say is another first in the Indian automobile industry - online booking.

Along with retailing co-branded Nano merchandise such as watches, T-shirts and phones on the Internet, the dedicated website for the "people's car" set up by the $62.5-billion group has a detailed section for applying for the car online, with a secure payments gateway.

Applications will be accepted during April 9-25.

"The Tatas have certainly devised a futuristic way of doing business," said auto expert and commentator Tutu Dhawan, who anticipates a good response for online booking, going by the initial response for the car.

"When almost everything today is available online, why not a car?" Dhawan told IANS, adding: "It is also time buyers are offered the ease and convenience of booking vehicles online."

Agrees Avinash Kalla, a Jaipur-based journalist, who is happy that the ease of booking the car through a few mouse clicks will save him time - and, of course, the trouble of queuing up for an application form.

For online booking, Tata Motors has a discount - Rs. 200 per form, instead of Rs. 300 for their printed counterparts, available at State Bank of India, as also Westside apparel stores, Croma appliances chain and Titan watch showrooms, all promoted by the group.

"With a virtual showroom available online, packed with specs and an innovative feature that allows you to see your car online after choosing from a range of accessories, online booking was only logical," said Kalla.

"It will save me a lot of time," said the 30-year-old journalist, who hopes to graduate to a car soon, preferably the affordable Nano, from a motorcycle.

Tata Motors has also arranged for online financing for Nano with 15 non-banking finance companies and banks. This option requires customers to pay just Rs.2,999 as the booking fee, as opposed to nearly 75 percent of the price for the self-financed option.

"The availability of online booking will boost the numbers for Tata Motors significantly with quite a lot people having access to the Internet in both the urban and rural areas," said Arun Krishnan, an auto industry expert with consultancy KPMG.

"It is a good innovation on the part of Tata Motors. This will ensure that the number of bookings easily surpasses the designated allotments in the first phase."

Tata Motors is expected to gross in excess of Rs.950 crore ($180 million) if a conservative estimate of 300,000 potential customers is taken into account, as opposed to 100,000 cars earmarked for sale in the first phase.

"A surge in interest is seen when there is a breakthrough product like the Nano. Usually, the bookings for a particular car are five-six times the supply," said Krishnan.

Those who have visited the Nano website say that it opens pretty fast, though it crashed a few times soon after the commercial launch. So worries remain on how well it will handle the web traffic once the booking starts.

File extension UIF?

Once Bill gates prophesied that 600MB space is enough for one individuals requirement!!

We go the floppy then the CD then the DVD.The pen drives changed the game with storage and portability.It started with 156MB to 256MB -1GB-2GB-4GB and the list is endless with flash drives having huge spaces.

The ever growing requirement of space is on.People now store there images and files on line by using file extension UIF services.

The file extension types are a growing community with newer extension types emerging regularly.One of the main file extension types to emerge is file extension UIF.

The rapid increase in the updating of operating software sometimes leaves the older extension redundant.The new file extensions like File extension UIF needs to maintain the operability with many software's to be user friendly.