Lessons learnt over 10 years from Nokia N81 + Nokia N900 + Samsung Wave II + HTC Incredible S

I always loved to discover and get along with latest technologies. In particular with the computing devices such as Laptops, Tablets and Mobiles.

The love for mobiles stared to grow way back when I was in college. I was seeing many Symbian Smart-phones around and always wanted to have one. But as the financial front was not that strong, I held myself. After final year, I started to look for a job and got one in Mumbai. Finally I stared to earn on my own. By this time Nokia’s N series was at its top.

And just because of this reason, I dared to go for a Nokia N-81. It was really nice decision as I always wanted a smart-phone with good music playback capabilities. It was worth a shot. That phone lasted for about 2 years and I felt like utilizing it worth for every penny.

Then I started my hunt for another smart-phone. Nokia N series was obvious choice. I almost decided to for Nokia N97. It was speculated as most powerful Symbian phone at that time. But thank god and thanks to Internet. I came to know about Nokia N900. It was based on altogether a new OS. MeeGo 5.

I googled a lot and learnt more about this os. It looked very promising and I decided to go for it. News was like, “Nokia is going to invest into this OS big-time and all the following smart phones from the Finnish phone maker will be based this OS.” I was really excited and asked my friend to get it for me from US.

I still remember 1^st Jan 2010. He arrived from US and I went to receive him at Airport. Then returned to my flat carrying that mighty beast. What a day it was. Indeed a Happy New Year had started for me. I was fully into that phone for almost 2-3 months. It was very pleasant experience. I was really enjoying cool features as TV out, TV remote via internet, FM transmitter and many more. Sometime later, I learnt that Nokia has not yet planned to release this phone in India. I was amazed, but then thought they will do it soon. Then as 4-5 months passed I started to feel that the apps for this phone are very less. No one was talking about this phone around. Again, I turned back to internet and discovered the MeeGo Community page. Gosh, I was relieved to found some cool stuff out there. People in that community always looked promising and helpful.

Then the news came that “Nokia and Intel are going to tie up for a NEW OS. Maemo. It was going to be mix of Nokia’s MeeGo os and Intel’s other OS ( Cant recollect the name now J )” . It was fascinating news for me as I learnt for the first time that day I can switch onto that OS also. WOW !! That was cool.

Months passed and I kept every track of News about this OS. The project finally started and the first device rumored was going to be Nokia N9. “Ok”.. I said. What about Nokia N900 ?? It seemed that, Nokia N900 could also be capable of running that OS but was not officially. Hmmm.. that was quite a setback. I kept looking for a build which I could install on my phone. Finally one day I got a Beta build which could be installed on N900.

Well, I took a day off on that day and downloaded that build. And managed to install that build according to given instructions. Bingo ….And ..then restarted the phone. I got a screen with dual boot options. Wow.. J I felt on could 9.

I booted to Maemo and was L .. Yep.. It was beta build and I knew that. But still I had my hopes and they were not fulfilled L After spending 4-5 hours in Maemo I returned back to MeeGo.

Now was the time when people started talking about a new OS. Android. A new OS platform which also based on Linux and now acquired by Google.

Hmmm… I went to YouTube and searched for the videos of devices running that OS. Well, to be frank, I didn’t quite liked that OS UI. So left quite lucky in the world of N900. It was the time when I got a GPRS connection and stared browsing on phone.

Then came the shocker. Adobe Flash plug-in.. I learnt that the new version of flash was not supported by native browser of N900. God..now what ?

If you remember advertise of Nokia N900, it was projected as the smartphone with computer capabilities. And now.. without Flash player, the online world started to look so dull and dark. I was not able to see YouTube videos on this phone L Was not able to browse the web with fun as like on desktop. This was time when I switched OFF N900 and switched ON older N81.As it had Flash lite support.

But, still I had hopes. I always felt, sometime later the people from Nokia will come up with some promising solution. But no.. they didn’t.

N900 was left to die by Nokia. News then came that “Nokia is not interested in pursuing the Maemo project. Intel was now alone.” It was bad L Even though the community had some hacks about getting flash player installed on N900, it didn’t looked that easy and worth trying.

Again, after some months, I revisited YouTube as Android was making news. It seemed as a promising OS with lots of customizations and tweaks. Then I googled if there is any way of installing Android on N900. To my surprise, yes there was a way and a nice attempt made by NTDroid team.

I once again applied for a sick leave at office and took a day off. Then, followed steps to port Android on N900. J It looked quite promising but yet, after installation of android the PHONE capabilities (like placing and receiving calls, sending and receiving SMS) were under development. Hence, it was not the choice for a day to day use.

Meanwhile, I switched my job and located to Chennai. Here in my new company 

I spotted few Android devices. I was really impressed by handling those devices and the feel was awesome.

But still, I had a feeling that there will be another powerful OS somewhere. Once again, I went back and with the help of internet, landed onto a NEW platform. “Bada”.

Yes, the OS platform from Samsung. Then again was the time I went to YouTube. The look and feel seemed quite better than Android. The only question was, will this OS live or same thing like MeeGo will happen? Will it ever have as many applications as Android has ??.

I was confused and in that confusion, made my mind to go for Samsung Wave II. The specs of this phone seemed too good. I took chance and got that device.

Again, for few days, I was quite lost into world of Bada. Those days were fun. 

Now was a time for one more setback. 3G was launched in India and it was a faster internet service. Obviously I decided to switch onto it. But the shocker was.. Samsung Wave II .. It supported only speeds upto 3.2MBps. L

God.. How I missed this ? I was asking myself. This was the day when I again took my N900  and got 3G working. J But.. still no flash player solution was available. What to do ?..

Android .. Is it really worth a shot ?.. A real study and introspection was needed . Finally… I made my mind.. “Yes.. Go for it… J”

The hunt for a nice Android device now got started. The primary contenders were HTC Incredible S, Samsung Galaxy  S, Motorola Milestone and much hyped Samsung Galaxy SII (It was yet to be released. Rumored date was after 2 months L)

So, what to do now ?.. Galaxy S or Incredible S or Moto Milestone?.. After reading user reviews and many more expert reviews I decided to place my money on HTC Incredible S.

All I can say is…. till this time this device hasn’t let me down. I rooted the phone just after a month and the openness of Android is amazing. With lots of custom ROMS around, I am enjoying my ride with Google’s latest Android version 4.0 (Ice-cream Sandwich) enabled Incredible S. J

Incredible India !! Really ???

We certainly are miserable. Aren’t we ??

Test match cricket was of 6 days, we brought to 5.

Then came One days as the we do not wanted to waste time and still get Results soon.

Then arrived 20-20 so we could get results more FASTER.

And whole of that for our sheer entertainment.

On the other hand.....

Since last 10 days, a 74 year old is on FAST against a cause  which is hindering all of us.

Government tries to put blame on them in every way they possibly can.

Almost every political party out there is opposing the bill (in all party meet) and pretend supporting it (in public).

Even every common man is protesting the bill in every way possible.

People from all over the world are reading the draft of the bill and supporting it AFTER understanding it.

And this is all going for OUR BETTER FUTURE.

....... Still.......... 

We cannot do anything about it.

Isn't this a real DIRECTORSHIP??.. 

Because, certainly it does not sound like a DEMOCRATIC nation.

What a diversity :(

Sure, that's why we call it as "Incredible India" :(

Aanna Hazare + Economic Debt Crises in US > Google+ ???

In this relative world you cannot predict how things will go and how you will get the results out of it.

On 16^th Aug when Aanna Hazare was about to start his fast and the arrest followed. It has shaken the government and many other people round the globe.

Many Indians literally came on the road by skipping their schedules to protest his arrest and to support the Jan Lok Pal bill.

Google might not have anticipated this thing will swing the focus from their in focus “Google+ is the future topic”. No offense, Google+ is still in beta stage, but the main part of crowd which was joining their network was from India and US.

Few weeks ago, the speculations about recession have disturbed everyone when few financial analysts proposed the financial crises before the world. US people then started to analyze the situations very seriously and Google+ was sidelined from their news.

Meanwhile from 16^th Aug, those Indians for whom it was not possible to be on road came on line to show their protest through social media.

Well established players like Facebook and Twitter were off course the obvious choices for them.

Many things were handy and easy like tagging and commenting on the links from sharing to posting even for the novice users in Facebook.

This time the followers of Aanna Hazare all over the INTERNET (majority of them are Indians of course) started to get involved into cause rather than exploring wonderful Google+.

I personally kind of observed the traffic of posts in my Google+ stream and Facebook wall since last week and it again proved that Facebook has gained the advantage.

These kind of situations are really the moments when ball can swing in either direction.

For this time Facebook caught the ball by launching various apps and promoting & highlighting the badges all over in their network. It was really observed that the frequency of people joining Google+ has found a down curve this week. 

Is Aanna effect causing this ?? Don't know ?? But to me, it seems so.

Obviously Google is listening and watching all these things (They kind of watch everything these days and start guessing even before typing our query in their search engine.)

This is not written with an intention to praise Facebook or pointing the downside in Google+. This is something I observed since last week which in some way amused me.
 

And this is my personal opinion based on my own observations (Likely to be wrong in many cases though ) :) 

Just thought of sharing this with you :))

Politics: Thought REVISITED. Thanks to Aanna Hazare !!

After spending 3 days of awesome trip in Kerala, on 16th we all returned to Chennai on 16^th Aug morning at about 9.00 A.M.

Just on the way, as soon as we came out of Roaming circle, I switched on 3G to check latest NEWS.

2 News were shocking when I saw them.

1st was “Motorola acquisition by Google” and 2nd was “Aanna Hazare's arrest”.

Motorola acquisition was nowhere near to heart but the 2nd news was. This is because; finally after a long period of time, this anti-corruption movement was looking very promising and very truthful as it was by the people for the people.

Aanna was arrested at this home way before proposed time of the fast and when he asked the reason of arrest, Delhi police said, “We have orders.” ……  I mean, are these politicians are now giving ORDERS to arrest the people who are thinking for welfare of people and trying to get things in correct ORDER??? WTH??

Who are these politicians and what’s the reason of their existence? Aren’t these people who are elected by us only?? Why they considered so POWERFUL? And we give unnecessary respect to these people?? Do they really deserve this??

Politicians used to be the common people amongst us who we elect so that they could ensure everything around us is working fine. And now, when these people are using their powers like blind and looting us like anything, we should make it CORRECT.

In ancient times, people were being ruled by some Cruel Emperors and fate of the people used to be in hand of these emperors only. Then, slowly people started to think and act for their own welfare and many of these kings faced revolt. These kinds of things laid the foundation of democracy and things started to look better.

But, when some common man elected by us gets power and he uses them for his own selfish needs by looting the people it is our duty and right to oppose him. We should not be forced to back off.

The government is now saying “Drafting a law and making it possible is not a right of an individual, parliament is responsible for it and it’s their FINAL decision to make it happen or not.”

This is not what Aanna Hazare and his supporters are saying that their DRAFT is the FINAL version and it should be made as law. What they are saying is the draft presented by current government is very hopeless and has no real room to cure the real problem of corruption. It is also quite evident that the opposition is not fully supporting Aanna’s final DRAFT and is ready to accept it as a law.

We as the citizens of INDIA have every right to oppose what is incorrect and we have every right to put forward our view on it. We could not be forced to change our view and forced to listen and follow what government is doing. This is not called as DEMOCRACY, this is DECTATORSHIP.

We will support Aanna Hazare and his cause for sure as it is for the people and by the people which is an important part of Democracy. And they are transparent in what they want and have the opinion from the people of INDIA about what they are doing.

The Congress party has always been very biased towards many decisions that they have taken against any individual. They are really blind having the power in hand and openly boasting about how they are in power since last 2 terms and how they will make it happen in 2014 again. 

It’s pathetic when a common man’s issue is neglected and their son’s & daughter’s weddings are covered LIVE. It’s shameful when our Telecom minister uses his own interests in making a deal happen, it’s shameful when our Agricultural minister is biased towards sugar factory owners and do not make any provisions to help farmers, instead he heads the ICC panel and enjoys matches abroad when there are serious issues to be dealt with in his own state. It’s really shameful when our Commonwealth games are arranged with such a double standard quality and the money made out of it is not transferred to our National treasure. These all events and recent scams really place us in a situation where we, the common man are forced to think about our own future.

We elect these politicians so that they will be responsible for finding the solutions to our common problems and we can concentrate on solving our private problems. 

Now the situation is getting so worse that we are feeling to call ourselves as citizens of world’s largest democratic nation.

As a common man, we have enough problems in our personal lives to be dealt with. But when these kinds of situations arise we often find ourselves in dilemma where we are in no situation to go on road in our office timings. We are not always in a condition to go to a place and participate in these protests actively. 

While on the other hand, we are aware and we understand completely that these are the main problems in front of us and for the welfare of our society. We are still forced by our private reasons and problems to work in office rather than being actively involved in these protests.

Still, this time, many people came on road as the Government was looking deaf and dumb to act on the situation. Are we really in an Independent country and should be celebrating our independence day when we ourselves are not FREE in our own country??

These are really serious questions and we should solve them. We should come and unite our support for Aanna Hazare’s noble cause.

As far as myself is considered, I am not on road with an Indian flag to support Aanna on weekdays. But I will continue to write and support the cause in ways I could. Hoping all your support for this cause and Aanna’s campaign.

Any thoughts and ways to protest in peaceful ways are MOST WELCOME. Please feel free to comment and let’s make INDIA a better place. 

We can then certainly say “Proud to be Indian”.

Few lines on this "Friendship Day" for all my dear friends!!

                            

 

Whenever there are distances to measure,
Time I spent is sad or leisure,
I always have found you as treasure,
Having you as friend has always been my pleasure !!

Thanks for being with me.... Always :)) 

Dedicated to all my dear friends on this friendship day :))

Something SENSIBLE for the people by the people !!

There are many things which happen in your day and they make you think over them. It may be from some one's Facebook update to some news on TV. Something similar happened today which made me think over this and provoked me after so long time to write again.

The news about Anna Hajare's fasting is gathering attention of people nationwide and the main reason behind it is "It is for the people".

After definition of democracy I have not seen recently something of that sort happening in real life. There are many events, gathering for social cause but none of which I witnessed so far has some sensible meaning like this one.

Yes, Finally, the people of India are raising their voice over the corruption and the demands for punishing the people who are part of this ill disease.

If you have some ten minutes of your time, then please use them and think on this question with all your brains.

"How many scams were revealed during last year and what has finally happened to them or the people involved in it ?"

Many of us might have seen "Peepli Live".The media seems to have played some similar role in real life too with these scams. If the Aadarsh scam is revealed and the CWG scam is now making the news, let the Aadarsh scam bite the dust and let's follow up with CGW. Then that 2G spectrum scam started heating the air, CGW went off from the scrolls and Telecom sector was in NEWS. Then the WORLD CUP came. We won and the headlines like "WE ARE CHAMPIONS" are making news since last 3 days. YES, I agree, Team India really deserves it.

But what about those scams ??.. Remember BOFORS ?.. Remember TELAGI ??.. Remember HAWALA SCANDAL ???.. CHARA GHOTALA..?? SUGAR SCAM??..So many..We seemed to have forgotten all those over the period of time. All those string operations and the efforts to know the truth in this dirty politics are forgotten and no real followup with this is made.

At the end of every March, we all are bothered about paying our taxes and saving our money. Every single effort seems waste after hearing those BIG SUMS of scams.Just read somewhere that,the total amount of money involved in various scams over the last 12 years alone, since 1992, is estimated to be over Rs 80 lakh crore (Rs 80 trillion) or $1.80 trillion!

WHAT ????... MAN.. ARE YOU INSANE ??.. what is this ??.. From where all this money is coming ?.. and more important.. Where it is going ??.. It's our money !!..How these people are capable of hiding and getting away from these things ?.. Does this thing ever bothered you ?

"YES", might be the answer of everyone reading this. So ??.. So what ?..

Let these people do whatever they are doing. GOD will punish them for their deeds and they will not be happy in their lives. Right ?.. Come on man .. Get up !!.. How many times we are gonna convince our self with these false things ?.

Somewhere down the line we are responsible for this. Don't you feel so ?.. And these are the things that we have been knowing well. But still, till no one takes initiative and no one is bothered by it why should we ?. Is it really so ?.. Is today also we are going to think over it and then forget about it ?.

Let me put my frank thought. After seeing the news and just prior to that reading this in some pic on Facebook, I also have thought the same, just liked the concept. But was not really willing to pay more attention to it. Why ?..

Reasons were simple and common. "I have got my work,my family,my other priorities and Lot's off stuff ahead of me to achieve in life.Why should I waste my time in these things ??. Those who have joined might be having some free time and some good bank balance to make their living. I have to earn it for my family. I need to earn it for me and my future."

But there I saw a man in NEWS, in the rally ,with some hording saying like

"If not we?.. Who??.. If not now?... When??" ........ Makes sense ..right ?..

Think over it, we certainly do have our work and priorities and need to earn money in this world to make our life beautiful. But are we really going to succeed in this try ?.

What if tomorrow you come to know that the company in which you are working has been declared blacklisted over the night or your bank where you have deposited all your money for your child's future has been bankrupt ?.What if your all savings and plans for your future are devastated over night?.. Then after digging in to it you come to know, the reason is some politician who has sanctioned the grant of your company or bank has been accused of corruption for doing so. Hence the orders taken by him are no longer valid and some court has taken these steps for the safety.

So.. now .. in that condition.. Will we be really safe ?.. We will start cursing that politician and then ?.. then what ??.. Paralyzed ??.. Any better options ??.. Suicide ??.. what ??..

Are we really not the people who are proud to be citizens of the largest democratic nation? Where is our self esteem ? Or something of that sort doesn't exist anymore ?. Are we not capable of doing or contributing to make our society and in turn our own life better ?.

"Prevention is better than cure". This has just remained tag line of a condom company or we are still capable of understanding this saying ?

Not only because of this nationwide protest which is making the news now, I am asking you to step up and contribute.But for the sake of yourself, for my, for your and in turn for whole societies future, please step up.. Let us all step up and show the support.

If we really can take some time (I am sure, we all are capable of taking some time) for this thing, we can make difference and that difference will in turn help us.

This is not something that I wanted to write just because of this day or this is not what something extraordinary that I am writing. But this is something which is written in ANGER and the ANGER has some valid reason behind it. The simplest reason I found is "Just like you, I do not like my money to be used by some person for his own use !!"

You know it !.. You must be having similar feelings against corruption. So, why not we stand together and do something about it ?.

Politics is dirty and we all have been saying this from long time. No one is really bothered about the dirt inside and no one is willing to sanitize this gutter. After every five years we encourage these dirty creatures by voting them. They rule us, eat our money and in return what do we get ??..

Let's start.. start to act now, otherwise, be mentally prepared for these scams and scandals kind of things and do not complain later about this corruption in future.

We all might be having very jam pack schedules, but still we do have enough time to go on Facebook and update our status messages, like someones pic,watch some funny video.

And.. this.. this is not FUNNY.. This is serious.. Damn serious, because this is related to us and this is all our money that these people are putting in Swiss banks and living lavishly on it. If you are concerned by any of these things, please show your support for this movement and be a part of it.

I am not asking you to travel to Delhi or some ground to show your protest. Just do educate and bring more people around you to talk on this. Spread this, Spread your word. Show and feel concerned about it. After all we all are suffering from this. If you remember, this is how the Independence movement has started. People started feeling, talking, writing and showing their support and finally were rewarded by the Independence.

I know we all can produce some SOUND, all we need is someone who strike the right chord within us. (And this time, thanks Anna for doing that for me )

I also want Independence and so I am strongly supporting this 70 odd year man for this noble deed. Yes.. for my better future .. I am that selfish.. But the question is .. "Are you ??"

You can at least visit their homepage and show some support online from Facebook and Tweeter. Go to http://indiaagainstcorruption.org/index.php and support.

Any thoughts and comments on this are welcome.

(Please do ignore spelling mistakes if any :P Feelings are what matter here )

My Annual Gift- Bean bag from CGI

My Annual Gift- Bean bag from CGI