Symbian Anna Tweet

This one's about the latest firmware update for Nokia's Symbian^3 "Smart-phones", The Symbian Anna.

Key features: 
virtual QWERTY keypad in portrait mode, split-screen text input, an updated web browser, stronger security, an updated icon set and improved Maps functionality. Plus the Nokia C7 gains activation of its NFC chip.


Looks:
there's not much of a appearance change, its still very boring like other Symbian. The icons are derived from the existing icongraphy, but with rounded edges.

Update:


The Anna update has two stages:

1. Updating the core OS to v22 firmware (Anna) - this can be done over the air (OTA),  e.g. through Device Manager, *#0000# on the Call screen and 'Check for updates', or via Ovi Suite.
2. Installation of some additional software and application updates (including Quickoffice and Adobe reader). This is principally done using the 'Sw Update' application (look for "Symbian Anna Update 1/2" and "Symbian Anna Update 2/2", shown above, right). Note that at least one of these extra updates normally 'fails' on the first time you run it. Try again immediately. If that doesn't work, restart the device and try again - all our devices updated fully - eventually!

What's New:

1. Improved text input usability through the introduction of a portrait QWERTY keyboard and widespread use of split screen input. Split screen overlays text entry input boxes on existing screen elements and works in both portrait and landscape orientations. For example, in Maps a search can be entered and auto-completed results seen as you enter text. Similarly, in Messaging, when you reply to a message in Conversations view you can see previous messages in the thread. The portrait keyboard also enables Swype in portrait mode, giving you another input option (note you need to install Swype app from Ovi Store).

2. Updated Web application with a more intuitive user interface and faster performance. This includes a standard location for the address bar at the top of the page (with improved auto-complete, which benefits from the new split screen text entry), visual back button accessible at all times (bottom left), and a redesigned and more responsive 'quick menu access' floating button. Performance of page rendering has been improved, with an updated version of WebKit and improved scrolling and page navigation performance. It also offers better compliance with recent standards. The Web application continues to be based on the Symbian WebKit code base. 

3. Ovi Maps 3.6, which is already available for existing devices (it recently graduated from Beta Labs). The major features in this version are improved search, the ability to share a location via email and SMS (including to non-Nokia phones), public transport overlays to map view, improved social check-in functionality and the ability to download country maps directly to the device over the air.

4. Updated version of Social application (version 1.3.237), with new icon and improved performance. Previously available as an update via the Sw update application.

5. Updated Calendar application, which gains a split-screen month/day view.

6. Updated Photos application, which now opens straight into photo grid, rather than album / folder list view.

7. Updated Camera application, with reworked icons and UI elements, clearer indicator icons on the corners, direct return to the viewfinder after the setting of scene modes.

8. Updated Mail application, with better use and layout of UI elements (most notably in email lists), faster rendering and scrolling of HTML emails and improved stability

9. [Nokia C7 only]: The NFC (Near Field Communication) hardware in the Nokia C7 is activated by the update. It allows you tap C7's together to share contacts, photos, video and play games. In addition, NFC-enabled accessories can be paired by tapping and the device can be used to read NFC tags.

10. If 'Theme effects' are turned on, application loading is accompanied by a small circular animation to let the user know that something's happening. Previously loading applications would result in a short pause and a fade to black into the application.

11. Over 100 under-the-hood optimization and bug fixes. In general this means you'll notice both smoother and faster operations during usage.


12. Marking is much easier with the Mark Mode in File manager and in Photos, far far better than the original marking procedure of Nokia.

For split screen input in conversations one has to remove the ConversationAppl and ConvServer apps from installed apps.

What Sucks:

1. After the update phone is particularly slow and a little non responsive, not what smart-phone users are looking for.

2. Some users still can't get the split screen input view even after removing the 2 Apps.

3. The music player has few bugs. Some users complain that Shuffle is turned 'on' automatically. Other difficulty I face is with the Shuffle turned 'on' if i select a song from the list the Shuffle is turned 'off'. WTF man, seriously.

4. Mobile Operator Data is needed to connect to the Ovi Store, feature that is hated and from the obvious Blackberry.


5. While input with the prediction 'on' if you traverse to a word back the cursor goes through each and every letter of the word and not the entire word in one go like in the previous versions of Symbian. I found this quite annoying.


6. The Ovi Store is a big let down, after all there are not much of free-apps that are good enough. But hurray Fruit Ninja full version is free.


7. Lets face it, The Symbian Anna is no Android or Apple's Ios. Yes, Nokia has done a lot to come up this but they still got a lot of work to do to compete with the Ios and Android phones to whom Nokia is losing the smart-phone market or should i say LOST!


8. Nokia actually released the C7 with NFC Chip without any notice just because they did not have the software developed for it. Only after the Anna update we even know that its there.


Coming soon...

Nokia is too concerned about the smart-phone market and is desperate to bounce back. Will the Symbian Belle be it? can it save Nokia, we will have to wait till the end of November to get our hands on it.




Bottom-line:
The Symbian Anna definitely has some lag and a tiny bit not responsive enough but it sure solves the problem of the phone freezing and restarting time and time again during use while on Symbian^3. The Anna sure beats Symbian^3 but not enough for Android or Ios, hoping that Belle will be pleasing enough, atleast.







Until next time, its Subangh. Be Updated by hooking into
http://www.technomaniacz.com/ 

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 vs. Acer Iconia Tab A500 vs. Apple iPad 2 Tweet

The Indian tablet market sure is heating up, with the Apple iPad 2 recently being officially introduced, as well as the first Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet - Acer Iconia Tab A500 . Samsung is also due to make an appearance with its Honeycomb tablet, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, by July, and the Motorola Xoom is also expected soon. Will the Acer Iconia Tab A500 have enough muscle to take on the Apple iPad 2, and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 - which boasts of the same dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor?

We've taken a look at just how well it stacks up against them in terms of specifications, in the table below. While we can't declare a winner just by looking at them, we can safely say that the Iconia Tab A500 is a strong contender, especially at its Rs. 27,990 price point. It will make a major impact in the market as the first proper Honeycomb tablet in the country, and with its solid feature set, and the choice of the upcoming 3G model will only make things very interesting for the consumer.

Tablet	Acer Iconia Tab A500	Apple iPad 2	Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
OS	Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)	iOS 4.3.3	Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)
Screen size, resolution, type	10.1-inch@1280x800 TFT LCD screen	9.7-inch@1024x768 IPS LCD screen	10.1-inch@1280x800 TFT LCD screen
Processor	Nvidia Tegra 2 Dual Core 1GHz	A5 Dual Core 1GHz	Nvidia Tegra 2 Dual Core 1GHz
Storage	16GB	16/32/64GB	16/32GB
Cameras: Rear/Front	5MP/2MP	1MP/VGA	8MP/2MP
Video recording	720p	720p	1080p
Flash support	Yes	No	Yes
Connectivity: WiFi/3G/Bluetooth	Yes/Yes/Yes	Yes/Yes/Yes	Yes/Yes/Yes
Ports: USB/HDMI	Yes/Yes	No/Yes(through add-on cable)	Yes/Yes
Card Reader	Yes	No	Yes
Battery Capacity	3260 mAh	NA	6860 mAh

check out the hands-on videos!

world's smallest game ever!!! Tweet

This is the link for the worlds smallest game!! http://probablyinteractive.com/url-hunter# 01|-------------------a--O--a----------------------------------|01

Tech2011 - What will be Tweet

Tablets and Mobiles:


Sony PSP2

The new Sony PSP2 comes with a quad core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, Dual analogue sticks, front and rear cameras, Dual rear touch pads, High Res 960x544 5 inch OLED capacitive touch screen, accelerometers, Digital compass, GPS, 3G and wifi connectivity. This is going to be Sony's ultimate answer to all those handheld gaming device in market. Uses a heavily customized Android 2.3 OS and is due to release this December.


NoteSlate Tablet

Replacement for paper is here. The new NoteSlate tablet is to be released by June this year for $99


Samsung Galaxy S II

Announced to be launched in parts of Asia and Europe by March this year. Comes with a Gorilla Glass covered 800x480 Super AMOLED which is supposed to be better than Apple's Retina Display Screen.
It comes with a Dual core Samsung Orion SoC processor and 1 GB of RAM. The OS is Android's GingerBread.


LG Optimus Pad & LG Optimus 3D

LG comes into the Tablet market punching its way to the spot light with LG Optimus Pad. Capable of 3D recording with 2 5MP camers with a 1080 HD video capture support. It comes with an 8.9 inch screen for maximum playability.


The new LG Optimus 3D smart phone also surprised us with the Glasses free 3D screen and Dual 5MP cameras for 3D recording with capability of recording 720p HD video and 1080p HD 2D video. It comes with a TIOMAP 4430 processor, Dual core 1 Ghz ARM Cortex A9 processor and PowerVR SGX540 GPU.

Acer Tablet Wars

Acer to bring in 3 more new tablets as the part of their Iconia series. We are not sure of the OS whether its Windows 7 or Android. Hopefully its going to be cheaper than ther first Iconia tablet

Sony Experia Play

The much awaited PSP phone, the new Sony Experia Play is to be released this March. With a slide out screen housing PSP gamepad, it runs on a 2.3 Gingerbread Android OS and will have over 50 game titles to choose from.

Cheaper iPhones

Apple planning to launch cheaper iPhones. Read more

Processors and GPU:

GTX 590 Graphic Card

The monster is soon to be unleashed with the first Dual GPU GeForce 590 Graphic card coming soon.


Corrected Sandy Bridge
New corrected Logic chip processors have been shipped out by Intel. These new chips have the new B3 Stepping improving the lifetime of the processor.


Intel Brings out 10 Core processor.

Westmere EX Xeon processor, the 10 Core server grade processor, is said to be released in the first half of this year. 


Intel 14 nm Fabrication Unit

Intel is pushing technology to its limits as usual. This time with the 14 nm Fabrication unit in US. This new venture has cost Intel a whopping $ 5 billion. We can surely see a major rise in the number of Cores of the upcoming Intel processors.


Intel Core i7 990x


The i7 series extreme processor stable gets a new product with the Intel i7 990x. With 6 cores and 3.46 GHz per core 12MB cache this processor will be having the alpha spot for quite some time.


Internet and Gaming:


Google Music
Google to start music service soon. The Hindi version has been launched in India [click here]. Read more


PS3 piracy check.
Sony warns PS3 hackers from hacking PS3s. Users trying to hack will be banned from Sony's online service for life. Pretty harsh but it works.

Mozilla Labs opens with Mozilla games with more than 100 games to begin with. Check out more details here

Consumer Electronics:

Kinect SDK

Microsoft to launch its new Kinect SDK by mid-2011.

Read more

Intel SSD

Intel to launch new lines of Solid State Drives [codename Elm Crest] in 120 and 250 GB variants.

New MacBook Pros

New MacBook Pro released with latest Intel processor and new GPUs as well. Finally Apple decides to revamp their hardwares.

Memjet Printing technology.

Intead of the printer head moving to spray ink in designated spots the new memjet printing has about 70000 microscopic nozzles in stationary points activated by a main processor hence printing rapidly.

Although thats all we have, more stories are sure to come and you can catch them all right here in TechnoManiacz

Sources: Chip, Digit, Bloomberg, etc

Duty Calls: Big Daddy Of All FPS Tweet

Brilliant is one of the many words that comes to mind when you think of this epic shooter. Striving for perfection in a world of boring and bland shooters, Duty Calls not only sets the bar high — but raises the standards of what a first person shooter in this day and age should be. Every first person shooter should eat their heart out, because this is the sleeper hit that the genre has been waiting for.

Duty Calls: The Calm Before The Storm is a masterpiece in its own right. It has everything a first person shooter fan could ask for. Guns, bad guys, bullets, explosions, and more bad guys. It even has a main bad guy that you must take down before he sets off a nuclear weapon. It’s some pretty gripping shit when you stand back and look at it. No one could have expected how revolutionary this game would be. To say anything bad about this game is just stupid because this game is amazing — end of discussion.

Epic has created a fully playable game that roundly mocks CoD, which is aptly called Duty Calls.

The game isn't the biggest ever; someone has uploaded footage of themselves playing it and it clocks it at just under five minutes - but it is chock-full of parody for a franchise that some think takes itself way too seriously.

The game takes place somewhere and you’ll play as some random soldier who must fight his way through several bad guys, pick up objectives to advance the plot, and eventually reach the main bad guy. You might lose a friend along the way, but it’s all worth it once you reach the end. You’ll level up to super awesome levels as you progress through the game’s campaign. There’s nothing like seeing that new rank pop up on the screen.

What You'll like:

The Gun: Never before has a game offered a gun like this one. Super realistic gun sounds and the way they fire is simply unreal. I’ve never fired a gun before in my entire life, but I can tell you that the ONE gun you get in this game is as close to real life as they get. Just take my word for it, I’m the reviewer here and I say so. Realism has never been achieved in a video game like it was in this one ladies and gentlemen.

The Story: Gripping, stunning, amazing, controversial, emotionally charged — these are all appropriate adjectives to describe the story in this game. Moving from one point to the next, you’ll be left on the edge of your seat the entire time. You can’t wait to see what happens as you move from checkpoint to checkpoint. The game even finds a way to connect with you on an emotional level. Never in your life will you be as enthralled by a story as you will be with Duty Calls. It’s told by a series of gripping cut-scenes and uses techniques like slow motion to help make it that much better. Hollywood or even bollywood should take lessons from this game.

The Gameplay: While Duty Calls sets the bar high in terms of it’s amazing story, the gameplay is beyond revolutionary. No game has ever been able to make the genre feel and play so damn good. The way you have control over your character is amazing. Even the jump is fucking revolutionary. Every other FPS ever created is now a joke by comparison. Ladies and Gentlemen, I think we found our “Halo” or “Call of Duty” killer. You’ll be blown away by the quality of the gameplay in Duty Calls.

The Characters: As you progress through the game, you begin to feel emotionally attached to your character. When you struggle through the hardships of war to reach his objective, you feel yourself growing attached to him. You can relate to him in a way you never thought you could to a virtual character. Aside from him, you can’t help but feel a sense of hatred towards the bad guys. Whether you love or hate the characters, Duty Calls does an amazing job at eliciting some sort of emotional response from you. You’ll love them, hate them, cry for them, but god damn it — you’ll feel something for the characters in this game.

The Leveling System: Revolutionary is the ONLY way to describe it. Never before have players been given a leveling system like this one. Any system before this one can be thrown out the window and be considered flawed or broken. The more you progress, the more you kill, the higher your level will go.

What You Might Not Like:

Nothing: Are u retarded? Duty Calls: The Calm Before The Storm is a masterpiece. No game in the history of video games has set the bar this high. If you have anything bad to say about this game — you can just get the fuck out. Go sell all your video game consoles and games. You my friend are not a gamer if you don’t like Duty Calls!

This is a must play for all the first person shooter fans out there. Even if you’re not a fan of first person shooters, this is DEFINITELY the game for you. Nothing come close to this game. This is the genre defining game that will stand out for years to come. Everything else that follows will be called a “clone” or “generic” by comparison.

To say this is just an “FPS” is an understatement. Folks this is THE FPS. It’s the definitive, end-all, genre defining game. The one that will be talked about for a long time. The bar has been raised like never before, and a new standard has been set. It will be a long time before we see another game come close to Duty Calls: The Calm Before The Storm. Play this game! You’ll be glad that you did.




Here is the torrent link to download the game

The Surprisingly Crowded Smartphone Market Tweet

Finally, here is a brief comparison between the very bitter rivals of the smartphone segment.

1. Apple iphone 4

2. Nokia N8

3. Sony Ericsson Arc

4. Samsung Galaxy S

5. HTC HD7

6. Blackberry Torch 9800

1. Apple Iphone 4:

     We all know that there are a lot of iphone fanatics but this phone right here is not what you are looking for. Yes, the iphone 4 has a lot of issues including poor signal reception, requires micro sim card, file sharing through bluetooth only via other Apple products. Coming to the OS part , the iphone 4 uses iOS 4 and its quite good and has a lot of applications to download and use. The phone weighs at 137 gms and is 9.3 mm thick. It has got a primary camera of 5 megapixels with LED flash and the hd video recording is done at 720p@30 fps. The very interesting thing is that the photo flash can be used for video light as well. The screen measures 3.5 inches and is a LED-backlit IPS TFT with capacitive touchscreen interface. The phone has a stainless steel finish and is really sturdy. The battery life is not so good as usual. It has accelerometer sensor for auto rotate, a three axis gyro sensor for excellent gaming experience and a proximity sensor for auto turn off. The phone comes with 16/32 GB storage and no card slots :( The phone runs on the Apple's A4 processor and is supported by a 512 MB RAM, but still multi-tasking is not quite overwhelming. It has two microphones for active noise cancellation.

Price: 40000-42000 INR / around 50000 INR (16GB/32GB)

Bottom-line: Go for it if you don't value money and all you are looking for is fun compromising on some tiny lil features. Good phone over all but not enough to challenge with Android phones. [I do feel thats it a good idea to wait for iPhone Gen 5 hitting the market by around September... There are speculations that this new one has improved hardwares that none can match] 

2. Nokia N8 :

N8 is one of the better smart-phones provided by Nokia. But i don't know why Nokia had to go with the Symbian^3 OS for the N8. I have got only two words for it- it sucks, maybe 3 it sucks big-time!!!!!! In the last quarter of 2010 Nokia lost about 7% of smart-phone market to the Google's Android powered smart-phones. Since then Nokia has started to work with Microsoft to provide them with an OS to over-power the Android. But leave all that, coming back to the N8 the battery cannot be removed since it is sealed with screws under the Stainless steel body. One of the very interesting features of the N8 is that an adaptor is provided with the USB cable so that the phone can be connected to external hard disks or pen-drives. This is a very unique thing is very much suited for transfers on the go. N8 has a 12 mega-pixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens. The image quality is simply superb and the video recording is hd and @25 fps. The phone has a 512 MB RAM and multi-tasking is quite good. It has a 3.5 inch OLED screen which is no deal when compared to the Super AMOLED of the Samsung Galaxy S. This time Nokia came up only with a single hardware key below the screen and a keypad lock key at the right side. Nokia gets the upper-hand in providing very superior battery life. 

Price: 24000 INR

Bottom-line: Everything is awesome about the phone except for that bull-shit Symbian^3 OS.

3. Sony Ericsson Arc :

      The much awaited Xperia Arc is due to be released at the end of the first quarter of 2011. It is just 8.7mm thick and is very light @ 117 gms. The Arc is run by 1GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU,  Qualcom MSM8255 Snapdragon and a 512 MB RAM. The screen is LED-backlit LCD and measures 4.2 inches and is rather long than wide. The card slot is micro SD and is expandable upto 32 GB. The Camera is 8 megapixels and takes excellent snaps paired with the LED flash. Some additional features include touch focus, smile and face detection, geo tagging and image stabilization. Sadly no secondary camera available. The Xperia Arc will be the first phone to run on the Android OS, v2.3 Gingerbread.

Price: 30000-35000 INR (rumoured)

Bottom-line: The phone looks like 4-5 sheets of papers stacked on. Awesome offering and is sure to shake up Samsung's Galaxy S!

4. Samsung Galaxy S :

This phone right here is Samsung's Masterpiece. The phone has very less or no flaws to speak about. It has no flash, no flash support for web browser, the loudspeaker is really feeble that you cannot simply call it a "loud"-speaker. The all plastic body makes it all the more lighter and thinner. It weighs at 118 gms and is 9.9mm thick. Multitasks with 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird combined with 512 MB RAM and 2GB ROM. The huge 4 inch Super AMOLED screen is the best in a phone till date (forgetting about the much hyped Retina Display of Apple). The 5 megapixel camera has smile, face and blink detection and captures videos in HD. There is a secondary camera for video calling. Galaxy S comes with internal memory of 8/16 GB with hot-swappable slot for micro-SD cards upto 32GB. The phone runs on Android OS, v2.1 Eclair and is update-able to Android 2.2 Froyo, but the v2.2 is not quite stable and is quite slow compared to the Eclair. The Android market has a lot of interesting and useful applications. It has proximity and accelerometer sensors. The Live Wallpapers is a special feature not to be forgotten.

Price: 27000 INR

Bottom-line: The first Android powered smart phone is worth every single penny from your earnings.....or your dad's.

5. HTC HD7 : 

This Windows mobile from HTC has a huge 4.3 inch screen and weighs at 162 gms. The phone works on the 1GHz processor and 512 MB ROM and 576 MB RAM. The internal storage is 8GB for Europe and 16GB for Asia. The 5 mega-pixel camera captures high quality pictures with dual LED flash and records HD videos. The phone runs on Windows Phone OS 7. Additional to G sensor and Proximity sensor the HD7 also has digital compass and Ambient light sensor. The phone has a kick-stand for awesome movie experience with great audio quality boosted by SRS WOW HD. It has in-built flashlight app that turns the dual LED into flashlight with 3 brightness levels and even flashes SOS signal in case of emergency. The HTC Hub has a wide variety of applications which is not currently available in India. WTF!!!!!!!!

Price: 29000 INR

Bottom-line: It is more of a tablet than a phone, that is exactly why we (TechnoManiacz) did not compare Dell Streak with these smart-phones.

    

6. Blackberry Torch :

    The 3.2 inch slider mobile with TFT capacitive touch screen and qwerty keyboard weighs 161 gms. The 5 mega-pixel camera has features like geo-tagging,image stabilization, continuous autofocus, LED flash. The video recording is one place where Blackberry let down the Torch 9800. It records video at 24 fps in 3gp format, yes no HD recording unlike the other smart phones. The optical trackpad adds beauty and ease of access to the several menus and applications. Sadly there is no secondary camera for video calling. The Torch has a 624 Mhz processor , 512 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM. The internal memory is 4GB and is expandable upto 32GB with a micro SD. The phone runs on the Blackberry OS 6.0 which is so far the best for multitasking. Plus the new feature of OS 6 is that the whole way of navigation has changed - there is a navigation bar for icons at the bottom which can be pulled up to display a row of 5 shortcuts and two rows of 10 shortcuts, all these can be accessed without a single hardware button pressed. The blackberry server allows maximum file hosting and stuff. The touch interface is not very perfectly crafted like the N8 or the Galaxy S which is not a major drawback but seems a lil sluggish. The phone can play many video formats including DivX and other DVD formats.

Price: 35000 INR

Bottom-line: Quite the feel of a smart-phone and you can surely go for it if you are looking for a multimedia phone that is a smart-phone.

Sneak-Peak into Galaxy S II :

Till now all we know about the Galaxy S2 is that it is to have a launch by the end of the 1st quarter or the starting of the 2nd of 2011. The Galaxy S2 looks over its preceedor in many areas : 

1. S2 has a bigger 4.3 inch Super AMOLED screen 

2. 8 mega-pixel camera with LED flash and secondary camera is 2 mega-pixels 

3. S2 gets  Dual Core 1GHz Cortex A9 processor, Orion chipset and 1GB RAM 

4. weighs just 116 grams lighter than the Xperia Arc by a gram

5. thinner than its preceedor and measures only 8.49 mm

6. Comes with Android OS,v2.3 Gingerbread.

We got more info coming right up! So all you folk keep checking. Technology will never let us down [hopefully]. So thats all for now folks...

Android O.S.: What, How & Why Tweet

Android is a mobile operating system owned by Google Inc., who acquired it from Android Inc., a small startup company based in Palo Alto, California, USA. As of Q4 2010 Android O.S. was the world's best-selling smartphone platform, dethroning Nokia's Symbian from the 10-year top position. As Symbian used to rule the roost, especially in India, it will be useful to look at it from that angle.

The main difference is that Android is a 'connected' OS. i.e for example: Once you enter your Gmail account details (If you don't have it, it asks you to create one), it starts syncing your e-mail, contacts and calendar from the cloud. Each new e-mail you get is subsequently pushed to your phone. While the Gtalk feature is always there for instant chat feature. The Facebook and Twitter official clients on Android are as smooth as they come, while the browser is in the same league as Apple Safari, which is a good enough compliment. While discussing components it is important to mention that the world orders have shifted and people walking to buy a smartphone are rarely interested in 'How many megapixel is the camera?'

Mhz (megahertz) is the new MP.

To make it simple: there are 3 main brands making processors for Android phones (Tegra not being considered).

• Qualcomm
• Samsung
• Texas

Out of the above, by far the most-used platform is the qualcomm 600 Mhz processor (MSM 7227) used in a wide range of devices from the affordable Andro A60 to the premium and sexy HTC legend. It is a good processor and good enough to handle some multitasking. But still it will not allow you to play all new HD games coming out. Still, it is a very good choice.

Snapdragon 800 Mhz (MSM 7230): Used in phones like the newer qwertified Desire Z and some other HTC phones and also in the upcoming Sony Experia Arc and maybe the new playstation phone. This is a new power efficient chip that comes with upgraded Adreno chip 205, that enables it to trash the older snapdragon 1 Ghz (QSD 8250) in graphics performance, inspite of the lower clock speed.

Given below are the version history of Android O.S. developed by Google Inc. and the Open Handset Alliance. They are updates which aim at fixing bugs and adding new features.

Version history

1.0	Released 23 September 2008
1.1	On 9 February 2009, Android 1.1 update for Android was released for T-Mobile G1 Only. Included in the update were: Multiple resolved issues API changes Maps adds details and reviews Screen timeout longer when using speakerphone "Show" & "Hide" Dialpad included in-call menu Support for saving attachments from MMS Support for marquee in layouts
1.5 (Cupcake) Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.27	On 30 April 2009, the official 1.5 (Cupcake) update for Android was released. There were several new features and UI updates included in the 1.5 update: Ability to record and watch videos through camcorder mode Uploading videos to YouTube and pictures to Picasa directly from the phone A new soft-keyboard with text-prediction Bluetooth A2DP and AVRCP support Ability to automatically connect to a Bluetooth headset within a certain distance New widgets and folders that can populate the Home screens Animated screen transitions
1.6 (Donut) Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.29	On 15 September 2009, the 1.6 (Donut) SDK was released. Included in the update were: An improved Android Market experience An integrated camera, camcorder, and gallery interface Gallery now enables users to select multiple photos for deletion Updated Voice Search, with faster response and deeper integration with native applications, including the ability to dial contacts Updated search experience to allow searching bookmarks, history, contacts, and the web from the home screen Updated technology support for CDMA/EVDO, 802.1x, VPNs, and a text-to-speech engine Support for WVGA screen resolutions Speed improvements in searching and camera applications Gesture framework and GestureBuilder development tool Google free turn-by-turn navigation
2.0 / 2.1 (Eclair) Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.29	On 26 October 2009, the 2.0 (Eclair) SDK was released. Changes included: Optimized hardware speed Support for more screen sizes and resolutions Revamped UI New Browser UI and HTML5 support New contact lists Better contrast ratio for backgrounds Improved Google Maps 3.1.2 Microsoft Exchange Server by Exchange ActiveSync 2.5 support Built in flash support for Camera Digital Zoom MotionEvent class enhanced to track multi-touch events Improved virtual keyboard Bluetooth 2.1 Live Wallpapers The 2.0.1 SDK was released on 3 December 2009. The 2.1 SDK was released on 12 January 2010.
2.2 (Froyo) Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.32 (2.2.2 latest release)	On 20 May 2010, the 2.2 (Froyo) SDK was released. Changes included: General Android OS speed, memory, and performance optimizations Additional application speed improvements courtesy of JIT implementation Integration of Chrome's V8 JavaScript Engine into the Browser application Increased Microsoft Exchange support (security policies, auto-discovery, GAL look-up, calendar synchronization, remote wipe) Improved application launcher with shortcuts to Phone and Browser applications USB tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot functionality Added an option to disable data access over mobile network Updated Market application with batch and automatic update features Quick switching between multiple keyboard languages and their dictionaries Voice dialing and contact sharing over Bluetooth Support for numeric and alphanumeric passwords Support for file upload fields in the Browser application Support for installing applications to the expandable memory Adobe Flash 10.1 support Support for extra high DPI screens (320 dpi), such as 4" 720p
2.3 (Gingerbread) Based on Linux Kernel 2.6.35(2.3.3 latest version)	On 6 December 2010, the 2.3 (Gingerbread) SDK was released. Changes included: Updated user interface design Support for extra-large screen sizes and resolutions (WXGA and higher) Native support for SIP VoIP telephony Support for WebM/VP8 video playback, and AAC audio encoding New audio effects such as reverb, equalization, headphone virtualization, and bass boost Support for Near Field Communication System-wide Copy-paste functionalities Redesigned multi-touch software keyboard Enhanced support for native code development Audio, graphical, and input enhancements for game developers Concurrent garbage collection for increased performance Native support for more sensors (such as gyroscopes and barometers) A download manager for long-running downloads Improved power management and application control Native support for multiple cameras Switched from YAFFS to the ext4 filesystem
3.0 (Honeycomb)	On 26 January 2011, a preview of the 3.0 (Honeycomb) SDK was released. Changes include: Optimized tablet support with a new user interface Three dimensional desktop with redesigned widgets Refined multi-tasking Browser enhancements including tabbed web pages, form auto-fill, bookmark syncing with Google Chrome, and private browsing Support for video chat using Google Talk Hardware acceleration Support for multi-core processors
Ice Cream Sandwich	Possible mid-2011 release.

Now lets see a comparison of Android O.S. with other major brands in the market:

Smartphone Operating System	User Interface (On Scale of 10)	Application Availability (On Scale of 5)	Total (On Scale of 15)
iPhone OS	9	4.5	13.5
Android	9	4	13
Windows Phone 7	9	2	11
Symbian 3	7	2.5	9.5
BlackBerry OS 6	7	2.5	9.5
Windows Mobile 6.5	6	3	9
Symbian S60	6	2.5	8.5
BlackBerry OS 5	6	2.5	8.5

Clearly Android O.S. and IPHONE O.S. emerge as the winners. However there is a slight advantage of android over IPHONE which comes under the sections of 'Price' and 'variety'.

Here are some of the steps to be followed when your considering to purchase a Android mobile:

1. Check out the Android version of the phone you are buying. Most phones nowadays are coming with Eclair 2.1 out of the box or even 2.2 Froyo. But some phones like Moto Backflip are still stuck in history, and are best avoided.

2. Cameras: Unfortunately till now Android has failed to produce a phone, that has a camera that will output pictures that will make you go 'WOW, is that from a phone?'

The way you perhaps go for N8 or used to go for K790/K750 years ago. But still if this feature matters then Sony X10 has the best camera closely followed by Motorola XT720. Then we have the impressive duo of X10 Mini's and Galaxy S.

But then the standards have been raised so high in the previous years that any of the camphones will do for a casual shot.

3. Multimedia performance: Well if you consider video players then Samsung Galaxy S plays everything. From your SD avi's, to 720P MKV's (atleast some of them) . Most of the older HTC and Motorola phones do not come with codec support other then H264 and 3GPP, thus making it necessary to trans-code the video or to get a better media player like Rock Player.

But still those videos will lack hardware acceleration which does wonders for video clarity and battery life. Thus if media is a concern then get a Samsung or LG phone.

These are the preferred phones but you should also make the choice based on your preference for one particular feature or other.

Rs 8K-9K: Samsung Galaxy 5

Rs 11K-12K: LG Optimus One

Rs 16K-18K: Motorola Defy

Rs 20K-22K: HTC Desire

Rs 24K-25K: Samsung Galaxy S/ Nexus S/HTC Desire Z

Greater than Rs 25K: It really makes sense to wait for the new dual cores to rear their heads and pricing, as it will make for a better and informed choice.

Camera freaks: SE X10 or Moto XT 720

Media junkies: Samsung Galaxy S

Workaholics: HTC Desire Z/Motorola Milestone 2

Budget conscious: LG Optimus One (P500)