Archive for Gadgets

And, Finally I Foray Onto The Other Side

// August 22nd, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Gadgets, Life's Happenings

Yes, as mentioned in the earlier post, I did go in for the deal offered to me by my friend. I’m now the proud owner of  a brand new ATI Radeon HD 4850! And what a beast it is. Gives me crazy resolutions at times with the most demanding of games. And now suddenly the PC gaming world seems all so good.

The stuff does work well on my current Windows 7 RTM build, contrary to reports saying its too early for games working well on Win7.  Another awesome thing about the 4850 that I’m loving is the ability to connect the PC to my Hi-Def TV using an HDMI cable. Brilliant stuff it churns out. Playing Crysis at 1920*1440 with 55-60 FPS is insane. Also, my windows experience index also shot up from a measly 3.3 to 7.3 ! All coz of the 4850. And Avivo video converter, well, converting movies and TV shows for my iPod was never faster…!

Anyways, stuff has been written all over about the prowess of the card and I wont be elaborating. Happy to own one now, knowing it doesn’t yet have any game to challenge it might as of today.

The Palm 'Pre'

// January 9th, 2009 // No Comments » // Gadgets

Okay…Ive been closely following the CES going on right now. The one thing that i found most interesting is the new phone unveiled by Palm. Ive never been a fan of Palm phones, but this one sure did interest me. I found a proper review on Yahoo!. Here it goes :

Palm was under serious pressure to hit a home run at CES today—and boy, did it deliver. Running Palm’s gorgeous (if belated) new platform, dubbed WebOS, the touchscreen Pre could well be Palm’s savior, and perhaps its biggest hit.So, as for the Pre itself (due on Sprint in the first half of this year, no pricing yet): It’s got a big, 3.1-inch 480 by 320 touch display (yes, with multitouch and an accelerometer), weighs in at 4.8 ounces, and comes with a curved, slide-out keypad. Yes, it does Wi-Fi and 3G (EV-DO Rev. A, to be exact), as well as GPS (with turn-by-turn directions courtesy of TeleNav), stereo Bluetooth, 8GB of internal storage, a 3MP camera, a 3.5mm headset jack, and a removable battery.

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iPhone….Worth The Price???

// September 3rd, 2008 // 4 Comments » // Gadgets, My Reviews

Most iPhone aspirants must be disappointed (read: me) at the over-the-top pricing of the “gadgety” phone that we are all so in awe of. On an average, an iPhone aspirant would have settled for a 20K price tag, but paying four times the US$ price tag is something none of us none come to terms with. Is there a reason why the iPhone is so expensive? What were Apple and gang (service providers) thinking? I can certainly see some very obvious reasons why Apple thinks that they got the math absolutely right. Let me speculate – it’s better than cribbing about the pricing over and over again.

1. APPLE IS NOT NOKIA
Apple might think – Apple products are priced higher because they are meant for a different class. An Apple user is not an average daily computer user; he is in a different league. And I do think they think right….
While Apple may have finally come to terms with the reality of making numbers in a country like India, they still don’t want to be seen as a product tat is bagged by the masses and has competition from fifty other products. By pricing the iPhone at a price which can only be reached by a select few, Apple is sending a clear message on the premium positioning of the iPhone in India. While I personally wished the iPhone was priced 10K lower, subconsciously, the pricing makes sense to me. The wow factor of the iPhone has been maintained by ensuring that not every second guy in the mall is yapping on an iPhone.

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