Orbit

Top 5 Mobiles below Rs.4999/-

2012-02-06T21:55:00.000-08:00

In the under-Rs 5,000 segment you will find hundreds of mobile phones. However, most of them turn out to be paper tigers with impressive specifications but poor performance.

So we chose phones that have a useful list of features but also boast top notch quality.

Nokia C2-03 Touch and Type (Rs.4,599)

It offers dual SIM functionality, but unlike other dual SIM phones, this one does not require you to switch off the phone to change SIM cards. In fact, the second SIM card slot is located on the left edge of the device. The phone can remember the settings for up to five separate SIM cards. It has a 2 megapixel camera, which takes decent pictures, and the device supports a 32 GB micro SD card as well. It is powered by a 1020 mAh battery that can easily give you two days of backup with average use.

Nokia Asha 200 (Rs.4,449)
Nokia recently introduced a new set of feature phones under its Asha series. Asha 200 is one of the first and the cheapest of the series to arrive in the market.
Asha 200 is a dual SIM phone running on Series 40 operating system. The phone has a 2.4 inch display screen and a well spaced Qwerty keypad that aids typing.
The phone sports a 2 megapixel camera, and weighs just 105 gram despite having a large 1430 mAh battery, which will last for days on a single charge.
Asha 200 has an internal memory of 10 MB which is expandable up to 32 GB through a micro SD card.

Samsung Chat C3222 (Rs.3,750)
This handset is one of our old favourites. It is easy to use thanks to a very well laid out user interface and has a lot of well implemented features including a dual SIM function.
The Samsung Chat C3222 comes with a Qwerty keypad and a 2.2 inch display. The dual SIM active mode renders both the SIM cards active at all times. Chat C3222 features a 1.3 megapixel camera.
A 1000 mAh battery powers the Samsung Chat C3222 and gives 12.8 hours of talktime. The 60 MB of internal memory on the phone can be expanded up to 8 GB via a micro SD card.
C3222 features a music player with 3D sound technology, FM radio with recording, and a 3.5 mm audio port.

Spice MI-270 (Rs.3,999)

It has Dual SIM Support with standby, the devices runs on android 2.2 Froyo operating system and it is powered by 416MHz processor. The phone comes with 2.8-inch resistive touch screen with resolution 240 x 320 pixels. The phone has become cheapest android Smartphone in Indian Market.

The Phone Features 2 megapixel camera, 256MB of RAM, 221MB internal storage and Expandable 16GB storage using MicroSD card slot. The device pre-loaded with Google Mobile App like YouTube, Gmail, Google Talk and Social networking integration. It comes with Bluetooth, WI-FI and MicroUSB 2.0 connectivity along with 1000 mAh battery.

Karbonn K1616 Magic (Rs 4,829)

This is the most feature rich phone here with the largest screen of any feature phone currently available in the market.
Karbonn K1616 Magic looks like a smartphone with a sleek design and matte finish, a metallic battery cover and a highly sensitive 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen.

2011-10-04T23:09:00.000-07:00

The Guru 1085 has a compact and robust bar design with comprehensive basic features, making it a great all-around performer. It is equipped with features like Bright torch so that you never are in the dark again, call time limit & call manager to manage call time, and save money.

Design:

• Easy to grip, the ergonomic 13.6mm is slim enough to fit anywhere, from the hand to pocket.
• 3.63cm (1.43) CSTN LCD offers comfortable viewing of menus and text messages.
• Sturdy and solid feel.
• Comfortable and easy-to-press buttons.

Enhanced Mobile Power:

• Easy-to-use one-hand operation.
• 200-entry phonebook contains all your phone numbers for easy retrieval.
• SMS storage of up to 100 messages.
• 800mAh battery prolongs the battery life.

Advanced security:

• Mobile Tracker alerts the user when the mobile’s SIM card is changed.
• SOS Message sends out emergency messages to pre-designated contacts with just a single click of a button.
• Fake call function lets the phone automatically start ringing Power LED Flash provides a flash of light in dark surroundings.

Call Manager:

• Alarm notifies the user when a call time limit (set by the user) has been reached, helping users curb lengthy calls.
• Call Manager keeps track of call costs and duration so you know exactly how much you are spending on your conversations.
• Power Saving Mode lets your mobile to be turned off when not in use.

FM Radio.

Torch Light.

Colour Display.

Speakerphone.

How to back up your Android phone the best way

2011-09-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

Android doesn't offer a native backup service, so it's easy to ignore the need to do so. But don't wait until it's too late to start thinking about backing up your phone. Many of us rely on our phone cameras to snap day-to-day photos of our lives and save text messages to have some of the most important conversations. So before a thief swipes that phone, or a spilled cup of coffee bricks it, follow these tips:

Google has your back. Go to Settings > Privacy, and make sure that "Back up my settings" and "Automatic restore" are checked off. Go to Settings > Accounts and sync, open your Gmail account, and check off all options. With these settings in place, your contacts, system settings, apps, calendar, and e-mail will be restored whenever you set up a new Android phone with that same Gmail account.

Photos. Google hasn't implemented a native photo backup service yet, so look to third-party apps to safeguard your photos. You might want to consolidate your mobile photos with those you already have stored in a cloud service. For instance, Photobucket Mobile will automatically upload newly snapped photos in the background to your Photobucket account. Flickr Companion and Picasa Tool are also free apps that allow mobile uploading but don't do so automatically.

Drag and drop. Back up photos from your Android the traditional way. Connect your phone to your computer via USB, set it in Disk Mode and locate the drive (on the desktop for Mac, in My Computer for Windows). Open the drive, find the DCIM folder, and drag the photos you'd like to back up onto your hard drive.

Text messages. Folks at SMS Backup + figured out a smart way to back up your text messages in the cloud. The free app automatically sends your SMS threads to Gmail and stores them under a new label, "SMS."

follow us on twitter @orbitcolaba

The all new Nokia X7 Review

2011-06-29T22:52:00.000-07:00

The Nokia X7 is one of the front-runners of Symbian Anna, a major overhaul bringing portrait QWERTY input, improved browser and a refreshed design to the Symbian^3 platform. But the X7 is also a media-centric device with a premium feel and a 4-inch AMOLED screen. It's also one of the latest high-end Nokia handsets running Symbian, so it deserves some attention. But does it deserve your money?

Design:
But it's not just the new interface – the Nokia X7 is coming with a rather unique angular design with four grills on each of its corners, but only the bottom two hold speakers. A 4-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels dominates the front. It doesn't come with Nokia's ClearBlack enhancement for nearly perfect blacks and better anti-reflection for outdoor visibility, but we found the colors to be very vivid, with blacks still very deep. Add to that Gorilla Glass scratch protection, and you're looking at a delicious screen, corrupted slightly only by the average sunlight legibility.

Up front, you also have the earspeaker on top and the menu key on the bottom, while on the right side there is a volume rocker and a nifty dedicated camera shutter key that will let you quickly snap photos. On the left you're in for a surprise – a lid-protected microSD card slot and a SIM card slot allow hot swap of cards. But opening them up proves to be a challenge even for the most experienced smartphone user. The engineers have managed to come up with a unique opening mechanism – the lids actually serve as the front doors for the tiny drawers where you can put your cards. To open them, you first need to press one side of the lid and only then pull the whole drawer. After getting to grips with the mechanism, it works seamlessly, but the casual user with no manual at hand will trouble.

The metal back cover seems very durable and adds to the premium feel of the handset, but unfortunately it's not removable. On top, there is a microUSB port for charging the device, a 3.5mm headset jack and the lock key, while the bottom is just plain.

The handset feels solid with its 146 gm of weight. It's not among the slimmest out there with girth of 11.9mm at its thickest, but its oval profile contributes to a comfortable fit in the hand.

The traditional Symbian^3 interface has been given an overhaul in Anna including a brand new set of icons which freshen up the platform and real-time switching between home screens, which basically means that you can gradually scroll to the next home pane with the content moving along with your finger. In previous editions of Symbian, scrolling left or right in the home screen also brought up a transitional animation, but you couldn't only gradually scroll to peek at the next screen for example without actually completing that transition.

That's just eye candy, but it’s not only the visuals that have been improved. Code optimization in Anna brings faster performance, along with novelties like a portrait QWERTY keyboard and an improved browser. The portrait QWERTY is simple yet convenient with the only major difference with other platforms being the positioning of the numbers which appear in three rows instead of just one upper row. To our relief, typing on the full portrait QWERTY in Anna is much faster than using the numeric keypad in previous Symbian editions, so finally, the portrait QWERTY is a welcome addition, but one long overdue.

Under the hood, the Nokia X7 runs on a 680 MHz ARM 11 processor, Broadcom BCM2727 GPU with only 256MB of RAM. This is enough for the interface to run fairly smoothly, but occasionally it stutters and you can definitely notice how that lag affects the overall performance.

So while Symbian has been given a facelift, it is still a maze at its core. The inconsistency of the platform is nothing surprisingly new, but we can't overlook the fact that often even in preinstalled programs you reach a dead end with no way to go back. We can't deny Symbian's even richer functionality with the Anna update, but when it comes at the cost of the same old constant system notifications popping up from all sides, a confusing organizational structure and some lag, the end result is largely the same – a feeling of disappointment and out datedness.

Camera and Multimedia:
The Nokia X7 comes with an 8-megapixel fixed-focus camera with dual-LED flash. You can easily operate it with the physical shutter key on the right and if we have to sum up its performance in one word that would be speed. The shutter button however is located on a slope on the back making it hard to reach, but once you do reach it, the camera reacts extremely quickly. That's mostly due to the fact that it doesn't take those extra fractions of a second to focus, which in turn allows you to fire the camera right away when you feel like it. But at the same time, fixed-focus means no macro shots as the sensor automatically puts everything further away then 20 inches in focus, but the rest within that range appears blurry.

Overall, however, we find the quality of the image stills on the Nokia X7 below average - decently detailed and moderately sharpened, but colours seemed washed out and in most (if not all) cases the sensor picked up side light and ended up with pale images. When it comes to the camera interface, you're treated with plenty of options including scene modes, face detection, self-timer and colour tones. You can even set the white balance and ISO light sensitivity, as well as the contrast and sharpness of pictures. The X7 supports up to 2x digital zoom. Unfortunately, the handset comes with no front-facing camera

When it comes to audio quality, you'd be wowed with the amazing loud and clear sound of the stereo speakers located at the bottom of the Nokia X7. The music application hasn't changed much in Symbian Anna, but with album art, which you can flick through, it didn't have dire need to as it looks good visually. Along with standard file support, the handset also comes with Stereo FM radio with RDS.

Internet and Connectivity:
Browsing in Symbian was not the prettiest of experiences mostly because of the dated and cluttered browser itself. The Anna update changes that with a reworked Browser 7.3 with support for Flash, HTML5 and hardware acceleration, as well as an improved, clean user interface.

Software:
The Nokia X7 is the front-runner for Anna and bringing some impressive software with a new version of your platform always helps. The handset displayed its gaming affiliations from its very first appearance and it comes with two pretty popular titles preinstalled on the included 8GB microSD card - Asphalt 5 and Galaxy On Fire. Unfortunately, even those two titles didn't seem perfectly optimized as frame rates would often drop noticeably, especially in Asphalt 5.

Performance: The all-new Symbian Anna improves the overall performance of Nokia's platform noticeably. But even with the update, was it for the humble 680MHz CPU and only 256MB of RAM memory, or for Symbian itself, some lag was definitely noticeable. Even in the preinstalled games sometimes the screen would freeze for a fraction of a second. Web browsing has also received a boost in Anna – something you'd definitely appreciate if you're used to the standard horrendous browsing in previous Symbian editions.

The call quality is a key feature for any handset and that's why we were particularly careful when examining the audio quality on the Nokia X7. The handset comes with active noise cancellation with a dedicated microphone, which does an excellent job of bringing side noise to an absolute minimum. We were also happy with the volume on both the mic and the earpiece.

Under the back cover, there is a 1300 mAh battery providing you with an above average talk time of up to 6 hours 30 minutes and 6 hours of continuous video playback. Keep in mind that the battery is not removable.

Conclusion:
The Nokia X7 brings a much anticipated overhaul of the Symbian platform, but even with Anna, Nokia's platform UI and performance seems a year or even more behind rivals like Android and iOS. The Finns also fail to deliver contemporary hardware with a sub-par 680MHz CPU and only 256MB of RAM on the Nokia X7, which seem to be the main reasons behind its sometimes slightly laggy performance.

At the same time, the price of this package is hard to swallow – set at the whopping Rs.20999. On the positive side, the Nokia X7 is well-crafted with premium materials and unique angular design. If you feel nostalgic about the glorious past of Nokia, there's certainly something that will feed your nostalgia in the X7. But if you factor in any other sane reasons, the current dual-core offerings on the market blow the Nokia X7 out of the water easily.

Five BlackBerry PlayBook Browsing Tips and Tricks

2011-06-24T08:42:00.000-07:00

Browsing the web using the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet is a great experience, as you can enjoy the best of the web on its beautiful display. Today I’d like to share five tips that I’ve been using since I got my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet on launch day!

Tip 1 – Search using the Address Bar

Instead of visiting your favorite search engine website to perform a search, you can just type whatever you are looking for in the address bar and press the Enter key to perform an automatic search. You can change which search engine is used by swiping down the top bezel while using the browser and selecting “Options”. Within this menu, you’ll have the option of changing which search engine your browser is automatically using.

Tip 2 – Add to Home Screen

This is a great feature to use for websites that you frequently visit, as it allows you to place an icon for the website on your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet home screen. All you need to do is find a website that you’d like to appear on your home screen, such as the orbitmobile.blogspot.com. After loading the website, tap the star icon with the green plus mark that appears in the top right corner of the browser, then tap ‘Add to Home Screen’. You’ll then be prompted to specify a name for the icon that will appear on your home screen.

Tip 3 – Copy and Paste Text / Save, Copy and View Image

The next time you come across some text that you’d like to copy or an image that you’d like to save, all you need to do is tap and hold for a few seconds on the content you’d like, and then select the option that you want from the menu that appears. In the screenshot below, I tapped and held for a few seconds on the BlackBerry App World image to produce the context menu that allows me to Save, Copy or View the image.

Tip 4 – Downloads

One of things I love about my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is that I can save files such as PDF and ZIP files while browsing the Internet. After saving a file, you’ll be able to access the file later by selecting the “Downloads” button that appears when you swipe down from the top bezel while browsing the web.

When you connect the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to a computer, you’ll be able to access these files by opening the Downloads folder.

Tip 5- Hide the Browser Address Bar

Sometimes you don’t need to see the address bar while using the Browser on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, so why not hide it and give yourself some extra screen space? All you need to do is that tap on the little switch that appears on the right side of the address bar (circled in red above). This will hide the address bar in the Browser.

To get the address back temporarily, swipe down from the top bezel. If you want to bring the address bar back completely, swipe down from the top bezel again, but this time tap on the same switch you hit earlier to disable hiding the address bar. In the following screenshot, the switch denotes that the address bar is currently hidden.

Do you have a handy tip and trick for using the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet? If so, leave a comment and let me know!

BlackBerry PlayBook Review

2011-06-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

If you thought the tablet wars were just between Apple and Google, think again. Research in Motion may be late to the fight, but it is fighting for its life, and the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet demonstrates that the company means business.

Like the Apple iPad, the PlayBook is available for as low as ` 26990 (16GB), or as much as `32990(32GB) and `37990(64GB) if you need the extra capacity. For now, the tablet is restricted to Wi-Fi (though Bluetooth tethering is possible), with 4G models planned for later in the year.

Is it an iPad killer? For existing corporate and consumer BlackBerry devotees, the answer is certainly yes. For the rest of you, probably not. With its unapologetically small 7-inch screen, we're not even sure RIM intends it to compete directly with the iPad. More importantly, the PlayBook and its souped-up operating system point the way forward for RIM and the future of the BlackBerry brand.

Design
The BlackBerry PlayBook is probably the smallest high-profile tablet to come out in 2011. Measuring 5 inches tall, 7.5 inches wide, and a slim 0.4 inch thick, the PlayBook's design has more in common with the Galaxy Tab of 2010 than the 10-inch tablets making headlines this year. To RIM's credit, the PlayBook is the most powerful 7-inch tablet we've tested, and the lightweight design comes in under a pound.

One of the first things you'll notice about the PlayBook is the complete lack of buttons on the front. PlayBook's navigation is handled using onscreen controls. A 0.7-inch bezel frames the 1,024 x 600 pixel-resolution screen, which is bordered by a pair of slender stereo speaker grilles. Above the screen you'll see a 3-megapixel camera staring back at you, along with an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts screen brightness. Flip the tablet over and you'll find another camera, this one a 5-megapixel job that can capture video at 1080p quality.

BlackBerry tablet OS
The single most important feature of the PlayBook is its operating system. RIM has candidly declared that the PlayBook's OS is more than just a new tablet platform, but the future for BlackBerry devices in general. In building the software from the ground up, RIM's goal was to create an OS that is a powerful, professionally oriented alternative to Android and iOS. We think RIM nailed it.

Aside from being buttery smooth and a multitasking dynamo, the PlayBook's OS is a dramatic change from the cramped, trackball-focused OS RIM built its name on. It bears more than a passing resemblance to Palm's resurrected WebOS, but arguably surpasses it in its quest for laptop like performance.

There is a learning curve to finding your way around the PlayBook. Unlike iOS or Android, there's no home button to act as an anchor for the experience. Instead, there's a basic vocabulary of gestures you'll need to learn, such as swiping upward from beneath the screen to access apps, swiping down from the top bezel to access menus, or swiping from either the left or right bezel to bounce between open applications. It's a bit of a secret handshake to get it all down, but once you do, you can move swiftly, and the speed with which you can jump between running apps is noticeably faster than anything else out there. It's a dream tablet for anyone with attention deficit disorder. Like switching between applications on your computer, the PlayBook keeps your open apps running in parallel at full throttle and takes no time jumping right in.

Another aspect of the PlayBook's OS that has us smiling is the onscreen keyboard. The virtual keys are well-spaced and responsive. The overall tablet dimension and bezel size make it easy to reach your fingers across the screen. And in a design twist we think is pretty smart, RIM groups its numeric keyboard all on the left side, making number entry a little more natural (especially for fans of BlackBerry's tactile smartphone keyboard).

Desktop sync
Syncing media to your PlayBook from your computer isn't the simple drag-and-drop experience as on an Android device, or the time-honored iTunes sync of an iPod or iOS device. Instead, when you connect the PlayBook to a Mac or PC, a preloaded installer will pop up and run you through the BlackBerry Desktop software installation. The setup is fairly painless, and it gives you separate tabs for manually or automatically syncing various media, such as photos, music, and videos.

Another nifty advantage of RIM's software sync strategy is that it will take your PlayBook's unique BlackBerry PIN ID and map it to a persistent virtual drive on your computer. After the setup, your computer will maintain a wireless connection to your PlayBook over your home network, allowing you to send files to the device from the virtual drive on your computer. One use for this feature is quickly transferring a report or presentation to your PlayBook without taking it out of your bag and physically connecting it.

Battery life:
With day-to-day usage, WiFi on, screen reasonably bright, checking out some websites and playing some tunes, the PlayBook has plenty of juice to get you through a couple days without breaking a sweat. It'll handily survive your all-day presentation at the office, make you look cool in front of your boss, and then still have plenty of battery life left to chill out to some movie. on the flight home.

Extend your BlackBerry's Battery Life

2011-06-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

Battery Power Saving Tips for BlackBerry Smart Phones

Charging

Charge BlackBerry® smartphone as much as possible
Use wall chargers as the preferred charging method

Media

Reduce volume
Use headphones
Load media using the BlackBerry® Desktop Manager (Avoids resizing)
Turn off equalizer settings (Media – Options)

Browsing

Visit mobile sites where applicable
Turn Repeat Animations to a lower setting (Browser – Options – General Properties)
Close browser when finished using (close with ESC key, not red End key)

Screen/Keyboard

Reduce Backlight Timeout (Options – Screen/Keyboard)
Reduce Backlight Brightness (Options – Screen/Keyboard)
Holster smartphone (turns off LCD automatically)
Set Audible Roll to mute (Options – Screen/Keyboard)
Key Tone Off (Options – Screen/Keyboard)
Use a sleeve when storing the smartphone in a pocket

Network Connections

Turn off unused connections when not in use, i.e. GPS, Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth®
Use Auto On/Off
Use single mode only (1XEV, 2G only, 3G only)

Shortcuts

Use shortcuts instead of activating Java® menus (Browser – Options – Browser Configuration)

Camera

Turn off flash (Camera – Options)
Set picture size to Small (Camera – Options)
Set Color Effect to Normal (Camera – Options)
Set Picture Quality to Normal (Camera – Options)

Applications

When exiting, be sure to close the app, not leave it running in the background (close with ESC key, not red End key)
Log out of third-party applications when they are not needed (Instant Messaging, etc.)

Indicators

Set Audible notification to Off (Profiles)
Turn off coverage LED (Profiles)

GPS

Use the zoom out function to get the largest viewable area that you can still use usefully