[Gizmos] New Toys in town!!

Wow, i have managed to write 74 posts, and this will be my 75th post on this blog!!! :)

Gadgets have always fascinated me.- either reading up on them, or analysing something new at home or just keeping myself updated on whats new in the market across the world!! This does not mean i bring home everything i oggle at, nah, am too much of a practical person for that!! [psst, aother reason is i cant afford em all now can i?]

In the past 10yrs since i started working, i have been through 4phones, actually 3, the 1st one was my granpa's- a big chunky Motorola that will today pass for a walkey talkey!! :D The joy of earning , saving up and buying something on your own is simply divine.. and thats the way its been for me!! Starting with the basic Nokia 3315 to Sony Ericsson w550i [ a swanky phone that swivels that had many an eye turn and too many wonder how to open and use;)] and finally my N95 8Gb....


Nope, i dint lose/break/throw any of my phones, actually never thrown anything expensive, or anything that falls into the 'gadget' category!!! About a month ago, my N95 started giving me problems - the backlight on screen kept flickering and then one fine day it died, leaving me in a mini state of panic...


*Calm breathes*... went to Iconnet, the guy took 20mins, pulled it apart[was totally fascinated], replacedc the Slider cable and said "here you go, and ummm, be careful" As luck would have it, i went to Blore and in 2days, the screen blanked out on me again!! Nothing helped.. so picked up a basic[ as basic as it can get] Nokia phone, used it for a couple of days while contemplating on a new phone/ fixing my N95...

Thats when the Twitter buds [@Macdeepak and @SridharSuresh] came into action, helping me decide and ta da..in 2days flat i was holding my Blackberry Curve 8520..

Never have i spent so little time and bought a phone in few hours!! My friends' friend called, spoke, said he knew someone.. called back saying bring the cash, take your phone!! Voila!! what fun!!! And well, i love it...

Verdict: The Blackberry Curve 8520 is probably a basic model[ amongst the new range of BBs] but it is a beauty and am loving it!! Infact another twitter friend - @Avni_Iyer has also bought the same thing few days ago and written about her Phones/gadget experiences so far here

Price - Inexpensive.. Rs13000 to Rs14000 - Damn good deal when compared to how much i shelled out for my N95

Features- Well, it pretty much has it all ,-

Email sync- upto 10email ids

[yep, thats mine..isnt the butterfly background cool. :-)]

App world - thru which one can download various apps- Twitter, FB, Gtalk, BBM[blackberry messenger to keep in touch with fellow BB users], linkedin and some more. Today discovered there is an F1 app for it- keep track of timings, schedules, winners, etc!!Other messengers are also available!

Applications: Notepad, Tasks, Ms Office and some more..

Keyboard - This model has a qwerty keyboard, which is fairly fun to navigate [ exact same as the E63,E71, E72 and the Samsung B7320]

Weight: Very light weight [again when compared to my N95, this feels weightless]

Camera : 2mp.. decent pics [cant compare to my N95.. that was Carl Zeiss lens, 5MP, but heck i have my cybershot:)]

Music: Yep, you can download or transfer songs from other phones/computer and listen... good speakers!!

Phone book: Phew,if i had to fill in all entries for contacts, i'd grow old even before using the phone :) You can store multiple numbers for a person and it has a smooth search option as well..

Ease of use - Totally.. very easy to find your way around and use the features , plus you can once again alter the position of folders, apps and arrange them in a way that suits you.

Once you load your Sim into the BB, all you do is call your service provider and ask them to activate BIS and choose a plan depending on your usage... :-)

Battery life - Good.. as good as my Nokia.. 1.5days easy!!

Rate : 9/10 [ dont ask me why not 10/10.. just like that!! ;o)]

For more information and reviews you can check out this

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Time to move to another gadget, that i got to play with...Dont jump to conclusions, not just yet!! A new gizmo that has been released in USA, not in India, but i managed to get my hands on it... A friend had left a FB message that the iPad rocks and i replied saying " I wanna see, hasnt it been long since we met?" and the dear
friend that he is called right away and we met for lunch at another friend;s house the next day!! :)

Walked into A's house, said hello to her dad and saw it sitting there pretty on the sofa.. But dint want to seem too desperate, and turned left, said hi to A, V and R[owner of the 64Gb iPad].. Managed to have some lunch and next instant was on the iPad fidgeting and firing questions at R....

Verdict: This new baby from the Apple's basket is a bigger version of the iPod Touch... Took me to my childhood days when we used a slate to write, only thing missing in the ipad was a chalk stick!! :D

Weight: It is about .68gms, and dint feel heavy inspite of my holding it for nearly half hour

Keyboard: Same touch concept, and very easy to type[ atleast i found it easy for am used to the pop up touch keyboard on my iPod touch] to type long notes/messages, i found it convenient
to place the iPad on my lap and type- cos i use both hands to type!

Features: Exactly as your iPod touch... Touch screen....mail, photos, music, etc etc...

Missing: Camera, USB slots, Drives and the App store does not work yet in India, maybe when it is officially launched, it might kick into action

Price: well, my friend got it for a deal...But MRP right now is high, so wait for official launch!!

Rate: 7/10 [ you will agree with me when you see/play with one!! ]

You can read the Review of Ipad here