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Compare the UK iPhone Price War: O2 vs Orange vs Tesco

Posted on: 10-12-2009
(3)

Category : apple, review

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Right, so here we are with not one, but three official carriers who are providing the iPhone in the UK [ unlike the US, where AT&T still has the exclusive rights]. We had O2 originally who were the sole carriers in the UK, but when the contract between O2 and Apple expired this year in November, Orange sprung into action. Yet, the rate and plans revealed by Orange for the iPhone were of no noticeable change than the ones of O2.

And now, UK’s biggest retail supermarket – Tesco – in partnership with O2, is posing as the third official carrier of the iPhone in the UK. The rate plans were released today [ visit: Tesco iPhone website]

So which one of the three is actually the one to look out, or has anything changed at all? Has the addition of 2 more players in the iPhone market brought any real value addition for the customer. We’ll try to answer that question with comparative spreadsheets of the various rate plans. Hit the jump to view the spreadsheet.

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Bring Everything To Your Homepage: 44tips.com Review

Posted on: 29-11-2009
(2)

Category : review, web 2.0

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So we do have our own daily visited websites. I can’t live without my daily dose of Techcrunch and Lifehacker. And then, there are the usual ones – Facebook, Twitter, GMail etc. Now, although browsers like Chrome, Opera and Firefox with addons do allow users to have a start up Fast-Dial page which has links to those highly visited links, there is still a big link missing in the amount of stuff we want. Of course, that void has been filled to some extent by the father of all start-up pages – iGoogle. iGoogle is highly customisable, with gadgets, widgets and feeds. You can add a lot of stuff to keep your iGoolge engaging, but again, adding too much stuff makes it cluttered and takes ages to load. And not to forget, you have Themes on iGoogle.

Enter a new alternative to iGoogle – 44tips.com, a website run by some awesome developers at picturesque Amsterdam [ I am imagining that they have an awesome view in their office :) ] The first thing you notice about the UI [user interface] on 44tips is that the site design is simplistic, clutter-free and quite minimal – yet, pretty. The colours are basic dark grey and Orange with a twang. Both remind me of Firefox somehow, which means-it works for me. Let’s explore the usability and the features on this website, and if it is worth making it your homepage. Shall we?

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Smartphone Hunt: Review of Motorola Droid / Milestone – Android Phone

Posted on: 17-11-2009
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Category : gadget, review

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I have been on a smartphone hunt for quite some time now. The basic feature that I am looking for in a smartphone is of a touchscreen phone with the flexibility of adding apps – 3rd party Apps. Apart from the extremely popular iPhone which happens to come in a repulsively expensive deal here in the UK, there are the other iPhone alternatives. So, in this section of Smartphone Hunt we will be analysing the iPhone alternatives one by one. And the biggest iPhone alternative in today’s mobile market is the family of Android phones.

Motorola’s latest offering in the Android phone section is the Motorola Droid known as Motorola Milestone in Europe. But throughout this review we’ll be referring to it as Droid [ coz it's easy]. While it is still to be seen where the Droid lands up with which carrier in the UK [ No one has confirmed it yet - though O2, 3 and T-mobile have backed out. Possible carriers could be either of Vodafone or Orange]. Here is a quick review of the different features that the Droid offers and we’ll finally decide if it is worth buying it or not.

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Sky Player on XBOX 360: User Review

Posted on: 03-11-2009
(5)

Category : microsoft, review

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This is a long overdue review since the Sky Player was released on the XBOX 360 for UK users on the 28th of October. Well, I have been keeping busy. But nevertheless, I am here writing this review. Sky player’s introduction into the Xbox could be a major game-changer in terms of sheer innovation, control, and distribution channels that this medium opens up, and the game console can finally state as it has arrived. Frankly because, Sky is certainly the lion’s shareholder when it comes to Cable and Satellite TV distribution. All the major sporting events – Sky Sports; Movie channels – Sky; TV Entertainment – Sky 1 shows – House, Fringe, Modern Family and Stargate Universe amongst others. So there is no denying that Microsoft did choose the right partner to collaborate with. But does the Sky Player meet all the expectations or does it disappoint? The answer is a mixture of both.

After the Jump, Full Review of the Sky Player on the XBOX 360 including screenshots.

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Deconstructing Morgan Stanley’s Teen Media Report

Posted on: 26-07-2009
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Category : review

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morgan stanley

Morgan Stanley’s report ” How Teenagers Consume Media ” talks about the impact, reach and relevance of different forms of media on the target section of the population – the teens. The importance of this paper is the very fact that today’s teenagers will be evolving into tomorrow’s workforce and the ones who will be shaping tomorrow’s consumer market. This in itself means that the behaviour of the teenagers and their reaction towards media cannot be overlooked.

However, the report is written by a teenager, 15 year old Matthew Robson. The report reflects how a normal teenager perceives media of the current world spanning across traditional media like TV, radio and print, to new-age media like social networking websites, cellphones, game consoles etc. Although the discussion provided in the report does reflect teenage behaviour in a lot of sections, it has its shortcomings.

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Nintendo E3 2009 Keynote Review

Posted on: 02-06-2009
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Category : review

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Soooo… Ninty has done the do at E3 and here’s some headliners for you hungry consumers of Gadg.

Wii MotionPlus™: The new higher accuracy Wii Remote dongle promises to provide even more immersive physical reality in its games, including a heightened awareness of it’s position with a 3D area.

Wii Sports Resort™: The main first new MotionPlus game, centred around a resort supposedly on the beach of the Wii Fit Island (You know – where you go jogging in Wii Fit). Events include Frisbee that your Nintendog can catch (Good grief!! I haven’t fed poor little Rex in about 2 years!!), Jet ski’s and Kendo to name but a few.

Fetch!
Fetch!

Wii Fit™ Plus: The much anticipated update to Wii fit. Now includes tailored workout routines. You can also work towards a goal such as

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Skype Video Downgrade?

Posted on: 06-02-2009
(4)

Category : internet, review, web 2.0

Tags: , , ,

Skype 4

Back in the day, we all used phones to communicate. Then Skype came along and changed the world. Sure, there were other systems before it, but Skype had it all sewn up with a neat little package that bundled the hallowed VOIP with a simple interface and of course – It was free!! Later, video was added (that Beta seemed to last forever!) and the whole thing really took off. Skype has always had some big hitters looking over its shoulder with the likes of the goliath Windows Messenger (Currently in its ‘Live’ incarnation) and the Gmail (With its flexibility and low resource usage) to name but a few.

With this in mind the major release of Skype 4.0 was much anticipated… What new wonders can we behold?… Well, I can tell you one thing – if you’re expecting better video you may be sadly disappointed.  :-\

Last week if you’d have asked me what my preferred video calling software was I’d have said Gmail and Skype were pretty much 50/50, this week however it has to be Gmail. The new Skype 4.0 video looks like a nasty police photo-fit or, worse, a deliberately pixelated news item. Yes it gets a little better if you give it a few minutes but the previous video was clearly better (IMHO). They have, however, done a good job with the voice side of things which is undoubtedly smooth, and sure, there are some new whistles and bells to play with (the “Open” or “Open with Video” seems so obvious now) but why would you release an update with worse performance on the one thing everybody stares at???…

Now if only Google could make their video a little more resilient to all those sudden crashes….

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Bad review: 8Hands Social Networking Client Beta

Posted on: 28-01-2009
(1)

Category : review, web 2.0

Tags: , ,

Unless I am extremely tormented and harassed by an application, I tend to remain on the good side of review. But this little application install has been a nightmare. Extremely dodgy, unfriendly and useless. I am talking about the latest beta release of the Social Networking Client-8hands for Windows. It supposedly claims to integrate all your social networking needs and bring Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Blogger, Wordpress, et al under one giant umbrella, conveniently operating them from one client (at least what they claim). 

8hands

I got to know about this app, through DownloadSquad’s post on 8hands. First things first, the app needed some update of Microsoft .Net to be installed on my machine, and a reboot. Ok, no complaints. Once installed, the application required me to make an account to login, giving in my e-mail credentials. No activation link from email required. Ok, cool so-far. Setting up Twitter easy as it goes. Click the twitter icon, enter username and password. Done! 

Facebook next. Enter user-login (email address) and password. Doesn’t accept. Tried again, doesn’t accept. Signed out of Facebook from browser, and then tried login in 8hands, doesn’t work. Tried 3 more times, whilst I was updating my frustation on Twitter via 8hands (Get my twitter feed here) . If I cannot get my facebook set-up here, what’s the damn use?

Went to Start, Programs, 8hands— No uninstall exe. Went to Ctrl-Panel, Add-Remove Programs. Found 8hands. Removed. 

The other thing I noticed while I was updating Twitter through 8hands was that the messages were getting updated quite well on twitter, but there was no updates on the client itself. I could not wait for them to get updated, and hence hit the uninstall button. If anyone can set-up their Facebook account here, please let me know. Cheers and DONOT install. 

P.S. The image means , 8hands doesn’t require Refresh. Yeah right!

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