BinaryDay

Motorola and Kodak have launched the Motozine ZN5 camera phone in the Indian market. Even before considering the specification of the handset, I have been highly impressed by the amount of local content that these 2 global players have put into the handset.

The handset comes with default access to many indian newspapaers including Financial Express, Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle via the daily news link in ZN5. It comes loaded with a number of wallpapers that are clearly indian in taste.

Moreover three cricket games by Krish games have been preloaded on the Motorola ZN5 along with live cricket scoreboards, ball by ball commentary, live match simulations and news.

As far as connectivity is concerned the ZN5 supports Wi-Fi, EDGE, GPRS, bluetooth with A2DP and USB v2.0.  The handset comes with a TV out feature, a 3.5mm earphone socket and Motorola’s crystal talk technology.

The Motozine ZN5 is expected to be priced around Rs 20,000.

Also as a part of the introductory offer, the users would get 100 Kodak free prints of their personal photographs at select Kodak stores until March 31, 2009.

If you want to read emails on your phone ,I sugggest you to use ProfiMail, a very nice mobile email client

Profimail is a cool client which helps me to read and respond to my emails even from office.

To start using profimail, I had to just download the client on my mobile and configure it by giving required input fields like username, password, incoming mail server ,outgoing mail server
etc.

Profimail is a really feature reach application. Some of the important features are listed below :

• Automatic synchronization of messages with mail server
• IMAP folders
• Attachments – view, save, send
• ability to send HTML messages with images and hyperlinks
• Address book support
• Support for POP3 / IMAP / SMTP mail servers
• Multiple email accounts
• Text viewer for standard text, HTML and Word documents
• Optimized for GPRS – get headers first, then download message bodies which you really want to see

Well though I normally use very few of these features but it is indeed a cool client and enables me to respond to critical mails really fast

But the only catch is that it is a paid client. However if want to be able to access your mails then I think the $60 price may not be too much to pay.

In the mean time I am trying to find a free email client for my mobile. Please drop a line in the comments section, if you are aware of one.

I do not have to explain the importance of wikipedia to you. If you have ever complained that wikipedia is not exactly mobile freindly, then you will definitely like wapedia.mobi

wapedia is basically the mobile version of wikipedia. The first time you visit the site, it will ask you to choose your language. Click on english.

Next you will be taken to a page with a search box. I typed in “symbian” and hit enter. The beauty of wapedia lies in the search result page. The search result page is simply a listing of relevant pages. That allows the page to load fast and you can navigate it fast as well. Even  the content on the resultant page has been optimized for usage on mobile.

I have been using Nokia E61i since Nov 2007. No wonder it is one of my fav gadzet and best buddy. Reason behind this is it allows me to be online on gtalk thru fringe.. check my mywalkin emails thru Profimail and access gmail thru gmail client.

So here are my two cents on how to use ur phone more smartly..

1. Fring:- Fring is one chat messenger which can help u to be online on all 4 people messengers at one go.
U can very well connect to yahoo /gtalk/skype/MSN and SIP.

Steps to download Fring on ur mobile are simple.

1.Go to www.fring.com
2.Enter ur number
3.wait for the sms
4.Click on the link provided in the sms.
5. Download and install Fring
and Enjoy happy chatting..

Voice clarity is too good . In fact I prefer to speak from E61i then to do the same from my machine

For more details visit www.fring.com.

Ps: Just now I came to know that they do have add ons like Orkut which will allow us to reply to the scraps immediately.
I will use it for a while and blog abt my experience..

Nokia has started accepting pre-bookings for the N96 phone. You can prebook a Nokia N96 by paying Rs4,000 here

You can read our views on comparison of N96 with iphone to help you choose the right mobile phone.

Spice S-820 is the latest music phone from spice. The handset is priced at Rs 6599. You can read my review here

There are many websites that allow you to send free sms messages from your laptop/ computer. However if you wanted to send a sms from your mobile phone then you needed to pay the tariff.

However now you can send free sms messages from your mobile as well. The free sms site http://www.way2sms.com has comeup with a wap version at http://way2sms.com/wap Go to this url through your mobiles browser and send unlimited free sms messages from your mobile phone. Ofcourse you will need gprs connection in your mobile to avail this facility.

`I had previously discussed about the 8 megapixel camera phones on this blog. However none of those mobiles are available in the market, yet. This time I shall be discussing the camera phones available from nokia in the Indian market.

Nokia has just announced the Nokia N85,the latest multimedia smartphone in the Nseries.  It is a two-way slider.

 The Nokia N85 comes with a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. Combined with A-GPS it is possible to geotag favorite pictures. The Nokia N85 also offers a full range of standard scene modes, including Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sport and Night. It also offers a red-eye reduction flash mode and a flash range of up to 3 meters.

Each Nokia N85 comes with an 8GB microSD card. The Nokia N85 also supports the Nokia Music Store and other online music vendors, and music libraries can be synchronized via an USB cable.

This phone is going to be a hit with gamers as well. The Nokia N85 is pre-loaded with ten N-Gage gaming title demos and a voucher to activate one full game license. Dedicated gaming keys light up when the device is in gaming mode.

We have seen 2 exciting launches in India last week. Apple iPhone and Nokia N96. While Apple iPhone is priced at Rs. 31,000 for 8GB version and Rs. 36,000 for 16GB version, N96 is priced at Rs. 36,000. So for now price wise both are evenly matched. Now the big question, if I have to put up my 36K, which one will it be.

I have used the iPhone for few months (non 3G version) earlier so I have experienced its revolutionaly user interface and I can talk about its ownership experience. I have not got a chance to explore N96 so far. So I can only compare it with iPhone based on it features and not on its ownership experience.

WOW Factor:
iPhone, iPhone and iPhone. N96 simply doesn’t stand a chance here. I remember the day when I just took my iPhone out in Kamat restaurant, here in Hyderabad, to attend a call and then just put it on my table. Every single passer by including the waiter, asked me what phone it was, and how much it costed. Simply amazing. Even more amazing was their reaction when I told them that it costed me just Rs. 18,ooo (that’s $399).
N96 I am sure, anyone would ever notice it. It just looks a slightly polished version of N95.

User Interface:
Again iPhone with its revolutionary multi-touch technology is far ahead of Nokia N96. I have used N95 and I believe, N96 user interface should be more or less the same. While its definitely good but it not comparable to iPhone, which is in a different league altogether. When your start using iPhone, this multitouch will really excite your, but over the time, it simply doesn’t matter. For me after a couple of months of use, I really found my blackberry better to use. It was faster and easier. But this is valid if you are using a lot of email on phone.

Storage:
N96 is clear winner here. Apart from 16GB memory it also supports micro SD card. This definitely gives it an edge over iPhone. We can use this microSD card easily copy data from N96 to other phones or PC, just like a pen drive, which is very convenient.

Camera:
N96 is a clear winner here. 5 mega pixel. iPhone has just 2. N96 as has a LED flash. With 5 mega pixel, it literally eliminates the need to carry a digital camera. More over copying photos to PC, its not dependent on iTunes. Just copy the photos to you PC and you are done. This comes in handy if you have to copy your photos to say your friend’s machine which does not have itunes.

Size/Weight:
While N96 is lighter than iPhone by 8 gms, it looks bulkier. iPhone is thinner compared to N96. So I believe iPhone is a winner here.

Multimedia/Media playback:
N96 is a clear winner here. It can play MP3s, AACs WMAs. Just drag and drop MP3s from your system and your are ready to listen. For iPhone everything goes via iTunes which can be frustrating many times especially for Linux users like me. For video also, N96 can play more formats than iPhone including MPEG-4 and Flash. Flash is a big limitation in iPhone. Sound and picture quality should be comparable in both the devices, though with larger screen, iPhone scores over N96, while watching videos.

Connectivity/Network:
iPhone comes locked with provider, which I hate. Other than that both are 3G phones and have wi fi and are equally matched. N96 supports Stereo Bluetooth with A2DP, iPhone doesn’t. Both have Assisted GPS, but N96 comes with bundled maps and 3 months subscription (in India), which gives it an edge over iPhone.

Battery:
iPhone is a winner here. For Audio playback, its 14 hours (N96) vs. 24 (iPhone) and for video its 5 hours (N96) vs. 7. Standby time is 220 hours (N96) vs. 300 for the iPhone. Though we cannot change the battery of iPhone ourselves, but that’s hardly an issue. iPhone hugely scores over N96 in battery life. But then again you will definitely find many people with Nokia chargers around (at least in India) when you need one .

WebApps:
The iPhone has the App Store for third-party applications, while the N96 has the huge collection of apps made for the Symbian S60. Right now N96 wins here, but we are seeing some really cool and useful apps for iPhone coming up.

Some limitations in iPhone:
- Can’t forward the SMS.
- Can’t send phone numbers via SMS text message.
- When receiving phone numbers/contacts, e.g. VCARD, I can’t save them to contacts.
- No Text Selection, Copy, Cut and Paste.
- No Memory Card Support
- No Video Recording, No MMS

Conclusion:
iPhone is a great phone with a revolutionary multi touch interface. It has a tremendous WOW factor and sets you apart. But then that’s about it. When it comes to features and utility, N96 scores over iPhone. It may not draw crowds but it will definitely get the work done.

I can sum it up as follows:
iPhone is like a gorgeous girlfriend and N96 is like a faithful loving wife. Choice is yours to make.