Windows Task manager has come a long way since its introduction in Windows NT almost two decades ago. In its latest incarnation in Windows 8, it’s a lot more than a simple process manager. Microsoft has picked up several handy features that were previously buried inside different Windows utilities, and embedded them in the Task Manager where they will get greater visibility. Last week, I wrote about the new ‘Analyze Wait Chain‘ feature in the Windows Task Manager. This week I am going to take a closer look at the newly introduced ‘Start-up’ tab.

As the name suggests, the ‘Start-up’ tab can be used to monitor and control processes that automatically launch at boot. In previous versions of Windows, the same functionality was available in the System Configuration (MsConfig) utility. In Windows 8, the ‘Startup’ section of MsConfig utility simply opens up the Task Manager.

Windows 8 Task Manager: Startup Tab

Although the core feature was available in older versions of Windows, Microsoft has added new parameters which makes it easier to identify the biggest resource hogs. The screenshot above displays the ‘Start-up’ tab in its default state. The final column — Start-up Impact — displays how much of a slowdown each entry is likely to cause. Impact values are determined by applying these criteria:

• High impact – Apps that use more than 1 second of CPU time or more than 3 MB of disk I/O at startup
• Medium impact – Apps that use 300 ms – 1000 ms of CPU time or 300 KB – 3 MB of disk I/O
• Low impact – Apps that use less than 300 ms of CPU time and less than 300 KB of disk I/O

Windows 8 Task Manager: Startup Tab with Additional Columns

You can also see exactly how much CPU and disk I/O each process was using at startup by enabling the relevant columns. You can easily disable any process from the right click context menu. Microsoft also helpfully offers to search the web to find more information about processes you can’t identify. What’s surprising about the ‘Search online’ feature is that it uses the default search engine of your default browser, and not Bing on Internet Explorer, as I was expecting. Microsoft has indeed come a long way over the past few years.

Without a shade of doubt, the new startup manager is both more accessible and useful. However, to be honest, boot time is going to gradually become a non-issue for most desktop users in a few years. If you have an SSD (Solid State Drive), Windows 8 should boot up in 15 seconds or less. Unfortunately, SSDs are still prohibitively expensive for a vast majority of users, and are still a few years away from becoming mainstream.

The post New Features in Windows 8 Task Manager: Start-up appeared first on Pallab dot Net.

The first feature I am going to take a look at is something called ‘Analyze wait chain’. This option is hidden in the right click context menu of the ‘Details’ tab, which is essentially a renamed Processes tab. So exactly what does this option do? Click on the “More on wait chain” link and you will be taken to this webpage, which says, “Wait Chain Traversal (WCT) enables debuggers to diagnose application hangs and deadlocks”. The rest of the webpage isn’t exactly verbose.

Analyze Wait Chain Option in Windows 8 Task Manager

In simple words, the ‘Analyze wait chain’ feature might come in handy when an application suddenly stops responding, and you simply can’t or don’t want to use the ‘End Task’ option. An application can switch over to the dreaded ‘Not Responding’ state due to a multitude of reasons. One of the causes is that the application is simply waiting for another process to respond. In such cases, you can use the ‘Analyze wait chain’ option and Windows will list all the processes the application is waiting for. If you are lucky, then you can simply kill the listed processes and unfreeze your application. However, note that I used the word lucky. There’s no telling exactly how the frozen application will react to you killing the dependant process. It might begin responding again, it might crash, or it might continue to remain unfrozen. Its reccomend to use the ‘Analyze wait chain’ feature only when you believe that the application won’t begin responding on its own. If you don’t get the option to ‘End Task’ the frozen process, close the task manager and relaunch it with administrator priviledges. You can do so by searching for Task Manager in the Start screen, right clicking on the icon, and clicking on the ‘Run as administrator’ option.

Kill Processes Listed by Wait Chain (img via Ramond.cc)

Before I conclude, it will be disingeious to not point out that the wait chain traversal feature isn’t exactly new to Windows. This feature was also included in Windows 7; however, it was buried in the Resource Monitor. To launch Resource Monitor, press Win+R, type in ‘resmon’ and hit enter.

The post New Features in Windows 8 Task Manager: Analyze Wait Chain appeared first on Pallab dot Net.

Way back in 2010, I had remarked that “battery life is a major issue with all Android phones”. This was written in the days of FroYo (my handset was stil on Eclair). Since then, we have seen a host of Android version updates with better battery management, improved chipsets with ingenious power saving techniques, and of course more powerful batteries. Unfortunately, in spite of all of these advances, the root problem remains. A smartphone’s battery life is no where near what one would consider ideal.

The tips I shared in my original article still hold true, and can be followed to extract some additional juice out of out battery. However, today, I will share two brilliant apps whose combined power can easily prolong your Android phone’s battery life by several hours. Using these apps I succeeded in boosting my battery life from 10.5 hours to 14 hours with moderate usage and 3G data.

1. Better Battery Stats

In my older article I recommended an app called “Spare Parts” to monitor battery usage and identify misbehaving apps. Unfortunately, if you are using Gingerbread or a newer variant of Android, Spare Parts can no longer be used on your system. Noticing this void, XDA member ‘chamonix’ stepped up to the plate, and developed his own app called Better Battery Stats.

BBS shows an detailed log of your battery usage that can be helpful in identifying resource hogs. The most crucial bit that you should monitor carefully is the ‘Kernel Wakelock’ section. A kernel wakelock often occurs due to buggy apps, and it prevents your phone from entering sleeping state. While wakelocks are commonly employed by apps to sync data in the background, constant wakelocks can be a massive drain on the battery. Better Battery Stats is a paid app in the Play Store, but can be downloaded for free from the XDA forums.

Download BetterBatteryStats
License: Paid – $2.58
Platform: Android

P.S. If you find BBS to be too confusing, you can use Battery Stats Plus, which offers less detailed metrics, but automatically highlights misbehaving apps.

2. Deep Sleep Battery Saver

One of the best ways to prolong your battery life is to disable data transfer. A slightly more moderate option is to disable automatic sync. A bunch of apps trying to pull data every few minutes, can drain your battery in a matter of hours. However, disabling either data or automatic sync defeats the purpose of buying a smartphone.

Deep Sleep Battery Saver offers a workable compromise, while massively boosting your battery life. DS Battery Saver automatically disables background data and Wi-Fi, pauses all apps, and puts your phone to deep sleep when the screen is off. However, it periodically re-enables your data and Wi-Fi connections and wakes up apps to allow them to sync. The free version comes with five different presets and offers some degree of customizability. The Pro version however allows you to completely create your own profile with day and night settings, define apps to ignore and more. For most users, the free version should suffice.

I have been using this app for past few months, and it boosts my battery life by 25% even on the gentle settings. I can not recommend this app enough. In my book, this is the best Android battery saver app. It’s simple and idiot proof, and works exceedingly well. Just two taps and you are good to go. However, if you want more bells and whistles and settings to play with, you might want to take a look at 2x Battery. I haven’t tested it, but the reviews seem quite positive.

Download Deep Sleep Battery Saver
License: Free
Platform: Android

Download Deep Sleep Battery Saver Pro
License: Paid – $2.57
Platform: Android

3. Battery Calibration

No. I am not going to recommend a battery calibration app. I am going to stick to my promise of just listing just two apps today. However, a battery calibration app is something that is often included in lists with a similar theme. If you go by the reviews on the Play store and elsewhere, they can easily add hours to your battery life. Unfortunately, it’s all a myth. Battery calibration apps don’t work and pretty much all the positive reviews on the Play store are due to placebo effect. Even respectable publications like Android Police have been taken for a ride. Here’s what Google employee Dianne Hackborn has to say:

This file (batterystats.bin – the system file that battery calibration apps cleanup) is used to maintain, across reboots, low-level data about the kinds of operations the device and your apps are doing between battery changes. That is, it is solely used to compute the blame for battery usage shown in the “Battery Use” UI in settings.

That is, it has deeply significant things like “app X held a wake lock for 2 minutes” and “the screen was on at 60% brightness for 10 minutes.”

It has no impact on the current battery level shown to you.

It has no impact on your battery life.

The post The Best Android Battery Saver Apps appeared first on Pallab dot Net.

How does the idea of experiencing the comfort and care of air travel at the value for money of a bus journey sound to you? Pretty appealing, right? That’s exactly what ‘Olivea – Travel Redefined’ promises. Olivea promises luxurious interiors designed by D.C (Dilip Chhabria), personal entertainment system with Dish T.V. connection, on-board Wi-Fi, business class recliner seats, three course meals, on-board toilets, bus stewards, and more. Olivea might well be among the most premium bus services in the continent. Unfortunately, I will never know, because I am never travelling by Olivea.

Olivea buses aren’t cheap, but they are a fair bit cheaper than regular air fair. However, compared to other bus services, you will still be paying a premium. When you charge your customers a premium, and portray yourself as a luxury brand, providing brilliant customer service is pivotal. However, it seems that no one told this to Olivea.

On the record, my tale begins on the 25th of June, 2012. However, my first interaction with Olivea was a week earlier. After reading about Olivea, I wanted to book a seat for my girlfriend who was coming to town. But, before booking the seats, I wanted to ensure that the boarding and drop-off points were convenient enough. I tried calling their Hyderabad number, and no one picked up the call. Tried their national toll free number, and the same experience. I tried calling their Bangalore number, it refused to connect! Frustrated, I posted my question on their Facebook page. I received a standard boilerplate reply that simply pointed me to the numbers I had already tried, instead of answering my query. I should have given up by now, but I tried again after a few days. This time someone responded on the Hyderabad number, and I was able to get my answer. On the 25th of June, I booked a seat for 1st of July Bang-Hyd journey.

A mere two days before the journey, Olivea called up my GF to inform that the trip I had book was invalid. She was informed that it never existed, and was shown on the internet booking portal by mistake! The Olivea representative promised a refund within 10 days. I have never heard any other travel company allowing bookings for non-existent trips. The situation was already beyond ridiculous; however, it turned from being ridiculous to bang-your-head-on-the-desk frustrating over the new few months.

Olivea’s promised refund never arrived. I followed-up with a reminder mail inquiring about the status of the refund on the 12th of July. No one bothered to reply. After waiting another week, my GF called Olivea and was asked to resubmit the booking details. So, she did. This time, we were asked to wait fourteen days for the refund to be processed. Of course, nothing changed in those two weeks. We followed up again, and were again directed by Olivea support to redo the entire process, beginning with emailing booking details. And again, nothing happened. The last email that I have on record from Olivea was on September 25, exactly three months after the booking date. I have long since given up on the refund, since neither of us had the time or energy to chase down a bunch of scammers over one bus ticket.

A trip I booked turned out to be invalid due to Olivea’s negligence, the auto-refund I promised never materialized, Olivea’s customer support kept going in circles, and all refund requests vanished into some mysterious abyss. That’s the summary of my Olivea Travels review. Olivea’s ill-trained, confused, and thoroughly clueless customer support can give the staterun BSNL a run for its money. Olivea promises the sky, but fails on even the most basic aspects. I am publishing this as a cautionary tale for others. It’s still patently obvious that Olivea hasn’t mended its ways. The website still looks like an amateur effort with links that can’t be clicked and files that can’t be downloaded. A quick search on Google for Olivea Travels reviews throw up similar tales where passengers have been duped and tricked by Olivea. Irfan recounted an experience similar to mine on Mouthshut, where he was also told by Olivea that the timings shown on the website are incorrect and the trip he had booked didn’t exist. Several others have reported stinky buses, with creeking seats, dirty blankets, cold food, and non-functioning entertainment systems. A quick look at their Facebook page still throws up numerous complaints about non-functioning or non-responsive numbers and faulty online booking. And in typical Olivea style, all Facebook queries are unanswered. It’s obvious that Olivea has learned little, and is continuing to to scam, fool, and trick customers in the guise of redefining travel.

[ Image Source ]

The post Olivea Travels – Scamming Redefined appeared first on Pallab dot Net.

Foob Me is a marketplace for Facebook covers. Designers can signup and list their creations. Users can browse through submitted designs and purchase cover images they like. The purchased cover images are often customizable with custom text and description. Foob Me takes $1.00 + 5% of the bid amount as its commission.

Foob Me already has a pretty reasonable catalogue size, with most of the covers costing $4.99. Users can also post custom cover jobs with a rough sketch of their ideas and have designers bid bid for it.

What Foob Me has going for itself is that it isn’t really expensive, and can often be just an impulse buy. Corporates can also leverage it to get custom branded Facebook cover photos for really cheap.

Go ahead and grab custom Facebook covers from Foob Me.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored review.

The post Spruce Up Your Facebook Profile with Custom Covers from Foob Me appeared first on Pallab dot Net.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the recently concluded EaseUS Todo Backup Workstation giveaway. As always, I used random.org to pick the winners. Here are the ten people who received their EaseUS Todo Backup Workstation licenses (worth $39 each) earlier this week.

Alex
myimmortalize
david
John d
rch
berni42
Amol
Nikhil Verma
ale
Grr

Congratulations to all the winners. If you didn’t win this time, follow me on Twitter or subscribe to the our newsletter to stay informed on future giveaways.

The post EaseUS Todo Backup Workstation Giveaway Winners appeared first on Pallab dot Net.

Tablets are quite the rage these days, and almost every manufacturer worth its salt already has jumped into this segment. Apple’s iPad is still unbeatable as far as quality is concerned. However, quality doesn’t come cheap, and not everyone can afford to spend thirty thousand bucks on a tablet. The good news is that there are quite a few cheaper alternatives available. Almost all the budget tablets use Android, and offer a fairly decent bang for the buck. Here are the best budget Android tablets available in India.

1. HeroTab

OS: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Processor: ARM Cortex A8 – 1 GHz
Memory: 512 MB DDR2 RAM, 4 GB internal, MicroSD up to 32 GB (4GB free)
Camera: 1.3 MP front
Display: 800 x 480, Capacitive
Size: 7 inch
Battery: Li-on 4500 mAh
Wi-Fi (Wireless 802.11 b/g), External 3G dongle supported
Price: $190 (Rs. 8,500)
Order Online

2. Reliance 3G Tab

OS: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Processor: 800 MHz
Memory: MicroSD up to 32 GB (4GB free)
Camera: 2MP rear, VGA front
Display: 800 x 480, Capacitive
Size: 7 inch
Battery: Li-on 3400 mAh
3G (EDGE, HSDPA) and Wi-Fi (Wireless 802.11 b/g)
Price: 13,000 + Data plan charges
Official Website

3. MSI Enjoy

OS: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Processor: 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A8
Memory: 512 MB RAM, 4GB Internal Storage, MicroSD up to 32 GB
Camera: 2MP dual
Display: 800 x 480 for 7 in edition, 1024 x 768 for 10 inch edition, Resistive
Size: 7 inch and 10 inch
Battery: Lithium Battery 3.7V/4000mAh
Wi-Fi Only (Wireless 802.11 b/g)
Price: Rs. 14,000 and 15,000

4. iBall Slide

OS: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Processor: 1 GHz ARM Cortex A8
Memory: 8GB Internal Storage, MicroSD up to 32 GB
Camera: 2MP front camera
Display: 800 x 480, Capacitive
Size: 7 inch
Battery: Lithium Battery 4400mAh
Wi-Fi Only (3G supported through external dongle)
Price: Rs. 14,000
Official Website

5. Mercury mTab

OS: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Processor: Unknown 1.2 GHz Triple Core Processor
Memory: 512 MB RAM, 4GB Internal Storage, MicroSD up to 32 GB
Camera: 1.3 MP front camera
Display: 800 x 480
Size: 7 inch
Battery: Lithium Battery 4000mAh
Wi-Fi Only (3G supported through external dongle)
Price: Rs. 9,500

6. Beetel MagiQ BMQ-01

OS: Android 2.2 (FroYo)
Processor: 1 GHz
Memory: 8 GB Internal Storage, MicroSD up to 16 GB
Camera: 2MP rear, 0.3 MP front
Display: 800 x 480, Resistive
Size: 7 inch
Battery: Lithium Battery 2200mAh
3G (EDGE, HSDPA) and Wi-Fi (Wireless 802.11 b/g)
Price: Rs. 9,000

7. HCL ME AE7-A1

OS: Android 2.2 (FroYo)
Processor: ARM 11, 800MHz Processor
Memory: 256MB DDR2 RAM
Display: 800 x 480 pixels, resistive touch-screen
Size: 7 inch
Battery: Li-Po 2400mAH Battery
Wi-Fi Only (Wireless 802.11 b/g)
Price: Rs. 11,000
Official Website

8. Huawei Smakit S7

OS: Android 2.2 (FroYo)
Processor: ARM Cortex A8 768MHZ
Memory: 256MB RAM, up to 32GB SD card.
Camera: 3.2 MP
Display: 800 x 480 pixels, resistive touch-screen
Size: 7 inch
Battery: 3250 mAh
3G and Wi-Fi (Wireless 802.11 b/g/n)
Price: Rs. 14,000
Official Website

9. Magnum Pepper

OS: Android 2.2 (FroYo)
Processor: Unknown 800 MHz Processor
Memory: 256 MB RAM, 2GB Internal Storage, MicroSD up to 32 GB
Camera: Front camera
Display: 800 x 480
Size: 7 inch
Wi-Fi Only (3G supported through external dongle)
Price: Rs. 5,000
Official Website

10. Infibeam Android Phi

OS: Android 1.5 (CupCake)
Processor: ARM9 600MHz
Memory: 256MB RAM, 8GB built-in, and up to 32GB SD card.
Display: 800 x 480 pixels, resistive touch-screen
Size: 7 inch
Wi-Fi only
Price: Rs. 15,000
Official Website

11. Binatone Home Surf

OS: Android 1.6 (Donut)
Processor: ARM 11 667 MHz
Memory: 128 RAM, 2GB internal storage, MicroSD supported.
Display: 800 x 600 pixels, resistive touch-screen
Size: 8 inch
Battery: Li-Po 2400mAH Battery
Wi-Fi Only (Wireless 802.11 b/g)
Price: Rs. 9,000
Official Website

12. C2K

OS: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Processor: Unknown
Memory: 2 GB internal, MicroSD up to 32 GB (4GB free)
Camera: 1.3 MP front, 5 MP back
Display: Unknown
Size: 7 inch
Wi-Fi only
Price: Rs. 7,000

A cheap Android tablet can’t be expected to compete with the likes of iPad 2, Galaxy Tab, Xoom, or Adam. If you want a top of the line tablet experience, be prepared to spend more than Rs. 25,000. However, if your requirements are not very demanding, you should be able to get a tablet that satisfies your needs for less than Rs. 15,000. While purchasing a budget tablet pay attention to its specifications. For example, capacitive touch alone can make a world of difference as far as usability is concerned. Also, if your system doesn’t have enough CPU power or RAM, be prepared for a frustratingly laggy experience. Having a newer version of Android also helps. Although, Honeycomb is the tablet optimised version of Android, none of the budget tablets feature it as Google has shared its source code with only few selected partners. Gingerbread is as good as it gets in the budget tablet segment.

The HeroTab offers unbelievable bang for the buck, but support will probably be a big issue with it. If you want peace of mind, the 3G Tab introduced by Reliance, as well as iBall Slide are better options. However, the Reliance 3G Tab will cost you almost twice as much as the HeroTab, once you consider the data charges.

The post Top 12 Cheap Android Tablets Available in India appeared first on Pallab dot Net.

Cloud based backup solutions are quite the rage these days. In the past, I have reviewed quite a few cloud backup solutions including Carbonite, Syncplicity and Mozy. Using a cloud backup solution allows you to access your data from anywhere and everywhere without having to worry about keeping your backup disk secure. All of you have to do is, install the client, and create a few rules. Everything else is normally taken care of by the client. However, cloud backup becomes untenable if the quantity of data you are dealing with is huge. Unless you are one of the privileged few with a massively fast internet connection, restoring large bulks of data can be time consuming. Even more importantly, in order to be able to take advantage of cloud backup solutions, you have to be willing to trust third parties with your confidential data. The final disadvantage of cloud backup solutions is that they only backup data. System state or applications can’t be backed up using any of these solutions.

EaseUS is a fairly well-known name thanks to its suite of data backup, recovery, and management utilities. If you believe that the cloud based backup solutions are not a good fit for you, then EaseUS Todo Backup Workstation is what you should take a look at.

EaseUS Todo Backup features two primary backup modes:

System Backup: As the name suggests, this mode will create a snapshot of your system including the operating system state and installed applications. This is somewhat similar to Windows’ inbuilt system restore feature, and can help in recovering from crashes and malware infections. One particularly interesting and impressive feature is Universal Restore. Typically system snapshots are hardware dependent since they also include hardware driver backups. However, EaseUS has a “Recover to dissimilar hardware” mode, which can restore system snapshot to an entirely different system. You will be able to manually specify the hardware drivers for the system if they are not present in the snapshot.

File Backup: This is probably the mode that you will be using most often. You can create well defined backup plans to automatically backup changes made to files residing in specific partitions or folders. This is similar to the functionality that cloud backup solutions offer.

There is also an additional Clone Disk mode, which backs up the system state, applications, and all files present on the disk.

File backups are of three types:

Full backup: The entire content of the file is backed up. In order words, a copy of the file is created.

Incremental backup: This essentially implements versioning by backing up and maintaining different versions of the file. The obvious benefit is that less storage space is utilized, as only a full backup of the initial state is stored along with the subsequent changes. However, restoring an incremental backup takes more time as “the first full backup and every incremental backup must be restored”.

Differential backup: This takes a middle ground to balance space consumption and recovery speed. The change file maintains a record of all changes made with respect to the first full backup file. Thus, while restoring only the full backup and the selected differential backup file needs to be restored.

It is possible to backup files to both a local disk location and a remote server (through FTP). There are several other power user features in EaseUS like:

Conversion of backup images into VmWare of Virtual PC compatible images.
Support for direct mounting an image to explore and copy files present in it.
Comprehensive backup triggering rules based on date, time, and events.
A pre-OS recovery mode that can kick in before Windows is loaded.
WinPE based bootable recovery disk, which can be utilized to restore system in case of a Windows crash.

EaseUS Todo Backup is an incredibly sophisticated and polished backup solution that should be offers a complete solution for home and business users. In spite of being feature packed and powerful, Todo Backup is fairly simple to use thanks to its well thought out interface. Using a desktop based solution generally requires a larger investment than cloud based alternatives. However, they have their own advantages that I have already discussed. If a desktop based backup solution is what you are looking for, go ahead and take EaseUS for a spin. It’s one of the best in its class. A free version of Todo Backup is also available, which offers all the features discussed above other than System snapshot and built-in Windows PE bootable disk.

Download EaseUS Todo Backup Workstation (185.87 MB)
Platforms Supported: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 (x86 and x64)
License: Feature Limited Freeware
Cost: $39
Version Reviewed: 3.0

EaseUS Todo Backup Workstation License Giveaway

EaseUS is sponsoring ten licenses worth $390 (each license is worth $39). Needless to say your odds of winning are extremely good since we are giving away as many as ten licenses.
Comment on this post. Make sure you use a valid e-mail address. (compulsory)
Follow @indyan and retweet this message to get a bonus entry into the lucky draw. You must post the status update URL in the comments section to be considered. (optional)
Subscribe to my e-mail newsletter to get a bonus entry into the lucky draw. After subscribing, you must let me know by leaving a comment. (optional)
You can also blog (post in a forum) about this contest to get 2 additional entries. Once again, you must leave a comment with the URL of the blogpost. Please don’t spam, or violate rules of the board to promote the contest.

The contest will end on Oct 2, 2011 at 12:00 Noon IST.

* Under all circumstances my decision shall be final and binding.

The post EaseUS Todo Backup Workstation Review and Giveaway [10 Licences] appeared first on Pallab dot Net.

In spite of what its detractors might have to say, each Android phone is a different beast with a different set of hardware and software capabilities. Unlike Microsoft and Apple, Google doesn’t impose restrictions on the hardware. This has allowed manufacturers to release Android handsets for almost all segments. It’s now possible to purchase an Android handset for as little as six or seven thousand rupees. The plethora of available choices mean that its not always easy to make the right decision. In this post I will try to highlight the best Android handsets currently available in India, in various price ranges.

Low End: Less than Rs. 10,000

There are a surprising number of options in this category. As you might expect, all of them have just enough hardware muscle to be able to run Android. Don’t expect fancy stuff from handsets belonging to this range. If you want to play games on your Android handset look somewhere else. The combination of poor chipset and low resolution means that most games won’t even run on these handsets.

Many of the offerings in this segment are from lesser known names. My advice would be to not fall for them, since longevity is something I have always found to be lacking in lesser known brands. My recommendation for this segment is LG Optimus One P500, which is now available for just under ten thousand bucks. The Samsung Galaxy Fit S5670, which is similarly priced, is also worth a look. It has a bigger screen and better colour depth, but a lower resolution. The Fit also edges out the Optimus One with its camera, but the Optimus has more internal memory and a meatier battery. Both these phones are expected to receive Gingerbread soon.

LG Optimus One P500 Specifications
Display: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors, 320 x 480 pixels, 3.2 inches
CPU: 600 MHz ARM 11 processor, Adreno 200 GPU, Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset
Memory: 170 MB user available, 512 MB RAM
OS: Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo)
Camera: 3.15 MP, autofocus, VGA video recording at 18fps

Samsung Galaxy Fit S5670 Specifications
Display: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 240 x 320 pixels, 3.3 inches
CPU: 600 MHz processor
Memory: 160 MB
OS: Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo)
Camera: 5 MP, autofocus, QVGA video recording at 15fps

Lower Mid Range: Less than Rs. 15,000

Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 has been setting the Indian market on fire, and for good reason. It offers an attractive blend of features and affordability. Ace might not have the chops to record HD videos or run high resolution games, but it does have enough to be able to offer a satisfying Android experience. The Ace retails for Rs. 14,000.

Samsung Galaxy Ace Specifications
Display: TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 320 x 480 pixels, 3.5 inches
CPU: 800 MHz ARM 11 processor, Adreno 200 GPU, Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset
Memory: 158 MB storage
OS: Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo)
Camera: 5 MP, autofocus, LED flash, QVGA video recording at 15fps

Upper Mid Range: Less than Rs. 20,000

Samsung won a million hearts with its Galaxy S flagship device. Now, it has tweaked the Galaxy S slightly and released it as Galaxy SL. Samsung Galaxy SL I9003 has a slightly weaker processor, slightly inferior screen (Super-LCD instead of SAMOLED), and reduced internal storage. The Galaxy SL is available for Rs 18,500.

Samsung Galaxy SL Specifications
Display: SC-LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches
CPU: 1GHz Cortex A8 CPU, PowerVR SGX530 GPU, TI OMAP 3630 chipset
Memory: 4GB/16GB storage, 478 MB RAM user available
OS: Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo)
Camera: 5 MP, autofocus, HD (720p) video recording at 30 fps

High End: Less than Rs. 25,000

At this stage you will be pampered for choice. There is the mighty Samsung Galaxy S i9000 itself. Then there is Google’s Nexus S, which is again a modified version of the Galaxy S. The Nexus S doesn’t support expandable memory; however, it has the advantage of being the first to receive Android updates, since its a Google Experience device. HTC Desire S and Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo are also options worth considering. However, according to reports, the HTC Desire S suffers from a Wi-Fi death-grip problem.

For this category, I won’t be recommending any single handset, since I believe that there isn’t enough separating these devices to give a clear cut verdict. If you want a handset with a good camera pick the Xperia Neo, which has an 8 megapixel camera with Exmor R sensor for enhanced visibility in darkness. It is capable of 720p video with continuous autofocus. Pick the Nexus S if quick updates and customisability matter to you. Xperia Neo is available for Rs. 23,500, and the Nexus S normally costs Rs. 22,000. However, FlipKart is currently offering it for only Rs. 19,999. I don’t know if this is a temporary offer or a permanent price; however, the Nexus S is simply a steal at that price.

Google Nexus S Specifications
Display: Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches
CPU: 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, Hummingbird chipset
Memory: 16GB storage, 512 MB RAM
OS: Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
Camera: 5 MP, autofocus, LED flash, WVGA video recording at 30 fps

Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo Specifications
Display: LED-backlit LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, Bravia Display Engine, 480 x 854 pixels, 3.7 inches
CPU: 1GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon
Memory: 320 MB storage, 512 MB RAM
OS: Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
Camera: 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, HD (720p) video recording at 30 fps

Ultra High End: Price No Bar

The most powerful smart phone in the market is the Samsung Galaxy S II i9100. It’s a true super phone, which is handsomely ahead of its competition. However, there is one cause for concern with this awesome device. The Indian version ships with Exynos processor, and not Tegra 2. While Exynos is an extremely powerful chip, due to artificial hardware fragmentation, many high end games don’t run on it.

If gaming is important to you, then you should also take a look at Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY. This PlayStation branded handset comes with hardware keys (PlayStation buttons), which provides a superior gameplay experience. Moreover, Sony has roped in some of the most influential mobile game publishers to create dozens of Xperia Play exclusive games.

Another handset in this price range that is worth taking a gander at is the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc. It doesn’t have the raw power of Samsung Galaxy S II, or the usp of the Play; however, it exudes a sense of style and beauty. If you are willing to sacrifice horsepower to make a style statement, pick up the Arc.

The Arc is currently retailing for around Rs. 27,000, while the Galaxy S II and the Xperia Play are demanding close to Rs. 30,000.

Samsung Galaxy S II Specifications
Display: Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 480 x 800 pixels, 4.3 inches
CPU: Dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 proccessor, Mali-400MP GPU, Exynos chipset
Memory: 16GB/32GB storage, 1 GB RAM
OS: Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
Camera: 8 MP, autofocus, LED flash, HD (1080p) video recording at 30 fps

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Specifications
Display: LED-backlit LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 480 x 854 pixels, 4.0 inches
CPU: 1GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon
Memory: 400 MB, 512 MB RAM
OS: Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
Camera: 5 MP, autofocus, LED flash, WVGA video recording at 30 fps

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc Specifications
Display: LED-backlit LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 480 x 854 pixels, 4.2 inches
CPU: 1GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon
Memory: 320 MB storage, 512 MB RAM
OS: Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread)
Camera: 8 MP, autofocus, LED flash, HD (720p) video recording at 30 fps

The post The Definitive Guide to Purchasing an Android Handset in India appeared first on Pallab dot Net.

The Gmail app for Android is quite simply awesome, especially if you are on FroYo and above. However, it does have one major limitation. Possibly due to security concerns, Google doesn’t allow you to save Gmail attachments. You can preview attachments you receive in your mail; however, there is no way to save them. Unsurprisingly, however, there are quite a few third party apps that can help you squirt around this restriction.

The Android app that I use to save my Gmail attachments is Save my Attach. It’s a tiny app that requires zero-configuration, and works beautifully. After you have installed this app, just tap the preview button as usual. A dialogue box will pop up asking you to choose an app to preview the file with. Select Save my Attach from the list, and you will be able to download the attachment.

Select “Save my Attach” from the Preview Options List

Save File to Desired Location

Another similar app is GSaver. The benefit of GSaver is that it allows you to easily browse your entire file system (even system folders, if you have a rooted system), and save the file at any desired location. Save my Attach lacks a browse option, and the user has to key in the download path. However, GSaver is ad-supported, with a premium ad-free version also being available.

Download All Files is the final option that I would recommend. It’s the most feature-packed app of the lot. Yes, it can download Gmail attachments, but it can also bypass the download restrictions present in the default Android browser. Download All Files can download APK, RAR, ZIP, EXE, MP3, DOC (Word), XLS (Excel) and other files that you weren’t previously allowed to download from the web browser. It also works with the default Android email app and Touchdown. Download All Files is an ad-supported app.

The post How To Save Gmail Attachments in Android appeared first on Pallab dot Net.

Qwiki on April Fools’ Day

8. Google (Gmail) – Can You Dance?

Back in 2009, Opera fooled me with its Facial Gestures prank. In a similar vein, earlier today, Google announced “Gmail Motion”. In Google’s words,

The mouse and keyboard were invented before the Internet even existed. Since then, countless technological advancement have allowed for much more efficient human computer interaction. Why then do we continue to use outdated technology? Introducing Gmail Motion — now you can control Gmail with your body.

Update: Opera has responded to Google’s joke in its typical humorous style.

“For us, Google’s latest innovation was just an April Fools joke a few years back, so we are really impressed with them actually taking this to the market. We called our invention “Face Gestures”, but “Motion” is probably a better name for a product that is not only a joke”, says Jan Standal, the boss of Desktop Products here at Opera.
When Aleksander, our Face Gestures model, was asked about his opinion on Google Motion turning the kinesthetic technology into reality, his eyes welled with tears of joy and said: “I knew this day would come.”

7. Google (Search) – Comic Sans is Not Funny.

Comic Sans is the font that everyone loves to hate. So, not only did Google create a special treat for anyone who searches for Comic Sans (or Helvetica), but it also created a Chrome extension to change every website’s font to Comic Sans!

6. YouTube – Back to 1911.
YouTube once again took great pains to get ready for today. This time around it changed all videos without advertisement to a 1911 version complete with piano soundtracks, title cards (comments), and sepia effect. TechCrunch has more on this.

5. AdBlock – Shiny New Glasses!

AdBlock announced the beta testing program for AdBlock Freedom, a pair of glasses that can be used to block ads in real life. It is an augmented reality app that can smudge ads present in billboards, magazines, posters and so on.

4. Xkcd – Now in 3D!

Xkcd had its task cut out this year. No matter how hard it tried, it would have been pretty impossible to top it’s the command line interface (terminal) prank it did last year. However, it still managed to a pretty good job with its 3D comics.

3. Google – Want to Work for Google?

Everyone wants to work for Google. And now you probably can. Google is looking to hire Autocompleters who can key in full search queries, before the actual user does.

2. Blizzard – Missing Clippy? Meet Crabby.

Almost half a decade has passed since the demise of Clippy, the no-so-popular Microsoft Office assistant. If you have been missing Clippy, fear not. Blizzard is introducing Crabby, the dungeon helper.Crabby will watch over you, and guide you in your conquests.

1. LinkedIn – Do you know the Hatter?

This is one of my favourite pranks as it’s not exactly in your face, but clever and funny. If you visit LinkedIn today, you will find the likes of Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, Albert Einstein, and the Hatter gracing the list of people you may know. Even better, every one of them have fairly in-depth profiles.

With everyone trying their best to be funny, I am sure I have missed quite a few good pranks. Don’t forget to let us know your personal favourites. And if you are in the mood for more, check out our compilation of best April Fool’s Day jokes from 2010 and 2009.

The post Top Eight April Fools’ Day Jokes of 2011 appeared first on Pallab dot Net.

I have been using SmartBar on my Xperia X10 for the past few months, and have been intending to review it for quite some time. However, one thing that I have been struggling with is defining exactly what SmartBar is. Is it a task killer? Well yes, it can kill tasks. Is it an application launcher? Yes, it can launch apps. Is it a system app? Once again, it can justify such a classification.

SmartBar is a Swiss army knife for Android that does a little bit of almost everything. It’s futile to characterise it or even to try to describe it in a single sentence. Instead, I will tell you three reasons why I believe you should go ahead and install SmartBar.

i) Quick Settings: SmartBar allows you to place a Quick Settings menu into the notification area, which (as you might have guessed) provides quick access to all the essential system settings. This includes Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, brightness, volume, screen timeout, and more. The same screen also displays basic system information like battery, disk usage, ram usage and number of apps installed. Quick Settings is a huge timesaver, and is my favourite feature of SmartBar.

ii) TaskManager: There are a lot of good reasons for not using task managers in Android. However, I have found that they do come in handy from time to time. My advice is to have one installed, but not to use it too frequently. SmartBar has a nifty task manager that can kill selected tasks, kill all tasks and even end all but the current task.

iii) App Manager: SmartBar has an app manager that looks a lot like a simplistic app launcher at first glance. However, it can do a lot more than just launching an app. You can pin any app to the status bar, save them to favourites, uninstall them, reinstall them, backup their apk to the SD card, uninstall/reinstall the app, hide app, and more.

Quick Settings alone is reason enough to use SmartBar. However, there are plenty of other features, which makes this little app a must have for all Android users. I have touched upon of some of its core features in this article. However, there’s a lot more it has to offer. Go ahead and install it.

Download SmartBar
License: Freeware
Platform: Android (all)

The post SmartBar – The Android App Everyone Should Be Using appeared first on Pallab dot Net.

I have finally gotten around to picking the winners, and here are they:
Shahab
P Fulano
SteveO

Sorry for the taking so long to out the winners. The winners will soon receive their key via mail. Thanks to Crystal Rich for sponsoring the giveaway. Zentimo is a fantastic utility that makes managing USB drives a breeze.

The post Zentimo Giveaway Winners appeared first on Pallab dot Net.

The final build of Opera 11 was released a few days back. New features include extensions, tab stacking and on-demand plugin load. I couldn’t cover it over here as I was extremely busy with my seventh semester project. However, I did do an in-depth review over at Techie Buzz. Check it out for a quick overview of the major new features in Opera 11.

For me the best new feature is support for extensions. In my honest opinion, Opera Software made a big mistake by not incorporating extensions earlier. In fact, I have bitched complained about the lack of an API on multiple occasions in the past (over here, here and here). As you might expect, I was over the moon when Opera Software revealed its plans to support extensions in Opera.

Opera’s API is based on the W3C widget specification. If you have already developed extensions for Chrome, or are familiar with HTML, CSS and JavaScript, you should be able to create your own Opera extension easily. The extensions can either run quietly in the background or have a user interface that is exposed through buttons in the toolbar or through overlays on the website itself or both. While Opera’s API is not as powerful as Firefox’s, it should ensure that extensions don’t compromise security, stability and performance of the browser.

Among the currently available extensions, LastPass is undoubtedly my favourite. Besides extensions, the other feature I had been requesting for a long time is an automatic form filler. LastPass intelligently fills forms based on your pre-configured profiles. Additionally, it generates secure passwords, stores them, and makes them available anywhere and everywhere.

I have covered LastPass in the past. Back then, the lack of an API meant that the only way to get it working in Opera was to use bookmarklets. However, besides being inconvenient and clumsy, bookmarklets severely limited the benefits of LastPass.

On the other hand, the extension is intuitive and feature rich. After you install it, you will have to create an online account (if you don’t have one) at LastPass.com. You should also create a form profile and set it as the default. In the future, LastPass will fill in web-forms based on this information. I also recommend creating some groups in your password vault. This will help you in categorising saved login information for websites, later on.

Create a LastPass Form Profile

Create LastPass Vault Categories

LastPass sits quietly in the background, and jumps into action whenever required. It will offer to automatically fill web forms when you encounter them. Better yet, it will automatically generate a secure passwords for you, and remember it. LastPass will also prompt you to save authentication information when you log into a website for the first time, and enter it automatically on future visits.

Autologin with LastPass

Opera already has a capable inbuilt password manager called “Wand”, which works very well. However, LastPass is a better option due to multiple reasons. The biggest advantage of LastPass is that it works on different platforms and on different browsers. Your information is stored in the cloud, and kept synchronised across machines and operating systems. LastPass also has other added benefits like an intelligent form filler, multiple profile support and password generator.

The other extension that I would like to highlight is FastestTube. It’s a simple extension which adds a download option to YouTube videos. Have a look at the screenshot below to get an idea.

Download YouTube Videos in Opera with FastestTube

It’s an excellent extension. It integrates beautifully with the web page when required, stays hidden when not required, and it works! However, these are not the only reasons for highlighting it. As a matter of fact, it is identical to the “Download YouTube Videos as MP4” userscript (userJS) I had earlier written about.

One of the biggest advantages of the new extensions architecture introduced by Opera is convenience, and FastestTube exemplifies this. Currently, the FastestTube extension has more than hundred and eighty thousand downloads. I doubt if the userJS was downloaded by even eighteen thousand Opera users. Unlike user JavaScripts, extensions can be installed and un-installed with a single click. Perhaps even more importantly, Opera update ensures that you are always using the latest version of an extension.

Many of my classmates are Opera users. However, very few of them use or even know how to install userjs files. This is at least partially Opera’s fault. Unlike in Firefox (with Greasemonkey), Opera doesn’t support automatic installation of userJavaScripts. Even more criminally, there isn’t even an official gallery of userjs files. Thankfully, both of these issues aren’t present with extensions, making them easy to discover and install.

Extensions add a whole new dimension to the browser. It enables a user to pick and choose the features he wants to have, in order to make his browser truly his own. As BetaNews wrote,

Opera has “supported” extensibility in the past, in the way that a toddler “supports” a hot bathtub by sticking just his toes in it and waiting until past midnight to jump in.

Back in the days, I wrote an extensive (and a rather popular) article on customising Opera. However, most of the stuff I covered required extensive effort on the behalf of the user, and even then, had a lot of strings attached. With extensions, Opera is finally ready to compete with Firefox and Chrome in every respect. They are simple, elegant, powerful, and most importantly, extremely useful. Go ahead and take Opera 11 with extensions for a spin.

The post Opera Extensions: A Closer Look appeared first on Pallab dot Net.

Zentimo is a new(ish) product from Crystal Rich Limited, the folks behind the popular USB Safely Remove tool. Zentimo describes itself as a “Swiss army knife for your external drive needs”. I would describe it as an evolved version of USB Safely Remove that is better suited for external hard disks.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with USB Safely Remove, its major benefit is being able to eject external drives safely and easily. Windows has a safely remove feature that allows you to unmount devices so that they can be removed without any data loss and disk errors. Unfortunately, Windows’ safely remove feature fails, if any process is accessing files stored on the drive. On such occasions, USB Safely Remove can identify the offending process and unlock the drive, before safely removing it. Moreover, unlike Crystal Rich’s application, the built-in safely remove feature is slow, and makes it really hard to correctly identify a device, if there are multiple external drives.

All of these advantages are present in Zentimo. However, it offers several advanced features to make management of external hard drives easier. Some of the major benefits of Zentimo are:

Enhanced Device Menu: The improved device menu not only lists every plugged-in storage device, but also creates separate entries for individual partitions. You can directly open a partition, or even launch portable apps stored on the device from the menu itself. As visible in the screenshot embedded below, the menu also offers other useful information like amount of free space remaining and the name of the partitions.

Improved Safe Removal: Like USB Safely Remove, Zentimo can identify and unlock or close processes preventing a device from being ejected. However, it goes a step further. Zentimo can actually power-off the hard disk to ensure that it is not spinning when you unplug it. However, I am not convinced there are any real benefits to powering off the device. It seems that unless you have a really old device, (at least theoretically) you shouldn’t need to do this. The official explanation of this feature acknowledges as much.

When you safely remove the device in Windows XP it powers the device off – in case off a flash drive its led was switched off and in case of a portable hard drive it was spun down. But Microsoft changed this behavior in Vista and it still exists in Win 7: after you stop the device on these OSes the hard drive continue spinning and flash drive continue lighting. All modern hard drives park theirs heads automatically when you unplug them so in theory this behavior shouldn’t lead to data looses or drive damages. But in practice the hard drive usually sound strangely when you unplug them on run and this makes a hard drive owner being a bit nervous when he hears that.

Enhanced Device Management: Zentimo has some nifty device management settings. You can change the name of the device, as well as assign it a custom icon to make it easier to recognise. Additionally, you can assign it a fixed drive letter, or even mount it as a folder. As in USB Safely Remove, you can automatically run certain applications when a USB device is inserted or removed. Zentimo also claims powerful integration with TrueCrypt. However, I didn’t test this aspect.

Benchmark: Zentimo has a single click benchmark option for external disks, which tests read/write speeds with small as well as large file to give you a comprehensive idea about your device’s performance.

Portability: Zentimo saves the settings in the device itself, so if you plug it into another system running Zentimo, all the customisations will be carried over.

Ideally, we shouldn’t need an application to safely remove devices. Unfortunately, the truth is that Windows’ default implementation is overtly simplistic, and can be extremely frustrating on occasions. USB Safely Remove is amongst my favourite applications, and I regard it as a must have. Zentimo is a significantly improved edition of USB Safely Remove. If you already own USB Safely Remove, take the trial edition of Zentimo for a spin to find out if you really need the additional features. Zentimo is pricier than USB Safely Remove, but a 50% discount is available to the owners of the latter software. If you have never used any of the products from Crystal Rich, I highly recommend trying them out. Zentimo is obviously better than USB Safely Remove, but not everyone will appreciate the advantages offered by it. Go for it, if the extra fifteen bucks doesn’t bother you, or you need the additional features. The benefits of Zentimo are a lot more than skin-deep, and it’s still early days for the product.

Download Zentimo (2.9 MB)
Platforms Supported: Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7(x86 and x64)
License: Shareware (30 days trial)
Cost: $35 (1 Year Upgrade License)
Version Reviewed: 1.1.4.1012 Beta

Zentimo License Giveaway

As promised, I have another contest for my blog readers. Zentimo is sponsoring three licenses worth $105 (each license is worth $35). The license will entitle you to unlimited use of the software along with one year of free updates. Here’s how you can participate in the giveaway.
Comment on this post. Make sure you use a valid e-mail address. (compulsory)
Follow @indyan and retweet this message to get a bonus entry into the lucky draw. You must post the status update URL in the comments section to be considered. (optional)
Subscribe to my e-mail newsletter to get a bonus entry into the lucky draw. After subscribing, you must let me know by leaving a comment. (optional)
You can also blog (post in a forum) about this contest to get 2 additional entries. Once again, you must leave a comment with the URL of the blogpost. Please don’t spam, or violate rules of the board to promote the contest.

The contest will end on December 18, 2010 at 12:00 Noon IST.

* Under all circumstances my decision shall be final and binding.

The post Manage Your External Drives Efficiently with Zentimo – Review and Giveaway appeared first on Pallab dot Net.