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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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)

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 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.

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.

There are a lot of video players in the market, and even more importantly, there are a lot of really good video players in the market. In the past I have reviewed a few of them like SPlayer and Neuview Media Player. VLC and MPC-HC (Media Player Classic Home Cinema) are probably the most popular media players among the internet savvy users. However, my long-time favourite has been KMPlayer. It’s feature packed, easy to use and provides great video and audio quality out of the box. Unfortunately, since its sale to Pandora.TV, the development of KMPlayer has stalled. On top of that, the recent version of KMPlayer takes ages to startup and has severe performance issues with HD videos. After looking around for an equally powerful alternative, I have settled on Daum PotPlayer, and guess what? It’s from the same guy who made The KMPlayer.

PotPlayer Interface

Looks wise, PotPlayer is not too shabby but won’t blow you out of the park either. The good thing is that there are scores of skins available for PotPlayer. In fact, Windows Media Player, VLC, KMPlayer, GOMPlayer and Zoom payer skins are available out of the box. Here’s the default English skin.

If you have used KMPlayer before you will instantly recognise the similarities between the two. All the features I loved in KMPlayer including its ability to resume playback from where I left off last time, shutdown the computer when done, use my own decoders/filters, capture a screenshot or even record the file currently being played, powerful A-B repeat, automatic playback of similar files in a folder, seamless playback (move from one file to the next seamlessly), and insane amount of flexibility with subtitles.

PotPlayer is KMPlayer enhanced, without any of the annoying performance and playback issues I was experiencing with the latter. As you might expect, it comes with internal decoders that are capable of playing pretty much anything that you throw at it. It has internal DXVA video codecs (H.264/AVC, VC-1, MPEG2) and EVR. The default video quality is same as KMPlayer, which means very very good.

PotPlayer Video Processing Options

PotPlayer is highly recommended for both novice users and pros. It works well of the box, and has an interface that is simple to use. However, if you want to dig deep you can do so. Advanced users can knock themselves out by using their own filters and decoders, tweaking advanced video processing settings and more. The beta version I tested had a bug, which led to video playback settings not being saved. Other than that I didn’t find much to complain about. Unlike the KMPlayer, PotPlayer is under active development, and should only get better in subsequent versions.

Download Daum PotPlayer (12.19 MB)
Platforms Supported: Windows XP, Vista and 7(x86 and x64)
License: Freeware
Version Reviewed: 1.5 (build 25819) – beta

The System Mechanic 10 giveaway is over. Once again, many of you expressed interest in winning this excellent software. Here are the lucky three who have won a System Mechanic 10 license worth $39.95 each.
siddharth
Jakub
Cosme F

Thanks to everyone who participated. Don’t be dissapointed if you didn’t win. I will have another giveaway soon. In the meanwhile, subscribe to my RSS Feed or email newsletter to ensure you don’t miss out on the next awesome contest.

Last month, I reviewed TuneUp Utilities 2011, which is regarded as one of the best Windows system optimisation suites around. Today, I will take a look at System Mechanic 10, which is quite possibly TuneUp’s biggest challenger.

In terms of features there is a lot of overlap between System Mechanic and TuneUp Utilities. Like Tuneup, System Mechanic is a powerhouse with several dozen tools. All the standard tools like Registry Cleaner, Registry Defragmenter, Disk Defragmenter, Start-up Optimiser, Disk Cleaner, Broken Shortcut Remover, Disk Scanner and File Shredder are present in both these utilities. However, there are quite a few differences too.

System Mechanic has been designed to be suitable for both novices and experts. Inexperienced users can simply run a system analysis to identify the areas of concern. On the other hand, experts can go to the Toolbox section to manually exploit the various tools.

From the Problems section you can get an overview of the issues identified and fix them. Here’s what System Mechanic came up with after I ran a deep scan.

The first problem identified by System Mechanic was a false positive as Kaspersky Internet Security Suite includes a Firewall (Anti-Hacker). It’s surprising that System Mechanic failed to realise that, as even Windows Activity Centre can differentiate between Kaspersky Antivirus and Kaspersky Internet Security. Thankfully, the other advisories were more accurate.

The first tool I tried was the Security Vulnerability Scanner. It scans your system settings to identify potential weaklings that can be exploited by malwares. This includes checking hosts file and Windows file associations.

Next up I tried the Disk Defragmentation (Drive Accelerator) tool. This is one area where System Mechanic is head and shoulders ahead of TuneUp Utilities. Not only does it support boot time defragmentation (offline defragmentation) like Raxco Perfect Disk (and other commercial defragmentation tools), but it also has a unique Program Accelerator tool that realigns programs and their files on the hard disk to decrease launch time and increase performance.

Another unique features in System Mechanic is CRUDD (Commonly Redundant or Unnecessary Decelerators and Destabilisers). Don’t be fooled by the unnecessarily complicated name. This tool simply alerts you about overlapping applications (i.e. utilities that perform same/similar function) installed on your system. I didn’t find this to be particularly useful though, as pretty much every installed application on my system serves a specific purpose.

Unlike TuneUp Utilities, which relies on scheduled runs of the 1-click optimiser, System Mechanic uses ActiveCare to automatically monitor your system health, and apply fixes when your computer is idle.

Besides providing a gazillion of tools for repairing and optimising your system, iolo System Mechanic also includes some handy tools for generating reports about your system status. There is the System Information tool that jots down your hardware and software configuration. There is DriveSense to monitor your hard disk’s health (based on SMART). And, there is even a System Change Tracker to identify changes made by program installations and other activities.

On the whole, System Mechanic 10 is an extremely impressive package. Since my previous trust, it has improved vastly. Unlike TuneUp Utilities, it doesn’t aim at being a Swiss-army knife. It won’t help you change icons, install themes or modify your logon screen. However, when it comes to optimising and repairing Windows, System Mechanic is pretty darn exhaustive. In PCMag’s GeekBench benchmark, System Mechanic 10 returned the best results and succeeded in improving file copying speeds as well as Windows boot time significantly. In fact, System Mechanic 10 edged out others like TuneUp, and went on to win the Editor’s choice award.

Download System Mechanic (18.03 MB)
Platforms Supported: Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7(x86 and x64)
License: Shareware (30 days trial)
Cost: $39.95 /year
Version Reviewed: 10.0.0

 
Watch out for the automatic renewal option. Use this only if you are certain.
 

System Mechanic 10 License Giveaway

Iolo has generously agreed to sponsor 3 System Mechanic 10 Standard Licenses for my blog readers worth $119.85 (each license is worth $39.95). Here’s how you can win a license key of System Mechanic 10 for yourself:
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 about this contest to get 3 additional entries. Once again, you must leave a comment with the URL of the blogpost.

The contest will end on November 27, 2010 at 12:00 Noon IST.

 
The contest is over and the winners have been announced.
 

Last month I reviewed the new TuneUp Utilities 2011 and offered two full licenses to two lucky readers. Obviously, there are quite a few TuneUp fans around. The contest drew a lot of interest, and many of the participants were existing TuneUp Utilities users. As always, I used Random.org to pick the lucky winners. And they are:

vhick
Asriel

Congrats to all the winners, and thanks to everyone who participated. Don’t be disappointed if you didn’t win this time around. I have loads of contests lined up. The next contest should be up in a few days. Subscribe to my RSS Feed or the email newsletter to ensure that you don’t miss out on future giveaways.

Opera Mobile 10.1 Beta is now available for Android handsets. Use the QR code given below or Appbrain to grab it. I have been using Opera Mobile consistently for the past week. I wrote an in-depth review for Techie Buzz. Check it out if you want a low down on the newest Android browser. Here’s a quick summary:

Appearance: Opera Mobile for Android features the same skin we have been seeing in Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10 for the past year. Looks wise Opera Mobile won’t blow you away, but the user interface is intuitive and makes the browser a joy to use. Unlike the stock browser, Opera Mobile was designed with tabbed browsing in mind and it shows.

Functionality: New in this release is support for pinch-to-zoom. Other than that the core functionality remains the same. You have unlimited tabs, kinetic scrolling, speed dials, sync (bookmarks, speed dials, search engines and visited webpages), find in page, save pages, download manager, search bar and more. Opera Turbo is also present, which compresses webpages to save bandwidth and speed up surfing on slower connections.

Standards Compliance: Opera Mobile is a full-fledged browser that is capable of handling interactive webpages, as well as web applications. It doesn’t pass the ACID 3 test but does a bit better than Firefox Mobile and the default browser. It also comes out on top in the Sputnik JavaScript conformance test. However, when it comes to supporting future looking technologies (HTML5 and related technologies) Opera Mobile still has a lot of catching up to do. Opera Mobile is also the first Android browser with full-fledged SVG rendering capabilities.

Speed: Opera Mobile felt pretty fast during my day to day usage. Nevertheless, it lags behind other browsers (by a huge margin) in popular JavaScript benchmarks like Sunspider. This is due to the lack of JIT support in Carakan JavaScript engine used in Opera Mobile.

On the whole, Opera Mobile is an impressive product. It feels smooth and is a major step up from the default browser. However, it’s not perfect. The lack of JIT support is one thing that bothers me. Also, Opera Mobile requires quite a lot of storage space (more than 22 MB). But, perhaps the most disappointing aspect for me is the lack of any sharing feature whatsoever. I expect my Android browser to allow me to share links on Twitter, Facebook etc. Hopefully, future releases will take care of these niggles.