Here is a quick log of the music albums that I have been listening to this year.
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| Nokia 206 |
I ordered this on Flipkart where it was retailing for Rs. 3,580 inclusive of all taxes on 23 October 2014 and received it just the next day, which was pretty impressive. While it comes in 5 colors - black, white, cyan, magenta and yellow - my unit is black. Flipkart had listed this phone as Nokia Asha 206 which is an error - the 206 is not an Asha device.
The GSM phone is highly compact, comes with a 6.1 cm (2.4 inch) QVGA display, a 1.3 MP read camera, 32 MB RAM, dual-SIM support and a 1200 mAh removable battery. Inside the box is also an AC-11 travel charger, a headset and a setup guide.
Setting up the device is easy. Just remove the back cover, remove the battery, lift the mini-SIM holder and place a GSM SIM card into the slot, place the battery back again and then put the back cover on into position. You can optionally insert a microSD card in the slot under the back cover and a second SIM card in the slot at the left edge of the phone. Then after you have charged the battery, you are good to start the phone using the power button.
The 6.1 cm (2.4 inch) QVGA TFT 65K color display is bright, images are clear and the size is okay at this price point. It displays at 240 x 320 pixels with a 4:3 ratio (~167 ppi density). The home page displays a set of short icons to applications and calendar appointments along with the data and time and other information.
The keys on the keypad are smooth with large letter - good for the elderly and people with sight problem. The keypad features predictive text input using the T9 dictionary for easy typing.
With its dual-SIM support, it lets you carry a second phone number within the same device. You have the option to set a default SIM for services like outgoing calls, text messages, multimedia messages and data connections. It also lets you select a combination, like you can select SIM1 as the default for outgoing calls and messages while SIM2 can be the default for data connections. There is also an option for the phone to ask you which SIM to use every time.
Making, receiving or rejecting calls on this phone is a breeze with the intuitive user interface. It also allows putting a call on hold, dialing a 2nd number and setting up a multiparty conference call, call forwarding, call waiting, and muting. It also stores the phone numbers of recent received, dialed and missed calls.
The phone book lets you store up to 1000 phone numbers along with the name, an image and other details of the contact. Setting up speed dial numbers lets you make phone calls by pressing a single button on the keypad.
I like the way that Nokia lets you turn on and off the keypad lock swiftly by pressing the Menu + * key combination. This is easier than most phones from other manufacturers.
The messaging application supports both Short Messaging Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). The predictive text works fine and is helpful.
The phone runs on Nokia's Series 40 operating system which fares well on the performance front. Apps like Facebook and WhatsApp are slow, but they work.
In-call reception audio quality is very good, and I haven't come across people complaining about the audio they receive on the other side. The volume of the sound is low but the quality is good.
The device packs in a 1.3 mega-pixel primary camera on the back with no flash. The camera allows you to shoot both still photos and videos. The images are 1280 x 960 pixels. Videos are stored using the Common Intermediate Format (QCIF) at 10 fps. The image quality is okay.
The built-in media player can play videos formats (MP4, H.263 and WMV) and most audio music formats including MP3, WAV, WMA and AAC. The media library can automatically categorize songs based on artists, albums, and genres if the audio files have the information filled in.
The phone has an FM radio receiver which lets you play radio stations. The headset acts as an antenna for the radio signal reception so it should always be connected to the phone for the radio stations to play.
The phone has a built-in XHMTL web browser named Nokia Xpress which features Unicode-support. It renders the pages well even though the screen is small for most web pages nowadays.
The phone has a built-in e-mail client that lets you configure multiple email accounts.
The 64 MB internal memory storage is pretty low on the upfront but when you come to think of it, what huge data would you want to store on a basic phone like this.
DONE The phone accepts a microSD or microSDHC to extend the storage up to 32 GB for storing multimedia files.
The phone comes with a 1200 mAh 3.7V Nokia BL-4U Li-on battery. The user manual states the battery backup is for up to 20 hours of talk time and up to 680 hours of standby time under optimal conditions. My experience with the battery backup is good - I haven't used the phone regularly as it is not my primary device. On an average the battery can last 4-5 days with regular use.
The mobile supports and operates on the cellular EGSM 900-800 Mhz 2G network. It supports up to 85.6 kbps on GPRS and 236.8 on GPRS. It also has Bluetooth v2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate (EDR). There is no support for USB or NFC.
Software updates to the phone can be done wirelessly over the air. There is also an option for the phone to automatically check for new updates.
SAR value for this phone when tested for use at the ear is 0.93 W/kg.
DONE The FCC ID for the device is NCC CCAF12DG0440T3 and the reports are available here.
DONE The product came with 1-year manufacturer warranty on the device and 6 months of warranty on the accessories out of the box.
DONE Overall, it is a pretty decent phone. The build quality is good, and the display is large. It runs smooth with apps hanging sometimes which may be due to the low amount of memory. This is perfect for elderly people who find it difficult to operate smartphones.
Update June 2020: The phone is still working and operational, but the functions now run very slow. The body is hard and has survived several drops. I finally let it go.
The Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 is an 8-inch Android-based tablet computer made by Samsung Electronics, and it is part of the 3rd generation of their Galaxy Tab series. Other tablets in this series are the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 (7-inch) and the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 (10.1-inch). This series of tablet computers were showcased in the Mobile World Conference in 2013.
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| The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 (SM-T311) |
I ordered the SM-T311 in midnight black in May 2014 when it was retailing in Flipkart for Rs. 22,499 inclusive of all taxes. The delivery was quick, and I had the device in my hands in two days. The box includes the tablet with the battery built in, a travel charger, a USB cable, and the user manual.
Setting up the device is simple. Just insert a SIM or USIM card into the appropriate slot on the left side, optionally insert a microSD card in the provided slot. Charge the battery if needed and you are good to start the tablet computer.
The SM-T311 is one of those few tablets that accepts a SIM card to make voice calls over 2G or 3G GSM networks. Making, receiving or rejecting voice and video calls on this phone is a breeze with the intuitive user interface. It also allows putting a call on hold, dialing a 2nd number and setting up a multiparty conference call, call forwarding, call waiting, and muting. It also stores the phone numbers of recent received, dialed and missed calls.
Running Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) and later Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) on the 1.5 GHz dual core Samsung Exynos 4212 CPU with 1.5 GB RAM, the tablet handles all tasks smoothly. Multitasking using the Multi Window Panel is effortless and apps run flawlessly with no visible lag or crashes.
The touch screen display consists of an 8-inch WXGA TFT screen with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. The 16M color screen displays pretty crisp and vivid colors and is responsive to all touch and gestures.
In-call reception audio quality is excellent, and the device plays music at amazing clarity.
The tablet carries a 5MP auto-focus primary camera with LED flash that can take 1.3-megapixel photos and HD videos at resolutions up to 720 x 1280 pixels at 30 fps. The image quality is fair. There is also a 1.3MP front (or selfie) camera. The camera also allows automatic GPS tagging of captured images.
The 16 GB internal memory provides enough storage a large number of apps to coexist.
The tablet accepts a FAT-formatted microSD or microSDXC to extend the storage up to 64 GB for storing multimedia files. Loading the 64 GB microSD with audio, video, and document files of various formats showed no noticeable lag and the device has been able to handle the file-load smoothly.
As one of the major factors in a mobile computing device, the tablet is powered by a non-removable Samsung T4450E 4,450 mAh Li-ion battery built into the casing. The battery packs enough juice to last a long time even with heavy use. It takes about 5 hours to do a full charge from zero.
The tablet supports a single SIM card on GSM 2G and / or HSDPA 3G networks. On the WLAN front it supports Wi-Fi 802.11 on the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. It also has Bluetooth v4.0. For wired PC connectivity using USB 2.0, it accepts a MicroUSB data cable which is also provided in the box.
Synchronizing with the PC is possible using Samsung's Kies PC Sync software which can be used to manage media libraries, contacts and calendars on the tablet. Windows Media Player can also be used to synchronize media files. The tablet needs to be connected to the PC using the MicroUSB data cable.
The tablet allows various ways to unlock, including the following:
SAR value for this phone when tested for use at the ear is 0.535 W/kg and when worn on the body is 0.666 W/kg. The SAR limit set by the FCC is 1.6W/kg.
The FCC ID for the device is A3LSMT311 and the reports are available here.
The product comes with a 1-year manufacturer warranty on the device and 6 months of warranty on the accessories.
If you are looking for an Andriod-based tablet computer right now, go ahead and get it. The user experience is flawless, and the apps run like a breeze.
March 13, 2021 Update: After various forms of usage over the last ~7 years, I finally let it go. The device is still working though it has gotten slow, and many apps won't work on it anymore. It has never visited a service center, so you see that the hardware has been very reliable.
The MouthShut rating is 3.59 out of 5 based on 1,295 user votes.
During the early days of the World Wide Web, web directories were a preferred way to discover and find content on the web but with the advent of crawler-based search engines, the relevance of web directories have diminished. Below is a screenshot (for remembrance) as the page was on December 20, 2014 - also archived here.
Google also had a web directory service which it shut down in July 2011. I have logged it here.
Here is a quick log of the music albums that I have been listening to this year.
