Review: imate Ultimate 8150 Handset

The Ultimate 8150 from i-Mate is more a looker than a doer


I am no big fan of either the Windows Mobile platform or smart phones but i guess there is a world beyond me. I do, however, think that i-mate and HTC make products that look good. Take the Ultimate 8150 from i-mate, for instance

The first thing that I found attractive about this phone was the way it was designed. Its bulk and uncomfortable and longish keys notwithstanding, it’s still a party magnet. There was a small difference though. I am used to a Blackberry scroll wheel on the right side, but the 8150 has it on the left. The touchscreen is accurate and works very well, and the phone features a headphone out, a large screen, one of the fastest processors (Xscale@520 Mhz with 128 MB RAM) in any smart phone, can take a mini SD card and also has a slot for VGA output to a projector. I tested the VGA output and was happy to see that if ever I need to make a PowerPoint presentation on the road and did not want to carry my laptop, this would prove a good substitute.

But beyond its looks, I will hve issues with the Ultimate 8150. Disappointingly, the battery runs out in just about a day. And the phone takes ages to switch on—you have to wait for four minutes before it is in a usable state. The alarm, well, won’t even wake a baby, the speakerphone could have been louder, and connecting to the Internet (agreed that Microsoft Mobile phones have had issues with viruses, so they need to make sure you understand the settings) must be made simpler. I have WiFi at home and office, but still had to spend about 30 minutes to get the browser working. And I am a techie at that!

The 8150 does not support data transfer using Bluetooth, so I was unable to transfer files from my PC or another phone using Bluetooth. The built in Internet Explorer is great, but Opera performed much better—so long as the battery lasted. The battery if it goes dead on you, you have recharge it for at least 15 minutes before you are able to switch on the phone.

I am in the habit of switching off my mobile at night. It switches on at 7 am when the alarm goes off. I think most of the phones do, but the 8150 did did not. When I got out of bed at 7:30 am, I had to manually switch it on, only to find an alert telling me I had missed an alarm. Funny and frustrating.

The phone does have its savoury side too. Setting up the exchange account on this phone for my email was one of the easiest. The sound quality on the headphones is good, and the DivX and MPEG playback are commendable.

The phone has standard options like an IR port, a USB port, SD slot and weighs in at about 152 grams. The screen is big and bright, a big plus point for on-road use. It also supports 3G and HSPDA (sadly not available in India) for high-speed browsing. As with all business phones, this too is a quad band phone. The camera is a 2mp one, but the performance is not worth writing about.

For a price of Rs 37,990, I would need to sit and think hard whether all I need is a looker. But if you are seriously looking for a business phone that works, you should just pass this one by.
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The Above Article was printed, in the Indian Express, on Sunday, May 25th, 2008

HEART OF METAL: Robotic Toys

Robotic toys are not made of flesh but bring a warmth all their own
They are clumsy, speak without feeling and do things mechanically. But robots have a way of endearing themselves to us. Whether it is a stupid robotic toy that makes some sounds or a sophisticated device that pretends it is out to kill the whole human race, they all end up amazing us. While we all yearn to have our own R2D2s, or Weebos (Flubber), we all know that this is still a little far off. What is fascinating is the thought that robots might one day serve us—or rule over us.

In a fast-paced world with little time to spend at home, robots are becoming both companions and toys for adults. Sony took a lead in 1999 by developing AIBO (Artificial Intelligence Robot). People like dogs, even robot dogs, and it was a runaway success. Sony stopped its production in March 2006. So what do you do now if you, like Robin Williams, need your own Weebo or a pet robot that will greet you, play with you, make faces at you, and best, leave you in peace when you switch it off.

A few months ago I went to a toy shop to see the latest in gizmos for kids. There I came across the WowWee robotic reptile. Begging and pleading with my wife for a new toy was useless. Though the little creature appealed to both of us, we did not want a dinasour walking around in the house, not with a two-year-old nephew around who might just get scared.

There wasn’t much I could do then. But on a trip this week, I found copies and lookalikes of the WowWee robot series, and some of the toy shops also had the original ones, now available for a price range between Rs 2,000 and Rs 5,000.

The great models that looked interesting and could become companions—no, I am not generalising this, but then more and more of us are indeed living alone now—are the Robo Sapien, the Robo Panda and the Robo Pet. Though there is a funny series called Chatter Bot also, but this was not on the shop shelves. The interesting features of the Robo Sapien are its life-mimicking movements—dancing the twist, walking, running, even saying “Oops!”. And, of course, its mood swings. Ah, now you have to get used to a machine doing this to you. For Rs 3,000, that is the max you can get out of the 67 possible functions it has. So it won’t fix you a drink or help you clean up the mess in your room.

The Robo Panda, as they call it, a talkative creature. With his “ahem”, engaging personality and bright animated eyes, you are sure to fall in love with the mechanical bear. You know it can tell you a story and sing a song with you. So the manifestation of the inner child in you, or the son you never had, is what Robo Panda can be.

The third and my favourite among them all is Robo Pet, which is similar to Sony’s AIBO. This cute little fusion of technology and personality is a dog that is extremely lovable. It is nowhere like everybody’s favourite pug on TV, but hey, you can’t get everything in life. Like a real dog, Robo Pet perform tricks for you on command: bark, whimper, growl, pant. It barks when it hears a movement, and is equipped with infrared vision that helps it to detect obstacles and avoid bumping into something.

So for about Rs 3,000 bucks, you can actually make your childhood dream of having your own R2D2 or Weebo as a pet. And they come with their plus points—they need no cleaning up, nor do they continue to annoy you when you aren’t in a playful mood. To know more, visit www.wowwee.com, or an upmarket toy store near you.

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The Above Story, was printed in The Indian Express, on Sunday, May 18, 2008

Come, meet Lonely Girl & Kate Modern: Is this the new Vouyer ?

If you’re tired of TV soaps, check out the interactive action on the Net

I would love to call up Smriti Irani and dig out the real story behind Tulsi, but I don’t have her number, and even if I did, Ekta Kapoor wouldn’t let me discuss it. Rewind to a few years ago when tech geeks were still talking of interactive television and looked forward to the DTH so that we would be able to decide the future and shape the serial as we wanted. But with so many plots changing so often and yet with the characters frozen in time, interactive television would not have helped much.

Then came the Internet and companies like YouTube started beaming videos created and uploaded by people that you could stream and watch. The ones that made most sense were the ones that were humourous, like the Mentos and the Coke videos.

Eventually, Orkut, YouTube and others changed the way one communicated, networked and formed communities—and called it Social Network. Of late, a company called EQAL has been successfully producing two online interactive dramas: Lonely Girl and Kate Modern.

Imagine a high school girl with swooping eyebrows, boy problems, a webcam somewhere in the US with a room filled with stuffed toys. I am not talking of the girl next door or the girl on that X rated credit card hungry website. LG (Lonely Girl is about 496 episodes old having begun in June 2006) is based on the life of a young girl called Bree. There was a time she would stream on YouTube and now it revolves around her friends and family. The series is short and has regular updates of video feeds posted by the fictional character.

Kate Modern is in its 260th episode—it started in July 2007—and is the sister series of the Lonely Girl. The show is set in England, bears many similarities to Lonely Girl, and in its second season, is generating an increasing amount of interest.

Such online dramas show that the Internet TV has arrived. The phenomenon would not have worked without the explosion of broadband and the advent of YouTube. The other reason for its success is the hybrid form of story-telling. What makes it important enough for me to write about it is that, as a viewer, you can correspond with the characters and even alter the plot.

The Internet, or as it’s now called, the Web 2.0, is a relatively new medium for everyone. The way people looked at Internet till a few years ago was how they looked at a newspaper or a radio; the same boring content would be everywhere. So if you miss your action of the daily soaps and the K action on TV is too much for you to bear, head for www.lg15.com, and discover a life beyond TV.

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The Above Article was printed in the Indian Express, on Sunday, May 11, 2008

How to record streaming audios: Reader Query Answered

Now record favourite songs from MP3, radio or podcast sites

I remember the days when two-in-one audio systems allowed you to record your favourite music and listen to it over and over again. It was a time when kids worked hard at their song compilations and people with two-cassette decks were considered fortunate. Then came the CDs, people moved to recorded songs on MP3 players, and today, listening to radio on cell phones has become a fad.

When I recently switched to a Mac, I not only fell in love with it but also with the Internet radio channel while listening to iTunes. I, of course, had iTunes on Windows, and similar programs on Linux, but with over 200 channels beaming my favourite hits from the 1950s through the ’80s, I wanted to grab my two-in-one and record the songs. So this week, I shall tell you how to record streaming audios from MP3 sites, radio sites or podcast sites that don’t let you download—all without spending a dime.

Since most people these days are Windows users, I shall target this piece at them. The first thing you need to do is get your hands on a nifty little software called Freecorder. To do so, go to www.freecorder.com. The download is free, without the risk of viruses and without limitations. Click on the “get it free” button and once you have downloaded it, open the file. Then select the option to install all your browsers (I selected both Internet Explorer and Firefox and suggest you do the same).

Once installed, it will automatically launch your default browser (Firefox or Internet Explorer), and take you to a survey page. If you want to, you can fill it, otherwise click on the link that says “quick start”. Press “continue” at the bottom of the page, go through the page that comes up, and if you want, read the Toolbar FAQ.

Now head to your favourite online radio site. If you don’t know of any, a good place to start is www.live365.com (though some stations require membership, they have a lot of free stations too). Browse through the stations and when you press the play button, you will see options like Record/ Stop/Pause/Play and settings come up on your browser. These buttons will help you record. (As some stations are added by default, you can add your station to the browser toolbar).

A normal user doesn’t need to change the settings. But if you are like me, you will want to do it. In this case, press the settings button and you can play around with the way Freecorder records and saves your files. Once you are ready to record, all you need to do is press the red record button. If all goes well, you will see a VU meter with a wave form. If you don’t, go back to settings and make sure the option “Record from freecorder input audio driver” is selected. If you hadn’t done it, select it and record again.

The file will be saved to the directory in the settings. To know how well you fared with your recording, press the stop button on the station you are listening to, and then press the stop button in the Freecorder toolbar.

Pressing the play button in the freecorder toolbar will take you to the directory where your recording is saved. Double click and listen to the song you just recorded.

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The Above Article was Printed in the Indian Express, on Sunday, May 4, 2008