My fav Nokia apps

My Nokia phone runs on Symbian S60 OS. I like it even though there are many other interesting OSs available like Symbian 3, windows phone 7, Android. I am very much used to my phone right now and I feel very comfortable.

Ovi store by Nokia is where I download apps from. It has loads of apps to download and try. I usually log onto Ovi store and check out apps. Sometimes I find some really useful app and most of the times they fail to impress me. I download and try if it sounds interesting and later uninstall if I find it useless. I am not saying the apps are not good, I don't find it useful for me to use! I'm not too much into games, but if I find some interesting game, I don't hesitate to download!

Let me write about some of the applications which I have liked and which I have found them to be very useful. I will write about one app today and next time I'd continue writing about a different app. But now I'll write about Nokia Situations

Nokia Situations is a very useful app by Nokia. I change the profile of my cell phone to Silent as soon as I reach office. Sometimes I forget to do so and during discussions or meeting the cell phone starts ringing. It lands me in an awkward situation where I should reach for my phone and press the silent button! I know some people don't bother about such things and wouldn't mind if their phone rings loudly! But not Me, I don't like it that way..

So when I read about Nokia situations, I thought this is one app that would be very useful. The description said it will be useful under various situations. I downloaded right away and started checking the options. At first look it just looked like normal Profile explorer. After finding out the Automation option, which would automatically change the profile as per some automation rules, I started realizing how useful it could be! I immediately automated the Silent profile to be activated on weekdays from 10 AM to 7 PM! So at 10, it switches to silent and at 7 back to the General mode! I no longer have to worry about changing to silent mode when I reach office! :)

Automation can be based on many other rules, so far I have tried automation based on time and based on WiFi location. If my cell phone detects some WiFi and if i want some profile to be changed at this location I can do that. Like I'd set the Home profile to be changed as soon as I reach home! But I found that this would drain battery too much and I don’t mind about having particular profile at home! Also automation can be based on GPS location and calendar events. These I haven't got a chance to try out yet. , I know I am not using it to its full potential. As far as I am concerned, as long as it switches my phone to silent during my office hours it’s more than enough for me!

That's it about Situations, I'd write about some other app which I like in the future!

Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier!

I am eagerly waiting for Iron maiden's new album to be released! I can't tell you how excited I am at this moment! There is nothing like looking forward to listen to a new Iron Maiden album. Ever since I got this news, I've been way too much excited! Come August 16th, I will be having the CD in my hand and my ears will be pleased to hear new maiden songs!

Its time to go back a few years. It was in 2003, when I first heard Iron Maiden. It was because of songs like "The Sign of The Cross", "The Trooper", "The number of the beast", I got into maiden! I started loving maiden from the first time I got to know about them. In 2003, they released Dance of Death and when I got to know about this and when I saw the album art of this album, I was like I need to own this album for sure! The title itself had made me go crazy! I went on to buy a audio cassette of Dance of Death. I loved each and every song from this album, especially Dance of Death song! I even remember giving the cassette to a couple of my friends so that they can get a taste of maiden!

In 2007, it was A Matter of Life and Death. By this time, I had heard almost every maiden song. I remember that span of time I spent waiting for the album, talking to people about the album, about the album art, about Eddie in a war field and other stuff. It was the time when my semester results would be announced, AMOLAD made me forget all the tensions! I remember the day when I went to the music shop with my friend to get this CD, I was all excited with a broad smile on my face! I got a key chain with Eddie on it! wow, it was like a icing on the cake! Came home, listened to the album and I liked this album! I was in the maiden mood for quite a long time after getting this CD!

Soon after this I got a chance to see Iron Maiden Live in concert for the first time in my life! It was Ed Fest and their first concert in India. How lucky am I? Until that day I had never thought even in my dreams that I'd see them Live!

In 2008 February, I saw them Live in Mumbai. It was the opening show of the Somewhere Back in Time world tour. And in 2009, they played in Bangalore and it was the 2nd leg of Somewhere Back in time world tour I believe! Three times in three years!! :) Space is not enough to pen down the memories I have from these 3 concerts.

August 2010, Iron maiden's 15th studio album is scheduled to be released. I am as exited as I was back in 2003 and 2007. I am sure the album will be one of the best. I liked the single "El Dorado" and the Video of " Satellite 15..The Final Frontier".

I am hoping that I will get a chance to see them Live again soon. Hope they play in Bangalore! keeping my fingers crossed!

Just 18 more days!! Damn, time moves slow!

Thanks to images.google.com for the pic!

ನನ್ನ ಸೈಕಲ್ !

Today, after a long time I rode my cycle and I felt very nice. I remembered the day when I got my bicycle and rode my bicycle for the very first time! Until today it was down with flat tyres! For some reason I was not able to get it fixed! Today I and my friend had gone to check some hardware stuff. My friend spotted a guy selling hand pumps along with other accessories like screwdrivers, hammers. I had told my friend some time back that I wanted to buy one blow pump for my cycle, having remembered that he told me about this guy selling hand pumps!

We went immediately and enquired about the price. He quoted 150 Rs and I thought it's reasonable. He showed us how it works. Later I asked for 120 Rs and he came down to 125. I was all OK with it and bought it straight away! :D

I came home and tried it on my cycle, it was working fine and my cycle's tyres where all pumped up! ;) I went for a ride and it felt nice. I was excited! The breaks are shitty, I should get it fixed or if possible I will try to fix it myself! ;) Because of this I had to come back soon. I must say I felt really happy, just like when I was a kid! :P

Laptop!

After spending a month or so researching on Laptops, spending hours discussing about laptops with cousin, checking out models wherever possible, I finally have bought a Laptop! It has been a great pleasure using it! I’m using my laptop right now to write this post! My fingertips love it!

It was about a month ago when I saw a Sony Vaio Laptop at a shop. I fell in love with it and wanted to get it for myself! My desktop badly needed an upgrade. So a thought came to my mind, “why don’t I just get a new Laptop instead?”. That’s when I decided to buy a laptop. Having made up my mind, now the big question was which one to choose! Though sony vaio was a love at first sight, later I learnt that it costs too much for just a decent configuration. So the big task was to research which model was the best and worth paying money! So I started searching on internet, reading reviews and stuff. Also whenever I got a chance I’d pay a visit to a computer shop and check out some models. This I’ve done around 3 times and it helped me to shortlist few models. What really helped the most was discussing with my cousin Nikhil about laptops. He has great knowledge on laptops and the discussions helped a great deal!

My requirements were: 15’’ screen, 4 GB of RAM, Intel core i3 or core i5 processor, Hard disk wasn’t a concern neither was a video card. (Later on I decided to go for a dedicated graphics though!).

Lenovo and Acer were ruled out in early stages. To be frank I didn’t like them from the start, I don’t know why! So following models were the shortlisted ones:

• Dell™ Inspiron 15R New Laptop (T540506IN8) with intel core i3
• Sony vaio VPCEB14EN
• Hp Pavilion DV6 (with core i3)
• Dell™ Inspiron 15R New Laptop (T540505IN8) with intel core i5

Out of these lots Dell had better specifications and I felt like it was worth spending every bit of money on it. I liked HP pavilion too, especially its outer design but the cost was little more than of Dell’s and had lesser config! Like Dell has 4 GB of RAM whereas HP has 2 GB but HP costs 5000 Rs more! I got good reviews on Dell Inspiron laptops, also one of my colleagues had bought a Dell studio laptop recently, I saw his laptop and liked it. So it was Dell!

Having decided on Dell, now I was confused whether to go for core i3 or i5 processor! I started reading about these processors, about the differences between them and technical stuffs too. I found out that the only difference between i3 and i5 other than clock rate difference is the turboboosting technology. I3 doesn’t have Turbo boost. Cost difference was around 4000 Rs. I felt i3 is good enough for my usage. Thus, I decided on Dell Inspiron 15R with core i3 processor.

Main specs:

• Intel Core i3, 350M – 2.26 GHz, 2 Cores, 4 Threads, 3 MB Cache
• 4 GB DDR3 RAM
• 320 GB Hard disk
• Video Card – ATI Radeon 512 MB
• 6 Cell Battery
• Windows 7 Home Premium

I ordered at Dell online. It took around 5 days to reach me!

How’s it: Well it’s been only 4 days since I started using the laptop. It has just been normal usage till now, to browse internet and to check out stuff on the laptop. I must say I’m loving each and every second of it. I’m glad I made the right decision to buy Dell!

• This model has a num pad, something which will be useful for sure.
• Sound is pretty decent; you can’t ask more from a laptop!
• Battery back-up is pretty decent too. Gives around 3 hours backup for continuous use.
• Has 4 USB ports – 2 on the backside and 1 each on left and right side.
• Screen is super. 15’’ screen and it’s crystal clear! Haven’t watched a video on it yet, will watch a movie when I get time! J
• Webcam is nice and it has Facial recognition software. So I don’t have to enter my password every time I want to login!

Final words: I’m glad I bought this laptop. I’m sure it’ll be a good companion of mine. If anyone ever asks me suggestions on buying a laptop, I’d undoubtedly recommend Dell Inspiron! I’m hooked to my laptop! :D