Paid apps on android market

The biggest difference I have felt since I switched from Symbian to Android was the availability of good apps. Not crap ones. Not ones which are useless, but good apps. Apps which can be used on a day to day basis and for which I wouldn't mind paying.

In about a month's use, I have already bought 2 really good apps. One if them I'm using currently as I type. And the other is a really good media player. Poweramp is without a doubt THE music player for android. Not only because of its innumerable options ranging from a seriously addictive graphic equalizer to awesomely useful tweaks, but also because of the UI.

The other app I bought today is the android gingerbread modded keyboard. It is available in the market for around $0.99. Something which I'd say is a steal for the features it has on offer. This is without a doubt the best android custom keyboard out there. I'd rate it higher than swype or the default Samsung keyboard it even the other keyboards available in the market. I've used quite a few of them and found this to be the very very best. Kudos must go out to the app developer.

Compare this to the experience I've had with symbian. Nokia had actually sent me an email long back stating reasons of helplessness when I had complained about the inability to download paid apps from the Indian version of the ovi store.

I'm enjoying the android experience more than I'd imagined. I hope my opinion of android doesn't change anytime soon.

And then it finally happened

Yup, it did. The inevitable.

I am now an official Android fanboy. Okay, maybe not the trolling, FUD spreading anti Apple one I used to be, but a fan of the Linux based OS I am.

Fact is, I was getting a pretty good deal on my N97 Mini, something which I thought was a decent amount considering that it was running a pretty much dead (now officially dead) OS. I exchanged that phone and spared a few bucks for a blazingly fast Galaxy S.

First impressions? WOW!

Still reading? I usually stop watching videos the moment the unboxing happens and the reviewer goes WOW! Thats a turn off. But now that I'm about to write a review (albeit a very boringly crappy one), I realise that its only a natural reaction.

What was I talking about again? Oh yeah. So basically this thing has some pretty nifty features with a sleek UI. The processor is decent and so is the RAM. TouchWiz never really looked like a Sense UI competitor to me, but after using it for a few days now, I think its pretty good, although Sense still gets my vote.

Audio quality on the phone is a bit on the suckier side. And so are the earphones. Apart from that its a pretty nifty phone. If you're in the market for a new phone. Get an android and let the OS take over your life.

How the DTH can be made better

There is no denying the fact that DTH is pretty much the pinnacle of the tv experience here in India. With a host of mega corporations investing big bucks, this business of keeping people entertained is only likely to get bigger with each passing year. With increasing competition though, companies, be it Tata Sky, Dish TV, Airtel, Reliance had come up with something extra, something more than just television. They called it the interactive services. Although most of these are available to the customers for free, some like Tata Sky, do charge the consumers for availing these features.

And this is where this post of mine comes in. There are a lot of interactive features available on DTH platforms, but most of them are literally spam attempts to get money out of you. To be fair, none of these are of real help to the consumers. I feel there is a lot of scope in these services and if implemented well, some new truly interactive features could be revolutionary.

Like what you say? Okay, lets start with something basic. How about a weather application? An app which will help you get the latest information of the weather in your city. Considering the fact that almost all mobile platforms have a weather app, I assume it should be pretty easy to implement.
How about a facebook/twitter app? An app which will help you post links to facebook, post status updates based on what programmes you are watching, etc. (I do recall seeing something like this on Gadget Guru the other day, the country where this is already a reality being Japan)
How about a news app? Something which will aggregate news content from various news sources and present it to you in a reader friendly format.

Of course, these features wont be commercially viable unless some in-app ads were introduced and that is perfectly alright. I dont think many would mind paying a premium (albeit not an outrageous one) for these apps. Even then, implementing them wont be easy, a massive overhaul of the insanely ugly interface of most set top boxes is the need of the hour. User friendliness is definitely on the top of the agenda right now for most companies, but frankly, one must not lose sight of aesthtics. It seems to me that in an attempt to pack in maximum advertising and other money making options, the pure quality of the interface has taken a backseat. With the increased competition I hop some of this will change, otherwise, watching television in India (both content-wise and otherwise) is an absolute pain in the ass.

28 Years In The Making

It has been a long wait. Almost three decades. A generation of cricketers and cricket fans have come and gone in this huge gap. And then it happens!

They say its the biggest prize a cricketer can get, the greatest privilege of them all, the moment where a simple cricketer becomes a legend. Its a World Cup victory. Not many Indians remember the time when India last won the world cup. Eg. I wasnt even born when Kapil Dev had lifted that coveted trophy in 1983 at Lord's. So for us, Indians, to have our own cricketing heroes is something special, very very special. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the man who lead the Indian team to world cup victory has now entered the history books as the most successful captain in the nation's cricket history. So has Sachin Tendulkar, the only Indian cricketer to have played in six world cup tournaments.

It was an emotionally charged final against neighbours Sri Lanka. After a controversial toss and an amazing innings by Mahela Jayawardena, it was left to the class of Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and of course, captain courageous, Mahendra Singh Dhoni to rescue the Indian team from the clutches of sure defeat. The icing on the cake was the way Dhoni finished off the proceedings, with an enormous six, which will be clearly etched in the memory of the 100 billion Indians watching the match with bated breath.

As the celebrations continue, I make it a point to savour every single moment of this amazing moment in not only India's cricketing history but in world cricket history as well.

iPad 2...thoughts

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

As the fanboys say, "its finally here"!

The ever eloquent Steve Jobs revealed to us all the new iPad 2 today. The specifications are pretty much what most tech sites had predicted. If you have missed those, here's a summary of the specs (at least what little Apple has revealed officially):

Screen Size - 9.7 inch LED backlit (same as the iPad)

Resolution - 1027 x 768 pixels (same as the iPad)

Processor - 1GHz Dual Core Apple A5 processor (no other details revealed)

RAM - not revealed (some sources are claiming it to be 512MB)

Camera - Rear camera (720p, 30fps) and Front camera (VGA)

HDMI out - via a $39 Apple accessory (NOT supplied with the iPad 2)

Others - 16, 32, 64 GB storage; gyroscope, same 10 hour battery life

Disappointments:

1. No storage expansion slots

2. Front camera resolution too low for a high resolution iPad

3. HDMI out only via the accessory, not available straight out of the box

4. Price points remain the same, hence okayish. Nothing to be overly crazy about

5. No path-breaking hardware or OS features

6. Will face tough competition from Android tablets, hence maybe outdated earlier than expected.