DECEMBER 2009 VOLUME 7 ISSUE 1 Rs 200 0

12 09

WIN! Rs 1.5 lakhworth of prizes including games, movies, books, and PC accessories and n

www.chip.in

LOOK INTO THEFUTUREINTEL, AMD, NVIDIA, GOOGLE, MICROSOFT AND APPLEare all set to shake up the world in 2010. We show you exactly how the big six are going to change your life.

Look Into the Future

| MP3 Players, 5.1 Speakers, External Hard Drives | Car Technology

TESTEDSony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 HTC Touch 2, Samsung Corby, ATI Radeon 5750/5770, Nvidia GeForce GT240 MP3 and portable video players 5.1 channel speakers External hard drivesRs 200

THE FUTURE-PROOF PCAll the technology you need to make sure your next PC can handle anything that comes up in the next six years.

FUTURE CAR TECHIntelligent traffic signals and cars that call for help on their own arent as far in the future as you might think.

YEAR OF THE SUPERVIRUS2009 has seen the largest number of threats yet, and it's only going to get worse. Learn how to protect yourself.

EDITORIAL

Making a prediction is a tricky affair. You take the best information you have, weigh it against your gut feelings, and compare every shred of data you have about the past to get an idea of where things are headed. A year ago, CHIP made five predictions for 2009. Its the right time to refresh those, but before moving ahead were going to measure our own past performance. Just for perspective, the world was very different in December last year: no one really understood how the global economy would melt down, the world was generally in good spirits, and things looked very bright indeed. That said, on to our results! First off, we said the Windows 7 launch would be a major event. The only possible hitch would have been a postponement like Vista launch, but things played out very smoothly. Excitement ran high this entire year, and the launch was greeted with universal cheering. Users seem to love it, hardware makers are shouting about it to anyone who will listen, and Microsoft must be very pleased with itself indeed. Whether all this was a triumph of technology or PR, our prediction came true. Well give ourselves this point. Second, we said home networking would take off. While media streaming isnt too hot just yet, pretty much everyone with a laptop has installed Wi-Fi at home and is sharing files and broadband access between multiple PCs. TVs and multimedia hard drives with Ethernet connections became commonly known this year but photo frames are still novelties. Well say this prediction came true too.

These companies will undoubtedly change the way we use our computers and devices.Third, we said LCDs would become ubiquitous in 2009, and theres no way this was wrong! Theyre everywhere! Barely any CRTs are available in the market, and even then they have zero price advantage. We got everything right except pricing, which we said would remain flat. Today, even full HD 22-inch monitors cost less than Rs 10,000. That aside, well mark this one as a success as well. We hit a rough patch with the fourth prediction: 3G. Had the government cleared all the hurdles lying in operators ways, we might have been able to say this came true. But we also said that mobile operators would finally usher in good broadband at decent prices, which has come true in the form of high-speed dongles, if not 3G on cellphones. Today, laptop users with broadband dongles provided by cellular operators are a common sight, and fixed-wire ISPs have responded by offering better speeds. This leaves us scraping half a point, though not because the technology didnt come through. Our last prediction was that solid-state drives would become economically viable for mainstream users, and storage would move beyond the PC and into the personal network or cloud. Ouch, that first part just never happened! But the second part is quite true. External storage is booming like never before, and online cloud storage is not an alien concept at all. This gives us another half point. And so we score 80 percent in total. Not perfect, but not too shabby at all! This year we put a slightly different spin on our peek into the future by focusing on six blockbuster technology companies. Each one has an arsenal ready to unleash upon the world in 2010, and will undoubtedly be responsible for massive shakeups in the way we use our computers and devices. From cloud computing to supercharged Web browsers; incredible graphics power to hybrid CPUs, the year ahead already looks like it will give us plenty to get excited about!

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Contents

DECEMBER 2009

78 FEATURED LOOK INTO THE FUTURE Our take on the six biggest tech companies have in store for us in 2010, plus what the industry has to say

NEWSWIRE10 In the NewsGet your dose of news from the world of computers and technology.

60 Software of the MonthCorel Digital Studio 2010 lets you create your own movie DVDs at home.

100 Mobile EntertainersThe best MP3 and personal video players you can get, compared and evaluated for you.

62 Software TestedGet your fix of useful utilities, fun tools and even a few security programs to keep you safe.

108 All-round SoundSurround sound gives you the best experience with your movies and games. Upgrade your speakers to enjoy truly immersive multimedia.

16 New Products LaunchedThe latest products from some of the biggest brands in the Indian market.

68 CHIP CPU-GPU guideA comprehensive listing of every chip you can find today, along with comparative performance scores for each.

114 Desktop DatabanksNothing's growing faster than our appetite for media. Store all your heavy movies and music files on your pick of the lot.

20 The Technology GraveyardWhat happens to the old PCs and gadgets you throw away? Some people are trying to change your habits.

74 Anand's Picks and PC ConfigsAnand takes you through the jumble of P55 motherboards available today. Also, check out the best options for your next upgrade.

122 Future DriveSome of the brightest minds in the world are working on giving you a faster and safer drive. Check out what's in store for the roads ahead.

TEST CENTER28 Product of the MonthSony's latest compact camera is great to use and captures superb images too.

FEATURED78 Look into the futureWe've dived deep into the inner workings of the six biggest tech companies in the world to bring you a guide for tech in 2010. Also, check out what these industry voices have to say, and learn about the best tech investments.

126 Ten Years of InnovationCNBC-TV18 turns 10 years old, and a lot of technology has gone into helping it get there. Go behind the scenes at their studio with CHIP.

30 Hardware TestedThis month we feature some cool phones and a bunch of the latest graphics cards.

128 Year of the Super VirusThreats were just off the charts in 2009, and

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Contents30 TEST CENTER HARDWARE Cameras, laptops, and all kinds of gadgets

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122 FEATURED FUTURE DRIVE See how your car is getting ready for the future

60 TEST CENTER SOFTWARE OF THE MONTH Corel Digital Studio 2010

you'd better watch out for what's coming up in the near future. Stay armed and informed!

146 Share With PicasaThis simple free tool can perform a whole bunch of neat trioks.

168 GTA: The Ballad of Gay TonyYou're the partner of a club owner, but partying just isn't on the cards yet.

132 Web WatchCheck out some new things to do with your time online, brush up on a few lessons, and see how Hindi on the Web is progressing.

148 Streaming from Windows 7One of Windows 7's lesser known capabilities can free your music and movies from any PC.

169 Dragon Age: OriginsBrilliant tactics and a fun story make this one worth picking up.

HANDS ON136 Dr CHIPSolutions to all your nagging hardware and software problems.

UNWIND160 BorderlandsA radically different visual style isn't the only thing this game has to offer.

171 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Sith EditionA series that could have been much more.

171 Mini NinjasUnabashed fun with these lovable ninjas.

140 Relive the ClassicsRescue your old music cassettes from the shoebox they've been thrown in, and enjoy them once again.

162 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2Controversies aside, this is one of the most engaging games in recent memory.

REGULARS03 Editorial, 08 Colophon, 10 In the News... 16 New Products Launched, 24 Personal Tech, 76 PC Configs, 132 Web Watch, 136 Dr CHIP, 150 Tips & Tricks, 184 Market Watch, 186 Letters, 188 Contests, 194 Last Word

142 Blog ElementsJazz up your Web presence with any or all of these enhancements.

164 Tekken 6Old wine comes in a new bottle, with just a bit of effort put in to make it feel different.

144 Back it UpUse Robocopy to automate your backup routine.

166 Motorstorm: Arctic EdgeAn exhilarating adventure in the ice!

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DECEMBER 2009 | VOLUME 7 | ISSUE 01ASSISTANT EDITOR - TECHNICAL NATIONAL SALES HEAD

www.chip.in

Jamshed Avarijamshed.avari@chip.in

Badri NarayanHEAD - MARKETING

ADVERTISING SALESMUMBAINisha Advani

COPY DESK

Amit SethBRAND MANAGER

Sharon KhareHEAD, TEST CENTER

BRANCHESBANGALOREDennis Mathew

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TECHNOLOGY WRITERS

Tushar BurmanHEAD OFFICE

Francis DSa, Dushyant Khilnani, Sandeep BalachandranMULTIMEDIA COORDINATOR

HYDERABADRocky Joseph

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CHIP is also published in the following countriesChina, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, UkraineInfomedia 18 Ltd. does not take the responsibility for returning unsolicited material sent without due postal stamps for return postage. No part of this magazine can be reproduced without the prior written permission of the publisher. Infomedia 18 Ltd. reserves the right to use the information published herein in any manner whatsoever.

CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONSDept. Gen. Manager - Sunder Thiyagarajan North East South West - Kamal Bisht, Mayank Rai - Debraj Sur - Kirupanand S - Sachin Kamble, Sanjay Bhujle, Dinesh Devadiga Bangalore Hyderabad - Devraj Gowda - GS Mahesh - Santhosh Kumar - Sheetal Kotawdekar, Vaibhav Ghavale, Sarita Quadros, Chaitali Parkar, Meena Katta, Kamalesh Matkar Co-ordinators Newsstands Logistics Team - Anant Shirke, Rajinder Sharma, Rahul Mankar - Surya Kumar, Anindya Banarjee, Percy Palkhiwala For any Trade queries

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Copyright 2004 INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIPIntelligent Computing CHIP is printed by Mohan Gajria and published by Lakshmi Narasimhan on behalf of Infomedia 18 Ltd. and printed at Plot No. 3, Sector 7, Off. Sion-Panvel Road, Nerul, Navi Mumbai - 400 706 and published at `A Wing, Ruby House, 2nd Floor, J.K. Sawant Marg, Dadar (W), Mumbai - 400 028. INDIA EDITOR: Lakshmi Narasimhanis an internationally protected trademark owned by CHIP Communications GmbH

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ADVERTISERS INDEXAbacus Peripherals Pvt.Ltd. 35 ACI Infocom Ltd. 11 Acro Engineering Co. 179 Aptech 167 Ashcom 182 Asus Technology Pvt.Ltd. 17 AVG Back Cover BenQ India Pvt. Ltd. Inside Back Cover Best IT World (India) Pvt.Ltd. 9 Big Home Video 145,192 Buffalo Inc. 7 Burrp 73 Busy Infotech Pvt. Ltd. 65,67 Champion Computers (P) Ltd. 175 Circle 189 Com IT 157 Electronics Corporation Of Tamilnadu Ltd. 37 Excel Interactive 190 Express Interactive Software Pvt.Ltd. 193 Hewlett Packard 55 IIT Kharagpur 71 Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. 15 Kestone Integrated Marketing Services Inside Front Cover Leo Impact Security 174,180 Marvell 43 Microworld 19 Mitashi Edutainment Pvt.Ltd. 39 Next World Polytela E-Commerce Pvt.Ltd. Sanyo Energy (S) Corp.Pte.Ltd. Scorpio Net Security Services Scrum System Security Solution Inc SG Systems Stanley Lifestyles Ltd Strontium Technology India Pvt.Ltd. Sun Microsystems India Pvt.Ltd. Symantec Software Solutions Tecktronixs Audio Visual India (P) Ltd. Top Notch Infotronix (India) Pvt.Ltd. Top Victory Investment Toshiba Transcend Trek Technology (India) Pvt.Ltd. Unicorn Infosolutions Pvt.Ltd. Verbatim Marketing India Pvt. Ltd. Wiley India Pvt.Ltd. Xpress Computers Ltd. Zee Business 131 149 41 120,121 13 182 183 51,59 181 26,27 25 53 178 5 33 23 172,173 176 161 188,191 177 47

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WRITE TO USReaders Letters: editor@chip.in Subject: LETTERS Magazine, DVD, Web and Design feedback: feedback@chip.in Dr. CHIP: drchip@chip.in Tips and Tricks: tnt@chip.in Products for review: gautami.chalke@chip.in Software reviews: editor@chip.in

CUSTOMER CARESarita QuadrosE-mail: customercare@infomedia18.in Tel: +91 22 3003 4631 / 33 Fax: +91 22 3003 4499 Subscribe online at eshop.infomedia18.in

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NEWS SNIPPETS

NEWSWIRE

DANGER BAROMETERHIGH RISK

IN THE NEWS...COMPILED BY JAMSHED AVARI

Hackers have started using loopholes in Windows 7, since many users have still not installed any virus scanners

WEBMEDIUM RISK

Non-Latin URLs to change the Web as we know itICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, has put all steps in place to allow website addresses in nonLatin characters, after years of debates on the challenges and merits of doing so. The move opens up millions of possibilities for new website URLs to be registered using characters in scripts as diverse as Devanagri, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Russian, in addition to accented Latin characters and other symbols. URLs have so far been restricted to the

LOW RISK

FAKE SECURITY APPSJANUARY 22.218 FEBRUARY 45.712 MARCH 43.156 APRIL 89.383 MAY 132.624 JUNE 152.197The number of fake security apps is on the rise. These tools spy on computers while pretending to be protecting them.Source: Antiphishing.org

letters AZ, numbers 19, and hyphens. The new rules would expand that to nearly 100,000 possible characters. This is the biggest technical change to the Internets addressing systemthe Domain Name Systemin many years said a senior ICANN spokesperson in a press statement. Countries will also have top-level domains in their own national languages. For the rst time, Internet users who don't understand English at all will be able to use addresses completely in their own scripts. A fast-track registration process opened on November 16. Immense overhauls to the backends of the Internet's DNS system were required. However security companies fear that the new rules will widen the scope for spoong genuine URLs, allowing attackers to send out links with familiar-looking characters or subtle unnoticeable accents. Intellectual property rights holders will also have to register dozens of new similar-looking URLs to protect their own sites from spoong, and the potential to nd new lookalike URLs will be much greater.

SPAM TRENDSSpam share in mails100% 95% 90% 85% 80% 75% 70% 65% 60% DEC 2008 FEB 2009 APRIL 2009 JUNE 2009 AUG 2009

WEB

The end of an era: Geocities shuts down for goodGeocities, once the most popular free online web host in the world, has nally shut down after nearly 15 years in existence. What began in 1995 as a small, community-themed listing service eventually turned into one of the easiest, free ways to create an online presence when the general public rst started ocking to the World Wide Web. Once the third-most popular destination on the Web even with a reputation for hosting pages with horribly illegible text and ashing graphics (cached versions of which are now regarded as artifacts), Geocities was acquired by Yahoo in 1999 for US$ 3.5 billion. Several controversies ensued, including the introduction of paid accounts and subsequent crippling of free ones, disbanding the Community Leaders, and claiming full ownership of all content posted by members including private photos. After watching it decline steadily for a decade, Yahoo nally shut it down on October 27.

When large-scale spammers are caught, their advertising networks break only for a short time and then bounce back. Over 90 percent of email traffic today is spam.Source: Symantec

FIGURE OF THE MONTH

220 millionprivate records have been compromised in 403 separate major data breaches during 2009.Source: Symantec

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SMS us!

Story code: NSN to 51818

NEWS SNIPPETSTELECOM

NEWSWIRE

Number portability from Dec 31, says TRAIThe Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is all set to introduce mobile number portability in India, allowing cellphone subscribers to keep their numbers but switch between operators. This removes one of the biggest obstacles in the way of switching operators if one is unhappy with the service quality. Subscribers will have to pay a maximum of Rs 19 to have their number ported to a new operator's service. The move will also greatly increase competition in the sector, since subscribers won't be inconvenienced by a switch. The main metros and a few big cities will have portability from Dec 31, while the rest of the country will have it in early 2010.

SECURITY

Malware infighting could cause more harm than goodEvidence has surfaced that several large botnets are now ghting each other, trying to disable or even take over their "competitors". The Bredo and Zeus botnets, both responsible for millions of phishing scam emails per day, are currently ghting each other. Bredo now uses Zeus' known autorun instructions to prevent its main executables from starting up, before replacing them with its own. Thus, botnets are actively invading each other and claiming the territory they conquer. Similarly, a Trojan known as FRuWL hides its entire binary structure in the Windows registry rather than an autorun path, so it can supersede other infections.

WEB

The Pirate Bay kills its tracker, but still refuses to dieAfter losing all its highly public and protracted legal wrangles, the Pirate Bay has nally shut down its tracker, which was the largest and most active in the world. However instead of shutting down completely, search results now show magnet links which allow users to add les directly to their clients, and is trying to rally support for the DHT standard, a decentralized, tracker-less torrent infrastructure. The site blog states this will help reduce downtime, but it will also reduce the chance of law enforcement being able to shut it down entirely.

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NEWS SNIPPETS

NEWSWIRE

SECURITY

SECURITY

SECURITY

NEW SECURITY RISKS DETECTED AND PATCHED

New password-stealing worm targets Skype, WikipediaA new variant of the Koobface worm, which has already wreaked havoc for millions of Facebook and Twitter users, looks like it's going to target Skype next. Not only does the worm steal users' demographic data, but it also signs itself into their accounts and initiates fake conversations with them. Any of a set of chat lines in multiple languages including "Hello again" and "So what do you think" will be sent to all the user's contacts, along with a link that will infect them as well if clicked. Even more alarming, Sophos researchers seem to have uncovered a potential future threat to Wikipedia, Blogger, Yahoo, YouTube and Google accounts as well. The new Koobface variant searches infected PCs for login credentials to these sites, though instances of it actually attacking them are not yet recorded. It therefore seems inevitable that these are the next big targets.

OS X "game" makes losing hurt

A new game for Mac OS X called Lose/lose, pitched as a kind of art project, has been classied as malware. The arcade-style game is played by shooting at aliens, with the twist that killing them will result in random les from users' drives being deleted permanently. The game doesn't spread like a virus, and is only available on the developer's website. A warning is displayed when the game launches, but many would doubt it, and mischievous people could pass the game on to others to cause trouble.

WINDOWS LIVE MESSENGERAttackers can smuggle harmful code into a computer using a bug in the ATL library. The affected versions include 8.1, 8.5 and 14.0. If you do not install the update, you will no longer be able to log in. SOLUTION: An update is available.

OPENOFFICEA loophole in the free Office package by Sun can lead to heap overflows and thus give hackers access to the PC. SOLUTION: Version 3.1.1 fixes this loophole and patches a few smaller bugs as well.

SECURITY

SECURITY

APPLE QUICKTIMEFour critical loopholes have cropped up in Quicktime for Windows. Hackers can use them to infect a system when a manipulated video file in the H.246 format is delivered and played. SOLUTION: The current version, 10.5.8, rectifies this fault.

Highly sensitive govt security tool Scams delivered leaked on the Internet via email tooA security tool developed by Microsoft to help criminal investigators recover forensic evidence from PCs has leaked onto the Internet and into the hands of the general public. COFEE, or the Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is designed to help law enforcement ofcials recover evidence from any computer used at the scene of a crime, regardless of their own level of computer skill. The tool, available in the form of a USB pen drive with software preloaded, captures volatile information such as records of active system processes that could be destroyed when the computer is powered down to transport it to a forensic lab. With less than 10 minutes' training, an ofcial can capture this data through a simple graphical interface. Just a few months ago, Microsoft proudly announced its association with Interpol, which began using COFEE. Now that it is in the hands of online criminals who will undoubtedly study its inner workings, the tool's effectiveness is sure to be compromised. A new wave of malicious spam and phishing mail has been detected. This time, email messages claiming to be from troubled African princes or banks requesting you to change your password, come with attachments in HTML or PDF format including elds for users to type in their account details. Because they are not loaded from external servers, even browsers with built-in fraud detection systems might not highlight these as threats. The information is of course still relayed to criminals and used to steal money.

MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORERA vulnerability in the way IE 6 and 7 handle certain style elements can allow attackers to execute arbitary code on a machine or trick users into visiting bogus web pages. SOLUTION: A browser fix is not out yet, but updated security software should keep users safe.

APPLE SAFARISeveral holes exist which could allow remote attackers to read private information or crash the browser. SOLUTION: The updated version 4.0.4 fixes all known vulnerabilities.

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NEWS SNIPPETSSCIENCE GAMING

NEWSWIRE

Large Hadron Collider back online after accidentThe world's largest-scale physics laboratory to date, CERN's Large Hadron Collider, is back in action after over a year. The LHC was rst switched on in September 2008 in preparation for experiments to begin, but suffered a serious setback within days as faults discovered in the electrical connections to a series of supermagnets led to considerable damage. The repairs and subsequent upgrades carried out to improve safety measures have taken nearly 14 months. Proton beams are already circulating around the collider again, preparing for the kind of acceleration needed to perform atom-smashing experiments in early 2010. Lowenergy collisions are expected to be performed in the rst week of December.

COD:MW2 toned down in Russia

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 created quite a stir by including a scene where users have to kill innocent people in a Russian airport. Immediately

GAMING

after its release, rumors hit the Web that the game had been banned in Russia due to public outcry, though in fact publisher Activision had released a version with the scene edited out. The scene has been slammed because it can be skipped and its outcome doesn't affect the storyline at all, making it pointless.

Ill-fated Nokia N-Gage gaming finally laid to restNokia's N-Gage gaming brand, originally intended to be a series of game-oriented handsets but then later demoted to being just a software platform on certain devices, has now nally been discontinued. No further games will be developed for N-Gage, and current users have a year before the store closes down and existing games' online features will cease to work. Nokia will focus on selling games through its general-purpose Ovi store from now on.

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NEWS SNIPPETSHARDWARE TELECOM

NEWSWIRE

Emerging "smartbooks" vs netbooks? More functions drive mobile growthA new category of hardware is emerging, positioned between multimedia smartphones and netbooks. These so-called "smartbooks" might look like smaller netbooks, but will run OSes such as Android and variants of Linux. The devices will also ditch Intel Atom processors in favor of leaner ones from companies such as Freescale, Qualcomm and even Nvidia. These would most likely use ARM architecture, and therefore not be able to run Windows or traditional PC software, making them more like the iPhone, which would need to develop their own ecosystems for software and applications. A common OS will be unlikely. Form factors include the traditional folding netbook style, larger-screened tablets, and even some experimental types which fold or ip over in different ways. Manufacturers including Sharp, Lenovo, Foxconn, and Mio are said to be developing prototypes already, with several others expected to be seen at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2010. Other OEM companies are building devices that will be sold through mobile service operators around the world, capitalizing on their built-in 3G or highspeed data connectivity. The availability of more and more functions on mobile phones is driving renewed growth in the segment, according to a new study by the Mobile Marketing Association and Solidiance, an Asian marketing and strategy consulting rm. Advertising and marketing is growing as more people invest in higher-priced, multimedia-rich handsets and take advantage of new services including mobile downloads, music, gaming and healthcare. Lower income users are moving to more capable handsets as their prices drop and service plans become cheaper. The study named India, China and Indonesia as the cheapest markets, thanks to immense competition. Singapore and Hong Kong were found to be the most mature markets for mobile payments. Korea saw the fastest growth in mobile music, and users in the Philippines send over 400 SMSes per month on average. Mobile healthcare in Asia is pegged to be growing at 80 percent yearon-year, while gaming also saw increased adoption of in-game advertisements which subsidize the cost of the games.

VIRTUAL WORLDS

BUSINESS

PLATFORMS

Second Life users angry over free content being sidelinedIn what amounts to the latest in a long series of setbacks for fans of the online virtual world Second Life, its creators Linden Labs have announced that free content will no longer be listed in Web search results of the world's virtual store. Users will have to pay to have their listings visible to others, effectively eliminating free content from the store, since such content isn't easy to discover in other ways. Protests have erupted over what are being seen as imsy excuses by Linden Labs. Second Life was heavily in focus a few years ago when it emerged as one of the only successful online worlds, and was generating money for users who sold or traded virtual commodities. Sociologists and economists alike ocked in to study Second Life, and mainstream corporations including IBM, Nike, Pepsi, American Apparel and Reuters invested heavily in establishing their online presences there. However the world appears to have lost steam, with noteworthy in-world happenings becoming extremely rare, and people have been leaving it in droves. This might be compelling Linden Labs to nd new ways of generating revenue.

AOL-Time Warner Developers give to demerge Android a miss

The AOL-Time Warner merger, often regarded as the most disastrous business move in history, is nally being undone. The two merged in 2000 at the height of the dotcom bubble, aiming to combine their strengths in media creation and distribution. However things went wrong right from the beginning, with inghting and a lack of any unifying vision. Time Warner will now spin AOL off into an independent company, though one in a far weaker position than it was a decade ago. Over 2,500 jobs are estimated to be cut. Its properties ICQ and Mapquest are likely to be sold off too.

One of the world's largest mobile game developers, Gameloft, has announced it is withdrawing from the Android platform. Citing Android's low user base as compared to the iPhone, the company does not want to continue investing resources in it. Gameloft's Finance Director, Alexandre de Rochefort, said the company sold 400 times more games for the iPhone/iPod touch than for Android devices, and suggested that Google isn't doing enough to popularize the platform. If many more developers follow suit, Google will have a hard time keeping interest in Android high enough.

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NEWS SNIPPETSWEB

NEWSWIRE

Webby Awards name the 10 most influential Web moments of the decadeThe Webby Awards, which honor excellence on the Internet every year, have come up with a list of the 10 most inuential Internet moments of the past decade. "The Internet is the story of this decade because it was the catalyst for change in not just every aspect of our lives, but in everything from commerce and communication to politics and pop culture," said David-Michel Davies, Executive Director of The Webby Awards in a press statement. The list is not presented in any particular order. in 271 languages today, the free opensource encyclopedia epitomizes the Internet's power to bring strangers from around the world together. Flash Video combined to launch the online revolution that has reshaped everything from pop culture to politics.

Facebook and Twitter take off (2006-7)Facebook allowed anyone with a valid e-mail address in. Twitter took off in 2007. Both radically changed the way we connect, collaborate, and communicate.

Napster shut down (2001)Although Napster was shut down in 2001, it opened the le-sharing oodgates. Its demise sparked a wave of innovation

The iPhone debuts (2007)Half a million sold in the rst weekend. The iPhone inspired Google Android as well as an app for just about every aspect of modern life.

Craigslist expands (2000)The free classieds site expanded outside San Francisco, frightening newspaper publishers everywhere. Today Craigslist is a model for no-frills business success. that forever changed how we obtain and experience music and video.

U.S. Presidential Campaign (2008)With web video clips shaping the debate and social media mobilizing voters, the way campaigns are run was permanently transformed.

Google IPO (2004)Google's IPO, one of the largest in history, put the six-year-old search engine on the path to becoming the most dominant and inuential company of the decade.

Google AdWords launches (2000)Google turned advertising on its head, allowing advertisers to target their customers with laser-sharp precision.

Iranian election protests (2009)When Iran's 2009 presidential election produced shy results, the opposition took to the tweets. Since most users don't access it through a central website, it's nearly impossible to censor.

Wikipedia launches (2001)Boasting of more than 14 million articles

Online video revolution (2006)In 2006, bandwidth, camcorders and Adobe

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NEW PRODUCTS LAUNCHED

NEWSWIRE

NEW PRODUCTS LAUNCHEDCOMPILED BY JAMSHED AVARI

INTEX

Atom 330 processor clocked at 1.6 GHz for day-to-day tasks such as web browsing, e-mail, social networking, office productivity etc. It packs display connectivity options with integrated HDMI and DVI-I for compatibility with HD TV sets. Expansion options include PCI Express x1, mini PCI Express, 4 SATA 3.0 Gbps ports with RAID 0, 1 and 0 + 1 support, and 10 USB 2.0 ports. resistant portable hard drive. The HDD SH93, a super strong hard disk drive designed specically for students, road warriors, and sports enthusiasts incorporates a rubber-plastic mix and special cushion materials to sustain a 1M waterproof test for 30 minutes and the military standard MIL-STD-810F drop test which addresses a broad range of environmental conditions. With the USB cable MSI has announced the Wind U210, its 12.1-inch display netbook. With a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, the Wind U210 provides 14 percent greater display area compared to other netbooks in its size class. Weighing only 1.3 kg including the battery and sporting a super svelte form factor, the Wind U210 is convenient, highly cord tucking into the side of the SH93, it is beautifully designed. It is easy for users to conveniently carry around massive documents without the fear of damaging les in case of accidental drops or water spills.

Budget CDMA phoneThe newest mobile phone from Intex is the CDMA handset IN20. This phone is a musical treat for CDMA users. It rides on its feature-richness comprising of a FM radio, 1.5 CSTN display, three hours of talk time, 150 hours standby time, one-way call record mobile tracker, phonebook with 500 contacts memory, sound recorder, etc. If you are looking for a basic CDMA handset having great music capabilities, the Intex IN20 holds the key.

PRICE: TBA WEBSITE: www.zotac.com

MSI

Comfortable netbook

PRICE: Rs 1,600 WEBSITE: www.intextechnologies.com

ZOTAC

Mini-ITX integrated systemZotac has introduced its value Ion-based platform, the ION ITX- G Synergy Edition. The demand for small form factors is increasing and the new ION ITX Synergy Edition brings a full high-performance experience and features including the Nvidia Ion graphics processor with PureVideo HD for full 1080p Blu-ray video playback and high-performance video editing capabilities with CUDA technology. The ION ITX-G uses a dual-core Intel

PRICE: TBA WEBSITE: www.adata.com.tw

NETGEAR

portable and allows users to easily carry it in a handbag. It integrates a LED-backlit high-resolution 1366 x 768 display. The battery is pushed to the edge to provide you with 4 hours of life. The Wind U210 allows effortless typing on the Ergonomic De-stress keyboard that has 51 percent larger key surfaces. This feature ensures unhindered and comfortable typing for long hours.

Enthusiast wireless routerNetgear has announced its versatile, high-performance RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router WNDR3700 to fulll the unique lifestyle needs of different customer segments. Designed for prosumers, media enthusiasts and people on the go, the full-featured WNDR3700 offers dual band reliability, gigabit performance, storage access and green features. Compatible with DLNAcertied products, the WNDR3700 enables media enthusiasts and gamers

PRICE: Rs 23,500 (starting) WEBSITE: www.msi.com

A-DATA

Shock-resistant hard driveA-DATA has unveiled the industrys rst ever waterproof and shock

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NEW PRODUCTS LAUNCHEDThe products and services listed here have not been reviewed by IC-CHIP. These are not endorsements or recommendations. All prices, specifications and claims are as stated by the respective manufacturers and publicists.

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to stream digital content to new HDTVs and consoles. Additionally, it is the rst to include broadband usage metering to let users monitor their usage and stay within the ISPs limits. Dual band technology enables concurrent use of the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands, offering twice the bandwidth with better connections and less interference.

MOTOROLA

Affordable multimedia phoneMotorola has launched the stylish multimedia MOTO ZN300, a sleek slider with 3.1 megapixel camera for great imaging. The ZN300 is designed for those who thrive on content consumption and creation. It combines familiar digital camera functionality with strong features, giving you the freedom to shape pop culture, on your terms. Controls light up on the MOTO ZN300 screen to offer an uncluttered and intuitive experience as the camera moves between Capture and Review modes. You can choose to send the images to friends and family or print them Bluetooth. And you can store music and memories with up to 32GB of optional removable memory. The MOTO ZN300 features Video Mixer, which gives you the option to add customizable or preloaded transitions and sound effects to your videos.

global threat intelligence from the most precise and comprehensive threat intelligence system in the world. Appliance Clustering with Load Balancing lets multiple units share scanning responsibilities for improved resilience, scalability and consolidated management. The appliance also autodetects network settings and provides an easy to use conguration wizard.

PRICE: Rs 11,000 WEBSITE: www.netgear.com

HCL

Innovative youth netbookHCL has launched its new netbook under the name ME Series 04. ME i.e. Mobile Excitement reects the persona of todays youth and caters to their on-the-go lifestyles, offering seamless connectivity to the virtual world. Self

PRICE: On request WEBSITE: http://www.mcafee.com/ ews

WILEY

Windows 7 bookWiley India has released Windows 7 Secrets, the ultimate insider's guide to Microsoft's most exciting Windows version in years. You already know the ups and downs of Windows Vista now it's time to learn Windows 7! Internationally recognized Windows experts, Microsoft insiders and authors Paul Thurrott and Rafael Rivera cut through the hype to reveal useful information not found anywhere else. Regardless of your level of knowledge, you'll discover little-known facts on how things work, what's new and different, and how you can modify Windows 7 to meet your own specic needs. A witty, conversational tone tells you what you need to know to go from user to expert.

PRICE: Rs 7,999 WEBSITE: www.motorola.com/inrecovery features like One Touch support and One Touch Recovery are incorporated into the product. The laptops come with innovative features like LOCK ME that prevents data theft by ensuring that data cannot be copied on to external devices, USB memory sticks, optical disks etc without authorization from the user. Secure ME can be used to lock any application installed on the PC e.g. the Internet browser. The new range also comes with features like face recognition and ngerprint recognition. McAfee has announced the Email and Web Security Appliance 5.5 to help protect customers against the latest email and Web-borne threats, manage Web and email traffic and usage, and reduce system administration requirements. Designed for small and midsized businesses (SMBs), the solution provides comprehensive email and Web security in a single, integrated appliance. Artemis and TrustedSource Technology Integration links it to

MCAFEE

SMB security appliance

PRICE: Rs 19,000 onwards WEBSITE: www.hclinfosystems.in

PRICE: Rs 599 WEBSITE: www.wileyindia.com jamshed.avari@chip.in

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E-WASTE MANAGEMENT

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Jagdish Limbachiya

The Technology GraveyardYour discarded gadgets and components can still be of use to someone, somewhere long after you're done with them. Here's how it all happens.BY ANAND TULIANI, FRANCIS D'SA AND SANDEEP BALACHANDRAN

have become indispensable parts of our lives. Try switching off your phone or not using your computer or laptop for the entire day and youll know how much you depend on them. Newer technologies make electronic devices faster, lighter and cheaper. But at the same time the rate of obsolescence is increasing. A cell phone has an average life of two to four years before it just feels outdated, while a personal computer is usually obsolete within ve to seven years. On an average around 4,000 old computers are dumped daily in India alone. If an average computer weighs around 28 Kg, imagine a total of more than 15,000 tons of e-waste being dumped into the environment each year. A large part of electronic waste can be recycled and reused in various industries. Electronic waste is actually very valuable but only if it is processed using techniques which wont harm the

C

omputers, laptops, cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras and other such electronic devices

environment. E-waste contains toxic substances such as lead, phosphor, mercury, cadmium, gallium arsenide, and a number of other such substances. For example, a CRT monitor contains more than six percent of lead which is very toxic and when inhaled, can cause harm to the kidneys, nervous and reproductive systems and can impair mental development in children. When e-waste is dumped in a landll or incinerated, it can spew toxins into the groundwater and pose severe health hazards.

then either sold to recyclers and chiplevel repair service centres, or revived and used in smaller towns. Components such as rear panel connectors and plastic headers are used for repairing hardware whose components arent available easily. The table below gives an indication of how much money your dead hardware can fetch you.

The e-waste tradePicture an e-waste processing plant as a big repository where youll nd colossal heaps of printed circuit boards from PCs and other electronicDead hardware Hard disk 80 GB to 500 GB Power supply Motherboards DDR RAM Intel P4 CPU Power cables (per Kg) Cabinet with SMPS Laptop charger CRT monitor Price (Rs) 300 - 600 30 50 to 100 100 200 15 to 20 130 300 to 500 500 to 1000

At the roadsideIf any component of your computer (motherboard, graphics card, hard drive, power supply, optical drive) is out of its warranty period and dead, dont throw it in the waste bin or sell it to the scrap dealer down your lane who buys stuff by weight. You can earn a good amount of pocket money by selling it at the right places. There are several scrap dealers in the computer hardware market who buy dead computer hardware. These are

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HEALTH HAZARDS CAUSED BY ELECTRONIC WASTEHAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES FOUND IN DIFFERENT ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTHSUBSTANCE Barium / Lithium Beryllium Zinc sulphide PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) Arsenic / Gallium arsenide Cadmium Lead Mercury Toner Dust FOUND IN CRT tubes and Lithium batteries Power supply units with silicon rectifiers Interior of a CRT screen Condensers, transformers Light-emitting diode (LED) Rechargeable batteries, CRT screens, printer inks and toners CRT screens, batteries, circuit boards Fluorescent backlights in LCDs, alkaline and mercury batteries Laser printer / copier toner cartridges EFFECTS Develops explosive gases (hydrogen) Harmful if inhaled Toxic when inhaled Cancer, effects on the immune system, reproductive system, nervous system, endocrine system Acutely poisonous and on a long-term perspective injurious to health Acutely poisonous Damages nervous system, circulatory system, kidneys, causes learning disabilities in children Acutely poisonous and on a long-term perspective injurious to health Health risk when inhaled, risk of explosion example, there are separate recycling and disposal processes for CRT monitors and for PCBs. The next step is dismantling the equipment with tools in a protected environment. The dismantled components are then further segregated as useful or not useful. Further, the remnants are classied into metals, plastics, etc. Metals are segregated into copper, aluminium, gold, silver, lead and tin and plastics are segregated into ABS, polycarbonate, polyethylene and so on. These plastics and precious metals are then sold to industries (local

devices (motherboards, graphics cards, expansion cards), cables, hard drives, monitors, cabinets and printers. Imagine taking a stroll through mountains of discarded hardwarewhat a sight it would be! Electronic waste disposed of by individuals and enterprises ends up here. E-waste processing plants and rms who are into the e-waste trade have logistics in place to pick it all up from within their coverage areas. While some plants and traders deal with hundreds of kilos of waste, some even arrange for picking up smaller quantities

offices or individuals. And by smaller quantities we mean as small as a single PC, television set, music system or washing machine. Prior to processing the e-waste, the plant determines what can be refurbished or reused as whole units and what must be disassembled for further processing. So the rst step is to nd out what can be reused. After segregating the usable components, the non-usable ones are further segregated depending on their composition. The recycling and disposal is then planned accordingly. For

REUSERepaired / upgraded for resale

RECYCLE / DISPOSALResale to system integration and service centers Used by glass/ plastic industries

Second-hand vendor

Electronic components

Plastic / Glass extraction

Exchange offers After use Dismantler

Scrap dealer Relatives/ Friends Donated to Institutes / Employees E-waste Individuals Enterprises

Con mer Consumer

Land lling / disposal

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E-WASTE MANAGEMENT

FEATURED

INTERVIEW WITH MANNAR MANNANWhat type of e-waste do you deal with? Any electronic waste, but mostly with computer parts. How do you deal with e-waste after its picked up? In the waste management hierarchy the first thing is reuse. So whatever components we think can be reused are sorted out. Can you please describe the entire process of managing e-waste in short? The most important process is dismantling. Everything is dismantled into various components and the larger ones like cabinets are sent for recycling. Metal and plastic are also sent for recycling. There is a category-wise segregation of metal and plastic. If the components are in working condition they will be sent to people who can use them but if they are not only the valuable materials are extracted and the remnants are stockpiled or disposed of. How do you deal with CRT monitors? Here only the front glass can be reused. So only that is taken out and the remaining portion is sent for recycling. The dismantling is done in a vacuum chamber so that the phosphor inside doesnt escape out. Is phosphor recycled or disposed? As per the guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board it may be landfilled. There are designated vicinities in the country for landfilling such hazardous materials. It is supposed to be stored by the e-waste recycler and once you reach a specified limit it has to be sent to the landfilling authorities. programs for extracting precious metals in a safe and environment-friendly manner. The regulation is yet to come into force. Mannar MannanHead of Operations, Global E-Waste Management Services

Which are the companies that use recycled materials / components? In the case of monitors, the glass is collected by every leading manufacturer but no manufacturer buys electronic components and computer hardware. This mostly goes to system integrators or chip-level service engineers. How do you deal with finer components such as chips and capacitors found on motherboards? Motherboard or PCB treatment is the third level treatment which is not done by the e-waste recycler. It used to be exported to Belgium, China, Hong Kong and Singapore, but this has recently been banned by the government. So as per the government guidelines we are supposed to retain it. Also, extracting valuable materials from PCBs is a very hazardous process, so it is not done by a normal recycler. However, there are a couple of recyclers in the unorganized sector who do this kind of recycling in our country. Isnt it illegal to extract precious metals from PCBs using methods that are hazardous to the environment? The government has only set a guideline for such activity; its not illegal as of now. So if someones doing it, no one can question him. In fact the government is conducting training and awareness

How do you deal with batteries? We are not supposed to accept batteries. Battery recycling requires specialized skills and equipment. Only manufacturers recycle batteries. Recycling batteries requires special permission from the Central Government. He also needs to have the facility for recycling batteries. How much of e-waste is recycled by GEM every year? Our capacity is 400 metric tonnes a year which does not include the cabinet and metal waste since they are not hazardous. So the figure includes only computer waste. Do you charge a disposal fee or do you buy e-waste? There are recyclers who charge a disposal fee but we buy e-waste at Rs 8 to Rs 30 per Kg depending on the percentage of recyclable and reusable material. How does hazardous waste impact human health? Lead is one of the most hazardous elements as it can lead to skin and bloodrelated problems. Exposure to mercury can lead to heart diseases. Which are the most high-value materials that are obtained from computer hardware? Palladium, gold, silver, tin, copper, aluminiumgold and palladium are found mostly in PCBs.

and international) that use them. For example, footwear for the rainy season and polythene bags are made from non-virgin plastic. Such businesses are a few of the major sources of revenue for e-waste processing plants. The most complex treatment is that of CRT monitors and television sets which have the highest amount of toxic materials such as lead and phosphorous. The rst step is dismantling a monitor, which involves removal of the plastic casing, picture tube and yoke. Fully functional picture tubes are used by local brands for manufacturing cheap television sets. Those with the terminal pins of the electron guns intact are

re-gunned and sold to local brands. The yoke has a good amount of copper in the form of a coil which is sold to smelters. The picture tubes are split open under vacuum and the phosphor powder is removed. Finally, the glass left behind is either reused or sold to waste traders. Printed circuit boards are found in all electronic devices, but disposing off them is one of the biggest challenges since they contain lead, mercury, silver and gold. Since there are no facilities in India to extract valuable metals from PCBs using environment-friendly processes, they are sent abroad for disposal. Hazardous substances and other non-reusable materials are landlled on

government approved sites or stockpiled by the plants. However, there are a few recyclers in the unorganized sector who extract precious metals from PCBs. The easiest way to extract metal from PCBs is to burn them at a high temperature and collect the molten metal. Some small-time recyclers burn piles of PCBs in the open to do so while some roadside recyclers use blowtorches to burn them too. This process poses a severe threat to the environment and to the human beings who inhale such toxic fumes, though they may not be aware of it. The government needs to enforce laws to end such hazardous activities. feedback@chip.in

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PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY

NEWSWIRE

CABINETS CAN MORPH, LAPTOPS CAN SHRINK, MONITORS CAN STAND LOPSIDED, BUT PLEASE PEOPLE, LEAVE THE KEYBOARDS ALONE!JAMSHED AVARI, ASSISTANT EDITOR - TECHNICAL

SINGING WAY OFF-KEYDesigner touches are popping up everywhere in the PC world, but manufacturers have in many cases lost all sense of subtlety. Some also compromise a devices function in order to make it look different. One particular thing that annoys me is how companies regularly fi nd new ways to deform their keyboards. Im not even talking about springs versus membranes here; I just want the basic layout to be respected! I am an unapologetic power user; a keyboard junkie with shortcuts or hotkeys for nearly everything, and I need to be able to type rapid fi re with the full confidence that what I want to say is whats ending up in my documents. First of all, can everyone please stop messing with the paging block? Thats the set with [Ins], [Del], [Home], [End], [Pg Up] and [Pg Down]. Some might not use them very much, but theyre invaluable to me. Long documents, page layouts, visual designs and even web pages fly past with [Ctrl] and [Shift] combos. I need to precisely select individual words and paragraphs all the time so Id like them where they should be, scattered about because some industrial designer decided theyre not so important. Most laptops today have turned these into a vertical strip, but none are consistent on which keys should be where. Apple, blazing new design trails, has dispensed with them altogether in favor of unmarked [Fn] key combinations. Today only Lenovo ThinkPads and Dell Latitudes respect the layout, meaning that business consumers can have their functionality but ordinary users will be stuck with whatever works design-wise. And while were at it, Dell, please stop leaving the [Pause|Break] key off your Inspirons and Studios. Yes, I've noticed. Lets also decide on one place for the [Fn] key. Laptop makers please note: this should NOT be in the corner rightfully occupied by the left [Ctrl] key. Next to that is fi ne. Yes, Lenovo, your Thinkpads earn critical acclaim all the time, but this is one big mistake. I shouldnt have to relearn shortcuts because I use both a laptop and a desktop. Equally important is the row of [F] keys on top. Theyre supposed to be in clusters for a reason: its easier to grope for them. But no, theyre mercilessly split, grouped, and even spaced out individually. I need to just fl ick out to pull down mail, refresh web pages, open palettes and toolbars, close tabs Stop making me physically look for them each time! And stop giving them multimedia functions by default and forcing [Fn] combos to make them do what theyre really supposed to. Put in extra shortcut keys around the edges, but don't cross this line. Next up, Apple, youre really in a league of your own by killing the numeric keypad on your desktops altogether. Its just silly. No purpose has been served at all. I used to assume that at least the QWERTY block was safe, but oh no, international variations aside I now have to deal with the arrow cluster pushing the lower right corner inwards. That means theres often no [Win] or [Menu] key on the right. And the next netbook I see with the left [Shift] beyond an arrow key is going straight out the nearest window. Seriously though, the keyboard is one thing that should be non negotiable.- jamshed.avari@chip.in

I AM AN UNAPOLOGETIC POWER USER; A KEYBOARD JUNKIE WITH SHORTCUTS FOR EVERYTHING

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PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

DIGITAL CAMERA

SONY DSC-WX1VERDICT: A feature-packed camera with stellar performance and a very user-friendly interface. FOR: Exceptional low-light performance, 720p video capturing, 24 mm wide angle lens, quick focusing. AGAINST: Heats up, fringing in bright sunlight, poor macro range.

makes photography easy and fun for everyone. The all-black Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 is the latest compact digital camera by Sony that promises outstanding low-light performance thanks to the latest image sensor. This slick camera weighs only 148 grams (with battery) and is about the size of a deck of cards. The most striking features are the 5x optical zoom lens with a focal length of 24 mm at the widest angle and 720p video capturing capability very rare for a compact digital camera. It features an optical image stabilization mechanism and the rmware has a raft of fun features.

S

onys new range of digital cameras and w rang rang nge digita camcorders feature the Exmor R sensor and a bunch of innovative features that

auto mode allows you to adjust the resolution, EV, smile detection sensitivity, face detection and so on, easy mode only allows you to set the image size to large or small and enable/disable ash. The camera automatically detects the type of scene and adjusts the exposure automatically. If youre well-versed with parameters such as white balance, ISO settings, focus, metering and bracketing, you can switch to the program mode which is the most advanced mode in this camera. To make shooting in low light easy, Sony added the anti motion blur and hand-held twilight modes. These modes ensure you get steady and wellexposed shots in low light. When enabled, the camera captures a burst of six shots taken at high ISO speed and manipulates them to give a single best shota very neat feature. Next up, the scene selection mode has presets such as reworks, beach, food, pets and twilight. A very useful preset here is soft snap in which the camera automatically adjusts the aperture for capturing subjects with soft background. The most fun-to-use mode is sweep panorama. With this mode enabled, you simply have to hit the shutter release button and move the camera from left to right or right to left to capture a 180 degree panorama. The capturing and stitching is done automatically by the camera. The shooting direction can be set to top to bottom or bottom to top, and the white balance, focus and metering can be set manually in this mode. The Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 can seamlessly capture videos at 720p (1280x720) at 30 fps

FeaturesThe Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 is clearly targeted towards those who want something thats compact and powerful but at the same time fun and easy to use. It has a 24 mm wide angle lens - you can shoot a person from head to toe from a distance of just 3 feet. Face detection and smile shutter comes in very handy while shooting people. With the smile shutter option enabled the camera automatically clicks the picture when the subject smiles. The intensity of smile can be set to slight, normal or big. So you choose between the three depending on how broadly you want the subject to smile. Unlike mega-zoom cameras that offer complete and partial manual modes, the WX1 is sweet and simple with just auto, easy and program mode. While the

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which is very respectable for a compact digital camera. Exposure parameters such as EV, white balance and metering mode can be set depending on the ambient lighting. Optical zoom and image stabilization are operational while shooting videos. The camera lets you show off your photos and videos in style both on the cameras large 2.7inch or TV. It also offers a slideshow mode with background music. You can choose between four music loops (two soothing, one techno and one rock) depending on the mood of your photos. Plus you can choose between four effectssimple, nostalgic, stylish and active. While the simple effect displays photos one after the other after the set time interval, the rest feature fancy transition effects. The nostalgic effect displays all images in sepia tone with soothing music playing in the background. The playback mode also offers options for printing images (using PictBridge) and retouching images and can be accessed directly from the off state. No need to rst power up the device and then switch to the playback mode. The camera comes with a strap, common cable for transferring data and AV out and a 4 GB Memory Stick Pro Duo card.

mode along with a one line e description as you rotate the ription dial. The 5-way d-pad, which has good tactility, has four shortcutssmile shutter, timer, ash and screen display ter, settings. A hotkey for burst mode is present on the ngs. top right of the shutter release button. The menu is ight displayed in a vertical strip at the left edge of the ayed screen with its parameters listed horizontally.

PerformanceThe tiny little WX1 is a great performer during the day as well as at night. The reproduction of color and details is excellent in well lit conditions. However, we noticed strong chromatic aberrations when we shot close subjects against bright light. But we didnt see this problem with distant objects. Macro shots look good, but the shooting range isnt as less as high-end cameras. When you shoot close-ups from a distance of 2 inches or greater the camera auto-adjusts to macro mode. There is no dedicated macro mode. The image stabilization and low light performance deserve special mention. As soon as you lock the focus, the image stabilizer springs into action. Its so good that you can capture blur-free shots at shutter speeds as low as 1/10 of a second. The brilliant performance of the new Exmor R sensor is very evident in low lighting conditions. We shot some subjects at night in poor lighting conditions without ash and the results were outstanding. The noise was unbelievably less at ISO 800. The handheld twilight mode is very useful at nightcrisp shots guaranteed, but the amount of noise is quite high at ISO 3200 in very poor light. The quality of video recording is also great. Videos recorded at 720p look very good on a big screen and the result is stutter-free. The only quirk we thought needed attention was heating up of the device after prolonged usageshoot a 10 minute video or capture around 25 shots and it feels uncomfortable.

Design and build qualityThe Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 is encased in a sturdy plastic shell with the front shielded by a metal housing. The quality of the zoom rocker, dials, buttons, cables and battery compartment lid is top notch. Cover the LCD display with a scratch guard lm as it is prone to ngerprints and scratches. Even though this compact camera is packed with loads of features, its very easy to use thanks to its ergonomic design and intuitive user interface. The one-inch wide control panel to the right of the screen comprises a zoom rocker, mode selection

SPECIFICATIONS

dial, playback button, 5-way d-pad, menu button and delete button. The rim of the mode selection dial is teethed so its easy to rotate with the thumb. The right side of the display shows the active

Rs 19,990www.sony.com

Dimensions (WxHxD): 91 x 52 x 20 mm; Weight: 148 g; Resolution: 10.2 MP; Lens: 24-120 mm, 5x optical zoom; ISO: 160-3200; LCD: 2.7-inch; Video: 1280x720 @30 fps; Storage: MS Duo.CONTACT PHONE EMAIL

Final wordsThe price tag of Rs 19,990 (MRP) completely justies the lengthy list of features and the stellar performance of this camera. Although you can pick a compact mega-zoom for a lesser price, you get a wide-angle lens, 720p video recording capability, 4 GB memory card and a big bunch of handy features to play around with in one compact device that can slide into your pocket. - anand.tuliani@chip.in

Sony India 1800-103-7799 sonyindia.care@ap.sony.com

RATINGSBUILD QUALITY ERGONOMICS FEATURES PERFORMANCE OVERALL RATING VALUE FOR MONEY

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VERDICT

YOU CAN GET A MUCH BETTER BANG FOR THE BUCK FOR ITS PRICE BUT YOU WONT GET THE COMPACTNESS.

CAMCORDER

CANON LEGRIA FS22FOR: Small and comfortable, high optical zoom level. AGAINST: Average picture quality, mic is sensitive to ambient sound.The swivel display comes in very handy while shooting with the device held high.

T

he Canon Legria FS22 is ergonomically designed, which allows you to shoot for long periods of time without feeling

in 16:9 mode and 46x in 4:3. The zoom denitely seems more than satisfactory but the problem is that the electronic image stabilization built into the FS22 is not strong enough to handle it. With a tiny 1/6-inch CCD Image sensor (1.07 megapixel sensor resolution), you only get standard denition video output. Considering how widely camcorders are being used these days for videocasting, the absence of an external mic can make the audio extremely muddled. Luckily you don't have to worry about that on the FS22, as it has jacks for both a mic as well as a pair of headphone that's easily accessible. Overall, the picture quality of the FS22 was good, but it did have a tendency to under-expose indoors, even in cases when the room was brightly lit. The biggest draw of the FS22 is its compact size and ergonomics, but besides that it's pretty much a standard camcorder. - gagan@tech2.com

the stress. Weighing only 230 g its light enough to carry along wherever you go. It uses a 32 GB internal hard drive for storage with an option for memory expansion via its memory card slot. Considering that this camcorder records only in standard denition, the internal memory gives you around 7 hours of record time in XP mode (9 Mbps), which

SPECIFICATIONS

is the highest quality and close to 21 hours in LP mode (3 Mbps). The 2.7-inch LCD display is quite good, and just like most other camcorders, it does make the video look a lot better than it actually may appear on your PC or TV. But as most manufacturers move towards touchscreen displays, Canon decides to keep this one old-school with its handy joystick and soft touch buttons. The optics on the FS22 support 37x Optical Zoom, but you can up that to 45x

Rs 39,995www.canon.co.in

Dimensions (WxHxD): 102 x 18 x 76 mm; Dimensions (WxHxD): 55 x 59 x 121 mm; Weight: 230 g; Storage: 32 GB hard drive; LCD: 2.7-inch; Optical zoom: 37x.CONTACT PHONE EMAIL

Canon India Pvt Ltd 1800-180-33-66 info@canon.co.in

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THIS ONES STYLISH AND PACKED WITH FEATURES BUT THE PERFORMANCE TAKES A HIT.DIGITAL CAMERA

SAMSUNG ST 550FOR: Front LCD, 3.5-inch touch screen, loaded with features. AGAINST: Oversaturated colors, average battery life, cables are small in length.The tiny zoom lever located on the top right corner looks odd but it's useful for one-handed use.

Wportrait shots.

eighing in at 165.7 g, the Samsung ST 550 is a compact camera overloaded with features.

might seem a bit confusing at the start but once you get the hang of it, you understand how well the features have been organized in the UI. At the top left corner of the screen, is the simple scene selection tab, which gives you the options for Auto, Program, Smart, Movie, Dual IS and Manual Scene Selection. With various face detection settings, taking portrait shots cannot get simpler. The ST 550 is also equipped with accelerometer which lets you select modes by tilting it. Coming down to performance the camera isnt that great. The ISO sensitivity starts from 80 and goes way up to 3200. The image quality plummeted at ISO 400disappointing for a camera of this stature. The ST 550 has no issues in capturing colors but it boosts the colors to make the images more vibrant, which is not good. Videos are recorded at 720p and the quality of videos is good. - dhruv@tech2.com

With a complete black body and a gold lining running between it, the camera is a sure treat for the eyes. A trend setter by all means, Samsung ST 550 is the rst camera to feature a front LCD screen for The camera runs on a rechargeable li-ion battery, and the images and videos are saved on a micro SD card. The topside of the camera feels a bit crowded. Along with the power and shutter button ,the zoom lever tries to squeeze itself in there. While a few might nd this very frustrating, we found it to be very well placed as it is perfect for one-handed use. The ST 550 has a 12.2 MP CCD sensor and a 4.6x zoom lens. The cameras functions can be accessed via the fulltouch 3.5-inch LCD (800x480 pixels). It

SPECIFICATIONS

Rs 24,990www.samsung.com/in

Dimensions (WxHxD): 100 x 60 x 18.5 mm; 165.7 g; Resolution: 12.2 MP; LCD: 3.5-inch; ISO: 80 to 3200; Focal length: 27-124 mm (4.6x optical zoom); Shutter speed: 1/8-1/2000 sec; Video recording: 1280x720 pixels; Storage: microSD.CONTACT PHONE EMAIL

Samsung India Electronics Ltd 011-41511234 zion.kim@samsung.com

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PERFORMANCE AS WELL AS LOW POWER CONSUMPTION IS WHAT THE 5700 SERIES PROMISES.GPU

ATI RADEON HD 5750 AND HD 5770FOR: Good performance, low power consumption. AGAINST: None.

LSPECIFICATIONS

ooks like AMD has been hitting all the right notes of late. First it was with the 5800s and now with two simultaneous launches of the

and 1.2 GHz for memory speed. What sets them apart are the number of stream processing units which boils down to a total of 800 for the HD 5770. Alternatively the Radeon HD 5750 is t with an open air cooler that resembles the shape of an egg. The core and memory are clocked at 700 MHz and 1.15 GHz respectively with a total of 720 stream processing units under its hood. Both these cards include a Dual DVI port, an HDMI port and display port thereby allowing you to connect a total of three display devices. Both cards handled games rather well with Crysis (1680 x 1050, 2xAA) and Left 4 Dead (1680 x 1050, 8xAA) returning a score of 26 fps / 51 fps for the HD 5750 and 31 fps / 55 fps for the HD 5770 respectively. Even with so much power under its hood the HD 5770 topped out at just 170 W when on load. Thats 45 W lower than the previous HD 4770. - sandeep.balachandran@chip.in

5700s. They couldnt have hit the sweet spot anytime sooner with the Radeon HD 5750 and Radeon HD 5770 especially with the recent launch of Windows 7. With support for DirectX 11 and low power consumption these cards are the current kings for mainstream gaming. Coming back to the cards, both the Radeon HD 5750 and Radeon HD 5770 are built on a 40 nm manufacturing process and hold the same number of transistor counts which add up to 1.2 billion each. That said, they even have the same memory bandwidth of 128-bit. Almost similar to what the two 5800s shared. The HD 5770 is a tad smaller than the HD 5870 but share the same cooler. In fact both the Radeons HD 5770 and the HD 5870 are so similar that they share the same 850 MHz for clock speed

Rs 7,999 and Rs 9,999www.amd.com

GPU: ATI Radeon HD5770/HD5750; Stream Processors: 800 | 720; Process: 40nm; Memory: 1 GB; Core | Memory speed: 850 MHz | 1.2 GHz / 700 MHz | 1.15 GHz; Video output: HDMI, Display port, Dual DVI.CONTACT PHONE EMAIL

AMD 1800-425-6664 fusion.india@amd.com

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GRAPHICS CARD

ZOTAC GEFORCE GT 220VERDICT: A low-cost solution for casual gaming and CUDA-enabled applications. FOR: Good cooling, low power consumption, good value for money. AGAINST: None.

TSPECIFICATIONS

he GeForce GT 220 is Nvidias latest offering for casual gamers and home theater PC enthusiasts.

HDMI port which makes this card ideal for HTPCs. The Zotac GeForce GT 220 is around 50 percent faster than the 9500 GT with the same amount of DDR2 memory. At 1680x1050 it churned out a good 50 fps in Left 4 Dead at medium settings and 36 fps in Race Driver Gridvery respectable for an entry-level card. The closest competitor to the GT 220 is the Radeon HD 4650 which is a tad slower. The GT 220 was faster by 3 to 5 fps in all the games. The performance in Crysis Warhead also wasnt too bad48 fps at 1680x1050 with AA turned off in Performance mode. If your budget is lean, buy this card instead of the 9500 GT. anand.tuliani@chip.in

Built using a 40 nm process, it is the rst

member of the GT 200 family to support DirectX 10.1. The GPU features 48 stream processors and is clocked at 625 MHz, which places it somewhere between the 9500 GT and 9600 GSO which feature 32 and 96 stream processors respectively. We received the rst sample of the GT 220 from Zotac, which sports 1 GB DDR3 memory running at 790 MHz. The card measures about 6-inches in length and occupies a single slot. The heatsink tted on this card is of aluminum and is cooled by a 48 mm variable speed fan. The rear panel has dual-link DVI, D-sub as well as

Rs 4,600www.zotac.com

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GT 220; Core | Memory speed: 625 MHz | 790 MHz; Memory amount: 1 GB DDR3; Memory bus width: 128-bit; Stream processors: 48; Directx support: 10.1; Video output: D-sub, DVI and HDMI.CONTACT PHONE EMAIL

Adiya Infotech Ltd 011-46665666 sales@adityagroup.com

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3D GLASSES

NVIDIA GEFORCE 3D VISIONVERDICT: If you want to take gaming to a new level, this is it!!. FOR: Everything about it. AGAINST: Works with only specic monitors, may strain your eyes.

3

D gaming!! Thats going to be the new mantra for gamers around the world. With the new 3D Vision by

with a 9600GT card. With the new 3D glasses on, games looked way different than conventional 2D ones. This is true especially when you take into consideration racing and FPS games. The overall depth and feel that you get with these on is nothing compared to games played in 2D. Over and above all this the 3D Vision has support for over 300 games with Resident Evil 5 and Batman: Arkham Asylum being the most compatible of the lot. In other words they are 3D Vision ready. You can also view the overall compatibility of a game by accessing the Nvidia control panel where the games are given a rating such as 3D Vision ready, Excellent, Good and Fair. sandeep.balachandran@chip.in

Nvidia, gaming is going to look a whole lot different in the years to come. So what exactly does it take to make your system 3D ready? Apart from the obvious, which includes a 100 Hz monitor and the 3D Vision glasses you will need at least an Nvidia 8800GT card to be able to play games in 3D. As of now there are only a couple of monitors that support refresh rates of over 100 Hz. These would include the Samsung SyncMaster 2233RZ and the Viewsonic VX2265wm. The monitor that was used to test the Geforce 3D Vision glasses was the Samsung SyncMaster 2233RZ along

SPECIFICATIONS

Rs 11,490www.nvidia.com

OS: Windows Vista / 7; CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon X2; Memory: 2 GB; Display monitor: 120 Hz (LCD), 100 Hz and above (CRT).CONTACT PHONE EMAIL

Aditya Infotech Ltd 011-46665666 sales@adityagroup.com

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GRAPHICS CARD

ZOTAC GEFORCE GT 240VERDICT: The best graphics card in a budget of Rs 5,500. FOR: 3D Vision Discover glasses, low power, good performance. AGAINST: The heatsink should have also cooled the memory.

T

he GeForce GT 240 GPU will suit those who dont have high budgets for a gaming PC. This Zotac variant features 512 MB of GDDR5 memory with a 128-bit

bus. The GT 240 is manufactured using the 40 nm process and features support for DirectX 10.1. Thanks to this, power consumption is so little that it doesnt have a PCIe power connector. The Zotac GT 240 sports a single slot design and has a nned aluminium heat sink tted with a 55 mm fan. At rst it seemed like the heatsink cooled the memory chips under it, but on close observation it wasnt the case. The rear panel has D-sub, DVI and HDMI ports. 3D glasses (red/ cyan anaglyph type) made of thick card paper are included so you can play games and watch

SPECIFICATIONS

Rs 5,500www.zotac.com

GPU: Nvidia GeForce GT 240; Core | Memory speed: 550 MHz | 850 MHz; Memory amount: 512 MB DDR5; Memory bus width: 128-bit; Stream processors: 96; Directx support: 10.1; Video output: D-sub, DVI and HDMI.CONTACT PHONE EMAIL

Adiya Infotech Ltd 011-46665666 sales@adityagroup.com

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movies in 3D anaglyph mode. You have to congure the settings in the Forceware driver. Unfortunately it also strains the eyes and leaves you disoriented after prolonged use! The GT 240 performs well considering its low power consumption. In Crysis Warhead it churned out 48 fps at 1440x900 in Mainstream mode which is 50 percent faster than the GT 220 with 1 GB DDR3. It also lagged behind the 9600 GT with 512 MB DDR3 memory by a small margin. In Left 4 Dead (4xAA) and Race Driver Grid (2xAA) the average frame rate was around 60 fps at 1440x900. Thus you can rest assured that this card will suffice for gaming with a moderate level of eye candy on a 19-inch LCD monitor. anand.tuliani@chip.in

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A QUITE DISAPPOINTING MOBILE PHONE BUT A REALLY GREAT GPS DEVICE.

MOBILE PHONE

ASUS GARMIN G60FOR: Fluid UI, brilliant mapping apps, audio sounds good via handsfree. AGAINST: Could have used a 3.5 mm jack, speaker volume is too low, no Bluetooth le transfer.Maps look great on the large screen but the G60 should have been able to play videos.

I

ts become downright common these days to have a GPS module in a mobile handset, however Garmin seems to have gone in the opposite

included makes it quite easy to place the handset anywhere in the car that you nd comfortable for viewing. The Linux based UI is comparable to the iPhones although not as vibrant. Its a smooth UI thats also very responsive. What we really liked is that the accelerometer works on the entire system. In landscape mode, the handset auto rotates everything with no exception in any function. The virtual on-screen keypad in portrait isnt QWERTY but ABCD. Oddly enough, in landscape mode it switches to QWERTY which makes it so much easier to use. The Audio player is simple and easy to use. While audio tones are clear and crisp through the comfortable bundled headset, the loudspeaker is disappointingly soft. Shockingly the handset doesnt support video playback of any kind. The talk time averaged in at just about four hours. shayne@tech2.com

direction by incorporating a mobile phone into what could easily be construed as a stand-alone GPS device. The G60 looks nothing like a stand alone GPS device as the screen isnt large enough for that purpose. Nevertheless the 3.5-inch resistive touchscreen is still big enough for easy viewing while navigating. It has no buttons except for the volume keys on the side, shutter release key and a large screen lock button on the top. A microSD card slot is located on one side above the docking port for the car stand (included with car charging kit) and mini USB port. A 3 megapixel camera is mounted at the rear near the built-in speaker. The rubberized exterior coat makes it easy to handle. Its great for grip and also gives the handset a slightly rugged look and feel. The docking station

SPECIFICATIONS

Rs 30,000www.asus.in

Dimensions (WxHxD): 58 x 110 x 12.2 mm; Dimensions (WxHxD): 58 x 112 x 14 mm mm; Weight: 137 g; Display: 3.5-inch, 272x480 pixels; Camera: 3.15 MP; Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.CONTACT PHONE EMAIL

Asus Technology Pvt Ltd 022-67668800 media_india@asus.com

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A GOOD HANDSET IN TERMS OF FEATURES AND LOOKS BUT ITS WAY OVER PRICED.

SMARTPHONE

HTC TOUCH 2FOR: Neat overall design, good sound quality, good battery life. AGAINST: No Accelerometer, xed focus camera, screen is not scratch resistant.

TSPECIFICATIONS

he HTC Touch 2 is the rst handset in India that comes with the new Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional OS. It has a

Booster application with EQ presets and 10 band customizable EQ. It adds a lot to the overall tone of the handsets audio. The bundled handsfree is comfortable enough to use but for a truly enjoyable audio experience, we suggest getting a better set of earphones. Video support is limited to MPEG4 and 3GP formats. If converted properly youll be able to watch videos quite comfortably. Other media features include a pretty good FM radio and a voice recorder that has good range. The Touch 2 is equipped with just a xed focus 3 MP camera. Settings include White Balance, brightness adjust and ISO settings up to 800. It also records video at a resolution of 352 x 288 pixels at 30 fps. The battery life of the handset is not bad at all. With Wi-Fi active throughout, we got two days of usage from net browsing to calls and messages and even a little bit of music thrown in. Stand alone talk-time came in at over 4 hours and 40 minutes which is excellent. - shayne@tech2.com

very comfortable and simplistic form. The chrome rim around the brown handset gives it a touch of class. However, even though it looks good the design does have a few aws. Those include the 2.8-inch resistive touchscreen display not being scratch resistant and the microSD card slot only being accessible by removing the rear panel. The 240 x 320 pixel display is clear but should have been a little higher to really make the colors on the screen pop. HTCs TouchFLO UI can be loaded onto the Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional OS. This version of TouchFLO doesnt bring anything new to the table in terms of features but its a lot more colorful as compared to the earlier. Its easy to use and extremely nger friendly. The Touch 2s media capabilities work

Rs 22,490www.htc.com/in

Dimensions (WxHxD): 55 x 104 x 13 mm; Weight: 11o g; Display: 2.8-inch, 240x320 pixels; Camera: 3.15 MP; Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; Rated talk time: 7 h 30 min.CONTACT PHONE EMAIL

Bright Point (India) Pvt Ltd 011-66567000 sales.india@brightpoint.com

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quite well. HTC has included an Audio

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ITS RICH YOUTH ORIENTED FEATURE SET AND JAZZY DESIGN MAKE IT STAND OUT.

MOBILE PHONE

SAMSUNG S3650 CORBYFOR: Simple yet chic design, responsive UI, plenty of social networking tools, good audio. AGAINST: Gaudy color options.Corby's camera offers interesting shooting modes such as smile shot and panorama.

T

here arent many brands in the market that offer touchscreen technology to the average mobile users on a low budget.

the multiple desktops with active widgets and multiple menu pages to gesture control for Samsungs Smart Unlock feature, its all there. The Corbys music player is great. Although the higher frequencies tend to be a just a little shrill, the handset still packs quite a punch in terms of a bass line and decibel level. The FM radio also worked out really well. It took under 15 seconds to nd all the stations and preset them. The large display makes it quite conducive to watching videos. Acceptable formats are 3GP and MPEG4. With support for up to 8 GB of external memory youll have plenty of space for plenty of music and video. The battery life of the Corby is one more feature that makes the handset a good choice for purchase. On a single charge we used it quite thoroughly for little over two days. Talk time alone was well over 4 hours and 45 minutes. shayne@tech2.com

Samsungs Corby is going to give them a very serious run for their money with its funky styling coupled with a host of very relevant features. Its 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen features a 240x320 pixel resolution, which may seem a little low considering the display size. On one side are the volume keys that are placed just above the proprietary universal docking port for charging, USB connectivity and the handsfree. A dedicated camera key is placed on the other side with a screen lock button. The tapering design is brilliant. It gives the handset a very sleek look from all angles and yet theres a sincere simplicity in it. The Corbys version of Samsungs TouchWiz UI comes with all the features youd expect in any other handset including the higher ended models. From

SPECIFICATIONS

Rs 9,600in.samsungmobile.com

Dimensions (WxHxD): 56.5 x 103 x 12 mm; Weight: 90 g; Display: 2.8-inch, 240x320 pixels; Camera: 2 MP; Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, and Bluetooth; Rated talk time: Up to 9 hours.CONTACT PHONE EMAIL

Samsung India Electronics Ltd 011-41511234 vikas.tagra@samsung.com

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VERDICT

THIS PHONE OFFERS QUITE A BIT IN TERMS OF FEATURES AS WELL AS AN EXQUISITE DESIGN.

MOBILE PHONE

NOKIA 6700 CLASSICFOR: Superb design, audio player is loud and clear, social networking tools. AGAINST: Fingerprint magnet, no Wi-Fi.The 6700 Classic is comfortable, feature-rich and looks like it could be a CEO's best friend.

T

he Stainless Steel encased 6700 Classic is without doubt a stunning handset. Its elegant, clean cut with slim sleek lines,

basic EDGE/GPRS support as well as Bluetooth with A2DP. So why not include Wi-Fi? The browser doesnt have any new tricks. For