Archive for category Gadgets
Google Search with Voice Support for Nokia S60 Phones [Offline Installer]
I am a BIG fan of Google. You might not agree completely, but I reserve my opinion on Google cannot be evil. They released a new app for your Nokia (Symbian S60) phones, Blackberry and iPhone that is voice recognition enabled. You hold the ‘Call’ button and you speak what you want to search – Google confirms it and searches automatically – A feature that would be killer when you can’t look at your phone while searching. for e.g. while driving (pun not intended, honestly!)
The weird part is that Google does not offer an offline installer for those who would like to save those extra kilobytes of bandwidth on their Pay-As-You-Go GPRS/EDGE connection. So I decided to host one myself
A few of the features of Google Voice Search are:
Comprehensive Google results. Get Universal Search on your phone including web, image, local, video, blog, news, books, and maps results to find what you’re looking for.
Relevance and speed. From weather forecasts to movie showtimes, find common search answers right away without clicking any links.
Results formatted for your phone. See a mobile-optimized blend of universal search results, easy-to-press tap-to-call links, expandable map links, and more.
Wide availability. Access Google through the browser in 38 languages on any phone with internet access.
Easy access. Make Google your home page in your mobile browser to search even faster.
Quick access to Google. Launch Google without having to navigate to google.com.
Search by voice.* Speak your queries instead of typing them (English only).
My Location. Avoid typing your current location when searching for nearby businesses (e.g. “pizza” or “starbucks”).
Google Suggest. Search for suggested queries and businesses that appear as you type.
Search history. Quickly search again for queries you recently performed.
You can download Google Mobile Search application by clicking this link
Note: This application is as-is provided by Google and is not reverse-engineered or cracked or whatever. If Google thinks it is a bad idea to host it on this site, please do drop in a comment and I will be glad to remove it from this website
GoogaSync – Must have application for S60 phones [Review]
I have been depending on my Google Calendar right since I started working in 2006. I had managed to sync my Google Calendar with my Microsoft Outlook.
Also, I have been a huge fan of GoogaSync (then called CalSync60 beta) till last year – Probably the easiest application to have a bi-directional sync with your S60 phone and Google Calendar
CalSync60 beta ended in February of this year if I remember correctly and I was panicking to get an application to sync my calendar with my Nokia E71.
You can find a post on how to do that here
Enter GoogaSync (Yes, the name sounds absolutely retarded). This app has a few let-downs but the advantages clearly makes it a winner
Pros:
Bi-directional synchronization
Really easy to use, syncing can’t be easier than this!
Support for multiple calendars
Automatic / Scheduled synchronization
Provides cost savings by using WiFi when available
Support for hosted Google Apps accounts
Support for normal Google accounts
Standard appointments, repeating events, birthdays and all-day events
Full synchronization and fast synchronization (transfers only changes)
Reminders and alerts
Configurable roaming protection keeps you safe from huge data bills
Secure and easy to use, your account information is not stored to 3rd party servers.
Cons:
Retarded name for an application
Kinda (very) costly for an application that just does 1 thing (Rs 1016 as a one-time payment which comes to around $22)
Initial sync can take up a HUGE amount of data
There is no option where I can download just the calendar entries for upto 2 weeks in the past
Screenshots:
My new gadget – LG 32LH80FR LCD TV (LG Jazz)
It’s been over a year that I’ve been contemplating buying a new TV to replace the 14″ Panasonic Sophia CRT TV in my bedroom. I mean the situation was so bad, I had to literally sit not more than 4 feet from the TV to make sense of what is displayed.
Sample Image thanks to Google. The TV in this picture is 21". I had a 14" TV
It was so bad that the laptop I am using ‘Dell D620′ has got a 14″ wide screen
When I buy gadgets, I make sure it is future-proof by ATLEAST 3 years, so going for another CRT TV was totally out of the question. Plasma TVs start at 42″, which was again too much for my viewing distance of 8 feet.
With my viewing distance of 8 feet, I decided on buying a 32″ LCD panel (Calculated the ideal panel size per viewing distance here)
Had lots of options to choose from, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, LG, Toshiba, etc. The list is endless.
Sony was too expensive
Samsung was equally expensive – No goodies
Panasonic was too crappy – Picture quality on DVD was bad
Same goes for the Toshiba
LG was my final choice – A well known brand, good customer support (though a tad expensive, but the after-sales is good, per personal experience), relatively cheaper parts, etc.
Next was the decision on the FULL HD or a HD READY TV (Full HD = 1080p; HD Ready = 720p) – Neither really mattered to me since we have Standard Definition signals in India, and no matter how expensive the TV would be, the picture quality on regular cable will be shitty. No second word on that.
My priorities on the decision were:
1. Should fall inside my budget of Rs 35000
2. Should have USB connectivity in the TV supporting DivX formats
3. Freebies ! (who doesn’t like them ?)
4. Respectable sound (Since buying an external home theatre system would overshoot my budget)
After a LOT of R&D (and trust me, a LOT), I decided on getting the LG 32LH80FR (Commonly known as LG Jazz Full HD). It was falling under my budget, had the features and since it was Dassera festival time, there were good deals floating in the newspapers.
LG Jazz - LG 32LH80FR
The prices as of 4-Oct-2009 were as follows from different vendors
1. eZone – Rs. 37500 (No freebies)
2. Croma – Rs. 35500 (No freebies)
3. Reliance Digital – Rs. 42000 (No freebies)
4. Jumbo Electronics – Rs 46000 (No freebies)
5. Vijay Sales – Rs 34,000 (With free LG DV388 DVD Player with USB-DivX support)
Guess which one I chose ? 
I picked up the TV from Vijay Sales at Palm Beach Galleria Mall in Vashi for Rs. 34,000 – Since they did not have the DVD player in stock, they promised they will arrange for one this week. Payment was done via EMI with Bajaj Finance, who honestly, have the lousiest ‘customer care’ representatives. Formalities took over an hour to finish and I reached home at 11 pm. Obviously I could not wait to hook up the TV, so I got started off (After the awesome unboxing experience). Took me about 20 minutes to get the TV up and running (All you need is a Philips screwdriver – Would recommend a magnetic one since the screws are quite long)
Unboxing pictures:
LG Jazz Unboxing - Box - Front
LG Jazz - Unboxing - Side
LG Jazz Unboxing - Contents
The contents of the box are as follows:
1. LG 32LH80FR TV (well, like, DUHH !)
2. Base Stand
3. Bracket connecting the TV and the base stand
4. Wall mounting bracket (Not applicable for me, though I did get one)
5. Remote control with 2 AAA Batteries
6. Power Cord
7. Content CD (Haven’t checked what it contains’
8. 8 Screws in total for Base Stand and Bracket
9. Anti-Static wiping cloth (Did they pick it up from Apple ?)
10. User Guide and Warranty card
So, to sum it all up:
Pros:
1. Matte finish screen
2. USB Connectivity with DivX, Audio and Image file playback (AVI for the people who dont know rat about DivX) in the TV
3. Decent Sound quality (It has a woofer at the back, 2 speakers at the side and 1 at the front-bottom of the TV)
4. LOTS of connectivity slots (HDMI, Composite, etc)
5. Absolutely BRILLIANT quality when watching movies over USB
6. The very fact that I have my own LCD TV ! (Shouldn’t this be number 1 on the list ?)
7. Future proof (This one is a FULL HD)
Cons:
1. Wobbly stand (but I can live with it)
2. The remote control is tall as hell ! (I guess every LCD TV now ship with long-ass remotes)
3. Quality loss in SD Signals (regular cable TV for the rest)
I will be posting an extensive review of this TV in a couple of weeks.
Feel free to drop in your comments!
Sync Google Calendar with MS Outlook, Thunderbird and S60 mobile phone and SMS notifications
How to sync your Google Calendar with Microsoft Outlook and Symbian S60 phone
Part 1 : Google Calendar with MS Outlook
1. Download and install Google Calendar Sync
2. Enter your Google account email address and password.
3. Select your sync method (most likely you want two-way syncing) and the sync frequency you prefer. Depending on the frequency of meeting invites, I have set it to 10 minutes
4. Click Save and you are good to go
Google Calendar Sync
Part 2 : Google Calendar with Thunderbird
1. Download and install the Provider extension (Save it to your desktop, opening the Add-ons dialog in either Sunbird or Thunderbird, and dragging the file you just downloaded into the Add-ons dialog. Restart Thunderbird)
2. Now that Provider is installed, you have to add your new Google Calendar. In Sunbird, go to File -> New Calendar; in Thunderbird, it’s File -> New -> Calendar when you’re in the calendar view.
3. You’re now looking at the Create new calendar wizard. Select “On the Network” and hit Continue.
4. Choose Google Calendar as the calendar type. The Location field requires the XML flavor [important] of your calendar’s Private Address, which you can get by opening Google Calendar and choosing Calendar settings from the drop-down next to the calendar you want to access.
5. At the bottom of the settings page you’ll see the Private Address section. Copy the XML link and paste it into the Location field in Sunbird or T-bird.
6. When you hit Continue, you’ll be asked for your Google Calendar username (your Gmail address) and password. Enter it, give your new calendar a name, and hit Continue.
7. You’re done.
Click to enlarge
Part 3 : Google Calendar with S60 phone
1. Open GooSync
2. Register for a free account (The paid accounts are not really worth the money)
3. On the homepage, click on ‘Configure’ (Remember, the free version of GooSync syncs only 1 calendar)
4. Enter your phone number and you will be receiving the Sync settings via SMS
5. Save the settings and you are ready to Sync
Click to enlarge
Part 4: SMS Notification (Incoming SMS is entirely free in India)
1. Open Google Calendar in Firefox or Internet Explorer (Wont work on Opera)
2. Click Settings
3. Click ‘Calendars’
4. Click on ‘Notifications’ for your primary calendar
5. Set default reminders as SMS – 2 hours before each event (Can customize it per your requirement)
6. Click on ‘Set up your mobile phone to receive notifications’
7. Enter your phone number. You will receive an SMS with a confirmation code which you will need to enter in the same page in Google calendar
8. You are done
Google Calendar Settings - click to enlarge
Disclaimer: Please ensure you have taken a backup of your Google calendar before trying this out. I have configured atleast 3 of my machines with Google Calendar and they have worked fine for me.
My top 10 Symbian S60 applications
1. Google Maps
The latest version of Google Apps lets you find directions (though not entirely accurate). The AGPS is not a very big hog on your GPRS bills (thanks to the ability to switch to a raw map view). Latitude is one more feature that lets you share your location (and your friends location) on 1 place. Layers are another addition to Google Maps recently where you can add layers of your choice in terms of Terrains, Wikipedia, 3D buildings, etc
Was taken by me when I was on my way to my Leh trip 
http://twitpic.com/8khjb
2. Fring
This application is a no-nonsense all-protocol chat application. Supports AIM, GTalk, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ and a few more. It also lets you make VOIP calls and status updates to Facebook and Twitter. My personal favorite
Alternative – Nimbuzz
3. JBTaskman
This is a very simple task manager for your S60 phone. Gives you the control over your phone. Task startup rules, task switching, phone info, etc. A MUST have for every geek who owns an S60 phone
4. Screenshot
Very simple application that just takes a screenshot of the current display on your phone. It is a little tricky to set up the Screenshot key since my E71 does not have a dedicated camera button. I use the backspace button to take the screenshots, open JBTaskman and kill the Screenshot application process. Simple !
Apologies for the retarded GIF image
5. RSeven
Something that I was looking for to avoid the very buggy and incredibly bloaty Nokia PC Suite. This one lets you take a backup of all your SMS, contacts, call log, images, sound files, etc to their website. Their website then displays a sweet timeline of when the stuff was saved/arrived on your phone.
6. Swim
Another very simple application that automates the sync application on your S60 phone. The timings are quite tricky and they are relative. If you set the schedule to ‘Every 12 hours’, it means that from the point you select that option, Swim will automatically load up and Sync your phone. I have set it to ‘Sync every 12 hours‘ at 1.15 am/pm (thats the time I am usually home for lunch or sleeping)
7. Traveler
Lets you keep track of the temperature in your city and the wind conditions. Also supports currency exchange rate updates which are downloaded from the server. A very annoying bug is that this applications always asks me to update my city and timezone when I start it up. I stay in Mumbai, but whenever I start the application, the city gets reset to ‘Delhi’.
8. iON Battery Timer
Ok, this HAS to be the awesomest little utility EVER. It displays the juice left in your battery and the sweetest thing is that it tells you the time in which your battery will run out. And trust me, it is bloody accurate ! $10 per IMEI. TOTALLY worth it. You can install a trial version for 7 days and check it out. It’s BRILLIANT!
Capree.iON.BatteryTimer.v1.02.S60v3.SymbianOS9.x.Unsigned
9. Opera Mini
This section will hold the super ups of Opera Mini 5 Beta. Installed it yesterday and trust me, Opera has failed to disappoint. I mean, how can they have tabbed browsing on a mobile browser ? Very slick interface and very smooth animation. These small things really DO matter. Touchscreen S60 device owners will truly enjoy this application. A couple of negatives (though this is a beta version) has to be the lack of Opera Link (syncing all your bookmarks, passwords, history, etc) across browsers (I have Opera 10 as my primary browser, so this helps). The dictionary on my E71 also can not be used in this application. I am sure the Opera developers will be implementing it in the final version. It is awesomely fast (thanks to the Opera proxy servers) and is incredibly light on your GPRS bills. Watch out since this browser will definitely start a revolution in mobile browsing.
Opera Mini 5 Beta running on Nokia E71
10. IRRemote
Ok, this app is an on-and-off for me. Most of the times I cant find the TV remote or I am too lazy to get up and bring it myself. Solution ? Kick start this application and you can literally control your TV ! Channels, volume, presets, EVERYTHING. Also supports ACs, DVD Players, Hi-Fi systems, Radios, etc
My iPod Touch [Updated]
Not many of you guys know. I’ve run into some major trouble with my iPod Touch 2G 8GB.
I haven’t been using my iPod Touch (or seen it either) for the past 3 months, but my Mom and sister have made it their primary gaming device.
One fine day, all panicky, my sister came in to my room and says ‘Bhaiya, WiFi does not work !’ – I was thinking it could be that it was disabled from SBSettings or the network settings have been corrupted somehow.
Had a look at it, navigated to Settings > General and saw that I see some gray-ed out text that reads ‘No WiFi‘. Panic mode 1 creeped in. Went to the ‘About’ section and saw that the WiFi MAC address says ‘Not Available‘. Panic mode 3 (yes, it was scary)
Hunted on a LOT of forums on iPod Touch Fans and some other forums and most of them could get it working after doing a network setting reset. I tried it. No luck.
I thought it was probably the jailbreak on the firmware 3.0 that was messing up, so I decided to erase my iPod and it’s settings and start fresh. The process took about 1 hour to get back to the ‘virgin’ settings, but still the MAC address was not available and WiFi would not work.
Searched some more on forums and I read somewhere that because of firmware 2.2.1′s heating issues (which somehow I never came across), the WiFi chip would have been fried
Elsewhere I read that an application called ‘WiFiFoFum‘ (as retarded as it sounds) (app store link), which shows a sweet-looking radar and the WiFi networks in vicinity – THAT messed shit up here.
I could not turn back and finally had to give it to the service center guys in Navi Mumbai at a Reliance Digital outlet (who are the authorized service center for all Apple products).
Went to the Reliance Digital Store today and they said that they have ‘Ordered for it’ – I am assuming it is a replacement (which, presumably, they did not realise that it was jailbroken, so YAY !). I’ve been asked to come again on Friday evening at about 9pm and check if it is here already.
Update [19 Aug 09] : So finally I got my hands on my iPod Touch 2g 8GB and I realized a couple of things:
1. The folks at Reliance Digital are too stupid to know what a Jailbreak is.
2. They gave me a brand new iPod Touch 2G 8GB instead of a refurb (except if Apple calls THAT a refurb)
3. The service was kinda quick and painless (unlike what I’ve read on a few websites)
4. If you need to get your Apple product serviced/fixed and there is no apparent physical damage, insist on speaking with Mirza at Reliance Digital outside Vashi Railway Station. Not that he is smart, but he is just stupid
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