Having had iPhone 2G for the past two years and despite being aware of the other newly launched models from Nokia, especially the N900 and N97. Yet, iPhone with its ergonomic design, astounding look and mesmerising UI, managed to win my heart once again against other likely picks.
I must say, my old iPhone 2G by far did its job, satisfying my needs as they occurred. But, having said that, it still being under the roof of obsolete 2nd generation technology platform, had its own limitations. And being an user for almost 2 years, I was profoundly aware of those. Despite being aware of its limitations and after learning that most of the existing limitations in 2G have now been addressed in the newly available iPhone 3G (S). I for one, ideally, could not wait for any reason to not get the new 3G(S) under my command, except for one, that my contract with AT&T didn't lapse until recently, and it precludes the signee from going for an upgrade, until the term lapses.
Although, I got unclenched a month ago from my contract, I decided to wait until my B'day to get this phone. On the actual day I presented myself (had to...no GF, and friends are cheap) with the new iPhone 3G (S). As soon as I got command of my iPhone I started to explore the new additions and upgrades. As part of the new additions/upgrade were 3G, Voice Command Module, Improved GPS/Map, Video, Auto Focus camera, and MMS. Though there were other improvements, these were the ones I desired to have at my disposal.
Speed:
The speed is one among the top selling points for Apple and a top buying point to me. Opening applications and switching to the next is almost instantaneous without any notable latency, unlike my 2G.
Voice Command:
The is my favourite module and its pretty amazing to work with, unlike existing conventional methods of voice dialing, where the user is made to say the name of the contact in his own voice, which is then tagged to the contact, this module doesn't require any per-recording of vocie commands. When you for example say "Call Ramesh" it comes back with its own way of pronouncing the name and if it matches with your pronunciation then it calls the contact. Initially I couldn't get this to call any of my contacts as my pronunciations didn't match with its pronunciations, but when I trimmed off some of my contact names, in an attempt to make these pronounceable like an american name, it started to work. It may now seem funny to you when you hear me call some of these names. For example, "Yoganathan" is now "Yoga + Nathan" and "Sashank" is now "Shaw + Shank". Playing songs by artist name, pausing, and playing next and previous songs are also possible with voice command.
Video recording:
Video recording is something that I desired to have in my phone, as it was not part of my old iPhone 2G. There were plenty of instances where I had felt the need for having video recording at my disposal, so the functionality without question became one of the key buying point. I have already tried taking and editing some videos and I must say, its pretty snappy. What fascinated me more is that I was able to send a 30 sec video to my mail under less than a minute. And the clarity and quality of the video is pretty good.
Maps:
Using this feature really substantiates my decision of going for an upgrade. When compared with maps in 2G, I believe this is one module which has received a lot of work since the iPhone's first release, and the way it operates is pretty amazing, the movement of the pointer is very accurate and it moves with your motion, points to the direction of your move and also centers the map in real time. Impressed with its accuracy, I have made plans to buy Tom Tom's iPhone version of its GPS turn-by-turn software, in an attempt to eliminate the need for taking my hand-held GPS kit every time and this also would help me consolidate my car needs into just one gadget.
In addition to the afore mentioned functionalities there are plenty others functionalities which are quite good, but not of priority to me at least for now.
The only time when I would still miss my 2G is when I talk for longer time, as the talk time duration for 3G (S) with 3G ON is 5 hours and I could see the battery draining fast with 3G ON. But I suppose this is a small trade off that you will have to make in order to have a high speed network access at the reach of your hands.
I have for years continued to reap the boons of having a smart phone at hand, and on many a occasion it had been most helpful to me. I will continue to be a smart phone user, desperate to stay in sync with the upcoming technology and innovations, as much as I can.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Why did I come to USA
Well, for some this may be an easy question to answer, while for the rest this is deemed to be the toughest. Having fallen in the second category, I still believe I managed to convince myself with a rational explanation to this topic.
My fixation towards foreign countries, especially the US, could probably have started during my early ages (7th or 8th grade) and I must tell you, a childhood friend of mine (Guna) could possibly be the individual responsible for augmenting my fixation. He used to be a big time Hollywood movie fan, and if it’s not for him, my memory library of English movies would be half empty now, and certainly my exposure to US wouldn't have been much. But I cannot weigh this to be the only reason, may be this is a prelude to what followed.
As most parents would unanimously agree, male kids in their young age are more interested especially in cars and guns, and I wasn't an anomaly in this regard, in fact I can say I was a notch above most of them as I simply wouldn’t stop at playing with them, but in turn would also try to learn the technical details of it. In addition to this I am very passionate about fashion. Brand addiction wrapped me as early as age 12 and grew stronger as I grew older, and that was the time when jean culture started to claw in. We all would compare each others wardrobe to find out who had the best of brands. Most brands to which I was addicted to were either American or British. It may be funny to even think about it now, myself and a friend of mine (Prabu) even thought about opting for an university based in the US state of Kansas, home to the famous Jean brand LEE, and you may now get the reason why.
Apart from the fore mentioned, I must say the quest for knowledge and technology played a much larger role during my later part. Being an ardent fan of Discovery channel, I probably had access to more information about new inventions and innovations in almost all departments, starting from mining to aerospace. To give you a gist of how obsessed I was with Discovery channel, I once watched it for 18 hrs on a Saturday, and that wasn't just the only time. Most of what I see would either have happened in US or some how related, hence weighed in as an addendum to afore mentioned reasons.
When I stepped into my college, internet was just starting to boom. I would access car websites, printout information and read about them. At one point of time I was aware of almost all the technologies used in cars and bikes in the market. This started with cars and extended to electronics, apparels, and so on. During the later part I started enjoying talking about them, doing so I probably could have annoyed few people with differed interests.
Faced with almost no necessity to look for a job, upon completing my bachelor’s degree, and after being strongly influenced by my parents to pursue my master's, I once for all decided to do my master's. But, I didn't have a definitive answer to where I wanted to pursue my master's, instead had various options in my mind. Ironically it didn't include US. I should probably say, US was the answer that destiny had in mind for me. Had I not taken a turn that day, while I was going back to home after a failed visit to see a friend of mine (Bala), to run into another friend (Jegadesh), who was then instrumental in persuading me to apply for US. If not for all what happened that day, I wouldn't probably be here writing this.
I made it to US to pursue my Master's in 2003, with passion towards my interests as the sole driving force, and have sailed through some rough seas with very little assistance. Yet, I am still here more resilient than ever before trying to answer my own question of "Why did I come to USA".
I can still claim my passion towards technology, cars and everything I do as part of my job as the driving forces, and of course money, which most people find it to be the apex reason, wherein I prefer to differ.
But the day when all these interesting things seize to interest me, is the day I depart.
My fixation towards foreign countries, especially the US, could probably have started during my early ages (7th or 8th grade) and I must tell you, a childhood friend of mine (Guna) could possibly be the individual responsible for augmenting my fixation. He used to be a big time Hollywood movie fan, and if it’s not for him, my memory library of English movies would be half empty now, and certainly my exposure to US wouldn't have been much. But I cannot weigh this to be the only reason, may be this is a prelude to what followed.
As most parents would unanimously agree, male kids in their young age are more interested especially in cars and guns, and I wasn't an anomaly in this regard, in fact I can say I was a notch above most of them as I simply wouldn’t stop at playing with them, but in turn would also try to learn the technical details of it. In addition to this I am very passionate about fashion. Brand addiction wrapped me as early as age 12 and grew stronger as I grew older, and that was the time when jean culture started to claw in. We all would compare each others wardrobe to find out who had the best of brands. Most brands to which I was addicted to were either American or British. It may be funny to even think about it now, myself and a friend of mine (Prabu) even thought about opting for an university based in the US state of Kansas, home to the famous Jean brand LEE, and you may now get the reason why.
Apart from the fore mentioned, I must say the quest for knowledge and technology played a much larger role during my later part. Being an ardent fan of Discovery channel, I probably had access to more information about new inventions and innovations in almost all departments, starting from mining to aerospace. To give you a gist of how obsessed I was with Discovery channel, I once watched it for 18 hrs on a Saturday, and that wasn't just the only time. Most of what I see would either have happened in US or some how related, hence weighed in as an addendum to afore mentioned reasons.
When I stepped into my college, internet was just starting to boom. I would access car websites, printout information and read about them. At one point of time I was aware of almost all the technologies used in cars and bikes in the market. This started with cars and extended to electronics, apparels, and so on. During the later part I started enjoying talking about them, doing so I probably could have annoyed few people with differed interests.
Faced with almost no necessity to look for a job, upon completing my bachelor’s degree, and after being strongly influenced by my parents to pursue my master's, I once for all decided to do my master's. But, I didn't have a definitive answer to where I wanted to pursue my master's, instead had various options in my mind. Ironically it didn't include US. I should probably say, US was the answer that destiny had in mind for me. Had I not taken a turn that day, while I was going back to home after a failed visit to see a friend of mine (Bala), to run into another friend (Jegadesh), who was then instrumental in persuading me to apply for US. If not for all what happened that day, I wouldn't probably be here writing this.
I made it to US to pursue my Master's in 2003, with passion towards my interests as the sole driving force, and have sailed through some rough seas with very little assistance. Yet, I am still here more resilient than ever before trying to answer my own question of "Why did I come to USA".
I can still claim my passion towards technology, cars and everything I do as part of my job as the driving forces, and of course money, which most people find it to be the apex reason, wherein I prefer to differ.
But the day when all these interesting things seize to interest me, is the day I depart.
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