They say that there are many bugs in windows…
I agree friends that there are many bugs in windows. But think about it pragmatically for a second, windows is nothing but a stream of 25000 lines of code. Try writing a computer program of just 1000 lines then we will talk about bugs.

They say that Google is cool but Microsoft is Destructive…..
Wait wait wait!!! ‘Destructive’??? Well there is a dilemma in the word itself.
Yes!! Microsoft is destructive because it gives a cut-throat competition to all the biggies. Microsoft does enter late but when it enters, it sabotages and jeopardizes your complete effort in making a particular product. When Microsoft entered operating system business, it annihilated Macintosh. When it entered browser business, it was a turn of Netscape Navigator. And now it has entered search business . Yeah yeah, I can see lots of boos coming my way. But who knows. An insider of Silicon Valley once said, “Where there is Microsoft, there will be blood”.

They say that Microsoft does not give source code with its products…..
My Vampiric mind wakes up every time I hear this from someone. Are we f**king so cheap that we want anything and everything for free? Can’t we spend few bucks buying one original software, an operating system for god sake? Do they ever say that they are some kind of non-profit oraganization? Its their business model that they want to make things easy for all of us with their products. How would one earn in the software world, if he starts giving away the code. Ok ok, yeah I know there is Linux. But how many of us are interested in manually mounting everything. Quality comes at some price friends.

They say that Microsoft wants to establish monopoly…..
Well who doesn’t? Don’t you think Google is moving on the same track?
Search, Online advertisement, Browser and now operating system and targeting the whole cloud computing. Aren’t we overly naïve about Google? My point here is not to criticize Google but all I am saying is that Microsoft does not want to establish monopoly friends. They are keeping everyone on his/her toes if you look at it from a different angle. They are not letting any uncompetitive players stay in the business.

I am neither a die-hard fan of Microsoft nor its critic. But I think we should be rewarding rather than reviling.

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One look at the above picture should be enough to make anyone drool! Yes, it’s Nokia’s flagship “Multimedia Computer” N97 along with the HTC Touch Diamond2. I had the fortune of playing with both these sexy gadgets this month and I’d like to share some views.

Let me disappoint anyone and everyone who is expecting that atleast one of these phones is the iPhone killer. Well, they’re not. The sad thing in today’s world is that every touch enabled cellphone that is launched in the market is compared with the iPhone. This is primarily because of the interface the iPhone provides to the user. None of the phones currently in the market match upto it (maybe Palm Pre).

Firstly, purchasing these phones proved to be a task in itself! The price is steep and the availability was limited. Somehow, I finally managed to get hold of both the devices.

PACKAGING:
The comparison began the instant the two phone boxes were placed side-by-side. The packaging is, well, how to put it – basic; for both the phones. A look at the boxes is not enough to convince anyone that both these phones are priced well around INR 30,000 or $600 approx. The black boxes will not get any marks from my side. I know it’s silly but I was expecting something fancy for the price I was paying. The HTC Diamond2 package simply sucks. There, I said it. It sucks. For 30,000 precious rupees you only get a charging adapter, a USB cord and earphones. There is some documentation and a screen protector included within the box. The N97 packaging is way better and you get more right out of the box. One thing that surprised me that there was no TV-out cable included with either of the sets. The screen protector included with the Diamond2 is way better than the one on the N97′s screen. The strange thing about the protector on the N97 is that it attracts way to many scratches. Do not use the stylus on the screen unless you want to see scratches all over your screen.
Another thing both the manufacturers could have done is included a cleaning cloth, especially HTC, since the Diamond2 gets greasy withing minutes of use.
This round goes to the N97 for a superior quality packaging and accessories included within it.

TOUCH:
It is absolutely fair to compare these devices in terms of the touch sensitivity as both utilize a resistive touchscreen (the iPhone uses a capacitive). The problem with resistive touchscreens, like those on the Nokia 5800 and HTC Diamond has been that it just does not feel smooth enough. You need to apply a fair bit of pressure to actually make it work. But both Nokia and HTC have done a great amount of work in improving the sensitivity. The screen on the Diamond2 felt slightly more responsive but the margin is negligible.
It’s a tie between both the phones here.

HARDWARE:
I won’t go into deep specifications here. Both phones feel great in your hands. The N97 feels amazing. It’s not the huge as it appears in the pictures. It’s very light and fits perfectly. The slide-out mechanism out the keyboard is smooth as silk and is extremely well-concealed. In fact, you won’t need to take it out as the phone can be operated with your fingers as well. The HTC Diamond2 also has a nice, expensive look to it but it lags behind. The battery cover on the Diamond2 is a little flimsy. Pressing the phone produced odd creaking sounds from the phone whereas on the N97 everything fit perfectly. The screen on the Diamond2 is smaller than the N97 which also displays more colours. Both phones feature USB charging. The N97 has a 3.5mm standard audio jack whereas the Diamond2 still uses HTC’s proprietary extUSB (which sucks).
Both phones have in-built GPS. However, I find Nokia Maps highly unusable and Nokia phones take ages to lock onto a satellite. The Diamond2 took no more than 3-4 minutes to lock on to satellites and Google Maps for Windows Mobile is pretty decent. The N97 has additional features like the FM transmitter. One extremely annoying fact is that whereas the N97 ships with 32GB of in-built memory, the Diamond2 only has 300MB of internal memory and ships with NO memory card. That’s right, you need to buy a MicroSD card separately. The battery on the Diamond2 is disastrous though still better than the original Diamond. It lasts for a day or at max 1.5 days with low to moderate usage. But I still find that the HTC Diamond2 trumps the Nokia N97 in terms of the looks. This is highly subjective but I find that the use of metal on the Diamond2 makes it slightly more appealing to me. For a more detailed hardware comparison, look here.
Thus, in terms of the Hardware, the N97 wins whereas the Diamond2 looks better.

SOFTWARE:
This is probably the only reason why I chose the Diamond2 as my primary phone instead of the N97. The Symbian, S60 5th Edition UI is just horrible. Except for the home screen which features widgets, the phone feels exactly similar to the Nokia 5800 in terms of software. The S60 5th edition is still not made for touch in my opinion. There is no kinetic or flick scrolling and you need to use the irritating scrollbars for navigation. Further, there is no soft QWERTY keyboard unlike the 5800.
Windows 6.1 is probably even more unusable but the latest iteration of HTC’s TouchFlo3D transforms your phone into something else. The interface is smooth, fluid and features loads of eye-candy. Apart from that, it makes navigating the entire operating system a whole lot easier. Features like the unified communications history add a nice touch. There are some drawbacks such as the fact that you might still encounter the ugly Windows Mobile interface and the TouchFlo3D does take up some amount of RAM. But this phone is entitled for a free upgrade to the upcoming version of Windows Mobile, v6.5, which makes the OS a lot more finger friendly.
All this, plus the fact that you have no limits on your Windows Mobile phone. You are free to install whatever you want. Strip out the stock ROM and install your own home-brewed ROM onto the device! There are tons of free applications available for the platform. Unlike WM, Symbian is closed that ways. Even installing simple apps proves to be a nail-biting experience with the phone demanding certificates and what not.
The Diamond2 tends to slow down after some use and a quick soft-reset brings it back to life. The N97 does not slow down as such but is still quite buggy (expected from a cutting-edge device).
Overall, the impending 6.5 update and the availability of a large software library makes me like the Diamond2 more.

MULTIMEDIA:
The music volume on both the devices is moderate. The N97 still produces better sound through the speakerphones. It’s not as loud and clear as the 5800 which kind of sucks. The audio quality on the Diamond2 is just passable. Not something you’d expect from such an expensive gadget. The included earphones are nothing to brag about. There is just a single speaker on the right side of the device. The Sony Ericsson C510 has better audio playback than both these phones (and costs a third!). Playing a few videos, I found that they looked better on the Diamond2 than the N97. The audio player on the N97 is much better than the one present on the Diamond2.
The camera on both the devices is again, passable. The N97 has a better camera than the Diamond2. The camera of the Diamond2 is unusable inside, even during daytime and produces some of the crappiest pictures I’ve seen. I still fail to understand why the N97 produces images that are even worse than the old flagship, the N95. The Nokia N73 produced better pictures than both these devices.
The N97 has the Symbian Webkit based browser while the Diamond2 comes packed with Opera 9.5 for PocketPC. The latter is just miles ahead in terms of usability. The zoom bar on the Diamond2 adds a nice touch but I hardly use it since it usually zooms in on the wrong place. The N97′s browser is decent enough and displays pages perfectly but the feel is just not there. The Opera feels more like the Safari on the iPhone. The scrolling is smooth, the rendering is sweet and it just feels more complete.

TELEPHONY:
Since we are still to get proper 3G in India (thank you A Raja), I tested both the devices on EDGE. The data transfer speeds on both the devices are similar, comparable to any other device in the market. The voice quality on the Diamond2 was better. Even the speakerphone sounded better during a phone call. But the Diamond2 seems to lose signal much more than the N97 which never really lost reception. Further, Indian mobile operators do not readily provide the GPRS settings for Windows Mobile handsets. I shall update this post with a link to another article which which tell you exactly how to browse the internet through WAP portals such as Airtel Live!, Vodafone Live! or Idea Fresh on your Windows Mobile handsets.

CONCLUSION:
Both the Nokia N97 and the HTC Diamond2 are nice devices. Just nice. Nothing revolutionary but only evolutionary. But after operating the Nokia N97, I was underwhelmed. Sure, it comes with 32GB internal memory, a QWERTY keyboard, features top-notch hardware but the software on the phone just does not cut it. I would anyday recommend the HTC Touch Pro2 over the N97. On the other hand, the Diamond2, which sells for $50-70 less interested me more. It does not come with any memory, it is smaller, the audio quality sucks but the software swings in its favour and it offers a more complete experience, unlike the N97. So disappointed are we (my brother and I) with the N97, that we are already thinking of selling the device. The expectations were high from it and Nokia has failed to deliver this time. On the other hand, HTC, way smaller than Nokia, has evolved and refined its previous offerings to bring better devices to the market.
If you want a flawless touch experience, then skip both these devices and go buy an iPhone. I was about to do that myself but the launch of the iPhone 3GS would have made my new iPhone 3G obsolete. Further, iPhone will lock you onto a single network whereas the N97 and Diamond2 come unlocked. In the end, I would say that the Nokia N97 is just like Microsoft Windows Vista – you can skip it and still be assured that you did not miss out on anything special. The HTC Diamond2 is solid and should be even better once the upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5 comes.

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The first time I came to know of this scam was when my friend received a text message on his phone a week back, congratulating him on winning a lottery. Since he’s not too tech-savvy, he sought my opinion. The moment he read out the contents of the SMS to me, I knew it was a scam. I asked him to send me a screenshot.

Here are the contents of the SMS :

Sender : TMGUINNESS

SMS :

GUINNESS AWARD PROMOTION
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
This is to inform you that your personal cell phone have won a prize money of 700,000.00 GREAT BRITISH POUNDS for the 2009 Splash promotion which is Organized on 10th April 2009 by G.A.P.UK. Contact our agent in Manchester for more information Agent Name: Dr.David
E-Mail:s.g.t.davidess04@live.com
Tel:+44 871 234 4378

Time passed and I forgot all about it until yesterday I received a similar message on my cellphone!

Sender : TM-Treasury

SMS :

Congraulation!!! You has won 200,000.00 GBPounds in 2009 (SHELL) Mobile draw. To claim your prize call Dr.Alex:+447031868871 or e-mail spdc69@hotmail.com

While My friend received his message on the Vodafone network, I got it on the BSNL network. The scam message I received appears to be the latest attempt. People are falling prey to this scam as is evident from a simple search on Google :

guiness award promotion Complaints – 2009 splash promotion

It is quite clear that scammers have their own SMS gateways up and running and are sending out these mass SMS’s in order to lure people. Since these attacks are new, I don’t think there is any mechanism set up by any carrier in India for us to file a phishing report. All reputable email providers have options to report the email as a scam but it’s time now that cellphone network operators pull up their socks, work along similar lines and bring in some effective measures to safeguard their customers.

No related posts.

Even I have been affected because the original Uthfull is hosted on Geocities. OK… I don’t visit or update that site anymore but still I don’t want it to be blocked because of the Indian Govt.’s foolishness.

I could write a lot about this ban but why should I when everything is already here and here. Alternatively, you can use goo gle to get more information.

• List of banned websites
• Bypassing the ban

– A nicely written tutorial.

I have a few other tricks for people to browse the web somewhat anonymously and browse banned sites.
You see, most of the internet http proxies use a software called CGIProxy. Now keeping in mind some things typical of that program, we can use google to find hundreds of free http proxies to access the banned sites and the web anonymously.

Here are the direct links to the search results :

• Search Results 1
• Search Results 2
• Search Results 3

Now I used to visit one of the banned sites ( http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/ ) which I think is down. Here’s the Google Cache. If I remember correctly, this site used to show videos of people being beheaded in Iraq by millitants (yup, that’s how I discovered it).

Some sites say the ban will be lifted in another 48 hours but who cares.

If you want to just access your own blog hosted on blogger, use this site.

I was about to setup a http proxy of my own but then I discovered this trick.
Enjoy!!

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