amtrag

I am just wondering: How come so many batteries have started bursting after nokia declared batteries unsafe. There must have been atleast 5-6 cases being reported during past one week. And as somebody has already said that we should be more worried about cheap fake batteries which are available in abundance in Indian markets...I still believe that nokia's "faulty" batteries are safer than those fake ones.

These models are not available in India...but now comes the role of grey market...you can probably get them in grey...A650IS & a720 IS are almost similar...but 650 has 10MP while 720 has only 8MP (...ONLY 8??? ) Also, 650's MRP is $399 while 720 has a tag of $249 on Canon website. And just notice, most of their newer models are coming with IS lens.

Well said. I started with LG handsets but eventually shifted to nokia becoz I got fed-up with LG's non-standardised sets...each one had it's own data cable, own drivers etc etc But, still nokia is not THE best...the call log of LG handsets is by far much better than nokia's... e.g. the LED torch in LGs which has now become a standard feature in all their mobiles is much more useful than nokia's standard features like BT, using 3gp format for videos etc So, even nokia has to do lots of catching-up with their competitors if they want to retain a premium position in the hearts of their customers.

Anyone buying a grey market product ought to be aware of the fact that he/she is taking a risk in case anything goes wrong since no authorised service centre would repair it for free...1 yr Dealer Warrantee as in case of grey is not same as company warrantee. But then you save upto 30% on the price. Some people (including me) would argue that what is the point in paying 30% extra premium so that just in case....which has very low probability. Even if something goes wrong, you would probly be paying max 30-40% of the original price as repair cost. But, after all, it is up to an individual to decide.

I agree Manoj, but just think: defects could happen in any product, but it is Nokia who has the guts to come out and admit it's own mistake and is ready to replace faulty batteries free of cost. We don't even now what happens in case of LG, Moto or any other brand. And, by the way, it is Matsu$ita who is to blame for defective batteries and not Nokia.

Very true Ramchi Offtopic: hearing from you Ramchi after such a long time? ...or did I miss reading any of your recent posts?

I think if the cause of hearing loss is "speech frequencies", then all those who use iPods or similar devices for long periods are also at risk...but still, hands-free atleast saves us from the harmful RF radiations in case of mobiles. And BT does not emit RF as strong as the mobile phone itself (BT has a range of only a few meters compared to mobile's range of a few kms)

Well, if you are considering S5IS as an option, why not consider Pentax K100D SLR...it's street price is appx 21K (i.e. without B&W)...it's a very good SLR camera..was selling for more than 30K 1 yr ago..my brother who is in the US is using it there. After all, there's no comparison between a SLR and Compact Point & shoot. But, I personally don't like Nikon, they are very slow and picture is not very clear..I was using Nikon L3 but did not like the results (although it had face detection and was very light & slim), hence spent another 12K for A710IS.

@Jatin: A710 doesn't allow optical zoom in video mode. But, yeah I also opted for this model only becoz of higher zoom of 6X..all other specs are same..in fact better in A570. But having said this, let me also tell you that there is a hacked software upgrade for DIGIC II based cams like A710, which gives you very high-end SLR-like features on your powershot (e.g. shooting in RAW mode, live histogram, battery indicator in milivolts/ percent on the screen, file browser, running automated scirpts on your cam using BASIC programming, games, clock display on screen etc..)., And all this is NOT possible on A570 due to it being DIGIC III based. Just check out this: http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK Coming back, image quality is good but at night, but due to higher ISO (400 and above) noise is more noticeable. So best option is to manually keep ISO at 100 or max 200 and if reqd ( and possible) use a tripod for night shots. But let me tell you, the optical stabilisation really works wonders...I have tried shooting free-hand at 24X zoom (i.e. 6x opt X 4x digi)...

If it was working earlier, then itmeans all your settings are ok..just wait and try again after some time. I also use wap on thru minibrowser on 6235 and 2865...both work without altering any settings

This phone doesn't allow to set any ringtone, other than the standard ones that come pre-loaded, for a specific Name in the address book. Is it a standard feature...err bug? or is there a problem in my handset? Yes, otherwise 6235 is a decent phone, although it does not support customized themes.

One solution that I use: Swap the battery with that of Nokia 6235 and then charge it...6235 has a standard (i.e. faster) charger. Qn: Is it safe or good for the battery? Ans: Yes, bcoz both use BL6C type batteries, so no harm i swapping.

Although Li is definitely better..being lighter and smaller, but the cost of carrying a spare (just in case it conks off ) is much more..in case of AAs, you can buy duracell from any shop and continue shooting. Just becoz of this, I avoided any camera with proprietary Li batteries.

Regarding chargers: almost all latest nokias ...N seris, E series etc have the same "slow" charger as the one provided with 2865/ 6275. I observed that the charging voltage is 5V as against 5.7V in the older "fast" chargers. Now, my guess (just a guess...) is that they have reduced charging voltage to 5V so as to enable their mobiles to use any USB port for charging. And, as a consequence of reduction in applied voltage, charging current is also reduced from 800mA to 350mA, which explains why it takes much longer to charge.

Well, even I don't know the reason why Nokia is giving "slow" chargers, but it definitely increases battery life...and even if life of a handset is just 2 years, you would notice the difference in talktime even after 1 year...and it would be more pronounced in case of CDMA handsets since they probably consume more battery power... And even though a charge on battery easily last for >1day, you could charge it every night...and battery does not get wasted by overcharging becoz the charger automatically cuts-off the charging current and just keeps the battery on "trickle" charge. And anyway, people who need to talk atleast 3-4 hours everyday are rare..yes it is a fact...that average minutes of usage for an Indian user is 400-500 mins per month...so why would Nokia care for just a handful of customers..

Yes charging takes longer due to lower current (350 mA) compared to older model chargers which give 800mA. Hence, charging takes appx twice the time. But it is always good for battery to charge it slowly...it does help the battery last more number of years. Same is the case with my 2865...but battery talktime and standby times are very good...whenever I use it lightly, it lasts for >3 days.

Liked your ideas Sadik...but almost all car stereos available nowadays do have an aux-in on the front panel where you can plug-in your ipod/ mp3 palyer...and many models have already come (e.g Sony's GT-460 & 660) which have front USB port to plug-in your pen drive and play MP3's directly... My idea: Since most cities ...atleast large towns and metros have several FM radio stations, let's have a car stereo with only FM and ofcourse built-in amp...and maybe a front Aux-in. Exclusion of CD player would cut the costs by...I guess 1-2K

I'm also going to upgrade and finally zereod-in on Intel Core 2 Duo over AMD. As per latest reviews, core 2 duo has better performance...just google to read some reviews (too lazy to search again and post the links here...) So my personal reco: Go for Core 2 Duo with 1GB or even upto 4GB RAM (667 MHz ones). HDD, OS etc of course depends on your own personal needs.

Add Moto V3M to the list

I agree with you. I'm sure Nokia has done this intentionally... And even my cdma nokia 2865 records only the last call duration...but I have to navigate deep into it's menus for that.

Yes, it definitely makes a difference. It depends upon the quality of copper used, its gauge, thickness etc etc. and also on quality of soldering with the connectors, quality of the connector itself and last but not the least, length of the cable. Although I don't have much knowledge with regards to data cables, but let me mention that in audio, you get speaker cables and interconnects starting from Rs.2 per meter right upto Rs.5000 or even more for a meter! And usually, the cheapest of the available cables would suffer from above quality problems.

Solution: Use the other battery (this phone comes with 2 batteries)... But seriously, it would be very difficult to get a new battery in the market for such an old model. So, rather than spending 1400 on a battery, get a new classic handset for same amount..it would atleast last longer than 3 yr old samsung...

Thanks Ani, I also discovered the same after some googling... that core 2 duo is better and to top it all...even 1.8 Ghz version could easily be overclocked to 3+ GHz (...after all, we all suffer from this clock-speed syndrome and cannot tolerate the fact that my CPU is "slower" than yours! )

This one relates to latest Pentium chips. Which one is better in performance: "Intel Pentium Dual Core" 3 GHz or just a little bit pricier "Intel Core 2 Duo" with 1.8GHz ? I am actually planning to upgrade from my existing P3, so which one should I go for? It might be useful to mention that I would be using as a Home PC with some amount of video editing (handycam videos...) and "Photoshopping"

Yes. And as a matter of practice, I always delete mails from any unknown IDs that I receive on my hotmail/ gmail accounts...without even opening them.