city02

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/753110.cms

I’ve had this company provided CDMA (WLL) smartphone for over 1 year now. Despite all the fancy features, my 2 year old Nokia has a much better/intuitive user interface. According to the Phone -> Phone Info -> Call Timers menu, I have made/got almost 8,700 calls on the handset using up over 540 hours (32,600 min) of talk time. That works out to an avg of over 1 hour/day of calls (both incoming & outgoing). Got my first bills online this Jan! Price The Kyocera was around Rs. 50 K then and came down to about 35 K by Diwali. I would not personally shell out that much (even @ Rs. 25 K) for a mobile so I rate it as poor value for money despite the benefits of having a Palm PDA built in. I was really sad about being forced to return my trusty old company GSM. What I miss the most about my Nokia is the Auto-Redial feature if the line was busy/no answer. How could Kyocera forget such an important/basic feature in its fancy smartphone? Performance The software is a bit unstable even after an upgrade a few months ago so the ability to sync with my laptop via infra-red link is most valuable when I have to do a ’hard reset’ and remove the battery which erases all the data. Adding non-volatile memory to this phone would be a good step (but only after adding auto-redial first!). The large color screen is excellent and using it as a wireless modem is good. The theoretical max is about 200 Kb/s but the peak I’ve ever seen is about 128 Kb with a sustained throughput of around 50-60 K. Still better than a landline. Wish List I also need a way to track my incoming & outgoing min. It currently only tracks total min but since incoming is free for me, it does not give me a sense of my usage. There should be an app provided that automatically resets the counter at a user specified date (defaulting to the 1st) each month or week. It should also track the last 12 months or 52 weeks of usage min since there is enough space. A camera or radio as accessories would always be welcome. I would like to listen to MP3 without having to buy additional hardware (memory key/stick like addon is currently required) as long as I have the space in the handset. A customisable screen saver and banner like Nokia would also be an improvement since there seems to be so much valuable screen space going to waste. It should also allow the user to display the day & date (not just the time) on the main phone screen. An estimate of battery life remaining (like on laptops) would be very helpful in terms of standby and talk times. Cons The battery gets quite warm while surfing/extended use. Maybe the battery cover could be made of a different material. A voice mail app on the phone would be useful when the service providers (RIM) vmail is quite bad as an alternative. The recent calls list is confusing: duplicates should be automatically removed and for entries in the phonebook with multiple # (work, home, mobile, etc) it should specify which one since there is space on the same row. This would save us from clicking each entry to see which # the call was from/to. Pros The Palm games were fun to play especially the board (monopoly) and card (hearts) games. Since I make some international calls the free Palm world time app (downloadable) with map & customisable time zones is quite helpful. Here are the two most useful sites I found for downloading Palm apps: http://mrtaxi.karnt.com/ http://www.freewarepalm.com/ I can also store family/wallet photos in the phone but first have to change their format on a PC before sync-ing up. The phone came pre-loaded with MGI PhotoSuite (Mobile Album) and it can be downloaded from: http://www.photosuite.com/palm There is a slideshow option that allows you to preview all the photos in 3-5 sec intervals which is very handy for the older members of the family who are not comfortable with using a mouse or stylus to flip. There is a huge roaming problem with the handset that I have not been able to resolve for almost 6 months and I'm just pasting my email to RIM below:

No idea - never tried it. If you have a Kyo - give it a try ...

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/755370.cms

I don't think I've missed anything major but just in case ...

R-World does not work on Kyocera - you have to browse to the pda website which has a limited subset of RW on it: http://pda.ricinfo.com

I've been using the Kyocera for almost 18 months now but some of the questions are quite difficult to answer, nevertheless here is my attempt: A good starting point for all medical professionals is: http://www.handango.com//PlatformSoftwareS...atient+Tracking Its lists ALL Palm apps related to patient tracking. Sometimes they are and sometimes they are not.Its a PalmOS so it just depends what kind you manage to download onto your handset. I don't know what you mean by 'similar' - if you mean just the external look and feel then the answer is NO, if you mean the functionality, the answer is MAYBE. I have no idea - it depends which apps you are talking about. If it works on a Palm handheld, it will most probably work on Kyocera also. They sound like very specific/customised apps so unless someone has already used them before, they would be unlikely to give any input. Assuming all Palm OS are backward compatible like they should be, as long as the app is NOT written for a newer version of Palm, it SHOULD work (in theory). This is an example of the kinds of medical apps you can buy for about US$30-40 from sites like: http://www.handango.com//PlatformProductDe...18789&catalog=0 NO - not that I'm aware of. MAYBE - you'll have to download some utilities and experiment with them (I have never had to do that). http://www.handango.com//PlatformProductDe...pSectionId=1271 You can store all db entries after downloading a db utility from one of the many palm sites - it might not be freeware.Here are some shareware Palm db apps: http://www.handango.com//PlatformSoftwareS...title=Databases The ringing volume is NOT as loud as other phones (thankfully) but since I have it on vibrate first then ring ascending vol, its not an issue for me. I have never travelled on local trains in MH (very thankfully) but as far as I know, its fine and totally dependent on operator coverage. The speakerphone is the best option for noisy backgrounds, voice quality is contrained by the network quality/congestion. I have a car/DC charger and am still lookgin for a travel/AC charger so I can keep it at work/office. If you lose your charger it cannot be replaced! This is a HUGE risk to take and I would strongly advise against it unless you want a very expensive paperweight... If you know people who can 'build' you a spare charger, then its a different issue. There are now more options available that have a camera built-in for about Rs. 5-10K less so I would advise trying them out first (e.g., Motorola GSM). It was somewhat unique almost 2 years ago but I feel much better options are now available in that budget despite the price drop from Rs. 50 to 35 K. Since its a bit bulky, its unsafe to carry in cramped/congested places like local trains as it can easily get knocked out of its belt clip. I have got a leather cover to protect it a bit more and slip it into my pant pocket when I'm jammed up ... Its still unstable - it crashes with a 'Fatal Exception' when you try to surf a site like yahoo email (I'm not talking about RConnect since that works fine). The leather pouch has to be removed before inserting it into the cradle for data access which is poor design in my opinion. Just noticed the 'sunnydays' comment above! What do you mean? Its not solar powered (that would be a nice option for recharging though). It'll work on cloudy and rainy days just like any other mobile. If you mean the screen brightness then it fades away in bright sunlight just like most other color phones. The image above gives you an idea of the amout of 'fade' on the LCD as a reference. This was due to the camera flash but its very similar in outdoor daylight. Here is one for about Rs. 25-29 K: Baazee http://www.baazee.com/jsp/BidForm.jsp?Trade_TradeId=26077092 Here is a 1 year old professional review on this model: http://www.pdabuyersguide.com/kyocera_7135.htm This one is 6 months old: http://www.pcworld.com/resource/printable/...d,108165,00.asp Here is a downloadable listing of medical apps for Palm (NOT free - you will need a credit/debit card to buy): http://www.handango.com//PlatformSoftwareS...1&title=Medical Here is a decent patient tracking app from the same site (Handango): For the love of god! Just realised I've spent a few hours on this post alone!! OK, that's it - [EoT] (Static should know what that means!) I think this is a good case for STFW ... (Surf The F***ing Web!) Anyone remember RTFM? (Read The F***ing Manual)

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/750950.cms

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/751841.cms

I agree - National's greed overshadowed their risk assesment and now they are crying over spilt milk. No one forced National to issue the policy in the first place. RIC are very good negotiators also. Insurance companies can't have their cake and eat it too - just because claims exceed premiums paid, does not imply some sort contractual/legal problem. They made a bet, and they lost - boo hoo. If they want no losses, they should also fork over any gains to the policyholders.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/751869.cms

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/749086.cms

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/749009.cms

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/742907.cms

Now that the Netway set top box (STB) has been in field testing for over 3-6 months, it might be a good time to start discussing the kinds of features people would like to have. Here's my list so far: - Ability to record from TV/VCD - Skipping of commercials (1 min skip fwd button on remote) - Monitoring of space usage via OSD (on-screen display) - Universal remote! (programmable for TV, VCD, STB, etc) - Variable levels of recording quality (high compression to save space) - Outright purchase in installment or rental with refundable deposits - Nationwide warranty and compatibility - USB ports - CDRW as an option (built-in) in advanced models - SMS alerts via hook up to FWP (optional) when recording of programme was successful or not and space usage - Password locks for parental control - Ability to pause/rewind live telecasts (e.g., sports/matches) - Smart volume control (to maintain decibel level between channels and ads etc) - Picture in picture (PIP) for those TVs without that option (optional extra) - Usage stats (just to really know which channels your family watches the most) - Automatic software upgrades over the wires - Service and support info online (shown as a new interactive channel) This would look up nearest service center, allow bill payment, view request status, etc. - Wireless keyboard with rechargable batteries as option - Multilingual menus & remotes - Pay per view (PPV) with credit/debit cards - At home banking / financial services - Home delivery services phew! can't think of much else ...

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articl...507,curpg-1.cms

I'm still stuck at 8 Mb but am eagerly waiting to be upgraded by 10x! I've had my yahoo email for a decade now - they should give us some priority ... Only the interface has changed but the temp email id is a great way to beat spam, I created my first one yesterday in yahoo mail.

can a dual mode phone (GSM & CDMA) be setup for RIM use? or can a GSM dual band be converted to CDMA? whichever is cheaper/easier ... GSM has much better handset selection but I would like to keep my DAPO benefits. I'm leaning towards a 1 M pixel camera phone.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/728404.cms

Use common sense: The use of 'we' or 'us' in the questions implies that the interviewer was probably an employee as opposed to a neutral reporter. BDK