New Kindle 3

Amazon’s popular E-reader Kindle’s latest version dubbed Kindle 3 has been a real head turner since the announcement last month. In fact it is the best selling product during the first 4 weeks of its release on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk combined.

Even though the modifications in the new version are minor, they have been well received by gadget enthusiasts. Kindle 3 has the same 6 inch reading area as its predecessors but it is thinner and lighter. Screen contrast is better by 50% and the page turns are faster by 20%. The storage capacity is doubled while the battery lasts longer. What is probably the USP of the new Kindle is its lower price.

Considering the tremendous response, Amazon has advanced the shipping date by two days. So it is happy time for those waiting to lay their hands on the latest E-reader from Amazon!

Cheap new Kindle

Amazon has announced the arrival of the new improved version of its blockbuster e-reader viz. Kindle. It is scheduled to be delivered to customers all over the world by end August ’10. The following are some of the improvements in Kindle over its earlier versions:

• The new Kindle is smaller in overall size and weighs less while the reading area is same viz. 6 in.
• Contrast is better by 50% while the page turn overs are faster by 20%
• Storing capacity is twice compared to earlier version and the battery lasts one whole month.
• New fonts that are more clear and crisp have been introduced
• The cheapest Wi-fi only model costs just $139 while the one with 3G connectivity is priced at $189. The DX model which is larger and suitable for newspaper and magazine reading costs $379

While the earlier versions of Kindle were very popular among those looking only for e-reading, how much impact the new Kindle with its competitive price tag will make is anybody’s guess. With the functionally versatile iPad and Barnes & Noble’s Nook reader also in the fray, the sales figures of the new Kindle would be keenly watched by market analysts. Amazon has claimed that the Kindle editions are outselling its hardcover books. A single author has sold over a million copies of his novels through Kindle store. But all that is a thing of the past and the market dynamics has changed with the introduction of the versatile iPad and its clones. So watch out for August 27^th when the new Kindle is scheduled to arrive in the UK market!

HTC Desire has been said to be much quicker, large in size and comes equipped with a full Android punch than the HTC Legend and has won the Global Mobile Award 2010.  T-Mobile is the first mobile company that is offering the HTC Desire to the UK community.  The HTC Desire has been dubbed as the phone with a large 3.7 inch OLED touch screen with a resolution of 480 X 800 WVGA.  But even with the large screen size, the HTC Desire still takes a modest size shape to its phone which enhances the uniqueness of the HTC Desire.  However, the phone is equipped with a brown case instead of an aluminium chassis which is quite low-key for a sophisticated phone.  The key buttons located on the top of the HTC Desire is set in a washed out- tone and backed with aluminium setting to further give the phone an irreplaceable look.

More on the features of the HTC Desire include a 5 Megapixel Camera with auto focus, geotagging and face detection capability.  The HTC Desire is embedded with G-Sensor, Digital Compass as well as Ambient light sensor.  Being a HTC model, the HTC Desire does not fall short with its widgets such as bookmarks, calendar, photo album, messages twitter and so much more.  HTC Desire does allow a person to keep up with their social life by incorporating the social networking integration such as Facebook, video sharing on YouTube and photo sharing on selected social networks.  The HTC Desire has 3G, GPRS, EDGE and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and multimedia capabilities.  With a phone that seems to fit the younger and older generation and businessmen of all ages, it is a wise choice for many to have a phone on the go that is classy and sophisticated and big with its features.

Nothing left to be desired than HTC Desire itself. Well if you don’t believe the hype go try it out.

Apple iPad

Having shipped over 2 million pieces worldwide within a few months of its release, Apples’s latest sensation the iPad is taking the netbook / mini laptop world by storm and there have been serious debates among avid PC market watchers whether it will erode the latter’s market share.

At the recent D8 conference at Los Angeles, Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Inc, likened tablet PCs to the early days of trucks and cars. As the economy developed, more people replaced cars with trucks and similar evolution is going on in the PC / mobile computing market. Even though PCs with Windows XP operating system are the most popular computing device worldwide today, that situation is likely to change over the next decade or so with mobile computing devices slowly taking over.

Leading the way would be devices like the iPad and its clones that are likely to enter the market shortly.  Dell with its Streak tablet PC and Samsung with iPad like clones hitting the market, the market for powerful mobile computers is only going to widen. Hence it would be no exaggeration to say that iPad has created a whole new market segment of  smart mobile phones packed with power and the thin line between netbooks / mini laptops and smart phones has already started to blur.

Apple iPad

Ever since Apple introduced iPad into the US market in a big way in April, gadget enthusiasts have wondered whether it would replace the netbook and create a new category between the computer and the mobile phone as claimed by Apple during its marketing blitz prior to its launch. A recent iPad users’ survey by Yahoo has revealed interesting facts regarding iPad usage.

Men outnumber women by 2 to 1 among iPad users. International traffic accounts for 10% of the total even though iPad has primarily been released in the US market. Age wise, those in the 35 – 44 years category form about 36% of the total with those aged below 30 forming a negligible percentage. Further 48% of iPad users already own an iPhone and 94% have solid income i.e. those that can be included in ‘well-to-do’ list. Use of Flickr, Finance, News and Sports in that order is predominant among iPad users. Though the sample size of this survey may not be large as the device itself is a little over a month old in the market, it however gives a general indication of what to expect regarding iPad usage: it is mostly used by men with high disposable income and browsing forms a significant part of the usage.

Another poll on Mashable indicated that 55% of the pollsters preferred iPad while 35% preferred netbook with the rest showing no preference. But these figures cannot be overstretched as iPad itself is very young and what happens over a significant period of time is anybody’s guess.

Tulip Ego Pink laptop

Review:

Your laptop does not have to be staid looking anymore with traditional dull grey or black cover. You can get laptops in myriad colours that even match your outfit! Of all the colours, Pink laptops have been one of the favourites among women and some men too. Many big time laptop manufacturers like Dell, HP, Sony, Samsung, Asus etc. are dishing out laptops in several shades of pink. You can even get an external hard drive (if the built in one proves insufficient) in pink to match the laptop colour from companies like Seagate, Iomega, A-Data, Samsung etc. Even the laptop carry case is available in pink.

The tulip ego laptop from the Dutch manufacturer Ego Lifestyle takes the cake for being one of the whackiest. It is not only pink in colour but also shaped like a purse with rounded edges. It offers interchangeable decorative leather skins that can be changed anytime to match your outfit through customized USB stick cap provided with the laptop. The finishes are available in designer fabrics and colours. It is effortlessly carried on shoulders or carried by hand through its rounded chrome handle.

As for as the technical specs are concerned, the tulip ego laptop is powered by Mobile AMD Turion 64 processor with 2GB DDR memory. The hard disk is 160 GB SATA drive and the display screen is 12.1” widescreen WXGA 1280 x 800 pixels resolution and anti reflection coating. It has integrated Wi-fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet and 3 USB ports for external connectivity. Weighing 5.7 lbs with battery that lasts 3 hours, this pink laptop has 14.2 x 11 x 2.4 in as outer dimensions. Further it has integrated camera, stereo microphone, front loadable DVD +/-RW player, and jacks for headphone & speaker.

The tulip ego laptop is preloaded with Windows Vista Ultimate OS, MS Office 2007, Antivirus software, and Dragon voice recognition software. With price starting at £3400 ($5,000) and stretching into six figure range for the diamond encrusted version, this laptop is really meant for the well heeled!

Apple iPad

The much awaited Apple’s iPad was released in the U.S. market earlier this month and sold more than 450,000 pieces in less than a week. Apple is claiming iPad as something more than a smartphone, positioning it between a mobile phone and a PC.  Whether the users also feel the same about it is a million dollar question. According to an online poll by Mashable, more than half the respondents preferred iPad over a netbook.

iPad is also expected to pose a stiff challenge to existing E-readers like Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader etc. According to a prelaunch survey, 40% of would be buyers of an E-reader prefer iPad over Kindle (28%) and Nook (6%). Apart from being a mobile phone, iPad is also a potent device for surfing the internet.

Portable gaming is another possible popular application of iPad giving Nintendo and Sony a challenge in their domain. According to Apple’s Steve Jobs there are 3500 iPad specific apps available out of the total of 185,000 apps available across all devices for download. A total of 3.5 million apps and 600,000 iBooks have already been downloaded to iPads since launch. Overall iPad is expected to stir the mass market for tablet computing capable of handling a no. of apps catering to a wide audience.

One of the most popular consumer products today are of course cheap laptops. Just about everyone has one and those who don’t usually feel like they need one. Coincidentally, they are also rather pricey pieces of technology so getting a better deal could be extremely beneficial to just about anyone. While some people are naturally inclined to bargain with salespeople and get their way, some people don’t have any idea how or why they always end up leaving the store, defeated. Below are some very effective tips for haggling down the price of a laptop along with a detailed explanation as to why they are so effective.

be resasonable

The first and most important tip is to be reasonable. Very rarely will anyone get away with outrageous savings and, in fact, usually end up merely irritating the sales personnel. They are in no way entitled to give you a discount simply because you want one, so it is best to keep in mind that you are at the mercy of the salesperson until a deal has been made. Starting off by asking for an unreasonable discount is offensive, especially to a commissioned salesperson, and that’s not exactly the impression you want to give. To avoid being unreasonable, do some research to find out the lowest available retail price for the laptop you want and don’t go anymore than 20% or 25% below that. You will also avoid disappointing yourself if you set the maximum amount you’re willing to spend before going out to make the laptop purchase.

be pleasant

The next tip that goes hand in hand with the above is to remain pleasant. Again, it is purely up to the PcWorld salesperson to give you a discount or not, so being demanding or arrogant will get you absolutely nowhere. On the contrary, being friendlier than the average consumer will almost always help a haggler. Try asking the salesperson’s name and use it when speaking to them. It also helps to consider the mood and circumstance of the actual salesperson. Speak to the person that seems the most approachable and do so during non-peak times, like midweek afternoons. Trying to talk a salesperson into giving you a break when there are ten other people lined up and ready to make a purchase is not a good idea.

be prepared

As for what to actually say, start off by telling them you’re looking for a bit of a better price and try to get them to make an offer before suggesting any particular amount. Something along the lines of, “Is there any kind of discount you can offer me? I was hoping to spend a little less than that,” is a perfectly neutral way to begin a negotiation. Remaining neutral will help you figure out how much you can ask for without being flat out refused. Knowing how much to ask for is easier if you have an ad from a different company advertising a lower price for the same cheap laptop. You can tell the salesperson at PcWorld that you can get it cheaper elsewhere and show them you’re not bluffing.

get extras rather than a discount

Sometimes, it’s virtually impossible to get a discount on the actual cheap laptop itself. This, however, does not mean you can’t still walk away with some sort of a bargain. If you’re being told that the price of the laptop is the lowest they can offer, ask them to add in a free accessory or two. All salespeople will try to add accessories when selling laptops anyway so they’ll be likely to add at least one small item (such as a case) in order to secure the whole sale. Similar to this method would be to purchase PcWorld’s extended warranty in exchange for a discount and then cancel the warranty within the allowed period.

walk away if its no good

As a last resort, thanking the salesperson and turning to leave is a lot better than giving in to them and paying full price. Often enough, the salesperson will hesitate, reconsider, and quickly decide to offer you something to avoid losing you altogether. In any case, aggressive strategies like offering cash, threatening to never return as a customer, and causing a scene may have miraculously worked for some in the past, though in today’s evolved consumer market, the above tips are proven to be both successful and shame free.

Palm Pre:

Palm Pre smartphone

The UK version of Palm Pre matches the iPhone in touchscreen innovation with multi touch capability, 320×480 pixels resolution, 24 bits colour and 1.7” x 2.4” size. For connectivity Palm Pre has Wi-fi, Bluetooth and GPS with apps to match for good web browsing experience. SMS, MMS, WAP client, Email client, and Java are all provided for in this mobile phone. It has music playback facility supporting MP3, AAC, AAC+, WAV, AMR formats but no FM radio. The 3 MP camera has LED photo lighting feature but no video recording or flash. WebOS is the OS for this mobile phone.

Google Nexus One

Google Nexus One smartphone

Google Nexus One mobile phone is expected to be released in UK in April 2010 with Vodafone and T-Mobile as service providers. The 3.7” OLED screen with 480 x 800 pixels resolution is bright and colour rich. For connectivity this smartphone has Wi-fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. As far as audio is concerned it has music player, sound recorder and FM radio. The 5 MP camera has LED flash, video capability, auto focus and 2x digital zoom. The smartphone runs on Android 2.0.

HTC Hero

HTC Hero smartphone

The HTC hero Android smartphone available on T-Mobile network has 320×480 pixels resolution touchscreen. The web browser has flash support and the connectivity is through Wi-fi, Bluetooth, and GPS with GPRS, HDSPA and 3G capabilities. Video recording is possible with the 5MP camera. Music playback is also featured in. All the Android Market apps are available with this mobile phone.

Blackberry Storm

Blackberry Storm smartphone

The Blackberry Storm mobile phone has 3.25” size transmissive TFT LCD touchscreen with 480 x 360 pixel resolution. The smartphone has SMS/MMS, email, internet browsing capabilities and supports Blackberry App World applications.  For connectivity the mobile phone has Wi-fi, Bluetooth and GPS. The music playback supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WMA ProPlus formats.The 3.2 MP camera can record videos and has flash, autofocus, 2x digital zoom and image stabilization features.

Nokia X6

Nokia X6 smartphone

The latest Nokia X6 smartphone offered on Orange, Vodafone, T-mobile, O2 networks in UK, has 3.2″ touchscreen with a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels. Running on Symbian OS version 9.4 it has OSS web browser and email support for IMAP, POP and SMTP. Wi-fi, Bluetooth and GPS technologies account for connectivity. The music player has stereo FM radio and supports mp3, SPMidi, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA formats for playbacks. The 5 MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics has dual LED flash, autofocus, 4x digital zoom, and video recording capabilities.

Voucher Codes

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