I have always been fond of gadgets be it mobile phones, computers, music players, cameras etc. When it comes to electronic purchases, I take extra caution reading reviews and comparing different products available in the market. Social networking comes to the rescue, where I can ask my twitter, Facebook and Google+ contacts for opinions, initial reviews and then make a prudent decision. This time around, when the amazon Kindle fire tablet was announced, I jumped in joy and ordered one for myself. Trust is the sole reason why I did not wait until the product was completely out and read reviews before ordering it. Trust on both Amazon and Google’s android operating system.

Amazon

My experience with Amazon’s shopping started in 2009 when I bought a simple backpack to carry along when I go to work. From then on, Amazon has always been my first choice when it comes to online shopping. It is not only no tax policy, the ease of use, one-click buying options, secure shopping experience as a whole built my trust over these years.

Google

Not a day passes in my life without using a Google product. The good thing is that the products keep evolving and gets new dimensions every often. For instance, I used to have primary email account with Yahoo for years and switched over to Google. From then on, there is no turning back or no regret for the switch over.

Amazon Kindle Fire

Why I need a tablet?

I have a macbook pro for personal use, Lenovo Thinkpad laptop for work, Blackberry Torch Smartphone. Do I still need a device which kind of fits in between all these devices? I used to read a lot of books and over the years I kind of kicked the good habit. I use google reader for my daily feed reads and miss the traditional benefit of reading a book which is to expand my imagination and understanding ability. the only time I get to read a book is before bed time and I don’t want to keep lugging a laptop around. After a very long thought process, I decided to buy an e-reader myself and I did try out the traditional kindle from a friend. When I was about to buy it, Amazon announced the Kindle Fire. I would call it good timing.

When I used to read books, I did not have distractions of any sort. Just me and my book. Now, I think I can afford to have a few distractions once in a while like checking emails, peeking at my social feeds while I enjoy reading a book or a magazine. This can also be a test for my discipline and set personal goals to see how fast I can finish a book or a magazine with all the distractions around.
I also pondered on the tablet options available in the market like the Samsung’s Galaxy tabs, Apple’s iPads, Motorola’s Xoom. The thing which kept me away from purchasing one of these was the price point.

Kindle Fire

Kindle Fire lacks a camera, microphone input for video chats and other applications. Do I really care? No. My wife and I use our macbook pro or her iPhone 4 for video chatting (Facetime, Skype etc) hardly few times a month. So, why spend the extra money for the featrues I won’t use on a daily basis? The idea of holding a 10 inch tablet for reading a book does not suit me. I don’t want my tablet to be more than 8 inches. The Kindle Fire nicely tucks in at 7 inches. I tried putting it in my trouser’s pocket, may sound awkward, it fit in. It is not that heavy to hold in one hand. It has a rubberized back which gives a better grip than the other tabs with metallic backs. As far as the operating system, it runs Amazon flavored version of Android gingerbread operating system. The user interface is simple and neat. The device is tied with my Amazon account and has Amazon app store for Android. Until I root it, options are pouring in, I will not be able to side-load apps or run any Android Market place apps. the News stand neatly organizes my kindle magazines. I subscribed to India Today, men’s health magazines already. The launcher also has books, Apps. Under Apps I have installed NetFlix, Hulu+ for my video streaming needs and the kindle fire comes with a free month of Amazon prime videos. I am not going to use the fire for watching movies or TV shows. I have a dedicated TV and Roku for that purpose. When will I use these video streaming apps? When I need a little distraction and have time for short breaks I can fire up TV shows like Family Guy, American dad etc.

There is an email app which supports most popular emails. I have the kindle fire setup with mine and my wife’s gmail accounts. The setup was fairly simple and easy. I am able to sync my google contacts too. At this time, both twitter and facebook apps are web based apps meaning when you launch them they take you to the web version using the Amazon’s new silk browser. The Silk browser is pretty smooth and can render web pages with flash support which is a bonus. There is a unique email id for my kindle where I can send personal documents and it gets delivered to my kindle. Kindle does not render pdfs that well and there is a Adobe PDF reader app coming to the rescue. I tried loading up a 1500 page pdf. It is not that easy like reading a kindle book. I have to pinch and zoom, move to read. I hope it improves over time.

As far as storage, it packs in 8 gigs out of which only 6.5 gigs are available and Amazon has all the cloud service apps packed in with this. The Amazon Appstore for Android has good apps. I installed a few games and Angry Birds turns out to be the best of all. My wife is hooked on to Bejeweled and heck you get a free app a day. Not bad a deal.

The only drawback, as I see, is the power button being on the bottom of the device. I accidentally hit it a few times already and the devices goes to stand by mode. Kindle books are super great compared to the loaded pdfs. I also like the kindle cloud reader apps where I can start reading in my Kindle fire and continue where I left off from a smart phone or a web browser.

Overall Kindle Fire is a nice tablet for people on a budget.

Update: I had a few problems with the touch screen on the Kindle Fire and returned it to Amazon. Got myself a Apple iPad 2.

You can buy Kindle fire at Amazon. Happy Holiday Shopping!

I decided to buy a new Nokia Dual Headset HS -7 and here is my experience on the search for the headset. Balaji used to say that buy at the local shops to encourage the local entrepreneurs and don’t go for big shops in TNagar or elsewhere. He bought his new mobile at one of the local vendors. I followed suit and went to the same shop and asked for a original Nokia Dual Headset HS -7 and the boy at the shop told me that it will cost Rs.350 for an original one. He brought a small piece of pouch which had a headset with the name Nokia but it had faded letters and I immediately found that it was a counterfeit one. Here is the conversation.

Me : It does not look like a original Nokia headset.

Boy at the shop : Are you looking for that original Nokia Headset? If so, It will cost you Rs.450 and you need to check out in showrooms.

Me : !@#$$% (asking myself) What is the difference between original Nokia headset and that original Nokia headset?

I tried in a Nokia priority dealer and they did not have a stock of the one I was looking for. Finally I tried to enquire a shop at Tambaram. The guy at the shop told me that he can get me the headset but it will cost me Rs.650. When I asked him to show me the headset, he told me that I need to give him Rs.650 and he will tear open a new Nokia 6030 box in front of me and give me the headset alone. I was shocked to see his response and left the shop immediately. There was another shop keeper who asked me to go to the Nokia Factory to find the headset I am looking for. I have a few questions in mind after the search.

1. What will the guy, who promised me to tear open the box, do to a new customer who buys that phone?

2. Why does not Nokia beat these counterfeit products by selling the original ones at nominal rates?

Till my search for the original headset ends, I am left handicapped without my headset and with un answered questions.

As I wanted to do more with my iPod than music and video , I worked a bit to integrate my google calendar and tada! did it . Downloaded all my calendars from google into the calendars folder in iPod. Now I have the FIFA Worldcup 2006 schedule , ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 Schedule , my office shift schedule etc;
A few more hours on the internet taught me to use the notes feature in iPod. I stumbled upon a site which hosts free iPod eBooks. A few clicks got the ebooks like How to Speak and Write Correctly by Joseph Devlin , The World War and What was Behind It by Louis P. Benezet (86) into my iPod. The one feature I have yet to dig is the photos. I hope to work on it by tomorrow morning.

Overall, I will say that iPod video is really a awesome product with extra feture other than music and video. Only thing is that, people should know how to and where to find hacks and resources for it.

If you answer affirmatively to any of the above questions, continue reading. Last week, I came to know about a company which is working on a SD card that is WiFi enabled and that can fit into digital cameras. The company is none other than Eye-Fi.

Eye-Fi is� building wifi directly into the flash storage. Their first product will be a 1GB SD card with built in Wifi. For about the same price as a 1 GB flash card sells for today – $100. You�ll be able to upload photos, or whatever, directly from your device to a computer using the built in storage wifi capabilities.

It is still in the pipeline and let us see how far it becomes a hit.

I have enrolled myself to�Eye-Fi’s mailing list. Enroll, if you are excited.

USB Travel Plug – One adaptor with four options that means power in over 150 countries worldwide.

Not only is it a handy worldwide travel adaptor, but it is unique as it has an additional USB converter – allowing you to recharge or operate your device directly from the main power supply, where ever you are! Simply remove the usual cap, replace with the USB cap and enjoy!

Suitable for all devices without ground pin (2-pin connections; 2.5A; 110V – max.275W; 220V – max.550W).
When USB module is connected, voltage is reduced to 5 volts as per a standard USB outlet socket.
Includes essential USB charging unit – charge your iPod, travel speakers, PDA, MP3 player and mobile phone via USB CABLE. USB cable needs to be� bought separately� though.� But� on the� whole, this is a� good� gadget� for people who travel with� gadgets which can be charged� only� through USB cable. This little gadget costs $20.

1. A Poratble Audio and Video Player – like the ipod video 30 GB model.

2. A sleek 5 or 7.2 Mega Pixels point and shoot Sony Digital Camera – like the Sony DSC-T30.

3. A smart phone which has wifi,gprs connectivity – like the Treo 650 Smart phone.

4. A good Laptop that helps doing my work and connecting the gadgets I like to own.

I know the list is too expensive but I am pretty sure that I will own these one day.