Friday, March 13, 2009

Good News - Bad News

Hello all,
Yes, I can assure that the heading justifies the content of this blog, with good and bad news that I've come across recently. My pre-boards are over, and I got a mediocre 85%, yeah...sucked at chemistry as ever.
The All India Test Series that I had taken, has fetched a decent result. I've got a 70 percentile, among all the IIT aspirants in India...which gives me something bright to look at.
My board-examinations have started, and we've done so far with our languages, and math. Science left. I'm looking forward for these days to get over fast so I can start with the things I've planned this vacation for..here they are:
1. Study for the 'grand' reshuffling test ( sorry, but that's inevitable!)
2. Proceed on with another major part of my story
3. Music(yeah, I'm waiting to get hold of many new albums and songs, as suggested by Klaus.)
4.Guitar Lessons- I'm planning to start learning solos now that I'm fairly able to switch between the chord progressions..

Alright, now to the main part, I've got a few good and bad things to talk about. 
First, my dad recently got a new Blackberry  Pearl 8110, and it is simply freaking! The very interface is convinient to use, along with the softwares and other applications which indeed are the reason for Blackberry's greatness. The music quality is also impressive, very comparable to an iPod Shuffle, the camera is a nice 2MP with flash. Originally, there was only one game, which is a brick 'n' ball game, but other games are available on the net, and I'm waiting to download and check how they work, though I don't really fancy much of games, especially on handhelds that are meant for some other purpose.

Now for the bad part of the good news (that's little funny...yeah, sometimes I do end up being pesimistic): The bluetooth feature of the Blackberry is absolutely troublesome. I tried pairing with my mom's phone (and somewhat mine), which is a Samsung E250, and there were no leads, all I could do was transfer the address book, or send things. But the actual purpose I paired them for, which was transferring other multimedia files from the Sammy to the Blackberry, failed. Yeah, I'm trying to find out what the problem is. Anyway, it did work with my cousin's Nokia Express Music. Let's see.

Other bad news are actually news for me, which are bad. I mean, two new things that came out recently, and gave me a bad impression. First, is Amazon Kindle 2, and the all-new iPod Shuffle.

I've not yet seen any sense in buying oneself a console, separately for reading eBooks. Actually, I'm not for any gadget that has only a single functionality; one only ends up having multiple gadgets at a time, and the word 'portable' goes irrelevant there. Amazon Kindle was a so-so piece of science, but Kindle 2 astounded me more. And I thought only apple did such foolish things. Yeah, they indeed resorted to stupidities in Kindle 2 such as sealing the device, so memory cannot be extended. Moreover, the device does not support .pdf or other files that are generated by popular word processors. WTF?

Second thing I wanted to talk about is, as I mentioned, the new iPod shuffle that came out very recently. It has no buttons on the device. The piece costs a $80 and gives you a decent memory of 4GB. I also heard, that the buttons are fixed to the earphones, and thus sealing the accessory-part. Now even if the earbuds of ur new piece gets spoilt, and you gotta' shell out flat $30 for new ones! That's indeed atrocious, but no surprise from apple :P. Apple has also drastically shrunk the size of Shuffle to the size of a U-clip, which can easily slip out of your pocket and fall on the cushions! The clip provided is made of stainless steel, so a firm grip can be expected. The new shuffle also comes with voice menu that will read out the title of each song as you browse through the list. Yeah, no screen in this one, which is one big similarity to the old shuffle. Ergonomically, the new Shuffle seems to be much more uncomfortable, as you would have to raise your hand to your ears each time you want to jump a song, or pause, or play...which is...aweful indeed!

Anyway, these are just my opinions. Agree? Differ? Sumanth's all ears!

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So off I go, I gotta' take my lunch, and gear up for the preparation of my next exam, which is Physics. Yes, it's easy, but Sumanth, the Templar does not believe in taking many risks.

Cya,
Templar AKA Sumanth



8 comments:

Unknown said...

Good post.

The Amazon Kindle 2 and The new Ipod Shuffle aren't news to me though.

I liked the Amazon Kindle. But the fact that it cannot read .pdf files is news to me. BTW, Only Books bought on Amazon can be read on this device. Right? BTW, It isnt a bad gadget either!

The New Ipod Shuffle : Apple has done a good job, completely different from its predecessor shuffle. The new shuffle can talk!, which was a major problem in the old one, where one couldn't identify the song for quite a while.

Finally, good job!

Sumanth said...

Probably, but there are many more loopholes to Amazon Kindle: You must have an AMERICAN cash card, and the whole thing is not economical. THe device costs a whooping $360, while its a device that cannot even deliver a colour picture. And every additional book you purchase costs $10. May appeal to you...but sorry!

Shuffle...well, it's time they ought to bring out a nice PMP, rather than redefining their old one, which is the most basic model among others. Moreover, the sealing of earphones makes life terrible indeed, functionally!

Anyway, great you have voiced your opinion. Good to hear another part of the story.

Regards.

Kausthubh said...

Oh, sorry. I never knew it costed 360$ = Rs.18k. Well, I have heard that e-book readers are available for Rs. 5k in India. Is it right?

BTW, I agree totally. Apple headphones suck to the core. Although I own an Apple Ipod Classic, I have used the Apple headphones barely twice. I prefer Sony headphones, which have a proper shape.

Cheers!

CyrusTheVirus said...

Hey mate! That Blackberry Pearl 8110 looks wicked cool! Need to look into one of those, my N72 is kinda getting jaded now. What's the price tag on one of these?

Good luck with your exams mate! I've sent you my email id on the AT forums and hopefully we'll keep in touch. As for me, I'm going to be shuffling between 10+ hours of work-a-holism @ office and computer video gaming till late in the morning. :)

Sumanth said...

@Kausthubh - I'm not sure about eBook readers in India.
Yeah, apple headphones aren't up to the mark, at least economically :D

@cyrus - Thanks dude:)
The Blackberry costed around 11-12k I think, though I'm not too sure.

Now that's a pretty tough schedule to get on with. Anyway, have a good time!

Klaus said...

Hey Sumanth,

The Amazon Kindle does seem like an interesting device but it's ability to be able to read only amazon-purchased books and no .pdf files plus the immensely high costs makes it a thumbs down gadged IMO.

Apple Ipod Shuffle has become better I guess. I read it's review today in the tech section of the newspaper and it seemed quite impressive.

Regards,

Sumanth said...

@Klaus - Apple's music devices, namely the iPod family has always been known for it's excellent music quality.
The new shuffle has a good interface, but the hardware sealing habit of Apple has been putting me off for quite a while.

Klaus said...

Right. That's true