Top 5 cameras under Rs. 10,000

If a tight budget is making you reconsider your camera buying decision this Diwali, here is a list that might be of some use to you. This buying guide lists the top five digital cameras that perform well and cost less than 10K. However, please bear in mind that there is no specific logic in the order that these cameras are shown. We've used multiple brands, as we do have a lot of loyalists who would want to stick to their favorite brand.

Canon A480

Price: Rs. 7,500

Replacing the A470, the Canon Powershot A480 has been around for a few months now. The CCD has been boosted to 10 MP and it features a new smaller restyled body and simple user interface. The A480 offers a decent 35-122mm eq lens with 3.3x optical zoom, max aperture range from f/3.0 to f/5.8. Also featured on the back is a 2.5-inch LCD (115K) LCD display that is used as the viewfinder as well as for reviewing pictures. The A480 sports 15 scene modes for still pictures and can record 20fps VGA or 30fps QVGA video in QuickTime Motion JPEG format. Sensitivity ranges from ISO 80 to a maximum of ISO 1600. It has no on-board memory but stores images and videos on a SD card.

It's a great buy for those who only want to record those special occasions without the need for experimenting.
The Canon PowerShot A480 should be available for about Rs. 7,500 with a one-year warranty and since this is a huge festive season, you should be able to bargain for a free charger and rechargeable batteries or at least a 2GB SD card.

Sony CyberShot W190

Price: Rs. 9,800

If you think the Canon A480 is too crude for your taste, you may want to take a look at this one.

Slimmer, sleeker and definitely much better looking than most cameras in this price range, the Sony W190 features a 12 MP CCD and a 35-105mm Sony branded 3x optical zoom lens. Aperture varies from f/3.1 to f/5.6 across the zoom range. The back of the camera houses the 2.7-inch (230K) LCD that acts as the viewfinder. Sensitivity ranges from ISO 100 to ISO 3200.

The W190 also makes use of Digital Image Stabilisation, which functions by raising the camera's sensitivity (ISO) to reduce motion blurring. It also includes face detection and features in-camera red-eye correction and trimming functions.

Other features include seven scene modes, a 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA) 30 frames per second video mode, and both USB 2.0 / and video output connections. Powered by a proprietary NP-BK1 InfoLithium rechargeable battery, the W190 should last for more than 180 clicks on a single charge.

In addition to the 12MB built-in memory, it has a Memory Stick Duo / PRO Duo card slot to store all the pictures and videos that you shoot.

Available in two colors - red and black, the Sony CyberShot should be available for Rs. 9,800 with a three-year warranty from Sony.

Some dealers may bundle a 2GB MS Pro DUO.

Olympus FE-5010

Price: Rs. 9,500

If, like me, you have a problem with the lousy 3x zoom available with most entry-level compact digital cameras, look no further.
The Olympus FE-5010 comes with a 12 MP sensor 36-180mm eq and a good 5x optical zoom. The back of the camera houses the 2.7-inch LCD viewfinder. Sensitivity ranges from ISO 64-1600. It features mechanical image stabilization that forms one part of its Dual Image Stabilisation system. The other half is Digital Image Stabilisation.

It offers 14 scene modes including an Intelligent Auto mode that can automatically select the correct shooting mode for the scene. Other features include contrast-detection autofocus system, face detection and tracking capability.

Powered by a proprietary rechargeable LI-42B Lithium Ion battery, the FE-5010 should last you for about 120+ shots on a single charge. The FE 5010 has 48MB of internal memory, as well as on xD-Picture and memory cards.

You should be able to get it for about Rs. 9,500 and do ask for some freebies like a 2 GB xD card.

Kodak EasyShare M380

Price: Rs. 9,500

I know a lot of you might flame me for not including the Kodak C140 in this article, but I have a good enough reason to choose the M380 instead of the C140. Read on.

The Kodak EasyShare M380 comes with a 10 MP sensor and a 38-190mm 5x optical zoom. While the best that the C140 can offer is an 8MP CCD and 3x optical zoom (albeit at a lower price).

The M380 comes with a three-inch screen (the biggest in this range) and offers a generous 16 scene modes with Kodak's face detection technology. Sensitivity ranges from ISO 80-1600. The EasyShare M380 also offers a movie mode, capturing VGA (640x480) or QVGA (320x240) clips at 30 frames-per-second, in QuickTime MotionJPEG format.

Images and movies captured on the Kodak M380 can either be stored on the 32MB internal memory or on SD cards.
Powered by a proprietary KLIC-7003 lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack, the M380 should last you for about 100 shots for a single charge.

Available for around Rs. 9,500, The Kodak EasyShare M380 comes in colors including colors including black, purple, red, and teal.

Samsung ES55

Price: Rs. 7,000

It sports a 10 MP CCD and a 35-105mm 3x optical zoom lens. The back of the camera houses a 2.5-inch (320K) LCD that acts as the viewfinder.

It comes with an array of shooting modes and assist modes for those new to digital photography. Notable features include Face Detection, Self Portrait, Red Eye Fix and Multi Slide Show. Sensitivity ranges from ISO 80-1600. It has a 9 MB internal memory and also comes with a SD card slot. Powered by a proprietary Li-Ion battery it should easily last for about 120+ shots on a single charge.

This 10 MP compact camera is almost as stylish as the Sony W190, and if you think you'd like to save a couple of thousand bucks, this is the way to go

HTC HD2 Debuts in India

HTC's flagship Windows Mobile based handset; the monstrous HD2 has finally made its official Indian debut. The feature packed handset might easily be the mobile phone with the largest ever screen. All of 4.3 inches at a jaw dropping 480 X 800 WVGA resolution, this one makes even the Omnia HD look like a midget. The latter "only" has a 3.7-inch screen.

The HD2 is the first Windows Mobile powered handset to sport the Sense UI that was first seen ion the Android based HTC Hero. The HD2 is also different as this one sports a capacitive touchscreen, instead of the usually seen resistive one on WM powered handsets.

The phone boasts of a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that runs at an incredible 1 GHz and makes the device a zippy customer to work with. It also boasts of 512 MB ROM and 448MB of RAM. Memory can be expanded using microSD cards. The phone is powered by the latest version of Windows Mobile 6.5 and is 3G capable as well. It boast of a 5-megapixel camera with auto focus and dual LED flash. A 3.5mm jack too finds its way in. The phone is also social media friendly with native support for Facebook and Twitter.

The HD2 is now available in India at Rs. 36,990. In Maharashtra, you will need to shell out more and it will set you back by Rs. 39,990. Tata DoCoMo has announced an offer with the launch of the HTC HD2 phone wherein its subscribers can browse the Internet and download 500MB of data per month free for six months.

Google Public DNS

Google Public DNS is a free, global Domain Name System (DNS) resolution service, that you can use as an alternative to your current DNS provider. Just configure your computer's network settings to use the IP addresses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as your DNS servers to use this free reliable DNS service. Your client programs will perform all DNS lookups using Google Public DNS. By using Google Public DNS you can Speed up your browsing experience and improve your security.

Mozilla drops Google as default search engine, picks Bing

Asa Dotzler, Mozilla's Director of community development from 10 years, has suggested Firefox users to add Microsoft's Bing to the list of the browser's search engines after Google's CEO downplayed consumers' privacy concerns. Citing a clip from a CNBC broadcast last Friday, during which Google chief executive Eric Schmidt discussed online privacy, Dotzler provided a link to the Firefox extension that adds Bing to Firefox's search engine list. With this, one can easily switch Firefox's search from Google to Bing.

What made Dotzler's touting of Bing interesting is that Mozilla, which has a multi-year deal with Google that ends in 2011, derives the vast bulk of its revenue from the arrangement, which sets Google's search as the default in the browser and shunts some revenues from ads that Firefox users click on to Mozilla. According to Mozilla's most-recently-released financial statement, 97 percent of its revenues came from deals it has with Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay and others. The lion's share of its search engine-based income, however, originated from Google

Acer India Unveils Multi-touch Laptop

Acer recently introduced a laptop with multi-touch display. This technology follows a slew of other new technologyproducts introduced by Acer into the mainstream Indian PC market.

The Acer Aspire 5738PzG series includes a 15.6-inch screen with advanced multi-touch technology with fingertip precision.

The company also launched an All-In-One PC featuring the multi-touch technology. The Aspire 5600 series All-In-One PC has a minimalist design scheme and comes with Microsoft's Touch Pack for Windows 7.

Commenting on the newly launched products, S Rajendran, CMO, Acer India, said, "The intuitive features of Aspire 5738PzG make computing fun and easy. Multi-touch input brings a new dimension to laptop functionality as it offers a natural way for users to interact with PCs."

This laptop will come preloaded with Windows 7, which has native touchscreen support and enables ease of everyday tasks like document or printer sharing, photo editing/sharing, emailing. The Aspire 5738PzG, powered with the all-new Windows 7, facilitates new ways to engage with Windows Touch and Windows Media Center, apart from ensuring easierwireless networking.

The Aspire 5738PzG laptop is priced at Rs. 43,500 including taxes and the Aspire 5600 series AIO is priced starting at an end-user price of Rs. 60,000, inclusive of taxes. The Touch Notebook would be available at leading LFRs and Acer Malls.

Airfone Launches Four Low-end Phones

Airfone has announced the addition of four new models to its expanding line up of affordable handsets in India. The company, which concentrates on the low to mid-range segment in India, has announced the AF 11, the Flip 29i, the AF 26 and the AF 31 - all of which are capable multimedia phones.

All three devices come with dual SIM support as well and offer pretty good multimedia support as well.

Starting off with the Flip 29i, as the name suggests, it is a flip (clamshell) phone and boasts of a 1.3 megapixel camera and a touchscreen OS as well. Additional bits like an MP3 player, video recording and memory expansion make the phone a decent buy for Rs. 4,999. The Flip 29i comes with a 2GB TF card as well

.Next in line is the AF 26, which has similar features as its flip-bodied brethren. The camera on it is a step down though. It can take pictures only at VGA resolution. There is a voice recorder and Bluetooth connectivity thrown in as well. The AF 26 supports expandable memory and can hold cards of upto 8GB. The battery life is above average and the company claims a 15-day standby time for this one! The AF 26 can be yours for Rs. 2,999.

Then, we have the AF 31 that offers GSM+ GSM or GSM + CDMA dual SIM modes. Basic features like a VGA cameraaudio/video recorder, torch, Bluetooth, GPRS support, stereo FM radio and memory expansion make this phone a decent buy at Rs. 4,999. This one supports upto 16GB of memory with SD cards.

The company has also launched the AF 11, another dual SIM handset, that is claimed to be the country's cheapest. The AF 11 is a very basic phone but supports features like FMRadio, MP3 player and 420-minute talk time. This one wills set you back by just Rs. 1,499!

World's cheapest car Tata Nano goes green

India's Tata Group says it is planning to produce hybrid versions of its Nano, billed as the world's cheapest car.
Ratan Tata, the chairman of both Tata Group and Tata Motors - the biggest vehicle producer in India - made the comments on a visit to South Korea.
A hybrid vehicle typically uses two or more distinct power sources to move it, usually petrol or diesel and a battery.
Mr Tata also said that low-priced goods would drive sales faster than high-end ones in India.
And he predicted this so-called price revolution would also continue to spread across the world.
The chairman did not provide any further details on the possible launch of cheap hybrid versions.
The Nano, whose basic model costs 100,000 rupees ($2,155; £1,306), was first delivered in India in July this year.

Phones without IMEI to stop ringing from Dec 1, 2009

Some phones may look fancy and come for a much lower price. But they lack one very critical feature, which can prove to be costly—the International Mobile Equipment Identity, commonly called the IMEI number.
This unique15-digit number is critical for tracking any handset whether it’s lost or stolen or needs to be monitored by security agencies.
Now, the government has ordered all mobile companies to disconnect phones that do not have an IMEI number from their networks with effect from December 1.

There are more than 2 crore phones in the country that are without IMEI. Most non-IMEI phones are manufactured in China and these phones are popular because they are inexpensive.
Well and this time the operators, after seeking many extensions, are left with no option but to comply.

The central government is worried that phones without IMEI number are untraceable and hence a security threat.
It’s after all the IMEI number, which allows a handset to be traced even though the user may keep changing the mobile operator.
While this may solve the government's problem, the operators are afraid of losing customers and revenue.
Hence they are encouraging users to get IMEI numbers implanted on their phones and are offering this service for Rs 199.

Meanwhile, even as the operators scramble to get subscribers to change to a phone with IMEI number, millions of users still don't have them, which means that their phones will stop ringing very soon.