My New Toy – HTC Touch Diamond

The latest toy thats keeping me busy: HTC Touch Diamond

It Rocks!

3 comments | August 17th, 2008 at 09:24am

Dell Inspiron 1420 upgraded from Intel 3945ABG to 4965AGN

Well, we have a Dell Inspiron 1420 [did i mention that before? :)]………. and when we purchased it back in Nov ’07, it came with an Intel 3945ABG WiFi card. The Intel 3945ABG card supports speeds of upto 54 Mbps (802.11g). Its good for accessing the internet, but its slow when you do file transfers between nodes on the local network.

So.., over the past week, upgraded our home network…which involved:
1. Replacing my old D-Link DI-524 router with an 802.11n router
2. And replacing the WiFi Card on the laptop with an 802.11n capable card (Intel 4965AGN WiFi Link card).

Linksys WRT600N Router

For #1, I purchased a Linksys WRT600N router — which is a wireless-N gigabit dual-band router, with storage link — which means, you can connect a USB drive to it, and that drive would be available on your network! (kind of like network attached storage – NAS). So, now, my 750GB Seagate external drive is plugged into it, and all its partitions are now accessible wirelessly as a shared folders!

Intel 4965AGN mini-express card

For #2, here is what I did …

• Confirmed with the Dell tech support that my laptop was indeed upgradeable.
• Purchased a Intel 4965AGN mini-express card. Now, here is the thing – you can buy this card from dell.com – which would cost you around $80+tax+shipping, or you can get it from any third party website. I got it from buy.com (or amazon.com), where it was available for around $33 shipped! (yes… thats how dell rips you!)
• The WiFi card on the Dell Inspiron 1420 is below the keyboard. So, you need to remove the keyboard. There is a Service Manual on the dell website which tells you how to replace the WiFi Card. It was pretty simple. In some laptops of other brands (or other dell models), the card is at the bottom of the laptop and is much easier to access.
• Briefly, here is how you do it:
  • Shutdown you laptop, remove the batteries and ground yourself. Once the battery is remove, press the power button on the laptop to ground the motherboard of your laptop.
  • Remove the Keyboard hinge cover using a plastic scribe (no screws to remove here, its all held with tabs and notches).
  • Once the hinge is off, unscrew the two screws which secure the keyboard, and lift the keyboard gently since the keyboard connector is still connected to the motheboard.
  • Rotate the keyboard connector latch (blue colored in my case) towards the front of the computer to disconnect the keyboard cable from the keyboard connector on the mother board.
  • Once the above is done, the keyboard is free. Now, you should be able to see the existing WiFi card in the mini-express slot.
  • In my case, there was one screw which was securing the card to the system board. I just unscrewed it and the card popped up at a 40 degree angle. I could easily remove the card out of the slot. I had to then remove the two antenna cables that connect to the card. Its simple – just gently pull it apart.
  • Now, one interesting thing is, the old 3495ABG card had two anntenna connectors, but the new 4965AGN card has 3 antenna connectors. You need to use all three to make full use of the Wireless N capabilities. It would still work with two anntennas connected, but the performance won’t be “the” best.
  • Luckily for me, the Dell Inspiron 1420 had a third unused antenna cable (grey color).
  • So, I connected the three antenna cables/wires to the new card (white, black and grey), and then plugged back the new card in.
  • Fixed all components back.
  • Started the system, installed the drivers for the new card.
  • As simple as that. The entire thing took around 15 mins.

So, now I have a wireless-N (draft-N) network running in my house. Performance is much better when it comes to file transfers or watching movies streamed wirelessly from the attached harddisk.

In theory, you should be able to do this on most of the laptops with intel chipsets and core duo processors (except HP laptops). Do confirm it with the laptop manufacturer and make sure your BIOS is updated!

3 comments | April 12th, 2008 at 11:17pm

Widescreen LCD Monitor – V7 Series

Well, laptops are good to have, but after using them for over an year now, realized that laptops are bad for my eyes. Not if you use it on a proper desk, but the thing with laptop is, its too easy & convenient to use it when you are on the bed, and some how, in my case, I ended up placing the laptop too close to my eyes.

Well, I have been wearing eye glasses for the past 2.5 yrs now, and recently did a routine eye test. Obviously, my power had slightly increased and I think it can be attributed to the improper use of laptops!

So, this week, bought myself a 22″ widescreen LCD monitor (V7 Series). I have never heard about this name before, but found it via a deal site on staples.com. It had very good reviews, and it was well priced. Got it for around $238 (including taxes+shipping).

Its a pretty decent monitor, has regular VGA input, built-in stereo speakers, dvi inputs (no cables though – you need to buy them). Love it so far!…….No problems what so ever. See Updates below…

Also got Logitech Cordless Navigator Duo. So, now I have a full fledged ergonomic workplace at home.

Hopefully, that should help my eyes and my body! :)

Update 1 (9-Nov, 9 AM CST): After using the monitor for a few days, noticed that there was a low hissing noise, which used to start and stop randomly. Asked staples for an exchange – to which they readily agreed. Waiting for a replacement unit today. Will update how the new unit performs.

Update 2 (9-Nov, 7 PM CST): Staples folks screwed up. They are telling me that they have some logistic issues, and the monitor that I was supposed to get is missing from their warehouse. So, its only possible for them to deliver on Monday (12-Nov). Will update once I get the replacement unit!

Update 3 (14-Nov, 8 PM CST): Staples delivered the monitor on Monday (12-Nov), and also offered a $35 coupon to compensate me for the trouble. Haven’t yet got the coupons, but i think they should be here in a few days. The replacement monitor is OK so far!. No hissing noise for 2 days now. Will have to keep an watch for few days. Will update in a weeks time.

3 comments | November 4th, 2007 at 09:48pm

Cellphones in USA & India

If you are an Indian and have come to the US recently, you will be ‘shocked’ to see how closed and primitive the US cell phone market is! Well, except for the iPhone which is by no means primitive — but its ‘locked’ to the not-so-popular AT&T network.

Imagine getting charged for receiving SMS messages! Its really a sad story out here. There is no easy way for an average person to buy a phone of his or her choice without signing up for a contract. And the contact is normally 2 years! Which means, you must be a subscriber of that cell phone provider for the period of the contract at an agreed upon price. The average cost of plan such plans – around 40$ to 45$ a month (data plans would cost extra!), which is way to expensive compared to India!!! And if you want to switch to an other network, you need to cancel you current contract by paying an “early termination fee”.

If you want to buy a phone without a contract, you need to spend a fortune and its equally painful to get a service from a good provider (without buying a new handset). In other words, its in no way a free market. And, clearly, the down side to this entire thing is … the entire US cell phone market is lagging years behind the ‘world’!

Do check out this very interesting article on the US Cell phone industry which compares the US cellphone industry model with the “The Soviet Ministry Model”….: Free My Phone

I feel privatization is a good thing for India, but competition is very important too. And the most important thing is there must be a very effective regulatory authority like TRAI, which kind of enforces the rules to which the companies in India comply. Kudos to the Indian telephone industry!!

I wish India never gets into a situation like the US when it comes to telecommunications.

3 comments | October 23rd, 2007 at 12:30am

T-Mobile – The Razr V3 and my Nokia 6600

Finally after 6 months, managed to get a cell phone without any deposits. I guess my credit history is starting to build up now. The last time when I asked for a cell phone service, I was told to deposit $750!!

I still say cell phone market in US sucks. The service providers dictate the market. No good handsets to choose too. You are kind of forced to buy from the limited range of handsets that the services providers have to offer.

After doing some major research, I opted for T-Mobile service. The service plan is pretty decent (Get More 1500), but is quite expensive compared to the mobile service back in India. With the plan, you are kind of forced to buy a cell phone, and T-mobile had very limited variety. Nothing compared to the barrage of cell phones available in India!.

I picked the Motorola Razr V3 (silver), since it was decently priced (keep in mind that I have an 1 year contract!). I had also read lots about its looks, and its coolness factor. Its supposed to be the Best and the “Most Happening” phone in the US of A currently in the market!.

The Razr V3 definitely has the looks! Its cool & sexy. Very sleek and slim. Its got a very beautiful finish, and a 260K color TFT display. It has a decent battery life too. And that’s where it ends. I being a Nokia 6600 user, feel like a total handicapped using this phone.

Here are some things which suck big time about the Razr V3…

1. Its a flip phone. So, you need to open the flap to make/receive calls. And, the Razr V3 is designed in such a way that its next to impossible to open the phone with one hand. So, if you receive a call while you are eating or using your other hand, its a struggle.
2. The phone is not at all extensible. Its got very little internal memory (5 MB), and there is no way to increase it. No slots for memory cards either.
3. The phone boasts that it can play MP3 tones. Yes. It does have a great stereo sound, but with 5 MB of space, you can only store ring tones, and if you are lucky enough, you can store a MP3 song or two.
4. It has a 4x digital Zoom camera – but the 640 x 480 resolution sucks big time. This phone deserves a better resolution camera.
5. No Video recording. …….. and even if you could, you wouldn’t have enough space to store the recorded clips.
6. Using Bluetooth, the phone could not detect most of the other Bluetooth devices that were around. But the other devices could detect and connect to the Razr V3. Once connected, I could transfer files as usual.
7. There is an small stamp sized display on the outside (on the flap). But, you cannot do any customization specific to this display.
8. The phone supports Java, but its very very slow. Again due to space constraints, you cannot load lots of applications
9. The phone does not recognize WAV files!!! However, it plays Midi files, and MP3 files as ring tones.
10. No support for .rm (real media) files when it comes to video. Neither can it play DivX encoded files (.avi).

Compared to the above, if you consider the features, my Nokia 6600 beats the Motorola Razr V3 hands down! While I came here to the US, I had brought my Nokia 6600 from India. So, after using the Razr V3 for couple of days, Now I am back to my Nokia 6600! I plan to use the Razr as a back up phone! Just in case. Or may be… just to ‘show off’. hahaha…

7 comments | July 25th, 2006 at 01:14am

Cellphones in US – Sucks

Cell Phones. One area where India rocks. No questions.

Ok, lets see the differences :

• In US, first of all, its very difficult to get a cell phone connection!. You need to have a good “credit history” to get a cellphone. If you don’t have a credit history, you need to pay some deposits. And guess what? I was told that I need to deposit $750 to get a cell phone connection since I did not have any credit history!!! In India, almost everyone can manage to get a cell phone service. No major deposits etc!
• In US, almost all the providers ask you to sign a 1 year or 2 year contract. In India … “What contract?? Are you kidding?”
• In US, you get a mobile phone with your plan. This is good one way, but then you will have to sign a one year contract for sure (and pay some money for the handset…offcourse less than the market price – but this depends on the plan and the phone in question)!. In India, you have the freedom and flexibility to select your phone, based on your budget, from Rs 500 to 25,000! And you can change your handset anytime (except CDMA providers)
• In US, the airtime charges (or the call charges) are way too high!! There is air-time charge for incoming calls too!. In India, incoming is *free*, and the outgoing calls tooo are hell lot cheaper compared to US. Infact, I had almost forgot the term “air time charges” !
• In US, some plans charge you for receiving SMS !.. Nice way to get screwed!. In India, I don’t know of any plans where you get charged for receiving SMSes.
• In US, sending out SMS is pretty expensive (from 4 cents to 40 cents!!!). In India…….its 1/10th the price!
• In US, prepaid SIMS are contract free, but are way too expensive. i.e., the postpaid plans them self are expensive, but prepaid is more expensive. In India, the call charges on pre-paid and post-paid are almost comparable.
• One more point is, in US, with most of the plans, you get some free minutes. If you are within the limit, then you are safe. But if you exceed, then you will be charged like crazy. And the minutes are used even if you call a Toll Free number! Most plans count the minutes for incoming call too!

I also noticed that in US, Nokia handsets are not that popular. I haven’t seen many people use Nokia handsets. I found more people using Motorola handsets.

Clearly, India is far ahead! Hope to see similar progress in other areas too!

21 comments | March 15th, 2006 at 08:22am

Wireless @ Home

My 802.11g wireless router came in this week. I actually wanted to buy a Linksys router, but got a very good deal on D-Link AirPlus™ G DI-524 Wireless Router. Got it for around $9 after mail-in rebates from eCost.com. But the final price was around $17 after shipping & Handling fees, which is still much lower compared to Linksys price. Will go for Linksys in future if there is a need.

It took around 30 mins for me to setup the router. And around 15 to 20 mins to setup a secured network.

So, now its fun browsing without the wires!

4 comments | February 18th, 2006 at 03:15am