Samsung S8003 - Review

I purchased Samsung S8003 (also known as Samsung Jet http://tinyurl.com/ycpomcl) about 5 months ago through axiom, India. Here is a brief review of the features, pros amd cons of this mobile.

Feature List:

Display - (AMOLED) Screen size is of 3.1" with 480x800 resolution. Can watch videos on the available screen at any angle and the colors are really vivid. I usually watch videos (movies, songs) when travelling. The support CD comes with a video converter which while transfering the videos to the phone converts to the appropriate format. On full charge one can watch upto 7-8 hours of uninterupted video.

5.0 MP Camera - This mobile comes with 5.0 MP camera. It comes with AF lens and a dual power LED for flash. The camera application comes with plenty of features like image stitching, fame overlaps, scene detection etc. Can also record movies in different resolutions (144x176, 480x 720 etc).

Music Player - It comes with the support for standard 3.5 mm ear jack (What a relief!!). Supports most of the popular audio file formats.

Online Widgets - Although limited but there are plenty of widgets available for this phone. Gmaps, Gsearch, Gmail, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter etc are available. Other popular ones like Snaptu can run on this. A bit let off though is lack of support for Skype.

Wireless Connectivity - Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, Wi-Fi are available. Browsing on this mobile is smooth and easy. One - finger zoom is really awesome.

PROS:

1. 3.5 mm audio port.


2. Good camera. Works well in daylight.


3. Geo-tagging.


4. Good media player.


5. Screen clarity and touch sensitivity.


6. Light and compact.


7. Browsing speed.


8. Video recording at different resolution.

CONS:

1. Lack of cover for camera lens.


2. Pathetic and cheap cover for the mobile.


3. Lack of copy+paste functionality.


4. Lack of external keys for controlling the playlist.


5. Poor camera functioning under limited light conditions.


6. As of now no firmware upgrade available via PC Studio.


7. Lack of standard USB cable for data transfer/charging.

TIPS:

If you want to get the GPS working for free (remember using Gmaps will cost you as the maps are downloaded via GPRS connection) then check out this link:

http://areacellphone.com/2009/09/samsung-s8003-enable-gps-route66-free/

Namma Metro - Namma Headache

What an ambitious project!! What pathetic planning. The guy who has planned this along with the elected morons deserve Darwin award (http://www.darwinawards.com/). One need not be a planning genius to figure out how the soil testing and pillar erection right in the middle of busy roads would affect the traffic. Worse the people in question do not seem to learn from their mistakes. For example having known the issues faced during the initial stages of the project at places like M.G Road etc, they should have done a better job at other sites. The "Singapore" dream has now more or less become "Singapura" nightmare. Traffic management near the metro sites is down right pathetic. BMTC stops next to traffic signals , roads congested on either side of a rail crossing and vehicles breaking down on one lane roads are few of the nightmares that one has to go through almost everyday . To top this every now and then the VIP (Very Irritating Persons) caravans cause major headaches to the daily commuters. Seems like we have elected these morons to cause us all the inconvinience. Bangalore traffic has become a matter of ridicule.
Hopefully the "Headache" project gets completed ASAP.

Introduction

Hey All,
This is Vallabha here. I am working as a project lead at MindTree Ltd in Bangalore. Have never blogged before, but as the saying goes better late than never. I will try to capture my thoughts through blogs here. Hope you enjoy the same. And hey do not forget to leave your comments on the same.

-Rgds
Vallabha