Q: I want to buy a phone that costs around Rs 35,000. I was planning to buy the Galaxy Note, but thought of waiting for better phones. Kindly tell me if a good smartphone is coming up by the end of March. Also can you tell me when Galaxy S3 is launching? Anant Jain, on email
G&G: Samsung's Galaxy Note is a good choice, but a lot many new phones have been announced at the MWC 2012. Also, we expect Samsung to launch the Galaxy Nexus by the end of March (might be priced close to Rs 40,000). The Galaxy Nexus is a great device running on Android IceCream Sandwich. Rumours about the Galaxy S III are out, but no launch date has been finalised.
Q: I already own an iPad 2 and want to buy another tablet which has rich features and at the same time is not too expensive. My budget is about Rs 15,000. Kindly help me. Sivkan Puri, on email
G&G: We have done an extensive story on affordable tablets in this edition of G&G where we have tested seven tablets that cost under Rs 15,000. Of these the TabPlus Rio (for Rs 9,990) and MSI Winpad Enjoy 7 are good, though they lack SIM card slots. However, if you can get hold of the BlackBerry Playbook (upgradable free of cost to Playbook 2.0) it will be a steal deal as the Playbook has one of the best hardware and the best multitasking. We have also reviewed the Playbook 2.0.
Q: I want to buy a smartphone for round Rs 10,000 that provides good browsing experience and documents and PowerPoint viewers. How is HTC in terms of hardware and battery? Is HTC Explorer a good choice? Samik Mondal, on email
G&G: With your budget, you don't have a huge variety to choose from. In that price range, you can get Android smartphones which allows you to do most things-browse the web, download applications and so on. HTC Explorer is an average device with a 600MHz processor. So if you want to run heavy applications and games, don't expect a smooth performance. Instead, go for a slightly more expensive Android smartphone with 1GHz processor. If you plan to buy the Explorer primarily for calls, messaging and basic browsing, the phone will perform fine.
Q: Whenever I restart my BlackBerry it asks for a PIN. Entering the passkey every time is frustrating; how do I disable this? Rajshekhar Sirimala
G&G: The solution for your problem is simple. All you need to do is tp go to the setup or settings option and disable pin/passcode lock on the phone that you must have enabled to secure the phone. This is a good security feature in BlackBerry. It is not necessary to enable it if you are not a corporate user.
Q: I am a student of IT and need a good laptop for my programming. But I am confused whether to opt for Windows or buy a Mac. Please guide me. Will the Mac run C and programmes like Visual Studio and Dreamweaver ? Vinay Mehra, on email
G&G: Most popular software have Mac versions too. But the Mac versions somehow tend to be more costly. You can use a Mac for programming too. In fact, it is the preferred machine of many top programmers. But buy a Mac only if you are comfortable using the system. If you are someone who has used only or mostly Windows PCs, then you will have to unlearn and then learn how to use a Mac.
Q: I am a regular reader of G&G. I want to know if I should buy the Samsung Galaxy SII or the Note. Or should I wait for the SII? I have also pre-booked the Datawind Ubislate7+ (Aakash). Is it a good tablet? Rituraj Biswas, on email
G&G: Both the Samsung Galaxy SII and the Galaxy Note are neat devices. The biggest difference between the two is the display size as the SII has a 4.3-inch display while the Note has 5.3-inch display. Also the Note has a faster 1.4GHz dual core processor, while the SII has a 1.2GHz dual core processor. And then, the SII has a 1650 mAh battery and Note has 2500mAh battery, both lasting a day on average use. Responding to leaks, Samsung has said it will launch the Galaxy SIII soon. Rumours indicate it will run on a quad-core processor with Android IceCream Sandwich. As for the Ubislate, why don't you wait for user reviews if you are not in a hurry? The Aakash has got into some controversy about its specs and Datawind might change some things.
