Nomophobia the new Mania !

Is the network coverage not there or is it that the mobile is out of charge? This is the panic that keeps gripping each individual in this tech savvy 21^st century. Earlier, the stress was to get a job, to get married or to reach one’s workplace in time or even anxiety of a broken home. But in this cutting edge technology driven frantic pace of life, have redefined stress and anxiety. Today, it is most closely associated with the fear of being out of contact. This affliction has been given a new name and is known as nomophobia as millions of people suffer from no mobile phobia and hence the term is coined.

People today are wedded with the mobile phone and the reason that they give is to be in touch with their family and friends constantly. Losing mobile contact with children, parents, colleagues and even customers can be worrying and stressful experience for many.  But is it only this or there is some emotional stress behind the veil of being in touch constantly. There are people who do not switch off their mobile phones.. The question is why? Experts believe that if the mobile phone stops working, the mobile addicts feel restless and they feel insecure, as if they are being cut off from this rat race and being panicky is a 24/7 culture for these kinds of people.

But if you are one and are stressful if your mobile is out of charge or credit, then you are not alone. The mania is catching up and to avoid nomophobia keep your mobile credits topped up and ensure that you carry your charger wherever you go such that it does not run out of battery. You can also carry a pre-paid phonecard to make emergency calls if your mobile is lost, stolen or broken. Additionally, keep the contact numbers of your immediate family members in record, as your handset might get lost or stolen.

Above all, try keeping your mobile phone switched off for some time so that you can liberate yourself from the shackles of nomophobia. 

Did you know that your cell phone can cause brain tumor? 

Cell-phone industry is on cloud nine with companies launching new products each day. Each passing moment is being spent on research and development to create smartphones with more user-friendly feature. Big amount of money is being spent on advertisements and the buzzing news across all ages is what’s the latest from Nokia or is iPhone better than Blackberry? 

But the underlying question is-Are we aware that this cell phone can create havoc health hazards? 

When we communicate through our mobile phones or use them to download music or while time by seeing a movie or even use it to shop around, we are in a constant process being exposed to electromagnetic radiation. A group of researchers who have teamed up with Radiation Research Trust in UK, organizations such as Powerwatch and EMR Policy Institute, US, have pointed out the glaring fact that the over the years cell phone industry has not given much attention to the threats of radiation. 

Are we not the guinea pigs who are being the subject of experiment to gauge the effects of exposure to cellphone radiation? 

Public is not informed that exposure to electromagnetic radiation from cellphone lead to increased risk of: 

• Brain tumors
• Eye Cancer
• Salivary gland tumors
• Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
• Leukemia
• Testicular cancer  

It has been also reported that children are more prone to brain tumor than adults, while the telecom industry undermines this glaring reality. 

The arguing facts that make headlines is cell phone has ushered a whole new era of communication and its advantages always outweigh the ill effects. There exist opiniated views that argue cellphones kept closer to ears might be the leading cause of these problems, so the companies have launched hands-free mobile devices. Last but not the least, today’s people strives for a smarter life besieged with harmful gadgets than leading a complete healthy life. 

But still I would request one and all to lessen the use of mobile phones and to keep in mind this truth while using them. 

Arguable points are always welcome!   Also check if you are suffering from ‘NOMOPHOBIA”

Credit: aboutcellulars.com

The two classic phones from Nokia India are out in the market and its branding is being done by none other than the Bollywood diva and the youth icon Priyanka Chopra. Not only that there is a contest too with the launch. So, read on to know more.

First, let me provide a synopsis on the tech spec of these two mobile phones -Nokia Classic 6700 and Nokia Classic 6300.

Nokia Classic 6700 is equipped with 5 megapixel camera with 2.2 inch display screen with picture resolution of 320×240 pixels. Weighing 113gm, this 6700 phone measures 109.8 x 45 x 11.2 mm in size and has in-built GPS. With micro SD-card, Nokia Classic 6700 can have 8GB memory. You can simply owe this handset at just Rs 14,000.

On the other hand at only Rs. 8000, you can grab the Nokia Classic 6300 with a little compromise on picture quality. Yes, Nokia Classic 6300 is available with 3.2 MP cameras and weighs just 96gm. It’s slim and sleek with stainless steel body and 2.2 inch display screen. For the purpose of navigation and GPS, it supports external GPS.

Credit: ubergizmo.com

Both, Nokia Classic 6700 and Nokia Classic 6300 are equipped with 3.5mm stereo jack, Micro-USB connector and supports Nokia maps.

Here is the detail of the contest that is also named same as the tagline-Pictures get us talking. The main motive of the new campaign is to have a new visionary appeal so that users get to know the elements of mobile imaging as they walk through into the world of mobile communication. The consumer contest provides with the opportunity to upload interesting picture on the Nokia website: www.nokia.co.in.  Next is to find out which picture has started maximum conversation threads or in simple words the most talked about picture on the web will be the winner.

Nokia launches the 8 MP camera phone N86 in India today. Check out the details of this phone in the link below

http://www.sadhanbiswas.com/myblog/gadgetzone/nokia-n86/

Samsung’s S9110-Wristwatch styled touchscreen phone to be launched this month.

credit: engadget

Under its S-series Samsung is adding some cool gadgets. This Korean company has recently launched for its country SCH-W760, the latest mobile that would allow video conferencing in total darkness with sharp 3 mega pixel night vision camera.

But it’s the S9110 touchscreen mobile that would definitely be the showstopper in this S series from Samsung. It will be the thinnest mobile styled as a wristwatch. This is expected to be a high-end one. It is fashioned with stainless steel body with scratch-resistant touchscreen. However, it is loaded with host of features, the details of which is yet to be released. But little sneak peek tells us this S9110 will support Bluetooth 2.1, sync with Outlook email and will be equipped with MP3 player, voice recognition system and a speaker phone.

Another on the anvil is the SCH-i920. Keep waiting as we will keep it posted as details are out.

Android, a product of Open Handset Alliance (OHA) is a complete package of software for mobile devices. It is comprised of an operating system, middleware and mobile applications. The android operating system runs on open Linux kernel. It contains a set of APIs (Application Programming Interface) and libraries that gives users enormous facility to innovate new applications, for example: a developer can combine information from the web with data on an individual’s mobile phone — such as the user’s contacts, calendar, or geographic location. A developer can build an application that enables users to view the location of their friends and be alerted when they are in the vicinity giving them a chance to connect.

Android provides a software development kit (SDK) which is constituted of debugger, libraries, a handset emulator (based on QEMU), documentation, sample code, and tutorials.

Key features of an Android operating system:

• Handset Layout>: The platform is adaptable to VGA, 2D graphics library, 3D graphics library based on OpenGL ES 1.0 specifications, and traditional Smartphone layouts.
• Storage: The Database Software SQLite is used for data storage purposes
• Connectivity: Android supports connectivity technologies including GSM/EDGE, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. 
• Messaging: SMS and MMS are available forms of messaging including threaded text messaging.
• Web browser: The web browser available in Android is based on the open-source WebKit application framework.
• Media support: Android supports the following audio/video/still media formats: MPEG-4, H.264, MP3, AAC, MIDI, OGG, AMR, JPEG, PNG, GIF.
• Additional hardware support: Android can utilize video/still cameras, touch screens, GPS, accelerometers, magnetometers, accelerated 2D (with hardware orientation, scaling, and pixel format conversion) and accelerated 3D graphics.
• Development environment: Includes a device emulator, tools for debugging, memory and performance profiling, a plug-in for the Eclipse IDE.
• Market: The Android Market is a store house of applications that can be downloaded and installed .Originally only freeware applications were supported. Paid-for applications have been available on the Android Market in the United States since 19 February 2009.
• Multi-touch: Android has native support for multi-touch but the feature is disabled at the kernel level. An unofficial mod has been developed that enables multi-touch, but requires superuser access to the device to flash an unsigned kernel.

Evolution of Android:

Way back, on November 5, 2007 a consortium of companies(whose count is 47 now) comprising of  Broadcom Corporation, Google, HTC, Intel, LG, Marvell Technology Group, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, and Texas Instruments came into existence, coinciding with the release of their first product ‘Android’ with ARM Holdings Plc, Atheros Communications, Asustek Computer Inc, Garmin Ltd, Softbank, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba Corp, and Vodafone Group joining later. The latest entry in OHA is Acer.

Android is available as an entirely open source since October 21, 2008. Despite of the fact that it is an open source product, there are few developments happening in the product in a private development branch named ‘Cupcake’ (Its a read-only mirror branch for public view). This development activity will result in changes in download manager, the framework, Bluetooth, the system software, radio and telephony, developer tools, the build system and several applications, as well as a number of bug fixes.

On 30th April, 2009 another milestone was achieved with the release of 1.5 update for Android which led to following enhancements:

•  Ability to record and watch videos with the camcorder mode

•  Uploading videos to YouTube and pictures to Picasa directly from the phone

•  A new soft keyboard with an “Autocomplete” feature

•  Ability to automatically connect to a Bluetooth headset within a certain distance

•  New widgets and folders that can populate the desktop

•  Animations between screens

•  Expanded ability of Copy and paste to include web pages. 

Lets have some insight on devices already running on Android and those which would be running on it soon. HTC dream, HTC Magic, Chinese company QIGI I6, Geeks phone ONE (first Spanish android phone) are the ones which are already using android. The mobiles which are coming soon with android are Samsung I7500, HTC Hero, HKC Imobile. Acer is expected to release Android for the Acer One netbook in Q3 2009. Chinese ODM Yuhua’s first Android phone, the dual-SIM DSTL1 will be released in June.

Latest Buzz in the territory of android based device is the announcement of Android Native development kit version 1.0 which allows software or applications to run natively on the Linux layer below and the possibility of fennec (Firefox’s mobile version) to be a part of Android mobile OS.

With Android around we can customize our phones to our interests and has the capacity to incorporate almost all the technologies coming in future.

Already Report says Google Android to grow 900% in 2009. Keep watching …