Website Review: Laptop Community

Laptop community is an India centric website dedicated for all things laptop. As the name suggests, the site is dedicated to laptop reviews -- user reviews to be precise. This is what distinguishes this site from the others.

While there are other websites offering user reviews, there is a dearth of dedicated review sites specifically for laptops. Laptop community aims to be your one-stop shop when it comes to laptop reviews. Yes, there are "expert reviews" out there, however in most cases, a well written user review is far better than reading a review on a tech website which usually concentrates on the specifications and the value for money part while missing out on the actual usage reports. It is the abundance of these kind of reviews that makes laptop community worth a visit prior to homing in on that elusive laptop you were on the lookout for.

So, does the site a deserve a visit before you buy a laptop for yourselves? Read on.

Interface
The website has an uncluttered look to it. The top menu has been intelligently used to list the reviews by brand. The home page lists the latest reviews and shows up to 20 reviews. In case you need a preview of more, there is a dropdown option where you can increase the number of reviews listed.
                                                   Click on the image to enlarge

Pretty neat. Although this might not be a very obvious feature, it does make the navigation much easier.
The left side-bar lists popular laptops by model names listed according to the average user ratings. The good thing about these ratings is that it is category specific.

Sections
While concentrating more on user-reviews, there are different sections as well. These include useful stuff like featured articles, new launches, news and even a QnA section where visitors can post their queries and get answers from the laptopcommunity panel of experts. The video section has a good collection of laptop related videos. The forum though seems to be still in its nascent stages.

Ease of use
The website, with its comprehensive list of reviews does deserve a look before you set out to purchase a laptop. While some of the reviews may not be up to the mark (grammar, punctuation and details), this is to be expected from a site of this nature. This is far better than totally unreadable so called "reviews" I have come across many times on other popular web sites.

Overall
The website loads quite quickly. No complaints on that front. I did come across some dead links though. The Toshiba section for example when clicked upon, gave me a 404 error. Submitting a review is an easy task. All the user needs to do is to click on the prominent "write a review" link seen on all the pages. Pretty neat overall.

So is the website worth a visit? Definitely. The sheer number of user-reviews available should be enough for you to head this way. Who knows this website might just influence your choice next time you head out to buy a laptop!

Videocon Integra 32 HD Review

Videocon is one of India's largest consumer electronic brands and sells a host of products ranging from plasma TVs to washing machines. Once considered a premium brand, it still continues to be the market leader - but at the same time, has managed to carve a niche for itself by managing to produce competitive products for a comparatively cheaper price bracket.

The once nascent large screen TV market has opened up with continuous drop in the price of LCD and Plasma displays. There still is a premium tag applied to LCD and plasma displays -- although screen sizes below 26" have become affordable even for lower middle class income groups. But what if you are a movie freak who needs to set up a budget home theater on a shoestring budget? A 26" won't do justice for large screen viewing. You would require at least a 32 incher for that. Forget high definition for the moment.. because there is no way you'd be able to set up an HD system under 1 lakh. But, I bet you'd be happy with a cheap 32 inch screen that could offer you the big screen experience at home. That is where Videocon's LCD TV range comes to your aid.

Enter the Videocon Integra 32 HD! Let me start off by saying - this is no Sony Bravia. You'd find basic features with this TV.. most of which would suffice for a moderately demanding user.. (like yours truly)


Design and Looks
The 32 HD might as well be one of the largest 32 inchers around. It simply dwarfed the other 32 inchers I saw at the showroom. At a time when we've been inundated with "all black", glossy panels, the 32 HD offers visual relief by sporting a black+silver look. However, this might not go well with design connoisseurs.. nevertheless, the large speaker grills and the overall size does make it stand out from the crowd.

Features & Connectivity
The 32 HD supports a resolution of 1366 x 768, has a dynamic contrast ratio of 6000:1, which seems to be good enough considering even direct sunlight did not affect the picture quality as much as I expected. The response time is a decent 6.5 ms and the panel supports a maximum brightness of 500 cd/m2.

On the connectivity front, the set has two HDMI ports, component input, S-Video, a VGA in, and AV IN and out ports. Oh and there is a rarely used SCART input as well. A decent AV receiver should be able to take care of whatever is lacking here.


Picture quality:
I had the opportunity to compare the picture quality of this TV with that of more more expensive models - including a Sony Bravia and -- the Videocon did manage to hold its own in the illustrious company that included an LG and Samsung as well. The contrast seems to be very good and produces good brightness levels. The DCDi technology supposedly produces crisper and more realistic pictures. However that is yet to be seen as I did not notice much difference with DCDi turned off. As I do not have a PS3 or Xbox 360, I am not able to comment on the gaming performance now. But the low response time and the good brightness levels does promise a decent performance with fast moving images. Cable TV watching up close is not at all enjoyable -- although it looks great from a distance greater than 2 metres. This is however common with any LCD display in the market. Not really the Videocon's fault. To sum it up, unless you're a hard-core videophile, you would not mind the quality that this set offers.


Sound
The sound quality is nothing exceptional.. but heck, you do not expect great sound with an LCD display -- as in most cases, it would be connected to external speakers.

Conclusion
At a decent price of 28,000 (or less!)this TV is a steal and compares well with other similarly spec-ed TVs. If you do not prefer the dual tone look, there is an all black version as well in the 32 C. To sum things up, this is a good buy for someone on a tight budget. With a large scale network of Videocon dealers and service centres, warranty should not be a concern.

Geek? Who me?

Precisely! Let me explain.

I am not trying to bloat this place by my self egocentricity.. but heck, I considered myself a gadget guru. I seriously thought I was one. And there were reasons. I was the local neighbourhood "know-it-all". Almost everyone who was in possession anything remotely resembling an electronic gadget within 500 meters of my locality has had a session of "what to buy and why to buy" from yours truly before they ventured out and actually had a look at the products. In most cases, I had delivered the Verdict and the product was usually selected much before the folks ended up at the showroom. I recall in some cases, I made people call up showrooms and make them ask if they had the (add any model number here) in stock. If not when can we expect one so that we can get it home as soon as possible.

And it worked! I still have friends and relatives who are extremely happy that I was there for them to guide through.

I was still basking in the glory of my know it all status when I decide to get myself something. Its been long since my N73 lost its original headset and audio adapter. Headed straight to the Nokia website and had a look. Then the typical geek mentality takes over. Get another run of the mill AD-41 and HS-20?? No way!! I want something better, expensive and it should look er.. geeky and it ought to be something that no one else has.

Thats when I spot a gem amongst the array of ridiculous looking headsets. The HS 69! It had everything I needed - and more. Music control buttons, (play,pause,previous, next), Radio, LCD display which displays the current track, displays the caller name/number while on call and also gives notification of messages and stuff. And I thought it looked cool as well! So it was decided. This is destined to be my next acquisition.

Thats when I found something interesting. This thing is RARE! I roamed almost every authorised dealerships to have a look at the thing and buy one if they have it. Apparently, no one stocks it (I think no one wants it) That fuelled the geekiness in me to newer heights. I am going to get this no matter what - I recall saying this to myself.

Where my search for the HS-69 in stores failed to yield anything positive, a quick Google search revealed that the object of my attention is available for sale online! So what? Got myself one immediately and I two days ago received it in a tacky brown envelope. Opened it up and guess what??

NO 3.5MM JACK!!!


!@#$%^^&*


I ASSUMED this thing would come with a 3.5mm jack. I assumed it because the 69 in HS-69 sounds more high end than the HS -20. So what I have with me now is a stupidly elongated weird looking music controller (some asked me if it was an MP3 player) with extremely unusable and un-ergonomically placed buttons and what more? It comes with headphones that apparently were designed by the soviets in the mid 60's.


Thankfully, the shop where I went to get myself a Creative EP-630 noise cancellation headphones to pair with the HS-69, they did not have it in stock. Thats 700 bucks saved.



Never trust a geek.

N73 - A Long Term Review

For a change, here’s a review with a difference. It’s easy writing a review looking at a device, playing with its features for a few days and jotting down a few words describing the product. The real testament to a products quality is a “long term” review.


If we have some auto buffs amongst us, they might be fairly well versed with the concept of “long termers”. The term is used to describe cars that the auto magazines use for a fairly long amount of time and the result is a much more detailed look in to the product than a review or a preview where little nuances and features or even downsides might be missed out on.


That brings us to the current review here.


Lets talk about the N73 here. Outdated? Well, it seems fairly outdated considering the fact that we have the flagship N95 and now the N96 in sight.Also, cousins N78 and N82 have stolen the limelight from the good ol N73 which was once upon a time the flagship, if not the best phones from the Nokia stables.As of now,the feature packed music edition retails for considerably less than its well endowed cousins and it still is a steal at this price. We’ll talk about the music edition here.


Looks and Screen:

A quick look on the design front - it is a fairly conservative approach. The massive screen dominates the front and surprisingly, there is still space left for a larger screen had Nokia wanted to add more real estate.

The 240*320 , 2.4 inch screen is bright and crisp. Visibility in daylight is great.. But not exceptional.


Camera:

On the imaging front, the phone sports a decent 3.2 mega pixel camera. The Image Quality is great for a phone although there was an issue with the previous firmware version with a blue haze during night shots. At 3.2 megapixels, the camera is still better than the “standard” 2 mega pixel count which almost all mid end handsets sport these days.


I will delve straight into the main part of the review now. Almost everyone has seen or used the N73 once. How does the handset fare on a long term basis? Read on:



The year that was:

Having used this phone for over an year now, here are the things I have noticed. The build quality is good. I have had four or five falls and on one occasion, the memory card popped out! There is still a scratch to be seen even after these falls and for starters, I am not very careful when it comes to phones. I do not even have a screen protector on. Apart from these, there ae no squeaks or issues with the moving parts -especially the flimsy camera cover.

I'd give an 9.5 on a scale of 10 for build quality.


Being a heavy user, I wanted the phone to have a good keypad and joystick. The keypad is not bad but is a tad slippery. The major problem I have faced with this phone is the joystick. The joystick has been giving me problems since the second month I got this phone and as lazy as I am, I did not bother to take it to the Nokia Service Centre. The problem is interesting it itself, the joystick tends to “jam” and looses tactile feedback when the temperature drops! Funny as it sounds, it works fine in normal temperatures.

As for other daily use wear and tear, there is nothing much to speak about. Apart from the joystick issue, there has been no issues with 11 months of heavy usage.


Firmware Updates:

The Nokia Online Update service is an easy way to upgrade a phones firmware, I was not to be left behind and am always on the latest version. The previous version had rendered the equalizer useless and was full of issues. Thankfully, we have an update now. The online upgrade is fairly simple to use. Make sure you have a good internet connection and steady power supply so that the process is not interrupted – or a visit to the Service Center is imminent!


Overall Experience:

Apart from the irritating joystick issue, the phone has been excellent. No hanging, slowness and technical issues have troubled me. From my experience, the music edition is still a good buy with the 2GB Micro SD! Smartphone buffs on a budget – look no further!

For any further queries or if you want to know something more, just post a comment and I will answer.