Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) on Samsung Galaxy SII - First Class

The wait is over my fellow androidians using Samsung Galaxy SII worldwide, which has received many accolades and awards, including phone of the year by T3 Gadgets…ICS update has started to trickle out and has been rolled out first in Europe including Poland, Hungary and Sweden, and Korea in the South-East Asia region before it gradually starts rolling out to the rest of the world.

Finish the upgrade and you will visibly see the difference right from the moment you turn on your mobile. It configures all the applications, contacts etc in a jiffy, and once you get to the home screen you will see a remarkable difference in speed. Its cool and fast. Also do not expect the original interface of ICS (like you see in Google Nexus, so unfortunately no virtual buttons) , this version of ICS is garnished by the Samsung Touchwiz 4.0, like it or hate it, but you have to live with it. 

Mobile OS Response :

- Faster mobile OS, its a swift and cool OS to work upon.

- The response has been pretty well till date, did not face any hanging issues.

Change in look / Menu :

- You will find new options in menu now, like you have “Restart” now in the menu when you long press the power button.

-  Screenshots are now officially taken by “Vol Down + Power Button” for a minute. The default location where the shots are saved has changed to /sdcard/pictures/screenshots

- The settings menu has changed a lot, categorized the menu for easy scroll.

Scrolling :

- Samsung Touchwiz has replaced the bounce effect while going up and down on the scrolling menu

   This effect is patented by Apple, so Samsung has now replaced it with blue illumination that lites when you reach the end of the menu.

- The home screen now acts like a revolving door. You can keep scrolling your home screen without having to move backwards once you reach the last screen.

Face Recognition Unlock :

- The face recognition unlock feature is cool with ICS.  Its fast too, until you keep the phone at a good distance from your face, else it might take a while to recognize.

- Don't be afraid, there is a fallback option always, incase your phone stops recognizing you ;-).

- It does not work good in dark, outdoors in night, well we can imagine the reason, lack of light.

- Mind it, an easy crack to it, anyone having your pic can unlock your phone ;-).

Applications / widgets :

- The new recent applications menu has a nice look, you can view all the recently visited applications as a list of thumbnails of the app.

- A new and better looking gtalk messenger, I completely like it. Though it looks a little heavy, but who cares, we are on a 1.2Ghz Dual Core Samsung ;-).

- A heavier , little slow , email client. I found the earlier email client better, but its ok can go ahead with it.

- Now start browsing the applications, you may find some new icons in the applications menu, like google+ and messenger and also

- Live Application widgets on your home screen now, you can add your mail box , Facebook, play music etc.. right from your home screen.

Wifi / Networking :

- WiFi is a disappointment. The handset takes long to scan and enable the wifi on the phone.

Data Usage :

- Now you can view the data flow from your handset graphically as reports. It comes handy if you are on a limited data plan from your telco.

- You can select different cycles to view the data usage.

- Option to toggle between cellular and wifi data usage is a welcome feature.

- It will also show the apps consuming maximum data transfer.

Kies Air :

- ‘Sync with Simplicity’ - Thats how Samsung would like to call it. New feature added for phone to phone data transfer, Like in device A, I start the Kies Server and open Kies in device B and shake it twice, it will discover A and progress with the data transfer options. Seamless.

That is all to begin with… we may go in details in our coming posts.. stay tuned.

Android Apps to have !

This post is for my fellow androidians… !!

I have been using Android (Gingerbread) since quite sometime now, and what better it could be, have been using it on the worlds most talked about Samsung Galaxy SII. So in short can say that the android I use is backed by a powerful 1.2Ghz dual core cpu and a 4.3' Super AMOLED screen to make it look pretty :-).

The awesome thing about Android is the apps which has a huge… trust me HUGE database of applications, for any and everything. Also you get most of it for free :-), though you have some paid applications too which you can use on your android. I will mention some apps which I use on my Android. Maybe you find any of your interest…


Must Haves :

> Advanced Task Killer :
Schedule an auto kill of processes to save battery. Don't worry will not hamper running programs, you can select which one not to kill.

> OS Monitor :
Tells you which process are the ones taking max CPU / Memory etc.

> Smart Screen Off :
A good app, uses the proximity sensor to turn off the screen as soon as you keep the cell in your pocket, upside down on table,or cover the sensor with your finger (incase someone tries to peep in your screen). You do not have to use the power button every time to turn off the light when you are not using the phone.

> Opera Mobile :
A good, light weight , multi tab, easy to use browser.

> Flashlight :
Use your flash as a flashlight. Good at times you want to use your phone as a torch.

> Box :
Hide your contacts , sms's, call logs, photos etc using this app.

> App2SD :
Used to move all the apps installed on phone to the SD Card.

> Quickpic :
A cool photo and video browser for your phone. It indexes all the pics and show it in one place, with a cool interface.

> App Cache Cleaner :
To clear the cache build by apps running on your system, and free resources.

Good to Have :

> PhoneGenie :
Read reviews of newly launched mobiles, and compare.

> MX Video Player :
Do more with the videos, zoom etc.

> Wiki Mobile :
wiki client on mobile.

> BodyFitness :
For fitness freaks, diet plans, exercises etc etc.

> AlarmDroid :
Easy to use Alarm app.

> Saavn :
For music lovers… Online music (Bollywood).

> Social Networking :
Linkedin , Facebook.

> Bookmyshow :
Book movie and concert tickets through mobile.

> Teamviewer :
Log in to your home computer from your phone. (I use it to make my mom's life easy @ home)

> Recipes :
Like to cook ? A huge database of new things you can try.

> XE Currency :
Convert any currency on your phone.

> Sketch free :
For the people who do sketching, use this app to sketch on your phone.

> TOI :
For reading news on your phone.

> Communications :
Skype, WhatsApp, Viber.

> Compass : You will not.... get lost ;-) !


Incase you know any more apps and you think is interesting to share, let me know. Lets share it with all the readers.

........ HAIL Android !!!

Review : Samsung Galaxy SII

Now this coloumn is going to be one of the most controversial one's which may lead to a debate between my apple lover friends and others including me :-)..

Well I rate them both equal, it actually depends if you want to work hard for freedom of usage of your smartphone (and pay for every good thing,iOS).. or just work smart to get things work as you want on your smartphones (Mostly free on Android).

I was looking out for a phone for myself, I had all options because was ready to shell out the moolah only if my requirements were met, which were as below :

1. Large Display - I mean it, I dont want to use a laptop when am on bed or travelling !
2. Clarity - Apart from large, it should be CLEAR display, Visible in outdoors too.
3. Memory - Ofcourse, something near 16Gig would be good enough.
4. GPS - I always need help while driving.
5. Camera - I like clubbing at celeb nights and am fond of clicking and making videos, so need HD & Flash !
6. Apps - Useful apps (Naah dont make me pay for it, I already would be paying alot for the phone)
7. Size - Does matter! It should be sleek and pocket friendly.
8. Web Browsing - FAST !

With General Features like - mp3 ringtones, FM radio, click and sending pix/files through bluetooth, Wi-fi

On checking several handsets available in market which suited my requirements,I zeroed down to Apple iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy SII. I have always been a HTC Fan, but I guess its time for HTC to work more on the Phone Display, Internal Memory, Screen Size. About Blackberry, give me a break, I am young enough to mess around with the phone and you are not interesting Blackberry OS :-P.

Keeping in mind my requirements :

Tech Specs Comparisons : Read this for a point to point comparison with iPhone 4.

So that makes Samsung Galaxy SII a strong contender.

Below is one of the videos which helped me compared and decide onto Samsung

Point wise Analysis : Of all requirements above and more.

Overall Face Off Test : Comparing all my requirements above.

My Requirement 1 & 2 (Display and clarity)

My Requirement 4 (GPS)

My Requirement 5 (Camera)

The above videos must have cleared most of your doubts, also I found some more links about reviews and awards for SII below :

Review on Samsung Galaxy SII

Recently,T3 Gadgets Awards presented the Phone of the year 2011 to Samsung Galaxy SII


Apart from the above, With Samsung SII , I can use/share media through it it as an extended drive and access it over wi-fi, hence no itunes or and blah blah software required to be there which makes it easy for managing media on the device. I can also access the phone over http, and manage everything on the phone through web interface. Also the Super AMOLED display is awesome in SII, just view HD videos on the devices, its a jaw dropping experience. I am not saying you cannot do that all with iPhone (some you can do), but you need to work alot on the phone to get all these functionalities, including breaking jail / loosing warranty of your device.

Also, answer this, how can I change my battery on the iphone ? This is one thing which is totally unacceptable, for me atleast, If I am buying something, i would like to have least dependency on the service centers, you know how they are.

Anyway, rest is your call, and your choice, the above shows how and why I made mine, bought a Samsung Galaxy SII and am happy ! :-)

Hope you enjoyed reading this space. You can also call it as an article on Samsung Galaxy SII vs iPhone vs HTC vs Blackberry :-)... and my take on it..

Cheers.

Hope House Set 015

Hope House Set 015 by Djshivash on Mixcloud

Review : Fashnvia.com

There are many websites these days with nice offers for clothings perfumes bla bla bla...

Well just to share on of my experiences with "www.fashnvia.com".

I was one of the regular customers of this site, but then later when i started facing problems with delievery etc, there was no one to listen to me.

I tried the customer care number they have on the website "n" number of times, seems like it has been used for some other purposes otherthan taking care of orders and stuff. Either its always busy, or no human would be available to attend the call..

Problem started 2 months back, the first time I contacted them was on mail, i.e on May 8th, no reply to that, then a reminder on May 12th, no reply to that too. Then a strong mail on May 19th after several tries on landline number, then finally i got a call and mail from them asking me to send the defective product back to them and they would provide me equivalent amount fv voucher, they also commited to refund the shipping charges I was paying.

Now the day came I sent back the defective t-shirt, I again tried calling them, no response. Then mailed them on Jun 13th , No reply , then Jun 14th, 17th, and last was on 24th Jun when i finally was tired of calling them up and writing mails,I thought the other people should know what kind of service these people are providing and do not want anyone else to be a victim of them.

Guys, if you are planning to buy anything from "www.fashnvia.com" BE CAREFUL if you love your money, forget it.

If anyone from fashnvia team is actually reading this, guys "shove up the t-shirt I sent in your @$$".

NOTE :: I have all proofs with me if required to support what I wrote above.. :)

Peace.

IP Address Classes

This is just for a revision.. revisiting networking concepts :-) !!
The below Image says it all.

ext2 vs ext3 vs ext4

Below are some key differences, between the different filesystems of linux systems, ext2,ext3,ext4.

ext2

• ext2 stands for second extended file system.
• It was introduced in 1993. Developed by Rémy Card.
• This was developed to overcome the limitation of the original ext file system.
• ext2 does not have journaling feature.
• On flash drives, usb drives, ext2 is recommended, as it doesn’t need to do the over head of journaling.
• Maximum individual file size can be from 16 GB to 2 TB
• Overall ext2 file system size can be from 2 TB to 32 TB

ext3 

• ext3 stands for third extended file system.
• It was introduced in 2001. Developed by Stephen Tweedie.
• Starting from Linux Kernel 2.4.15 ext3 was available.
• The main benefit of ext3 is that it allows journaling.
• Journaling has a dedicated area in the file system, where all the changes are tracked. When the system crashes, the possibility of file system corruption is less because of journaling.
• Maximum individual file size can be from 16 GB to 2 TB
• Overall ext3 file system size can be from 2 TB to 32 TB
• There are three types of journaling available in ext3 file system.
o Journal – Metadata and content are saved in the journal.
o Ordered – Only metadata is saved in the journal. Metadata are journaled only after writing the content to disk. This is the default.
o Writeback – Only metadata is saved in the journal. Metadata might be journaled either before or after the content is written to the disk.
• You can convert a ext2 file system to ext3 file system directly (without backup/restore).

ext4

• ext4 stands for fourth extended file system.
• It was introduced in 2008.
• Starting from Linux Kernel 2.6.19 ext4 was available.
• Supports huge individual file size and overall file system size.
• Maximum individual file size can be from 16 GB to 16 TB
• Overall maximum ext4 file system size is 1 EB (exabyte). 1 EB = 1024 PB (petabyte). 1 PB = 1024 TB (terabyte).
• Directory can contain a maximum of 64,000 subdirectories (as opposed to 32,000 in ext3)
• You can also mount an existing ext3 fs as ext4 fs (without having to upgrade it).
• Several other new features are introduced in ext4:
o multiblock allocation,
o delayed allocation,
o journal checksum.
o fast fsck, etc.
o All you need to know is that these new features have improved the performance and reliability of the filesystem when compared to ext3.
• In ext4, you also have the option of turning the journaling feature “off”.

Trance till you die... !

Dates :: 14th May - 2011
Time :: 10:30PM - 4:30AM
Location :: Quantum, CenterStage Mall, Noida (www.quantumlive.com)

Smirnoff & Quantum has done it again... taking up clubbing to a different level and which has been a treat for all music lovers (Trance).


The event was with Markus Shulz .. who is the World # 8 DJ !



It was one memorable night, it kicked off @ about 10PM when people started pouring in.. it was good to see all like minded .. music lovers... who were actually there for serious music..





I entered at 10:30 and the enviroment was lively and picking up with the music of DJ Viju (Resident DJ Quantum). Then came in DJ Ribz who also played up some nice numbers.. best of all was Gareth Emery's - On a good day - When the crowd went bezerk !

Now it was time... Markus Shulz came in @ about 1'ish then he kicked off his set and played non-stop upto 4:15am ! The crowd wasnt ready to leave the dancefloor... or can say Markus didnt let anyone to... Apart from some his best numbers .. Rain , Not the same , Do you dream , he also played Sun & Moon (A&B), This light between us (AVB & Christian Burns) and Citadel (Gareth Emery) ! It was AWESOME and was a treat to see Markus LIVE !



The experience was good, Markus could connect to the crowd well and was enjoying every bit of it.. He showed his professionalism by refusing shots(liquor) while performing, he bluntly said "No", that shows the respect to his profession.




This is how it looked like.. from the bar counter :-)



Towards the end, when no one actually wanted to rest and say good bye, it looked like Markus too forgot that it was already 4, he just kept playing and playing.. when DJ RIBz had to come in twice and ask Markus, its time.. (I just could make out that, I was right @ da front and was being an observer that time ;) )

Icing on the cake was, I managed to shake hands with Markus, not once, but twice (once when he was coming in, and the other , when he was through with his set), I had no words but could only say, good job done & Thanks ! :-) !!

I can write lots about that night, it was awesome... but I think I should cut it short now.. before i do this, I thank "SMIRNOFF" for getting me on the guest list again :-).. Thanks a bunch ! Also thanks to TEAM QUANTUM for giving us one after another memorable performances.. After Smirnoff nightlife, then Gareth Emery, then AVB and now Markus... way to go Quantum and Smirnoff.. lets see what you got next for us.


Hope you guys enjoyed reading this.. excuse me for the pix :-) ! I know I am little outdated on that front, but I love my HTC :o) & Personal cameras are not allowed!!


Peace !
Ash

Desire House Set 014

Desire House Set 014 by Djshivash on Mixcloud

Armin Van Buuren Bests - Warmup Set

Armin Van Buuren Bests by Djshivash on Mixcloud

Cache stealing all your linux box memory ??

At times you may see the memory of your linux boxes used by cache , even though you are not running many applications on it. (Output of free -g)

The below solution will help you to free up the memory during runtime without rebooting the host.

To Free PageCache
sync; echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches <- br="" most="" used="">
To free dentries and inodes:
# sync; echo 2 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

To free pagecache, dentries and inodes:
# sync; echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches

Hope you find it useful.

Cheers..
Ash