An Apple a Day: Review of Apple

One of the most admired firms, Apple, incorporated in 1977, makes and distributes a wide range of personal computers, mobile phones and portable digital music players; it is also in the business of selling related software, services, and various other third-party applications. Some of its most popular products include Mac computer systems, the legendary iPhone (now in its 4th version), the iPad, iPod, and Mac OS X and iOS operating systems, used in its computers and cell phones. The company also offers third-party digital content and applications-this last is available via its iTunes Store.

The regions it serves can be roughly divided into the Americas, Europe, Japan, Asia-Pacific and retail. The Americas covers both South and North America. The Europe part includes in its ambit all European countries, with the addition of Middle East and Africa. Australia and Asia round off the Asia-Pacific segment (excluding Japan). The retail segment takes care of all Apple-owned retail stores in the United States as well as in international markets.

As for sales, the company sells its products globally through its retail stores, online stores, and direct sales force and third-party cellular network carriers. Apple sells to a range of consumers, as also to small and medium-sized businesses, education and government markets. By September 2010, Apple had opened a total of 317 retail stores, of which 233 were in the United States alone-and 84 outside of the United States. The firm is headed by Steve Jobs, one of the most well-known and charismatic figures in the technology domain.

Searching High and Low: Brief Review of Google

Google is one of the biggest multinational firms on the planet; founded in 1998 by two computer science graduates-Sergey Brin and Larry page, it is the preferred search engine of billions of users. It was originally named ‘BackRub’, referring to its search engine method whereby it scoured through back links to know the importance of a site. It is estimated that on any given day, Google processes over a billion search results. More than a decade and a half after its founding, Google remains the most popular search engine, a tag that it is in no hurry to shed! Though there are other search engines-Bing, for instance-they have a long way to go before they can even think of drawing level with Google-the leader!

The beauty of Google, right from its inception, is the way its search results are ranked. Its simplicity of operation is what sets it apart from other companies. It was named after the number ‘googol’, which is 1, followed by a hundred zeros. The word ‘Google’ has now entered the dictionary as a verb, which means to search for something on the Internet using Google. Apart from its search engine capabilities, Google also owns several other applications, such as Gmail, the social networking service Orkut, Google Buzz and Google +.  It also owns the free video sharing service YouTube. Apart from this, it also has a hand in the Android operating system used in high-end cell phones. The majority of its profits come from advertisements. Its current executive chairman is Eric Schmidt.

David vs. Goliath: Review of the Motorola Droid

There are smartphones. Then there is the Droid. A product from the Motorola stable, it is powered by Android 2 and is the best phone from Motorola yet; it can hold its own against any product from Apple, HTC or BlackBerry. The device is in two sections-a big glass display and then a slightly longish keyboard. It has a 3.7 in screen with a 854x480 display. The screen has great resolution and superb clarity. It has 4 buttons in the lower half of the display: Back, Home, Menu and Search. On top of the device is a 3.5mm headphone jack and the power button. You’ll find on the right a volume rocker; there is a camera button at either end. The phone’s left side has a micro USB port; the rear houses a 5 megapixel camera.

The phone’s main engine is the ARM Cortex A8 TI OMAP 3430-the same stuff that powers the iPhone 3 GS and the Palm Pre. Though you can scroll through apps and perform good multitasking with the phone, you can have a few niggles with the menus and the desktop applications. The phone has a very good web browsing capability. All you need to do is to tap twice on a section of the content to know the content’s boundaries. E-mail is great on the Droid though it does not have a ‘search’ feature-a slight dampener for heavy users of e-mail. For those who like to shoot videos, the phone captures images in 720x 840, which is pretty decent. The Droid is equipped with a 16 GB memory card and has an array of music functions. You can search according to artist, album, song or playlist. You can even perform a search by keyword (just type a letter or two in the music player app).

It has all the usual refinements and is slated to give the iPhone and BlackBerry a run for their money.

One giant leap: Review of Samsung Galaxy S2

One of the best smartphones in the market, this stunner by Samsung made waves even before it was unveiled to the public. With its 4.3 in Super AMOLED Plus screen and its lightning speed, it is a huge improvement over its predecessor in every respect. It is powered by a Dual Core ARMv7 1,2GHz processor. Its memory is 1GB RAM; it has 16GB internal storage and a microSD card slot. The device is just 0.33 in thick.  It has a front-facing camera and the screen is built to resist scratches or fingerprints. It has buttons on its sides which can be handled easily and its touchscreen can be made to work with a feather touch. It has a Home button which must be actually pressed to get it to work.

But it is the phone’s display that fairly takes your breath away. The colors are absolutely lifelike and they jump out of the screen the moment you turn the thing on. The Samsung Galaxy S2 is equipped with a rear-facing 8 megapixel camera and a front-facing 2 megapixel camera. The quality of photos is uniformly excellent and the flash is one of the most powerful in its class. The one minor downer is that the sensor’s dynamic range is rather narrow, which can affect the quality of photographs being taken. The video quality is sharp and crisp and records well even in low light. You can record videos at 30fps in 1080p. Despite a few niggling cons, the phone is worth its hype and is the best from the Samsung stable yet. 

Boys with Toys: Reviews of Sony PlayStation 3 Slim

The PlayStation 3 Slim, also called PS3 Slim, has succeeded the PlayStation 2 as the primary home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment. Its closest competitors include the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii. The PS3 Slim saw its debut on November 11, 2006 in Japan; later on, it was released in other countries.

At just a shade over 7 pounds, it is almost 36 per cent lighter and 33 per cent smaller than its previous incarnation, the PS2. It also boasts of a 120 GB hard drive and is said to consume 34 per cent less power.  The device still has two front facing USB ports, and the usual HDMI, AV multi-out, optical-out and Ethernet ports. There is a slimmer two-pin cable in place of the kettle power cable. It has a DualShock 3 controller instead of the standard SIXAXIS. The PS3 Slim has a 17-blade, 95mm fan, which hums softly in the background when you are playing games.

The USP of the Sony PS3 is its built-in Blu-ray drive; with this you can watch your favorite films in full HD 1080p. It also has the ability to turn into a home cinema system. As far as gaming ability is concerned, the PS3 has the ability to play almost any media file, be it a picture, video or music, with a minimum of fuss. It has out of the box support for DivX and Xvid video formats, so if you wish to play a video from your digital movie collection, you can do it easily. The device is slightly bigger than the Xbox 360 and has very good graphical fidelity features.

Although its looks are not as refined as its earlier avatar, the PS2, it more than makes up for those with its performance and compatibility with any Bluetooth device. It’s priced a bit steep, though. At nearly $ 300, not every gaming aficionado might think of going in for the Sony PS3.

Reviews of the Big Daddy of Media Players: iPod Touch

Apple has created some of the great modern technology products. Led by the dynamic Steve Jobs, the firm has taken first place amongst tech firms as the creator of such brands as the iPod and iPhone, in the process becoming the most admired company in the United States; a recent survey revealed that for most youngsters Apple was the one firm they wished to work for. Their products are based on a simple, minimalist design that has endeared them to the masses.

The iPod Touch is a portable media player that doubles up as a game console and a digital assistant. It has direct access to the iTunes store and Apple’s App store; which means you can buy content and download it straight to the device. It weighs 3.6 ounces and measures 4.4 by 2.3 by 0.3 inches. The device is powered by Apple’s custom A4 chip and has a beautiful multi-touch screen with an ultra-sharp Retina display. With a resolution of 960 by 640 pixels, it emerges hands down as the brightest of any other similar product on the market. It has two camera lenses, one at the top and the other located at the rear.

The iPod Touch is powered by the iOS4. It works like a charm and takes the trouble out of navigating. All you have to do is to tap the icon and-you can do anything you want! The horizontal keyboard is a joy to use and changes its preferences depending upon your choice of grip. Another great bit is how easy it is to navigate music menus on the device. This can be done using a range of formats, such as CoverFlow, searching for songs or artists, etc. You can scroll through song or artist lists through the flick of a finger. You can easily access iTunes through Wi-Fi and download it seamlessly onto the device.

With a battery life of seven hours for video and 40 hours for audio, you’ve got a great thing going!

The Kindle 3 Reviews: A book lover’s delight!

Once upon a time there were books. Now there is the Kindle. A small revolution in the domain of what is known as e-reading, the Kindle, launched by Amazon, aroused fascination and howls of protest from those who believed it was the end of the printed page and those who took to the device like fish to water. When all is said and done, the device has more than held its own against naysayers who deplored the fact that the printed page was dead and buried.

The first Kindle was released on Nov 19, 2007 and was priced at $ 399. It sold out quickly. It helped users to download, read and browse books, magazines, newspapers and other types of digital media. There was a second generation Kindle, a slight improvement over the first one. The latest Kindle, known as Kindle 3, was released in July 2010.

The so-called Kindle 3 differs in several aspects from its predecessors. For starters, it is 21 per cent smaller (190 x 213 x 8.5mm) and at 247g, lighter than the previous Kindle; so it is easy to lug around. The keyboard action has been modified for better typing. What’s more, the E Ink display has been cranked up to be 20 per cent faster than the Kindle 2. It also has a 50 percent superior contrast ratio. The device can store up to 3,500 books, claims Amazon with its 4GB storage capacity. It is available in two colors-white and graphite, which lends it a stunning look.

The keyboard has been compressed which has brought the buttons closer for ease of typing. The navigation buttons have also been rearranged. These now offer a better grip. In fact, the new Kindle features redesigned buttons. On both sides of the screen are forward and back buttons; these are like mirrors and shown by arrows, unlike words (like Kindle 2). The beauty of this is that the Kindle works great for both left and right-handed users. One great aspect of this device is that line spacing can be changed to suit the users’ requirements. With one month of battery life, what better can you ask for!