A Review of Motorola Q9h

The Motorola Q9h is one of the Windows Mobile powered smartphone from Motorola. This is the only Q9 series phone released by Motorola in India. As I was never an Apple entusiast, I always wanted to try a WM powered mobile. So, recently when my Nokia mobile started behaving oddly it seemed the right time to get a new mobile phone and what better than the Q9h. So, after using the phone for a little more than a couple of months, I decided that I have tested enough of the phone and here is a review of the phone's main features and gaps.

Call Quality and Features:

Even in the age of smartphone, the primary usage for a mobile is for making and receiving calls. In this regard, I have found excellent voice clarity while making or receiving calls on Q9h. The background noise is reduced and even in outdoors, the voice quality is quite good. There is an option for using loudspeaker or handsfree mode also. The phone also enables voice dialling where you can just say the name of the contact you want to call, and the phone will dial the number. But I was not successful in using this feature effectively because every time the phone picked a wrong contact name other than what I said. Maybe this has something to do with my Indian pronunciation, but there is definitely room for some improvement here.The phone comes bundled with an earphone which uses the standard micro USB connector to connect.

Data Features:

Motorola has really done some impressive work on optimizing the data features for this smartphone. The phone supports High Speed Data Packet Access (HSDPA) which is basically a 3.5G access protocol. Although I was not able to test the 3G features due to 3G not being present in India, this will definitely come handy for accessing mobile boradband in 3G enables areas. The phone also supports EDGE and GPRS among other connection options and it automatically switches from GPRS to EDGE wherever the feature is supported by the network operator. In my case, I was able to get pretty good download speed using EDGE for regular websites. The phone also has support for E-mail, MMS and standard SMS. Motorola also provides the Blackberry Connect client as a free download from its support website. So, if your company supports Blackberry Push Mail, you can easily configure it on your Q9. The most notable absence on data features is the non availability of WiFi and GPS, although GPS can be configured with Google Maps downloaded to the phone.

Other Hardware Features:

The phone has support for Bluetooth and also supports A2DP which allows to to pair a bluetooth headset with your mobile to enable wireless streaming of music. Also, the phone allows you to easily sync your contacts, e-mail, and other documents with your PC with the help of Microsoft ActiveSync technology. If you are using Vista, you can also use the Windows Mobile Device Center software which a somewhat advanced version of the ActiveSync client. The phone comes with 256MB internal memory and it has support for external micro SD memory expandable to 2GB. It has a micro USB port which can be used for charging the phone, connecting a earphone or connecting to your PC via an USB cable. You can also use Bluetooth for connecting to PC wirelessly. On imaging front, the phone supports a 2MP camera with 8X digital zoom. The image quality was pretty decent though not comparable to a dedicated camera mobile phone like Sony Ericsson K series. Also the phone has a QWERTY keyboard, which is touted as one of the best by many other reviewers.

Software Features:

Being a Windows Mobile enabled smartphone, the phone supports a huge number of external third party applications written for WM based devices. The default browser is Opera for Mobile which is really fast and light on resources although you can also use Pocket Internet Explorer if you want. Among the productivity applications, the phone includes the Documents to Go office suite which includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation maker, PDF viewer and ZIP compressor and has support for all Microsoft Office formats. Compared to office suites on other smartphones from Sony or Nokia, the Q9 version has support for both viewing and editing documents which is laudable. The phone also has a handful of pre installed games and other useful application like calculator, calendar etc. And you can always download a software which is not pre installed from the plethora of websites supporting Windows Mobile software.

Overall Impression:

Based on the number of features supported by Q9h and a capability to add lots more, it seems a pretty decent Smartphone for anybody who does not want to use a touch based device like iPhone. Also with high talktime and standby times the phone is a decent choice for people who dont charge their phone every time they are near a power outlet. With the addition of WiFi and built in GPS support in future edition, the phone will remain a worthy competitor in the smartphone arena.

Overall Rating: 4.4/5

Configuring AirTel GPRS on Windows Mobile

Recently I purchased a Windows mobile powered handset from Motorola. The model is Motorola Q 9h which is a smartphone loaded with many applications. As internet is ubiquitous these days, even on mobile you need a way to connect to the internet to access e-mails, read news, get stock quotes etc. As my service provider is AirTel, I checked with them regarding availability of internet access plans. As it turns out, they have three plans for internet access:

1. AirTel Live – This comes with limited connectivity. You can access the airtel online site and a few others like Yahoo. But there is no charge for this plan.
   
2. Net On Phone – This one provides unlimited connectivity to internet from your phone. There is a flat charge of Rs. 99/- for this.
   
3. Mobile Office – This plan allows you to access internet from your mobile as well as from your computer using the modem inside your phone. The charge varies based on the volume of data you access. The lowest plan starts at Rs.399/- which gives 100MB free downloads.
   

As I already have a broadband connection for my laptop at home, I did not need to access internet using my Mobile as a modem. So, I signed up for the unlimited Net On Phone plan. Now the problem started while I began configuring the settings for accessing GPRS. With some Nokia and Symbian phones, AirTel provides you a script sent to your phone which automatically configures your mobile for internet access. But this is not the case with Windows mobile. After I contacted the customer care, I was told that Windows mobile devices are not supported for AirTel GPRS. Knowing fully the knowledge levels of customer care executives manning these helplines, I asked that person for all the manual configuration data and noted it down. Then I started tweaking with these settings, and finally with some luck, got it working. So, if you have just bought a Windows mobile phone and don't know who to ask for configuring your GPRS settings, don't worry. Just follow the below steps to get it running on your phone:

1. From your windows mobile home page, select start menu, then settings, then select connections. Note that you may have to click more setting from the initial settings page to see the connections option.
   
2. The connection menu will show you some pre installed connections. You can delete these safely as you will have to configure one connection manually.
   
3. Click new from connections window, then enter the following details in the various options box:
   
   1. Description: Airtel GPRS
      
   2. Connects to: Work
      
   3. Access point: airtelwap.com
      
   4. User name: blank
      
   5. Password: blank
      
   6. Authentication Type: None
      
   7. Primary DNS: 0.0.0.0
      
   8. Secondary DNS: 0.0.0.0
      
   9. IP address: Blank
      
4. Select done. Now select proxies from the settings menu. Delete any present profiles and click on new. Enter the following options:
   
   1. Description: Airtel GPRS Proxy
      
   2. Connects from: Work
      
   3. Connects to: The Internet
      
   4. Proxy (name:port): 100.1.200.99:8080
      
   5. Type: HTTP
      
   6. User name: blank
      
   7. Password: blank
      
5. Select done. Now go back to your home page and open Internet Explore. Click on Menu, Select Tools and Select options. Select connections from the options menu and check the box next to Automatically Detect Settings.
   
6. Select done to close the settings. You are now ready to browse the internet.
   

Although, this tutorial is specific to AirTel, you should be able to configure GPRS for any other providers using these procedures. Just ask for the specific settings from you operator and follow the above steps. Have fun!!!

A Simple Perl Game

A few into after starting with Perl, I have managed to write a small and simple perl game. It does not do big things but can be used as a timepass. The idea is about guessing a random number correctly. Every time you run the program, it will create a random number between 1 to 100. As you enter your guess, it will tell you whether your guess is more or less than the number. The program finishes when you guess the correct number. The point is to minimize the number of wrong attempts.

Below is the source code for the game written in Perl. You will need a Perl interpreter to execute this. After you have Perl, type perl game.pl to execute the program after you save it in a file game.pl

---

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

## random_guess.pl - A small game to guess a random number between 1 to 100
## Copyright 2008 Sourav Banerjee

## This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
## it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
## the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
## (at your option) any later version.
## 
## This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
## but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
## MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
## GNU General Public License for more details.
## 
## You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
## along with this program.  If not, see .


use strict;

my $secret_num = int(1 + rand 100);

print "Enter your guess between 1 to 100, press enter 
       or type quit or exit to quit the program:\n";

while (1) {
 chomp(my $guess = );
 if ( $guess =~ /quit|exit|^\s*$/i ) {
  print "Exiting the program.\n";
  last;
 } elsif ( ! ($guess =~ /^\d+$/) ) {
  print "Invalid input, please enter a number\n";
  redo;
        } elsif ( $guess eq $secret_num ) {
  print "Your guess is correct.\n";
  last;
 } else {
  if ( $guess < $secret_num ) {
   print "Too low, try again\n";
   redo;
  } else {
   print "Too high, try again\n";
   redo;
  }
 }
}

What If Other Directors Made Taare Zameen Par?

If Karan Johar made Taare:

Obvious starcast:
Shah Rukh Khan as the arts teacher
Aryan Khan as the dyslexic child (even if he could not act for nuts).
Rani Mukerjee as the kid's mom (assuming Kajol is unavailable).
Abhishek Bachchan as the kid's dad.
Amitabh Bachchan as the school principal (who cares if the role is ultra minute, he can afford it).
It would be shot in New York to appeal to the NRI audience.
The story line would obviously be different. SRK would fall for the dyslexic kid's mom. The last scene would have the mom running to the teacher rather than the kid. And again, like in so many other movies, SRK would get someone else's girl.
It would have one dance number.
The film would be titled 'Kuch Taare Zameen Par.'

If Sanjay Leela Bhansali made Taare:

Obvious starcast:
Salman as the teacher.
Rani as the mother.
Of course the whole film would be shot on elaborate sets. The school would be nothing short of Harvard university.
An orchestra would play every time anyone cried.
Slow motion, different camera angles for every scene.
The school uniforms would match the classroom walls even though that does not make a difference.
The film would cost 60 crores. It would also have 14 songs shot all over the world!!!!!!

If Farah Khan made Taare:

Obvious starcast:
SRK as the teacher (yawn).
In the original Taare, Aamir makes an entry at the interval point. In Farah's version, SRK would be on screen on for 2.30 hrs out of the 2.45 hrs and would be introduced in the first scene itself.
The story would be changed to make sure the above happened. The focus of the film would be a teacher who helps a kid fight dyslexia.
To make it a complete entertainer, there would be a romantic angle, comedy, and action thrown in. Oh idea!! Nikumbh's character likes another teacher and the kiddo helps him.. throw in some comedy moments there and you have romance and comedy settled. For action, the kid gets kidnapped and the teacher fights the baddies to save him.The film posters would have a big SRK with the tiny image of the kid in the background.

If Rakesh Roshan made Taare:

Obvious starcast:
Hrithik Roshan as the teacher.
Since Rakesh Roshan cannot think beyond science fiction these days, this film would have that too. Instead of dyslexia, the kid would have alienositis or something, a condition induced due to him witnessing an alien abduction.
Instead of Nikumbh being an arts teacher, he would be a physics teacher, and instead of asking kids to be creative, he would ask them to challenge the science we know.
In the scene where Nikumbh asks the kids to open their minds and make whatever they want outdoors, the kid Ishaan, instead of making a boat, would end up making a working spaceship prototype.
Nikumbh would cure the kids problem by making a full fledged version of the kid's prototype, traveling to the alien planet, and asking them to give the kid his powers back.
The film would have music by Rajesh Roshan ripped off from some world music.
The film's name would again start with a K.. probably ' Kuch Aliens Taaron se Zameen Par'.
The director would make sure Hrithik gets to show all his abilities. This would mean a scene with Roshan jr flexing his muscles, and a dance competition in the end, instead of an arts competition.

If Priyadarshan made Taare:

Obvious starcast:
Akshay Kumar as the teacher.
Paresh Rawal as the kid's dad.
It would be a brainless comedy. The kid's dyslexia would be made fun of. Half the times the parents will be running after the kid from one room to the other and that, in the director's opinion, would be funny.
The film will be full of sex jokes. So for example, when Akshay would come to the parents telling them that their son has dyslexia, the ignorant father would say something inappropriate like 'iss umar mein? par kaise, woh to hamesha boys school mein padha hai!'. And yes, the director would think it is funny.
In the climax of the film all the characters in the film would run around in the amphitheater for no reason, spilling colors on each other. That's where the film will end, without any logical conclusion.
And of course, Paresh Rawal would emote like an epileptic himself making us question the boy's mental abilities anyway.

How to prove that all odd numbers are prime?

Well, this problem has different solutions whether you are a:

Mathematician:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, and by induction we have that all the odd integers are prime.

Physicist:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is an experimental error...

Engineer:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is prime...

Chemist:
3 is prime, 5 is prime... hey, let's publish!

Modern physicist using renormalization:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is ... 9/3 is prime, 11 is prime, 13 is prime, 15 is ... 15/3 is prime, 17 is prime, 19 is prime, 21 is ... 21/3 is prime...

Quantum Physicist:
All numbers are equally prime and non-prime until observed.

Professor:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, and the rest are left as an exercise for the student.

Confused Undergraduate:
Let p be any prime number larger than 2. Then p is not divisible by 2, so p is odd. QED

Measure nontheorist:
There are exactly as many odd numbers as primes (Euclid, Cantor), and exactly one even prime (namely 2), so there must be exactly one odd nonprime (namely 1).

Cosmologist:
3 is prime, yes it is true....

Computer Scientist:
10 is prime, 11 is prime, 101 is prime...

Programmer:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 will be fixed in the next release, ...

C programmer:
03 is prime, 05 is prime, 07 is prime, 09 is really 011 which everyone knows is prime, ...

BASIC programmer:
What's a prime? From the excellent XKCD webcomic.

COBOL programmer:
What's an odd number?

Windows programmer:
3 is prime. Wait...

Mac programmer:
Now why would anyone want to know about that? That's not user friendly. You don't worry about it, we'll take care of it for you.

Bill Gates:
1. No one will ever need any more than 3.

ZX-81 Computer Programmer:
3 is prime, Out of Memory.

Pentium owner:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 8.9999978 is prime...

GNU programmer:
% prime
usage: prime [-nV] [--quiet] [--silent] [--version] [-e script] --catenate --concatenate | c --create | d --diff --compare | r --append | t --list | u --update | x -extract --get [ --atime-preserve ] [ -b, --block-size N ] [ -B, --read-full-blocks ] [ -C, --directory DIR ] [--checkpoint ] [ -f, --file [HOSTNAME:]F ] [ --force-local ] [ -F, --info-script F --new-volume-script F ] [-G, --incremental ] [ -g, --listed-incremental F ] [ -h, --dereference ] [ -i, --ignore-zeros ] [ --ignore-failed-read ] [ -k, --keep-old-files ] [ -K, --starting-file F ] [ -l, --one-file-system ] [ -L, --tape-length N ] [ -m, --modification-time ] [ -M, --multi-volume ] [ -N, --after-date DATE, --newer DATE ] [ -o, --old-archive, --portability ] [ -O, --to-stdout ] [ -p, --same-permissions, --preserve-permissions ] [ -P, --absolute-paths ] [ --preserve ] [ -R, --record-number ] [ [-f script-file] [--expression=script] [--file=script-file] [file...]
prime: you must specify exactly one of the r, c, t, x, or d options
For more information, type "prime --help''

Unix programmer:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, ...
Segmentation fault, Core dumped.

Computer programmer:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is prime, 9 is prime, 9 is prime, 9 is ...
Oops, let's try that again:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is ... 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is ... 3 is ...
Um, right. Okay, how about this:
3 is not prime, 5 is not prime, 7 is not prime, 9 is not prime...
So much for the beta releases. Ship this:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is a feature, 11 is prime...
and put on the cover "More prime numbers than anyone else in the industry !"
Coming soon:
3 is a prime, 4 is a feature, 5 is a prime, 6 is a feature, 7 is a prime, 8 is not yet implemented, 9 is our backwards compatibility module, ...

Computational linguist:
3 is an odd prime, 5 is an odd prime, 7 is an odd prime, 9 is a very odd prime, ...

Software tech support operator:
Well, we haven't had any reports of composite odd numbers... do you have the latest version of ZFC?

Minesweeper addict
1 is green, 2 is blue, 3 is orange, 4 is red...

Logician:
Hypothesis: All odd numbers are prime
Proof:

1. If a proof exists, then the hypothesis must be true
2. The proof exists; you're reading it now.

From 1 and 2 follows that all odd numbers are prime

Linguist:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 aaah. I can make 9 a prime.

Philosopher:
Why don't we just call all the odd numbers prime and call all the prime numbers odd, that way all the odd numbers would be prime

Philosopher (2):
3 is prime. Hum, that's an interesting statement, I'll get one of my research students to look into that.

Economist:
Assume 9 is prime...

Economist (2):
2 is a prime, 4 is a prime.

Economist (3):
2 is even, 4 is even, 6 is even...

Economist (4):
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is not prime. Look, the prime rate is dropping.

Statistician:
100% of the sample 5, 13, 37, 41 and 53 is prime, so all odd numbers must be prime.

Mechanical Statistician:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is an outlier, 11 is prime, 13 is prime...

English major:
What's a prime number ?

Politician:
What's a number ?

Politician (2):
It depends on what the meaning of is is.

Philosophy major:
What is ?

Athletic scholarship:
What !?

Mid-level manager:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is... Who can I delegate this to ?

Lawyer:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, although there appears to be prima facie evidence that 9 is not prime, there exists substantial precedent to indicate that nine should be considered prime. The following brief presents the case for nine's primeness ...
Salesman:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, and with 9 you get five excellent primes for the price of three !

Anthropologist:
Prime or not, every number is unique. Take 9 for example...

Liberal:
The fact that nine is not prime indicates a deprived cultural environment which can only be remedied by a federally funded cultural enrichment program.

Bush:
What's nine got against being prime? I'll bet it won't allow the pledge of allegiance to be said in our schools either.

Nixon:
Put nine on the enemies list. I'm gonna get that number.

New Yorker:
3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is ... NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS!
rec.humor poster:
3 is prime, 3 is prime, 3 is prime, 3 is prime

"You know what seems odd to me ? Numbers that aren't divisible by two." — Michael Wolf.

"I don't get even, I get odder."

Creative ZEN Review

So, after a long long time, I have found something to put up on this blog. Its about a review on my new Creative ZEN 4 GB. I will try to be as specific as possible.

I bought the ZEN around a month ago from London as it was not available in India at that time. The ZEN has been released in three versions, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB. As this was my first experience with portable music players (PMP), I went for the 4GB version. The cost when buying from amazon is £89.99 which is almost Rs. 7300/-

Design: The ZEN comes in only a jet black colour. The size is almost that of an average credit card and easily fits in
your pocket. This is similar to the new iPod NANO 3rd generation versions. The screen is around 2.5" and supports 16 million colours. The navigation keys are designed very thoughtfully to minimize the number of controls. It features a standard 4 way navigation key with select button in centre which also doubles up as the volume controller when playing media files. Also there is a key for selecting menu options, a key for going back to the previous screen, a key for playing/pausing media and a customisable key which you can assign to a function of your choice. Overall, the design is quite sleek and visually appealing.

Features: When it comes to features, this small PMP beats all others hands down. Creative has done a lot of improvements in this player. Among audio files, it suppors playback of MP3/WMA/WAV and DRM free AAC files. So all your tracks you have purchased for your iPod can be played back on ZEN. When it comes to playing video, ZEN supports playback of MPEG-3/WMV/XVID and DIVX files. Also the Media Explorer software bundled with the CD can convert unsupported formats so that it can be played back on the ZEN. Also you can view your pictures using the ZEN and it also supports slide show of pictures while allowing you to listen to a song at the same time. It also includes an FM tuner with 30 preset channels and also a voice recorder. You can also transfer your contacts, calendars and tasks from Outlook to ZEN. But possibly the best feature of ZEN is the support for external

SD/SDHC cards. Although you cannot directly copy SD card contents to your ZEN, this is a pretty nice feature if all you want is to temporarily increase the disk space of the ZEN.

Performance: The ZEN has a pretty impressive battery life. It can play audio songs for approximately 24 hours and video files for about 4 hours which is pretty good for long journeys and all those international flight trips. The only downside is there is no wall plug charger included and you have to charge the ZEN from the USB port of your Desktop/Laptop. But you can easily find a wall plug adapter from an electronics vendor near you. The sound quality is fine when using the bundled earphones but hardcore audiophiles may want to use their own headphones/earphones.

Final Comments: Although the ZEN may not have the style statement associated with iPod, when it comes to sheer features, ZEN is a clear winner. Also it supports a lot of formats and if you are an average windows user, you do not need to install any extra software and can sync music using and media player like windows media player or real player.

Final Rating: 4.5/5.

Bangalore Cuisine | 6 Ballygunge Place

Ok, so after a long break after my first post, I have finally started writing for my little blog. And what's better than starting with an entry on food. And come to think of food, my favourite (naturally), is bengali cusine.

Well, to be frank, currently I am living and working in Bangalore. It has been almost a year since I came here. In the initial days it was difficult to find a bengali restaurant partly because I was quite new to this city and did not know about many places.

Then, a friend of mine told me about all the famous bengali food joints here. And the first item on his list was this restaurant called 6 Ballygunge Place. Well, the name was quite familiar to me as I had heard about a similar restaurant back in Kolkata also. In fact the name of the restaurant is the same as its address (Ballygunge Place being the name of a lane in Kolkata). Then I came to know that this restaurant is actually a branch of the Kolkata restaurant. It seemed odd that in Kolkata I never went to a Bengali restaurant, but here I was looking for one so desparately. Seems you crave for something only when there is little availabilty.

Anyway, finally I took some time out of my not-so-busy life to visit this place. This restaurant is located in Indiranagar area in Bangalore which is a very posh locality and the restaurant was no different. It was decorated with black and white photographs of Kolkata, reminiscent of its older charm. The place was very neat and clean. The food items were a bit costly but that was something I already expected. A bowl of rice costs around Rs. 60/- !

I must admit that the quality of cooking was very good, and it came very very close to my mother's cooking which I am sure nothing can beat. This place is mainly meant for the non-veg people as bengali cuisine is mainly non-veg dominated by fish preparations. Although vegerations need not lose heart as there are vegetarian items on their menu which will be more than sufficient to tickle your taste buds. Specifially I would recommend Hilsa, Rohu and Mutton for non-vegetarians. Also dont forget the 'alubhaja' which is basically the bengali term for fried potato chips.

Overally, this is one of the best restaurants I had ever visited and I can give it a rating of 4.5 out of 5. A meal for two here will cost you around 400-600 depending on how much you order.

That's enough for today. Hope to come back very soon with some more small talk.

Till then, enjoy your food, and enjoy your life long holidays.

The First Post

Hi everyone!

Finally I have decided to put up a blog of my own. As the URL suggests, this blog will contain some of my thoughts most of which hardly makes sense, at least to me. I cannot guarantee that this blog will be updated regularly, but I will try my best to post as and when I find some time.

That's all for now.