The Upper Crest

I used to have a grouse with Android phones; they were all the same once theyd been switched on. However,of late,all phone makers have been trying to experiment on the Google platform. But no one has done more to the Android than HTC,which has gradually enthroned itself at the helm.

While the HTC Desire was widely acclaimed as the first Android that really gave the iPhone a run for its money,the next generation of phones,which includes HTC Sensation launched here late June,is striving for out-of-the-box features.

For starters,one look at the Sensation and you are convinced that this is not a buy-every-six-months kind of phone. The design is rather futuristic,with curved edges,HD resolution,a 4.3-inch screen and patterns running down the back. But what really makes Sensation stand apart along with some other new phones from the Taiwanese phone maker is the HTC Sense 3.0 running on the latest Android 2.3.

Sense transforms the lock screen into a full-fledged window that lets you access features like weather and time even before you reach the main screen. You can check out updates from your Friend Stream and even read their messages.

The tweaked OS has some innovative touches. For example,when moving from one homescreen to another,the homescreen shifts in a cylindrical motion.

You can reject an incoming call by just turning the phone over. Very helpful,when you consider that earlier you would have had to click the power button,unlock the screen and then either put the call on silent or cut it. Then there is the power of multi-window browsing,which is a real luxury in a phone.

The Sensation has an 8MP camera with a two-bulb LED flash,superb auto-focus and face detection. In fact,the camera lets you select picture styles even before clicking and allows you to change settings as if this were a proper point-and-shoot. And the video is even better,with HD 1080p and stereo surround recording. Basic editing of the footage can be done on the phone,proving the power of the 1.2 GHz,dual core CPU.

If you are one of those who can watch a movie on a 4.3 screen,this phone will not disappoint you. But all this makes the phone a tad heavy at 148 grams,though the battery is good enough to last two full days with regular use.

The Sensation is a great option for people looking for some high-end utility.

Price: Rs 32,700.

Brain without the Brawn

They say looks can be deceptive; one look at the new Samsung SII and I sure hope so. It is sleek,bold and even manly,but plain boring. The SII is the like the square-jawed heroes in the Italian westerns of the 70s he will kill the bad guy,but he will not entertain you.

The SII is just 8.49mm thick with only power and volume buttons on the side. The 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen has two capacitive Android keys at the bottom that light up on touch and a camera on top.

Fire it up and the Doordarshanesque Samsung startup screen gives way to the homescreen that looks not much different from the first Android phone I laid my hands on about three years ago. Though the SII runs the 2.3 Gingerbread version of the OS,there are no tweaks here to add some spice. But this is when you start noticing the vibrant colours and crisp images on the Super AMOLED Plus screen. Samsung claims its Real-Stripe screen technology and greatly increased sub-pixel count complements the mechanics of the human eye to recognise images,making them seem clearer and more detailed. And I have to agree that images look sharper and less pixelated.

The SII has more real estate than other Android phones with seven homescreen slots to fill apps with. While the touchscreen is very responsive,it didnt change easily from a horizontal to a vertical screen when I wanted it to. The phone is 4G enabled and scores high with browsing capabilities,especially when you are on high-speed networks. The 1.2GHz dual-core application processor comes into its own when you multitask. You can listen to music while browsing the Net and can switch between the two effortlessly.

Samsung has also loaded the SII with some of its own creations hoping to give the iPhone some solid competition. The Readers Hub,for instance,has thousands of titles to choose from and given the screen size of the SII,reading for long hours wont leave you blurry-eyed. Then there is the Social Hub which incorporates all your mail and social networking accounts in a single account and keeps updating on the homescreen. Games Hub lets users download and play advanced mobile games,even those that make good use of the three-axis gyroscopic sensor. But the app that really sets the SII apart is Kies Air which lets you access a PC through Wi-Fi without any software.

The SIIs 8MP camera is as good as any point-and-shoot available in the market,with the advantage that you can do some solid editing and can post photos directly online. The same holds true for the camcorder with 1,080p full HD recording and playback. While the Video Maker app lets you edit and value-add to your HD files,Samsungs patented AllShare technology allows for a hassle-free experience,when it comes to sharing.

Though I would have loved to have seen some tweaks with the OS and maybe a more edgy design,the Samsung SII is undoubtedly one of the best performers in the Smartphone segment these days. Buy it if you love Android and dont mind the Rs 32,890 price tag.

Smart phone deal

You can now buy that dream phone in installments

Ever wondered why the average Indian still doesnt own a smart phone? Well,the answer is simple the price.

By price,I dont mean to imply that people in India dont have the purchasing power. Its just that smartphones tend to be positioned beyond what an average Indian would like to spend for a smart phone. So how does someone in the US,UK or Australia manage to buy one? It is not that phones are cheaper there,but the deals are much better,making it easier to purchase a 500 phone. Service providers in many countries allow customers to take home expensive phones at a fraction of the cost if they sign a one or two-year usage contract. The remaining cost of the phone becomes a part of their monthly bill.

Now,it seems India too is joining this bandwagon. MTS has become the first Indian company to offer a smartphone on an annual contract. The MTS Pulse CDMA phone from HTC would have otherwise cost about Rs 18,000,but is now being offered free if the user agrees to foot a monthly bill of Rs 1,500. And no,the customer wont have to cough up additional charges for his call and data usage. The Rs 1,500 bill includes 1,500 minutes of talk time,1,500 SMSs and 1,500 MB data,enough to take care of a persons average monthly use.The MTS Pulse is a top-of-the-line Android 2.1 touchphone with some very interesting features,which werent common in CDMA. The phone features a 3.2-inch TFT-LCD Capacitive touch-sensitive screen,5MP camera with auto-focus,up to 32GB of extendable memory 8GB card in the box,512 MB flash ROM and a 288 MB RAM.

The feature I liked the most was the MTS TV app,which lets you watch up to 80 TV channels some even live without any buffering.

If this concept catches on,we could see more service providers offer expensive phones through package deals,which will be lighter on the pocket.