Zip through

So what makes the Zipbook different from other netbooks in the market? Well,for starters,it is loaded with a Tata Photon 3G modem. Which means you wont have to carry a modem dongle around for surfing. The Photon makes the Zipbooks Net capabilities pretty fast and smooth,at least better than the others out there.

This feature is definitely targeted at the young users,so are the bright colours that the Zipbook comes in. The Zipbook doesnt come with a LINUX OS and has Windows XP as standard.

A sore point,however,is the keypad. Not only do the keys feel very cheap and tacky,with their constant clacks,they are also uneven. While it took us some getting used to,the plastic feel of the keyboard wasnt all that bad after all.

The heart of the Zipbook beats on an Intel Atom processor,and gives it a decent enough speed for day-to-day applications. However,the N450 processor from Intel,instead of the two-year-old N270,would have added more value to the machine. A good thing about the little beast is that it packs in a solid 160 GB HDD,which is good enough storage space for its size. It allows one to store data,music files,work content and just about anything else. This,coupled with the 1 GB RAM,was a definite likeable factor about the Zipbook.

But,hold on. The 3 cell 2000mAh Li-polymer battery on the Zipbook is plain bad. While competitors like Apple are announcing laptops capable of running up to 10 hours on one single charge,the Zipbook wheezed out of gas in under 1.5 hours. While the designers did a great job keeping the weight of the Zipbook down to 1.1 kg,I just fail to understand why they did nothing to improve the battery.

The Zipbook has three USB ports,

Wi-Fi and a card reader,but strangely lacks Bluetooth. It sports a 10.2 inch WSVGA screen with a 1024 x 600 resolution and a 1.3 MP camera.

But priced at Rs 16,999,along with the built-in 3G modem and a two-month free Internet subscription,the Zipbook will surely help you save some cash. Upgrade to the Rs 1,500 per month Tata Photon plan and subscribers can download up to 15 GB every month. But before the battery and design issues are sorted out,look here only if you want a device that lets you stay online without any additional paraphernalia.

Free surf
UBIQUITOUS surfing,that is what the UbiSurfer from DataWind is meant,and made,for. And for this,DataWind’s has its own revolutionary free-usage model,which means you pay online for the device not the usage.

At just Rs 7,999,the 7-inch,700 gram micro-netbook,which has a built-in cellular modem along with Wi-Fi and LAN,comes bundled with 30 hours per month of free Internet access from Tata Teleservices’ CDMA network across India for the first year. For the average user,there are no monthly fees,airtime tariffs,contracts or recurring fees. Heavy users can opt for the unlimited Internet package at Rs 99 per month with subscription charges of Rs 999 every additional year.

The UbiSurfer is supported by DataWinds multi-patented data compression and acceleration technology,which allows end-users to access web pages at high speeds even over slow network connections. This content reduction also helps facilitate DataWind’s free-usage model.

Though primarily a mobile browsing solution,the UbiSurfer can also double up as a computer with its Microsoft Windows CE 6.0 operating system and Softmaker Office Suite.

The unit boots-up in 10 seconds,and applications launch instantly,providing consumers with the familiarity of a PC with Microsoft Office 2003 Word,Excel and PowerPoint.

The unit has a 128MB RAM with a IGB Flash drive and 50GB of storage on the cloud. The two built-in speakers and stereo earphone jack lets you enjoy online music,while the battery promises to last at least three hours.
nandagopal rajan