Thursday 24 December 2009

Top Christmas Gift Ideas 2 of 3

Mobile Phones
You can classify mobiles in countless number of ways but for this guide we wanted to keep it short and sweet. Following are the three hottest phones currently available under their respective price brackets.

Under 10K
Samsung Corby (Rs.7,800)
Attractive, easy to use and affordable, that's the best way to describe the Corby. Samsung has really brought the touchscreen technology to the masses with the release of phones like Star and the Corby. This phone takes it even further by being truly affordable. It looks very attractive, is slim and light and also well built. The interface design is good and easy to use and the display is also fairly large to enjoy your images, videos and for browsing the web.

The phone comes with convenient widgets for all the popular social networking sites, which I'm sure would be well appreciated. The only areas where the phone does not perform well are in the camera department and the lack of a few features such as 3G or accelerometer. But for the price of Rs. 7800, the Corby makes you ignore all those flaws and just go out and buy the phone.


 
Under 20K
Samsung Jet (Rs. 16,500)
The Samsung Jet has recently witnessed a price drop, which makes it a very attractive buy. It has a blistering fast 800 MHz processor, a brilliant 3.1", 480 x 800 pixel OLED display, a 3.5mm headphone jack, DivX/XviD playback and excellent audio quality. You couldn't possible ask for anymore in a multimedia phone. The phone is also priced superbly at Rs. 16,500, which is great, considering the features and performance on offer. Little doubt that it won our Editor's choice award.



Above 20K
Nokia N97 Mini  (Rs. 27,000)
The younger brother of the N97 packs in most of the features of the older brother but sheds a few millimeters and the D-pad to achieve a more compact body. The phone packs in almost all the features that the N97 has. You get the full QWERTY keypad for all your messaging needs. Then there is the large 3.2-inch, 640 x 360 pixel touchscreen display, 5 Megapixel camera, VGA resolution video recording, 3.5mm headphone jack, stereo loudspeakers and a full range of connectivity features covering 3G HSDPA to W-Fi and GPS. The N97 mini has everything that you'd want from a smartphone and more. The phone is priced at Rs. 27000.



Notebooks
Cheap Ultra portables
Asus EeePC 1005HA (Rs. 23,500)
You can find the 1005HA for as low as Rs. 23,500 which is a very good price for the features it offers. The Acer D250 also retails for around 20K but it's not as slim as the Asus. The 1005HA strikes a good balance between those who wanted the long battery life of the 1101HA and the compact size of the 1008HA but didn't want to spend so much. It has all the ingredients for a good portable netbook like light weight, good ergonomics, battery life and decent bundle.

The one place where it loses points though is in the feedback of the keys. It could have been better and the glossy finish completely ruins the show. If you ignore these minor things then yes, it makes a good buy.



Acer 751h
(Rs.23,250)
The Acer 751H is not a brand new product as it has been in the market for quite sometime and I'm really impressed with its overall design and performance (battery life in particular). The design is completely different from Acer's Aspire One 10-inch netbook, making it a lot sleeker and lighter. Add to that the well lit 11.6-inch screen and you've got a very good and practical netbook for the price of a 10-inch netbook.

This is the icing on the cake, as Acer seems to have hit it spot on. This is currently the only 12" netbook that sells for Rs. 23,400 (end user price), which is a very attractive price.


General purpose
Acer 4810TZ (Rs. 34,000)
The Timeline 4810TZ sells for Rs. 34,000 with a one-year warranty. This makes the laptop well priced as well. The Timeline doesn't really suffer in terms of performance as its smaller sibling. So once again we have an ideal laptop solution from Acer in the 14-incher laptop segment. This is an ideal work or casual solution, but not a gaming solution mind you. If you want gaming prowess then you can look at Dell. Word is that even a good Sony laptop will soon be within ones reach and is decently powered for some gaming as well.



Ultra portable (High End)
Apple MacBook Air (Rs. 93,000 - 1,12,200)
The MacBook Air is an incredibly slim and light notebook. It is these attributes that would endear it to those who want an ultra-portable notebook while traveling. But it is not just slim, as it also packs in a potent hardware that makes it a fairly powerful machine to work with. The large, bright display and comfortable keypad make the Air a pleasure to use and the good battery life means you'll be using the Air for a decent amount of time. The prices (Rs. 93,300 for 1.86GHz model and Rs. 1,12,200 for the 2.13GHz model) are on the higher side but compared to the VAIO X, which is another strong competitor in this segment, the Air is a lot more powerful and practical.




Multimedia
Sony Vaio CW (Rs. 57,000)
Backed by a good performance and build quality, the Sony VAIO CW is here to give stiff competition to the HPs and Dells that dominate this segment of the notebook market. Styled brilliantly with plenty of ergonomic features to back it up, the CW is very comfortable to use and can easily handle anything you throw at it.

It's not all work though, the bundled Nvidia GT230 will handle today's games with ease. The day is not far when we'll be able to play high-end 3D games on affordable notebooks and the VAIO CW is a perfect example of that. However, there are a few negatives. One is the battery life, which is strictly average and second, is the weight, which makes it a little difficult to lug it around.
Overall, the Sony VAIO CW is a great notebook for those looking for a powerful all-round solution for work as well as play. This particular model is priced at Rs. 57,000 including taxes.



Samsung R470
(Rs. 38,000)
If the Sony CW is a bit too much for your wallet then take a crack at this baby. The Samsung R470 sells for Rs. 38,501. For that price the R470 is one of the best bang for the buck models in the Rs. 40,000 range. With nearly the same configuration the Dell Studio 14 costs a little over Rs. 45,000. The mixture of fairly powerful components, good build quality, unique features and a competitive price makes the Samsung R470 an ideal recommendation to anybody looking for a multi-media machine under 40k.

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