I Phone Pre Phone U Phone??

It was mobile mania all again this week.Palm Pre hit the stores and made a record breaking sales (rumored to be more than 50,000 units in just 2 days!!).

Apple’s WWDC devoid of Steve Jobs still had something solid to show Iphone 3GS.  (faster better iphone ..but not very exciting as the previous ones).

Meanwhile Dhiru and Tiger took their blogging to a professional level after attending the Nokia N97 launch in India.

While Dhiru stands up for Apple 3GS (btw he is apple biased :p ) when compared to N97, I put my bet on the new Palm Pre which is considered as the first true iphone killer.It has a QWERTY keyboard which is one of things Iphone will love to have.The Web OS is the real deal which beats the iphone OS .The ability to run many applications at once,touch accuracy,mail,IM  notifications  while running any app,etc make it far superior even than the upcoming iphone 3.o. 

Still iPhone’s large application base,build quality,iPod scores over the Pre.But I think a large chunk of business  users may shift to Pre ,considering the cost advantage(refer pic),and business features like  MS exchange and Office.

As far i can see,the $99 iphone 3G will give the Pre a stiff competition than the iphone 3GS.

While the N97 with a price tag of $699,can kiss US markets goodbye..Asian markets is not much promising either.And with HTC planning to launch Android phones in India,they better plan something better.

Meanwhile I am trying to lose my Sony Ericsson “accidentally” and get  a Nokia  ..waiting for Nokia 2730-budget phone with 3G

And The osCAR goes to……

BMW has clearly emerged as the most favored luxury car in the Indian Market beating Mercedes and Audi.BMW has been consistently selling 240+ cars every month followed by Merc selling around 150+ while super cool Audi is just managing around 110+.

As one can see the difference between the sales figures are pretty high considering these are Segment F (luxury) cars.
Its is said that Merc one of the early entrants to India has lost its shine in recent years .Industry analysts say “Merc’s  offering of discounts has done nothing good except eroding its brand value”.   I personally find the Merc to be boring ,however the recent launches like S class and new E class are refreshing.

Audi which had been head to head with BMW in launching new models have lost in sales compared to BMW.While Audi has 11 dealerships across the country,BMW has been trying to expand aggressively from 12 to 20 by the end of 2009.(currently it has 15) I think this  aggressive dealership expansion has paid off BMW handsomely.

There was a billboard war  Audi vs.. BMW in US where Audi’s board said “your move BMW” and BMW replied in style.

After looking the sales figures,I think this probably fits here too.Now its BMW’s time to say       “Your Move Audi”

Xbox-Natal- Future of Gaming ?

Are you one of those who go weee over the Nintendo Wii,,wait till you see this. Microsoft recently unveiled Project Natal of its gaming console Xbox 360 in  E3 09 (Electronic Entertainment Expo).

Project Natal is touted as the future of gaming,which takes gaming to a whole new level.When Wii came with its motion controller ,it brought in a whole new way of gaming.As a result game studios are designing exclusive games for the Wii to leverage its uniqueness. Now Xbox Natal aims even further …no controller at all. U are the controller.MS calls it Life Experience.Its better understood when seen than to explain so watch the video to see how motion sensors,facial & voice recognition works when incorporated in games. 

If you have seen the video,you might be wondering if this will actually work.Well I wonder the same. At first it is really awesome to look ,but I am skeptical about its practicality.Hardcore gaming like Halo or Counterstrike etc etc will definitely wont be working nice with these settings.Imagine the physical stress that will be caused if you play games like Gears of War or MADDEN NFL or WWE using Natal.Lets say I am playing a fighting game like Tekken, it is physically impossible to do complex maneuvers usually called combos like a back flip kick etc . However  the touchless interface will definitely be a awesome feature ,provided it works smoothly.

Apart from this Xbox is trying to be more than just a gaming console.It has already incorporated media center to  stream digital content to the television.The Xbox live store is also getting better with more content coming in apart from games,like movies TV shows etc.

Also web application integration is also one area Xbox, as a edge over PS3 or Wii .Xbox 360 will soon have Facebook & Twitter,so gamers can easily interact and socialize with fellow gamers.    

Looks like Xbox is really a doing a 360 covering all sorts of digital entertainment…..

Sony Walkman W series ….Keep walking

Its a mp3 player, its a headphone..its a walkman…Yes Sony is still alive and Walking.With the  W series walkman Sony has once again proves its strength in unique product design without a single trace of Apple.Remember Vaio P??

Unlike many other Mp3 players the  W series has got a fresh design without a trace of Ipod in it,however it as  cool as an Apple Ipod . The headphones and the flash drive is fused to form this hassle free design just like a Bluetooth headset.

It has the patented Jog dial and a new Zapping feature,which plays a small clip from the middle of the song , so u can instantly recognize the song and decide to play or skip to next song.The two parts have magnetic sides which get attached nicely,making easy to carry.Click here for more details 

The W series was featured in CES 2009

With 2 gb memory and 12 hr battery life @ $65-70 ,it is premium priced,as Sony always does.There is also the same Ipod Shuffle problem of no headphone choice as the headphone itself is the player.  But Sony is best known for audio quality so need to worry abt it unless you are an audiophile or something like that.