iPhone 3GS Vs HTC Hero Sprint Review

I had the HTC Hero powered by Google's Android OS on Sprint network for a week. I returned it, and signed up for AT&T so I can get the iPhone and I'd say that was a great decision. I'd like to review both the phones since I used both of them.

Source: Apple



Source: HTC

Aesthetics (Winner: iPhone)
I think iPhone scores with its sleek sophisticated look. HTC Hero is not too bad either. I should however add that HTC Hero's touch screen seemed better in terms of the material used. I didn't like the interface on the HTC Hero's non-touch pad. Seemed poorly designed in terms of looks, but easy to use with its bright roller ball.

User Interface (Winner: HTC Hero)
Apple has a simple interface with nice big icons just like a Mac Book. HTC gives you the option to customize the "Scenes" (as they call it). Depending on how you choose to place the different shortcuts, HTC can look better than the simple iPhone look.

On-screen Keyboard (Winner: iPhone)
I used HTC Hero for a week and it felt very easy and good. Then I used iPhone and I could see a world of difference. Both of them seem to be good, but I'd say iPhone on-screen keyboard rocks. To me, I made fewer mistakes on iPhone compared to the Hero. HTC Hero's word recognition is probably better than iPhone though.

Battery (Winner: iPhone)
When I had the HTC Hero, I had to end up charging the phone less than once a day. This was with minimal usage. So I optimized the settings and used an App to kill applications that drained the battery. Is crippling the ability the best way to save the battery life ? iPhone 3GS rocks in this department. I am having to charge it once in 2 days after decent usage. The phone is at > 20% when I do the charging, so iPhone does a lot better in this area.

Multi-Tasking (Winner: HTC Hero)
HTC Hero wins by default. Lot of people would like for iPhone to be able to multi-task. I am OK with the way iPhone operates right now for the most part. At times, I just wish I can switch to see my stocks for a bit and return back to facebook or something like that. But as I mentioned, it doesn't bother me much.

Applications (Tie)
I downloaded just few applications and I've had no complaints on either of the 2 phones. I've heard that Android developers don't make as much money as Apple developers and there is speculation that in future the number of Android programmers might dwindle a bit. Also, note Apple (2+ years old) ha so many more apps compared to Android (which is less than a year old).

Speed (Tie)
HTC Hero comes with a faster processor on paper. However, iPhone seemed a tad bit faster on applications such as: Browsing, Texting, IMs, and such. The landscape/portrait toggle seems way too fast on iPhone. It's sluggish on the HTC.

Experience (Winner: iPhone)
The usage experience was great with HTC Hero. That was my first HTC product and my first real smart phone. HTC Hero syncs your contacts with Google Contacts and Facebook. That was very impressive. So as long as you have your Google contacts updated, you are in good shape with HTC Hero's contacts. One extremely annoying aspect of HTC Hero was it's broken bluetooth profiles. You can't send/receive files unless you work really hard. Everyone is waiting for Android 2.0 or 2.1 which is supposed to fix all these bugs. Apple can sync your contacts with Google contacts via iTunes. The fact that iPhone setup is through iTunes seems seamless and straightforward. The iPod on iPhone rocks. HTC Hero's music player is good but nothing close to iPod. Morever, I have a MacBook and it interfaces easily with my iPhone. Me being a big lover of anything Apple, I was naturally biased towards the iPhone. But I should say, the experience is a tie on both phones.

Memory (Tie)
HTC Hero comes with 2GB but you can add upto 40 GB (I think). I am not sure why HTC Hero did not pack more GBs into the phone. iPhone 3GS comes with either a 16GB or 32 GB option. This is probably important to lot of folks. I wish iPhone had an option to add memory with all those miniSD cards becoming dirt cheap !

Having made my decision to switch to iPhone a week back, I am absolutely loving my iPhone. I'd like to point out that HTC Hero is a good phone and probably a good competitor to iPhone. If I am paying $179.99 for the phone and $60+ monthly for my smartphone it better be something apple ! That was my thought process ! At this point, we don't want competitors to iPhone but something better (if there is anything possible like that). Apple has set the benchmark for smart phones just like any other products they've come up with. So I'd think all competitors should focus on coming up with something new rather than trying to better Apple ! Apple rocks and will continue to rule !

Jhansi Rani's Letter to the British

Source: Wikipedia

This is truly of historical significance. I've read about this letter in history and comic books that Rani of Jhansi wrote to Lord Dalhousie. Jhansi Rani wrote the letter to the British to see if they would accept the adopted heir to the throne which they obviously declined. And I am glad they did, because that's what spurred Jhansi Rani into fighting against the British openly. Here is the news article describing the find. I really hope they can show a picture of the letter that she wrote. I'd love to see her hand-writing (even though it says it's written in Persian). More than the contents, it's the fact that Rani mentally prepared herself for rebellion against the British after the letter was rejected by Lord Dalhousie. Though her revolution against the British was short-lived, she inspired thousands for the cause. She died when she was just 31. I only wonder if she had lived till 100, what impact she could have made ! Talking about that, she was born on Nov 19. Her life is truly an inspiring read for one and everyone around the world. She was a great ruler, not just a fighter.

Here is a short wikipedia article of the brave lady. Must read for everyone !

Is Shiv Sena India's Taliban ?

What the F is wrong with Shiv Sena ? They seem to be operating like a bunch of rogues 24/7. They've been running this moral police for all kinds of useless issues and one of them is upholding the marathi cause whatever that means. We know, Shiv Sena has always done something idiotic to get publicity but now Mr. "Ball" Thackeray has gone a bit overboard slamming Sachin Tendulkar on his recent remark on Mumbai! This comes at a time when the whole world is praising Sachin for 20 years in international cricket. Click here to read what the old senile delinquent Bal Thackeray says. Sachin Tendulkar is India's proudest possession and we all should be proud he is a part of India. Sena and the Thackerays can definitely be classified as India's Cancer !

However hard I scrutinize what Sachin said, I can't seem to find anything even remotely derogatory or controversial. So this brigade of rogues who talk about upholding the marathi cause, what do they actually do ? I read a lot of news about them bashing up people from other parts of the country trying to make a living in Bombay (sorry I like this name better than Mumbai). Every time a movie releases, they pick up on something and get fake publicity out of it. Now they are behind Kareena for a bare back scene. I am glad she has the guts to retaliate. One thing I seriously question when talks come about Shiv Sena is "Where the FUCK was Shiv Sena during 26/11 ?". For all the furor and uproar they create about silly issues in Maharashtra, 26/11 was the saddest and worst incident to have happened in the recent past. They had absolutely nothing to do with supporting the Marathi cause then ??

They issue orders to the CM of Maharashtra and they run their own small private government. To add to all of this, jack-asses like Ram Gopal Varma make movies glorifying the Thackerays portrayed by Big B and his useless son. Don't even get me started there. This was going to be a separate post but oh well, all idiots can be discussed in one post ! Big B sends SMSses to folks wishing them well or congratulating them or wishing Happy Birthdays right. But our own super star from 30 years back waits relentlessly for a reply back from them. If he doesn't get one back, he immediately goes to his blog and rants. Prime examples are non-responsive Dhoni and Shahrukh Khan. Get a life, stupid Bachan or maybe stop sending SMS ! Mobile phones are not for monkeys and morever SRK is a busy person, way busier than you !

Back to Shiv Sena, I seriously hope India cracks down on that useless organization. At a time when everyone is looking ahead to the future, cockroaches like Bal Thackeray will only take Bombay 10 steps backward ! A positive about Shiv Sena is their reach is limited only within Bombay or so I hope ! I've heard few people from Bombay actually saying that what Shiv Sena does is right. But bashing up people or demonstrating in movie halls doesn't sound right whatever their goals might be ! It's only going to get worse if someone doesn't check them. Bal Thackeray, now Raj Thackeray ... keeps getting worse ! If they seriously want to do good for Bombay, let them help secure it so it remains safe from intruders. But all this moral policing is just getting old and stale and sooner or later someone is going to decimate this silly organization !

Mark my words on this Sachin issue, Bal Thackeray is going to face backlash from every quarter. He should have known better than to mess with Sachin. One of the very very few things which unite India is cricket. Sachin is the world's best cricketer and GOD of cricket. Whole of India loves Sachin ! The stupid Thackeray is going to back track on his statements after couple of days !

Sachin ROCKS !

All in a night ...

I had gone out for something and when I was walking to my apartment, I noticed something that shocked me. All the units leading to my unit had the doors open slightly (about 15 degrees) . I was hoping mine would be closed but it was open too ! So I go to my neighbors unit and knock his door. He is clad in Navy uniform, and he is as white as a chalk ! So I ask him why everyone's door is open and he coolly says "Maybe, it's the vampires". He steps out and says he will see around and he just vanishes !

I was bewildered but then I saw people stepping out of their homes. I saw couple of people I knew from Hawaii step out of some apartment units. I was pleasantly shocked and thought I'll catch up with them. Then I saw some of my college friends with suitcases and bags ready to move out. I tried convincing them not to do it, but they didn't seem to listen to what I said. Pretty much, all the people that stepped out started moving out of the complex. If that didn't shock me enough, I saw a bloodied zombie walk out of the unit next to mine. And, the zombie was pleasantly well-mannered and cordial !!

By then, the whole complex was empty and dusk was setting in. I decided that I am not going to leave my home and my belongings. So I go in, and lock the door. As to not make things further bad, the electricity had gone out. I started hearing eerie disturbing noises from the outside. It was pitch dark inside my home, and I wanted to turn my laptop on and see if I can read something. It wouldn't turn on. By then, I was filled with fear and almost beating up myself for not joining the other people ... But then I had a gut feeling if I open my eyes I'd be totally fine which is when I woke up ! The time was around 3:30 AM !

Whew ! This was one dream where I remembered all the details and it was very scary till I knew it was all a dream !

What a historic Knock !

I was just watching the desert storm knock few days back and was wishing for one more of those. Neither Sachin nor God disappointed. Single-handedly Sachin almost won the match for India. Here are the highlights from YouTube:



I no longer care if India wins or not. I care more about Sachin's performance and his mental state after his knocks ! I feel that in his 20 years of cricket for India, he has handled more pressure than any other sportsperson in the world. In this match, Sachin scored more than half of India's total. When a team is chasing a mammoth total like 351, you expect atleast 2-3 of the players to chip in. Sachin, as usual did the majority of the work with decent support from Raina and very mediocre support from Sehwag, and Jadeja. When Sachin got out, India needed 19 off 17 and sure enough our "tigers" fucked it up !

What bothers me again and again since the 1990s is people come up with theories that Sachin is selfish, never wins matches for India, and all that crap. The best part is, I don't think people will stop. CricInfo came up with an amazing article and backed it up with numbers. Click here to read it. After 435 ODIs, his average has been 44+, and strike rate is 85+. If these numbers don't state the obvious, I don't know what else will !

Enough of me ranting, go watch some highlights of Sachin smashing the ball outside the ground. It's a delight to watch anytime ! Sachin is GOD !

Promo: Three Idiots

This is one of the best promos out this year. Aamir Khan looks dashing and so is Madhavan. I don't know who the other peacock is ! This definitely does look like a blockbuster !!! Enjoy

Source: IndiaFm

ill-fated ...

Been a while since I blogged. Few things have changed !Work's been crazy, traveled to India for a bit, then visited my best friend and his wife in California. My best friend from Knoxville moved abroad for his International MBA. But, now I am back !

I've never been known to have good luck. I always tell people "I am blessed with bad luck". So I was pondering about stuff happening in my life while I was driving and the Sun was glaring at me. At that moment I remember my favorite historical character from Mahabharata - Karna. He probably did not have ANY luck whatsoever. He was ill-fated, timing was never his forte and he had the whole world against him. Within a second, I was able to glance through his life right from his birth to his death. Lot of people who are aware of Mahabharata would say Karna chose the wrong path by joining hands with Duryodhana. Some people like me would totally disagree with that. I would say that was the only RIGHT thing to do.



What I am trying to say is when people (me included) are down, we should think about greats like Karna who had a much harder life but lived in majestically and did not let go of any of their principles. Karna was almost invincible and it took a lot of people including Gods to deceive him so he can be defeated and killed by Arjun. Even when odds were stacked against him, Karna was magnanimous enough to grant anything to anyone. Hail Karna !

:(

I was eating fried rice with my friend at a local shop near Besant Nagar beach yesterday. There was a real tiny white kitten and we made sure we didn't hurt it by mistake. We were eating and the guy sitting close to us was kind of shocked and he said "look there". I saw a huge black cat carrying the tiny kitten by its neck. Initially we thought he was just playing with the little one. I continued eating and after a minute I saw the black cat was still holding on the kitten and I could see the kitten struggling. I was aghast and before I could shoo the black cat away, it was too late. He dropped the kitten down and ran away. I could see blood on the kitten neck and it died :(

I felt miserable. If only, I had paid more attention to the kitten rather than my fucking food I could have saved it ! The kitten was no bigger than my palm, probably a day or 2 old. I saw the shop owner lift the dead kitten by its tail and disposing it. I hate humans abusing animals. I hate animals abusing animals. Here a cat abused a kitten, too sad :(

My Name is KHAN: Too bad for some people

August 15th has to be one of the days every Indian is proud of. This August 15th has turned out quite sad and disturbing for Shahrukh Khan and so many other Indians. Being frisked and detained for over 2 hours at New Jersey is not what SRK must have planned when he was visiting the US to celebrate the Independence Day. Click here to read the news. I have to point this out: This is the talk of nation because it happened to Shahrukh Khan. If it was a common man which am sure it happens very frequently, no one would have even known !

I've heard of incidents where folks flying have been frisked and subject to extra checks based on their skin color and names. Those times, I'd say "Oh they are just making sure there are no security loop holes and nothing comes above security for a nation". I still agree with that. Due to their superior and stringent security, USA has had ZERO attacks since 9/11 (Knock wood). Now a person who I grew up idolizing was subject to something similar and I can almost empathize with every person wrongly profiled and subject to such embarrassment.

Disappointed ? Yes. Sad ? Yes. Angry ? No. Like many other Indians, Shahrukh Khan "CHOSE" to travel to the USA. No one forced him or any of us to do so. When in a foreign country, you abide by their rules and restrictions. If you don't like it, either make the "choice" not to do so or just bite the bullet ! Nothing comes near living in your country and enjoying the freedom that we have. Leave it and you are missing the freedom. Being a Hindu and having a Hindu name, I've not gone through such experiences. But I feel very bad for innocent people who go through such bad experiences just because of their skin color or last name !

I am very frustrated that this happened to Shahrukh Khan and feel bad for so many Muslims or folks that have been racially profiled. Few months back, India's ex-president went through something similar when he was frisked. I didn't pay much attention to it but now I do. I don't know if the media is adding more fuel to the fire or whatever is reported is accurate. Whatever be the case, the positive aspect is Shahrukh got free unwanted publicity for his next flick which is titled "My Name is KHAN".

10 minute scare

I got a scare on Thursday at work. I had a hard-drive hooked to one of my test stations to collect all the data. I moved all the data to my hard-drive and deleted everything from the PC. I disconnected my hard-drive to go back to my desk. While disconnecting, I saw some warning but I ignored it.

I go back to my desk, connect the hard-drive and attempt to open it. It did not have any of the data that I copied. I then realized I can't get it back from the PC either. I was on the verge of tears hehe because it was one month's worth of test data and this was for a critical project which would affect more than just me ! For about 10 minutes, I was just sitting like a stone after which I realized I opened the wrong hard-drive. I always have a hard-drive mounted to my laptop for backup. Then I opened the correct one and oh man was I happy !

I was thanking GOD so much when I knew I was panicking for absolutely nothing :)