How To Flash Nokia Mobiles using J.A.F. – comprehensive guide to normal, upgrade or cooked/hacked firmware flashing

I have already described use of Phoenix Service Software to flash (Reinstall firmware files) Nokia phones in this post. J.A.F. (From ODEON) is another Nokia mobile flashing tool that works pretty well and is easier to use. In this post I will describe flashing process with J.A.F. –

Pre-requisites –

1. J.A.F. with PKEY Emulator (Download from here)

2. Windows PC/Laptop with Nokia PC Suite installed

3. .NET Framework 2.0 or higher installed in PC

4. Navifirm (to download official Firmware files) read this post to know how to use Navifirm (You don’t need Navifirm (and internet connection) if you already have Firmware files)

5. Cooked firmware files (in case you want to flash the phone with custom firmware)

First off, format your memory card via mobile or PC or at least delete everything in E:sys, E:patches, E:private and E:resource (by PC). Now remove SIM card and memory card from the phone and follow the instructions given below very, very carefully –

1. Create a path “C:Program FilesNokiaPhoenixProductsRM-xxx” in your PC (replace xxx with your phone’s actual code, for example it will be RM-596 for Nokia N8 – press *#0000# at phones standby screen to know yours). No need to create this path if you already have Phoenix installed in PC as Phoenix Service Software creates this path automatically (except the last folder). Download official firmware files for your phone via Navifirm and paste them in “RM-xxx” (the last folder in the above created path)

2. Install J.A.F. in your PC (JAF is compatible with Windows only (XP, etc). Now copy and paste “jaf_nok4models.ini” file (given with JAF in the archive you downloaded) into C:\Program Files\ODEON (Confirm overwrite to replace the original one). Connect the phone to PC via data cable and select “PC Suite Mode” (at phone’s interface). If it is the first time you have connected the phone with PC then let the phone drivers install completely.

3. After installation, don’t open JAF via shortcuts that appear on desktop. Instead launch OGM_JAF_PKEY_Emulator (given in the downloaded archive) and click “GO” button, if it gives error then try launching it again. Wait for a while as the emulator verifies J.A.F. installation and finally JAF is launched with an error “BOX DRIVER NOT INSTALLED”, click OK



4. At JAF interface select “BB5 Tab”. Now there are three scenarios

a) If you want to flash the phone to factory settings (refresh or reset settings of the existing firmware) then at BB5 tab select/tick “CRT 308” “Factory Set” and “Factory Settings” and click “FLASH”. Wait for the process to be completed

b) If you want to update phone’s firmware to latest or to reinstall the existing one with official files (downloaded via Navifirm) then proceed to Step 5



c) If you want to flash the phone with a new cooked (custom or hacked) firmware then copy the hacked firmware files (Usually uda.fpsx, rofs3.fpsx) to the folder where you have already placed all the official firmware files (downloaded via Navifirm). Overwrite/Replace when prompted (the hacked file(s) must replace the corresponding official file(s). However if the overwrite prompt does not appear then the names differ for the two files. In this case you will have to rename the hacked file(s) exactly to the official one(s) for example if the hacked file name is RM-596_011.012_U01.01_79.92_prd.uda.fspx and the corresponding official file name is different then rename the hacked one to match the official one and place this renamed file to the C:…RM-xxx Now proceed to Step 5

5. At BB5 tab select (tick) “Manual Mode”, “Dead USB” and uncheck “CRT 308”

6. Now check/tick “Use INI” option and wait for a while until “Select Phone Model” box appears

7. Find and select your phone model from this box and click OK. The “MCU”, “PPM”, “CNT” and “APE Variant” boxes turn green, however if they don’t then go to step 7 (b) below

a) However if your phone model is not present in the “Select Phone Model” box then close JAF and download (search Google or look here) and copy the latest “jaf_nok4models.ini” into C:/Program Files/ODEON/JAF (Confirm overwrite when asked) and repeat steps 3, 4, 5, 6. Proceed to Step 8

b) However if your phone is still not there in the “Select Phone Model” box (or the MCU etc circles do not turn green) then go to “C:…RM-xxx” (created in Step 1 above) and rename .core.C00 file (a firmware file present in C:…RM-xxx folder) to .c0r now go to JAF and uncheck “Use INI” box. Now click on “MCU”, “PPM”, “CNT” and “APE Variant” circles one by one to manually select following files –

MCU – .c00/.c0r

PPM – rofs2

CNT – rof3

APE – uda(These files are present in the folder “C:….RM-xxx” created in Step 1 above)

8. All set for flashing, now switch Off your connected phone and click “FLASH” button at JAF

9. A warning box will pop up, click “YES”. Now press phone’s Power ON/OFF button for a second (Don’t hold it for long). J.A.F. will start the flashing process. Wait for the process to complete (until “Done!” appears in the JAF “Status and Results” window).

10. Incase if you get any error prompt because your phone is dead try out following steps -

      Dead USB method

• tick dead USB
• conect phone with pc without battery
• press flash-yes when u see PRESS POWER ON NOW!
• Searching for phone...continue insert battery and press power on not so long
• hope it help if not work just tack out battery and insert do like step 3

10. Disconnect phone from PC. Remove and re-insert phone’s battery and switch it on. Done!! Finally, that is your flashed phone….whew!!!

NOTE –

1. Be careful not to touch mobile or data cable during flashing as sudden (even momentary) connection loss may irreversibly damage your phone. Also make sure that PC/Laptop/Netbook does not “Shut Down” suddenly (due to power interruption or battery low etc).

2. Don’t panic if the phone is not starting up or behaving weirdly (frequent restarts, hangs etc) after the successful flashing process. Try the following –

a. Reset the phone to factory settings via Menu/Settings

b. Still having the issue, flash the phone with factory settings via JAF (Follow Step 4.a above)

d. If the problem still persists, re-flash the phone with the official firmware files using J.A.F. (Follow Step 4.b above) or update firmware using Ovi Suite.

3. If the PKEY_Emulator is giving error on launch in Windows 7 (or Vista) then run it in compatibility mode – Right click on PKey app icon – Properties – Compatibility – Tick/Check “Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 3 or 2) – Click “Apply” and then OK). 

Now it should run fine…..good luck

10 Best Windows Explorer Add-ons

Windows Explorer seems to be absolutely fine for normal users, but power users will find something missing in it. Here are 10 most essential windows explorer add-ons that will help you to use windows explorer like a pro.

 

1. QT Tab Bar

QT Tab Bar is a tiny app that adds the tab feature in your Windows Explorer. This will help you to open multiple folders under single window. This is one of the most useful apps that will definitely save your valuable time. Once installed, right-click on the Explorer toolbar and select the QT Tab Bar toolbars. This will enable tabs and other features in your Windows Explorer. This app works on Windows XP/Vista and requires .Net Framework 2.0 or later.

2. Folder Size

In windows explorer, it is not possible to view the size of a particular folder. Folder Size is a useful application that will help you to view the size of any folder, right inside the Windows Explorer. This program adds a column next to the folder name, which clearly displays the size of that folder. You will easily come to know which folder is eating up your hard disk space. This app works only on Windows XP.

3. Drive Icon

Drive Icon is a tiny utility that helps you to change your old-fashioned Windows XP drive icons into cool new icons that are much similar to that of Windows Vista. This app also shows the drive’s free space with a smooth colored horizontal bar. These icons will lets you know how much space is remaining in a particular drive. This app works with Windows XP.

4. QT Breadcrumb Address bar

QT Breadcrumb adds the Vista’s breadcrumb feature right inside Windows XP. This app helps to easily navigate from one folder to another. QT Address bar will add a new toolbar to your windows explorer. To remove the default address bar in Windows XP, just right click the address bar and hide it. This app works with Windows XP.

5. FileMenu Tools

File Menu Tools is an amazing program that allows you to customize the context menu of Windows Explorer. Using this program, you can easily add some built-in utilities that perform operations on files and folders. You can even enable/disable commands which are added by other applications to the context menu. This program works with Windows XP and Vista.

6. TeraCopy

The default file transfer utility in Windows is inefficient and it transfers your files at a slower rate. Tera copy is an amazing utility that helps you to copy or move your files and folders at a lightning fast speed. TeraCopy completely replaces your explorer’s copy and move functions. You can even pause and resume files transfer whenever you want. This utility works with Windows 7, Vista and XP.

7. InfoTag Magic

InfoTag Magic is a tiny utility that displays metadata of various file types. These metadata will be displayed as soon as you hover your mouse pointer over the file. This utility also displays quick preview for txt, dll and exe files types. It works with Windows 7, Vista and XP.

8. Direct Folders

Direct Folders allows you to access your favorite and recent folders quickly. With the help of this amazing utility, you can get quick and customizable access to all your favorite & recent folders. You can easily access Direct Folders by double clicking in the empty area of the desktop, Explorer or File Open/Save dialog box, which brings up a menu. This program is free for home users.

9. FolderBox

Folder Box is a tiny application that displays additional folders in the lower part of Explorer, which enables you to display the contents of two folders at once. This program is quite useful as you can view multiple folders, right inside your Windows Explorer. You can even use FolderBox inside Internet Explorer.

10. Desktop Restore

Sometimes, your friends change the layout of your desktop or add and delete some icons. At that time, restore desktop will helps you to save the layout and positions of icons and programs on the Windows Desktop. You can restore your complete desktop layout wherever the need arises. This program is quite useful for those who share their computer with many users. This program works with Windows 2000, XP and Vista.

Have we missed your favorite windows explorer add-ons? Which one is the best app from the above list? Please let us know in the comments.

Learn how to Flash a Nokia Mobile Phone By Using PC Using Phoneix & Navifirm

WARNING: Phone flashing is a double-edged sword; it may be useful and dangerous at the same time. It may brick/damage your phone for good (If not done carefully), so please DO NOT flash your device if you don’t know what the hell “Flashing a phone” is.
Also note that Phoenix is available for Windows only (not available for Linux or Mac)

In this post I will explain the use of Phoenix (Nokia service software) to flash a Nokia (Symbian) smartphone (Taking Nokia N8 as an example). Flashing means re-installing phones firmware (Operating system) files. There are many situations when it becomes necessary to flash a mobile (Deletion/corruption of system files, phone is dead etc). Besides, flashing is also useful to update to latest (Or any available) firmware, to install a custom (cooked) firmware or to install an older firmware over an updated new firmware. So here goes the process, carefully follow the instructions given below as such:

First up, note down your phones firmware version/release (Find by pressing *#0000# at standby, in the form of x.xxx.xx), product code (On the sticker under battery in the form of 0XXXXXX) and type (Look at the sticker under the battery in the form of RM-xxx).

1. Download and install Phoenix Service Software (2009 or 2010) in your (Windows) PC/Laptop from www.4shared.com or elsewhere (search Google)

2. Download and install latest version of Navifirm from here

3. Run Navifirm and wait until it loads the Products (Phone model names/codes) list (Requires fast internet connection)

4. Find your phone model and code in the list and select it (For example, select RM-596 for Nokia N8)

5. Wait for a while until it loads “Releases”. Select the desired release (22.14 in case of N8)

6. Wait until Navifirm loads “Variants” (Product code of the phone – you can find yours at the sticker usually below battery). Select the desired variant and wait until Navifirm shows firmware files in the last pane.

7. Check all the boxes (in the last pane) and click “Download with program” button below the last pane. Choose the folder where you want to download the “Official” firmware files. After download is complete, copy the files.

8. Go to “C:/Program Files/Nokia/Phoenix/Products” and create a new folder in the last folder (“Products”) of the above path and name it RM-xxx (which is your phone type code that you noted earlier, replace “xxx” with your phones actual code numbers, for example it will be RM-596 for N8). Now paste the downloaded files (copied in the Step 7 above) to the newly created folder “C:/Program Files/Nokia/Phoenix/Products/RM-596″. Phoenix will look for the files in the above folder when flashing the phone (Nokia N8 in this case)

9. Launch “Phoenix” in PC and connect your mobile (Nokia N8 in this case) via Data/USB cable (Select PC Suite mode). In Phoenix, Go to “File/Scan Product”, Phoenix will detect the phone. Now select “Flashing/Firmware Update”

10. At the firmware update window, Phoenix will automatically look up and find the official firmware files earlier downloaded via Navifirm. However if it doesn’t find the files

a. Check that the directory “C:/Program Files/Nokia/Phoenix/Products/RM-596” exists, (create if it does not and place the firmware files into it – Step 8 above)

b. Check that the above path is present in all the three boxes in Tools/Options/Product Location (In Phoenix), set it if it does not and repeat steps 9 onwards.

If everything upto step 10 goes successful, select “Refurbish”, ignore all the warning boxes that appear during the process. Wait until the “Successful” dialog box appear (DO NOT touch or disconnect the phone or USB cable during the process). Press OK, phone will disconnect and restart. Thank God that everything went well….hopefully….best of luck

Note – If Phoenix gives error while running in Windows Vista or 7 then try running Phoenix in compatibility mode (Right click on its icon – Properties – Compatibility – Tick/Check “Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 3 or 2) – Click “Apply” and then OK).

How to make Windows 7 Bootable USB Pendrive

Hi, Many of us face a lot of problem when we have to reinstall windows on our computer or laptop. First thing we have to decide from where to install windows? The options available are DVD or USB Pendrive. In the latest new netbooks, mostly there is no DVD drive. So if you want to install windows you have to go with the other option, i.e. USB Pendrive. So here I give a brief and 100% tested tutorial on how to create a Windows 7/8 Bootable USB Pendrive to install Windows 7/8 from USB Pendrive.

First thing, you should check whether your BIOS supports booting from USB. Most of the computer/laptops support. But if your BIOS doesn’t, then sorry, you cannot boot from a USB Pendrive. 

Second thing, you need another computer with Windows installed with a DVD drive, to copy its contents later.

So let us start with the procedure now:

• Run command prompt (cmd). This can be done by clicking start and typing typing cmd in Windows 7. In Windows Xp, click on start and then click on run. Type cmd and run. This will open the command prompt which will look like this:

• Then run diskpart utility from command prompt, by typing ‘diskpart’ on command prompt and pressing enter. This will run the diskpart utility in a separate windows, which is shown in 2nd picture below:

• Now put in your pendrive in a USB port. Your pen drive must be atleast 4 GB, 8 GB pendrive is best for this purpose. Now go back to the diskpart console and type ‘listdisk’ and press enter. This will list the various storage devices available. You can see the size column of the disk and here we can see that ‘disk 2′ is our pen drive. Warning: In your computer it may be some other number. In our case it is ‘disk 2′.

• Then you have to type ‘select disk 2′ and press enter. Note: in our case it is disk 2, in your case it may be disk 3, or disk 1 or any other number. You can enter ‘detail disk’ to see the details of the disk after selecting it to verify that you have selected the correct disk. You can see these steps in the image below: 

• Then you have to run a series of commands. The commands to be run in the order are: 

             -clean
             -create partition primary
             -select partition 1
             -active
             -format fs=fat32

These steps are shown in the image below:

• The format step will take some time. You can have a tea or coffee in the meantime and come back. After the format is complete you have to run ‘assign’ command. And after this you can exit diskpart utility by entering the ‘exit’ command. The steps are shown below:

           -assign
           -exit

- The image below shows all the steps taken from the first step: 

After this complete, put in your original Windows 7 DVD in your DVD drive, or if you have an .iso image of the DVD, mount that image using any virtual drive software like Power ISO or Daemon Lite

- Now go to My Computer, and open the contents of DVD Drive. Press ‘ctrl+a’ to select all contents and copy all the contents by pressing ‘ctrl+c’. 

- Now go back to My Computer and open the USB Drive and press ‘ctrl+v’ to paste all the contents of DVD into the USB Disk. 

When the copy finishes, you are done just remove the USB Drive safely and use it to install Windows 7 in your computer/laptop. 

I hope this post will help you

Check-in New Nokia Lumia 800

Summary
The Lumia 800 is Nokia's first Windows Phone powered smartphone and has a 3.7-in AMOLED display and an 8MP camera.
Pros:

• Very Stylish Looks
• Great Touch Response & UI
• Solid Build Quality
• Good Battery Life
• Nokia Navigation Suite

Cons:

• Average Camera
• Software has Bugs
• Heavy Reliance on Zune Software on PC

Full Review 

The Nokia Lumia 800 marks the next big step in the Finnish phone manufacturer's evolution and in concordance with Darwinian Theory, this evolutionary step has come about to ward off threats of irrelevance and (ultimately) extinction. And don't be fooled, this is a massive step for Nokia where it is essentially putting its future in the hands of others.

Nokia loyalists will be glad to know then that while the Lumia 800 is far from perfect, it's a confident and sure step forward by the Finns into a still unknown future. Here's why.

The Lumia 800 is one of those rare phones that can kidnap a conversation and make itself the center of attention. 

Features

To make sure that they are competitive in this new race, Nokia has given the Lumia 800 best-in-class specs. The Lumia is powered by a 1.4GHz Qualcomm processor and 512MB of RAM and has 16GB of internal storage. However, the Lumia doesn't support external memory so you'll have to make do with the built-in memory. The Lumia sports a 3.7-in AMOLED display with a resolution of 800x480 pixels. Imaging is taken care of by an 8MP autofocus camera with a dual-LED flash. Unlike most phones in its price-range, the Lumia strangely doesn't have a front-facing camera for video chats.

Connectivity options on the Lumia 800 include GPS, Wi-Fi and 3G (HSDPA 14.4Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps) support. It uses a microUSB cable to connect to the PC and charge. The Lumia 800 also uses a microSIM card, so you'll have to either get yourself a new microSIM or get your regular SIM cut down.

Windows Phone 7.5

Now that Nokia has adopted Windows Phone, the Lumia 800 will serve as an introduction to the new OS for a whole lot of people. Windows Phone is closer to iOS than Android with respect to the fact that it simplifies a whole lot of things while removing some extra options. However, it's very different looking and feels very different to use in a good way. Windows Phone will especially suit first-time smartphone users, and if you've been using non-touch feature phones so far, Windows Phone is a very good introduction to the smartphone OS because, most importantly, it doesn't compromise on usability.

Unlike Android, the Windows Phone UI (known as Metro) doesn't rely on multiple homescreens or widgets of different sizes. Instead you have one vertical scrolling homescreen on which you can pin anything from a contact, a website, a song, a video etc. Everything is pinned to the homescreen as a tile- a square/rectangular icon. Some of the tiles are static and work as a simple button while some tiles (such as the e-mail tile, people tile etc.) work as widgets and display real-time updates/notifications or animation. Removing a tile from the homescreen is as easy as holding down on the tile and choosing the remove option from the drop-down menu. Pinning anything to the homescreen is also equally simple.

One of the main constituents of the Windows Phone OS is the People hub that's basically an amalgamation of your phone contacts book and contacts on social networks. Once you setup multiple accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Windows Live etc.) on the Lumia 800, you can post updates, write to friends and contacts (as both messages and social networking posts) and check your social networking feeds from within the People hub. I found this very helpful and I was able to use the phone and engage in social networking without needing to install separate apps or clients. 

However, there are a bunch of issues with Windows Phone in general and a couple of them sound really silly and basic. For instance, you can't add a song directly from your in-phone music library as a ringtone. Instead, you'll have to use the Zune desktop software to edit the song and classify it as a ringtone. And unlike Android (and somewhat like iOS devices), Windows Phone devices don't have a mass storage mode so (unless you perform a registry hack), there's no way to just attach the phone to your PC and use it as a USB drive. If you do want to transfer files to the phone, you'll have to start up Zune on the desktop and sync files. However, Zune only supports multimedia files, so if want to transfer documents you'll have to take a roundabout way such as e-mailing the files to yourself, or using a third-party app. However, Zune has some benefits. For e.g. if you have videos or music on your PC and aren't sure if the Lumia supports the format (and provided Zune recognizes it), you can just ask Zune to sync it to the phone and it will automatically convert it to an acceptable format and transfer it.

Being a WP device gives the Lumia 800 access to the Windows Marketplace app store and the Xbox Live store. The former is a well-designed app store that provides access to about 40,000 paid and free apps and is gaining popularity with over a lakh downloads a day. The latter is linked to your Xbox Live profile and gives you access to a substantial number of premium downloadable games. The noteworthy feature of both storefronts is that you can download any paid app and try it out first before spending money on it.

 

Like other WP devices, the Lumia 800 also comes pre-installed with Microsoft Office, which is one of the best mobile office suites I've seen on a smartphone. Not only does the suite let you view and edit Microsoft Office files but also lets you create Word docs, Excel sheets and notes in OneNote. Another great pre-installed app (which is free only for Nokia's WP phones) is the Nokia navigation suite that includes Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive and in a time when free navigation apps are still not available on most GPS enabled smartphones in India, it's a very good bonus. 

Design & Usability

The Lumia 800 is one of those rare phones that can kidnap a conversation and make itself the centre of attention. It's a beautiful device that uses the same body Nokia built for the unfortunate N9. While the body is built with plastic, it's of the poly-carbonate variety which means that it's not as flimsy as the plastic that Samsung tends to use even on its high-end phones. However, both the glass-covered front and plastic covered back are highly susceptible to fingerprints and various smudges. The Lumia 800's build quality is very solid and as a result, the back panel can't be removed. The Lumia is a little heavier than some high-end slim phones and is also not exactly slim. However, it does feel good in the hand.

The Lumia 800's great looks are further complemented by its great AMOLED display. The display is superb at displaying colors, especially black gradients. I compared the Lumia's display with the Samsung Omnia W's Super AMOLED display and while the Lumia scored higher in terms of displaying black and other dark gradients, when put side by side with the Samsung, it was clear that there was a yellow tint when the Nokia was displaying plain white colors. The Lumia 800's display also loses some visibility under direct sunlight but it still remains usable.

The Lumia 800's touch UI is fantastically responsive and there is no visible lag at all when scrolling through menus. The virtual keyboard in both portrait and landscape modes is also very accurate. In terms of usability, I can't really cite any issues that I faced with the Lumia 800.

You may stumble across a really annoying bug, once you started making calls with the Lumia 800. you may came across this issue a couple of times where the phone would take at least an extra minute to end a call after you might had pressed the "End Call" button. As a result, you would be unable to make another call until either the phone decided to end the call or you restarted it. As it turns out, a couple of forum discussions where other Lumia users reported the same issue. The Lumia 800's dialer also doesn't offer speed dialing but fortunately there are free apps available that add that functionality.

Otherwise, call quality on the Lumia 800 is good and voices sound loud and clear. The Lumia 800 also has a very good battery and it lasted me two entire days with the Wi-Fi on at all times 

Browsing & Multimedia

While Internet Explorer may not have a stellar reputation on the PC, the IE browser on the Lumia 800 is excellent. Page rendering is accurate and touch response is also very good. The browser doesn't support Adobe Flash though and you won't be able to watch embedded Flash videos on websites (unless they're hosted on YouTube). It does support HTML5 and will come into its own once HTML5 adoption is more widespread. The IE browser offers important modern mobile browser features such as bookmarks management and support for multiple tabs.

Lumia 800's 8MP camera is a bit disappointing. The photos have contrast issues with the pictures coming out looking too white. Indoors too, when shooting against a white background, the picture quality looked average. On the other hand, the Lumia takes good macro shots and is very quick in focusing and taking photos. The 720p videos shot also looked really good but you may notice artifacts at times when playing the videos on a PC. If you want your smartphone to be your primary shooter, then the Lumia 800 probably won't meet your needs.

Images shot with the Lumia 800 (click to see actual resolution).

The Lumia 800 uses Zune as its primary media player. The Zune app is nice looking and the interface is very simple to use. As I mentioned earlier, the Lumia 800 needs the Zune desktop software to sync media files to it. Fortunately, the software supports most popular formats but it does take time to convert and transfer videos to your phone. Audio quality on the Lumia 800 is great and on-par with other high-end phones but its external speaker is quite poor and not loud at all. Video playback is also fine when it came to our test 1080p MP4 videos. However, Zune did a terrible job of converting 720p DivX videos. Overall though, provided you are willing to get used to working with Zune on your desktop, the Lumia 800 is a very good device to enjoy your multimedia files.

One thing that did set apart the multimedia experience on the Lumia is that you get immediate access to the Zune store which lets you buy music and videos easily and store them on the phone or on the PC. In comparison, the Apple iTunes store in India still doesn't let you buy anything apart from apps and there is simply no such option on Android phones here.

Bottom Line

The Nokia Lumia 800 is one of those phones that refuse to be "one-of-the-bunch". It stands out from the crowd thanks to, first and foremost, its looks and design. It's a phone that feels premium and is great to use and would be easy enough to use even for first-time smartphone users.

But once you look beyond the Lumia's looks and usability, cracks do begin to appear. For one, the Lumia 800 is expensive and there are a lot of shackles it has to contend with including no support for external memory, absolute reliance on Zune, an average camera and software bugs.

The Samsung Omnia W is another Windows Phone 7.5 handset that was recently launched and is priced a full 10K lower than the Nokia. The Omnia W may not be as good looking or usable a phone as the Lumia 800 but it's certainly a much cheaper alternative if you want to get a taste of Windows Phone.

On its part, the Nokia Lumia 800 deserves its "Very Good" rating for excelling in many aspects such as social networking, browsing and overall usability. My buying advice for you is to wait a while for the Lumia 800's price to fall closer to the 20K mark and for Nokia/Microsoft to fix the bugs before buying it.

The Nokia Lumia 800 is now available in India for Rs. 29,990.

Be Safe from Spamming on Facebook

Spammers/Hackers keep finding new and innovative ways to reach out to the masses. Since Facebook has been immensely popular social network, it becomes very attractive media for spammers. It also seems to be very easy to convince users to click a few buttons and steal all your data.

They also post links on your friend's walls to attract more visitors.

Found a couple of my innocent friends posting these materials again and again.

How do you safeguard yourself?

• Don’t click on any link that you do not know or is suspicious.
• If any application asks you to approve/join/like do not do it unless you know the website/link
• They will have very attractive images/text - E.g. Osama bin Laden's uncensored pictures. If it’s too good to be true, it may not be safe link.

What do they get by spreading these kinds of links? Any of the following

• Viral marketing - Website may be trying to make some product/website popular
• Stealing your details - They may be collecting your name, geographic location phone etc. to sell it further.
• Stealing your id and passwords.

So please safeguard our accounts and share the good messages/links/videos with your friends. Do waste your and your friend's time and energy by clicking the wrong links.
Happy Socializing.

Comparison Between Aakash and UbiSlate 7 Tablet Models

We have already been informing you about all possible details – technical specs, features, prices, availability for the Akash computer tablet as well as its upgraded model UbiSlate tablet. Now, when Aakash tablet has finally been made available for sale online and UbiSlate is available for online pre-booking, most of the users are some how confused about the difference between Aakash Tablet PC and UbiSlate tablet. We can also blame the company as well as Indian Govt. for this confusion. This is because at the time of launch, people just came to know about one name i.e. Aakash Tablet. However, Aakash tablet was subsidised as it was targeted to be a students model of the tablet. However, subsequently, company DataWind and Indian Govt. started taking different Aakash tablet models which they wanted to sell in the retail market ( i.e. non-student model). Now, obviously, retail model was not be subsidised as company would like to make some profits as well which could only be possible by keeping retail model as a separate and non-subsidised. Then, it was named UbiSlate to keep it separate from Aakash tablet and to give some more value for additional money being spent by retail customers, company decided to put some additional features in the retail model. So, although UbiSlate or UbiSlate 7 model of the tablet is built on the same architecture and hardware, it however differs slightly on technical specs and have some additional features. So, if you are also one of those who wanted to buy this world’s cheapest tablet but somehow feeling confused between Aakash tablet vs Ubislate Tablet, then you can check below the comparison between Aakash tablet and UbiSlate 7 Tablet to see and understand their technical specs and features.

Comparison between Aakash Tablet and UbiSlate 7 Tablet

Here is a quick comparison between Aakash tablet and UbiSlate 7 tablet.

Microprocessor (Aakash vs UbiSlate 7 Tablet Comparison)Aakash Tablet has the processor Arm11 – 366Mhz while its upgraded version UbiSlate 7 tablet has Cortex A8 – 700 Mhz processor.

BatteryAs far as comparison between Aakash tablet and UbiSlate tablet battery is concerned, Aakash tablet has the 2100 mAh battery whereas UbiSlate 7 tablet has 3200 mAh battery.

Operating System (OS)
Both tablets viz student model Aakash tablet as well as upgraded version retail model UbiSlate 7 tablet are based on Google’s Android operating system. However, Aakash tablet is based on Android 2.2 Froyo OS while UbiSlate 7 tablet is based on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Network, SIM, Web and Internet Connectivity (WiFi, GPRS, SIM)If we see the comparison between Aakash tablet and UbiSlate tablet on network and web connectivity, subsidised student’s model Aakash tablet has WiFi for web access. The upgraded UbiSlate 7 tablet, however, has WiFi as well as GPRS both for web access. UbiSlate 7 Tablet also has a SIM and mobile phone functionality.

3G Connectivity (Aakash vs UbiSlate 7 Tablet Comparison)The upgraded retail model UbiSlate 7 tablet is expected to have 3G connectivity via an external 3G dongle.

Front Facing CameraUbiSlate 7 tablet model is expected to have a front facing camera as well for video chat which is missing in basic students model Aakash tablet.

Screen and RAM SizeThough there is not much clarity on this, it is however, expected that screen as well as RAM in upgraded UbiSlate 7 tablet model is expected to be better than Aakash tablet.

Pricing Comparison between Aakash Tablet and UbiSlate 7 Tablet)Aakash tablet is available at a price of Rs 2500 whereas UbiSlate 7 tablet is available at a price of Rs 2999.

Availability /Selling /RetailingAakash tablet has been made available for immediate sale online now where as UbiSlate 7 tablet is expected to be available by end-January 2012.