Sylvania Android tablet priced Rs- 3400 ($68) Review

It is another popular budget Android tablet available in the market. This Android tablet running on Android 2.2 and 1GHz processor is priced only Rs.3400($68). It provides many other interesting features like 7 inch 800x480 pixels WVGA resolution resistive touch screen. 4GB internal memory with the support for external memory card slot which can support upto 32GB. RAM is 256MB.

This tablet can provide excellent internet browsing experience with the help of built in wi-fi support or with the help of external 3G modems. It also comes with a front camera of 0.3MP which is helpful for video chat over internet using apps like skype. As SIM card slot is not available, phone functionality over mobile networks is not possible. The lack of SIM slot also denies the probability of having GPRS capability in the tablet. Another one drawback about the tablet is its 6 month warranty. For most of such low budget tablets now manufacturers are providing at least 1 year warranty.

Please have a look in the specifications of the tablet.

This tablet is a good buy for the price. But there are some other tablets also available for the same price with almost similar specifications. Check them also before you are buying and make sure that  you are buying one with all the features you need. Also if you can stretch your budget a little more bit, you can try for capacitive touch screen tablets which will make the touch effect more smooth.

Watch a video review of the tablet

Android tablet 'Zync Pad Z-909 PLUS' review

Zync Pad Z-909 PLUS is one of the most cheap Android tablets available in the market. Like most of the other budget Android tablets, it also comes with some basic set of features. Even though it is built of plastic, its build quality is good. This tablet comes with a price of Rs.3400 ($66). But it provides most of the features, that are provided by other budget tablets. See the pictures of the tablet

This is the front view of the tablet

You can see the ports in the tablet in the picture above. It comes with a micro and macro USB port, memory card reader slot, charging and 3.5mm headset jack etc.

Specifications of the tablet

If you check the specifications of the tablet, you can see that even though it is one of the cheapest tablets, it provides features that are available in most of the similarly priced Android tablets. Some disadvantages are you cannot make video call and GPS functionality is not available. SIM card slot is also not available. 3G is possible only through external USB dongles. But there are many positive sides for this tablet like, it supports flash and there are preloaded apps for handling office documents. Gravity sensor gives good gaming experience. Also the built in speaker is also an added advantage.

See a video review of the tablet

Android tablet Apad 701 review

Apad 701 is an entry level ‘7’ inch Android tablet from Adcom. It comes with pretty decent configuration for the price you pay. It is available for a price of Rs.3700 ($72) from sites like homeshop18.com. It runs on a 1GHz processor with 256MB RAM and 4GB flash memory with additional expandable memory card slot that can support upto 32GB. The resistive touch of the tablet will not be responsible as capacitive touch screens, but multi-touch and 800x480 resolution offers clear display.  Give a detailed look into the specification of the tablet.

This Android 2.3 tablet comes with a built in camera of 1.3MP which can be used for video calling. Also the presence of gravity sensor gives good support to motion sensing games. This phone supports external 3G dongles but SIM card slot is not available, so you cannot make voice calls over mobile network. Battery of 2500mAh is also good for this price. The  absence of graphics chip is a drawback, but that is far more than you can expect for this price. Checkout the picture of this tablet

From the picture of the tablet you can see that it has aesthetically appealing design even at such a reduced price. You may feel doubt about purchasing a tablet from a new manufacturer, but this tablet comes with 1  year manufacturer warranty, which will ease your doubts about the tablet.

How to transfer contacts to android phone?

Smartphone platforms like Android, iPhone are getting more popularity these days. Many people are moving to these smartphone platforms from base phone models like Nokia. In this article you can check different ways to transfer contacts to Android phone from different platforms.

1) Exporting contacts as CSV from your current phone and import in Android phone.

 This is the easiest option, which will help you to finish the process within 5 minutes. First thing you have to do is, go to contacts menu in your phone and check whether there is an export to CSV option. CSV is comma separated file. If such an option is there, you can export all your contacts into one CSV file and then copy that file to your Android phone and in every android phone there is an option to import contacts. So different steps are:

• Open contacts in current phone
• Find Export option in contact options.
• Export as CSV file
• Copy that CSV file to Android phone. (If same SD card you are using in both phones, put that memory card in Android phone.)
• Open contacts in Android phone
• Give import option in contact menu. (for Android versions 2.1 and before path is Contacts -> Menu -> More ->Import/export. For Android version 2.2 or newer ones, Contacts ->Menu ->Import/Export.)
• For Android version 2.1 and previous this option will open following window.

 

• For Android version 2.2 and newer ones this option will open following window.

• It will import all your contacts in the CSV as contacts in Android phone. As you can see android versions like 2.3 are offering much more options like send namecard via. It will allow you to send all your contacts via bluetooth, email message etc.
  

Note : Some times while importing to Android phone an error may be shown, that is because while exporting in the CSV file too many columns may come. In that case open the CSV with some spreadsheet software and delete unnecessary rows. Or you can use some software like Samsung Kies, where you can map the columns in the CSV to different contact fields like First name, last name, email etc.

2) Exporting contacts as CSV and import in Android phone via Samsung Kies.


If you have exported contacts as CSV file from your old phone, and importing directly to your android phone as specified above, is not working and showing some errors, you will need to use Samsung kies or some CSV editing software like Microsoft Excel.

Once Kies is installed, when you connect your Android phone, it will be automatically detected. For example see the picture below.

   As you can see, it will automatically detect your phone model. In the picture it is detected as GT- I9001. Once phone is detected, when you click on 'Contacts' from the menu in the left, it will show and option to import from PC. Using this option you can import CSV and other contacts stored in your PC. While importing like that you can map different columns of CSV to different fields of contact. So if direct import of CSV is failing in Android phone, you can try this.
Samsung Kies, can be used with Samsung Android phones. If your Android phone is of some other manufacturer, you can download their mobile pc integration software and then import contacts.

2) Exporting contacts as CSV and import in Android phone via Google Contacts.

Another way to import CSV contacts to Android phone is through Google Contacts. You can synchronize Google contacts from your Android phone just by entering your Google user name and password in the phone. So the first task is to get your contacts in CSV format to Google Contacts.

For moving you contacts to Google contacts, first go to the Google contacts

https://www.google.com/contacts

Login with your Gmail username and password. Then at the top you can see more option on clicking which following menu will come.

Then it will ask to upload contacts in either CSV or vCard format,

Once it is successfully imported, you have moved all the contacts to the cloud. Even if  you loose your local backups, your contacts will be available in Google contacts always. Whenever you want you can export it to CSV format or directly synchronize with your android phone, just by adding your Google account in Settings -> Accounts&Sync ->Add Account ->Google Account.

Even if your contact is in your Nokia phone you can export as CSV using Nokia PC suite export contact option. If it is synchronized with outlook, then also you can export as csv. So to move from anywhere to Android, first try to convert it is CSV file and then import to Android phone using any of the methods specified above.

Read more about:

Free android apps that you must have in your android phone

Tips to extend the battery life of your android smartphone



Android tablets with SIM card slot in India
.

Smartphone Battery Saving tips

Smart phones are becoming more and more powerful day by day. With Samsung Galaxy S3, quad-core processors also have become a reality in mobile world. Now dual core processors are quite common in smart phone industry. As the processing power is increasing, batteries of better capacity is also coming, but still any smart phone is not able to give battery life more than one day.
The only restriction in   industry is the lack of an excellent power source that can power the gadgets for longer time. Even though researches are going on the field, considerable success is still a distant dream. Most of the smart phone batteries are using Li-Ion technology. In present day smart phones, you can use some battery saving tips to get good battery life. See the list of tips and explanations below.

1. For first two charging, charge for a minimum of 6 hours.

  When you are charging your battery for the first time, charge it for minimum of 6 hours. You can do it for the second time also. When you are doing this you may feel battery is getting hotter, but it is okay for the first two times. But never ever charge battery for longer time, if it has reached 100% from the third charging onwards. Overcharging the battery will heat it up.


2. Overcharging and Draining charge fully.

Charging the battery even after it has reached 100%, will overheat the battery, and will affect the Li-Ion layers. In future it will cause reduction in battery life. So never overcharge the battery. For this you can use some apps to give you an alarm when the battery reaches 100%.
Also draining the battery fully to 0%, so that it will get switched off, is also not good. Draining the charge fully will stress the polymer layers and decrease battery life.
So Recharge when your battery reaches to a low-level of 5% at least.

3. Take the most out of every charging.

For Li-Ion battery there will be a limited number of charging cycles, independent of how you are using your battery. So if you are charging your battery only to 80%, you are losing 20% of one charging cycle. So charge your battery to full charge, and never overcharge (use apps). Also to get the most out of one charging, put it for charging, only after draining battery to a very low-level (never let it to get switched off). Like this you can use the most out of charging cycles. As the charging cycles are limited for any particular battery, you can get most life for your battery only by getting the maximum out of each charging. Overall this point we can explain with an example. Suppose, you have a phone battery which has 400 charging cycles. ie battery will deteriorate after this 400 charging cycles. If you are charging your battery once in two days you can use it for 800 days. But if you are charging the battery everyday, before the charge is fully draining out, you can use it for only 400 days. For Li-ion battery this example of limited number of charging cycles is true.

4. Make better use of power saving mode.

In most of the smart phones you can see, power saving mode option. It will decrease power consumption. You can activate this mode when the phone is idle. During power saving mode brightness of display and processor clocking speed will decrease, consuming less power only. Also you can set auto activate of power saving mode when battery level reaches below a particular level like 50%. This mode will be very useful in phones with multi-core processor. When the phone is idle, if some cores can be given rest using power saving mode, battery consumption will be considerably less.

5. Make use of battery saving applications

For all smart phone platforms there are lots of battery saving apps. For android platform there are many like Battery doctor, Battery Notifier, Battery level widget etc. All these apps will give tips and functionality to save your battery charge. These apps can be used to keep an eye on battery level, kill unnecessary apps, give alarm sound when charging is complete etc.

6. Find what is draining your battery most, and avoid it.

Some apps are there in all smartphone platforms draining more battery charge, that a normal app does. This can be due to malicious apps or faulty code in apps. If you are feeling that after installing or while using some app, battery is draining very fast, uninstall it.  You can monitor which part of your phone is using battery most. For Android this option will be in settings as shown below

Read about more tips to extend the battery life of your android smartphone

Waiting list confirmation chances - Indian Railway

There is a large number of waiting lists associated with Indian Railway ticket booking system. Read more about the types of waiting lists and chance of confirmation of these waiting lists.

Majority of the people in India is depending on trains for internal long distance journey. So booking tickets for trains is common in every Indian's day to day life. But the confusing part about Indian railways is its ticket booking system. There are many different types of trains with different types of coaches, each with various pricing scheme. In these trains itself there are various kinds of quotas and special reservations. So the entire seat allocation of Indian railways is little bit confusing.

Seat allocation while booking train ticket

       When you are booking a ticket in Indian railways, your ticket can come in any of the many categories like confirmed, RAC, WL, CKWL etc. How these statuses are coming and what are the meaning of these is the topic of discussion here.

Confirmed tickets

       Once the booking for a train has started, first booking will start for all seats. The status of these ticket will be confirmed.

RAC tickets (Reservation against Cancellation)

 Once all seats are over, still booking will continue, but this time the status of the tickets will be RAC(Reservation against cancellation) . All those people who are holding RAC ticket can travel in the train. But they may have to share the seat with one more fellow. Because in RAC, same seat will be allotted for two people. As these are sleeper seats, there will be enough seat for two persons to sit. Usually most of the RAC ticket will become confirmed, once the journey is started, because ticket examiner is supposed to give the confirmed seats of persons who are not traveling to RAC holders. RAC booking will continue to some additional 90 seats. Usually these seats will be side seats (side upper or side lower).

Waiting lists.

Even if the additional 90 seats of RAC also over, ticket booking process will not stop. Booking will continue as waiting listed tickets. For the waiting list tickets the limit is nearly 300. After that booking will stop for the train. Out of these waiting lists there is  a large number of  confusing varieties. Different types of waiting list are,

WL

This is the normal waiting list. If it is shown like WL30, that means there are 29 waiting people before you to get at least an RAC ticket. Sometimes it will show like WL84/WL50, this means when booked the status was 84, but now you are at 50th position. ie only 49 more people waiting in front of you. Rarely this waiting list will be mentioned as GNWL also, which is general waiting list.

CKWL

These are waiting lists for tatkal tickets. If you are trying to book train ticket through tatkal one day before the day of journey, there will be only CKWL after confirmed ticket. No RAC will be there. CKWL will get confirmed only if somebody with confirmed tatkal ticket cancels their ticket, probability of which is very less. So confirmation chance for CKWL is less. Also it will not move to RAC, it will directly become confirmed if you advance from CKWL. As there are some additional quota tickets, you will get confirmed tatkal ticket while preparing chart even if you are in CKWL. Upto CKWL 15 will get confirmed like this.

PQWL

These are Pooled quota waiting list. Region wise some trains will be sharing some pooled quota. Usually these, quota is possessed by small stations in the middle of the travel route of main trains. As they will not come in the main quota of starting point people, this quota is necessary for giving some waiting list preference to the people from the middle small stations. In short these seats are aimed at travelers boarding or unboarding from intermediate stations. Confirmation chance for these seats is also less as it is a very small quota.

RLWL   

This is called Remote Location waiting list. RLWL is aimed for the travelers from non starting main stops like main cities or metros to small stops before terminating stop. Unless these people are included with separate quota, a large number of people boarding from intermediate cities will not be considered equally. Waiting list confirmation chance for these waiting lists depends on the cancellation of tickets booked in these quota.

In addition to these there are some other quotas created to help travelers from all categories. It includes RQWL, Ladies quota, Foreign tourist quota, Emergency quota, against all of these there will be waiting lists also.

If you want to read more about waiting lists read on,

IRCTC waiting lists and chances of ticket confirmation

Front camera Android phones

Surely it is the era of smartphones, especially Android phones. It is always better to get an Android phone with front camera, if you are only going to purchase a phone. It offers you many advantages.

Advantage of having front camera Android phone.

* It makes you phone capable of making video calling. As 3G prices are coming down, video calling will be less costly in coming days. Even if you do not have 3G connectivity still you can use your home wifi to make video call using software like Skype.
* It will offer you to capture your photos seeing yourselves simultaneously.
* Many applications available in Android market is using front camera of deliver new features. For example Smart stay facility in Samsung Galaxy S3 is an example of usage of front camera in app.

                                Front camera is common in all high end smart phones. So if you are looking for an Android phone above 15k, most probably it will be having a front camera. Hence here I am listing all low end and Mid end Android phones with front camera.
                                                     1. iBall Andi 3e (Rs.6700)

         This phone is running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and is powered by a 650MHz ARM processor. This dual SIM phone supports video calling due to the presence of 0.3 MP front camera. LCD screen of 3.2 inch offers good clarity display which is responsive also as this is a capacitive touch phone. Primary camera is of 3MP. Li-Ion battery of capacity 1400mAh has the capacity to support both the SIMs for one full day.

Surely it is a value for money gadget. As the price is less, you cannot expect it to be of a very good build quality. But it offers good specifications at low price.






2. Micormax A73 (Rs.7200)

    This is another dual SIM phone which features front camera of 0.3MP with video calling support. This phone has a 650MHz processor and is running on Android 2.3 OS. 3.5 inc capacitive touch screen is the highlight of the phone. Display offers a resolution of 320x480 which is one step ahead of the common resolution of low end smart phones. It will support multi touch also.
Primary camera is of 2MP only. But many users have the opinion that it is good and best in the class. 256MB RAM and 512MB ROM of the phone shows that specification wise it is the best in the price range. Li-Ion battery of 1300mAh offers enough battery life also.

As the build quality of the phone is good and it is large, it will give your phone a posh look (which is absent in most of the micromax phones).

3. iBall Andi 2 (Rs.7200)

This is another dual SIM android phone with 0.3MP front camera. This phone running on Android 2.2 is powered by a 800MHz processor. The 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen is responsive. The primary camera is of capacity 3MP. Battery of capacity 1450mAh is of good capacity, which is capable of powering the phone for one full day even with two SIMs in active mode.
This phone possess a 3 axis accelerometer G sensor, which you can use in sensor enabled games. Normally in low budget android phones you can see only normal accelerometer.







4. Karbonn Smart A7 (Rs.7400)

  This is another dual SIM phone with stunning looks. This Android 2.3 phone powered by 800MHz processor offers excellent features that you cannot find in any of the similarly priced phones. Also the GPU is an added advantage. It possess 3.5 inch capacitive touch screen with HVGA resolution, which will support pinch zoom also.
In addition to the secondary camera it has a primary camera of 5MP HD camera with dual LED flash. Even though many are complaining about the camera, in specifications it looks stunning for this price.  1420mAh battery has enough juice to power the phone for more than one day.

The only thing that people complain about the phone is the clarity of pictures taken by the primary camera. It is 5MP only in specs.



5. Spice Mi 350n (7800)

It is another good Android 2.3 phone with stunning specifications in sub 10k budget. This dual SIM phone is powered by a 650MHz processor. Front camera of 0.3MP and primary camera of 3.2MP performs well. 3.5 inch capacitive touch screen with HVGA (320x480) resolution provides good clarity display. 1400mAh battery provides enough run time in single recharge.
Internal memory of 170MB will get exhausted easily. Some of the built in applications are simply waste, but still you can uninstall those. Also the default camera application is not at all good, you have to resort on some third party app from Android market.






6. Micromax A78 (Rs.7800)

It is another Android 2.3 phone with dual SIM, front camera and qwerty keypad. This and samsung galaxy pro duos are the only ones with these features below 10k. This also possess a 650MHz processor under the hood. 3.5 inch screen offers superb display. 3MP primary camera with flash is of good quality and 0.3MP secondary camera can provide smooth video calling capability. It also possess 150MB RAM and 256 internal memory. RAM is a little bit less, you will need to use a task killer app like advanced task killer to make good use of the phone.
Most of the pre installed apps are not that useful and cannot be uninstalled, and you will feel like these are wasting your space. But still you can adjust. Battery of 1300mAh provides good power backing up.




7. Micromax Superfone Lite A75 (Rs.8600)

This phone also offers both Dual SIM and front camera support. This android 2.3 phone is also supported by 650MHz processor and 256MB RAM. 3.75 inch capacitive touch screen with HVGA resolution with multitouch support is just superb. Primary camera of 3MP and secondary camera of 0.3MP are of good quality.
1300mAh battery is little bit low to support this resolution 3.75 inch screen and dual SIM for long time.
After all the phone is not looking cheap. It gives the feel of a decent phone.







8. Karbonn A9 (Rs.9400)

It is another good looking Android 2.3 smartphone from Karbonn. This is also supported by 1GHz processor and 512MB RAM and features both daul SIM support and video calling support with a front camera. 3.2 inch capacitive touch screen offers WVGA resolution (480x800). 5MP primary camera with auto focus and flash gives good clarity pictures.

Internal memory of 1GB is another interesting features that you cannot find in any similarly priced phones. 1600mAh battery is capable of powering the phone for a long time. 







9. Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos (Rs.9500)

It is the only Samsung Android phone with below 10k price tag, featuring front camera. It also possess dual SIM support. This phone is having qwerty keypad along with a decent 2.6 inch capacitive touch screen. with 240x320 resolution. 832MHz processor is powerful. But you cannot feel this speed while using the phone. This may be because of the low RAM. 
Secondary camera of 0.3MP offers video call support. But the 3MP primary camera is not of superb quality.
Battery of 1350mAh capacity is not capable of supporting touch screen and dual SIMs for long time. But initially you can expect one day battery life.





10.   Motorola Fire XT (Rs.9500)


It is the only Motorola phone available below 10k price tag with front camera. Feature wise this phone is just superb. 5MP primary camera with auto focus and LED flash, 0.3MP front camera. 800MHz processor, 512MB RAM, 1540mAh battery capacity, 3.5 inch capacitive touch screen with HVGA resolution.

From the features, you can see that you can see these any of the previous phones listed above. But still this phone has not got enough acceptance from users. Once reason can be the low internal memory of 150MB, which will be exhausted soon.










As you can observe from present market status, day by day new phones are coming to market. Currently these are the choices available for a person looking for front camera android phones.

You can also refer

Android phones with front camera.


You may be interested in more lists of Android phones


Android phones with dual core processor

Windows 7 free download

Windows 7 is the most popular and efficient operating system currently available in the market. It is one of the most popular operating system that came after Windows XP. After Windows XP, Microsoft released Windows Vista, even though it has some good aesthetic features, it was very slow and requiring very good hardware to perform well. But with Windows 7 Microsoft gained, its name back. It is a really good operating system which is really fast even in moderate hardware specifications.
Versions of Windows 7
Microsoft is releasing three different editions of Windows 7, so that users can purchase the one they like and suiting their needs. Names of the versions are Home basic, Home premium, Professional, Ultimate, in the increasing order of features and prices.

Requirements to install windows 7
To install Windows 7 your system needs to meet certain minimum requirements. These requirements are not very high, even low priced desktops will be having these features.
For 32 Bit Windows 7 installation - 1GHz or higher processor, 1GB or higher RAM, Minimum 16GB hard disk space, Direct X 9 graphics device.
For 64 Bit Windows 7 installation - 1GHz or higher 64bit processor, 2GB or higher RAM, Minimum 20GB hard disk space, Direct X 9 graphics device. You can install 64bit windows 7 in 1GB RAM computers also. But the most commonly reported problem is that it will cause the system to overheat.

Get Windows 7 free download

You can download Windows 7  free of cost from Microsoft site itself and try it. But you have to activate it within 30 days.

Download Windows 7

As it is direct download link, you should have a download manager software. Otherwise if while downloading you internet connectivity is lost, all your downloaded content will be lost. So if you are going to download Windows 7 from Microsoft site, first download a download manager(many free download managers are available like Free download manager) and install it. Then give the download through the download manager.
Other way is to download Windows 7 from torrent sites. For this also you will need to have a torrent downloading software like utorrent (it is also free to download. Install it.).  Then go to torrent search engines like www.torrentz.eu. Search for the windows version you want. Download the torrent file. On double clicking the torrent file, it will open through the torrent download software (like utorrent). Then download will progress. Nothing will happen even if your internet connectivity is lost.

After 30 days trial period you have to activate Windows 7, using the product key that you purchase. There are other ways to fool Microsoft, but it is advisable to use the original version of Windows 7 itself, as it provides you further updates also.

Read more about

How to install Windows 7 from a USB drive

How to install windows 7 step by step guide

Smartphone war comes to Map apps!!

Most of the smartphone field giants are entering Map apps field this year. Google, Nokia etc are already in the field. They are also coming with interesting new products for the changing market.

What is the reason behind interest in Map apps?

          Recently a survey showed that most of the smartphone users are using Map apps only. The number of users using smartphone for Mapping purpose is more than those using for browsing internet. Surely as it is the best chance to strike, all smartphone giants has come to Mobile Map app field

Google 

Google is the current biggest player in mobile app field. With the arrival of Android operating system, their position got more confirmed. But Google also has to come with innovating solutions to keep the position.
Google has arrived with Offline Google maps. Now you can use Google maps without internet connectivity also, which was not easy so far. Even if you are in an underground passage or an area where internet connectivity is not there (mostly the case when you go for trekking.), you can use Google maps without any interruption. It will be very useful for countries like India, where GPRS connectivity is still slow. Google offline Maps will be available for Android presently, that too for Android version 2.3 or higher. Currently in Google maps this feature is available as a lab function.

How to enable offline Google maps?

It is an easy procedure in your Android Google Maps app.
First you have to enable this Google maps feature. For that after opening Google map app, press menu->Settings->labs->Download offline map
In second step you can download any area you want, in 10 miles radius. Press and hold in the area you want to download. One popup showing the address of the place will come. Just touch on that popup, in the coming page you will get the option to download that area of the map.

Watch a video demonstrating how to use Offline Google maps

Nokia

            Nokia is currently offering offline maps. It is of good quality also. Also in Nokia Symbian platform you can download Google maps also. In Nokia maps, downloadable maps of different countries offers good quality maps. Presently in Google App store also there are some offline map tools like mapdroid. But the clarity and integration with GPS are not enough. But for Nokia these are good. Lets see what Nokia is going to come up with in reply to Google's new solutions.

Apple

             Apple is always famous for releasing quality products. This year everybody is waiting for some excellent Map solution from Apple. Last year Apple has purchased a 3D mapping tool company. So this year in iPhone 5 you can expect 3D Mapping solutions integrated in the OS itself. Considering that former Apple CEO, Steve Jobs has a special interest in developing mapping apps, Apple will surely come up with some excellent product, which will turn the entire smartphone market like Siri.

See  Apple iPhone 5 leaked photos-amazing.

Tricks to book tatkal ticket on irctc 2012

IRCTC is opening tatkal tickets one day before the day of journey, for those who are traveling in emergency. But as most of the regular booking tickets are in waiting list in most of the routes, we are forced to try for tatkal tickets always, one day before the travel date. Number of people trying to book tatkal ticket at morning 8AM is so high that in some days even IRCTC.co.in servers will crash. Nothing more to say, it is very difficult to get tatkal ticket if you are not booking in a systematic way.

Tatkal Ticket booking process.

According to the new rules of IRCTC, tatkal booking is opening one day before the day of starting of the train. Booking process starts at morning 8AM. For tatkal tickets there will be some additional charges than normal ticket. I think the normal tatkal booking process is familiar to most of you. So I am not explaining it. Let us think how to improve the chance of getting a confirmed ticket. Before that there are some new rules from IRCTC, to avoid agents from booking tatkal using normal booking procedure.

New Ticket booking restrictions from IRCTC.

1. Now you can book only 10 ticket per month per user ID.
2. From one ID you can book only 2 tatkal or normal tickets between 8AM and 9 AM from one user ID.
3.  From one IP address you can book only two tickets (tatkal or normal) between morning 8AM and 9 AM. So more than one person is trying with same internet connection also, only the first two ticket can be booked, independent of how many user IDs you have. (In order to bypass this- Most of our internet connections are of dynamic IP. Once the modem is switched OFF and ON, IP will change. Again you can book two more ticket using that ID)
4. Now from one browser you can login using one ID only. If you want to try from two different browser from your own computer, you need to have two different login IDs. Even if your friend and you are sharing same ID, both of you cannot login at the same time between 8AM and 9 AM.

Tricks to book tatkal ticket quickly

Considering that there are so many restrictions for IRCTC, it is difficult for agents to book large number of ticket before 9AM. That is advantageous for normal ticket booking persons. Now what we have to consider is how to decrease the booking time. As within seconds tickets are getting booked, it is difficult to get confirmed ticket if you are booking slowly. Many persons are trying through internet and railway reservation counters, available tickets will be booked quickly. So each second is precious for busy routes.

Time saving tricks while booking tatkal ticket

1. You have to use more than one IRCTC account and browsers to increase the chance. If you have only one account, ask your friends for help. Also according to new rules, you need to login from different browsers. You may doubt that having many logins will decrease the bandwidth that you are getting for one single browser. This is not like downloading file. If you are downloading a file, when two downloads are simultaneously given, speed will be shared. But as irctc is a heavy traffic website, some of the requests will not get enough priority. So it is always better to try with more than one account. 
2. IRCTC website is optimized for internet explorer. But Mozilla firefox and Google chrome are more useful from my experience. As you have addons for these browsers you can try auto fill features, to make the booking faster.
3. Use auto fill addon for browsers. This is used to fill data in one second. When you are coming to the enter passenger details page, there are many details you need to enter in the page. If the number of passengers is high it will take more time. If you are using this addon and save the data previously by typing, in one second this addon will fill the data for you.
4.  It is always advisable to have your data with you before starting the procedure. Both starting and destination station codes, ID card details etc. Remember each second is precious.
5. Login before 8AM. At least by 7.55 AM and keep your session active by clicking here and there. While entering train details for tatkal ticket, time on the site should be after 8AM. For that after 8AM only you have to click on plan my travel link. Synchronize your system time with irctc site time. Then just after your system time reaches 7.59.55 click on Plan my Travel link. Then after loading site time will be just after 8AM. This time is important as many will start only by 8.01 and all. At this time itself you can advance.
6. Select a payment method that is taking less time. From some of my friends i have heard that HDFC bank internet banking is fast compared to other banks. Also do not click two times in any of the links is the payment section, it will result in online reservation error.

The above tricks are to save some time while booking tatkal ticket on IRCTC. But there are some additional tricks that will increase your chance to get confirmed tatkal ticket. Check the additional ticks shown below also.

1. IRCTC has launched mobile version of the site in the link https://www.irctc.co.in/mobile. Usually if you type this link from your desktop it will redirect to the desktop version of the site. Only from mobile, you can load the mobile version of the site. But using user agent switcher addons you can load mobile version of the site in your desktop. For detailed steps visit  New tips to get confirmed tatkal ticket from IRCTC 2012
2. If the train is starting from some far place which is one or two day far from your place, you have to book tatkal ticket in the day before the starting day of the train, not one day before the train reaches your place. Actually this opens a way to get ticket without much difficulty. Book for trains that are coming from far places and passing through your place in the second or third day of travel. The advantage you are going to get is - usually everybody will be trying for tatkal one day before only. As the tatkal booking of such trains starts early, there will be less people trying for tatkal in that train from your area in the correct day.
3. If you are getting "service unavailable" at any stage, just keep on refreshing the page finally it will come (unless no javascript alert window is coming. if anything is coming, you have to start again from login). Earlier there was no proper error handling in the site. But now even some transactions showing service unavailable while returning from bank also, gives confirmed ticket.
4. Another one thing that you can notice about irctc ticket booking is that it is difficult to book from BSNL internet connection even if it is broadband. It is because majority of Indians are trying form BSNL internet only, so it will be slow to access irctc site in that time. If you are trying some broadband connection service of other providers like tatateleservices, airtel etc you have more chance. Same thing is applicable for outside India internet connection also. If you are accessing from outside India, it is easy to book.

I think the above tricks are useful for you. If you have any doubts about any of the steps or you have any better ideas, please share....
Read about more such tips in,

Tips to get tatkal ticket from railway site IRCTC

Android tablets with SIM card slot in India

Release of Aakash tablet to the market initiated a new trend of cheap tablets in the market. If you are purchasing a tablet with SIM card slot also, you will be able to get all functionality also in the tablet. See below the list of Android tablets with SIM card slot available in India.
If you are not looking for a general list of cheap Android tablets in India you can refer

Cheap tablets in India below Rs.5000

 

Advantages of having SIM card slot in tablet

It is always good to have SIM card slot in tablet. Some tablets allow full phone functionality in it like call making over GSM network, messaging etc. In such phones surely there will be SIM card slot and also you will be able to use internet through GPRS. For example Aakash tablet.
In some other tablets, there will be SIM card slot, but phone functionality will not be there. In such tablets, SIM card slot is provided only to access GPRS or 3G service for internet connectivity. But you cannot make call or send message. For example BSNL tablet
Still in rural areas 3G connectivity is a dream only. Also in some areas even though 3G connectivity is there, cost is really high. Still it will take 2 or 3 more years for the 3G price to come down. Also not everybody can have wi-fi data connectivity. So the only way to connect to internet from rural areas and villages is GPRS only. Even though GPRS connectivity is slow, still it is enough for browsing, if streaming videos is not considered. For GPRS connectivity you must have SIM card slot in your tablet.

List of Android tablets with SIM card slot in India

Aakash tablet plus (Rs.2999)

Aakash tablet started the revolution of cheap tablets in India. After the first version of aakash tablet, now Datawind is releasing improved version of aakash tablet with full phone functionality including call, message, GPRS capabilities. Have a look through the configurations of the tablet

• Processor is 800MHz Cortex A8 Processor and GPU of HD video coprocessor.
• OS is Android 2.3 GingerBread
• RAM: 256MB
• Screen: 800x400 resolution 7" resistive touch
• Internal Storage of 2 GB is also available.
• Battery  capacity of 3200mAh will last for 3 or 4 hour continuous use.
•  It offers WIFI and GPRS connectivity and external USB dongles
•  2 full USB port
•  all phone capabilities
•  Office document support.

BSNL T-PAD IS701R tablet Priced Rs.3499.

BSNL has released three different tablet models of different price categories and specifications to market. Like aakash tablet, these tablets are also getting huge pre booking in the booking site. Especially the cheapest version named T-pad IS701R, is getting huge orders. This tablet is comes with more fast processor compared to Aakash tablet. Also you can find some other additional features in this tablet compared to Aakash tablet of similar cost.

• Processor: 1GHz IMAPX210 Processor and Vivante GC600 GPU  
• Android 2.3 GingerBread
• RAM: 256MB
• 800x480 resolution resistive touch screen of 7 inch.
• 2 GB internal storage
• 3000mAh battery
• It offers WIFI and GPRS connectivity and  external USB dongles
• Camera :0.3MP
• Mini USB ports
• Mini HDMI port

Wespro tablet PC with 3G  priced Rs.4999.

It is a 1GHz processor tablet which is sold at a reduced price of Rs.4999 at site naaptol.com. Attractive feature of this tablet is a SIM card slot for direct 3G connectivity. This tablet also comes with full LAN port which allows direct connection of Ethernet cable. So all modes of internet connectivity is accessible through the tablet. But there are some drawbacks also for this tablet. In this tablet Android market is not original one. Your Gmail ID will not be accepted in that market.
It comes with following specifications.

• Processor: 1GHz Infotmic X210 Processor
• Android 2.3 GingerBread
• 256MB RAM
• 7 inch resistive touch 800x480 resolution supporting multi touch.
• 4 GB internal memory.
• 2400 mAh battery
• It offers WIFI and SIM card slot for 3G connectivityand external USB dongles
• 0.3MP front camera for video calling.
• Additional Capabilities : Mini USB ports, LAN port, Gravity sensor

Apple & Samsung law war - Who will win?

Both Apple and Samsung is in court filing lawsuits against each other. Most of us will feel from the just outside look that Samsung has stolen some design features of Apple. But there is a question saying most suitable shape for a touch phone is rectangular only. It is possible, but not feasible to make a circular phone. But the problem comes when the same problem repeats in Tablets also. Just after the release of i Pad, not only Samsung all companies released similarly looking tablets to the market








See the video that Samsung produced in the court saying that they got the idea of tablet from the old movie "2011 a space odyssey". In this movie a electronic device similar to tablet is shown. Just watch

Things to take care while sittingin front of Computer

Now the use of computer in our day to day life is increasing day by day. Now the number of jobs without direct contact with computer is very less. Most of the jobs require  you to sit in front of computer for a long time. You have to take care of  your posture if you are using computer for more than 2 hour a day,(you have to make your position more ergonomic ).

 

The picture depicts how to sit in front of computer ideally. But I agree that it is very difficult to sit like this for a very long time. (But you have to considering the future impacts an improper posture can cause)

About suitable chair

You have to look for a chair with adjustable height and adjustable back support. This is because, it is very difficult to get a non adjustable chair matching your requirements. So it is always better to get one chair with adjustable height.

How to sit in chair

Once you have purchased an adjustable chair, next thing that you have to take care is how to sit on it. First of all make the height adjustments so that your foot touches ground and your knees are at 90 degrees, keeping your hip to the back as possible. Also you have to adjust your adjustable back support, so that your lower and upper back gets support. If necessary you can use inflatable cushions. Now keep chair at an arm length from monitor. After completing these steps you are done with the chair.

Positioning of monitor

Positioning of the monitor and height of top of monitor and even the tilting angle of monitor are important. As if offers to keep your heads in optimum angle while sitting, else either you have to look up continuously or look down continuously .Also if you learn to type without looking in keyboard, you can keep your head in one direction itself, otherwise you will have to look intermittently to keyboard and monitor while typing. Also get an ergonomic keyboard, which will help you to keep your hands strain free while typing.

Also looking continuously to monitor for a long time will cause eye problems, first of which is drying of eyes and irritation in eyes. To overcome this, after every 30 minutes you must take a 5 minutes break and for 30 seconds you have to look to some distant object or keep your eyes closed. Also it is better to get up from your chair and walk little bit in this 5 minutes. If you want you can set a reminder in your phone or system to remind you to take break in every 30 minutes.

Working in front of system for long hours is not avoidable for most of the jobs. The only thing we can do is to keep good ergonomics so that we will not get affected by this badly in future.