Social Network On The Go

" With everything going mobile -- from recharges to balance updates, social networking is also gradually shifting to the mobile platform. We bring to you some of the most well-known sites and their mobile versions"

The next time you think of updating your status on Facebook or feel like Tweeting, don’t run to your PC or switch on your laptop. With most popular websites now going mobile, users can stay connected with friends and family, update pictures and share experiences on the go.

Though most of you would be aware about the working of Social Networking Sites (SNS), here’s a brief lowdown about them for those new to the concept. A social network is a place (in this case virtual) where like-minded people interact and share their thoughts and pictures and stay connected. Most of these sites offer a lot of applications, which can be accessed after creating a profile.

This is the era of convergence where the lines between computers and mobile devices are blurring. It is also the era of smartphones, mobile Internet, super fast mobile processors, touchscreens and motion sensors. Thus, more people are now using their handsets for computing purposes, including surfing the Internet. Social networking has been extremely popular on the Web, so a shift towards mobiles is a natural transition for it.

Most SNSes can be easily accessed on mobile phones through a browser or as an application meant for the device. Let us first discuss such sites that run on Symbian devices as integrated applications.

Interface
The interface of these mobile SNSes is designed in a way that it fits a small screen and loads smoothly. Almost all SNSes have mobile versions. Users can simply update their status, pictures, videos, etc. while on the move. They also have text-based applications and options to load images. However, these affect the loading speed of the apps (SNSes). Let us examine the interface of some of the leading mobile SNSes on Symbian mobile platform.

Facebook
Facebook is one of the most popular social networking applications that is being integrated into almost all mobile phones these days.

Facebook mobile is a scaled down version of the PC website and includes only the most used features. It also has an option where users can simply click photos with the mobile camera and upload it to their Facebook account. The picture gets instantly uploaded to the photos segment. This scaled down version has been optimised with less pictures, graphics and other visuals. This helps in retaining the speed of the application on a mobile device owing to its smaller size.

On a Symbian device Facebook can be installed easily by downloading its mobile version. Depending upon the device being used, the app shows some images and most links may or may not work.

The speed of the apps will also depend on the GPRS speed of the network. Having Wi-Fi connectivity really helps.

MySpace
The main screen of mobile MySpace has been simplified and is very useful. It features the user’s status message, friend request screen, access to profile, friends’ status and moods, comments and updates from friends.

There are four menus on the top of the screen -- home, message, photos and friends’ list. Apart from the basic menu, the app also comes with a quick access menu at the bottom.

The photo upload feature is similar to Facebook. Users get a unique Email ID to which they can send the photos and get them uploaded to an album within a short time.

Friendster
Friendster on mobile is one of the most interesting apps in terms of photo uploading. It is very simple -- just select and click to upload the picture. Users can also add comments and tag lines to pictures.

The menu of this app is at the bottom of the screen, with the home button on top followed by profile, friends, comments, messages, photos and bulletin board.

The profile has an option to edit and change the skin of the menu list, while the friends option has the add button next to it. The rest of the menus open a new page altogether to access related features.

Through Friendster users can also send and receive SMSes. The bulletin board allows users to keep news and updates for their friends. The interface of the application is simple and works smoothly on a mobile device.

Orkut
Orkut is one of the first social networking sites to have caught the fancy of Indian youth.While it has been popular on the Web, it is equally popular on mobiles as well.

The interface of mobile Orkut is not exactly what you might see on a PC. It is actually an optimised version of the original. On mobile Orkut users can check their scraps, photos and friends’ statuses.
Mobile Orkut focusses more on fuctionality than visual appeal. So, while it looks dull, it lets users stay connected all the time. It has five main tabs -- home, my scrapbook, my contacts, my photo and my profile.

Uploading of photos is also a good feature on mobile Orkut. However, this process can be pretty tiring if you don’t have a good GPRS speed. Users can learn some shortcuts for using mobile Orkut:

0 Home
1 Check scraps
2 Set you status
3 Upload photos
4 Share album
9 Write/Reply to scrap

YouTube
Networking through videos is also an integral part of social networking. And one such site that lets you communicate visually is YouTube. This networking site allows users to upload videos and share them with friends and family. The application lets them search videos, view lists of the top rated, most viewed and most recent videos. Choosing any of these loads a list of videos with an image 'carousel' at the top of the screen. Users can quickly browse through the available videos, viewing them as thumbnail. A short description and miscellaneous information about the video is also displayed. The menu option at the bottom has a change connection setting, home, related videos and an option to flag them. Once a video is selected the list can be scrolled horizontally to see the length of the video and a short description. Videos cannot be uploaded through a downloaded mobile YouTube. However, this can be done while accessing the app through a browser.

Flickr
Flickr is another visual social network where users can share videos and photos. This app has four main menus on the top -- activity, you, contacts and more. These options are just a single command, which show the users' status, pictures and profile. It also shows the users' contacts. Below these four menus are another four, which give the latest / recent activities, the day's interestingness and photos taken nearby.

Users cannot upload photos on the app if it is being accessed on a mobile version. On the other hand, pictures can be uploaded if the app is accessed fro m another browser.

Conclusion
Overall, these are some good, interactive applications, which will keep you updated and entertained any time.

All of them have their own convenience. However, you need to choose the one that suits your device the most and obviously, the one, which has the biggest friends' list. You can also have multiple apps on your phone. But as of today -- unlike Instant Messengers -- no such app has been developed that integrates all such sites into one.

So, with the review for Symbian devices done, we will bring an SNS burntest for another platform in the next issue. Watch this space!

Boon or Bane?

" The Intelligence Bureau feels that Internet telephony should be banned as it poses a threat to the security of the country. Even as such services become popular across the world, a debate rages in India on the need to regularise VoIP"

In what comes as a setback for millions of users of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in India, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has asked the Ministry of Communication to block all Internet telephony (VoIP) services to and from the country until the Department of Telecom (DoT) puts in place a mechanism to track such calls.

The IB order -- issued in September 2009 -- states that India does not have the capability to track Internet telephony calls -- domestic and international. It has asked DoT to find an “early solution to this issue in the interest of national security”.

“In the absence of Caller Line Identification (CLI) parameters of calls landing from abroad, it becomes next to impossible to identify the location of the caller, we have approached DoT to block such calls till a technical solution is found,” said the IB communication.

All About VoIP
Internet telephony is a technology that allows users to make telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of the regular landline or mobile.

There are two categories of voice transmission over IP networks. Voice transmitted over public Internet and managed VoIP. The primary difference between voice services on managed and unmanaged IP networks is quality of speech.

However, this difference is getting diminished with technological advancement, new coding techniques and availability of higher bandwidth provided by broadband connections. The calls can be made from one PC to another, form a VoIP phone to any another phone and from a PC to a phone. While the first two methods are acceptable among regulators, the third form has always raised controversies around the world. Similarly, with the growing popularity of mobile phones, IP calling through mobile phones is growing too.

Says Sanjeet Chatterjee, global marketing head and country manager (India operations), REVE Systems, a leading IP Telephony and Mobile VoIP solutions provider, “Introduction of mobile VoIP has ushered in a lot of convenience in IP calling as one does not need to buy special VoIP phones. Mobile phone users can just download the mobile VoIP application like Skype or iTel Mobile Dialer and use it to for making VoIP calls from their cellphone the same way you make normal calls. For connecting to the Internet, they can use Wi-Fi or GPRS/ 3G services offered by mobile carriers.”

Indian Aspect
With nearly 457million wireless subscribers, mobile phones cover nearly 42 per cent of India’s population. Given their unprecedented coverage, cellphones are increasingly seen as agents of socio-economic development.

On April 1, 2002, India had allowed restricted Internet PC to PC, VoIP phone to phone and PC to phone. Though unrestricted VoIP was allowed for Unified Access Service Providers and Cellular Mobile Service Providers in March 2006, the telcos never promoted these services for fear of losing lucrative voice revenue.

With all good intentions, TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) recommended in August 2008 that even Internet Service Providers (ISPs) could provide unrestricted VoIP, as it would bring down prices of International Long Distance (ILD) and National Long Distance (NLD) calls. These recommendations were aimed to put the Indian telecom sector in tune with the global trends and curtail grey market tendencies for the benefits for consumers and ISPs.

The Repercussions
If DoT implements the IB directive, it will impact lakhs of consumers who use VoIP to make calls at extremely low cost to phones and free calls to computers across the globe. According to TRAI’s latest performance indicators report, Indian consumers used over 130 million minutes of Internet telephony in the January-March quarter 2009. Says Chatterjee, “This will be quite a regressive step as many NRIs around the world use VoIP to stay connected with friends and family. Even Indian businesses remain competitive because they can use VoIP. So if VoIP is stopped, it will be detrimental to the image of India and its growth story. It is possible to get CLI of customers making VoIP calls. DoT just needs to mandate someone to set this up and help service providers pool in the data.”

However, cyber security expert Vijay Mukhi feels the IB should have issued such directions immediately after the 26/11 terror attacks. “The terrorists used net telephony as they were aware that India did not have the technological capabilities to do a live trace of such calls. In the US and Europe, all players who offer VoIP services have provisions that allow the governments to track these calls. Many of them have also installed equipment at their premises to monitor VoIP calls upon orders from governments.”

Global Popularity
Across the world, Internet telephony remains one of the cheapest and easiest ways to stay connected. US analysts Telegeography predict that the global revenue from VoIP will reach US$ 5 billion with 16 per cent of the total telephony subscribers by 2010. Other estimates are much higher. According to Juniper Research, revenues from VoIP services in the business sector alone will reach US$ 18 billion by 2010, with hosted VoIP business revenues reaching US$ 7.6 billion.
According to recent reports, the US is the first among the top 10 countries in providing retail VoIP services followed by Japan and France. A survey of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) carried out by iLocus has revealed that the number of mobile VoIP subscribers served by MVNOs will reach 2 million by the end of 2009. As of April 2009 MVNOs serve an estimated 450,000 mobile VoIP subscribers worldwide. The 550,000 mobile VoIP subscribers worldwide will grow to 3.5 million by the end of 2009 and to 26.6 million by 2012.

A recent report by In-Stat, a research agency, found that in North America and Canada, cable operators are aggressively expanding their VoIP footprint, but are marketing VoIP as plain old telephone service. In Asia, South Korea will have the highest VoIP growth rate, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore.

Challenges Ahead
Ever since the IB released its directive, there have been numerous debates for and against the need to regulate Internet telephony in India. Many ISPs strongly oppose any regulation on VoIP calls saying that they are just one of the many services (such as chatting, browsing, Email) that VoIP providers/ISPs offers to customers. Hence it should be considered as an information service.

Moreover, when a user makes a VoIP call, it is difficult to determine the exact location of the origination/destination of the call (location of the PC, location of the gateway) and hence it is not possible to bring it under the interconnection regulation and levy termination access charges as is currently practiced in a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) call. Says Chatterjee, “The Indian market for VoIP is restricted as users can only make calls outside India. Also government regulations prevent interconnection between PSTN and IP, which prevents calling cards/call back services. VoIP market will witness a boom only when the government lifts these restrictions. VoIP helps cut down communications cost and promotes unified messaging from mobile phones.”

However, some people argue that technology advancements have made quality of VoIP calls a close substitute for PSTN calls and hence should be treated the same way as the latter. Moreover, with the low-cost VoIP adapters that can be plugged in to connect inexpensive analog phones to broadband lines, VoIP is becoming widely accessible much like PSTN and hence should be regulated the same way. This should include mandatory emergency numbering and contribution to Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund.

Another view is that a level playing field is now being created between telcos and ISPs. In 2006 DoT had implemented a licence fee of 6 per cent on revenue (including contribution to USO fund) for Internet telephony services offered by ISPs. This was in line with the licence fee for NLD and ILD services. Hence, unrestricted VoIP was to compete with NLD and ILD services. Yet, TRAI warns, “The regulatory restrictions on ISPs to provide unrestricted Internet telephony and lack of interest among access providers to offer similar services are encouraging development of the grey markets in Internet telephony. Some press reports and other information indicate extension of other countries’ numbers in the Indian territory to provide Internet telephony using broadband connections..”

It adds, “The regulatory environment should be dynamic, enabling, efficient and encourage competition. Hence regulatory framework for Internet telephony has to be considered in view of convergence and other similar developments taking place across the globe.” Rapid technological developments and better quality of voice communications are shaping the future of telecom. As the world advances with newer and faster technologies, we are still stuck with outdated ones. It will be interesting to see the regulator come up with newer recommendations that will make it easier for India to keep pace with the world.

Vicious Virus

" A numbers of mobile viruses and malwares are now spreading and infecting mobile phone. The situation is more critical for smartphones owing to their open operati ng systems and connectivity features"

A lot of us have lost data from our laptops, PCs and cellphones due to virus attacks. These viruses cause a lot of inconvenience, not to mention the numerous hassles that we have to undergo to get our devices back on track.

So what exactly is a virus? In simple terms a virus is a software programme that reproduces itself and causes great harm to files or other programmes on the device it has infected. In other words, it’s an executable file that "infects" a device and then copies itself to other devices. In the case of cellphones, viruses spread through games, MMS, Bluetooth transfers, security patches, add-ons, pornography and free downloads. The most common type of cellphone infection occurs when a device downloads an infected file from a PC or the Internet. However, phone-to-phone viruses are also on the rise.

The smartphones are more prone to viruses since they perform like PCs and have open operating systems. So, as the number of smartphones increase the malware attack would go up. Interestingly, phones which are used for making and receiving calls are not at risk. So far mobile phone viruses don’t get installed automatically even if they get transferred from one device to another. Thus, unless a user opens the file and installs the programme, the virus doesn’t infect a phone.

Dangerous Communication
As mentioned earlier, cellphone viruses can spread through various means and in different ways. Let’s find out how.
• Internet downloads: The user downloads an infected file to the phone through a PC or the phone's Internet connection. This may include file sharing downloads, applications available from add-on sites (ringtones or games) and false security patches posted on Symbian Websites.

• Bluetooth transfers: The virus spreads between phones through Bluetooth when the device is in discoverable mode, which means it can be sensed by other Bluetooth-enabled phones. In this case, the virus spreads like an airborne illness.
• MMS: The virus comes in the form of an attachment. The user must open the attachment and install it for the virus to infect the phone.

Story So Far
Mobile phones were not prone to virus attacks until mid-2004 when the first mobile virus termed ‘Cabir’ started infecting devices. Cabir was released on the Internet. Within a few months of its release, it caused a lot of havoc in South East Asia. It later spread to different parts of the world.

In March 2005 it was reported that a computer worm called Commwarrior-A had been infecting mobile devices across the world. Commwarrior-A sent copies of itself to those devices listed in the phone’s address book. Although the virus was not considered harmful, experts agreed that it heralded a new age in electronic attacks on mobile phones, changing the mobile security landscape forever.

The parasitic file infector virus was the first known virus for the PocketPC platform. It attempted to infect all EXE files in the phone's directory (bigger than 4096 bytes).

However, today there are a number of viruses that are now infecting mobile phones in every part of the globe. Unless installed by the user, these viruses drain out the battery of the phone or extend the time taken by the device to switch on or off. Additionally, the virus tries to copy itself to another smartphone by opening a Bluetooth connection.

Protect Your Phone
The best way to protect your cellphone from viruses is to never open any file, which is not identifiable, hasn’t been requested for and looks suspicions. Despite this even the most cautious person can end up with an infected phone. Here are some steps to keep your smartphone free from viruses:

• Turn off Bluetooth discoverable mode. Set your phone to "hidden" so other phones can't detect it.
• Check security updates to learn about filenames. But this is not fool-proof.
• Install a security software on your phone. Companies are developing security software for cellphones, some for free download, some for user purchase and some intended for service providers. The software can simply detect and remove the virus once it's received and installed, or it can protect the phone from getting infected in the first place.

Better Safe Than Sorry
Although some in the cellphone industry think the potential of viruses is overstated, most experts agree that cellphone viruses are on the brink of their destructive power. Future possibilities include viruses that bug phones, so someone can see every number you call and listen to all your conversations and viruses that steal financial information, which would be a serious issue if smartphones end up being used as payment devices.

Ultimately, more connectivity means more exposure to viruses and faster spread of infection. As smartphones become more common and more complex, so will the viruses that target them.

Mobile Power House

" The central processing unit is the heart of smartphones and it is getting faster and powerful by the day"

In the world of processing the heart of every computing device is its central processing unit (CPU). When a device is designed to run a single application, it doesn’t need much of a processing power and speed. But devices like cellphones, which have to perform multiple tasks, need high processing powers and speeds. In fact, few of us would be aware of the fact that even entry-level phones have processors with speeds of a few megabytes.

Speeding Up
In recent times mobile phones have evolved from being simple devices for making and receiving calls to digital assistants and even GPS devices. Such highly evolved phones pack in a lot in their small frames. Thus, they need a lot of processing power.

With the constant evolution in technology, processors of mobile devices are becoming faster by the day. The Asus P565 once held the title of the phone with the fastest processor running on Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system (OS). The phone was powered by Marvell TavorP CPU running at a speed of 800 MHz. Marvel is an ARM licensee, which manufactures ARM architecture-based processors.

The Samsung Omnia II also has an 800 MHz processor speed and runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 OS. Interestingly, while they are available in other countries, India is now eagerly awaiting the launch of a processor that can run at 1 GHz. This product from Qualcomm is based on the Snapdragon platform that offers performance and optimised power consumption for next generation smart mobile devices. With this CPU, devices will remain connected, aware and deliver all communications needs of users, including 3G mobile broadband, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS.
The Snapdragon architecture-based devices are thin, ultra-portable and easy to use, with an intuitive user interface and mobile operating system. The QualcommSnapdragon platform has a series of QSD8X50 chipsets. This will consist of the QSD8250 chipset for GSM and QSD8650 for CDMA devices.

Smartphone Market
This race to develop the fastest processor has been fuelled by the growing global popularity of smartphones. A 2007 report by a research firm states that the global smartphone market will grow at more than 30 per cent in the next five years -- taking an increasing share of the overall phone market that is otherwise growing in single digits. According to a Gartner report, till the second quarter of 2009, 40.9 million smartphones were sold. This is a 27 per cent growth from 2008.

On The Platter
At the Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona, Spain, NVIDIA unveiled its first application processor -- basically the analog of a CPU in a PC. The APX2500 is based on a 750 MHz ARM11 core and is designed to work only with Windows Mobile. It will be capable of both encoding and decoding HD 720p videos (a first for the industry). The integrated Ultra Low Power GeForce GPU supports both OpenGL ES 2.0 and Direct3D Mobile. NVIDIA's processor is basically for enhancing the visual and graphic quality of devices.

Fastest In The Future
Besides this there are some devices with amazing processing speeds that will soon hit the market. The HTC Touch Pro3 will feature the 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, with a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen with multi-touch support. This device will run the latest Windows Mobile 6.5 OS and will have a 5.0-megapixel camera. The HTC HD2 will also follow soon. Acer -- also in the race for using the fastest processor for mobile devices -- has released details of its latest smartphone, the Acer F1. The F1 has Qualcomm’s 8250 1 GHz processor (Snapdragon) and will come with Windows Mobile 6.5 OS. t has a 3.8-inch WVGA touchscreen display with a resolution of 480 x 800, and is quad-band GSM/tri-band HSPA. The F1 will sport a built-in Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.1, an accelerometer and a 3.5 mm audio jack. The Toshiba TG01, which is available in some European countries, is a 9.9 mm-thick device with a 4.1-inch WVGA, 800x480, 384k pixel resistive touch screen. It supports 3G HSPA, Wi-Fi, GPS, A-GPS. The Qualcomm silicon supports high-definition (720 p) video decode, 3D graphics (up to 22 M triangles/ sec), XGA display support, a 12.0-megapixel camera and mobile broadcast TV. Typical ARM architecture chips used in mobile phones peak at about 500 MHz or a little higher at 800MHz. In the future the Qualcomm QSD8672 will be a dual-core Snapdragon with multiple CPU computing cores capable of 1.5 GHz performance. These will include HSPA , up to 28 Mbps download speeds, 1080p high-definition videos, Wi-Fi, mobile TV and GPS. The graphics core will be based on AMDs ATI unit's technology. Thus, as technology evolves, CPUs will offer faster speeds and will become even more powerful without consuming too much energy. The day is not far when mobile devices with high operating speeds will become as good as desktop devices and who knows, may be overtake them.

Click It Right

"Most of us own camera phones but are unaware of how to use their features. Here's a lowdown on the convergence of cameras and cellphones and how to click better pictures with your device"

Over the years cellphones have become extremely popular and a necessity. On the other hand, cameras have become an integral part of cellphones. From VGA to 8.0 megapixel or even higher, users can pick and choose camera phones according to their needs. In fact, innovations in the mobile camera segment have, to some extent, eaten into the market share of digital camera manufacturers.

Sensing Images
Before delving into tips for better photography with mobile cameras let us first understands the most important part of digital cameras-- image sensors.
These are chips that convert visible light into electronic signals. Basically your mobile’s camera can come with a Charged Couple Device (CCD) or a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) enabled image sensor. Both sensors have the capacity to produce high quality images but CMOS sensors, which are relatively new to the market, seem to have an edge over the commonly used CCDs.

While the CCD versus CMOS sensor debate continues among manufacturers, let us discuss how these sensors can be made to give the best possible performance.

Enhancing Quality
Most camera phones today come with features that help in improving image quality. These include changing resolution, ISO settings, exposure value, self timer, various types of shooting modes, etc. There are some features of cellphone cameras that are common to all devices irrespective of whether they are high-end with multipixels or entry-level ones with VGA cameras.

Self timer
This feature is common in all mobile camera phones and allows users to click self shots by setting a particular time for delaying the shutter release. The self timer can be set for a single shot or for multiple shots. Self timer and multiple shots is a good combination especially when the subject is moving.

Shooting modes
Usually we tend to take pictures in automatic mode but there are many modes that can be used according to the surrounding conditions for better pictures.

Macro: This mode can be used to take close-up shots of small objects, flowers and insects with this mode.

Night: It helps in taking better pictures in night, both potraits and landscape. It has features like built-in flash and red-eye reduction. Since the shutter-speeds are low on has to be extremely still while taking pictures using Night mode.

Sports: Users can click photos of a fast moving subject using Sports mode. Owing to fast shutter speeds, its also good for clicking photos in bright light.

Portrait: In this mode, the focus is on the subject and the background is out of focus. Landscape: This mode is the exact opposite of portrait mode and can be used to shoot a large part of the scene i.e. wide angle.

Panorama: Images clicked using this mode are stitched together to give a better and bigger final picture. The numbers of images that can be stitched together may vary from 3-16 shots. Some panoramic features can even give a complete 360 degree shot.

Added Advantage
Image size
Some camera phone features allow users to choose the image size and thus save memory space. The image quality varies from low to normal to high and excellent. The terms used may vary from camera to camera but they perform the same functions.

Digital zoom
This function makes the subject seem closer by simply cropping the image as we zoom in. It leads to loss of quality and resolution because the image is simply being enlarged without any extra details or pixels being added.

Optical zoom
This is the real zoom feature that actually moves the lens to bring the subject closer. However, this feature is extremely rare in camera phones and till now only one phone Samsung G800 has been introduced in India with optical zoom feature.

Shake control/Image stabilization
These help click good pictures even when the hands shake. Basically these settings increase the shutter speed to give steadier shots.

Flash
Most cellphone cameras come with a flash and the most common ones are LED and Xenon flash. LED consumes less power and is good for continuous shots, especially video recording and gives a softer light on the subject. Xenon, on the other hand, also gives a stronger burst of light and is suitable for shooting still images during night and day.

Face/Smile Detection
Face detection and smile detection are features of point and shoot digital cameras that have now been integrated into mobile phones. In face detection, the camera detects faces in a scene and then automatically focuses and optimises exposure and if needed uses flash if available to get the right picture. Whereas while using smile detection, the camera clicks automatically once it detects the smile once the shutter release button is clicked.

ISO settings
The ISO basically controls the image sensor’s sensitivity to light and adjusts it accordingly. The lower the number selected the less sensitive the sensor is to light and vice-versa. This is useful while shooting in different lighting situations --particularly when there’s low light and you might not be able to use a flash.

Some other features available on camera phones include geo-tagging and flash. With geo-tagging users can connect to the geo satellite through their service provider and pinpoint the location where the pictures are being clicked. The longitude and latitude are then embedded into the photographs.

Megapixel Race
The best thing about cellphones with digital cameras is that users don’t have to take multiple gadgets with them all the time. The Nokia N95 was the first 5.0-megapixel camera phone. It started a trend with other handset manufacturers integrating multiple megapixels into their devices. Now almost all the enterprise level phones come with a minimum 3.2-megapixel camera.

The megapixel race has just begun. The highest megapixel camera seen in a phone so far is the 8.1 megapixel. Soon, phones with higher megapixels (approximately 12.0 megapixels with 3X or higher optical zoom) will also be introduced.

Tips And Tricks
After understanding the camera features, it is important to know how to get the best out of your camera phone. Here are a few pointers for the same.

Proper Lighting
To get good picture, its important to place the subject in well lit conditions. Always remember that, the better lit your subject is the clearer the image is likely to be.
Some cameras come with a built in flash or light. This can really lift a shot and add clarity to it, even if you’re shooting outside or against the light.

Closer Pictures
Usually, while clicking pictures using a camera phone is that the subject ends up looking tiny and unrecognisable. Camera phone images tend to be small due to low resolution so make sure that you fill up your view finder with the subject by going closer instead of zooming in. Especially if your camera just has a digital zoom.

Having said this, getting too close to the subject can also distorts the image at times and brings up focusing issues.

Steady Hand
As with all digital photography, the steadier your camera phone is while clicking pictures, the clearer the images will be.

This is especially important in low light situations where the camera selects longer shutter speeds to compensate for the lack of light. One trick is to lean your hand holding the camera phone against a steady object (like a tree, wall, ledge) when taking shots.

Keep in mind that many camera phones also suffer from ’shutter lag’ (the time between pressing the shutter and when the camera clicks the shot can be a second or so). This means that users need to hold the camera still a little longer to ensure it doesn’t take a shot as it is being lowered away from the subject.

Editing Images
Now-a-days cameras come with built in editing features but it is advisable that you edit pictures on the PCs for better images.Taking colour shots in high resolution is your best bet if you wish to edit images later.

Second Chances
One of the most important things to remeber while taking phtots using a camera phone is that many times an image might appear dull or unclear due to the screen resolution of the phone. So dont discard any picture before checking it out on a PC.

Experiment Creatively
Last but not the least comes the creativity. Always have an open mind and experiment with various features of your phone's camera. These include exposure vlaue, white balance, contrasts, brightness, effects, angles etc.

Constant experimenting will surely dole out some very interesting shots that will surprise you!
Finally, while one needs to get the technical aspects right, its the moment that matters the most. So, dont let any memory slip out of you hand. Just take your camera phone and click away!

Music Phones Demystified

Listening to music on our cellphones is a favourite past time for many of us. But we are not aware of all features and functions of music players on our mobiles. Here’s a lowdown on all that you must know about your music phone.

Digital Music
Before the advent of music phones people mostly listened to music on their PCs. This was called digital music. Some of the most common digital music formats include MP3, AAC, WAV, AMR and WMA. As today mobile phones are replacing PCs, most mobile phones available in the market support multiple formats so that we dont have to worry about them while loading songs on the phone. However, one has to keep it in mind that the sound quality may not be the same for all formats and the file compression levels and bitrate also may be different. Bitrate is the amount of data used to store an audio file and is expressed in kilobits per second (kbps). This is important because the bitrate for speech (32 kbps) is less than the bitrate for good quality pop music (128 kbps). This means that high quality music files have a higher bitrate and the files are much heavier than lower bitrates thus take up more space on your phone's memory. Thus the bitrate plays an important role in the quality of the music.

Formats
There are numerous music formats and settings that help your phone give the best possible output. These formats (MP3, AAC, WAV, AMR and WMA) are quite popular and are most suited for mobiles as the compression is such that it maintains the same quality as any music system. Though there can be formats that have to compromise some features like changing the audio from stereo to mono.

The most common and almost universal format of music is the MP3. MP3 is an acronym for simple file extension called MPEG layer 3. Layer 3 is one of the three encoding schemes for compression of audio signals. Also this format is compressed at a maximum of 128 kbps without sacrificing the sound quality. The MP3 extension is playable in all music phones seen so far.

AAC is short for Advanced Audio Coding. This format is developed for high quality music track encoding. The entire Apple product range uses this file format, so you will have to convert all your MP3 and other files into this format so that your iPod and your iPhone can play the music.

WMA or the Windows Media Audio is a format developed by Microsoft. The WMA is compatible with many phones as well as with those running on Windows Mobile Operating Systems (OS).

Adaptive Multi Rate (AMR) is a patented audio data compression scheme optimised for speech coding. The AMR format was adopted as the standard speech codec by 3GPP in October 1998 and is now widely used in GSM and UMTS. It uses link adaptation to select from one of eight different bitrates based on link conditions. This format is supported by almost all mobile phones.

Audio recording using your mobile phone is quite simple these days, its just a press away. These recorded audio files on cellphones are recorded with the extension of .amr or .wma. Though these format are compatible with almost any phones but it is unlikely to give a good result for other audio.

Features
Most music players have an Equaliser (EQ), which may vary depending on the phone. At audio processing level, equalisation is the process for modifying the sound frequency. EQs present on the phones are mainly preset-EQs that are pre-defined frequencies such as Classical, Rock, Pop, Jazz, etc. Some phones have few presets but on an average most have five-eight preset EQs. On the other hand some phones just have a default setting for this preset and you don't have options to change that. So its preferable to go for phones where one can change EQ presets and also create their own.

Bass is an important component of high quality music and is low frequency. A low frequency makes a very low beat. Basically bass gives a good rhythm to the music.

Treble is a higher frequency than the bass. Most phones with a preset EQ have a preset for Bass booster, Classical, Rock, Pop and Jazz. Some devices have manual presser EQ where users have to change the frequency settings according to their requirement.

The Amplifier is another feature that boosts signal strength before the sound comes out of the speaker. The amplifier can either be a pre-amp or a power-amp.

The performance may vary according to the usage and the mobile phone. Recently, some new device like the LG Arena and GM 200 had a feature called Dolby Mobile. Dolby Digital -- also known as AC-3 -- is the latest home cinema sound system from Dolby. It uses five discrete channels of digital sound plus a separate subwoofer channel. This has now been incorporated into mobile phones.

Phones
There’s a variety of music phones in the market today that give a great music experience. The Samsung Beat DJ lets users mix music and play favourite tracks, like real-life DJs. The phone is packed with loads of features like DJ audio filters, audio amp from Bang and Olufsen and supports 5.1-channel output that works with only the handsfree.

The LG Arena plays all popular formats, including MP3, AAC and WMA, and supports Dolby Mobile for high fidelity virtual surround sound. The Arena is one of the few phones to incorporate Dolby Digital sound from LG. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic also supports all popular formats. The phone comes with a preset-EQ, stereo widening, bass booster, equaliser, presets and manual preset options.

The Sony Ericsson W705 is yet another great music phone from the Walkman series. It incorporates the company’s ‘Clear audio experience’, which includes “clear sound” and “clear bass” that enhance sound quality. The W705 comes with 9 preset EQs.

Overall, we have talked about the features and formats related to music and your phones. All you need to do is recognize which features creates distortion to your music and which features enhanced your music and change your phone's music player settings accordingly. In the near future phones are expected to incorporate more sound enhancing features giving you unmatched music experience.