Upgrade after almost 6 years

Back in 2006, I talked about my second phone, the nokia 6233.

After spending about Rs.2000 recently in making it looking brand new, I decided to take the dive.

And got myself a Samsung Galaxy S3, 32GB!

That's the reason for excitement and cryptic posts :)

More another day, another time.

Samsung Galaxy S model stopped?

Looks like Samsung Galaxy S model has been stopped in the market. I visited Samsung showroom to inquire about the price and was told that a new model will come in market by Jan-15 (Pongal timeframe). The reason is supposed to be Super AMOLED screen shortage and newer model will come out with Super LCD screen. Not sure about authenticity.

A few minutes aprior, I had visited Poorvika Mobile Showroom just adjacent to the Samsung showroom. They too informed me that there are no Samsung Galaxy S mobile handsets since 1 week in the market and they are expected to come in about a week's time. They didn't have more information beyond that.

My next phone - looking always to the future :)

I've been tempted long enough. The first two are what are available in the Indian market now. While the others are those on the global list.
Samsung Galaxy S
HTC Desire
HTC Desire HD
IPhone 4
Nexus S

Thanks to the IPod Touch 4 that I got about a month ago, I'm quite impressed with the IPhone apps platform and the number of "useful" apps on it. Not sure how the android market stacks up to that for those apps that I seek now and possibly want in the future.

The Indian market unfortunately has no "real sale" even during peak holiday seasons for things such as these. Given that this is already year end and there are rumors about dual core mobile processors (from Samsung, Qualcomm, ARM, Intel) hitting the market in Q1 of 2011, I'm tempted to postpone the "always in the future" purchase decision. But then, there's also the thought that with more powerful processors, battery may be a bigger problem and hence possibly not worth it.

Let's see how this goes.

Kindle 3 WiFi, e-readers, touchscreen tablets

So, I got Kindle 3 WiFi for Krish, still to get to Chennai with it. I like the concept of e-readers, but I'm aghast at the prices at which books sell legally :) IMHO, many product prices do not take PPP into consideration and there are possibly some valid reasons for it as well in the context of "e-goods". However, they do lose out on a large market for this very reason as well.

Well, FWIW, I'm quite tempted with the concept of touchscreen tablet when compared to a plain e-reader. I'd like to gift one to my parents who'll appreciate the ease of using a touchscreen device when compared to a regular desktop/laptop. However, I'm also sure that I'd be hogging the device if that was the only touchscreen tablet device at home :)

Samsung Galaxy Tab with 7" touchscreen, camera, wifi and android is a step in right direction - however I'm not fully convinced about screen size. I'd rather take the ~10" Apple iPad - however that's still missing camera (front & back) and is also exorbitantly priced without an external/SD card storage mechanism. I'll probably wait for the next gen tablets to make entry into the market. Apple can be quite greedy at times - afterall the 16GB iPad sells at $500 while 64GB sells at $700. $200 difference for 48GB! But then, the Samsung Galaxy Tab at $600 isn't a very inspiring price either for a 7" device. There was mention of a $500 variant with just Wi-Fi, but I can't seem to find enough information on it on the net - they mostly talk about the 3G+WiFi variant.

I do like Krish's take that a reader like kindle without extra-ordinary capabilities will keep him less distracted and dedicated to the task of reading! I couldn't agree more :) Will be interesting to see how HTC Nook Color (Barnes & Noble) stands up against Kindle.

In the meanwhile, if any of the readers are interested in gifting me one (either the tablet or e-reader), thanks in advance :)