Technology

Technology NOKIA 810 INTERNET TABLET

Samsung LN-T4061

T

T

his new model from Nokia marks a new phase in portable internet communication. It has the ability to connect this pocket-sized device to the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot or over your Bluetooth mobile phone allows you to make internet calls; check your-email or watch the latest videos or update your blog using the device’s slide-out keyboard along with its stunning touch screen. It comes with built-in maps and satellite navigation and an integrated GPS receiver which allows you to pinpoint your position and find a wide variety of points-of-interests. It is priced around Rs. 20,000.

X

SONY XPERIA X1

peria represents Sony Ericsson’s first crack at a Window mobile phone. It is a quad-band GSM phone (good for making calls on worldwide GSM networks), and it supports 3.5G for speedy web surfing, video streaming and file uploading. Wi-Fi is on board, as well as a 3.2-megapixel camera and a GPS (or GPS assisted by cell-tower triangulation). The centerpiece of the X1 is its three-inch WVGA screen that is 800 by 480 pixels, compared to 480by 320 pixels for the iPhone’s 3.5inch screen. The touch-sensitive screen features a series of Xpreria panels that will give you quick access to web sites, music, events and the like; running underneath will be Windows Mobile 6. Arc-slider design of the X1 slides open to reveal a full-QWERTY keypad. The Xperia X1 is slated for release in the second half of the year. 36

his Samsung model is a LCD television that supports 1080 pixel resolution. It has a freeze button and picturein-picture for watching content from two different sources-though not from two different channels. It also carries a headphone jack and a USB port for viewing JPEG image files and listening to MP3s from an external device. The remote is slightly clumsy.

T

he model has a high clarity level and impressive motion scenes, with less amounts of blur. HD resolutions upto 1080i are possible, with 720p being the best quality. DVDs of movies and animations both look strikingly clear as the contrast level and colour is very good. The price is just a little high, at Rs. 87,000, but it is worth it.

ed matrix MAY 2008

HITACHI 37 LD9000TA

Technology LENOVO Y510 SERIES

Home Theatre Notebook

LENOVO Y510 SERIES

L

enovo recently unveiled its new, way-cool entertainment notebook PC, the Y510 music and movies with features such as a Dolby sound system, built-in TV tuner, and face recognition for locked-down security. The big plus is a Dolby 4.1 home theatre speaker system for enhanced sound output for movies, videos, music and games. It is loaded with four speakers and a subwoofer. The computer’s multimedia features are accessed and controlled through a sleek touch-sensitive pad that lets users operate movies and music in a flexible manner. An in-built TV tuner card helps ensure instant television connectivity accentuating the multimedia experience.

O

verall the images look good. This one combines a freeze button and picture-in-picture in the coolest way possible. Press ‘Freeze’, and the TV goes into PiP mode, with the big picture frozen and the little one continuing to display a live feed. However, you can’t use PiP to watch two broadcast channels. Rather than put the controls below or on the side as most do these days, Sony places them on top of the unit. The menus have been designed to look cool. The remote is very long, which makes some buttons difficult to access.

SONY BRAVIA 40w3000

The 15-inch monitor comes with a borderless screen. The keyboard offers good feel and durability, inspired by the ThinkPad keyboard, and an extended battery management feature to customize user-specific battery usage patterns.

Western Digital’s GreenPower Hard Drives

T

he company announced its energy-conscious family of enterprise hard drives. The WD RE2 GreenPower (GP) family offers capacities of 500, 750 GB and 1 TB. Each WD RE2-GP hard drive consumes an average of 4-5 watts less than competitive hard drives. IntelliPower, IntelliSeek and IntelliPark are technologies that enable the WD RE2-GP platform. ed matrix MAY 2008

37

Book Review

Art accomadates what historiography missed

T

Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance Oprah’s Book Club

Mistry, in his ‘A Fine Balance’, achieves a ‘fine balance’ between national history and the society in which individuals live.

he role of an individual in shaping the history of a nation has always been a subject of debate. National history is often regarded as ‘the truth’ about the important events and lives of public figures in the country. These representations of facts, which are recorded by historiographers, claim an objective tone. But where does the individual, who is a social product, figure in this historical record? Does the writing of an ordinary person about his society, life and experiences have a bearing on the national history? Individual writing and institutional histories do have a point of intersection. Each individual perception becomes important as this point of view will alter the outlook to what happened in the past. Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance is also one such individual perception of the Emergency imposed in India in 1975. The novel revises institutional history which has, for a long time, neglected the lives of the common people. Diasporic writers, like Mistry, often face the criticism of not being aware of several socio-political, economical and religious intricacies of the country they write about. But Mistry, in his ‘A Fine Balance’, successfully overcomes this hurdle and achieves a ‘fine balance’ between national history and the society in which individuals live. The novel pitches four characters at its centre – Dina Dalal, Maneck Kohlah, Ishvar Darji and Omprakash Darji. The characters live in their own world of despair and necessity brings them all under one roof. Initially, the four people are ‘unwilling co-inhabitants’ of a crammed apartment in crowded Bombay. Dina, a widow, wants to live independent of her dominating brother. Maneck,

38

ed matrix MAY 2008

a student, takes lodging with Dina. Ishvar and Omprakash, victims of racial discrimination, join the household as employees of the small-scale tailoring business which she toils to run for her living. Despite the barriers created by their social, economic and religious status, a bond develops among them. They realize that they are not alone but do have other shoulders to rest their burdens upon. But their dream of ‘a one happy family’ is shattered with the declaration of Emergency. On a trip to their hometown, the tailors are forced to undergo vasectomy. The upper caste enemies of Ishvar and Omprakash enlist their names for a mass vasectomy programme. Ishvar is infected by the un-sterilized instruments used in vasectomy and this leads to the amputation of his legs. Unable to continue their profession as tailors, Ishvar and Omprakash are reduced to beggars. Maneck leaves the country to take up a job and returns after a few years to witness the fate of his friends. Dina, who has now turned halfblind, lives with her not-so-caring brother. Maneck, unable to bear the reality of destiny, commits suicide. This novel is a reflection of many such tragedies that have happened but gone unvoiced in the pages of history. Rohinton Mistry’s novel focuses on the point of intersection of the two lines - public history and private history. Artistic expressions of any historic period represent the silences of the marginalized. A Fine Balance, too, describes what might have happened to unknown citizens in the nooks and corners of the country in 1975. It is a novel which brilliantly makes its readers realize that the boundaries of literature expand tremendously when Art tries to accommodate what Historiography has missed. Supala Pandiarajan

Te c h n o l o g y A Problem of plenty

L

aptops come in a variety of sizes and capabilities. So learn how to pick the right one. Ultimately, the questions are your budget (laptop prices have come down dramatically in the last few years; a top notch model now costs around Rs. 75000 and budget laptops are available at under Rs. 50,000), how big you want it, will it be used for travel the most (Ideal weight for this would be around 3.5 to 4.5 pounds) and what all you will use in it. The four basic categories: Ultralight: Extreme portability but with minimal power and high cost. TabletPros: Generally with a swiveling touch screen and compact. But this too has limited power, a small screen, and is generally expensive. Mostly, the biggest (17 inches) and smallest (11-14 inches) screens are generally the costliest. Budget/Mainstream Pros: These have the best prices, are well powered with lots of features but are not that portable. Desktop Replacement Pros: Big screens, max power. But awful battery life, heavy and expensive. Some rules of thumb: Whichever you go for, it is advisable to get a multicore CPU (among the best is the Intel Core 2 Duo, avoid all those Celeron and AMD chips). The very latest and fastest would cost a packet, but a fast microprocessor can help extend the life of your laptop. Also, install as much RAM (minimum 500 MB, advisable 1 GB) as you can afford. The more RAM your

laptop has, the more the software can effectively use the computer. For storage, lean towards double, or more if you can afford it, the recommended values (at a minimum, an 80 GB hard drive. For convenience, opt for an optical drive for burning CDs or watching DVDs, a media card reader to access camera storage cards, and a good video card for games. And battery life being critical for ease of use, buy larger, secondary batteries for extra power, and learn how to tweak your system to extend battery life. Not to forget wi-fi connectively. Remember, the more you want from your laptop, the bigger and heavier it will be. The widest range of laptops come, of course, with the windows operating system. Macintosh, too, has a range of top notch laptops like the Macbook Pro with their own operating systems and software. But all Mac systems, while giving models are definitely cheaper. The general advise here is to choose the XP operating system over Vista.

LENOVO X300

SLIM POWER

L

peripheral connectivity. As opposed to the Air’s enovo is no stranger to slim laptops, having approach of external-everything units, the X300 ganined an enviable reputation for their segmentpacks in 3 USB ports, a gigabit-ready Ethernet leading tablets. Loking to extend their expertise in slot, audio/mic jacks and, importantly, an the are, this Lenovo model is a direct competitor to the integrated ODD. Battery life is another Macbook Air. Though at first glance the X300 does area the X300 shines in. The not appear to be anywhere as slim as the Macbook power saving L 7100 CPU enables Air, a closer look at its dimensions of 12.5 x 9.1 x it to average 4 hours on a six cell 0.73 inches compared to the Macbook Air’s 12.8 batter. Factor in the quick loading x8.94 x 0.7 inches reveals a different story. The times thanks to a 64 GB SSD drive for difference is in the Macbook Air’s Frisbee like profile while storage and 2 GB of RAM and you have a very X300 resembles a normal notebook, albeit with a slimmer serious business machine. At Rs. 1.45 lakhs, it offers a profile. In its design the X300 retain the familiar Lenovo far more attractive option to the Macbook Air. trademark black boxy body with the magnesium construction. However, where the X300 leaves the Macbook Air behind is 36 ed matrix june 2008

Te c h n o l o g y ACER FERRARI 1100

PLAIN JANE

T

his is part of the updated signature Ferrari range offering two significant advantages over its predecessor. One is an integrated DVE-RW and second, a much improved battery life. However, it falls behind in its rather plain finish and styling. The Ferrari series continue to utilize AMD dual-core processors, which are not as powerful as intel’s and hence performance suffers in comparison in both system and graphical benchmarks. To overcome this Acer has offered better than averages storage and system memory of 250 GB and 4 GB RAM, respectively. But despite its decent battery life and good build quality, in comparison with products life Dell’s XPS M1330, it suffers badly in terms of display quality, performance levels, and finish. Unlike Asus’ Lamborghini range, which delivers great looks along with performance, the 1100 has failed to capitalize on the Ferrari brand name. Rs 79,000. TOSHIBA SATELLITE M200

GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY

work without fatigue. The screen offers good levels of brightness and contrast. The battery life averages three hours. Unfortunately, our test model was a bit under powered. This, however, is easily resolved by a series of cheap upgrades which will bring performance levels offered by the competition. Rs. 39,000 upwards.

T

oshiba, in recent, times seems to be keeping a low profile in the laptop market. That has not stopped them from offering quality products like this one, which, though classified a budget model, puts other manufactures to shame. It offers a tough and well-designed exterior, has a great finish with a keyboard that allows for long hours of ed matrix june 2008

37

R E VI E W - d VD

T

he British Empire In Colour was originally broadcast as a three-part BBC television series covering roughly the past 200 years in British world history. It is essentially a vivid recapitulation of these years, showing the glories as well as the ignominies of British rule. It shows the nation’s successes and failures with equal candour.

The British Empire

It stresses both the good and bad things that British sovereignty brought to its colonies. The positives such as technology, education, and the rule of law are shown in balance with the treatment of people of colour throughout the Empire’s history, through racism, bigotry, and prejudice.

The movement alternated between foundering and festering, based on Gandhi’s arrests and imprisonment, as well as political considerations, until England’s unilateral inclusion of India into World War–II. Matters progressed rapidly following the end of the war, and India was granted independence in 1947.

The buildup of the empire is given the least amount of time, mainly recapping events and accomplishments, victories both military and political, and successes in general, a sort of short forethought before getting into the meat of the three parts, titled “Decline”, “Fall”, and “Legacy of the British Empire”. Its coverage ranges from Canada to India, from Australia to Nigeria, from the Caribbean to South Africa, which was the length and breadth of the Empire at its grandest moment, when it held sovereignty over more than a third of the Earth’s human inhabitants. A majority of the story and the footage concentrates on the deterioration of the Empire. Most of the footage was drawn from recently discovered film, all in original colour, quite rare in the early days of filmmaking. As books and movies have noted, India was the “Jewel in the Crown” of the British Empire, emphasising how 100,000 British ruled over 300 million Indians. It showed the lifestyle of the aristocracy, including the tiger hunts, the parties, and how the officers and civilians in the occupying forces, as well as visiting dignitaries, were catered to in their every whim, including being carried in howdahs on the shoulders of human bearers. A large portion of the series centred on World War-II, which was when the Great Empire began to display its initial signs of crumbling. Indian activism had stepped up considerably since the turn of the 20th century, particularly after Mohandas Gandhi’s return to India in 1915.

38

in Colour A Must-See Video for all Indians particularly all Educational Institutions and Developmental Organisations.

Partition of India is covered, emphasising the displacement of 10 million people and creation of Pakistan and that more than one million people lost their lives because of it. Following India’s suit, with a nine-year insurgency in Malaya, where the British pioneered the use of helicopters during the course of it, beginning in 1953. Malaya was granted independence in 1957. Today, Malaya is one of the most modern areas in Southeast Asia, yet the footage shows the women topless, and the men in loincloths, some with bones in their noses. The Mau Mau were making life difficult and treacherous for the British colonials in Kenya. They grew rapidly in strength, causing a quick end for the British. These were simply the first of a series of celebrations across Africa, and within a year, the former Gold Coast of Africa was declared independent, resulting in the creation of Ghana. Between 1957, which marked the end of the Malayan insurgency, and 1968, 12 more African colonies were declared independent. Back in England, the country was still reeling from the effects of World War-II and unemployment high. These led to unrest, with the brunt of their frustration beginning to have an effect on immigrants. ed matrix june 2008

Demonstrations began springing up, and in the ten years after the war, more than a half-million Britons emigrated to Australia and New Zealand. Another 400,000 went to Canada. With Hong Kong’s reversion to China in 1997, the cycle was complete. England had lost all of her colonies, all in the 20th century, with the majority of them gone in just 20 years. While the grandeur, and pomp and circumstance of British colonialism were beautiful to those in power, it left a wake of death, starvation, and destruction, one from which the world has yet to recover. There is an additional 26-minute segment that describes the making of the documentary, including its research and developmental stages.

SupalaLou Pandiarajan Novacheck

Te c h n o l o g y Nokia’s New and Novel N800

T

his ultra-mobile PC has cool features, such as easy Web access and online calling, and is a snap to use Pocket-size. Offers Net access, Web calling, and other features over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth connectionsLots of good features if you’re looking for a device to complement your laptop and cell phoneThe new N800 is a faster processor and more internal memory. It can also take several different external memory cards, including MultiMediaCard and SD cards. The new model is designed to access the Web via WiFi connections or a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone. The Nokia N800 is pocket-sized and easy to carry, so it can come in handy if you want to check e-mail, skim a PDF file, send an Instant Message, or call a friend via Google Talk without firing up your laptop. It’s also a good option if you don’t want to squint at your phone’s smaller screen. For now, though, the N800 has one major advantage over many such rivals. Because it can use a Wi-Fi connection, the tablet allows for easy Web use and Web calling from public hotspots, cool video capabilities And

Snowflake USB microphone

T

o truly take advantage of computer-based communications such as VoIP and Skype, you’ll eventually want to invest in a decent USB microphone. Unlike those cheap microphones that plug into your desktop computer’s mic input, or the noisy microphone built into your laptop, a quality USB microphone like the Snowflake ($79) can make you sound like a million bucks.

the viewing experience is better than that of most of today’s phones.You can download video wirelessly, or by hooking up to your computer’s USB port. Video looks very sharp and crisp, and it’s easy to watch on the N800’s landscape-oriented screen used with a pull-out stand that works like a picture frame. That certainly makes for more comfortable video viewing—though I’ll concede my eyes got tired very quickly looking at the N800 screen, even with the device’s great zoom-in functions. The N800 touch screen can be navigated with a stylus or finger, though I found the stylus to be more responsive. In all, the N800 is a feature-packed and mostly easy-to-use device. 36

It’s easy to find USB microphones that are a better value than the Blue Microphones Snowflake, but what makes the Snowflake something special is its luxurious and portable design that looks like it fell from the pages of Dick Tracy. The Snowflake can be positioned in two ways: loosely hung over a laptop screen or resting on a tabletop. In either orientation, an included 3foot USB cable runs from the back of the microphone to your computer. Beneath the Snowflake’s metal J-shaped stand lies a detachable hollow plastic base used to store the USB cable when not in use. The Snowflake’s microphone capsule swivels 360 degrees on its base, and can collapse into a portable 3inch by 2-inch block. The Snowflake USB microphone’s design allows it to hang off a laptop screen, but its hefty metal construction is less precarious when placed on a table. The Snowflake’s opulent design lies in stark contrast to the bare bones simplicity of its features. There are no settings to adjust on the Snowflake, no software control panels, and no drivers to install. To use the Snowflake, all you need to do is

ed matrix july 2008

Te c h n o l o g y SONY HANDICAM HDR-SR10E AND HDR-HC9E HI-TECH, RICH DETAILS

S

plug it into your computer’s USB port, designate it as an audio input in your system preferences, and you’re ready to record or stream audio to whatever application you prefer (none are included with the microphone). The Snowflake is universally compatible with both Mac and PC computers and records at a maximum resolution of 44.1kHz at 16-bits. The Snowflake’s microphone is fixed in a mono-cardioid recording pattern that works best with audio sources placed no more than arm’s length in front of it. Although the limited throw of the Snowflake’s microphone produces relatively clean and noise-free recordings, those of you who prefer to pace the room while you talk are better off investing in a noise-canceling microphone or Bluetooth headset.

haring advanced imaging technologies from Sony’s digital camera line, these two camcorders, unlike other handycam models with face detection, allocate more pixels to the image for the best possible picture when people are the subjects. Other technologies include sensors that utilise column analog/digital conversion to minimize picture noise. Together with the high processing speed and noise reduction capability, the new camcorders produce high-resolution video and photos with natural colour reproduction and rich details. A USB port allows transfer of files to DVD burners and recorders. Recording time is around five hours for the in-built hard drive with option of media cards. It also offers a wide range of video editing suites. The 6.1megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics is good. White balance, shutter speed and focus can also be adjusted manually.

NIKON D60 SMALL, NIFTY

T

outed as the most compact DSLR camera till date, the model is quite small and light as compared to other cameras in its category. The 10.2 mega The Snowflake collapses to a pocket-size package that includes pixel counts along with its a storage compartment for its USB cable. other features make it a During testing, using the Snowflake over Skype produced good bang for the buck. noticeably better voice quality than our MacBook’s built- Features like sensor cleaning while switching the camera on in microphone. The Snowflake’s superior voice quality is and off is a nifty feature for any DSLR, but its effectiveness remains arguable. I wish they had gone a bit beyond the characterized by a smoother sound with a significantly reduced 3-point autofocus, but it’s not bad, considering the audience noise floor. Musicians interested in a computer recording it’s catering to. There are other great features like in-camera solution won’t be blown away by the Snowflake’s fidelity when RAW processing, some post processing options, D-Lighting held up to a more sonically flexible, non-USB microphone, such and even Stop Motion Animation support. The overall image as the Sony ECM-MS907. On-the-go musicians, however, quality is average. At Rs. 36,000 it is a great first DSLR might value the Snowflake’s portability, style, and ruggedness camera, but if you already own a D40 or a D40X, you have in spite of its modest recording quality. little reason to upgrade. 37 ed matrix july 2008

REVIEW - Book

A

lmost anyone who listens to Wisconsin Public Radio has, at one time or another, would have heard the voice of Jean Feraca. As host of WPR’s “Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders,” she is an advocate and educator, an expert at mixing international issues with culture and aesthetics. An example of the programme’s diversity can be seen in any random week’s schedule: this week features the presidential election, climate change, travel for women, love sonnets and natural aphrodisiacs. Now, Feraca has turned her craft on herself with “I Hear Voices: A Memoir of Love, Death and the Radio.” She traces her own life and craft through a collection of personal vignettes, retrospectives that consider the people who have shaped her and her journey to become a writer. The end result is a vivid, often haunting autobiography that unites a fascinating life with a voice gifted enough to provide all the details. Feraca’s life is as mixed as the selections of her programme growing up in an Italian-American New York family, courtship in a monastery, a Jewish wedding in a nightgown, poetic rebirth in Italy with a sick child. She skims over her messy divorces and personal loneliness in favor of the epiphanies that saved her, concerned with the positives and the process. Readers are also treated to the aesthetic side of Feraca’s work: the book is peppered with asides such as a commentary on California wine, tips on writing poetry and a report on South American tribes. The book is written in the exact style you expect from someone with decades of experience in public radio, a calm and literate voice which feels like it can nurture and inform on any topic. Her words evince her 38

I Hear Voices A Memoir of Love, Death and the Radio

JEAN FERACA other career as a poet, filled with “liquid gold” by family stories and her veins running with “quicksilver” anger over her ex-husband. Feraca knows exactly what she wants to say. She is talented enough to say it right, and not afraid of saying what most keep private. Her writing’s potency is also attributed to the characters she writes about, practically forces of nature in their own right. These include a brother who holds Sitting Bull and Mussolini in equal regard, a mother whose mind is rapidly deteriorating but exerts a manic energy, a poetry teacher more comparable to a master ed matrix july 2008

craftsman and an aunt consisting of ethereal sweetness. There is a mix of frustration at how difficult growing up with these people was, tempered with a wistful gratitude at being able to grow up with them. Although she listens too closely in some cases - the last chapter on marriage and God feels almost thick after a glorious odyssey to an Amazon clinic - “I Hear Voices” is a memoir worth reading in depth, both for its burnished prose and the startling life it recounts. Feraca’s life is as much a story as any of her show’s topics, and deserves equal time and attention. Les Chappell

Te c h n o l o g y

So You Want the iPhone? I ndia and iPhone:

The pre-release publicity that surrounded the iPhone ensured that come June 29, 2007 everyone wanted a piece of Apple’s hottest pie. And like everything else that isn’t legally available in India, the grey markets were stocked up within a month. And the increased price tag was not a deterrent to gadget geeks and style freaks alike.

It’s been nearly a year since its release, and the iPhone continues to be the most wanted gadget in the market. We tell you how to make it yours

The phone was subsequently launched in Europe and since countries like Germany did not permit sales of the locked down phone unlocked iPhones were soon available in the market. Though they were more expensive, they made the iPhone dream possible for those who did not want to stick to one network operator. This also took away the hassle of jail breaking, activation and unlocking.

Where can one get the iPhone in India? There are various ways you can get an iPhone in India. Many online shopping sites like

36

ed matrix august 2008

Te c h n o l o g y e-bay, iPhonenirvana.com etc offer iPhones which are either imported or smuggled from abroad. Secondly, if you have contacts abroad (America, UK Germany or France), you can ask them to get you the iPhone. If all else fails, you can buy it from the grey market.

Which iPhones have arrived In India? If you are one of those who want to lay your hands on the iPhone, before its official release here in India, you can head to any of your city’s grey markets. Currently, there are two variants. One is the locked version imported from Singapore (usually they are locked phones frokm US), for Rs 26,000 which is sold with the unlocking SIM card (TurboSIM etc). The other is the unlocked version, imported from Europe (Germany and France) but costs around Rs 27,000 (approx). Don’t go by the price here which is what one usually does. The reality is that with Apple developers and the hacker community playing cat and mouse games, unlocking the features have become harder and harder. Any new updates will lick your phone of make some features unusable and you’ll have to wait until some geek unlocks the feature and makes it available at a cost. For future-proof hassle-free updates and to take full advantage of all the features, go for the latter. It costs just one thousand rupees more, but it’s worth for the freedom it gives you to use any SIM card and upgrades that won’t brick you phone unlike many unofficially unlocked iPhones.

Will it work on India’s Cellular Network? The answer is Yes. The iPhone GSM network support includes bands that our current GSM networks operate on ie., 900 and 1800 MHz

So you have the iPhone. What about the firmware? Apple keeps its iPhone. What about the firmware? Apple keeps its iPhone users busy by providing updates. Despite new features, it is a pain for those who own the jail broken (originally locked) iPhone as this usually locks the phones again. Whether you won a locked or unlocked iPhone, it’s good to know what firmware version it has. To determine what firmware your iPhone has, follow these simple steps. If it is already activated yet, get into the emergency dial screen, dial *3001#12345#* and tap the Call button. Check out what

modem software matches the firmware on your phone from the list below. • iPhone firmware version 1.0 has 03.11.02_G modem firmware • iPhone firmware version 1.0.1 has 03.12.08_G • iPhone firmware version 1.0.2 has 03.14.08_G • iPhone firmware version 1.1.1 has 04.01.13_G modem firmware 0.2 cmiPhone firmware version 1.1.2 has 04.02.13_G modem firmware • iPhone firmware version 1.1.3 has 04.03.13_G modem firmware. Here is list of the firmware updates released so far. iPhone v1.1.1: The first update firmware release for the iPhone locked the unofficial unlocked iPhones. New features added from the updates include iTunes, Wi-Fi

ed matrix august 2008

music store, support for TVour and other useful features. When the unofficial unlocked iPhone was updated using v1.1.1 firmware, it disabled the third party app support, de-activated and locked the iPhone. But it was jail broken, activated and unlocked again, a few weeks later. iPhone v1.1.2: Released in November 2007, it coincided with iPhone’s launch in Europe. Most European phones came with this firmware. Expected to be impossible to unlock, it was fail broken in no time. This update fixed the TIFF vulnerability that was noticed by jailbreakme.com and paved the way to install third party applications on the iPhone. Language and character support included adding the International keyboard layout. iPhone v1.1.3: Released on January 2008, the new features includes the ability to rearrange icons on the 37

Te c h n o l o g y screen and Sari book marking. Google Maps added ‘Locate Me’ feature and Multiple recipients for SMS. Apple tried to make it harder for backers to break in, but in no time there were a lot of sites where the unlocking process was revealed.

The 4 Magic steps That Unlocked the iPhone The firmware version is what decides how difficult it will be to get a fully functional iPhone. But as of now, there are usually three steps that iPhones have to go through to let the user explore its full features. Let’s take a closer look at each of them. Unlocking: It is a process where the iPhone is freed from working with only one network operator. This makes the iPhone work with any SIM card. Popular tools for unlocking include Turbo SIM, AnySIM and a software tools with GUI called iPhone.

This became very popular as it gave simple and clear instructions. Jailbreaking: Apple’s iPhone did not support installing third party applications and customizing ringtones, wallpapers etc on its earlier firmware versions. All these have been made possible by the process of Jailbreaking which opens up its file system. Popular tools are AppTap for Windows users and Independence for Mac users. Jailbreaking usually requires you to downgrade to the older jail broken firmware. You can check out sites like www.iPhone unlock.no/, www.iclarified.com/ or any tech forum which provides detailed instructions on how to jailbreak different firmware in different methods. Activating: This is a process where the network communicates to the iPhone. Without activation, the iPhone is not usable. When

connecting to iTunes, the activation screen pops up where users need to provide personal information and when that is done, syncing iPhones and PC contents is possible. General activation process is not applicable for unlocked iPhones, but from the steps given by the hacking community, It’s just a matter of uploading a small file to the phone. Usually, activation is done by putting the phone in recovery mode. Virginzing: When an iPhone has been hacked to make it work with any SIM card, the baseband (phone’s modem software) is usually altered or damaged. This process usually reverts the phone to its factory settings.

What about the warranty if I unlock? First of all, after jailbreaking, unlocking and activating it yourself, you void the warranty. Apple will not give you support in India if you get the unlocked phone from Europe. Supports will be given only in the country where the phone was purchased, provided you have the bill and did not go the underground way. 38

ed matrix august 2008

For iPhones from the US, don’t even think about it.

When will it arrive in India and how much will it be? It probably won’t take much time for iPhones to hit our shores. Some market analysts have indicated that it will be a matter of months. But the question here is how much will it cost and will it be locked or unlocked? In a country like India, where unlocked phones are more common than the locked phones, there are chances that Apple may introduce the unlocked version just like they did in Europe. Pricing is another big question again. We see lot of gadgets in the market, but cell phones are the biggest sellers and Indiana buyers do not mind shelling out more money if the phone has unique features to flaunt. And if it is unlocked it may cost anything from 30k to 40k. Let’s see how Apple will tackle the Indian market. We are hoping to see the unlocked version at a reasonable price. Laldinfela Pachuau