HTC Desire Z Coming Soon To India

Flipkart, the Online Bookstore website is getting pre-order for HTC Desire Z handset. HTC Desire Z has a 3.7-inch WVGA touchscreen at a picture resolution of 480×800 pixels. It is powered by 800 MHz Qualcomm MSM7230 processor and 512 MB RAM and runs on Android 2.2 Froyo OS.

This handset is designed for heavier textures and regular emailers and syncs with multiple email accounts including Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo as well asMicrosoft Exchange ActiveSync. HTC desire Z has other features likeAdobe Flash 10.1, 5 Megapixel camera with AF features, DLNA sharing support that lets you stream media file. It also support face recognisation feature, and is a capable of recording High Definition Video at 720p resolution.

Desire Z offers connectivity option like 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB and supports 14.4 Mbps of download speed with HSPA+ network. Desire Z also supports HTC sense User Interface layered that can be used with the HTC sense.com site.

Features of HTC Desire Z:

• OS: Android 2.2( Froyo)
• Processor: 800 MHz Qualcomm  MSM7230
• Connectivity: Bluetooth /GPRS/EDGA/3G/Wi-Fi
• Camera: 5MP with Flash & AF
• Advanced Feature: A-GPS/DLNA/HTC Sense
• Keypad: QWERTY Keyboard
• Battery:  Li-on 1300 MAh
• Talk time: 400Mins on 3G/590Mins on 2G
• Standby Time: 430hrs on 3G/ 430hrs on 2G

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Indians:Call US/Canada Free till 2010 End in Gmail

When I woke today morning i checked my Gmail, only to be pleasantly surprised by a "Call Phone" option right at the top of my Google Talk chat window. I clicked it, accepted the Terms and Conditions and was presented with a num-pad; much like the one you'd find in VOIP services like Skype. While I was almost about to yawningly say, "You can now make international calls via your Gmail for cheaper than using regular telephones...yada yada...", this one small line at the end made me jolt off my chair! In bid to popularize this service, Google is allowing free unlimited calls to the US and Canada till the end of the year 2010. I than instantly ran to my phone-book and made an hour worth calls to the US and Canada and here are the three things I observed: 1) The phone started ringing the moment I hit the call button, 2) The call quality was absolutely clear on my end and was reported to be equally clear from the other side as well, 3) There were no disconnections during the two different half-hour long calls I made. FYI: I'm using a 512 Kbps broadband internet connection.

 Calls to other countries can be made after purchasing pre-paid credits on their Google Voice website. After doing a quick comparison of the call rates, you'll realize it isn't a good bargain for people in India to use this service to make calls to the US or Canada (after the free period is over, of course). For example, India to any other country is charged at 6 cents (Rs. 2.7) per minute whereas Skype charges almost one-third the cost - 2.2 cents (roughly a rupee) to call specifically to the US/Canada. 

Now the sad thing is that after making those hour long free phone-calls, that option has all of a sudden disappeared from my window after I logged back again to take some screenshots; I hope it returns again soon. After talking to my colleague, he too said that he hasn't got that option yet. So, we can assume that the roll-out will be gradual and everybody should eventually get it. So, check your Gtalk window in your Gmail to see if you've got that "Call Phone" option right underneath your status change drop-down menu. It's the end of November, so even if most of us get it before the month ends, we'll still have one whole month to make free US/Canada phone-calls! We leave you with the introductory video of the same. 

Click To View The Video-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-DzpAg0SdU&feature=player_embedded

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Facebook Might Launch Project Titan to Jab Gmail

Facebook has reportedly sent out invitations for a special invite-only event to be held on November 15 at St. Regis Yerba Buena Terrace in San Franscisco, US. Michael Arrington, founder and co-editor of TechCrunch is betting that Facebook will unveil a new web-based email client codenamed Project Titan at this event. Internally, Project Titan is referred as "Gmail Killer" and is said to bring email address backed by @facebook.com domain name. Do you think Facebook can take over something as big as Gmail? Well, probably not but read on.

Earlier this month, Google had updated its API Terms of Service that allowed easy export as well as import of Contacts to a service or application only if the same is reciprocated. In a way, Google shut down Facebook's access to pull contacts from Gmail to protect the user data. To battle that, Facebook came up with a work around to download Gmail contacts as CSV files and then upload it to Facebook. Google wasn't happy with Facebook's move and criticized Facebook for not letting users get their Friend Lists and email addresses out of Facebook. 

This is not the first time both companies stood against each other for Friends/Contacts exchange matters. Back in 2008, Facebook suspended Google Friend Connect as the latter started re-distributing user information from Facebook to other third party developers without any user knowledge. Looks like that wound didn't heal even after more than two years have passed. But in a way, Google is correct for not letting a service simply take away Gmail contacts and not offering something in return to Google. All Google is asking Facebook to do is to let users pull out Contacts and Friends from Facebook to Gmail. Practice what you preach.

Now, to respond back to Google and kill the whole data protection issue, Facebook is rumored to launch its own email service with @facebook.com domain. It's pretty unlikely to kill Gmail but if Facebook launches its own email service, it would be interesting to see how other popular web-mail service providers react.

Facebook chat integration in several mobile apps has certainly made many Facebook users happy. But when Facebook Chat is used in the web interface, it's not that comfortable to use. Though the invitation obviously points that a new email/messaging service is on the anvil, I think Facebook might give a facelift to its Chat service. A much deserved facelift for users who have thousands of known and unknown friends. If Facebook chat is revamped with the ability to share photos, links and files, it will actually lead to loads of users remaining logged into Facebook for longer hours.

However, as of now, we have no confirmation on Facebook's deal. We've got to wait till November 15 for Facebook's official announcement.

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