BlackBerry gets younger and flashier with the new 9780. BlackBerry always evokes the image of a business-like phone,maybe because of the corporate honchos who patronised the phone in the first part of the decade. But of late RIM has made its phones more vibrant so that they dont fall short after office hours. Nothing epitomises this attitude more than the new Bold 9780. The Bold 9780 is among the first phones to sport the BlackBerry 6 operating system,and that sets it apart from the others in the RIM stable. Easy-to-use seems to be the keyword with the new OS. You will immediately note the dock-like interface at the bottom of the main screen. The dock,a bit like the homescreens on Android phones,gives you easy access to your mail accounts,favourite apps,frequently used applications,downloads and media,using the optical trackpad. But it also makes the homescreen look a bit cramped. The new OS also lets users change most of the settings from the main screen itself. The OS also integrates a new WebKit-based browser that renders HTML web pages quickly and clearly for a good browsing experience. Then there is a zoom feature,which can intelligently auto-wrap text in a column. The OS also gives a pop-out feel when you open mail and apps,reminiscent of the Mac OS. But RIMs new-found young clientèle will be more interested in the Social Feeds function,which brings all feeds from your social networking accounts under a single head very similar to what BlackBerry does with your mails and messages. There is also a dedicated YouTube app which accesses videos more easily. It also makes good use of the phones high-resolution screen and multimedia capabilities. For more apps there is always the BlackBerry App World with its ever increasing list of applications. The 5 MP camera on the phone comes with high-end features like auto focus,scene modes,image stabilisation,flash and video recording. There is also geo-tagging,so every time you click a picture you can add the location. The battery also seems to have improved,for it didnt give up on me even after three days of moderate use. It should last at least half of that when used for browsing and regular calls. The BlackBerry Bold 9780 supports 3G,Wi-Fi and GPS and includes a 512 MB Flash memory and an expandable memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB of additional storage. Price Rs 27,990. SLIDESHOWWith so many new phone manufacturers in the market,companies are trying their best to stand out. We have already seen phones with speakers that are loud enough for weddings and with storage space that could put PCs to shame. But the G5 has really stretched limits as it is a phone that can double as a projector. Who needs a phone that can be a projector,you might ask. Well,for one,if you are a travelling salesman who wants to impress your clients with product pictures,this is the phone for you. Then,teenagers who would like to catch the latest movies,projected on to the ceiling of their room,well past bedtime,might also queue up to buy one. The projector on the phone is easy to use. Just go to the menu,and select the projector mode. The phones display shuts off and the projector switches on. The projector itself is of good quality. The catch,however,seems to be the orientation. I could not get the projected images to switch to horizontal except for the pictures. It could be a bit of a pain watching a video vertically. Otherwise,the projector is very easy to use. Though I am not sure how the phone will react to the heat generated by the projector,if its on for long periods. This phone does have a nice build. The keypad is spacious,though the access keys are laid out below the numbers and that takes some getting used to. The speakers are good enough to complement the big images the projector throws up. The G5 projector mobile phone packs in other features like social networking apps,dual SIM capability,an e-reader which can support Word ,Excel,PDF and PPT,a 2.0 megapixel camera which can be used as a webcam using the USB cord,and up to 8 GB of expandable memory. The phone costs Rs 7,499.
