The 1201 T has an AMD MV-40 CPU and RS780MN chipset for graphics and processing power that is well ahead of what most netbooks today serve up. It supports 1080p HD video and even has a larger than usual 12.1 inch widescreen display with HD (1366×768) resolution. More screen real estate means more keyboard space and the 1201T does have a larger than usual keyboard, even though it sticks to the chiclet  design that is becoming a staple netbook feature. There are three USB ports, a card reader, a VGA connector….and in spite of all this, still serves up upto six hours of battery life.

And all at a staggering price of Rs 21,490! Of course, there is a catch - the specs we saw in the press release showed a DOS operating system, so if one goes for Windows, one will end up with an additional expenditure of Rs 4,000-7,000, depending on the OS and version one uses. But even after that, one still ends up with a very decent netbook for less than Rs 30,000, with a great screen and very good specs. Mind you, we do wish it looked as good as the Seashell series and weighed a tad lesser (1.46 kg is high for a netbook).

Watch this space for a review…

Now, that’s something, especially when you consider that Google Maps also has the Latitude feature which lets you see your friends online (provided they are logged in), chat with them and even map a route to them.

Now that it is official that the Apple iPad will be hitting stores in the US on 3 April (no news of an Indian release yet, alas), interest in the device is reaching new dimensions. Every person with the slightest interest in technology is full of questions about Apple’s latest gizmo. If you too have a query or two about the iPad, we suggest you pay a visit to CNet’s All About the iPad (FAQ) in the Circuit Breaker section, written by Erica Ogg and Donald Bell. It pretty much answers most queries, barring that one about an Indian launch (and price). But then, ah, no one is perfect. Definitely worth a look for everyone interested in the iPad.

You know you really need a netbook when:

1. You need to do lots of word processing and Web surfing, including staying connected with your social networks and blogs
2. You are constantly on the move and often have  to work in temporary or makeshift locations like cafes.
3. You need lots of battery life, as the places you go to do not have power outlets.
4. You either hate lugging around heavy machines or are already burdened with a lot of luggage.
5. You do not deal much (or at all) with multimedia.
6. You do not do much multi-tasking on the computer
7. You do not have very large fingers (most netbook keyboards are a real pain to use)

All said and done, this is definitely a move in the right direction at a time when battery lives of phones are dipping across all segments. Now, if only we could find some similar way of keeping the battery of power-guzzling phones like the iPhone and Nokia N97 going.

We love the facility that portable hard drives offer, allowing us to lug stacks of data - literally everything on our computers, in some cases- from place to place. But one major complaint we have had about them is that we have to plug them into a machine to find out what’s on them or even how much space they have left. Well, Western Digital have now come out with the My Passport Studio portable drive which comes with a customizable e-label that’s always visible, even when the drive is unplugged.

Called the Smart Display, it reminds users of what is stored on the drive and provides available capacity and security status at a glance even when the drive is not connected to a computer. It can be changed as often as desired using the included WD SmartWare software. Now, that’s really useful! There are a number of other goodies in there too, including FireWire connectivity and encryption facilities, but it is the label that has got us really intrigued.

The drives come in capacities of 500 GB and 640 GB and are priced at Rs. 9,600 and Rs. 10,750, respectively. We do not have a review unit yet, but it sure seems very good value for money.

The reason for this speed surge evidently is a new JavaScript engine, Carakan, and a new graphics library, Vega, which help in websites loading a lot faster. Judging from our experiences, they sure seem to be doing the trick. Apart from this, Opera 10.5 has goodies like private browsing (in a tab as well as in a window), Opera Unite (which converts your PC into a server, allowing you to share information with your friends without worrying about uploading it to a site or mailing it), Opera Link (which synchornises bookmarks between the version of Opera on your handset and on your computer) and Opera Turbo, which speeds up browsing considering by compressing pages. What’s more, all of these features work just fine, although Turbo does butcher images sometimes. What’s more, with support for Aero Glass, as well as supporting Aero Peek and Jump Lists, this is definitely one of the best-looking browsers on Windows.

We have been using Opera for ages now, switching to Chrome and Safari only when we were in a hurry. But after this version, we don’t think we will need to do that. Yep, this is certainly one of the fastest browsers we have ever used. Our recommendation: Download it!

We have been moping about the absence of 3G in India for a good time now. Yes, we can get decent bandwidth using some of the high-speed modems from the likes of Tata and Reliance, but browsing on cellphones remained a rather slow affair. Fortunately that seems to be changing. A few weeks ago,the Samung Corby Speed was released, which allowed users to surf the Net on it at speeds up to 3.1 Mbps. However, we were a tad disappointed to see that all this speed was being given to a device that was more a multimedia phone than a smartphone.

Well, according to a recent ad, even that shortcoming seems to have been tackled. Reliance Mobile is now offering the BlackBerry Tour 9630 device with 3.1 Mbps Internet access speed. Now, that makes it India’s first smartphone to have speeds in the 3G class. It also gives it a formidable advantage over other not just other smartphones, but just about every mobile computing device in the country. After all, it has a super QWERTY keypad, a terrific screen, a decent 3.2 MP camera, GPS, great battery life, lots of apps in the App World, has world roaming across 240 countries, supports GSM and CDMA networks, has decent multimedia and most connectivity options, Wi-Fi excluded. But with connectivity speeds like that, we are not even sure too many would miss Wi-Fi.

Yes, it is not the cheapest device in town, but the high-speed connectivity edge is likely to make it one of the best investments for those who love to work on the move. Until the next smartphone on high-speed Internet comes across!

A phone that runs Google’s Android operating system, has Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G connectivity, a 3.2 MP camera, a 3.2 inch touchscreen, decent battery life, …and costs around Rs 13,000! No, we are not in the territory of dreams but are talking of the recently-released Samsung Galaxy Spica handset, which in terms of features and price is easily the best budget smartphone out there in the Indian market, edging out the Nokia E63 and the E71, not to mention the BlackBerry 8520. We are certainly recommending it to everyone looking for a decent smartphone experience without wanting to blow a major hole in their bank balances.

The only problem with the phone seems to be: finding it! We have scoured many parts of Delhi and quite shockingly, most dealers do not have it–in fact, even a couple of Samsung Plaza showrooms did not have the device. Conspiracy theorists say that this is because Samsung fears that the device will undermine its bestselling Corby Pro and Corby Plus devices, but in that case, why release the phone at all?

Whatever the reason for its relative absence from stores, this is a handset we cannot recommend too highly. Finally, Android has a mainstream device and we are cheering.

We are talking of the recently-launched Fly LINKZ E145 phone, which has just gone and redefined value for money when it comes to touchscreens. At least on paper.Yes, we don’t know how exactly the phone will perform but the fact is that with a price tag like that, one does not go in with the greatest expectations - quite the opposite of what happens when you bust close to Rs 25,000 on a device. And that already gives phones like the LINKZ an advantage.

Of late, we have been seeing a number of new brands in the Indian cellphone market, the likes of Fly, Zen, Micromax and the like, to name a few. While we have not really handled too many of their products to comment on their quality, what we definitely love about these newcomers is the fact that they are offering so much for so little. We recently talked about QWERTY phones that we were available for less than Rs 5,000 and now we have a three-inch touchscreen device that costs a fraction over that figure. Good times for Indian customers, we reckon!