Front camera Android phones

Surely it is the era of smartphones, especially Android phones. It is always better to get an Android phone with front camera, if you are only going to purchase a phone. It offers you many advantages.

Advantage of having front camera Android phone.

* It makes you phone capable of making video calling. As 3G prices are coming down, video calling will be less costly in coming days. Even if you do not have 3G connectivity still you can use your home wifi to make video call using software like Skype.
* It will offer you to capture your photos seeing yourselves simultaneously.
* Many applications available in Android market is using front camera of deliver new features. For example Smart stay facility in Samsung Galaxy S3 is an example of usage of front camera in app.

                                Front camera is common in all high end smart phones. So if you are looking for an Android phone above 15k, most probably it will be having a front camera. Hence here I am listing all low end and Mid end Android phones with front camera.
                                                     1. iBall Andi 3e (Rs.6700)

         This phone is running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and is powered by a 650MHz ARM processor. This dual SIM phone supports video calling due to the presence of 0.3 MP front camera. LCD screen of 3.2 inch offers good clarity display which is responsive also as this is a capacitive touch phone. Primary camera is of 3MP. Li-Ion battery of capacity 1400mAh has the capacity to support both the SIMs for one full day.

Surely it is a value for money gadget. As the price is less, you cannot expect it to be of a very good build quality. But it offers good specifications at low price.






2. Micormax A73 (Rs.7200)

    This is another dual SIM phone which features front camera of 0.3MP with video calling support. This phone has a 650MHz processor and is running on Android 2.3 OS. 3.5 inc capacitive touch screen is the highlight of the phone. Display offers a resolution of 320x480 which is one step ahead of the common resolution of low end smart phones. It will support multi touch also.
Primary camera is of 2MP only. But many users have the opinion that it is good and best in the class. 256MB RAM and 512MB ROM of the phone shows that specification wise it is the best in the price range. Li-Ion battery of 1300mAh offers enough battery life also.

As the build quality of the phone is good and it is large, it will give your phone a posh look (which is absent in most of the micromax phones).

3. iBall Andi 2 (Rs.7200)

This is another dual SIM android phone with 0.3MP front camera. This phone running on Android 2.2 is powered by a 800MHz processor. The 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen is responsive. The primary camera is of capacity 3MP. Battery of capacity 1450mAh is of good capacity, which is capable of powering the phone for one full day even with two SIMs in active mode.
This phone possess a 3 axis accelerometer G sensor, which you can use in sensor enabled games. Normally in low budget android phones you can see only normal accelerometer.







4. Karbonn Smart A7 (Rs.7400)

  This is another dual SIM phone with stunning looks. This Android 2.3 phone powered by 800MHz processor offers excellent features that you cannot find in any of the similarly priced phones. Also the GPU is an added advantage. It possess 3.5 inch capacitive touch screen with HVGA resolution, which will support pinch zoom also.
In addition to the secondary camera it has a primary camera of 5MP HD camera with dual LED flash. Even though many are complaining about the camera, in specifications it looks stunning for this price.  1420mAh battery has enough juice to power the phone for more than one day.

The only thing that people complain about the phone is the clarity of pictures taken by the primary camera. It is 5MP only in specs.



5. Spice Mi 350n (7800)

It is another good Android 2.3 phone with stunning specifications in sub 10k budget. This dual SIM phone is powered by a 650MHz processor. Front camera of 0.3MP and primary camera of 3.2MP performs well. 3.5 inch capacitive touch screen with HVGA (320x480) resolution provides good clarity display. 1400mAh battery provides enough run time in single recharge.
Internal memory of 170MB will get exhausted easily. Some of the built in applications are simply waste, but still you can uninstall those. Also the default camera application is not at all good, you have to resort on some third party app from Android market.






6. Micromax A78 (Rs.7800)

It is another Android 2.3 phone with dual SIM, front camera and qwerty keypad. This and samsung galaxy pro duos are the only ones with these features below 10k. This also possess a 650MHz processor under the hood. 3.5 inch screen offers superb display. 3MP primary camera with flash is of good quality and 0.3MP secondary camera can provide smooth video calling capability. It also possess 150MB RAM and 256 internal memory. RAM is a little bit less, you will need to use a task killer app like advanced task killer to make good use of the phone.
Most of the pre installed apps are not that useful and cannot be uninstalled, and you will feel like these are wasting your space. But still you can adjust. Battery of 1300mAh provides good power backing up.




7. Micromax Superfone Lite A75 (Rs.8600)

This phone also offers both Dual SIM and front camera support. This android 2.3 phone is also supported by 650MHz processor and 256MB RAM. 3.75 inch capacitive touch screen with HVGA resolution with multitouch support is just superb. Primary camera of 3MP and secondary camera of 0.3MP are of good quality.
1300mAh battery is little bit low to support this resolution 3.75 inch screen and dual SIM for long time.
After all the phone is not looking cheap. It gives the feel of a decent phone.







8. Karbonn A9 (Rs.9400)

It is another good looking Android 2.3 smartphone from Karbonn. This is also supported by 1GHz processor and 512MB RAM and features both daul SIM support and video calling support with a front camera. 3.2 inch capacitive touch screen offers WVGA resolution (480x800). 5MP primary camera with auto focus and flash gives good clarity pictures.

Internal memory of 1GB is another interesting features that you cannot find in any similarly priced phones. 1600mAh battery is capable of powering the phone for a long time. 







9. Samsung Galaxy Y Pro Duos (Rs.9500)

It is the only Samsung Android phone with below 10k price tag, featuring front camera. It also possess dual SIM support. This phone is having qwerty keypad along with a decent 2.6 inch capacitive touch screen. with 240x320 resolution. 832MHz processor is powerful. But you cannot feel this speed while using the phone. This may be because of the low RAM. 
Secondary camera of 0.3MP offers video call support. But the 3MP primary camera is not of superb quality.
Battery of 1350mAh capacity is not capable of supporting touch screen and dual SIMs for long time. But initially you can expect one day battery life.





10.   Motorola Fire XT (Rs.9500)


It is the only Motorola phone available below 10k price tag with front camera. Feature wise this phone is just superb. 5MP primary camera with auto focus and LED flash, 0.3MP front camera. 800MHz processor, 512MB RAM, 1540mAh battery capacity, 3.5 inch capacitive touch screen with HVGA resolution.

From the features, you can see that you can see these any of the previous phones listed above. But still this phone has not got enough acceptance from users. Once reason can be the low internal memory of 150MB, which will be exhausted soon.










As you can observe from present market status, day by day new phones are coming to market. Currently these are the choices available for a person looking for front camera android phones.

You can also refer

Android phones with front camera.


You may be interested in more lists of Android phones


Android phones with dual core processor

Windows 7 free download

Windows 7 is the most popular and efficient operating system currently available in the market. It is one of the most popular operating system that came after Windows XP. After Windows XP, Microsoft released Windows Vista, even though it has some good aesthetic features, it was very slow and requiring very good hardware to perform well. But with Windows 7 Microsoft gained, its name back. It is a really good operating system which is really fast even in moderate hardware specifications.
Versions of Windows 7
Microsoft is releasing three different editions of Windows 7, so that users can purchase the one they like and suiting their needs. Names of the versions are Home basic, Home premium, Professional, Ultimate, in the increasing order of features and prices.

Requirements to install windows 7
To install Windows 7 your system needs to meet certain minimum requirements. These requirements are not very high, even low priced desktops will be having these features.
For 32 Bit Windows 7 installation - 1GHz or higher processor, 1GB or higher RAM, Minimum 16GB hard disk space, Direct X 9 graphics device.
For 64 Bit Windows 7 installation - 1GHz or higher 64bit processor, 2GB or higher RAM, Minimum 20GB hard disk space, Direct X 9 graphics device. You can install 64bit windows 7 in 1GB RAM computers also. But the most commonly reported problem is that it will cause the system to overheat.

Get Windows 7 free download

You can download Windows 7  free of cost from Microsoft site itself and try it. But you have to activate it within 30 days.

Download Windows 7

As it is direct download link, you should have a download manager software. Otherwise if while downloading you internet connectivity is lost, all your downloaded content will be lost. So if you are going to download Windows 7 from Microsoft site, first download a download manager(many free download managers are available like Free download manager) and install it. Then give the download through the download manager.
Other way is to download Windows 7 from torrent sites. For this also you will need to have a torrent downloading software like utorrent (it is also free to download. Install it.).  Then go to torrent search engines like www.torrentz.eu. Search for the windows version you want. Download the torrent file. On double clicking the torrent file, it will open through the torrent download software (like utorrent). Then download will progress. Nothing will happen even if your internet connectivity is lost.

After 30 days trial period you have to activate Windows 7, using the product key that you purchase. There are other ways to fool Microsoft, but it is advisable to use the original version of Windows 7 itself, as it provides you further updates also.

Read more about

How to install Windows 7 from a USB drive

How to install windows 7 step by step guide

Smartphone war comes to Map apps!!

Most of the smartphone field giants are entering Map apps field this year. Google, Nokia etc are already in the field. They are also coming with interesting new products for the changing market.

What is the reason behind interest in Map apps?

          Recently a survey showed that most of the smartphone users are using Map apps only. The number of users using smartphone for Mapping purpose is more than those using for browsing internet. Surely as it is the best chance to strike, all smartphone giants has come to Mobile Map app field

Google 

Google is the current biggest player in mobile app field. With the arrival of Android operating system, their position got more confirmed. But Google also has to come with innovating solutions to keep the position.
Google has arrived with Offline Google maps. Now you can use Google maps without internet connectivity also, which was not easy so far. Even if you are in an underground passage or an area where internet connectivity is not there (mostly the case when you go for trekking.), you can use Google maps without any interruption. It will be very useful for countries like India, where GPRS connectivity is still slow. Google offline Maps will be available for Android presently, that too for Android version 2.3 or higher. Currently in Google maps this feature is available as a lab function.

How to enable offline Google maps?

It is an easy procedure in your Android Google Maps app.
First you have to enable this Google maps feature. For that after opening Google map app, press menu->Settings->labs->Download offline map
In second step you can download any area you want, in 10 miles radius. Press and hold in the area you want to download. One popup showing the address of the place will come. Just touch on that popup, in the coming page you will get the option to download that area of the map.

Watch a video demonstrating how to use Offline Google maps

Nokia

            Nokia is currently offering offline maps. It is of good quality also. Also in Nokia Symbian platform you can download Google maps also. In Nokia maps, downloadable maps of different countries offers good quality maps. Presently in Google App store also there are some offline map tools like mapdroid. But the clarity and integration with GPS are not enough. But for Nokia these are good. Lets see what Nokia is going to come up with in reply to Google's new solutions.

Apple

             Apple is always famous for releasing quality products. This year everybody is waiting for some excellent Map solution from Apple. Last year Apple has purchased a 3D mapping tool company. So this year in iPhone 5 you can expect 3D Mapping solutions integrated in the OS itself. Considering that former Apple CEO, Steve Jobs has a special interest in developing mapping apps, Apple will surely come up with some excellent product, which will turn the entire smartphone market like Siri.

See  Apple iPhone 5 leaked photos-amazing.

Tricks to book tatkal ticket on irctc 2012

IRCTC is opening tatkal tickets one day before the day of journey, for those who are traveling in emergency. But as most of the regular booking tickets are in waiting list in most of the routes, we are forced to try for tatkal tickets always, one day before the travel date. Number of people trying to book tatkal ticket at morning 8AM is so high that in some days even IRCTC.co.in servers will crash. Nothing more to say, it is very difficult to get tatkal ticket if you are not booking in a systematic way.

Tatkal Ticket booking process.

According to the new rules of IRCTC, tatkal booking is opening one day before the day of starting of the train. Booking process starts at morning 8AM. For tatkal tickets there will be some additional charges than normal ticket. I think the normal tatkal booking process is familiar to most of you. So I am not explaining it. Let us think how to improve the chance of getting a confirmed ticket. Before that there are some new rules from IRCTC, to avoid agents from booking tatkal using normal booking procedure.

New Ticket booking restrictions from IRCTC.

1. Now you can book only 10 ticket per month per user ID.
2. From one ID you can book only 2 tatkal or normal tickets between 8AM and 9 AM from one user ID.
3.  From one IP address you can book only two tickets (tatkal or normal) between morning 8AM and 9 AM. So more than one person is trying with same internet connection also, only the first two ticket can be booked, independent of how many user IDs you have. (In order to bypass this- Most of our internet connections are of dynamic IP. Once the modem is switched OFF and ON, IP will change. Again you can book two more ticket using that ID)
4. Now from one browser you can login using one ID only. If you want to try from two different browser from your own computer, you need to have two different login IDs. Even if your friend and you are sharing same ID, both of you cannot login at the same time between 8AM and 9 AM.

Tricks to book tatkal ticket quickly

Considering that there are so many restrictions for IRCTC, it is difficult for agents to book large number of ticket before 9AM. That is advantageous for normal ticket booking persons. Now what we have to consider is how to decrease the booking time. As within seconds tickets are getting booked, it is difficult to get confirmed ticket if you are booking slowly. Many persons are trying through internet and railway reservation counters, available tickets will be booked quickly. So each second is precious for busy routes.

Time saving tricks while booking tatkal ticket

1. You have to use more than one IRCTC account and browsers to increase the chance. If you have only one account, ask your friends for help. Also according to new rules, you need to login from different browsers. You may doubt that having many logins will decrease the bandwidth that you are getting for one single browser. This is not like downloading file. If you are downloading a file, when two downloads are simultaneously given, speed will be shared. But as irctc is a heavy traffic website, some of the requests will not get enough priority. So it is always better to try with more than one account. 
2. IRCTC website is optimized for internet explorer. But Mozilla firefox and Google chrome are more useful from my experience. As you have addons for these browsers you can try auto fill features, to make the booking faster.
3. Use auto fill addon for browsers. This is used to fill data in one second. When you are coming to the enter passenger details page, there are many details you need to enter in the page. If the number of passengers is high it will take more time. If you are using this addon and save the data previously by typing, in one second this addon will fill the data for you.
4.  It is always advisable to have your data with you before starting the procedure. Both starting and destination station codes, ID card details etc. Remember each second is precious.
5. Login before 8AM. At least by 7.55 AM and keep your session active by clicking here and there. While entering train details for tatkal ticket, time on the site should be after 8AM. For that after 8AM only you have to click on plan my travel link. Synchronize your system time with irctc site time. Then just after your system time reaches 7.59.55 click on Plan my Travel link. Then after loading site time will be just after 8AM. This time is important as many will start only by 8.01 and all. At this time itself you can advance.
6. Select a payment method that is taking less time. From some of my friends i have heard that HDFC bank internet banking is fast compared to other banks. Also do not click two times in any of the links is the payment section, it will result in online reservation error.

The above tricks are to save some time while booking tatkal ticket on IRCTC. But there are some additional tricks that will increase your chance to get confirmed tatkal ticket. Check the additional ticks shown below also.

1. IRCTC has launched mobile version of the site in the link https://www.irctc.co.in/mobile. Usually if you type this link from your desktop it will redirect to the desktop version of the site. Only from mobile, you can load the mobile version of the site. But using user agent switcher addons you can load mobile version of the site in your desktop. For detailed steps visit  New tips to get confirmed tatkal ticket from IRCTC 2012
2. If the train is starting from some far place which is one or two day far from your place, you have to book tatkal ticket in the day before the starting day of the train, not one day before the train reaches your place. Actually this opens a way to get ticket without much difficulty. Book for trains that are coming from far places and passing through your place in the second or third day of travel. The advantage you are going to get is - usually everybody will be trying for tatkal one day before only. As the tatkal booking of such trains starts early, there will be less people trying for tatkal in that train from your area in the correct day.
3. If you are getting "service unavailable" at any stage, just keep on refreshing the page finally it will come (unless no javascript alert window is coming. if anything is coming, you have to start again from login). Earlier there was no proper error handling in the site. But now even some transactions showing service unavailable while returning from bank also, gives confirmed ticket.
4. Another one thing that you can notice about irctc ticket booking is that it is difficult to book from BSNL internet connection even if it is broadband. It is because majority of Indians are trying form BSNL internet only, so it will be slow to access irctc site in that time. If you are trying some broadband connection service of other providers like tatateleservices, airtel etc you have more chance. Same thing is applicable for outside India internet connection also. If you are accessing from outside India, it is easy to book.

I think the above tricks are useful for you. If you have any doubts about any of the steps or you have any better ideas, please share....
Read about more such tips in,

Tips to get tatkal ticket from railway site IRCTC