Smartphone vs Laptop

I've been discussing about the pros and cons of a Smartphone and a Laptop with many of my friends who , according to me , are technically sound. Some convinced me to buy a Smartphone and some a laptop and a few ,like my mom , wife , and sister advised me to stick with my e61i and dell vostro 1400 coz' they have been serving me good for the past 2 yrs without a single crash , which is quiet surprising coz' i want to replace them and i need a good enough reason to trash them. Why am i thinking so much? coz' upgrading the configuration of either of them isnt possible and getting a new piece that serves my needs would cost no less than 20k.  This is like those incidents where you desperately want something to happend it would never happen until you give up.

After all the brainstorming sessions, reviews that i've read , products that i have tested hands-on, you-tubing, I finally came to a conclusion that I would buy a laptop or may be a smaller and less bulkier version of it  'netbook'. The factors considered here are :

1. Speed- No matter how 'high-end' the configuration of a smart phone is , it lacks in speed when compared to a laptop. This is noticeable when you switch between applications. The simplest being closing an application and making a call - which is the basic functionality of a phone. The time lag is significant and annoying. This is something logical , is'nt anything compromised when you crouch the laptop into a smart phone that fits in your pocket.

2. Multi-tasking- I would be glad if i could browse , listen to music and text-chat without having to wait while switching between applications in any smartphone. On the contrary , i could do all of them in a laptop. I guess it rings sufficient bells!

3.Keyboard - QWERTY keyboards on smart phones don't cater to all my typing needs as typing on them is time consuming when compared to the conventional keyboard. One could say that we can attach an external keyboard. But , isn't that additional baggage?

4. Weight - I understand that weight is an issue with laptops , but look at what you are able to do with that additional kilo or two. You can surf the net and open any site you want , be it flash or java or anything, you can listen to music , watch videos , play high-end games , burn dvds , make and give presentations and make and take calls etc etc. I , personally wouldn't mind carrying something that does all this, even though it's a little bulky.

5. Data storage - None of the smart phones that i know can accommodate more that 64gb at max. It's entirely different when it comes to a laptop. One can have additional memory by connecting various external devices directly.

I see that a lot a money is being pumped into touting the smart phones. I am not against buying a smartphone. I already own one , nokia e61i. But , I somehow feel that a phone is best utilized to make and take calls and to exchange short messages (SMS).Clubbing too many goodies into a small box wont do good to every goodie...:)

Hope this helps!

Festivity - My way!

I was to catch my train ,supposedly,on the midnight of jan 8th , that is early house of jan 9th, from Vizag to Ahemedabad. And guess what? My assistant misinterpreted it as the midnight of jan 9th.. Phuuuu! Dependence could be a bane , at times.

GMR airport , Hyderabad

Here I am in the GMR airport in Hyderabad waiting for my Ahemedabad flight on the midnight of 11th Jan 2010. By the way , I had to travel from Vizag to Hyderabad by my ever trusted Volvo. The ride was better than the ones I had earlier as I was accompanied by a well read architect. We shared a lot of common interests - which i always do with almost everyone but my wife ( guess it isn't uncommon ).

Waiting in the airport is fun , esp if you have colorful people in high-heels tik-taking in a conscious effort to make our painful journey a joy..;-).

I finally landed in Ahemadabad and tagged along with a Vijay ( a good friend of mine since my college days).

Day 1 was all about the Exhibition regarding plastic machinery and accessories. It was very informative. I could say that it was worth the effort. I was done with the exhibition by afternoon and I had a post lunch meeting with some machinery manufacturer who is located on the other end of the city. The auto-ride was very magical. I lost count of how many times we missed a head on collission..pheeewwww! I ended up sweating. The day ended with Avatar 3D in BIG Cinema. That was my first 3D movie and it was disappointing , as some scenes were better off without 3D glasses.

Gujarati Thali

Day 2 started with gujarati thali. guys! thats a must taste in your life. Trust me , you'll not be dissapointed. After that we , me and vijay , hung out in Himalaya Mall. Vijay was mostly hovering around the Mac counter. I don't know whats with these Mac lovers. They just dont understand PC or Microsoft. We went on our respective ways after that. Me to the airport to Hyderabad and then to Vizag , Vijay went touring with his friends.

Ahmedabad Airport roof.

Finally , I came back home after the festival celebrations got over. I came home a happy man coz' the trip was worth it. Thanks to Vijay for his company.