Srinivas Padma: Personal Musings on Life, Growth, and Connections

The design The hardware design hasn't changed from the one we already knew about. It uses the same materials as the prototype: Black glass and stainless steel rim. It fits with the rest of the Apple product line, from the hard edges to the Dieter-Ramsesque utilitarianism of the iMac and the iPad. The black glass is aluminosilicate glass. Apple claims this glass is "chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic." According to them, this makes it more scratch resistant and durable than the previous generation. The size is smaller than the previous generation: 34% thinner than the iPhone 3GS. Although it is 3 grams heavier. According to Apple, it's the thinnest smartphone ever. It has split buttons for volume, unlike the current iPhone 3GS, all made in stainless steel. The stainless steel rim The stainless steel rim gives the structure to the iPhone, and acts as part of the antenna for 3G and Wi-Fi. In theory, this will greatly incr

In a blink of mere months, the mobile “smart” phone has been transformed from pricey corporate gadget to an affordable alternative for ordinary folk. Cingular Wireless has unveiled three devices priced as low as $200. The shift began in May with the ‘Q’ from Motorola that Verizon Wireless introduced for $200 and now sells for $100. But no carrier has gone as wild with consumer-friendlier smart phones than Cingular, which rolled out four such devices since September. I tried out three of them: Nokia E62, the Samsung BlackJack and the Palm Treo 680. Samsung BlackJack: The BlackJack stands out among the three devices, if only because it is compatible with Cingular’s new high-speed wireless Internet network. It’s small and weighs 3.5 ounces. Despite the size constraints, the phone features a slot for removable memory to store music and photographs, as well as a 1.3 megapixel camera. One omission is GPS satellite capability for location-tracking. Nokia E62: The E62 is the first mass-market