Nokia 5310 Xpress Music Cell Phone Review

Product Summary

The good: The 5310 Xpress Music has an attractive design with a brilliant display and easy-to-use controls. It also offers a solid feature set and satisfying performance.

The bad: The 5310 Xpress Music has a pitifully small internal memory and poor photo quality; also, it's not a quadband world phone.

The bottom line: The Nokia 5310 continues the fine Xpress Music tradition by offering a satisfying blend of features and performance in an attractive design.

Specs: Band / mode: GSM 850/1800/1900 (Tri-Band); Combined with: With digital camera / digital player / FM radio; Weight: 2.5 oz

review

Ten months after announcing its new 5310 and 5610 Xpress Music phones, Nokia finally has released them to a U.S. carrier--well, at least one of them. Last week in New York City, T mobile addes the 5310 to its lineup, and from what we understand, it will soon pick up the 5610 as well. The 5310 offers everything you'd expect in an Xpress Music phone, but it sports an attractive candy-bar design that is more than a hair trimmer than T-Mobile's previous Xpress Music phone, the Nokia 5300 . It passes the performance test as well, and it's a bargain at $49 with a two-year contract. Alternatively, you can buy it unlocked for around $200. To find accessories for this phone, see our cell phone ringtones and accessories guide .

Design
Nokia doesn't blindly follow trends, so it wasn't surprising that the company didn't rush to copy the thin-phone success of the now-ancient Motoroa Razr . But with the eye-catching 5310, Nokia is giving slim design a go. And we can report it comes together quite nicely. At 4.1 inches by 1.8 inches by 0.41 inch, the 5310 is the trimmest Nokia we've seen, if not one of the thinnest phones ever. It is a world's difference from the relatively bulky 5300 and 5700 Xpress Music handsets; in fact, if it weren't for the external music controls on all three models, you wouldn't know that they're related. We're not afraid to admit that the 5310 is one stylish, even sexy, cell phone.

Though compact and portable the 5310 is no wispy phone. At 3 ounces it has a comfortable, solid feel in the hand and we felt confident that it could take a few drops to the floor, even with the plastic rear face. T-Mobile sells the 5310 in three versions: purple and black, orange and black, and red and black (in case you haven't heard, purple is the new pink). We examined the purple version, but all features are the same on each model. Meanwhile, the unlocked version comes in red and black and blue and black.

The 5310's 2-inch display supports a full 16.7 million colors. It's a brilliant display by all accounts, with rich graphics and sharp text. The default font size may be a bit small for some users but you can change the size and the font color. The 5310 uses Nokia's Series 40, third-edition user interface. The menus are user-friendly, even if the main feature icons are somewhat dull.

Below the display is the easy-to-use navigation array. The square toggle is raised above the surface of the phone, so it's tactile. You can set it to act as a shortcut to four user-defined features, while the center of the toggle functions as an OK button. You'll also find two soft keys and the Talk and End/power buttons. These controls are flush, but they're also fairly big. Like many Nokia phones, the 5310 lacks a dedicated back button.

The keypad buttons have a relatively spacious design, though the numbers on the keys are quite small. As such, users with visual impairment should test this phone before buying. On the upside, the keys are raised slightly and they benefit from a bright backlighting. We didn't have any issues with misdials.

The 5310's music controls are conveniently placed.

The signature Xpress music controls sit on the 5310's left spine. They're flat with the surface of the phone, but their large size makes them quite user-friendly. On the right spine is a thin volume rocker, which is easy to find when you're on a call. The camera lens sits on the back side of the phone. Though it's well situated for taking photos, vanity shots are tricky without a self-portrait mirror. The least remaining exterior features are a charger jack on the left spine and a power button, a mini USB slot and a 3.5mm headset jack on the top of the 5310. The 3.5mm jack is especially welcome. The 5310 also offers a microSD card slot, but it's located behind the battery cover.

Features
The 5310 offers a solid midrange feature set with an emphasis on music. The phone book holds a healthy 2,000 contacts with room in each entry for five phone numbers, an e-mail address, a URL, a company name and job title, a formal name and nickname, a street address, a birthday, and notes. You can organize contacts into groups or you can pair them with a picture and one of 28 polyphonic ringtones. Other essentials include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging alarm clock, a calendar, a to-do list, a notepad, a calculator, a countdown timer, and a stopwatch.

Though the 5310 is far from being a smartphone, it offers a few work-friendly features. There's full Bluetooth with a stereo profile, PC syncing, a voice recorder, a world clock, a unit converter, and instant messaging. E-mail is onboard as well, but only for POP3 accounts such as Yahoo and AOL. Also, you must log onto the Web browser to access your messages. It's not the slickest experience, but it works in a pinch.

Like other Xpress Music phones, the 5310 is all about its music player, and here again Nokia succeeds. As we've said before, the Xpress Music handsets offer everything you want in a music phone, including ergonomic controls, few restrictions, and satisfying audio quality. The interface is nothing special, but the controls are simple and intuitive, and the player supports album art. Features include an equalizer, shuffle and repeats modes, and an airplane mode for listening to tunes while you fly. What's more, you can create playlists and play music via Bluetooth. The player supports, MP3, MP4, AAC, AAC+, and WMA files, and you can use tracks as ringtones.

Getting music onto the 5310 is a breeze; you need only you connect the phone to your computer via a USB cable or transfer tracks on a mini SD card. When using the former method, your computer should recognize the phone immediately; you then can drag and drop music back and forth. Also, the music will sync with Windows Media Player 10. When listening to tracks, you can minimize the player so you can access other functions, and the player automatically pauses when you receive a call. And of course, you can activate play instantly by pressing the aforementioned play control on the 5310's left spine. If radio is your thing, the 5310 also offers an FM tuner with station presets.

The 5310's camera lacks a flash or a self-portrait mirror.

For your imaging needs, the 5310 offers a 2-megapixel camera that takes JPEG pictures in seven resolutions, from 1,600x1,200 down to 160x120. There's a variety of camera settings, including three quality modes, five color effects, a landscape mode, a self-timer, a sequence mode for shooting six photos in rapid succession, an adjustable white balance, and a 4x zoom. There's no brightness setting, nor is there a flash for dim lightning. Photo quality was disappointing. Colors weren't bad, but objects were blurry, and our shots were washed out.

The 5310's photo quality was rather disappointing.

The camcorder shoots videos in two resolutions (176x144 and 129x96) with sound. Other options are similar to those of the still camera, and you can mute the sound if you wish. The short mode lasts about 20 seconds, but you can also shoot longer clips, depending on the available memory. And speaking of which, the 5310 offers just 7.3MB, so we advise investing in a memory card. The 5310 can accommodate microSD cards up to 2GB.

You can personalize the 5310 with a wide variety of color themes, screensavers, and wallpaper. You can download more options from T-Mobile's t-zones service or you can create your own wallpaper using the 5310's integrated Wallpaper Composer application. Games include demo versions of AMF Bowling Deluxe, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Surviving High School, and World Series of Poker Pro Challenge. You can buy the full versions with the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser.

Performance
We tested the triband (GSM 850/1800/1900) 5310 in San Francisco using T-Mobile service. Unfortunately, the 5310 is not a quadband world phone. Call quality was very good with excellent clarity and more than enough volume. Voices sounded natural for the most part, and we had no issues with static or interference. Our only complaint was that on a couple of occasions, some of our friends sounded a bit metallic, but it wasn't prevalent enough to be distracting.

On their end, callers said we sounded fine. They could tell we were using a cell phone, but they could understand us the majority of the time. A few callers said they could hear a lot of background noise, but on the whole we didn't get many complaints. Automated calling systems could understand us as well, but it is best if you make your call when you're not in a noisy location. Speakerphone calls performed well. The volume loud, and there was decent clarity on both ends.

Music quality was quite good, particularly if you're using a headset or an accessory like the Nokia MD-7W stereo Speakers. The phone's speakers external speakers are rather weak, and the music suffers somewhat at the highest volume level, but the experience was satisfying overall. As is typical with music phones, our tunes lacked bass, but on the other hand, the sound had a lot of warmth and it wasn't overly tinny.

The Nokia 5310 Xpress Music has a rated battery life of 5 hours talk time and up to 18 days standby time. Additionally, the 5310 promises 18 hours of music playback time. According to FCC radiation tests, the 5310 has a digital SAR of 1.25 watts per kilogram.

Verizon Wireless to introduce Linux phones

NEW YORK - Verizon Wireless is backing a free operating system that competes with programs from Microsoft Corp.Google, . and Qualcomm. and expects it to become the "preferred" software on its network.

It's the first U.S. carrier to join the LiMo Foundation, which aims to unite handset makers, software companies and carriers on a software platform that will make it easier and cheaper to create a wide variety of phones.

The carrier's endorsement Wednesday is an important boost to the stature of LiMo, or Linux Mobile, and its prospects in the U.S. It already has the backing of large Asian and European carriers, as well as handset makers like Motorola Inc, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.

"There is now no doubt that LiMo-powered devices will comprise a significant percentage of many operators' portfolios," said Stuart Carlaw, cell-phone industry analyst at ABI Research.

Kyle Malady, vice president of network for Verizon, said he expects the company to sell both simple and "smart" phones using LiMo next year. That's a potential blow to Qualcomm, which supplies the software for most of Verizon's phones, excluding smart phones.

"We expect that Linux Mobile will rapidly become our preferred operating system," Malady said. "As the development community looks at how best to bring new applications to the marketplace, they should check out LiMo and Linux Mobile first."

But the company is not adopting LiMo to the exclusion of other operating systems, he added — it now sells phones with a variety of operating systems, and expects to continue doing so.

Verizon Wireless is also in the process of opening up its network on a wholesale basis to any device that meets basic technical requirements, but Malady made clear that the backing of LiMo is separate from that initiative, and the company plans to sell LiMo devices under its own brand.

While Verizon Wireless expects the adoption of LiMo to speed development, the difference between it and current cell phone software may not be apparent to users. The software package does not include a user interface, so the look and feel of LiMo phones may be borrowed from current phones.

LiMo's software is based on Linux, a freely distributed operating system that's mainly used in server computers and in niches like TV set-top boxes, where Microsoft's dominant Windows system doesn't reach.

The foundation released the first version of its software package in March, and Motorola, Samsung, LG and Panasonic have showed off phones using it. Motorola also has older phones that use its own flavor of Linux.

While more than 90 percent of PCs run Windows, the market for cell-phone software is much more fragmented. Microsoft has its own software for "smart" phones. Symbian Ltd., whose main backer is Nokia, sells the competing Series 60 software. Verizon Wireless uses a system from Qualcomm Inc. for most of its phones. Apple Inc. created its own software for the iPhone. Google Inc. is backing an Open Handset Alliance that is creating yet another system, called Android. The first phones running that software are expected later this year.

"The mobile industry really was very reluctant to follow the path of the PC industry and cede the heart of the device to any single company," said Morgan Gillis, executive director of the London-based LiMo foundation. "This is really why Microsoft has not gained any significant traction with Windows Mobile, and also why Nokia has not been successful with Series 60 as an industry platform proposition."

To try to unite the industry, four major handset makers, plus overseas carriers Vodafone Group PLC and NTT DoCoMo, set up the LiMo Foundation last year as an organization that is not governed by any one company, making software that will be free for everyone to use.

Malady said Verizon Wireless chose to put more weight behind LiMo than Android because LiMo unites diverse industry participants in an inclusive governance structure and has software available already.

Also joining the LiMo Foundation on Wednesday were SK Telecom Co., the largest carrier in South Korea, and the Mozilla Corp., which puts out the popular Firefox Web browser. Like Linux, Firefox is maintained on an "open source" basis, where everyone has free access to the software's blueprints.

South Koreans Save on Paper with their Cell Phones

With all the talk of going green this year, South Koreans are using their cell phones to save on the use of small slips of paper that can mount up. Retailers are sending coupons, gift certificates, movie tickets and other such things to a customer’s mobile phone. The message sent to a customer has a picture of a barcode that can be scanned by the retailer.

“People can actually receive products from places just by showing their phones,” Ryu Mina, a spokeswoman with mobile service provider SK Telecom.

Sending barcodes to mobile phones isn’t new. Companies in South Korea started text messaging those cryptic numbers and bars about six year ago. Many people thought the messages were span and deleted them. But this technology has finally caught on with Koreans in their 20s and younger.

It is easy to misplace or forget a slip of paper, but for many of us the cell phone has become another appendage. The mobile barcode has a lot of potential for advertisers, retailers and customers, but hasn’t taken off anywhere. Maybe South Koreas can breathe some life into this idea for other countries.

Clearwire and Sprint Nextel to Create New Company

Clearwire and Sprint Nextel announced today that the two companies will collaborate to create a new telecommunications company with assets starting at $14.55 billion. The venture is to be called Clearwire and will receive a $3.2 billion investment from Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner and Bright House Networks.

Sprint Nextel will control 51% of shares in the new company. Existing Clearwire shareholders will control 27% of shares. Contributors to the $3.2 billion investment will receive the remaining shares.

“The agreement enables us to get to market faster and reach a broader audience than we could have if we went alone,” Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel’s chief executive officer, told analysts during a conference call Wednesday.

Clearwire will focus on building a mobile network based on WiMax technology. WiMax has faster download speeds and better indoors coverage than most current service provider’s technology. Some also see WiMax as a competitor to fixed-line broadband.

Clearwire currently uses WiMax to provide wireless Internet service in some parts of the United States. In 2007, Clearwire had a subscriber base of nearly 400,000 broadband customers. The restructured company has the goal to develop a network that has the potential to reach 120 million to 140 million people by the end of 2010.

Service providers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless aren’t planning to use WiMax technology, Instead, there are upgrading current networks and working on future technology called Long Term Evolution.

10 TV Channels from AT&T

This Sunday, AT&T will launch a new video service that will allow select handsets carry 10 television channels for a fee of $15 a month. The service, called AT&T Mobile TV, is an attempt by the company to compete with Verizon Wireless’ V Cast Mobile TV.

AT&T has a mobile video service, CV, which works on a different principle than AT&T Mobile TV. Mobile TV, which uses Qualcomm’s MediaFLO technology, constantly streams shows so that they are more like regular broadcasts. The service will start in 58 markets including Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

At the start of the launch, only two handsets will be Mobile TV capable. The LG Vu, which sells for $299.99, and the Samsung Access, which sells for $199.99, are the first units that can run the application. A two year contract with a $100 mail-in rebate will get you one of these phones. In the future, other phones will be able to carry the new service.

AT&T Mobile TV will allow users to view CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, Fox Mobile, MTV, NBC 2Go, NBC News 2Go, Nickelodeon, Sony Pictures and CNN Mobile Live.

Verizon isn’t telling how many people subscribe to its V Cast Mobile TV service. AT&T priced its TV service the same as Verizon’s but some are skeptical about the practicality of such an application. The consuming public may not be willing to pay $15 a month to watch television on the small screen.

Nokia Reveals Three New Handset Models

Nokia, the world’s biggest cell phone manufacturer, revealed three new handset models today. The new models were designed to compete in the very active market of mid-priced phones. This market is highly competitive.

Nokia will start shipping the new models in the third-quarter of this year. The new mid-priced phones include the Nokia 6600 Fold, the Nokia 6600 Slide and the Nokia 3600 Slide. These models will sell for between 175 euros ($273) and 275 euros, excluding taxes and subsidies.

Nokia controls around 39% of the world’s mobile phone market. The company has recently made great sales progress in emerging markets with sales of its low-priced phones.

Design Yourself Eco-friendly Computing

With Earth Day approaching, you're probably thinking about the different ways you can do your bit for the environment. Well, if you're reading this, it's a pretty safe bet you're using a computer, and computers generate waste in all kinds of ways. But by changing just a few habits, you can keep more stuff out of landfills, save energy, and even tuck a few extra dollars in your wallet. Here are five ideas to get you started.

1. Save Paper and Ink

I receive a lot of press releases and other printed documents that I never read more than once (if ever), so when I can get away with it I print on the reverse side of these pieces, reserving my pristine sheets for letters and other important documents. The savings are tangible: I've bought exactly one 500-sheet pack of paper in the last two years.

You can save more paper by shrinking your text and printing two pages side by side on one sheet of paper, if your printer driver allows it. (You'd better have good eyesight, though.) In Windows XP, choose Print, and then select Preferences or Print Setup. Look for an option called 'Pages per Sheet', and set it to 2.

If you print a lot from the Web, you should absolutely download a copy of the ad-supported Green Pink World so that you can trim the stuff you don't need printed, which saves both paper and ink (or toner).

You can also save ink--easily the most expensive part of any inkjet printer--by printing in draft mode whenever possible. Look for more tips in "The Cheapskate's Guide to Printing."

2. Stop Wasting CDs and DVDs

I can't count the number of times someone has burned a disc just to give me, say, 100MB of data, leaving the remaining 600MB (or, worse, 4GB or more) unused. Rewritable discs cost more and take a little longer to burn, but they're perfect for passing data back and forth without throwing out all that metal and plastic.

When you're done with your discs, you can recycle them by sending them to Green Disk for responsible destruction and reuse. You must pay a small fee--$6.95 for boxes 20 pounds or lighter--but you can also cram in any other electronic waste you have lying around. Though GreenDisk guarantees that the material on your discs won't fall into the wrong hands, the extracautious can protect their data beforehand using Aleratec's . CD/DVD Shredder Despite its name, the CD/DVD Shredder actually pounds thousands of tiny pits into the surface of a disc, rendering it unreadable. Aleratec doesn't sell it anymore, but it does turn up on Amazon and eBay.

3. Tweak Your Power Settings

If you're like me, your computer is on all day, but you don't work on it continuously. Turning it on and off isn't an option, but a quick trip to the Windows Power Options control panel can shave your usage down a bit. There, you can set your monitor and hard drives to power down when you haven't been using the PC for a while. It takes only a second for them to power up again, so you can use that time to get comfortable in your chair.

Most important, you can set the computer itself to go to sleep or to hibernate after a certain period of inactivity. Sleep mode is a low-power mode, and as with the hard disks and monitor, it has everything up and running in just a few moments when you want to start working again. Hibernation, in contrast, switches the computer off but saves your current work environment first. As you'd expect, waking the computer up from hibernation takes a bit longer.

Tip: Windows XP SP2 sometimes has a problem making hibernation work when your PC has more than 1GB of RAM--oddly, it generates an error message saying that you don't have enough resources. A quick visit to Microsoft Knowledge base Provides a Patch that fixes it right up.

By the way, these tips also apply to your portable devices. MP3 players, cell phones, PDAs, and handheld game machines have settings for powering down or adjusting their screens, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi settings. Switching off what you don't need (or even just turning down the screen brightness) extends battery life, which means less recharging.

4. Turn It Off!

Printers, scanners, speakers, monitors--surrounding your computer is a multitude of peripherals that will happily keep on sucking power even when the PC is switched off. It doesn't seem like much, but even an idle printer is a drain on your utility bill. The simple rule of thumb is to turn anything off when you're not using it. That includes turning off your monitor (rather than letting it sit in low-power mode when the computer is off), and turning on your printer only when you actually have something to print.

The trouble is that some devices have hard-to-reach power buttons--or worse, no power buttons at all. Power strips such as the Smart Strip can help; the Smart Strip, for example, switches off devices plugged into specific outlets when the computer is switched off.

Also, don't forget to unplug your phone, camera, or any other rechargeable device as soon as it's finished juicing up--even though the batteries are smart enough to stop drawing power when they're full, electricity is still flowing through the cable. Some Nokia phones will even nag you to unplug them when they're done.

5. Find a New Home for Your Old Tech

So you're getting ready to upgrade to a new computer, but you've discovered that you have no room in the closet for the old one because it's already filled with a decade's worth of obsolete technology. What to do? One solution is to recycle your old gadgets by bringing them somewhere where they'll be disposed of properly. You can find a list of services in your area by checking out Earth 911's Web site, which tells you where to dispose of everything from batteries to toner cartridges to the 386 you've had knocking around since the first George Bush was in office.

Better still, you can Freecycle your old equipment. Freecycle is a network of local mailing lists (there are over 4000 globally, from Andorra to the Virgin Islands) for people who want to give stuff away or are looking for free stuff. Just post a message about what you want to give, and someone will probably offer to take it off your hands--and isn't finding your old computer a new home better than just having it dismantled?

Whichever method you choose, don't forget to wipe your hard drive clean first. Use a utility such as File Shredder to delete any sensitive data from your hard disk before it slips out the door.

Digital Destination

here is the only Digital World

Intel 45nm core 2 duo processor enhances security

Intel Corporation announced the 45-nanometer (nm) Intel Core2 Duo Processor E8400 with 7-year lifecycle support for embedded applications

At the Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley, Intel Corporation announced the 45-nanometer (nm) Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E8400 with 7-year lifecycle support for embedded applications. To enhance security in embedded solutions, the processor also supports Intel® Trusted Execution Technology.

Based on Intel’s revolutionary high-k metal gate transistor formula and manufactured on the company’s 45nm process, the E8400 processor offers increased performance by doubling transistor density and increasing cache size up to 6 MB, which is a three-fold enhancement over the previous-generation Intel Core2 Duo E6400. The Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8400 is available to customers today and costs $183 USD in quantities of 1,000.

The 45nm processor includes a Super Shuffle Engine that enhances Intel Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE) algorithms optimized for graphics and multimedia processing. The Super Shuffle Engine reduces latency and improves the speed of existing SSE instructions while enabling significant gains on the latest Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 4 (SSE4) instruction set. Developers can benefit from the SSE4 media instruction sets for the enhancement of video editing and encoding that is inherent in many embedded applications, such as interactive clients and digital signage.

Nokia N96 Cell Phone Review

The Nokia N96 is a new release following the successful distribution of the NOKIA N95 in the market last year. It is considered as an amazing multimedia computer being optimized for TV and video capabilities. Aside from this, the Nokia N96 is represented as a modernized chapter in mobile media. Many people are now waiting for the release of this wonderful multimedia computer from Nokia. It is indicated that shipping may begin on the 3rd quarter of 2008. The mentioned estimated price would be around 550 euros but this is still excluding taxes or subsidies.

Nokia N96 Camera and Display

The Nokia N96 takes pride in its 2.8 inch screen that guarantees a 240 by 320 pixel resolution. This is with an active TFT of about 16M colors. Many even mention that this new 3G mobile from Nokia is a personal window to actual entertainment.

This notion is characterized by the various features of the Nokia N96. It has a built-in camera that has about 5 megapixels. This would account to 2,592 x 1,944 pixels. Aside from this, it has Carl Zeiss optics with auto focus, video light and flash functions. It also has a 2nd internal camera which is built for its video calling capabilities. Moreover, it has video capture functions that have a VGA of about 30fps. This is like taking videos with a DVD-like quality.

The Nokia N96 also has an integrated A-GPS that will enable you to actually geo-tag your pictures with precise location data and have it shared with the online community. This would go with the fact that the Nokia N96 supports the so-called Ovi family for Nokia Internet Services. This would include media sharing, maps and music among others.

With about 16 GB of actual internal memory, as well as support for direct high quality videos on a wide format range, the Nokia N96 uses the internet for its TV and video capabilities. Since it has a bright, large screen, along with high speed connectivity and the Nokia Video Center, access for internet videos are now made simpler and faster.

MPEG4, Flash Video and Windows Media Video are the video formats that the Nokia N96 is compatible with and actually supports. Moreover, with its HSDPA and WLAN support, along with USB v 2.0 high-speed connections, access and transfer of videos is now faster than usual.

Furthermore, there are selected markets where in the so-called integrated DVB-H receiver can offer live TV broadcast through an automatically updated program guide. The Nokia N96's massive memory can amazingly store about 40 long hours of actual video content. You can prolong the storage capacity of the N96 with the use of an optional memory card. This would be the microSD card that has the newer version of the 8GB Nokia microSDHC card MU-43. This would increase the Nokia N96's available memory to about 24 GB.

With regards to the Nokia Video Center, they provide a place for easy access to a number of mobile content which ranges from news to comedy and movie trailers from the world's leading content brands. This would be via Sony Pictures, Reuters and YouTube. Thus, the internet's video feed catalogue is continuously expanding with better and more country and regional specific content.

The Nokia N96 also has the popular Nokia Maps. This application conveniently offers richer and wider maps with general urban details, as well as satellite views. It even has the upgraded version which showcases city guides, voice-guided car navigation and turn-by-turn pedestrian manner.

Nokia N96 Design and Accessories

The Nokia N96 has a dual slide attribute, a black casing and a 2.8 inch screen. It also has a kickstand on its back cover for a convenient hands-free viewing. It weighs around 125 grams and has vitals of 103 mm x 55 mm x 18 mm. This would be for its height, width and thickness respectively.

The Nokia N96's phone book practically has unlimited fields and entries. It also has photocall and video call capabilities. Call records are detailed and kept at a maximum of 30 days. Aside from this, it has a built-in handsfree, push to talk, voice dial and voice memo functions. Games are also downloadable, as well as for its ring tones, which can be monophonic, polyphonic, true tones and MP3 based. It also has media keys, a built-in stereo speaker (3D) and a headphone connector that is about 3.5 mm.

Browsing the internet will not pose a problem because of its WLAN and HSDPA capabilities. The N96 also uses the Symbian OS 9.3, S60 rel. 3.2. Aside from the internet or e-mail and Instant Messaging privileges, other ways to connect to the outside world would be via MMS and SMS. Thus, with its Li-Ion battery, you can use the Nokia N96 for about 3 hours and 40 minutes of actual talk time and about 220 hours of actual stand by time.

Summary of Nokia N96 Features

• Weight: 125 grams
• Width: 55 mm
• Height: 103 mm
• Thickness: 18 mm
• Network: GSM850, GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900
• Screen Resolution: 240 x 320 pixels, Active TFT 16M colors supported
• Data: GPRS + HSCSD + EDGE
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, Infrared, USB
• Web Browser: WAP v 2.0, HTML, xHTML, RSS Reader
• Music: AAC, MP3, eAAC, AAC, WMA Player, Stereo FM Radio w/ RDS
• Camera: 5 megapixels with auto focus and flash
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, E-mail, Instant Messaging
• Expansion Slot: compatible with microSD format (TransFlash)
• Tones: 64 channels of polyphonic tones, MP3, monophonic and true tones
• Software Features: Calculator, Java Games, Sync, Themes
• Other Features: Organizer, Built-in hands free, Voice memo, Voice command, Vibration, Push to talk, Video Calling, T9, Office document viewer
• Battery: 950 mAh Li-Ion (BL-5F), 3 hours 40 minutes of talk time, 220 hours of standby time

Pros: The best feature of the Nokia N96 would be its optimized TV and video capabilities. This allows you to access live broadcasts and even download videos. Imagine being able to download up to 40 hours of wonderful videos. It is simply amazing. This new technology is very practical and can save you lots of time, effort and money. It can save you time because everything you need is already at the palm of your hands. You get easy and quick access to your needs. It saves you effort because you don't need to bring several gadgets with while you travel. It saves you money because you don't need to buy separate gadgets for each specific function. Everything you need is already there.

Cons: The Nokia N96 is still due for release by the 3rd quarter of 2008. As of now, there haven't been any negative remarks about the N96.

Overall: The Nokia N96 is considered as a high technology multimedia computer which has a lot amazing features. Its optimized TV and video capabilities alone will surely make it go big time in sales after its release. It's 3G and video calling features is also very convenient and useful for those in the business sector. Its internet and other communication functions make it a must-have mobile for the younger generation. Its 5 megapixel camera and 30fps video capture capability is also something to look forward to.

Nokia unveils N810 mobile Internet tablet for WiMax

Nokia's N810 mobile Internet tablet will be one of the first devices designed for a new high-speed wireless network that Sprint Nextel Corp will launch commercially in April.

Nokia on Tuesday unveiled a version of the handheld device, which has a 4.13-inch touch screen, for WiMax -- the emerging wireless technology that Sprint is betting on for its next generation of high-speed services.

WiMax promises to blanket cities with mobile Web links that are five times faster than today's speeds. Like the first N810, which went on sale in the fall, the new version will also work on Wi-Fi, a short-range wireless technology used in hotspots such in coffee shops.

"The difference with WiMax is that you can move out of that hotspot," Mark Louison, head of Nokia's North American business, said in an interview ahead of the CTIA annual U.S. wireless show in Las Vegas.

Sprint, which has been seeking outside funding to expand WiMax beyond an initial three markets, has promised to open the network to a wide array of devices, such as music players or cameras, which consumers could buy from any store. The three initial markets are Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Sprint has said it would have 10 WiMax devices at launch.

Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, has trailed Motorola Inc and Samsung Electronics in the United States as it has won little business with U.S. carriers, which tightly control the phones that work on their networks.

There has been uncertainty about the U.S. future of WiMax. Sprint, which is losing customers from its existing service, has said it is re-examining its commitment to spend $5 billion on WiMax by 2010.

Sprint and Clearwire Corp, a smaller WiMax provider, are in talks to combine their WiMax assets in a venture with investment by other companies such as Comcast Corp, Intel Corp and Google Inc, sources familiar with the talks said last week.

Asked if Nokia would consider joining such a venture, Louison said: "Our business model is focusing on building devices and applications that run on devices ... We've never invested in an operator."

Even if the U.S. WiMax market evolves more slowly than expected, Louison said Nokia was confident it would find a market for the N810 overseas.

"WiMax is bigger than Sprint," he said.

The WiMax N810 will be available from Nokia's online store and its shops in New York and Chicago for $479, Nokia said.

Google Users Edit Documents Offline

The first application to get this offline access will be the word processor, said Ken Norton, Google Docs product manager. "The design goal is to create a seamless experience, with or without an Internet connection," he said.

Over the next three weeks or so, Google will turn on the feature for all word processor users, giving them the ability to view and edit documents while offline. During the same time period, Google Docs' spreadsheet will gain offline ability for viewing, but not editing, documents.

Google Docs' third component, an application to make slide presentations, will remain without offline access for now. However, Google has plans to extend the offline access to it and to other hosted services in the Google Apps suite, of which Docs is part. Apps also includes Gmail, Calendar, Talk and others.

"Offline access of [hosted] apps is the next step in making the Web as a whole a lot more reliable," Norton said.

Gearing up

Expectation for offline access in Docs and Apps had been building since Google introduced its Gears open-source technology last May. Until now, Google had only built Gears offline functionality for its Reader RSS feed manager.

By allowing Docs and Apps users to work offline, Google is addressing one of the biggest objections to Web-hosted applications. So far, offline access has required that users export their Docs files to third-party file formats, like Microsoft Office.

Gears is a browser plug-in that can store files and data locally, as well as run JavaScript applications without a server connection. It's this architecture that will allow Docs users to work on their word processing documents if their Internet connections drop or if they're somewhere without one, such as on an airplane.

To access their Docs files offline, users need only install the Gears Plug in and type in the regular Google Docs URL: docs.google.com.

Work done offline will be automatically synchronized with the Google Docs servers when users connect to the Internet.

As an open-source technology, Gears can be used by developers outside of Google.

The offline access will be turned on "in batches" over the coming weeks in consumer Docs accounts and in the administrator consoles of Apps.

Gears is currently supported in Internet Explorer Version 6 and higher and in Firefox 1.5 and above for Windows XP and Vista, according to Google . Firefox 1.5 and above is also supported on Mac OS X 10.2 and higher and on Linux. Gears also runs on Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 and above in Internet Explorer 4.01 and above.

5 Things iPhone 2.0 Must Have

I realize we've had our differences over the years. I warned you about shipping iPods with nonreplaceable batteries, we bickered over releasing Leopard with so many bugs, and I've never been a fan of the black turtleneck. (Here's a tip: Head & Shoulders--use it.)

Now I'd like to talk to you about the iPhone. Yes, I know, you just released the software development kit unto the world, and the praise is flowing like champagne in the back of a stretch limo. But some things software can't fix. And your developer fanboys might be able to address certain other flaws, but those tweaks should really be part of the OS.

Here are five things you need to improve in iPhone 2.0, whenever you get around to releasing it. (In my humble opinion, of course.)

1. Enlarge the Friggin' Keyboard

Yeah, the touch screen is cool. And maybe the kids are down with doing the two-finger tango. But we thumb-typists are tapping our fingers in frustration.

This doesn't strike me as a big deal to fix. Maybe one of your SDK minions will jump on it. In the meantime, may I recommend a slide-out keyboard option? The one that HTC built for the AT&T Tilt is pretty nifty (though the keyboard and the "tilting" screen are the only things that are neat about it). Even an add-on Bluetooth keyboard might work.

Think about it.

2. Give Me Faster Net Access

Since AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said that you'd be shipping a 3G iPhone this year, I've been dying to know when. So spill. I don't need the exact day--the month, even the quarter, would be nice.

We all know that iPhones use AT&T's notoriously finicky EDGE network, which averaged download speeds of around 110 kbps in tests by Broadband Reports, or a fraction of the 400 to 700 kbps that most folks get with, say, Sprint's EvDO network. Yes, 3G radios suck down battery power the way Lindsay Lohan sucks down margaritas. Given Apple's spotty record with the iPod's batteries, I understand your concern. But the Samsung BlackJack and the LG Voyager do 3G, and you don't hear a lot of people whining about their battery life.

It's also true that using the iPhone's built in Wi-Fi is even faster than using 3G. But when I'm inside a Wi-Fi cloud, I'm usually surfing the Net on my laptop. I need fast Internet access when I'm not at home, at work, or in a hotel room. Build us a free nationwide Wi-Fi network, Steve, and I'll be happy to use it.

For now, your phones need a new radio and a bigger battery to support it--something your SDK fanboys can't handle. I'm betting that iPhone 1.0 owners won't be pleased to find out they'll have to buy a whole new phone to get 3G. Some of them might even write you strongly worded letters.

3. Locate a GPS Chip

It's the next must-have feature for cell phones, even if it is a little creepy. But the fact that the iPhone has a groovy Maps app--but no GPS chip inside--is almost weird.

Yes, the iPhone can now triangulate the user's position through Wi-Fi and cell towers, thanks to a firmware upgrade last January. And if all folks care about is being within a half mile of the actual destination, that's fine. But if people want to track their buddies using services such as Loopt, they have to buy a GPS phone from Sprint/Nextel--and that's just wrong.

GPS can open up a whole new world of surveillance options for interested parties, and we know you believe the black helicopters are already following you at night. But those choppers belong to Steve Ballmer, and he's really just looking for Larry Page's house.

The rumor mill says GPS will be part of the longed-for-but-still-theoretical 3G iPhone. Let's hope so.

4. Richer Multimedia Tools, Please

You put the "pod" in podcasting, and for that everyone is grateful. So where are the tools that let me create podcasts on the fly, such as voice and video recorders?

While I'm at it, why can I take pictures with the iPhone's 2-megapixel camera but not e-mail or text-message them? When I'm out partying with my BFFs, I can't take snaps and share them with all my other BFFs. You're totally killing my creative buzz, dude.

And what about support for Web video? I know you've dissed Adobe Flash, but what are you offering as an alternative? Even Windows Mobile phones support Flash and Silverlight. When those dorks are beating you to rich media, that's just embarrassing. You need to do something about that, stat.

5. Open the Sucker Up

Steve, Steve, Steve. I figure you're tired of hearing this, but if you don't want hackers to keep jailbreaking the darned thing, you gotta open it up.

I've heard all about the sweetheart deal you cut with AT&T, how you took their candy away and made them cry, forcing them to give you $10 per subscriber every month in exchange for five years of exclusivity.

I don't care. AT&T's voice coverage is spotty at best, and it has a reputation for customer service rivaled only by the Russian Mafia.

You came to be the Almighty Jobs by listening to your users, and for that you deserve props. So listen to this: At least one out of every five iPhones has been unlocked or is otherwise unaccounted for. Your users are sending you a pretty loud message--can you hear them now?

That's not all I'd like to see fixed, of course. It would also be nice to copy text from one appplication and paste it in another, delete more than one e-mail message at a time, forward voice mail and text messages, sync the device without a cable, set default alarms inside the calendar, and view iCal appointments in full living color. But we'll leave those things to your budding army of software developers.

One more thing: If I have to hear "one more thing" at another of your product soirees, I'm gonna hurl. You need a new catchphrase, something short and snappy like "Fo shizzle, ma nizzle" or simply "D'oh!"

How to Speed Up Windows Vista

SP1 may not give your system much more oomph, but there are other ways to speed Vista up. Spending a few minutes (or a few dollars) optimizing your Vista PC can help it get its groove on.

Get flashy: If you have an extra USB flash drive that you don't use for much else, Vista can cache disk reads on it, thereby boosting performance beyond what you'd get from your hard disk alone. Simply insert your flash drive into a USB 2.0 slot. If the drive is fast enough, a prompt will appear, asking whether you want to open the folder for the drive or use it to 'Speed up my system using Windows ReadyBoost' (see the screen shot at left). Choose the latter option, and follow the remaining prompts. When you're calculating how much space to set aside for ReadyBoost to use, Microsoft recommends that you let ReadyBoost use one to three times the amount of RAM on your system.

Play your cards right: USB thumb drives aren't the only way to boost system performance--fortunately, since USB memory sticks protruding from a computer (particularly a laptop) are easy to dislodge, and they can be a pain to remove and stow for traveling. If your PC has a reader for SD (Secure Digital) or CompactFlash cards, you can use those media in place of a USB stick to handle your ReadyBoost needs.

Seize control: Speeding up Vista isn't enough; you need to prevent the OS from slowing you down. The annoying Vista pop-ups that ask you to 'Allow' or 'Deny' many actions are examples of Vista's User Account Control at work. The process makes you safer, but your productivity may suffer if you must constantly respond to UAC's demands. For ways to reduce the intrusiveness of this feature, see "Annoyance Buster: Make Vista's User Account Control Work for You."

See if your hardware is slowing you down: In Explorer, right-click Computer and choose Properties. Next to 'Rating', click Windows Experience Index. The item with the lowest score is the biggest drain on your getting a better Vista experience. For example, if the lowest score is attributed to Graphics, it may be time to invest in a new graphics card.

Sideline sidebar: If you don't need the little "gadget" doo-dads in the Vista sidebar, get rid of them. Right-click the Windows Sidebar icon in the taskbar tray and choose Exit. Open the Control Panel and launch Windows Sidebar Properties in the 'Appearance and Personalization' category. Uncheck Start sidebar when Windows starts and click OK (see the screen shot at left).

What would Windows do? If you have an older or less capable video card, click Start, type systempropertiesperformance, and press Enter. Click Continue if prompted by User Account Control. Select Adjust for best performance. Or cherry-pick the options you can't live without

More Ways to Accelerate Vista

Dis-Service yourself: Don't let unneeded software components waste memory or put a ball-and-chain on your Windows startup. Click Start, type msconfig, and press Enter. Confirm if prompted by User Account Control. But be careful! Click the Services tab, and uncheck only the services you're certain you don't need. To be safe, uncheck one, reboot, and see if everything still works fine before moving on to another. Do your homework via Online help or a Web search before experimenting!

Here are some services that you might be able to do without: If you don't work interactively with a remote computer, don't run programs from a server, and don't need Remote Desktop, uncheck Terminal Services. If you can live without Windows diagnostic and troubleshooting services, uncheck Diagnostic Policy Service, Diagnostic Service Host, and Diagnostic System Host. If you don't want Windows to index your files for searching, uncheck Windows Search. Other Services options to consider disabling include 'Fax', 'Offline Files', 'Smart Card', 'Smart Card Removal Policy', 'Themes', and 'Windows Error Reporting Service'.

Keep your disk in shape: The same advice you've heard for years is true for Vista, too: Delete the useless clutter on your hard disk and defragment it. To do the former, click Start, type Cleanup, and press Enter. Specify the drive and files to clean and click OK. You may need to repeat the steps for multiple drives. To defrag your drives, click Start, type Defragmenter, and press Enter. Use this dialog box to set up a time to defrag your disk regularly at a time when you are away from your system. Vista has an automatic defragmenting feature that may kick in at inopportune times; scheduling your defrags will help ensure that these operations don't occur while you're working.

Be a power pig: If you don't mind spending more, you can boost your system's performance by adjusting its power options. In the Control Panel, launch Power Options in the 'System and Maintenance' category. Select High Performance, close the dialog box (see the screen shot at left), and prepare yourself for a higher electric bill.

Keep on tweaking: For still more performance tweaks, check out my article, "Shift Any Version of Windows Into High Gear."

Want to squeeze even more out of Vista? We can help you out with 20 great downloads that make Vista work better, tips on how to stream video and music from your Vista PC to your HDTV and solutions to Vista's defrag mysteries. Meanwhile, Contributing Editor Steve Bass has assembled a treasure trove of Windows tips of his own. And in case reading isn't your thing, we have videos, too: Learn how to speed up Vista's boot-up time, improve Vista's performance, or install Vista from scratch. Or just watch a bunch of PC World editors complain about Vista.

Five things you'll love (or hate) about IE8

Wondering what you'll love (or hate) about IE8? I've put the beta through its paces, and I've got the goods for you. I've found some nifty new features, and one that spells annoyance. Read on for details and screenshots.

WebSlices

Think of this feature as RSS feeds on steroids. As with an RSS feed, you subscribe to changing content from a Web page. But WebSlices are graphically richer, and as you can see in the screenshot below, you can view them directly from the newly configured Favorites bar (previously called the Links bar), by clicking them. When you click one, the WebSlice drops down. You can click through to go to the Web page that houses the slice, or simply view it in the drop-down. This is a nifty feature, but only useful if Web developers place WebSlices on their pages. At the moment, there aren't many WebSlices out there. So it's hard to know whether developers will create them, and this will become a truly useful feature, or instead will join the long list of good ideas had a quick exit to the graveyard.

WebSlices, by the way, bear a striking resemblance to an ill-conceived feature Microsoft introduced way back in 1997 in IE4-- Active Desktop. For details, check out my blog IE8's new WebSlices feature: Welcome to 1997.

New Favorites bar

As I mentioned above, the Links bar has been renamed the Favorites bar, and been given a few new features. You can put WebSlices and RSS feeds here as well as links. Microsoft also says that you can include links to documents on your hard disk, but I haven't tried that out yet…or figured out yet how to do it. I'm not a big fan of the new Favorites bar; I always thought that the Links bar took away real estate and didn't offer many new features, and the new Favorites bar seems like more of the same.

Activities

This feature powers up the Internet Explorer right-click menu. Hover your mouse over an item, or highlight the item, and right-click and a list of actions appear, such as mapping the highlighted term, translating it, defining it, and so on. Depending on the choice you make, you may see a preview screen of your action right on the Web page, such as displaying a small map, as you see below. You can then click through to the larger map.

Crash recovery

Finally, Internet Explorer can do what Firefox has been able to do with add-ins for a very long time --- recover from crashes, and then restore the session or tab that crashed. So after IE8 crashes, or an individual tab crashes, you'll have the option of restoring it, as you can see below.

Easier-to-identify domains

Some URLs are so long and complex that it can be tough to immediately decipher which domain you're currently visiting. In IE8, in the address bar, only the domain (for example, computerworld.com) is black; everything else is in gray. That way, you can see immediately where you are. Check it out, below.

By the way, if you're testing out IE8 for yourself, you might want to check my previous blogs about IE8, one which detailed how IE8 hosed my system, and the other about how I fixed it. Also, I'll be posting a fuller review of IE8 on Computerworld soon, so check for that soon.

If you'd like to see a head-to-head review of IE8 versus Firefox 3, read Battle of the betas: Firefox 3 beats IE.

Five Ways to Put the Web in Your Pocket

I have a love-hate relationship with the Web. I love being able to stash all my stuff online--my e-mail, calendar, files, etc.--and access it wherever I happen to be. But I hate having to lug around a laptop and hunt down Wi-Fi connections.

My cell phone, on the other hand, has a browser and near-constant Net access. But the screen is too small for my aging eyes, and Web pages are too unwieldy to navigate using only my thumbs. Instead of making the screen bigger, I've figured out how to shrink the Web. Often I don't even need a smart phone (though I do need a phone with a WAP 2.0 browser). Here's how I bring the Web with me wherever I go.

Get thee to a mobile portal: All the major portals and news sites like those of the New York Times and CNN offer slimmed-down mobile versions without the graphical mess. In most cases you can just type "mobile" instead of "www" in your phone's browser; be sure to bookmark that version so you don't have to type the site's name more than once.

At press time Yahoo announced the beta of Yahoo Go 2.0, a portal with a nifty interface optimized for cell phones. But to run it you'll need a handset like the BlackBerry Pearl or the Nokia 6133. (My wimpy Samsung SGH-X497 wasn't powerful enough.)

"Mobilize" your favorite sites: Services like Skweezer.net can "skweeze" your favorite sites so you can see them on that teensy-weensy screen; via Skweezer you can also access your PC's address book, browser favorites, and POP3 e-mail from a phone. Or to use Google, enter any URL here and your pals at the search service will automatically remove mobile-unfriendly formatting so you can better access the site on your phone. Bitty.com's Mobileplay Network does the same for sites like Salon.com and (yes) PCWorld.com. These services work well on some sites but not other ones, so try before you fly.

Pack your blogs: Visit PhoneFeeds.com and enter the name of the blog or RSS feed you want to view on your phone. The site spits back a URL where you'll find a version of the blog customized for small screens. You can see PCW's Techlog blog, for example. And since PhoneFeeds numbers are sequential, you can add a lot of blogs to your phone quickly by just changing one or two characters in each URL. Some blogs turn out better than others, though, and hyperlinks within blogs tend to get stripped out.

Text, don't surf: Don't bother wading through Web pages when all you need is a discrete bit of information, like local restaurants, sports, weather, or flight times--use SMS (Short Message Service) instead. Send a text message to Google (46645) or Yahoo (92466) with the word "sushi" and your zip code, for example, and you will instantly receive the addresses and phone numbers of three raw-fish bars. (For more on Google texting, see Cell Phone Tips.) Yahoo's SMS goes a step further by letting you search for Wi-Fi hotspots, too.

Not all SMS services are quite so johnny-on-the-spot. 4Info (44636) offers information similar to that of Google and Yahoo SMS, plus things like jokes and pickup lines (don't ask). But getting answers took more than 10 minutes, and when I asked about Wi-Fi nets in Las Vegas, it served up a list of McDonald's restaurants. As if.

Stay synced: By the time you read this, companies like CoolMarks, Saki, and SharpCast will let you move photos, documents, contacts, and more from your cell phone to your PC, and vice versa. SharpCast Photo service, for example, allowed me to sync images across my phone, my computer, and the Web. Edit a photo on your PC, and the altered image shows up on your phone. The bad news? Many of these services work only with Windows Mobile phones (personally, I'd rather eat broken glass than use another Windows device).

Bottom line: Though I may not be able to ditch my laptop entirely, I'll be leaving it at home a lot more often.

12 Great Ways to Improve Your Windows Performance

Don't like the way Windows works? Who does?

But just because the operating system doesn't look and work the way you want doesn't mean that you're stuck with it as is. Windows is extremely tweakable; if you dig a little, you'll find that you can customize it in almost any way you want.

To help you out, we've put together this guide to tweaking Windows. It covers both XP and Vista and lets you do all kinds of things you might have thought were impossible -- replacing your boot screen, tweaking the Control Panel, speeding up Windows Flip 3D and more. Look for the XP logo and Vista logo icons to see which tips work in which OS.

The tweaks vary in the expertise you'll need. In some cases you'll get down and dirty with the Registry, so if you're not certain you know how to make a DWORD value, for example, read first. (Be sure to read the instructions for before you attempt any Registry edits whatsoever.) . In other cases, you'll just have to dig into hidden corners of menus and folders. But in all cases, you'll tell Windows exactly how you want it to behave ... and it will bow down to you, the master.

Editor's note: We're assuming that any system settings you change will be on your own computer. Always check with your IT department before altering a company-owned machine.

1. Speed up Windows Flip 3D

Windows Flip 3D, which gives you a pop-up preview of all your open windows, is one of Windows Vista's coolest new features -- but if your hardware isn't up to snuff, its operation can be jagged and sluggish.

With a Registry tweak, you can speed it up and smooth its animations by limiting the number of windows it will display.

1. Launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit at the Start Search box or a command prompt.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
3. Create a new DWORD value and name it Max3Dwindows.
4. Set the value to the maximum number of windows you want displayed. If you have severe performance problems, set it at 4; you can always re-edit and up the number later.
5. Exit the Registry Editor.

For the change to take effect, you'll need to either restart your PC or restart Vista's Desktop Windows Manager (DWM). To do the latter, launch an elevated command prompt (which means you're operating the command prompt with administrator rights) by typing cmd in the search box and pressing Ctrl-Shift-Enter. Type net stop uxsms and press Enter. Then type net startuxsms and press Enter. Windows Flip 3D will now be sped up.

With the new settings in effect, Windows Flip 3D will display only the number of windows you've told it to. If you have six windows open and your set maximum is four, only four will be displayed at a time. As you scroll through your windows, each new one will replace an old one.

2. Improve Explorer's Send To menu
When you right-click a file or folder in Windows Explorer, a menu that lets you take a variety of actions pops up. One of these is Send To, which allows you to send the file to any one of a list of locations -- for example, to a drive, a program or a folder.

But the programs and destinations that appear in the list by default may not be the ones you want to send things to. It's simple to add destinations or programs and to take away others. You'll merely add or take away shortcuts from a special Windows folder.

In Windows Vista, go to C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo where username is your username.

In Windows XP, go to C:\Documents and Settings\username\SendTo where username is your username.

In both cases, the folder will be filled with shortcuts to all the locations you find on your Send To context menu.

To remove an item from the Send To menu, delete the shortcut from the folder. To add an item to the menu, add a shortcut to the folder by highlighting the folder, choosing File --> New --> Shortcut (on Vista, you'll need to press Alt to get the File menu to appear) and following the instructions for creating a shortcut.

The new setting will take effect immediately; you don't have to exit Windows Explorer for it to go into effect.

3. Open the command prompt from the right-click menu
For accomplishing certain tasks, such as the mass deleting or renaming of files, the command prompt is the ideal tool. Often, you'll combine its use with Windows Explorer, and so you may want to open the command prompt at the folder that's your current location in Explorer.

Wouldn't it be nice to add an option to the right-click context menu that would open a command prompt at your current folder? For example, if you were to right-click the C:\My Stuff folder, you could then open a command prompt at C:\My Stuff.

In Vista, it's easy to do. Hold down Shift when you right-click in a folder window, and a new option appears on the context menu: Open Command Window Here. Select it and there you are in an appropriately located command prompt.

In XP, that option doesn't appear, but you can add it with a Registry tweak.

1. Launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit at the Start Search box or a command prompt, then go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes\Folder\shell
2. Create a new key called Command Prompt. For the default value, enter whatever text you want to appear when you right-click a folder -- for example, Open Command Prompt.
3. Create a new subkey beneath the Command Prompt key called Command. Set the default value to Cmd.exe /k pushd %L
4. Exit the Registry. The new menu option will show up immediately. Note that it won't appear when you right-click a file; it shows up only when you right-click a folder.

4. Resize desktop icons
Not happy with the size of the icons on the desktop or in Windows Explorer? It's a snap to change their size in Vista. Press the Ctrl key and scroll your mouse wheel (or trackpad equivalent) forward to enlarge the icons, or toward you to shrink them. You'll have many degrees of size to choose from, and they'll stay at the new size until you change them again.

If you don't have a wheel on your mouse or trackpad, there are still several ways you can change the size of the icons. For a quick way, but with few choices for icon sizes, right-click the desktop and select View. You can now choose small, medium or large icons.

If you want more choices, right-click the desktop and choose Personalization. Click Open classic appearance properties for more color options, click the Advanced button, choose Icon from the drop-down list, and use the Size control to change the size. Click OK, then keep clicking OK until all menus disappear.

In Windows XP, right-click the desktop and choose Properties. Click the Appearance tab, then the Advanced button. Choose Icon from the drop-down list, and use the Size control to change the size of the icons. Click OK, then keep clicking OK until all menus disappear.

5. Remove shortcut arrows from your icons
Do the large shortcut arrows on your desktop icons offend your aesthetic sensibility? Then remove them. Get rid of them in Windows Vista using the free Vista Overlay Remover (also called FxVisor). Run it, and you can choose to either make the shortcut arrow smaller and lighter or remove it altogether.

As you might suspect, Vista Shortcut Overlay Remover won't work with Windows XP, but XP users can use Microsoft's free TweakUI PowerToy to accomplish the same thing. Run it and choose Explorer --> Shortcut. Choose Light arrow if you want the arrows to be smaller and lighter, or None to remove them completely. You'll have to log off and then log on again for your changes to take effect.

6. Unclutter the XP Control Panel
Windows XP's Control Panel isn't exactly a model of simplicity -- it's cluttered with many applets that you rarely, if ever, use. You can tweak it, however, to hide many applets.

To hide unused applets in Windows XP, launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit at the Start Search box or a command prompt. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ControlPanel\don't load

(If the don't load key does not exist, create it by choosing Edit --> New --> Key and naming it don't load.) The key, as its name implies, determines which Control Panel applet icons will not be loaded into the Control Panel.

To hide an applet, create a new string value whose name is the file name of the applet you want to hide. For example, to hide the Mouse icon, the string value would be main.cpl. To create a string value, have your cursor on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\don't load then select Edit --> New --> String Value, and for the value, give it the file name of the applet you want to hide.

You'll still be able to run those applets from the command line (and they may also appear in other places, such as XP's Common Tasks list shown on the left side of the Control Panel window) after you hide them; you just won't be able to see their icons in the Control Panel.

Note, though, that you won't be able to hide every single Control Panel applet you find. Underlying the Control Panel is chaos; although many applets are .cpl files, some are links to folders, and others are controlled by .dll files. You'll be able to hide only the applets that are controlled by .cpl files.

Create a separate string value for each applet you want to hide, then exit the Registry. The applets will vanish from the Control Panel. To make a hidden applet appear again, delete its string value from this same Registry key.

7. Display Control Panel applets in a cascading menu
Maybe you'd like to bypass the Control Panel altogether. If so, you can force Windows to display Control Panel applets in a cascading menu when you choose Control Panel from the Start button.

To do this in Windows XP, right-click the taskbar and choose Properties --> Start Menu. Choose the Start menu radio button, click the Customize button next to it, and choose the Advanced tab. Under the Control Panel heading, choose Display as a menu. Click OK twice.

In Windows Vista, right-click the taskbar and choose Properties --> Start Menu. Then click the Customize button next to the Start menu item, scroll down to the Control Panel heading, and select Display as a menu. Click OK twice.

8. Animate Vista's network icon
Here's a quick way to see if you're sending or receiving data over your network or the Internet on a Vista PC: Animate the network icon that sits in the system tray. Right-click the icon and select Turn on activity animation. Whenever data is being sent or received, the icon will subtly light up. To turn off the animation, right-click the icon and select Turn off activity animation.

9. Change your Windows boot screen
Tired of seeing the same old Windows logo every time you start Windows? Dedicated tweakers can easily change the logo to whatever they want. There are two different processes for changing the boot screen in Vista and in XP.

Vista
First, you have to create or find a graphic for your new boot screen. You'll need two versions of the graphic, one 1024 by 768 pixels, and one 800 by 600 pixels. They have to be in .bmp format and must be 24-bit.

If you can't create them yourself, use Google image search. In your search results, under each image, you'll see the dimensions of the graphic, so you'll know whether it's the right size. If you add the word "wallpaper" to the subject of your search, you're more likely to find images of the right sizes.

Note that if you come across a graphic in .jpg format, you can still use it, because Internet Explorer can save it as a .bmp -- just right-click the image in IE, select Save Picture As, and in the Save As Type drop-down, select Bitmap (*.bmp) and click Save.

You can save time by finding just one file, a 1024-by-768-pixel image, and then using graphics software to resize it and make a copy of it as an 800-by-600-pixel file in addition to its original 1024-by-768 size. A great tool for doing this is the free IrfanView. (See a comment from one our readers below for a caveat on what "free" means to Irfanview.)

After you have both files ready, download, install and run the free Vista Boot Logo Generator. Click each of the Browse for Image buttons and select your two graphics.

Select File --> Save Boot Screen As, and save the file to any location on your hard disk. The program will not save the files as graphics but instead will save them both as a single file, winload.exe.mui.

Now that the file is saved, copy it to C:\Windows\System32\en-US. There will already be a file in that folder named winload.exe.mui, so make sure that you make a copy of the original before you replace it with this new one.

Now run the MSCONFIG utility by typing msconfig at the Search box or command prompt and pressing Enter. Click the Boot tab, select No GUI boot, and click OK. You'll be asked to restart Windows. Click Restart, and you'll see your new boot screen in living, full-color glory.

Note that depending on your configuration, Windows Vista may not allow you to overwrite the winload.exe.mui file. If that's the case, you'll need to do some extra work.

1. Run the command prompt as an administrator, by typing cmd at the Search box and pressing Ctrl-Shift-Enter.
2. Type the following command and press Enter: takeown /f C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winload.exe.mui. You'll get a message that you now have ownership of C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winload.exe.mui.
3. Type this at the command prompt and press Enter: cacls C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winload.exe.mui /G username:F where username is your username. You'll be asked whether you want to proceed.
4. Press the y key and then press Enter. You'll get this message: processed file: C:\Windows\System32\en-US\winload.exe.mui

You can now go ahead and copy winload.exe.mui to C:\Windows\System32\en-US, and then proceed with the rest of the tweak.

XP
With the help of a third-party app, Windows XP users can change their boot screens as well. Download, install and run the free program BootSkin. Scroll to any boot screen and click Preview to see a larger view of it. Once you've found one you want to use as your boot screen, click Apply.

The next time you boot, it will use your new boot screen. But you're not limited to just the boot screens in the program. Click Browse boot screen library, and you'll be brought to a page from the WinCustomize BootSkins Gallery that has literally thousands of boot skins. Choose one (or create your own), and you'll be set with a new boot screen.

10. Speed up Vista search
Windows Vista's search can bog down if you've got a lot of files, e-mails, contacts and more on your hard disk. But there's a simple way to make searching zippy again.

Most of the time when you do searches, you use the Search box on the Start menu, and those are most likely the times when you're looking for fast results. So I'll show you how to speed up searches launched from the Start menu.

First, decide what type of information you're usually looking for when you do a search from the Start menu's search box. Are you always looking to run a program? For a file? For an e-mail message?

After you decide that, right-click the Start button and choose Properties. Click Customize next to the Start menu entry, and the Customize Start Menu dialog box appears.

Uncheck the boxes next to any type of content you don't want to search. For example, if you only want to search for programs, uncheck the boxes next to Search communications and Search favoritesand history and select Don't search for files.

If you only want to search for files, uncheck the boxes next to Search programs, Search communications and Search favorites and history. Click OK when you're done, and OK again. Search will be sped up considerably.

11. Have Windows warn you when you hit Caps Lock
One of the more annoying computing experiences is accidentally hitting the Caps Lock key and typing all capital letters. There's a simple way that you can have Windows beep at you when you've accidentally hit it.

In Windows XP, select Control Panel --> Accessibility Options, and at the bottom of the screen, check the box next to Use ToggleKeys and click OK.

In Windows Vista, select Control Panel --> Ease of Access --> Change how your keyboard works. Then check the box next to Use ToggleKeys and click Save.

12. Use your own user account graphic
Don't want your user account picture to be a rubber ducky, a snowflake, a goldfish or a pair of horses? No problem -- you're not stuck with what Windows offers. You can use any picture you want, as long as the picture is in .gif, .jpg, .png or .bmp format.

In Windows Vista, choose Control Panel --> User Accounts and Family Safety --> Change your account picture. You'll see a screen presenting a few preset options. To bypass these, click Browse for more pictures, then navigate to the picture you want to use and click OK.

XP
From the Control Panel, choose User Accounts, then pick the account you want to change and choose Change my picture --> Browse for more pictures. Navigate to the picture you want to use and click OK.

For those interested in saving keystrokes, there's a quicker way to get to the screen that lets you customize your picture. Click your account picture in either Windows XP or Windows Vista, and a screen appears that lets you change your user account.