A TV? A Computer? It's a Laptop

They call this the "Dragon" and claim it is a laptop. Yes, technically it is a laptop, featuring all sorts of little laptop paraphernalia. But one wonders if hp used a basketball superstar as the ergonomic model for the device. That said, as far as machines go, this is a particularly good-looking one.

Technically, the Dragon is a desktop replacement with "limited" mobility; even if you wanted to carry this 20-inch screen on-board a plane, not only would you need to fly one of those fancy First-Class suites, you would possibly run out of battery within 90 minutes. The machine is designed for "limited mobility" rather than actually function as a laptop. As far as machines go, this Rs 1.1 lakh behemoth has a spectacular display. And the specifications are top-of-the-line-2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo processor on a T7700 motherboard, 2 gigabytes of memory, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Altec-Lansing speakers and well, lots, lots more… which means that the Dragon is extremely agile as a computing device. Somehow, while staring at that massive screen, all you want to do is watch movies, and one must admit, video playback is brilliant. And thanks to the little remote control that slots in next to the keyboard, things are even better.

It is expensive yes, but if you want your computers to look and act good, you really couldn't do much worse. And come to think of it, the Dragon costs a lot less than a 17-inch MacBook Pro, which costs Rs 1.5 lakh.

-Kushan Mitra

A Multitude of riches

We have written about Digital Video Broadcast-handheld (DVB-h) before, but to see the system in action around the capital is one hell of a party trick to have up your sleeve. DVB-H picture quality is superb, and watching the India-South Africa match on the device was actually fun.

The n92 is a fairly capable, albeit, very heavy, handset thanks to the high-contrast and fast main screen. However, the n92 isn't the best mid-range N-series device out there and, at Rs 23,700, it isn't cheap. But DVB-H should be coming on a host of handsets, and not just from Nokia, soon. Hopefully, the channel offering will improve beyond DD.

-Kushan Mitra

Mobyko Yourself!

Now, create a free, online back-up for your phone contact list.

Ever lost a phone? Then you know the headache of rebuilding your contact list. Contact management software is pretty good on Symbian-powered devices. Enterprise-level software and thin-client phones have meant that devices like BlackBerries get backed up on your office servers (just don't get fired).

But, at the same time, what if you lose your phone somewhere weird or just want an online back-up. That is where a new dotcom from the UK called Mobyko.com has an interesting service that allows you to create a back-up of your contacts, text messages and videos. Best of all, it's free.

Having said that, there are also at least three copycat Indian dotcoms that may well start up within the month. But there are also other dotcoms out there which provide similar services such as Zyb.com.

-Kushan Mitra