Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc vs. LG Optimus 2X... fight!

Android is our future, the stat mavens all agree, but for all its rapid growth, Google's OS still suffers from a shortage of top tier differentiation. This has in part been down to LG and Sony -- two of the world's biggest phone makers -- spending the majority of 2010 watching the battle for Android supremacy from the sidelines (the X10 disqualified itself when it announced it neither knew nor cared what Froyo was). 2011 might just be the year of redemption for both, however, as LG will soon assault the European market with a pair of truly desirable and powerful Android smartphones in the Optimus 2X and Black, while Sony Ericsson's well leaked portfolio of new Xperias includes the Arc, Neo and Play, each one of them coming with Gingerbread preloaded. We've wrapped our mitts around a pair of these high-hope devices, one from each manufacturer, and photographed the living daylights out of them sat side by side

Nikon Coolpix S80 gets reviewed: loads of style, short on substance

Nikon's Coolpix S80 sure seemed like a worthy successor to the S70 on paper, but Photography Blog's latest review sheds light on a couple of underlying issues that hinder it from being a runaway hit. The critics pretty much adored the sexy styling, but they noted that the all-touchscreen operations were a love-it-or-hate-it affair. Furthermore, the large OLED on the rear tended to inaccurately show how images were turning out, making it exceedingly difficult to know whether a shot was truly under or overexposed. The extra megapixels didn't really help either, with reviewers calling the image quality "so-so" and pointing out that low-light shooting was far from being in this unit's wheelhouse. That said, the camera was still recommended with a laundry list of caveats, so we'd give the source link a peek before aimlessly pulling

Top 5 affordable gadgets to gift your sister this Rakhi

August may sound just yet another month in a year’s calendar but for all those girls out there, it’s an occasion to get pampered by their brothers. With Raksha Bandhan just round the corner, girls may be spotted anxiously waiting to tie a ‘rakhi’ on their brother’s wrist or brothers may be seen peeping into shops to frame out a perfect gift for their adorable sisters. We definitely know it’s not easy to tap on great gifts for girls with an acute sense of gadgets. But to help you fix upon a perfect gift, here’s our druthers which can be showered on your sibling this festive season.

Sony Walkman NWZ-W252/P: Have a sister who loves drenching herself in the world of entertainment or doesn’t mind spending circles of clock listening to her favorite tunes? If so, here’s our first ideal pick. To mesmerize your sisters with an acoustic ear, Sony’s NWZ-W252/P wearable style Walkman player is unequivocally in with no confusion in that dreary mind. If your sibling has lots to store, the sultry device’s 2GB built-in capacity pretty impressively quenches the thirst. The wired-free player gives girls ample of freedom to freely groove to their tunes for non-stop 11 hours with a completely charged battery. With the new Zappin and Folder skip function, the device is easy to manage and your kin doesn’t have to squeeze in extra time to charge it as the player features Quick charge option that plays up to 90 minutes after a charge of mere 3 minutes. The Walkman sure enough pops up a great option for girls who don’t like fidgeting with any gadget in their closet. Sporty music zealots can now simply rejoice on its water resistant functionality. All brothers reading our quick junket to your search can grab it for as little as Rs. 4,990.

Nikon Coolpix L21: Whether it’s a slumber party or just girls’ day out shopping, we know the female brigade loves seizing those special moments and capture a world of funny yet cute expressions. If all this describes your sister, you ought to gift her Nikon’s Coolpix L21 8MP camera dressed in girlie pink or champagne silver. The eye-pleasing offering features 3.6x optical zoom Nikkor lens and a 2.5-inch TFT LCD screen. The gorgeous digital camera flaunts an Easy Auto mode for quick and effortless operation, Motion detection for blur-free images, Electronic Vibration Reduction which detects blur, and BSS that shoots up to ten sequential frames and saves the one with the sharpest focus. Powered by AA-size batteries, this device lets users capture all those fun-filled moments. Freebies included are 4GB card, pouch, and rechargeable battery charger. You can snap up this digital camera for Rs. 4,990.

Samsung SPF-800P: For all those little sisters who love wallowing in photography or just enjoy posing like a model, our next pick gives out a word to intensify that ardor. To keep those moments alive throughout all seasons, Samsung’s SPF-800P camera can be wrapped up as an awesome gift for your sibling who likes cherishing and exquisitely framing those adorable moments. Boosting of an 8-inch LED backlight display with 800 x 480 resolution, this device displays crystal clear images. It also features a microSD card slot, Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, and lends support to audio and video playback to express the beautiful photos on a slideshow with acoustic tunes. This treasured offering carries a price tag of about Rs. 7,960.

Sony DSX-S100: If your starlet sister loves driving a car around wherever she travels or she owns one, then you can spoil her with an in-car entertainment system dubbed the Sony’s DSX-S100 in-car media player. The device equips a flip-down LCD display and tune tray that seamlessly secures your iPod, Walkman player or other USB devices. With the plug-in and playback functionality, girls need not worry about any setup requirements. Wrapped with a dark titanium panel finish color, the swanky device flaunts blue key illumination to flash a smart ambience inside her ride. The player comes with a CD deck, FM18/AM12 tuner, and RM-X151 Wireless Card Remote. The DSX-S100 has a Frontal Aux-in and comes with Zappin, Quick-BrowZer, DM+ Advanced as well as employs 52W x 4 S-MOSFET output power. Brothers can grab this entertainment player for Rs. 7,990.

Toshiba Canvio: Tech fiend siblings need to securely store their data and back-up important files for future usage. Toshiba has bought in chic and vibrant Canvio mobile hard drive lineup which is extremely handy at 170 grams. These colorful offerings can be setup easily and allow to take back-up of your sister’s data with plug-and-play operation. Pick up these drives in various shade options of raven black, vivid white, satin silver, liquid blue, and rocket red, plus diverse densities ranging from 320GB to 1TB. These USB-powered drives come incorporated with Windows-based NTI BackupNow EZ software with enhances search capabilities for quicker access to files stored in it. This portfolio is available through Rashi Peripherals across India priced at Rs. 3,780 for 320GB, Rs. 5,130 for 500GB, and Rs. 11,070 for 1TB capacity.

Well, hope our hand-picked beguiling gizmos for this festive season eased you off to an extent. So shower your sister with these gifts on the festival of Rakhi and don’t miss that precious smile on her face. However, the pricing may vary. Before we wrap up, here we wish you all Happy Raksha Bandhan.