Since the confusion over 3G spectrum auction continues unabated, I decided to obtain the MTNL 3G Jadoo connection to see for myself if there really was any “jadoo” in it.

Obtaining the connection itself was not so bad, once I had the right application form and had figured out  the documents they need (address proof, PAN number – it seems you will soon need a PAN number to be able to even breathe!) and the SIM was handed over across the counter after paying the activation fee in cash.

MTNL offers limited 3G coverage in Delhi and it at the moment covers only a large part the british built, government babu infested “New Delhi” – which of course offers not much joy to someone like me who works out of South Delhi and lives in Gurgaon. A few google searches let me not only get a list of coverage areas,  but I also found this  3G map of Delhi. Of course testing the 3G meant that I would need to be in one of this areas -  so I inserted the MTNL SIM in my Nokia E71 and drove to South Extension which seemed to be the closest point from office.

Here are my findings :

• My phone was able to switch automatically from GPRS / EDGE to 3G as soon as it found the 3G signal.
• Overall internet browsing experience on the handset was good with a noticebale  improvement in the time taken for images to load.
• A quick speed test at www.dslreports.com showed a speed of 170 kbps, as compared to the 60 – 80 kbps that I get over GPRS.
• Browsed a few more sites, and immediately noticed that the phone seemed much warmer in the hand than usual. The phone battery was definitely heating up.
• Did a skype to skype voice call (using Fring on my mobile). Though there was still a perceptible lag, I was still able to make a reasonable conversation.
• Radio streams from last.fm using Mobbler played without a hiccup.
• Connected the handset to my laptop and speed tests showed 250 kbps download and 150 kbps upload speeds.

I haven’t been able to try MTNLs mobile TV – the settings didn’t work and MTNLs customer care has not been of much help so far. Also I am keen to try out the video call over 3G but I guess I will need to find another 3G customer willing to experiment.

Overall, while the “jadoo” works, limited coverage area is a big limitation. Also, the tariff needs to be rationalized. For someone like me, used to Airtel’s unlimited data GPRS plan,  the Rs. 5.00 per MB  tariff may not work.

Tags: 3G, MTNL, MTNL 3g, Nokia E71

Couple of quick “discoveries” using Chrome:

1. No “Send Page / Send Link by email”. In other words – no email integration

2. While I still need to investigate this further, I think a page accessed via chrome on Windows Vista shows up as having been accessed by Safari 525.13 / Mac OS X

Weird, isn’t it? Maybe Google is too busy getting Android to rollout. Chrome can wait!

Tags: Chrome, Email integration

It was impossible to escape the buzz around Chrome, so I just had to test drive it.

It has now been more than an hour since I have been using Chrome, and here are my first cut comments:

First, the positives:

Google’s no-clutter, minimalist interface is apparent. The tabs are above the address bar, which takes some getting used to but does seem like a great idea. No menus on top, no bottom status bar and just a Page and  Settings icon to manage stuff – overall quite intutive

Not only did it import my IE bookmarks without a problem, but also my browsing history, which was neat. Typing in the address bar has a refreshingly different feel. The text size is large, browser history is listed with  not only the full URL (like IE) but also the website name, and the same bar also lets you search your default search engine (in this case Google). 

Opening a new tab is where some cool Chrome innovations appear. The thumbnail view of most visited pages is great, so is the ability to see your bookmarks arranged by date and the ability to search browser history. The “bookmarks bar” is a new thing which lets you drag or add the more frequently used bookmarks for quick access.

Overall, web pages do seem to load faster. I think Google’s use of multi-process and webkit has made a difference. The “Task Manager” and “stats for Nerds” lets you take a peek under the hood – which is a definite first among browsers.

Now, some negatives:

It doesn’t seem to handle RSS feeds at all. No built in reader apparently and not even a neatly formatted IE style view. 

I have only visited a handfull of pages so far, and while there have been no apparent formatting or page layout issues, I did stumbled across issues with javascript based date calenders and javascript menus either not working at all, or rendering in a different font size. This may pose a serious problem as this can cause the browser to be unusable for some web sites or pages.

On some pages, tables appear with distinct borders which are otherwise not visible in IE. I also noticed text size and font changes on form list boxes.

The biggest issue so far – my WordPress spell checker did not work and came up with a javascript kind error message box. I will investigate this in detail, but if you do find typos in this post, you know whom to blame!

It is interesting to note all this buzz and activity around browser software – Firefox 3, Internet Explorer 8 and Chrome. The next few weeks will be exciting. I will be keenly watching the browser war unfold – as it undoubtedly will.

Tags: Chrome, Firefox, Google, IE, IE8, Web browser