Tata Photon+ - High Speed Internet (EV-DO)

I purchased recently the Tata Photon+ High Speed Internet broadband Device. The product vendor is Huawei and service provider is Tata Tele Services. The device cost now is around Rs.2,499/- They have various plans based on time limit and download limit.

Speeds:

• At home I get signal strength (93% - 99%). The speeds I am getting are 300 kbps to 1200 kbps download. I was able to download  105 MB of puppy linux in around 20 minutes. Average download speed would have been around 660 kbps.
• Overall browsing speed and experience is great.
• Since the device is USB based, the power problems at home are isolated with this device. Normally external broadband modems will need power.

Cons:

• I have tried the Photon TV trial offer of watching TV using Photon+ device. I would rate the experience as poor. Though the device is theoretically capable of 3.2 Mbps download, I still experience buffering problem like my broadband.
• Watching YouTube. There is some weird problem with this device. I use Opera for browsing. When I visit YouTube to experience high-speed, I see serious problems. The video does not play at all. This may be specific to my setup and may not be device problem. But I will check again and update this blog. If anyone else faced the problem, please comment.
• I use broadband for voice over IP calls connecting to office network. There is a real serious problem here. When I am in conference call, I can hear other talk very clear. But when I speak they hear my voice breaking. This has been the case last one week. As a technology EV-DO has higher download rate than upload. But it is hard for me to understand that uplink is not even capable of taking voice clearly. 

AMKETTE Integrated Wireless keyboard with trackball

 I bought the AMKETTE Integrated Wireless keyboard with trackball for Rs.2,250 in Bangalore (More. Mall). I wanted to write feedback about the product before someone else buys it.

Pros:

• Mainly I use it when I connect my laptop to my LCD TV and browse net. The experience of browsing is very good. The track wheel on the keyboard makes scrolling in browser smooth. The less frequent typing URL and forms is just fine with this keyboard.
•  The mouse buttons are in two places. Right side of the QWERTY keyboard along with trackball.Also the left side of the keyboard left of TAB and ESC key. The left side of the mouse buttons is convenient to use. It will not strain fingers and make it convenient to use left hand and right hand (trackball).
• The top keys for volume, email, search are all good. Shortcut to most common used applications. 

Cons:

•      Biggest drawback is that the keyboard sucks when it comes to typing any document more than 10 words. They keys repeat automatically. For example, you will frequently find "eeeeeee" or "aaaaaa" going on endlessly. Mostly frustrating, when you press backspace, it will delete your whole paragraph in few seconds. Very painful and wouldn't recommend this product for serious writers. May be it is better if you use it at desk. My usage is sitting in a couch at a distance 3 - 5 feet. I would expect wireless keyboard to tolerate this distance.
• Another major drawback is the positioning of keys. To save on realestate of the keyboard, manufactures do some optimization. But cutting down on "backspace" key and placing "home" key next it, makes typing nightmare.
• Another issue with positioning is the position of "del" key. The position is very close to "left arrow" key. The problem is, the arrow keys are half the regular size of keys. So, when you want to press left arrow, you may press DEL and erase few characters.
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Overall rating: 4 / 5 for browsing and 1/5 for using as regular keyboard replacement to edit documents.