I have been feeling the need of a business PDA for the last couple months, but couldn’t find one that would balance both my desire of functionality and the budget constraint. I wanted to keep my schedule handy, arrange my daily tasks properly, listen to music on the go, browse internet and read emails, use standard phone functionalities and take occasional photos - a lot to ask from a PDA. With all these features combined, the available PDAs in the market was hitting 50K BDT in price - something way over my budget. So, I was a bit disappointed.

Then a few weeks back, one of my junior friends Abir, knocked me in IM and asked whether I am interested in buying a PDA that has not been used much and in great condition. He mentioned that it has camera, phone, and PDA functions - so I didn’t hesitate much and asked for the model he had - it was i-mate™ PDA2k. After a quick review over the internet, i realized that its the perfect combination I was looking for! I asked for the price and for a surprising 20K BDT, i got that beautiful piece in my hand today!

For the technology lovers, here goes the spec from the manufacturer:

• Platform - Windows Mobile™ Pocket PC 2003 Phone Edition Software (GSM/GPRS).
• Display - 3.5”, Transflective TFT-LCD 240 x 320 pixels, 64K Color
• Processor - Intel XScale, 400 MHz
• Memory - 64/128 MB ROM/RAM
• Internal antenna, Quad-band, GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
• GPRS class B, multi-slot class 10; Codec - AMR/EFR/FR/HR
• Bluetooth, Integrated WLAN 802.11b
• Camera -Color CMOS VGA (640×480) camera/ flash light
• Keyboard- Integrated 39-key QWERTY keyboard
• Infrared - IrDA SIR/ USB slave 1.1
• Expansion- MMC/SDIO

I have high hope that it will be serving me with the functions i desire most !

Yesterday I bought the Nokia 6300 cell phone - leaving the 5300 one of mine. I have been listening to people talking high regards to this model, but was not too sure about it. When I went to the shop and opened its 2.0 mp camera for a test capture, I was amazed by the clarity. It doesn’t have a flash, but captures picture greatly.

I then played a song with the loudspeaker and on the handsfree, and it also was of good quality - more or less same to my 5300. I tweaked the equalizer a bit and then I found that it’s actually louder than what I thought of - kudos to Nokia.

Main features of the Nokia 6300:

• 2 mega pixel digital camera
• High quality 2 inch screen
• Voice dialing, voice commands and dictophone
• Speakerphone
• USB/PC link up
• 256 MB memory expandable to 2GB
• MP3 player with integrated FM radio
• 3.5 hours talk time
• 14 days standby time

I also received a casing which makes the phone look perfect for businessmen/executives. Overall, I am very very satisfied with the set and think that it’s the best deal on this price level (BDT 15K).

Today I bought a new mobile phone set: Nokia 5300. Its a sporty set in the looking and has some excellent features such as the dedicated music keys and camera button, sliding movement, large keypad buttons, etc. The new XpressionMusic gives a better sound quality along with excellent radio. I like it overall - and the price is also reasonable for me: BDT 16,400 (comes with 1 years service warranty).