Gaurav Gupta's Blog

There are moments when you’re running out of battery on your smartphone and there is no charging socket in sight. I’ve finally found a way to charge all my portable gadgets in the car, without having to buy individual car chargers for each brand/model of products I buy.

The car charger is USB based. The one I’ve bought is from a brand called Capdase and cost me Rs. 399 through Flipkart.com. It’s incredibly small (less than 1.5 inches long and less than 1 inch wide) and fits neatly INSIDE the car’s cigarette lighter socket. A green LED on the device indicates that it is powered on and ready for use.

Now all you need to do is plug your regular USB charging cable from your device into the charging socket and you’re done. This charger derives power from the car’s battery and can supply upto 5V/1A of current, so almost all smartphones, digital camera’s, Kindle’s etc. should be compatible. I’ve tested the charger on my iPhone 3G and it works well. An iPad/tablet computer may need higher power to charge optimally so they may or may not be compatible (untested).

I think it’s a simple, cheap and extremely useful device for everyone to own.

P.S. Though I have no accurate numbers to prove this, my gut feeling is that car chargers should only be used as a backup and you should not rely on them for charging your devices everyday. The manufacturer’s original charger will feed the correct voltage/current required to condition the battery properly, which may not be true with car chargers.

Tata Sky has been offering 3 different kinds of set-top boxes since a while, which include Tata Sky+ (with recording but no HD), Tata Sky HD (with HD but no recording) and a bare bones (no recording, no HD) option as well. The reason I chose not to upgrade from my bare-bones box was because I was expecting a hybrid box (with both recording and HD) to launch pretty soon. Tata Sky Plus HD is finally here and I was among the first few customers to order it

I have been using Tata Sky+ HD since a few days now and here are some of my observations, which will hopefully help you decide if you want to upgrade or not:

1. Pause Live TV- You can pause live TV and then resume from where you left. Very handy when your door bell rings or when you want to take a quick loo break. You can pause for up to 45 minutes. Once you return, you can resume from where you left or completely skip that section and return to live transmission.

2. HD content- You absolutely need to have a full HD TV to enjoy the complete experience. The Tata Sky Plus HD box will need to connect to your TV with an HDMI cable to enable HD viewing. The box can output both in 16:9 and 4:3, so the image doesn’t stretch on your widescreen TV. The HD transmission is in 1080i and spotless. It is definitely *the* best quality of TV transmission I have ever seen. Infact, it’s so good that your eyes will sometimes fail to perceive that you are watching a TV and feel as if you’re really inside what you are watching. For now, Discovery and National Geographic are the only two channels to be broadcasted in HD. The HD channel schedule is not the same as the regular schedule though. Tata Sky claims to have Star Plus in HD as well, but it doesn’t seem like that. The Cricket World Cup 2011 is also being transmitted in HD, without any ad breaks! A few showcase movies also have an HD option.

3. Recording- You can supposedly record upto 625 hours of SD (standard definition) content on the built-in 500 GB hard disk. If you are recording HD content, the recording time will be slightly lower. But you cannot copy the programs off the disk and into your computer etc. You can schedule specific programs for recording or all episodes in the series. However, the box can record only 2 shows in parallel. Moreover, if you are recording 2 shows simultaneously and watching TV at the same time, you must be tuned into either of those two channels which are being recorded. Showcase movies can be recorded too, but they cannot be played back after the 24 hour window in which you purchased it, making the feature effectively useless.

There’s also an iPhone app from Tata Sky which can show entire TV schedules on your phone and schedule specific ones, even if you’re not at home. Personally, I’m using this recording feature very heavily and recording all my favorite TV shows all round the clock. When I return home in the evening, I play them at my convenience. You’ll find yourself watching watching TV much more than you earlier used to.

4. The box, remote and installation- The box is significantly bigger than the simple bare-bones model and looks much better too. The remote control hasn’t changed much except for a few extra buttons to control recording and playback. The box has a USB and Ethernet port meant for “future use”. The box’s firmware is installed when you first switch on the device and auto-upgrades whenever Tata Sky publishes any new updates for it. When I first bought the box, the firmware was slightly buggy (the box used to hang while changing volume or deleting an existing recording), but that’s no longer the case.

5. VOD- A few movies are available as “video on demand”, which can be played any time you want and totally free of cost. Do not expect new movies in this section though. At the time of writing, “Bheja Fry”, “Apne”, “Bhoot”, “Jodha Akhbar” etc. were available for playback, all of which are roughly 1-2 years old.

6. Upgrade- The Tata Sky+ HD set top box costs Rs. 3999. If you already have a Tata Sky set top box, Tata Sky will not take the old one back in exchange of any discount. What’s worse is that you cannot pass it on to any other customer since the box is in a way “locked” to your account. You can either choose to use it in a multi-room setup with another TV (this will require a small change in your dish and complete change of wiring, both of which are done free of cost), or get it deactivated for the time being. If you don’t, Rs. 5 per day or so will be deducted from your account so ensure that this is done.

7. Cost- I am personally using the Annual Mega Pack (minus the South Indian channels) for Rs. 5500 per year, which includes ALL channels including HD and 12 Showcase movies. I think this is definitely the best option. I also removed the CAS connection from my other TV and setup the old Tata Sky box on that one, which costs about Rs. 150 per month and shows all channels, since I have the annual mega pack on the other TV. So 2 TV’s with all current and future channels + 12 movies effectively turn out to be Rs. 5500 + 150×12 = 7300 per year. That’s about Rs. 306 per TV per month. Not bad at all. If you don’t have the annual mega pack, I think the HD package has to be taken separately.

My overall recommendation- Tata Sky Plus HD is definitely a super-hit product from Tata Sky at a reasonable price. Buy it.

Mobile Number Portability has been launched in India and it’ll give a lot of mobile subscribers the freedom to change their mobile operators while retaining their number. Most people have given reasons like “bad service”, “expensive” etc. for switching operators but one more important factor to consider is whether your new operator has a 3G license in your circle.

For example, in Delhi/NCR region, only Vodafone, Airtel and Reliance have 3G licenses. So if you move to an operator like Docomo, Idea Cellular etc. in Delhi, you will not be able to enable 3G services on your handset. So your high end iPhones and Androids will be stuck to the plain old GPRS

The complete list of which operators own 3G license in your circle is given here.

If you are reading this article, you’re among the few people who actually realize how much stuff you’ve accumulated in your house over the years and are probably looking for a way to sell it off. Most people often ask friends and family whenever they are thinking of selling their used stuff. It’s not a bad idea at all but one usually ignored option is to put it up for sale online. You’ll be surprised how many people are looking and willing to buy second hand stuff on the Internet!

1. eBay.in is probably the best site to sell your second hand stuff. The “PaisaPay” escrow like feature is perhaps the best thing eBay has done so far which guarantees your payment as well as protects buyers from fraud. eBay has huge traffic by itself and item listings on eBay generally rank very high on Google.

2. Pricing is key. Always remember, when someone is buying your stuff online, there is a certain level of risk that person is taking, since he is going completely by trust and your description of the item. Offer him a price which accommodates for that risk factor, so that he doesn’t start browsing elsewhere for a better price. In other words, make the offer make him think – “Why not?” instead of “Why?”. A good way to determine a price is by asking yourself – “Will I buy the same item at that price is someone offered it to me?”

3. It’s easy to sell low item values online. Stuff with list price upto Rs. 1000 can be easily sold off since the stakes are not too high for the buyer. But relatively expensive items like old laptops etc. which you are probably selling in the Rs. 10-20k range are harder to get rid off. Describe the condition in detail. Mention how old it is and be honest with the specs and condition. Include a few original pictures to gain confidence of the buyer. If you stay honest, people will also rate you higher in the feedback ratings, which will make future selling easier!

4. Although there is no hard and fast rule for this, I usually sell my stuff after two new iterations of the product have come out in the market, but before the current product goes out of demand. A general thumb rule I follow for electronic gadgets is “2 years old – 50% price”.

5. Apart from eBay, also try classifieds websites like Sulekha.com. Sulekha has insane amounts of web traffic and is usually a good place to list relatively expensive items. All Sulekha.com does is that it connects the buyer directly with the seller, for free. Buyers can then contact you over email/phone and take the deal further. I once sold my Sony Vaio laptop within 3 days of listing it on Sulekha!

6. Don’t even try selling stuff if it’s not in working condition. You can safely assume that it wont sell to anyone except the junk dealer. You can get it repaired and make it sell though. Do some quick maths – if the junk dealer quotes rs. 1000 for an old item and a Rs. 500 repair can help you sell it for Rs. 4000, get it done!

7. Use social media to sell. When you list an item on eBay or Sulekha, post a link of that listing on your Twitter/Facebook profile. Quite often, you’ll find people you know pinging you back, sometimes even because other people they know are looking to buy! They may also retweet and help you spread the link with an even wider audience!

8. If you sell via Sulekha, make sure you do the paperwork right. Do not pass on the original bill. Take a photocopy instead. Moreover, take an identity proof of the person you are selling to (eg. copy of driving license) and clearly write down the date, time and place of the transaction and that the seller is not responsible for anything that goes wrong with the item post purchase. Make sure the terms and conditions are absolutely clear. Incase something goes wrong with the item later (even if it is because of the buyers own fault), he might blame you for fraudulently selling a damaged piece and can start asking for a refund or harass you. Moreover, avoid accepting payments via cash. Opt for Internet transfer since it’s quick and provides full proof of date and time of transaction in case a dispute arises later.

9. Since second hand product prices are not fixed, people will always negotiate. The problem is that you cannot price the item high initially (because then it will not generate enough interest) and neither can you price it too low (since people will almost always negotiate). However, it’s also important to understand that even though buyers are plenty, the right ones are difficult to find. If you find someone offering a price which is not ideal but still acceptable, hang on to it and close the deal. If you don’t, and you’re lucky, you just might find a better deal next day. If not, nobody will contact you for the next 3 months and by then, the expected price would have already fallen to the price you rejected earlier.

10. Do not ignore the junk dealer. Even though he deals in junk, these guys have a life of their own too. They are often willing to buy items in working condition and can pay a decent price since they can use the item at their own house. You cannot compare the price with what you can ideally expect, but if you are looking to sell it and make some cash quickly, the junk dealer is a good place to go.

What I have sold so far on eBay + Sulekha.com:

2 laptops (5 year old IBM and 2.5 years old Vaio), 2 iPod Shuffle, 2 PS3 games, 1 Network adapter, 1 Sony Handycam, 1 Mobile Handsfree kit, 1 Nokia Communicator, 1 Samsung phone, 1 DVD player

Impressive?