Okay. Nexus one is still not available in India. A friend of mine got it for me from USA. I am not really happy with Google there. Anyways, let me get back to the review part of it. When ever I get a new gadget, the kid in me wakes up. I use it all the time. So this review is not a standard review. It’s just what I felt about Nexus One after using it for 96 hours.

Package and start it comes with a simple package. Nothing special in it. I had struggle to find out the battery package. Once I did it, everything was piece of a cake. I just added my Google Apps account, it pulled out all my mails, contacts, calendar events, talk and tasks etc. Once I added the FB details, my FB friends were also synced up into my contact list. I just love contacts application and the way it has been integrated into various online services. It connected to my home/office wifi easily. Nobody at airtel had any clue how to send the edge details to my phone. I had to do it manually. Once done it worked with out any problem.

Camera I have taken pictures only in well lighted environment. It takes decent pictures. I am happy to use it as a camera.
I love the photo editor application and you can enable GPS location tagging for pictures. I did few live video transmissions too. The video capture is not bad. But I can’t zoom when I am capturing. Which probably will be fixed in next software upgrade I guess.
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At last the goverment has decided to conduct the elections. Its going to happen mar 28, 2010l. Local elections are very important for the city. There are many events scheduled to help citizens make an informed choice. Here are some

1. Suvarna Bengaluru Pranalike:
   On Friday, 19 March @ Town Hall, JC Road (near corporation). The event will start at 6pm and three major parties are represented. Here is the copy of the invitation
2. TweetUP: I am with the help of other friends, organizing a tweetup on saturday.
   4pm to 7pm, @Matteo cafe, church street,
   
   
3. KYC: Citizen matters with Resident association is organizing Know your Candidate event
   On saturday, JPNagar
   On Sunday , BTM
   Check the invite for details

BTW I am interested in knowing

Its been a year since I launched @tweet4blood with VSR‘s help. It’s not a great geek work, it’s a simple two page application based on twitter api. It didn’t take more than an hour to design and code the app. But for me its been one of the happiest moment as I was trying to use technology and social media in use.

Ever since I launched it, I have been thinking about its success. Is it number of page views? or news paper coverages? or is the number blood requests? But then I thought number of blood donations made due to tweet4blood is the right measure. Even though I couldn’t track it properly, followers of tweet for blood were very kind to send some responses. I am pasting two such mails verbatim here.

1. First Response
“I am a regular blood donor. I always look for opportunities to donate blood the moment three months pass since my last donation. I have registered with multiple blood banks and websites to alert me whenever they need blood of my type in the vicinity. But such systems have turned passive and I started visiting blood banks to donate blood instead of donating it for a person who is in immediate need, admitted in a hospital.

Few months back I came to know about tweet4blood. It is the twitter way of spreading the message for any blood requirements. Since people tweet with blood type, location and phone number, it becomes easy for me to get in touch with the patient and do my best. Earlier, I remember, I used to receive bulk mails for blood donation requests. But things such as tweet4blood have made things easier. My only concern is, India’s poor, who are not exposed to communication channels like emails are twitters may be suffering. We need to address this concern.
- @sharadaprasad
”

2. Second response
“Social networking is a lot of hype and little substance. It is difficult to find a functional application of a social networking platform that does not include a heavy dose of self-aggrandizement. @tweet4blood on Twitter stands-out as an exception. It is functional and practical.

How have I used it?
- As a donor, on three separate occasions I have called a mobile number that was RT’d by @tweet4blood
- On all three occasions I was late, despite calling within a few minutes of receiving the tweet!!
- In other words, the person who answered, said the equivalent of “I appreciate the call. We are covered. We have been flooded with calls from donors.”

I rest my case!
- @anand_bala”

I know it’s not a popular site but I think even if it has helped at least one on this planet earth. It’s successful. What do you think?