Having recently received an iPad and joined the iOS game, I decided to do some research on ins and outs of this device. I discovered that many of the same time-saving tricks that can be done on a Mac can be done on an iPad, too. Here are my top 10 tips for using an iPad:

Reset - Probably the first thing a new user to an iPad is going want to do is learn how to reset their iPad without having to turn it all the way off and on again. To do this, just hold down the power button and home button for a few seconds and the iPad will reset.

Force Quit - This is really simple to do. If a program gets frozen or you want to exit right away, just click on the home button to return to the main screen.

Screen Shot - Something I do on a daily basis as an educator is taking a screen shot on my mac for tutorials and professional development. This can also be done on an iPad by holding down the power button and home button for a second and then releasing. A camera sound will go off as the screen turns white. The screen shot will be stored in photos.

File Transfers - Probably the easiest way to transfer a file from the iPad is simply to click the share button in the upper right and then email the file as an attachment.

Copy and Paste - Just tap and hold down on the text and select copy; go to a new app and then tap and hold down and click paste. To copy a whole paragraph, tap and hold down on a paragraph 4 times to select it all.

Web Scrolling - A real time saver when browsing a web page is the ability to return to the top rather than having to slide your finger over the entire page over and over. Just click back at the title bar to return to the top of the screen.

Dock - You can manage the dock in the iPad in a similar way to to how it's done on a Mac: Click down on a app until it wiggles and then drag and drop it on the dock.

Wireless Keyboard - I find that typing on an iPad is clunky, to say the least. While it does work for simple browsing or tweeting, it is not ideal for doing blog posts or more detailed work. For that reason, I suggest getting a wireless keyboard (any Bluetooth will do) to facilitate typing.

Deleting - If your iPad tends to fill up with useless applications that you have downloaded, it's simple to delete them by holding down on top of an app until it starts wiggling and then pressing the x button to delete.

Smart Cover - Probably my favorite cover for the iPad is the smart cover, which not only connects via a magnet, but also puts the iPad to sleep when pulled over the front.

LG Cookie Smart T375 (Rs 4,900)
LG T-375 is a stylish phone with a metal border and grooved back. It is a dual SIM phone with a 3.2 inch TFT LCD capacitive touchscreen and a 2 megapixel camera.

You also get FM radio, an MP3 player and a very decent and easy user interface.


The phone offers good connectivity options with support for WiFi and GPRS for internet access. It has an extendable memory of up to 16 GB.

It also has very good battery life; and is all in all a very good feature rich phone.

Nokia X2-02 (Rs 3,270)
The Nokia X2-02 is a sturdy looking phone that has been optimised to deliver superior music. The phone offers EDGE and GPRS connectivity and is one of the best music phones in the budget range.

Apart from very good battery life and build quality the other features are not really very attractive. The phone has a small 2.2 inch screen, 2 megapixel camera and supports up to 32 GB external memory.

Samsung Champ Neo Duos (Rs 3,200)
Champ Neo Duos is the latest in the Champ series and comes with a 2.4 inch TFT LCD colour display with 240 x 320 pixel resolution, but it has a resistive touchscreen. Samsung includes a stylus with the device for easier navigation across the system.

The highlight of this phone is its dual speaker, which offers very good and loud music, and also its media player that supports multiple formats. Samsung has revamped the user interface and it is now even better.


Champ Neo Duos comes with dual GSM SIM connectivity with true hot swap capability, which means that the device will not require a restart in case the existing SIM card is changed with another while the phone is operational. The phone only gets a VGA camera at the back.

The feature phone segment is not hot anymore, but that doesn't mean there are not enough options for people on a budget. Here are some quality options for less than Rs 5,000.

In a world dominated by smartphones, feature phones have become basic hygiene for phone makers. They need to have them because many people don't have the budget for more expensive phones.

In fact many players like Sony, Motorola and to some extent even LG have more or less been dormant in this space. However, Nokia continues to have some very good options (for Nokia its feature phone segment is a life saver as its smartphones aren't doing really well). And Samsung too has maintained its focus on the segment despite having tasted big success in smartphones.

Indian players on the other hand are focused on bringing smartphones at a cheaper price. Here we have selected the five best phones that you can buy for less than Rs 5,000. All of them are really good quality devices and are feature rich.

Nokia Asha 305 (Rs 4,500)
This dual SIM phone is the latest from Nokia and boasts industry leading quality. The phone has a 3.0 inch resistive touchscreen which is sort of a let-down in this age of capacitive touchscreens. However, quality is great. Nokia has put 7 preloaded games in the phone and another 40 can be downloaded from the Nokia store.


The phone has a 2 megapixel camera which is just ok, but the phone has very decent battery backup of up to 14 hours' talktime.

On the downside you don't get 3G or WiFi but the phone does support GPRS. Overall a very good quality phone and it is also very good value for money.

Micromax Ninja 3 A57 (Rs 4,999)
Micromax Ninja 3 A57 is an Android 2.3 phone with a 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen which runs on a 1 GHz Qualcomm processor. Even six months ago people could not even think of such a phone at this price.

Yet you get all the goodies of a smartphone like 3G, WiFi, all sorts of sensors except a proximity sensor, and decent battery life too. Unfortunately though, there is only 256 MB of RAM which is very low and in a way hinders the phone's performance. If you stick to a single task at a time, the phone will give you very good performance, even for gaming.

He further said, "Lenovo is already an established player in the smartphone segment in China and in India too we plan to be among the top handset players and extend our PC dominance to smartphones also.”

On the pricing of the Lenovo smartphones in India he said that the company will launch the smartphones in the low cost, mid range and premium segments to cater to a wider consumer base.

Lenovo recently introduced Lenovo A660, an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich based 4 inch smartphone in China. A660 is Lenovo's first waterproof and dust proof smartphone. Other capabities of the device are dual SIM capability, a 5 megapixel rear camera, VGA front-facing camera and a 1 GHz dual core processor.

• Multitouch keyboard
• User dictionary, built-in dictionary
• Configurable auto correction
• Redesigned and optimized keyboard layout and style
• Speech to text (select languages only)
• Custom vibration intensity (haptic feedback)
• Long press “Enter” key to bring up smiley alternatives
• Long press on “/” key in URL mode to bring up domains

Download Ice Cream Sandwich Keyboardfrom Android Market