Despite all of its talk of Windows Phone, Nokia is still cranking out Symbian-powered smartphones, and the 500 is the latest handset to come out of the Finnish company's labs. Sporting a familiar slab design, the 500 is the first Nokia smartphone equipped with a 1GHz processor.

The 500 looks similar to the previously announced N9, though it has a smaller 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen with a 640 x 360 pixel resolution. Nokia is positioning the 500 as a lower-cost alternative to the N9, and has equipped it with interchangeable back covers for easy personalization. The back houses a 5 megapixel camera with video capture.

Accompanying the 500's 1GHz processor is 2GB of internal storage and support for microSD cards up to 32GB in size. The 500 runs the latest Symbian OS, Anna, and includes Nokia Maps, social network integration, internet radio services, and an FM radio. It has pentaband HSPA 3G support on the 850/900/1700/1900/2100MHz bands, so it has global appeal. The battery is an 1110mAh unit that provides up to 7 hours of talk time or 19 days of standby. The 500 measures 111.3mm x 53.8mm x 14.1mm (4.4in x 2.1in x 0.6in), and weighs 93g (3.28oz), the lightest of any Symbian^3 smartphone to date.

Nokia will be releasing a black version of the 500 in Q3 of this year, with a white version to follow in Q4. Both versions come with three different colored back plates in the box. Nokia expects the 500 to retail for just 150 EUR (US$216) before any taxes or subsidies when it hits the market. Take a look at the two videos below to see the 500 in action.

The ZebMate Cinema 3.0+ is in line with Zebronics's style of offering gadgets that are at the lowest end of price band. This multimedia player seems to be a revision of Cinema 3.0 which was released towards the end of 2010.

ZebMate Cinema 3.0+ has a 3-inch TFT touch-screen LCD display with a native resolution of 400x240 pixels. This player is capable, at least on paper, of playing back 720p videos that it can output to an external display using its TV-out socket.

Weighing in at 52gms, Cinema 3.0+ ships with 4GB of internal storage that be expanded using a
micro-SD card of up to 16GB capacity. According to Zebronics, the player's battery pack is rated for playback of up to 9.5 hours for audio, and a somewhat disappointing 2.5 hours for videos.

On the bright side, this player supports a ton of audio and video codecs that includes mpeg-1/2, mpeg4 xvid, divx, h263/264, wmv9/vc-1, rmvb, mp3, wma, ogg, flac, ape, aac, ac3, atra and dts. The Zebmate Cinema 3.0+ (4GB) .

1. Adobe Ideas 1.0 for iPad

Adobe Ideas 1.0 for iPad is a digital sketchpad that offers simple vector-based drawing tools and works nicely as a standalone app for jotting down creative ideas or as a companion to Adobe Illustrator. Usefully, you can trace over photos, email drawings as PDFs and avoid worrying about mistakes, because there's a 50-level undo.









2.Air Video Free (universal)

Despite naysayers whining about the iPad screen's 4:3 aspect ratio, it's a decent device for watching video, although it lacks storage for housing large video collections. Air Video enables you to stream video (converting it on-the-fly, if necessary) from your Mac or PC. The main limitation of the free version is that it only shows a few items (randomly selected) from each folder or playlist.









 3.Bloomberg for iPad

With an eye-searing white-and-orange-on-black colour scheme that's a little like being repeatedly punched in the eyes, Bloomberg isn't an app you'll want to spend all day staring at. However, for business news, stocks and major currency rates, it's a usable and efficient app.









4.IM+ (universal)

Although third-party multi-tasking is coming to the iPad this autumn, it's not here yet, making things tough for instant messaging fans. However, IM+ Lite enables you to run a number of IM services (including Twitter and Facebook) in a single app, and there's also a built-in web browser for checking out links.







5. Movies by Flixter (universal)

One for film buffs, Movies figures out where you are and tells you what's showing in your local cinemas – or you can pick a film and it'll tell you where and when it's on. The app is functionally identical on iPad and iPhone, but again the extra screen space improves the experience.







6.eBay for iPad

Use eBay for iPad and you'll never touch eBay in a web browser again. It's fast and efficient, beautifully showcasing important details and images in its main results view. The app also enables quickfire sorting and drag-based definition of price-ranges. It's a little feature-light (no notifications), but eBay promises aspects of eBay Mobile will be integrated soon.









7.Google Earth (universal)

It's not the smoothest app in the world, and it lacks some elements from the desktop (such as street view), but Google Earth is nonetheless a joy on the iPad. Touch gestures are an intuitive means of swooping around the planet, and the optional layers enable you to display as much or as little ancillary information as you wish.