Best Cell Phones Under $500 And Troubleshooting Hard Disk Problems

Recently we put up our Ask us page on Digit Geek where you get to ask us your queries regarding any hardware issue, be it any PC related problem or any buying query. I am here to answer two questions asked by Varghese and Kalind Pathak.

The first query by Varghese was :

I am planning to buy a cell phone and need your suggestion. It should have the following features:

1. MP3 player
2. good cam
3. slim
4. around 2 GB space

My budget is around $400-500. Thanks in advance.

With a budget of about $400-500 you have many options to choose from. I recently have been reviewing some of the best cellphones out there in the market and my suggestions will list some of them.

• Nokia N81 8GB : One the best music phones in the market.The phones offer unmatched sound quality and the has 8GB of space to play around with.The phone is not all that slim though.Some of the added advantages include inbuilt WiFi and 3G support.The phone is symbian and hence you can install loads of applications available for this platform.
• Nokia N82 : This one outperforms all the other cellphones in the camera department. It might not the prettiest looking cellphone but that’s is its only downpoint apart from an average keypad.The music quality is good and also has a card slot which can support even 4GB cards.Slightly out of budget by the best option.
• Sony Ericsson W910 : This one is slim and has good sound quality.Camera is where it underperforms.The phone has great looks and is also light weight.
• Sony Ericsson K850i : This is one the best cellphones by Sony Ericsson. A 5.0 megapixel camera and great sound quality. Not slim but supports more than 4GB cards.
• Apple iPhone: Not officially available in many countries but a very good buy for $400.

Coming to second question related to hard disk problem by Kalind Pathak :

I have a peculiar problem which surfaces now and then. Sometimes the hard disk drive of my PC is not detected and sometimes after the PC is running Windows, the PC freezes. On starting the PC immediately after such an error the hard disk is not recognized or a message is given out that the hard disk has failed. Thereafter, if I restart the PC after a few minutes, the PC boots up as if nothing has happened. This problem crops up once every few months and lasts for atleast 10 days. How do I ascertain whether it is a SMPS problem or a CPU error or a mobo error or the obvious choice hard disk that has failed?

This error is most probably due to a faulty hard disk. I too had a similar problem and finally found my hard disk faulty and had to get it replaced. If you have a spare hard disk, try using it for some time to see if the problem arises even after that. If it does then proceed further.

You can exchange SMPS with one of friends and check if it works fine with it. It is not very unlikely that the problem is CPU related. It is likely that you have problem with your motherboard. Check if the hard disk cables are plugged in properly in the motherboard and the hard disk. You need to check the motherboard with another hard disk. If the problem arises with another hard disk then you have to get your motherboard replaced.

You need to check each component individually to see which one is faulty before getting it replaced.

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