ICSE BIOLOGY QUICK REVIEW MATERIAL Prepared by Ramakrishna Kambhampati

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Ten basic things to research before you go to select and buy a Smartphone


Introduction
At present many, many companies of the world are dumping varieties of smartphones with various specifications in our Indian market. So in this article, I am giving some important specifications you have to look into before you choose the best phone for you. So it is a Herculean task to select a smartphone from them for a common man. To promote their sales, companies are advertising their products in a big way through different media. In today's fast modern world a smartphone is very very essential to do various day to day works without attending physically everywhere. By this, we save our invaluable time and which makes our lives peaceful and happy.



There are many things to verify in a smartphone like its design, display, operating system, user interface, RAM and ROM capacity, camera, battery, audio, speakers Connectivity, multimedia, etc. If you keep a watch on recent iPhone, Windows, or Android Smartphone buyers then you will be able to sort out certain ideas to back your ultimate decision. If you want to be a smart smartphone purchaser then you should select a phone according to your needs to value your money the most. If your passion to own one is confused with too many choices provided by different manufacturers, then here are a few easy to follow tips for you:-

Screen Size:
If you are a busy person and need to use your phone with one hand, then restrict it to 5 inches or lesser screen size. If you are often engaged in viewing stream videos, edit photos or videos, or download and view movies, chatting and browsing social media apps. then a smartphone screen display extending from 5.5-inch to 6-inch, full-HD or QHD resolution should be a better option for you. Anything larger than a 6-inch display not only makes the handset extra bulky and also difficult to carry around. Screen display handsets ranging 5-inch to 5.5-inch HD or full-HD smartphone is more perfect for people who engage mostly in chatting, checking emails and browsing social media apps.

User interface and OS version
User interface and the OS version are key factors to consider while choosing a smartphone. These are the interfaces that one would have to interact with each time to access anything, so it should be easy and simple. To store everything you have downloaded like your various Apps. will be stored separately in App drawer or App. tray in Android and Windows Phones (in Windows10) but iOS do not have this option. iOS is only used on Apple devices, such as the iPhone. If you have a tendency to use lots of apps then iOS will give a home screen filled with apps. In such case, you should opt for Android or Windows phone. When it comes to Apps, iOS is still the front runner over Android and Windows. It supports almost all versions of any app you name. If there is a new app in the market it will make its first appearance most probably in iOS first. For example, an app like Instagram have its trial in iOS first and then they go for Android. So for App lovers, iOS is a good choice, though Android and Windows 10 are not much lagging behind.

Processor and its impact on smartphones
The processor is the brain of the smartphone. Nowadays, smartphones are so much more than phones and personal organizers. The are music and video players; they are mobile Web browsers; and they are cameras and camcorders. However, in order to do all those things, there needs to be a part of the system that can process and carry out those functions, which is where the processor comes into the picture

The effectiveness of the processor directly affects every application you run, whether it's the camera, the music player, or just a simple email program. If you select the wrong one and you could experience slow and faltering functioning of apps and limited network performance, regardless of leading manufacturer or operating system. The ability of the processor to coordinate efficient communication between the wireless data, graphics, and memory is so essential for the smooth operation of your smartphone.

A good processor in a phone should translate to faster open in times for Apps, smoother game play, and quicker photo editing, but you don't have to pay attention to clock speed. It's better to look at the performance results in our reviews, such as Geekbench, which measures overall performance. Among Qualcomm CPUs, the Snapdragon 835 processor is the class-leading chip, followed by the older Snapdragon 821. The 835 is the one to get if you want the best possible virtual-reality and gaming performance, as well as better efficiency, which translates to longer battery life.

The Snapdragon 600 series powers midtier smartphones, such as the Moto G5 Plus. These processors offer good overall performance, but one can't expect to play the most demanding games without lag or to experience VR. Smartphone light users can be happy with Mediatek Chipset Processors.

RAM Capacity
RAM and your processor will decide the speed and efficiency of your Smartphone. The more RAM your Smartphone has, the larger the digital media you can work upon and the faster your programs will run. Your processor can read data from RAM much faster than from a hard drive and so have more RAM on your Smartphone is a better option. More RAM means Android is going to spend less of its time killing and reloading apps from the internal memory/sd card, and instead spend more time doing actual work you care about this means that more RAM usually gives you better/faster task-switching. Having more RAM also allows you to run complex apps that naturally require a lot of memory, e.g. photo/video editor, complex games, etc. If the Smartphone includes the latest processor with multiple cores the better it will perform. So without sufficient RAM according to your needs Computing system like your smartphone would fail to perform basic tasks because accessing files would be ridiculously slow. For modern needs, a Smartphone with 2-4 GB is quite excellent for the better performance of the Smartphone.

ROM Capacity
When you are a heavy user of various Applications and games you need a large internal space (ROM) for storage. Storage capacity is also very important. The number of Apps, audio, image, video and other files depends on the storage capacity of your smartphone. Image and video files, for instance, are sizeable enough to use up the entire memory space. If you love trying out as many photo apps as you like, you need ample space in your storage for it. So you need a ROM of 16-32 GB or even more. Suppose if you want to store your downloaded heavy media you can store in an external storage like Pen drive or SD card. Taking a Smartphone with sufficient ROM is essential, otherwise all the time your Smartphone reject to add even a small interested App. You wish to add.

Camera Performance
For most of the people who buy Smartphone, they love one which performs best in Camera and video section. Photos coming out of the Smartphone camera has to stand to the test for sharpness, contrast, saturation and color vividity. As a very general rule more megapixels on a phone is better for printing and sharing the images. The higher the megapixel count on a camera sensor, the greater amount of detail that can be captured in a picture. Screen size, resolution and the quality of the contest will influence the quality photos taken in low light and dark condition. Modern Smartphone cameras are equipped with a new functionality, i.e. image stabilization. This functional aspect of Camera phones helps to reduce blur caused by movement of the camera. Camera Phones should support HD video shooting and also should support shooting at faster frame rates to get the best quality of video's.

Display Technology
In touchscreen phones, at present two types of display are available-LCD or AMOLED. Both of these displays have their own advantages and disadvantages. These two displays work on two different technologies and so they give a variety in their display. As a matter LCD display is more natural, more realistic, over a saturated color display, battery consumption more. AMOLED display images are more vibrant, decent color balance, better battery life is the advantages.

Battery Performance
Battery life is an increasing problem for smartphone owners. While our handsets have become faster and more powerful over the years, smartphone batteries often last less than a day under heavy use or even moderate use after a few months. So, according to our utility, we have to choose a Smartphone with an appropriate capacity of the battery. Manufacturers nowadays using higher capacity batteries ranging from 3000 MHA to 4100 MHA. So choosing a higher battery capacity for our handset makes our life easier.

Sensors and connections to be found to have a fine Smartphone experience
4G and 3G net connectivity, Near Field Communication (NFC) to transfer data to a friend or mobile payment, Bluetooth, Infrared to use your Smartphone to act as a remote for TV and other appliances, USB for wired connections, GPS mapping experience, Acclerometer and Gyroscope to detect the movements of the phone, ambient light sensor to adjust the brightness of screen, Compass to know the direction of movement, Proximity sensor to detect your presence, Ear Phones or Head Set for audio purpose etc. A high-end Smartphone will have all these features which give a real experience of Smartphone.

Audio/Speakers
For those who engage more in video streaming video conferences the most important parameter they look into Smartphones is the quality of Speakers and audio. Front facing speakers are good for those who need entertainment-on-the go. But those who don't indulge in video streaming and video conferencing bottom firing or back speakers are fine.

With more and more new features, manufacturers are dumping more and more technologically innovative phones into the market and it is impossible for any customer to have all the features in one phone. So customer has to choose a phone with a maximum specification which satisfies his/her passion. Go through the product previews and reviews from news media and internet. Through previews and reviews from experienced technical experts in the field, you can get an idea about the quality and durability of various brands of Smartphones in the market from which you want to choose one for you.

A review of the book "The Story of my Life" an autobiography written by Helen Keller

Introduction
Helen Keller's victory over her blindness and deafness has become one of the most inspiring and motivational stories of all times. The autobiography of the young Helen Keller, written by herself when she was a student at college Radcliffe at the age of 22 years old. Helen Keller—an inspiring and bold woman proved to the world that a blind and deaf person like her with just a little help can do miracles and can contribute much more to society than what they ever take from it. Through her powerful and untiring efforts, she met with great success in her life that no one could always ever expect.

A glimpse into the autobiography of "The Story of My Life"

Helen Keller, the little deaf and a visually impaired girl has conquered over adversity to become a world-renowned person. Helen was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama, to Captain Arthur Henry Keller, a confederate armed force veteran and a daily paper managing editor and Kate Adams Keller. At the time of her birth, she was a typical normal child. Unluckily at 19 months, Helen inflicted with a disease – red fever or meningitis that left her hard of hearing and visually impaired. Even though she was an intelligent child but because of this disease, it made it impossible to communicate with anyone. Helen learned some basic family assignments and can communicate some of her wants through a progression of signs. But Helen didn't learn dialect the way the other youngsters do. Her family became very much depressed for the fact that how hard it could be to make a kid taught of hearing and a visually impaired. At six years old, her mother figured out an instructor, Anne Sullivan to instruct Helen. She practiced how to read and learn after her schooling at the Wright Humason School for the Deaf and the Cambridge School for Young women with help of her associate Anne Sullivan. After that Helen entered Radcliff College in 1900 and completed her graduation in 1904. Helen Keller was established as the first blind Graduate person in the world.

Helen Keller with her Teacher
Helen Keller with her Teacher Anne Sullivan (Courtesy:-en.wikipedia.org)

The Story of My Life was composed while Helen Keller was in her middle twenties and when she was a student at Radcliffe College. It is a heart touching story of a young lady with an unusual inability of being deaf and visually impaired. Her life is filled with a lot of twists, turns, up's, and downs. The book starts with a somewhat mysterious depiction of youthful Helen's earliest recollections of her life before she winds up plainly hard of hearing and visually impaired at nineteen months old. However, the vast part of this book revolves around her instructor Anne Sullivan of the Perkins Institute for the Blind. Keller had acquainted few strategies for inter-communication such as touch-lip movements, Braille, speech, typing, writing, and finger-spelling. Alexander Graham Bell was one of Helen's favorite friends taught her how to think ordinary objects in different ways and also help to arrange Anne Sullivan for her teaching. With the support of Sullivan and Sullivan's would be a spouse, John Macy, Keller wrote her first book "The Story of My Life".

'The Story of My Life' gives a clear impression of Helen Keller's life to the readers. It is neither a marvel nor a joke. It is a tremendous achievement for an individual who cannot communicate to anyone. The credit for Helen's achievements and success goes to the splendid work of her instructor, Anne Sullivan. In 1908 Helen published "The World I Live In", a record of how she combat the world through touch, taste, and fragrance. In magazine articles, she encouraged an extended open door for the visually impaired and she put forth her improved techniques for decreasing visual impairment in youth. In 1909, Helen joined the Socialist Party of Massachusetts for promoting numerous reformative thoughts, including birth control, to strengthen worker's organizations and the privilege of ladies to vote. With these social activities slowly her image and prominence increased in the public. So, got charge as a lecturer fundraiser for the American Foundation for the Blind in 1924.

Helen got deserted when her associate Anne Sullivan died in 1936. After the Second World War, she visited more than thirty nations to promote a campaign for the visually impaired. In 1955, she published the history of Anne Sullivan "Teacher", and in 1957 "The Open Door", a collection of essays. In 1964 she was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's most noteworthy nonmilitary personnel respect, by President Lyndon Johnson. On first June 1968, she passed away at her home in Arcane Ridge, Connecticut.

In the other part of the book, we can read the letters composed by Helen to her beloved ones between 1887-1901. Through these letters, she opened her mind, saw, felt and touched the universe of miracles. She practiced certain exercises which helped her to compose these letters. The book "Story of My Life" is a story of fearlessness, courage, hope and a work of her inner thinking. Her letters bring out a message that all people are created by God and so all people had equal rights to have a good life on this earth. It is an amazing book which deserves a rightful place in any type of libraries.

Some beautiful quotes from this book of Helen Keller's Autobiography:-
"Do not think of today's failures, but of the success, that may come tomorrow."
- Helen Keller, The Story of My Life

"One painful duty fulfilled makes the next plainer and easier."
- Helen Keller, The Story of My Life

"Knowledge is love and light and vision."
- Helen Keller, The Story of My Life

"It is so pleasant to learn about new things. Every day I find how little I know, but I do not feel discouraged since God has given me an eternity in which to learn more."
- Helen Keller, The Story of My Life

"Great poetry, whether written in Greek or in English, needs no other interpreter than a responsive heart."
- Helen Keller, The Story of My Life

"when one door of happiness closes another opens but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one the one which has opened for us."
- Helen Keller, The Story of My Life

In a word, literature is my utopia."
- Helen Keller, The Story of My Life

"They took away what should have been my eyes (but I remembered Milton's Paradise). They took away what should have been my ears, (Beethoven came and wiped away my tears) They took away what should have been my tongue, (but I had talked with God when I was young) He would not let them take away my soul, possessing that I still possess the whole."
- Helen Keller, The Story of My Life

My observations and opinion regarding this autobiography

The major theme in Helen Keller's 'The Story of My Life' is that persistence, determination, commitment, Perseverance and resilience in the face of distress will pave the way to success beyond anyone's expectations. Another theme of the book is how trust in some one's abilities will play a vital role in the success of an individual. However, Helen Keller despite her disabilities as well as challenges is able to conquer her physical limitations and learn to speak, read, and write. At that time many people thought Helen could never have the capacity to talk because of the degree of her inabilities. She took every experience of her daily life as a new experience and learned something from it which she thought equal to learning life itself. Helen Keller was able to prove herself academically in the days where no modern day equipment to support her. Keller might have been in the dark forever and spent a confusing life in this agitated world if she was not able to get support from an accomplished instructor like Annie Sullivan. Because of Sullivan's undaunting support and compassionate love provided her the tools to understand the world and to make her mark in it. As Keller writes,"It was my teacher's genius, her quick sympathy, her loving tact which made the first years of my education so beautiful." Keller was able to taste the success of her life through the power of perseverance and through the thoughtful, compassionate and enlightened education of her teacher, Anne Sullivan. Another theme of this book is, how education transforms an individual irrespective of wide differences among the individuals. It proves the value and power of education in transforming a person into the right direction.

There were so many amazing and beautiful incidents described in this book. One of the heart touching incident described in this book is When Helen asked her teacher "What is Love?" She simply replied:- "You cannot touch the clouds, you know, but you feel the rain and know how glad the flowers and the thirsty earth are to have it after a hot day. You cannot touch Love either, but you feel the sweetness that it pours into everything. Without love, you would not be happy or want to play." In this incident, her teacher beautifully described the love in an understanding way to Helen.

In Toto, it is a fantastic and wonderful book. I loved this book in particular. The account of Helen Keller or I would state the adventure of her life is truly amazing, motivating and haunting. Her life brought about courage, encouragement and hope to millions of people around the world. And I think, everybody should read this book. It's a stunning story of an individual in overcoming disgusting trials and making the best of what has God given to us.