Jailbreaking or unlocking is simply the process of removing the limitations your phone's manufacturer has imposed. Jailbreaking is a boon for users and developers as it allows the user to sideload homebrew apps, gain root access etc.

ChevronWP7 Labs were the first to jailbreak Windows Phone 7 and offered the unlocking tool for free. Soon after, Microsoft and ChevronWP7 Labs joined hands, making them the official third-party tool to jailbreak WP7 phones. ChevronWP7 Labs charged users $9 per device for unlocking. But currently they are out of stock and have no plans of restocking (for now).

Those looking for a free alternative can rejoice; a new unlocking tool has surfaced on the Internet. The WindowBreak project, which debuted a week ago, is completely free and offers easy unlocking. The project is more of an experiment and is in its trial stages. WindowBreak exploits a vulnerability in the Zipview application.

This unlocking method works flawlessly with Samsung devices. Though this method doesn't support HTC and Nokia devices as of now, the developer behind this project has stated that it is in works. The developer has also released a video demonstrating the unlock process.

For more information, head over to www.windowsphonehacker.com

Many of you may know about Gmail's plus trick. It's a relatively old but effective trick for spam prevention. You'll be surprised to know that this trick also works in Hotmail.

Suppose you have an email address like happynewyear@hotmail.com. If you add a '+' sign after your email username, Hotmail will disregard anything between the + and @ signs. Emails sent to happynewyear+anything@hotmail.com will still reach your Hotmail inbox (happynewyear@hotmail.com).

This is a very good method for tracking spammers. Let's say you used an email alias like happynewyear+forum@hotmail.com for signing up for a forum. Now whenever you receive spam addressed to the above alias, you'll know the exact site which sold your email address to the spammers.

To get rid of the spam coming from the alias, you can use Hotmail's Sweep feature to delete all the messages addressed from that source and automatically block them from appearing in your inbox in the future.

Internet Explorer is the most used browser in the world. But the problem is that many people are stuck with older versions. To combat this, Microsoft has decided to start automatic upgrades for IE across Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Starting from this month, the upgrades will roll out to each and every genuine Windows user starting from Australia and Brazil.

An up-to-date browser is a win-win situation for both developers and users. Malware is generally targeted towards outdated software such as a web browser. An updated browser ensures the safest browsing experience to users by protecting them against malware. Declaring the death of IE6 highlights the efforts Microsoft has taken towards the betterment of the Web.

In my opinion, IE9 is the best version of IE to date, and the statistics also reflect this. Recently it was reported that in the US, the usage of IE9 has reached the top and it's the most used browser on Windows 7. The worldwide usage of IE9 on Windows 7 is now second only to IE8 and is set to overtake it very soon.

Microsoft has released IE8 and IE9 automatic update blocker kits for those individuals and organizations who would like to update IE as per their own schedule. Also, users who have declined previous installations of IE8 or IE9 through Windows Update will not be updated automatically.

HTC Radar is the latest Windows Phone from the HTC stable. Dubbed as the little brother of the HTC Titan, it comes with a 3.8 inch SLCD display, 5 MP Camera and a sturdy metal unibody design. It is also one of the few phones to come out pre-loaded with WP7.5 Mango.

Hardware

HTC Radar is a beautiful looking phone and is sturdy and well-built. The metal design adds to its weight but it feels very solid in the hands and has a very rich and elegant look, all thanks to its metal unibody design. Gorilla glass sits on top of 3.8 inch multi-touch display. The WVGA resolution of the display makes the text and images look very crisp and sharp. The performance is decent in bright sunlight. The black levels are deep enough if the display is set on auto-brightness mode.

The front features a proximity sensor, ambient light sensor and a front facing VGA camera for video calling. Down below there are three standard Windows Phone control touch-sensitive buttons (back, home and search).

The left side of the phone doesn't have any buttons; just a micro-USB port for charging and sync. The right side features volume controls and a dedicated camera button. On the top, you have a lock-screen button and a standard 3.5mm audio jack.

On the back you'll find the speaker and 5 MP Camera with single LED flash. Though the speaker is loud and clear indoors, you'll find that the sound gets muffled when the phone is placed on a table or covered in pouch. This happens due to the placement of the speaker on the back. It should have been placed on the top or bottom.

Due to the metal unibody design of the device, the battery is non-removable. This can pose a problem to frequent travelers and people who like to keep extra set of batteries. The battery life is decent. During the test, the battery lasted for about 1 and half day with some calls, downloading apps on Wi-Fi and not to mention that EDGE was always on for syncing. If you're low on battery, the all new battery saver feature will come to rescue. The outer skin of the device is not full metal; it also has some plastic bits for connectivity. HTC Radar has inbuilt A-GPS receiver, Stereo FM Radio, Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 A2DP which is common in smartphones available these days.

Software

HTC Radar runs the latest flavor of the Windows Phone OS called Mango (WP7.5). Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) was previewed in May last year. There are as many as 500 new features in Mango; some of the notable features include the new task switcher, voice search, Twitter and LinkedIn integration and improved messaging. HTC Radar comes loaded with some HTC apps such as HTC Hub, HTC Watch, Locations, Connected Media, Photo Enhancer, Flashlight and notes.

IE9 comes bundled with Mango. The page rendering is fast and the text looks good. Overall performance of the browser is very good. As a former Android user, the only thing that bugged me is that when you zoom-in, the text doesn't reflow or auto-align itself. Although it looks like a small issue but in my opinion it spoils the browsing experience as you have to flick left and right constantly to read the text. If you're one of those who often visit Flash sites then you'll be disappointed as there is no support for Adobe Flash and surprisingly there is no Silverlight support as well. The multiple tabs feature is great but there is no easy way to switch between tabs.

The Radar has a 5 Megapixel camera with autofocus and a single LED flash. The f/2.2 lens captures quality pictures and works well in low-light situations too. The camera app comes with a few extra features such as panorama, facial recognition and burst mode. The panorama mode allows you to take beautiful panoramic pictures. The panorama mode makes use of the phone's accelerometer and stitches the pictures to create a panoramic image. Unlocking the phone and going to the camera app takes time but HTC has added a neat little feature where the phone unlocks directly in to the camera app if you press the shutter button for 2 seconds. The camera is capable of recording 720p HD videos at 30fps. The quality of the captured video is very good and sharp. The continuous focus mode tends to blur the videos when the camera is panned. Camera takes some time to adjust to the light levels around you.

Social services like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are integrated in to the contacts. There is no option to import or export contacts. Windows Live, Gmail and Yahoo! Mail are supported right out of the box.

Performance

The Radar houses a 1GHz Scorpion CPU and Adreno 205 GPU. It has 512 MB of ROM and RAM. Although dual core CPUs are the norm these days, I felt the Radar was fast and snappy. I didn't experience any lag while using any application or playing games. Even after installing 10+ apps the performance was consistent. The inbuilt memory is 8GB and there is no room for expansion as there is no expandable memory slot. Also, the OS and the apps consume some memory so only 6.5GB is left for user consumption. This might be a deal breaker for music lovers who like to carry their whole library with them.

Verdict

The HTC Radar is a decent looking handset and fairly responsive. If you're on the lookout for a budget smartphone and won't settle for Apple or Android then this might be a good choice. Before buying it you might want to take a look at its competition. The Samsung Omnia W and Nokia Lumia 710 are both in the same bracket as the HTC Radar but are cheaper, faster and more or less better than the Radar. Both, Lumia 710 and Omnia W run on 1.4GHz processor and have their own proprietary AMOLED displays.

Thumbs Up

• Windows Phone 7.5
• Gorilla glass
• Metal unibody design
• Good battery life

Thumbs Down

• No expansion slot
• Non-removable battery
• No Flash support