This morning I had a phone call from an old friend, he asked me on the pricing of subscribing Google Storage.

It started as a little proposal on how he can backup the document for his office in a slightly risk-free way.

On top of that, he will be able to access the document from home, without the need to setup a file server, SSL connection etc.

To be honest, Google Drive/Documents helped me in the past few years, especially in terms of collaboration.

It is amazing how cloud storage has its possibilities - and it is set to do even more.

So far, rooted my phone and my sis.

I bricked my phone twice but managed to revive it.

Benefit of installing custom ROM & kernel? Faster, better battery life and the phone feels new again.

Install experiment something on my sis' 2.5 year old Galaxy S again.

Hope it works ;)

So finally LG Malaysia updated its website. Http://Goo.gl/ozZB7

In the website, I only notice of 16gb version. I guess, this makes the device likely to be priced between RM1400-1500

After more than a year since Tim Cook works as a CEO, the critics are mixed.

But I have only one question: in the past one year, does he look like, or did Apple make him a cult followers' figure?

Not really.

Now that is worrying - cos this was what Steve extremely successful at. He made Apple products seem magical.

Looking at the products lately, iPad mini can be replaced with Nexus 7 with similar battery performance, Nexus 4 is like iPhone 5 at half price.

It is true, Google has been catching up lately. The user experience has been consistently good and reviews showed that Nexus 4 has pretty good battery life: which has always been my buying point for a smartphone, I.e. to have good battery life to enjoy its features.

Further more, iPad mini and iPhone 5 come with the Apple Maps: the map that has been pain in the ass for Apple and its users

As of just now, it is still showing the lake nearby my house as a lake supposedly 30km away from my house.

If iPhone 6 or iPad 5 is not something that is truly revolutionary, that's the best time for you to sell their shares. If you have any.

So that's how the society is, nowadays.

Every year or every 6 months, you will get new (gadget) product release that sometimes confuses the consumers on what to buy (with introduction of Windows Phone 8 series, this statement will be even more valid)

With refreshing Facebook page as the hourly routine task, sometimes I wonder if that is necessary.

It's good to keep in touch with the people - knowing what they are up to, what's the new thing happening in town.

Also, an example of information overload, is that whenever a major event happens (be it disaster, civil war, president campaign, Euro crisis), you will see or hear many analysts giving their opinions non stop on CNN or other news channel.

They all look interesting at first, but after a several cycle, you will see that they are quite repetitive, and most importantly, their opinions won't really change the situation..

Come to think about it, I realized I had neglected self-improvement, that really matters.

All is not lost though - the FB+Gadget generation is the active user/participants of crowdsourcing. It's powerful & effective - recent example being PSY's Gangnam Style: FB & YouTube were the effective tool in crowdsourcing, the MV gained so much attention and generated many parodies, that even the singer PSY himself didn't expect all these for.

So,
(Information + Gadget) x (filtered for 'just enough' usage) = Powerful Knowledge
(Information + Gadget) x cool factor = Powerful Advertising

Now this video looks much more interesting than the ad itself.

The crash test and the keyboard (cum cover) are the biggest take away ;)

I have a feeling that Tim Cook is starting to feel the threat, really.

Looks like iPad has another serious contender, after Nexus 7.

Since he had apologized and suggested for alternative - OK, that's quite a brave move, it needs hell a lot of courage to admit a mistake for a big corporation.

But how to move forward? Just a quick background, Apple Maps uses GPS data from TomTom. Based on those data, it does its own mapping.

At the same time, TomTom sells GPS app too, on App Store. If you would like to purchase, it cost at least 60USD PER REGION.

Further research on Google, you will find that TomTom is a company that is on par with Garmin, which both make good GPS gadget.

The situation that most users wanted: Apple to put the Google Maps back on the iOS.

But by doing so, users will lose confidence on Apple Maps totally - even though it gets perfected next time.

Again, how Apple Maps will get perfected, is by users' input (crowd-sourcing).

Now Apple is stuck to get to that point, because users simply will try other alternatives.

One of the options, is to buy TomTom, the company.

Yes. To own TomTom.

Then, make those TomTom GPS apps -> Apple Maps.

They will instantly get the experts in making GPS + app.

If Apple wants to be kind to users who purchased TomTom GPS apps - well, Apple can refund by giving the iTunes/App Store credit, which users can spend again on other stuff.

Apple has more cash reserves than government of USA.

This shouldn't be hard to quickly gain the confidence, again.

From this review - it seems to be good stuff, more like an Video FX-enhancement of ver. 11 My only hope is that it is much stabler than ver. 11, which really drove me nuts.

With the latest iPhone 5 'scuff-gate' cases surfacing, there is even one video suggesting to get the iPhone 5 batch to be produced in October instead.

So the quick conclusion here is, get a casing if you don't want the scratches on the premium product.

One good news, though, is that iPhone 5 has better built quality in an extreme test vs Galaxy S3.
In this video:
It finally broke during the 7th drop test while Galaxy S3 screwed on the 2nd drop test itself.

So, those hot news aside, I personally think it is an opportunity for Windows Phone 8 - you can say hardware spec wise, it matches with Android devices (some has even better hardware spec)

Further more, if you Google it, the battery life of those phones have mostly been iPhone > Windows Phone > Android

So for now, we understand from an amateur test that iPhone 5's battery is > Galaxy S3

Why do I keep talking about battery life? I personally think that battery plays an important part for a smartphone - without good battery, those great features can only be enjoyed in limited time.

So back to Windows Phone 8, it's kinda interesting how it will turn out to be.

What triggered me to think more is that, yesterday I bought a phone for my father to replace his old one.

He doesn't need those 'smartphone' features as he can use the iPad.

So end up, we bought a dual-SIM colour LCD phone, with 2GB storage, keypad & camera with 10.1 hours talk time.. all for RM150.

Come to think about it, he only needs the phone for communication purpose.

Whereby, for daily smartphone users like us, I believe the most needed features are:

1) Whatsapp
2) Facebook
3) Facebook Messenger
4) Youtube
5) Map
6) Some web surfing
7) Music

All these can be done on Windows Phone 8, too.

So, assuming the battery life of the devices will still be iPhone 5 > Windows Phone 8 > Android Jelly Bean

Details with piece-by-piece can be seen >>here<<

Even though with the crappiest Apple software on it (i.e. Apple Maps), it is still a good piece of hardware.

I upgraded the New iPad (ok, to me it's iPad 3) to iOS 6.

No issues.

Just now, after using for a while, here's my quick review:

1) Siri is fun to use (I tested it with Mandarin & Cantonese - the voice recognition is not bad)
2) Safari feels smoother
3) It has Clocks now! Can play with alarm & stopwatch too (meh to many, but I think it's a welcome feature)
4) Apple Maps looks like an unfinished products
5) Having said that, iOS 6 lost two important applications that I love - Google Maps & YouTube (Google is still developing iPad's version)
6) BATTERY DRAIN! Battery is the reason why I love Apple product, but after the upgrade, it seems like draining faster than usual - surfing on Chrome for 45 minutes, battery dropped 10%
7) Again, on Apple Maps - it shows inaccurate data? I search the map around my housing area - Taman Metropolitan Kepong has become Bukit Jalil Recreational Park B? Whadafuq?
8) OK, some credit that applications such as Photo, has better integration with social media such as Facebook (but yes, it is already done on Android :-) ) 

I'm not sure how would Steve Jobs feel about this, but in my opinion, this will be his third turning in the grave (1st being the name "NEW iPad", 2nd being the un-inspirational iPhone5)

I need to make a follow up on the iPhone 5 launch that I followed closely earlier this morning.

i) It is a good phone because it is based on an already exist & matured technology, better processor and better camera are something expected for a new phone, in fact it will be applicable to any new phone, be it Apple, Android of Windows Phone.

ii) I've had enough on their marketing phrase such as 'it's never been done before'
On App Store, Tim even claimed.

"90% of the apps in that 700k are downloaded every month. The average customer uses over 100 apps."

"It's a revolution. It's phenomenal."

Hello? How did they come up with the stats?

To my knowledge, none of my friends use over 100 apps.

His theory was indeed revolutionary.

iii) I'm unsure this will be Steve's second turn in his grave. His first turn has to be the naming of "The NEW iPad"

I laughed when Phil said "So a lot has changed, and it's time for the connector to evolve. Our new connector is called Lightning. So we have Thunderbolt and Lightning."

My instant thought was "Ya Phil, why don't you call yourself Thor"

Lastly, iPhone 5 doesn't really give a big 'wow' factor compared to previous releases, such as Retina Display or Siri.

Conclusion: Since iPhone 5 will arrive Malaysia no earlier than November (just my wild guess), you might as well wait for the wildcard in the making: Windows Phone 8, which will also arrive in November.

Samsung has clearly closed a lot of gap with their Galaxy series, and iPhone and Samsung's android seem to be pretty much on par (except on the battery performance & processor speed)

It remains unclear if Apple is able to come up with a revolutionary successor to iPhone 5, but if they can't, Apple's big expansion might become bubbles.

One observation that I found on Tim Cook, is that he is a figure based person (in all his previous presentation, he kept focusing the sales figure and market share)

I've no doubt that he is very good in running operations, but running operations and coming up with revolutionary ideas are two different things.


Nevertheless, iPhone 5 is definitely a solid good replacement on existing smartphone, at least it will work for the next 2 years.

LTE may not be applicable to Malaysia so soon, but it is a big thing for other countries

- A6 Chips (claimed to be 2x faster)
- (Slightly) Better battery life
- Slightly better camera
- 4" 16:9 screen
- Screen is sharper (a layer has been reduced, that touch sensors are integrated right into the display itself)
- 30pin connector is replaced by "Lightning connector" (er, sounds a bit lame)
- iOS 6 (comes with cool looking Maps - replacement of Google Map as the default map)
- 20% lighter & 18% slimmer than iPhone 4S.

Overall, I think it is a better improvement compared with Samsung S2 -> S3

If you haven't owned a smartphone yet, or thinking to get a new smartphone, you won't go wrong with this one.

Nearest + earliest available place? Singapore. 21st September.

After all, the video is actually a fake

Cos in some part of the video, it made us thought it was a Lumia phone.


In this video, however, you can see PureView comes with "a camara man in a van, with some high-tech camera."

Not a good way to promote its technology, even though Nokia clarified later on that it is only a simulation.

So Nokia released its first Windows 8 phone, with interesting (but not being the first) technology such as wireless charging and their PureView camera system.

Currently, if you want a smartphone that you just need for normal surfing, whatsapp and youtube - with good battery life, you can consider Windows phone system.

My prediction is that, it has better battery life than Android, but slightly lose out to iPhone :)

Most importantly, the Modern UI is really a compelling reason why you can try this phone - it is really user friendly and very informative at a glance (with the live-tile)

That would be as 'ouch' as Windows 8 Metro Modern UI for an old man.

Looking at the news on IFA 2012, and my continued usage of Windows 8 - I am more and more convinced that Windows 8 (and RT) are meant for tablet.

I like the Metro Modern UI/display - it is informative, it is like the gadgets of Android, gives you updated information, customized the way you want.

The usage gesture is somewhat unique to its own - such as pulling out the charm bar, closing the apps, pulling the loaded apps (think of it like how you switch tab in Google Chrome on iPad)

The sad thing, which I have been criticizing since the day 1 I use Windows 8, is that these 'gesture' will be applicable to Windows 8 for desktop, you can't use finger but the mouse to do those gesture.

To a certain extend, I thought it's Microsoft's subliminal strategy to push people to use tablet.

I will give a quick prediction - I would be glad if I'm right:

1) Windows 8 RT will be big.
2) It will convince even more people to switch to tablet.(and hence, further decline of PC market)
3) It will push the competition of Android OS & iOS further.
4) Microsoft Surface will hit 3 millions sales target this year.
5) 60% of people will dislike Windows 8 (note: Windows 8 & RT are different), or will install the Start button via third party website.

Two major factors for its make-or-break (for its tablet flavour):

i) How Windows Store will be as usable as Google's Play Store & Apple's ITunes? (these stores give major income and most importantly, the reason why people are still stick to the OSes)
ii) Battery life - if it is worse than Android's, then good luck and goodbye.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S3 & Ativ

Sometimes, I feel that Samsung is just like another teddy bear factory - all the phones that they produce look very similar.


Not really, I think even the bears like us also look differently.

So Samsung tells their story behind Galaxy S3, a la iPhone style (shown below the ad for iPhone 4 for comparison)


Samsung got the inspiration from river, flowing water, Marina Bay and created great metal brush (something like that)
Again, let's not forget - it's just a phone.

Call us pessimistic, while I thought the short film is really futuristic and it might be how the future is..

But I thought the film would look better if the person looks very fat (a la Wall-E) because they don't need to move anywhere to get all the info he/she needs.

I also thought the film would look realistic if the person is living in a smaller space - because the they don't need space for toys and books.

My sis said she doesn't want this kind of future, because human will stop speaking and meeting each other physically.

(But next morning, when I walked past her bedroom - the first thing she did when she woke up was watching movie on iPad)