Digital Photography 101 Workshop – Part 1

Last Saturday, Pixaworks held a one day Photography 101 workshop in their office cum studio in PJ. I was invited as a host for the event and it was the first ever photography class that I have conducted. I was of course very happy with the invitation to teach at the workshop. I never really see myself as an “otai” or someone who is capable of teaching. I’m still in a learning process myself. There are more things that I need to learn. I have been a photographer for almost 7 years but I’ve been having that passion in photography since I was a child. All those years passed, I’m still learning. But the best thing about the photography workshop that I conducted the other day, as I was teaching, I am learning at the same time. It’s best to go back to basic once in a while.

The basic class went well. As I have gathered, the participants were able to understand more about their camera functions and how to compose their framing for better picture taking. After the 2 hours of presentation and fundamental session, we adjourned outside for an outdoor hands-on photography session. One thing about me is that I love teaching and to share my knowledge with others because I know that when I teach, I will somehow learn something as well.

These are some of the participants who attended the Photography 101 Workshop the other day. And by the way, we will be organising another basic photography class on the 15th September 2013. You may register yourself by clicking on the link at the end of this post.

I will also share my basic photography class lessons one at a time here in this blog when I have the time. I will go in depth for each subject and will try and explain the details as best I can. Stay tuned then.

Register for the next Digital Photography 101 Workshop ->
I want to register!

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Getting my hands on this


Do You Like To Take Pictures Of Your Food?

Dear Instagramers and those who love taking a picture of your food before eating it, this video is for you.

Well, me included but I don’t go to the extend of posting it on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram all the time. I did it because I love doing a food review in my blog. Not this blog, not yet anyway. I used to blog about food that I ate and restaurants that I’ve been to, just to share my experience with others so that all of you foodies out there can decide whether to try out the food or not. Yes, we do have many food bloggers out there and I used to be one of them. But I do not take the picture of my food all the time and post it on all the social networks out there. Nope. Not me. *innocent eyes*

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Google Street View Launched in KL

Today Google Malaysia has launched a special feature for the local Google Maps users. After waiting for a long time, we can finally get to use the cool feature of seeing places in and around KL with Google Street View. At the moment, Google Malaysia who is working closely with Tourism Malaysia has announced that 18 tourist attraction areas are covered by the feature for their initial stage.

More stories regarding this at
Ohsem.net

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Getting my hands on this

I’ve been in photography for a long time and conducted classes before as well but I didn’t buy any other lenses except for the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D as an alternative to my standard kit lens. I kept telling myself that I will one day buy a good prime portrait lens and this may be the one that I’m getting.

The Tamron 90mm f/2.8 SP Di Macro Telephoto Autofocus Lens is popular among macro photography enthusiast but it is also a good portrait lens. From the reviews that I’ve been reading, no one seems to complain about the performance of this particular lens. So I may consider getting this lens soon. Once I’ve obtain this baby, I will then upload the photos here when I’ve tried it out and give a little bit of review. Tune in for that.

Specifications for this lens can be found
here
.

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HyperGear Bags for Sale

Post
 by
Ohsem Creative Resources
.

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Some useful tips that I found from a Facebook Page

Post
 by
Ohsem Creative
.

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26 Time Management Hacks – A Useful Info

I got this link from Facebook and I think it’s worth the post. Just want to share this info as well as keeping it for my future reference.

26 Time Management Hacks I Wish I’d Known at 20

 from
Etienne Garbugli @egarbugli

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A Good Time Waster

My morning has not been really productive when I arrived at the office. Few things I usually do when I come in…make coffee, eat my sandwich and open up my internet browser. My default page is google.com. And today I end up spending more than half an hour in my browser’s default page. Why? Because of this…

Today is the 50th anniversary for Doctor Who, a very well known rich history about time travel and wild adventures. There are about 250 movies created based on this fictional character/story, and today marks the half-century anniversary of it. Those who still don’t know what its’ all about, go and Google it. But then you may end up playing the game and forget about looking for it. LOL!

Those who missed it, you can
click here
 to see it…or rather play it.

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Jolla with Sailfish OS Launched

Ever heard of
Jolla
? (Pronounced as “Yol-la”). It is one of the newest mobile system powered by the new open-sourced
Sailfish OS
 that derives from the old Meego OS by
Nokia
.
Meego
 was used in the Nokia N9. So when Nokia shut down their own mobile OS division with their move to Windows Phone platform, a team of Nokia’s Meego developer went out on their own to create Sailfish OS and… now we have Jolla.

Photo from SlashGear.com

From what I gather, the UI (user interface) side of the smartphone is beautiful and it seems very responsive. The hardware inside it is a Snapdragon 400 with dual-core 1.4GHz Krait 200 and 1GB of RAM. By today’s standards, that hardware specification is deemed low but from what I’ve read, the OS is very responsive and uses very little memory resources. It has an 8MP rear camera with auto-focus and an LED flash, and a 2MP camera in front.

The screen size is 4.5 inches with 245 ppi pixel density, 540×960 resolution, protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 2 for scratch protection. It also have an ample memory space inside with 16GB built-in plus a microSD card slot to add on up to 64GB of extra space.

For now only 450 units of this device will be available and it is
already on sale in Finland
. So if you wish to get your hands on this “new kid on the block”, may have to wait a little bit longer.

Meanwhile, here’s their official video for Jolla and Sailfish OS.

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Kuala Lumpur City Skyline – Night Photography

Since early this month, I had one task to do. I had to take a picture Kuala Lumpur city skyline at night for my work at the office. I am doing a brochure design and in one of the pages, I need to add in a large picture of KL city to fill in the entire double spread. So earlier this evening I went up KL Tower to get my shots.

Photo below is the Kuala Lumpur skyline and KLCC (Petronas Twin Tower) taken earlier tonight for my work assignment. I don’t usually do night photography but when I do, this is the result.

Maybe I should do this more often. It is very seldom that I do night photography. I’ve always love to shoot at night with long exposures but prior to this, I don’t have a tripod. I do have one but it broke so I was left without a tripod for a long time. And then I finally get a new one last week.

And I’m glad I did.

Photo Properties

Camera: Nikon D90

Lens: Nikon 18-105mm VR kit lens

Focal Length: 18mm

Exposure: 10s

Aperture: f/11

ISO: 50

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Loving My New Nikon 85mm f/1.8G lens

A while back I was surveying for a good portrait lens for my camera and I decided on the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 SP Di Macro Telephoto Autofocus Lens. I posted about it
here
 and I already said that I’m getting my hands on the lens. But when I went to the shop, yes they do have the Tamron lens on sale but they actually told me that the lens is only best for macro photography. Of course I’ve done some reading on the internet before deciding on what lens to buy and I feel that Tamron 90mm was a good buy. As told and reviewed by some of the photographers online, they said that the lens can be used as a portrait lens too. Pictures are sharp, autofocus is quick and quiet, bokeh is good and to their surprise as well, the lens works wonders.

So I made my decision to buy the Tamron 90mm, but when I asked about it, the shop owner recommended me a different lens instead. I was a little bit disappointed that he didn’t like the Tamron and asked him why. Until when he showed me the aperture setting is not 100% at f/2.8 all the time. It increases when it can’t find a good focus point. “Ah” I said. No wonder he wouldn’t recommend me that lens for portrait even though some reviews said it’s good. So then he advised me to get a better one instead. The Nikon (Nikkor) 85mm f/1.8 AF-S G lens. Although it is slightly more expensive than the Tamron, it was totally worth it.

The AF-S Nikon (Nikkor) 85mm f/1.8G lens that I bought, attached to my D90.

As soon as I put it on my camera for a test at the shop, I was amazed by the size of the lens. It is big, but it’s light, due to the plastic construction of the lens. Although it’s plastic, it feels sturdy and solid. The lens is also best used with a full-frame camera. So hopefully when the time comes when I have enough money to upgrade to a full-frame camera, this lens can truly show its full potential.

This is only the second lens that I bought after buying the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D a couple of years back. The 50mm did a great job for portrait and it has great
bokeh
 effect. But the 85mm is to me, much better.

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The very first test for this lens was shooting for a friend’s wedding reception. I’m using my Nikon D90 with my old kit lens with a flash gun as a primary shooter, and an older D60 as my secondary shooter with my new 85mm lens attached to it. I was thinking, the D60 is an old camera and the noise reduction is not that great so why not use fast lens on it with the widest aperture setting at f/1.8 so that it can get a clearer shot.

True enough, the D60 performed beautifully with the 85mm. Anyway, here I’m showing two photos taken with the 85mm lens.

I’m loving the
bokeh
. I’m loving the clarity of the picture and the autofocus is just so fast. I’m glad that the photography shop owner advised me to get this lens instead. Although I think the Tamron would’ve performed well too, but with Tamron’s 90mm widest aperture setting at f/2.8 won’t be as fast and as good as the Nikon 85mm.

Lenses do make a lot of difference when it comes to professional photography. But don’t be fooled by marketing gimmicks too. Make sure you did some research first and ask your favourite photography shop owners for advice. They probably have a better idea on what’s best for your needs.

Some features for the Nikon 85mm f/1.8G AF-S lens:

Internal Nikon Silent Wave Motor (SWM) powered Focus (IF) system provides fast, accurate and quiet AF and helps produce sharp and clear images at all apertures.

M/A focus mode switch enables quick changes between manual and autofocus operation if needed.

Nikon Super Integrated Coating (SIC) enhances light transmission efficiency and offers superior color consistency and reduced flare.

My next lens after this will be the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X for the best possible wide angle shots. I have tested this particular lens and yes, it’s the best there is. Will blog about it when the time comes. Meanwhile, head over to Facebook and like my photography page at
www.facebook.com/OhsemCreative


My Glance at Google Nexus 5 and Nokia Lumia 1520

This morning someone showed me a newspaper ad about the
Microsoft Surface
 RT and Surface Pro. I do have a liking for either one but I also know about the upcoming Surface 2. So maybe I will “try” and save some money for that, or maybe for something else which I think is better.

I’ve always have this liking for the
Lumia series
 (Nokia). From the moment they announced the Lumia 920, and then the Lumia 925 and on to Lumia 1020, my urge to move back to a Lumia grows stronger. I have a
Lumia 800
 which I have updated to
Windows Phone 7.8
 but because of the hardware limitations, that’s the most it can go. And now, I’m definitely moving back to Windows Phone platform….70% chance of it.

I fell in love with two flagship phones recently, the
Google Nexus 5
 and the
Nokia Lumia 1520
. Nexus 5 is simply the best pure Google experience phone with the latest and best hardware specs. Guess what? The new Lumia 1520 is also packed with the same latest and best hardware specs. Now which is better?

The Nokia Lumia 1520 – Image from GSMArena.com

The LG Nexus 5 – Image from GSMArena.com

I love these two. The geek in me wants both. But I’m not someone who prints money for a living so I can only choose one. If I were to weight in both of the pros and cons, then it may help me to decide. But this blog post is about these two flagship devices so let’s see what’s good (or bad) about them.

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2


Pre-Review: Ninetology U9 Series X1 and Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini

I received a good news today.

A representative from a local smartphone brand company contacted me today and asked if I could do a review on their new mobile device for the masses.
Ninetology
has been around for quite sometime now but they are making a huge wave in providing a cheaper alternative for smartphones. Their earlier devices were using basic specifications in terms of hardware that powers the device, but their latest arsenal packs some strong fire power.

So then they gave me 1 week to review one of their latest smartphones against another well known smartphone company, Samsung. My review is going to be an honest review based on my findings and experiences between the two devices.

First up, Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini.

And the Ninetology U9 Series X1.

Putting the two together…

And now we are going to have two smartphones going against each other to see which one will stand out in regards to usability and reliability.

Ok. Some of you may think it’s a little bit unfair that the dual core Galaxy S4 Mini taking on the quad core Ninetology X1 but we have to keep in mind that the Mini is powered by 1.7GHz Krait processor with 1.5GB RAM while the X1 is powered by 1.2GHz processor with 1GB of RAM. So that should balance things out a bit…right? Yes.

Now. I’m going to test out the X1 first for about 3 days and then test the Mini for the next 3 days. I think that should be enough to at least have an idea on how both will fare against each other.

Check back here next week for the comparison review.

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Revamped and Revived

Over the past few days (perhaps weeks), I did a slight revamp and I also registered a new domain name for this blog. I’m trying to make it more personal this time around and since I’m trying to revive my blogging hobby, I figured that this will be a good time to clean some old mess up.

I love blogging, I love writing. But over the years the laziness overwhelms my desire to blog, hence why I’ve been a little bit slow. I do hope after all the redesign task and a new domain would help me restart everything all over again.

Wondering why I choose to use the domain name “ohsem.me”? Well, I owned the Photography and Graphic Design company –
Ohsem Creative Resources
, so I thought I would just use the same name but with “.me” at the back to make it seems personal. Ohsem is a Malaysian slang for the word “awesome”. So after using it to depict an awesome creative company, now I’m using it to lift up my self esteem and to have a meaning like “awesome me”. It’s purely for self confidence sake.

So let’s see how it goes from here.

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10 Gadget Gifts for Geeks

We are now in the last month of the year and usually this is the time when (almost) everyone is out shopping for gifts. Yes. Christmas is around the corner and this is also the month where most people go broke for the last time in the year.

Not that it’s a bad thing. For some, it’s when most companies will give bonuses to their employees. Well, only for those lucky ones I guess. And when that happens, most of them will be “attacking” the shopping malls for their shopping spree, whether they be buying things for themselves or for others. Gifts will be exchanged between friends and families. Some are useful, some are thoughtful and some are downright useless…sometimes. But what can you get or buy for a tech geek? Or a gadget freak like me for instance? Guess what. This blog post will provide you with 10 gadget gifts list for someone who can’t get enough of tech gadgets. And this list is actually what some of the gadget geeks would want….I think.

Before we go to the top-10 items, this is not a hint from me or whatsoever but if any of you want to buy them for me, I be more than happy to receive them with much love (and excitement).

On with the list…in no particular order.

1 – Google Nexus 5

Why? Because most tech geeks like to play with their gadgets. Because geeks like me would want to explore and push this device to its full potential. I did a lot of rooting and installing custom ROMs in my previous Android phones. I can’t really remember how many times I reformat my phones just because I want to try out new OSes such as CynogenMod, MIUI, Carbon ROM, Ubuntu and LewaOS on my phone. And because the
Nexus 5
 is also a developers’ phone, updates and new functions will be pushed to this device first, before everyone else. Think of it as the iPhone version of Android. And it gives the purest Android experience that is powered by the latest and best hardware specifications.

2 – Sony Playstation 3

Wondering why I didn’t mention the new PS4? Because of the games. No doubt that the PS4 is a beautiful console with awesome graphics. But for the time being, it doesn’t have much games to support. And I’m assuming that the games will be very expensive here in Malaysia once it gets popular, but guess what? Games for
PS3
 will be cheaper by then. Ahh…good strategy. Another reason is that I never met a geek who doesn’t play games. Yep…point taken.

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3 – Bang & Olufsen Beolit 12 Portable Speaker

First of all, don’t be mistaken because this is not a lunch box. Although it may look like one but don’t expect to find a sandwich or a slice of pizza in it. This thing is heavy. But it’s portable. And it’s packed with wholesome power to tune your eardrums. It can be powered by batteries or from a power outlet. You can either plug-in your iPhone/Android/MP3 player via the aux input, or stream your music wirelessly via its built-in Bluetooth function. Mind you, the sound that comes out from this baby really packs a punch, but not lunch. Yes, I heard the sound that this baby produced and all I can say is, it was music to my ears…literally. Price is a little bit on the high side but hey, bonus right? Visit
Bang & Olufsen site
.

4 – Apple Products

Why? Because nobody in their right mind will say no to an
Apple
 product. And I’m not an Apple fan. Done.

5 – Smart Watches

What’s the use of having a smartphone but you don’t have a smartwatch to go with it right? This will definitely make you feel smarter after wearing it. There are so many smartwatches emerging right now. Samsung have already launched their
Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch
.
Sony
 have their own version of smartwatch. But the best smartwatch of 2013 according to some polls done on the Internet is the
Pebble SmartWatch
. Pebble is compatible with any smartphones regardless if you’re using iOS or Android. Its functions are simple and most of all, it works better than the others. Smartwatches are really gaining its popularity among tech geeks and consumers. So this will make a good gift too.

On to page 2 ->

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2


Awesome Skill by Danny MacAskill in Imaginate

When I was a kid, I love riding on my BMX. At such young age, I probably know so much tricks that until now I can still remember how to do them. As what they always say, when you remember how to do something, it’s as easy as “riding a bike”. Yes, during those days I jumped and did numerous tricks. But of course, I can’t do what
Danny MacAskill
 can. He’s just so good at it.

I saw this video posted online earlier today and I love how it is done. It’s all in the imagination and how imagination can turn into reality. I’m sure you will enjoy the video as much as I did.

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Cheaper Smartwatch Alternative by Archos

The only time I heard about
Archos
 was when I read about their Android gaming console called the
Archos Gamepad
 some time earlier this year. The Gamepad is not available in Malaysia but it can be purchased via online stores such as eBay or Alibaba.

Now the same company that made the Gamepad is announcing the
next line of smartwatch selections
. Archos will debut multiple ‘Pebble-like’ smartwatches at CES, starting at less than USD$50 (RM150-RM180). To me, that is quite cheap considering that other smartwatches can be priced close to RM1,000 such as the Galaxy Gear and the Sony Smartwatch. The other smartwatch that is gaining popularity is
Pebble
, which is priced at about USD$150 (RM400-RM500). It is still cheaper than those made by Samsung and Sony. In fact, the Pebble was voted as the best smartwatch of 2013.

But now we’re looking at Archos. They are focusing on making a more affordable smartwatch similar to Pebble, towards the low-mid range target audience. So for someone like me who love these kind of gadgets, can finally give this one a try. I wanted to get the Pebble but then I can’t afford one.

What do I think the users are looking for in a smartwatch?

The Pebble is a good comparison benchmark. I won’t be looking at Galaxy Gear or any of those Android based smartwatch because most of us are already using a smartphone. Why do we need another device that is attached to our wrist that is also an Android/iOS based hardware? Sure, Galaxy Gear is cool to have but I heard that it is lagging so bad after a while. Let’s put it this way. The reason why they created the smartwatch in the first place is so that we don’t have to take our phones out from our pocket/bag in order to see who is calling or messaging us. All the information is displayed at a glance. That’s all.

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So the ideas that we can put in for the next generation of smartwatches, whether it is by Archos or Pebble, is the functionality. Pebble has some issues sometimes like not displaying an incoming call. Users may have to restart the phone for it to work again. So what Archos need to do is to learn from others’ mistakes. To me, I will buy the smartwatch without any hesitation if the smartwatch can display information on who is calling, display incoming text messages (native sms or from WhatsApp/WeChat), having a nice interface or rather watch face and is waterproof. And of course, it must be stable to use without any glitch. Would be nice to just simply sync the watch with our phones and everything works perfectly.

Bottom line, compatibility is important.

While the Pebble is the best of 2013 and the more expensive ones by Samsung and Sony are out of reach for some of us, I see some silver lining emerging in near future. All thanks to Archos. But they need to make it a good one in order to finish ahead of the race.
I’m Watch
 is another excellent smartwatch to look out for, but their mistake is that they’re selling it too expensive (USD$349) similar to Samsung and Sony.

If Archos is looking to impress the lower tier users, then they have to make a good cheaper smartwatch alternative to the others. That’s all I can say.

Source of info:
Engadget


Largest Blogger Gathering in Malaysia – blogrrr

Blogger Most Wanted. That is the tagline for the
largest blogger gathering in Malaysia
 event organised by
MYNIC
 that was held on Saturday, 14th December 2013. I only found out about the event about a week before so I think to myself, why not. I registered myself for the event just for the fun of it. After all, I haven’t been to any bloggers event for a very long time ever since I’ve been on hiatus from the blogging scene.

I’ve been blogging for about 10 years, since 2003. That was the year, then
Blogger
, was acquired by
Google
. I’ve used many blog addresses since. I have bought so many domain names and hosting plans and use
WordPress
 over the course of 10 years. But most of it were lost halfway because I was in and out of jobs and I can’t afford to maintain my website. The only database that I managed to rescue is only up until 2005. Beyond that, all were lost.

In 2009, I stopped blogging completely. Only in 2012 that I found the passion to blog again. So here I am back to square one. It’s not easy to get my fans back from those days. Now I have to rebuild my blog from ground up all over again.

So the bloggers’ event that I went yesterday was worth it.
Blogrrr
, as they call it, was overall a good event with celebrities participating together and an award presentation for best blogs in their respective categories. The blog award categories are as follows:

Best Blogshop

Best IT & Gadget Blog

Best Art & Photography Blog

Best Entertainment Blog

Best Food & Travel Blog

Best Sports Blog

Best Fashion & Beauty Blog

Best Family & Health Blog

Best Personal Blog

Best Automotive Blog

Best of Disability Blog

I wouldn’t know which category I belong to because I blog just about anything like personal, tech/gadgets, food/travel and photography. Never mind then. I don’t think I would ever get listed anyway. I only blog for fun.

The opening keynote was given by my friend, Ikhwan “
Tekong
” Nazri from
Amanz.my
. The keynote is obviously about the introduction to the blogging world and about the do’s and the don’ts. There were many new bloggers attended the event. So this is a good platform for them to start knowing more about blogging.

Other than the free seminars that was going on concurrently, they have booths for bloggers who owns an online business to promote their products. The product ranges from clothing, food, online services, blog advertising opportunity, photography, e-commerce, jewelleries, ice-cream supplier and even holiday treats. All combined, there were about 100 booths altogether, give and take. Yes, it was useful and informative.

Talking about seminars, I only went to one. There were about 6-7 seminars or talks that were scheduled to go on but I only managed to attend one. The talk that I went for was conducted by Mr Anderson Cheah from
Sym World Innovation Sdn Bhd
. It was about making money from
Google Adwords
. Technically it’s about making profits from online advertisement on Google search. It is much different from
Google Adsense
. Adsense is where we (bloggers) add the advertisement code into our blog(s) and we get paid either by impressions or by clicks. Adwords is better for those who have a product that they want to sell and have it appear on Google search results as sponsored ads, which usually appear at the top and also on the right side of the page result. SEO and keywords plays an important role for this one. Good keywords can determine whether users will click on your link or not.

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The blogrrr event went on the whole day until evening. Next thing I knew, I was seated at the ballroom to take a rest but unknowingly sat in an event that was about to start. I sat through it anyway. This particular event was about blogging as well. One of the talks was given by
Nisa Kay
, who recently been appointed as a video blogger in Amanz.my. Hosted by
Iqram Dinzley
, the event went on with some lucky draws and quizzes. Lucky winners won themselves some nice goodies such as powerbanks, Sony BlueRay player, toasters, headphones, portable speakers and many others. Unfortunately I didn’t win anything. Biasa la. I’m always the unlucky one.

Conclusion

There were some bad areas about the whole event that I don’t quite like. Perhaps my feedback here can let to organisers know what and how to go about doing it next time.

My take on the event:

Bad registration counter – No signs to indicate the registration categories. There were three lines. Online registration, walk-in registration and booth registration. I lined up behind a long line and until I reached the front, I was told to line up in the other line for the one I was on is for walk-in registration.

Seminars/talks was going on concurrently with the main event and the opening event. Also, the lucky draws at the main stage went on when everyone is in the respective seminar rooms. We can’t be at two places at one time la.

As mentioned by the officials, the whole event was kind of a last minute thing. But they can do better to promote the event. It has potential. So given the right timing and proper planning, the event can be better.

Anyway. I do enjoy the event. Like I said, it can be better. I do hope there will be more bloggers event coming up soon because to me, blogging “died” for a while because of
Twitter
 and
Facebook
. Maybe that’s why I stopped blogging too. But hey, who knows 2014 will be a good year for bloggers again. To those attended the blogrrr event, nice to meet you all.

Jumpa lagi lain kali.


Letting Go of Bad Habits

Most of us, well, ALL of us have bad habits. The year is coming to an end but first we need to get rid of all the bad habits that we may have developed in 2013 and throw it out the window before 2014 comes slipping in.

I’m not that good in giving out advices but what I found from the web is something worth sharing. There’s an article on 20 things that we need to let go in order to be happy. One of it is procrastination. THAT is my worst habit of all. So I’m learning to be more attentive and do what I need to do promptly without delay.

Another one is probably that I usually need approval of others when I want to do something. I always do things alone. But when, let’s say, I’m wearing something that I like and then someone else tells me that it looked weird or not nice, I will never wear that ever again. I end up throwing away the clothes altogether.

All this small things can trigger a disturbance in your subconscious mind that you may end up feeling down most of the time. You want to be happy, but you’re not.

Time to push those habits away.

The 20 Things You Need To Let Go To Be Happy

The Approval of Others

Anger/Resentment

Negative Body Image

Idea of a Perfect Partner

Perfect Life

You’re Going To Be Rich

The Idea That Good Fortune Will Arrive At Your Doorstep

Excuses

Thoughts of Your Ex

Stubbornness

Procrastination

Your Baggage

Negativity

Judgmental Thoughts

Jealousy

Insecurity

Depending on Others for Happiness

The Past

The Need For Control

Expectations

These are just the excerpts from what I found on the web. To read the full article,
click here
.

Source of info:
www.elitedaily.com


Life Hacks Debunked – Good To Know

I came across an article on “life hacks” many times already. All this while I tend to believe some of the “life hacks” myth and I did try some of them. It works on my end. One example will be about cutting the cake by using an unflavoured dental floss. That works well. But there are so many life hacks that I came across in the Internet, obviously I can’t try them all.

Good thing someone on
YouTube
 did try them all. This info is very useful and something that is good to know for someone like me who is usually very curious on how it turns out. Enjoy the video.

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LRT and Monorail to Increase Fares

So here it is again. More and more news about the rise of cost of living in Kuala Lumpur and surrounding areas. Almost on daily basis that we hear about prices hitting the ceiling. Cost of almost everything is rising and not showing any signs of slowing down. The only stagnant monetary matter that we know are not increasing are our own salaries. Sad but true.

Earlier this month, TNB raised the electricity tariff from 35.54 cents/kWh to 38.53 cents/kWh. And a few months back the petrol price was also raised from RM1.90 per litre to RM2.10 per litre for RON97. All of us felt the pinch as soon as they announced the price hike. Now in today’s news, another price is going up.

As of 2014, fares for
LRT and monorail are expected to be increased
. Of course, this mode of transportation runs on electricity and because the price of electricity has been increased, everything else are effected. I usually won’t rant too much but I take the commuter and the LRT every single day. This will definitely tear a hole in my pocket even more. If the main reason for the price hike is solely about the electricity price hike, then I can relate to it. But in the newspaper, the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) chairman kept going on about the increased price doesn’t only happen in Malaysia, but in other countries as well.

Fine. The last revision on price increment for LRT in Malaysia was done 10 years ago. He said the price of petrol in other countries are reviewed each year and our closest neighbour, Singapore, are reviewing the price every year. But do we actually have to follow others countries? Just because other countries are reviewing the transportation prices, we have to follow them too? What a bunch of lemmings! So when other countries fall, we will fall too simply because we follow others.

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Sigh. Sugar price are up too. And the government is imposing the GST tax next year. When we rant about not having enough for ourselves, they blame us for being such big spenders and buying unnecessary things. The government have to rethink about what they said. Are we spending on unnecessary things or are they?


Michael Kors Handbags for Sale!

To usher 2014, there are 4 Fantastic Designs for Michael Kors handbags available for you to choose or you can have them all!

Pre-Order ONLY (Grade AA)

ETA on 11 January 2014

ONLY RM100 for any of the designs (inclusive postage)

Post
 by
Melissa Wong
.


Normandy – Android on Nokia Phone

Photo from AndroidCommunity.com

Can I say “finally”?
We have been waiting for this for a long time I guess. Every diehard Nokia fans our there are waiting for this. Android is finally coming to Nokia.

I was not a Nokia fan until I used the Lumia 800. Although it is on a Windows Phone platform, the hardware and the feel of the phone is superb. Every inch of the phone felt solid and with it’s Clear Black display, everything seems beautiful. I can say that I fell in love with the hardware and design. But it is lacking the popularity among the users. Not like it was during their prime era of Symbian phones.

Nokia fans were disappointed when they found out that Nokia is not adopting Android as their main mobile OS. I was disappointed too. But today I found out that Nokia is finally adopting Android for their new 2014 smartphone line up. I hope this goes through for real.

The Android devices are being worked on as a mid-range smartphones for now. It is to be the Asha for Android, as to what is written in the
Android Community website
. Nokia employees were told to go ahead on developing the phone for the masses. The hardware division of Nokia now belongs to Microsoft, but somehow Nokia has started developing the Android device, codenamed “Normandy”. Specifications for the phone is still unknown but with the hardware that are powering some of the Nokia Lumia phones, we know they won’t disappoint us.

Let’s just wait for whatever surprise Nokia have for us with next year.

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My Opinion on Smartphone Camera vs DSLR

In this era, almost everyone in the city have a smartphone, or at least a phone that has an imaging capability. That means a camera function. This has been going on for a while ever since before smartphones by Apple iOS and Google Android was available. As I remember, it began around 2003, when Nokia came out with the most notable camera phone that was sold widely across the world. The
Nokia 7650
 was the first camera phone by Nokia. That was the one I remembered the most because the camera phone rage started with it. For your additional info, the first ever camera phone was the
J-SH04
 made by Sharp Corporation and only available in Japan in the year 2000. Back then, the phone’s camera has only about 0.3 megapixel with 256 colours, a far cry from what we have today.

Nokia 7650

Fast forward to 2013. Today, the least amount of megapixel count that we have in our smartphones is around 5-megapixel. I remember my dad bought a digital camera back then that only shoots 3.2-megapixel and cost around RM1,200. With that price, we can buy a medium range smartphone that has about 13-megapixel shooter with a 5.0 inch screen size and has millions of colours in its AMOLED screen….and in HD. Time changed a lot of things indeed.

So, my topic today is about smartphone cameras. Is it killing the real form of photography? I’m talking about the form of photography taken with a real camera. Is technology killing the DSLR? Or making it better? This is just my opinion in this topic on smartphone camera vs DSLR.

DSLR

There are many types of DSLR cameras nowadays. From the pro level camera like the Nikon D4 or the Canon EOS-1D X, to the beginner level Nikon D3200 and Canon 1100D, all produced good photography image with stunning results. It beats the smartphone photos in terms of lens quality, zoom range, aperture and many other manual functions. I’ll list down the pros and cons first…

Pros

High image quality, high resolution image with minimal “noise” because of the noise reduction feature during high ISO usage.

Varieties of optical gears. In another word, lenses. Different lens, for different purpose. And most of the lenses produce really good clear and crispy images.

Able to use multiple flashes. This is when nothing else beats a DSLR when using multiple external flashes.

It made us look serious. People will take us seriously when we’re holding a DSLR at a wedding reception rather than us holding a smartphone camera, right?

Able to use and configure manual functions. In “M” mode, we can customize all the settings to our liking anytime.

Full frame. Nuff said.

RAW format. Nuff said. (Fine. RAW format coming to the Nexus 5 soon).

Cons

Too big and heavy. Not ideal to carry around in the bag everyday.

Can’t take ALL the additional equipment with us on daily use. Again, too many and too heavy.

That’s the only downside of the DSLR that I can think of actually.

Nikon Df

With the above list, we can see that the main reason why we ditch our DSLRs at home is because it is too big and heavy. Can’t have it in our bag all the time right? Unless your idea of a workout is to carry heavy cameras in your bag everyday as you commute to work in a public transportation, then it’s fine by me.

Let’s see what’s the pros and cons with a smartphone camera.

Smartphone Camera

iPhone 5s Camera

As I said earlier, almost everyone has this nowadays. It is also almost a necessity for everyone to own one. From an entry level phone like the
Nokia Asha
 series to the high end device like the iPhone 5s or
LG G2
, all are capable on producing a decent image that is good enough for print. And Nokia came out with a smartphone that has the highest megapixel count for any mobile phone devices. The Lumia 1020 has a staggering 41-megapixel camera as its main shooter.

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Technology is really making a run for it. It is good that we all can have HD imaging in our hands all the time. We don’t have to ravage our storerooms to look for our camcorders anymore. Our smartphones are capable of shooting a HD video with a touch of a button.

Let’s see the pros and cons of a smartphone camera.

Pros

Mobile and lightweight. Small enough to be carried in our pockets everyday.

Easy sharing with the rest of the world. It’s part of the functions already where we would take a picture and send it to our
WhatsApp
 group or post it in
Instagram
.

Produce a decent quality image that we can actually send it for print. The 41-megapixel Lumia 1020 produces really high detailed image with its camera and has an excellent low light imaging.

It’s always there when you need it. Coz it’s either in your pocket or in your handbag (for ladies) all the time.

Huge LCD/LED/AMOLED display in High Definition.

Cons

Not all smartphone cameras has the manual function.

Can’t use external flash or multiple flashes (yet?).

No multiple lenses. But can use an add-on plastic lenses to produce some of the effect like fish-eye and wide angle.

Small image sensor and poor high ISO image quality.

Image produced is still not as sharp as a DSLR.

Having said all that, people nowadays are starting to look into smartphone photography because it is available all the time. Our phones are with us all the time. Photo sharing is becoming a norm. The word “
selfie
” has been added in the dictionary and is the
word of the year in 2013
, all thanks to the smartphone camera.

Credit: www.patconnid.com

When we go to an event or a concert, all we see in-front of us are people holding their smartphone high up in the air taking pictures or selfies. There are even a contest on
Best Smartphone Photography
 that’s been going on. A book on
smartphone photography
 has also been written and published. And the public are really pushing their smartphone camera functions to the limit.

Taken with DSLR with long exposure.

With almost the entire world are using their smartphones to take a picture, it is really a sad story for DSLR users when they know that their time is almost up. Maybe I’m just over exaggerating. But technology has managed to squeeze all the bells and whistles of the DSLR into a smaller and more compact device.

On the other hand, technology did help a little bit in making the DSLR better. With the emerging market for
Micro Four Thirds
 (MFT) cameras, all the wonders of DSLR is becoming smaller. Smaller cameras can have an interchangeable lenses. The latest full frame camera by Nikon, the Nikon Df is also very small and has that classic appearance. The FX camera for Nikon is getting smaller and lighter too. Like the D610 for instance, is a full frame camera with all the pro functions in a smaller and lighter body. Now photographers won’t complain so much about having to carry a heavy camera in their bags anymore. Okay, at least it’s lighter.

Taken with a smartphone camera.

So now I’m seeing all of  it as practicality. Having a DSLR is still a must for photographers as it is very versatile and that they can customize the functions according to their needs. Having a smartphone camera is very practical because it is with us almost all the time. No doubt that some photos taken with a smartphone are really beautiful sometimes. But try not to make silly duck face while taking a selfie, okay?

Back to the subject, are the smartphone cameras killing the DSLR? Maybe not yet.

What do you think?


Oppo and CyanogenMod – A Beautiful Relationship

For a long time now, I have loved the
Oppo
 smartphones. Since the release of the
Oppo Find 5
, I fell in-love with the design and simplicity of the phone. Running on Android Jelly Bean, the Find 5 performs so well even though the hardware is lacking the latest “engine”, so to speak. But the Snapdragon chipset quad core 1.5GHz inside the Find 5 still made it very competitive.

Now comes the
Oppo N1
. Although the N1 is not using the latest Snapdragon 800, which is the highest spec for a smartphone chipset to-date, the Snapdragon 600 inside the N1 is very snappy. Just like its Snapdragon 600 device competitors, the N1 stands out in terms of functionality. You cannot touch the back of any other smartphones as how you touch the N1. The O-Touch panel at the back of the phone is revolutionary where users can simply rub the phone the right way in order for it to do certain functions. But what I’m going to bring forward today is the Android OS inside it.

The N1’s ColorOS has a very simple user interface with functions that are easy to use and understand. But, there are still some bloat-wares installed. Many other smartphone makers have customized “launchers” for their smartphones as a their brand. Like Samsung with their TouchWiz interface and HTC with their Sense 5. Oppo N1 has what they called, ColorOS. But what Oppo did with their Find 5 and N1 is very smart. They tied up their OS development with
CyanogenMod
, a third party Android “modifiers” team who over the years developed a much more reliable and light weight Android operating system without the bloat-wares.

CyanogenMod ROMs are very popular among those who seeks an alternative Android system other than their standard out-of-the-box OS. I am one of those people. I have been modding my phone since I was using the first Galaxy phone series, the
Samsung Galaxy
. Yes, just Galaxy, without any other nicknames that comes after the word Galaxy. When I got the phone, the Android version was Android 1.5 Cupcake, which then I received an update to Android 1.6 Donut. Still, the performance was VERY sluggish and I wanted to remove all the bloat-wares in order to make it go faster. Lucky for me, I found CyanogenMod. Back then it was CyanogenMod 6 (CM6) and it worked wonders. After every bloat-wares were thrown out, the phone managed to perform well enough for daily usage.

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Back to N1, Oppo did very well in marketing their flagship smartphones. The Find 5 was marketed beautifully and the N1 was marketed with innovation in mind. Other that the famous camera function that can rotate 206 degrees, they now have a fully functional CyanogenMod ROM being sold as a special edition device. How awesome is that?

Those who have used CyanogenMod, will definitely get the Oppo N1 CM version without hesitation. I would buy it too if I have the money. But for now I can only watch and read about it from the web.

Another surprise release from Oppo that I read today is that they officially released the CyanogenMod 10.2 for all Oppo N1 smartphones. Which means those who bought the standard version of the N1, can now download the CM10.2 for their N1 for absolutely free! This is exactly why I love Oppo. Not only they produce an awesome smartphone, but they are making sure that their customers get the best of both worlds. In this case, hardware and software. Why do users like me love CyanogenMod? Because it is bloat-ware free and better performing than the normal one.

I don’t know if anyone in Malaysia are using the N1 or not but I do know that it is quite rare to see an Oppo device over here. But if any of you do have the N1, here is where you can go and find out how you can install the CM10.2 to your phone and download ->
Oppo Forums

To end my post, all I can say is that I love what Oppo is doing and their after sales services are awesome.


Phone Comparison Review – Ninetology U9 X1 vs Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini

Last week, I was given the opportunity to test these two phones – a
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
 and a phone by a local Malaysian company,
Ninetology U9 Series X1
. The time that was given to me for my evaluation is one week. So I split the usage time between the two phones as 3 days each and 1 day for last minute tests.

As the first introduction – about me, I used to blog a lot a few years back and I mostly blog about places, things I do, food I eat and also tech & gadget reviews. Now I’m back into active blogging again. I love gadgets, I love technology and I love to play around with them. So that’s why I was given this opportunity to test these two smartphones this week.

Second introduction,
Ninetology
 is a smartphone and mobile device company in Malaysia that has been around for about 10 years or so. Only recently that most of us heard about them and their new line of smartphones. Their main target market are from the ASEAN countries and they do have offices around the region. Currently they are running a blogger’s review programme called the “
Tech Kaiju Arena
“, where bloggers will be given a one week to use and then review the smartphones in their respective blog(s). So now I will give my own personal and “honest” comparison review between these two smartphones.

There’s a bonus at the end of the blog post for my readers. Be sure to check it out.

Now for the phone comparison review, let’s start.

First Look & Specifications

Let’s take a look at the basic technical specifications for these two Android smartphones.

Ninetology U9 Series X1

Platform

Chipset: MediaTek MT6589 Cortex-A7

CPU:  Quad-core 1.2GHz

GPU: PowerVR SGX544

Operating System

Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean

Memory

Internal: 16GB ROM with 1GB RAM

External: MicroSD Up to 64GB

Display

 Size: 4.8 inch

Resolution: 720 x 1280 Super AMOLED HD

Capacitive 5-point, IPS Touch Screen, 309ppi.

Camera

Rear Camera: 13 MP 720p HD

Front Camera: 2 MP

Camera Features

f2.0 Aperture, 2nd Generation BSI, HDR, Zero Shutter Delay, Panorama shooting, Face Detection, Fast Burst Shot, HD video recording (Video Effect)

Connectivity

Dual SIM support on GSM/HSDPA network.

Ninetology U9 X1 overview

The Ninetology U9 X1 looks big due to the 4.8 inch screen, but small enough to use it in one hand. But for those with smaller hands or for the ladies, they may have to operate this phone with both hands. The response is quite fast. The clarity of the display is surprisingly vibrant and very clear. And the transitions are smooth between one desktop screen to another.

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Ninetology U9 X1 overview – Sides and battery compartment

You may notice the yellow/gold-ish strips on the inside of the phone’s back cover (pic above, bottom left). That is actually the additional network antenna receiver for the extra boost of network signal. That’s why when I was using this phone, I got full signal bar in places that I usually don’t get full coverage in my other phones. Battery capacity is 2,200 mAh and it can last me the whole day.

Now for the contender.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini

Platform

Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8930 Snapdragon 400

CPU: Dual-core 1.7 GHz Krait

GPU: Adreno 305

Operating System

Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz UI

Memory

Internal: 8GB ROM (5GB user available) with 1.5GB RAM

External: MicroSD Up to 64GB

Display

Size: 4.3 inch

Resolution: 540 x 960 Super AMOLED Multitouch 256ppi

Camera

Rear Camera: 8 MP

Front Camera: 1.9 MP

Camera Features

3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini overview

Honestly when I held this phone in my hand, I almost felt like it is the
Apple iPod Touch
. The size, the thickness, almost similar. Of course the iPod Touch is thinner but the overall feel is the same. Or that’s just me. Anyone can definitely operate this device in one hand with ease. The screen is bright and vibrant. The operation is smooth and it is really doing well for a dual-core phone. The extra RAM does help to smooth everything out.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini overview – all around.

Although it is the smaller and cheaper version than it’s flagship big brother, it still has that premium feel to it. The whole structure feels sturdy with no loose parts. That means there’s no creaking sound when I pressed all around the sides of the phone. With the Ninetology U9 X1, I do feel and hear some creaking sounds, especially around the top edges.

Now, both phones have a physical home button at the bottom center of the phone. I don’t quite like it because the phone can be “awaken” from standby mode by pressing this button. With the X1, there was one time that I had the phone in my pocket and without me knowing, the phone made about 5
Google Hangout
 video calls to my contacts randomly. I didn’t create the security unlock function yet at that time and I only use the “swipe to unlock” function instead. So I’m assuming that while I was walking, the button get pressed, and the friction does all the swiping and pressing and making the calls. So that’s a no for me. I don’t like the physical home button on both phones.

Next page -> System Overview

1

2

3

4


Publika Solaris Dutamas – Night Photography

Here I go again with another night photography photo. I already did one the other day which was the view of
Kuala Lumpur skyline
 with KLCC in the foreground. That was quite good but this one was an impromptu shot. But since I’m looking at improving myself at night photography, I took another shot at it but this time without my tripod.

Click picture to enlarge [+]

Given another try, I would shoot it differently. By different I mean different settings for the camera. I would leave the shutter to open much longer with higher aperture value and lowest ISO possible. That will make all the movements more blurry and everything else brighter.

Not really happy with this one though. Comments?

Photo Properties

Camera: Nikon D90

Nikon 18-105mm VR kit lens

Focal Length: 35mm

Exposure: 10s

Aperture: f/11

ISO: 100

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Review: Ninetology U9 R1 – The Slim Imaging Wonder

When I first opened the box, I was amazed to see such a slim phone. The bright red looks really good on this one. I’ve been told that the camera clarity on this phone is really good so I can’t wait to put it to test straight away.

The
Ninetology U9 R1
 is a super slim lightweight smartphone powered by Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with a quad-core 1.2GHz processor and 1GB RAM. As far as where endurance is concerned, this phone did well for me. After I installed the usual apps, it still performs well under harsh usage on daily basis.

The box is quite big for keeping in something so small. But it’s ok I guess.

All comes standard. Phone (duh), USB charger, earphone, rear plastic case and the warranty/manual booklet.

Here’s a brief specifications on the R1

Platform

Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1.2GHz Quad Core CPU

OS

Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean

Memory

4GB ROM/1GB RAM, up to 32GB MicroSD

Display

4.3 inch screen with 960 x 540 resolution

Camera

8 megapixel rear shooter, 2 megapixel front camera. Autofocus, LED flash and face detection.

Battery

Polymer 1800 mAh

Other features

Dual SIM, Snapdragon Battery Guru, FM Radio

The mid range specification is similar to some of the budget smartphones out there but so far, the R1 is the prettiest. The slim design made it feels premium and unique. Although it is small by today’s standards, it is quite comfortable to hold. But having a shiny rear casing surface made it highly prone to fingerprints.

On the right side of the phone, we have the power/standby button whereby the volume rocker button is on the left side. Under the cover is the non-removable polymer battery that is unfortunately didn’t last long enough for an entire day use. I did a full charge in the morning and by noon, the battery is down to 60%. The
Snapdragon Battery Guru
 helped a little. I probably managed to save about 10% battery when I activate this function.

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Good thing about Android phones by
Ninetology
, they use the original Android interface rather than having a customized launcher. What’s good about it is that it maintains the original Android experience which is easy to use without having to understand how to customize a certain launcher, like others by Samsung’s
TouchWiz
 or HTC
Sense
.

This is what I call simplicity. It’s not much of a looker but it’s simple. Besides, there are so many other launchers that we can choose from in the Play Store. Launchers that I like are
Nova
,
Apex
 and
Smart
 Launcher.

Jelly Bean 4.1.2 is considered old by now. I do hope that Ninetology have an update for this phone so that at least I feel better to use a more up-to-date device. If they can port this phone to use Android 4.3, that would be great. Better yet, upgrade to
Android 4.4 KitKat
. Nice.

From the title of this blog review post, I did mention something about “Imaging Wonder”. And I mentioned that the rumours I heard about the camera clarity is much to talk about. Let’s see how the photos that came out from this phone looks like.

First, the camera interface. It is basically the basic camera UI that comes standard with every Jelly Bean powered phones. Easy to understand and, well, standard.

It is still using the old interface but it’s okay.

Let’s see some pictures! ->

1

2


Sailfish OS on Android Device? Yes Please

Last week I blogged about the launch of the new
Jolla platform and its Sailfish OS
.
Jolla
 is the name of the entire smartphone entity while
Sailfish OS
 is the mobile operating system for the phone. Sailfish OS derives from the old
Meego OS
 made by
Nokia
. What’s good about the new Sailfish OS is that it can be ported into almost any Android based smartphones but only if you are a developer and only if you know how. It’s a difficult task, but not impossible.

Now the good news. Recent rumour that came out is that you will soon be able to install and use Sailfish OS in your Android devices. Okay, probably your older Android devices. You don’t wanna ruin your brand new Nexus 5 or Galaxy S4 now right? Good.

The Jolla team is making everything much simpler for end users. They will make it “fairly easy” for anyone to install their new OS to any Android device. Don’t worry about the apps compatibilities because Sailfish OS supports Android’s apps and APKs. That’s right. You can actually use, download and install any Android apps on Sailfish OS. That is probably their main advantage over Windows Phone platforms because the apps market is already there and it’s huge.

Everything else should be working fine with the OS if you install it in your Android phone. Somehow Sailfish OS does not support LTE for now although the Jolla smartphone has the LTE components installed. They still have a few testing stages to go through and after that we can see some of our smartphone geeks installing it in their phones via leak websites. I assume all will be fine by Q1 2014 and we may be able to try it out ourselves. We shall see how it goes by then.

– Read from
XDA-Developers

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Cobra Jumpack: A Power Bank That Can Jump Start Your Car

CES 2014 introduced so many new tech stuffs. From a
cute mini drone
 to a
huge bendable TV
, the future is getting more like what we imagined during the 90’s (except that we don’t have any flying cars yet).

Speaking of cars, have you ever parked in a secluded spot and when you arrived at your car, the car battery died? If you’ve been in this situation before, don’t worry. You can now jump start your car by using a power bank. To be exact, the
Cobra Jumpack
.

This little device is made by
Cobra Electronics
 and was introduced during the CES2014 that is currently still ongoing in Las Vegas, USA.

Here’s an excerpt from Engadget:

At this year’s CES, Cobra is introducing the JumPack, which it says is a game-changing device for jump-starting — an odd-sounding statement, no doubt, but we have to agree. The 7,500mAh portable JumPack (CPP 7500) looks suspiciously like your run-of-the-mill external smartphone/tablet charger, and it’s the smallest jump-start power pack we’ve come across. It features a 200A starting current and gets up to a peak current of 400A, which is enough to give your car’s battery a few jumps — given that it only takes three to four hours to recharge, it should be more than enough to manage those unfortunate situations in a lonely parking lot. It also comes with a built-in flashlight as well as USB output (2.1A) in case you want to give your smartphone a power boost.

I personally think that this particular device will come in handy in case of emergency. I just hope that it will be made available in Malaysia.

Source:
Engadget

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Comparison Review: Ninetology U9Z1+ vs Lenovo K900

Another comparison review. This time, it’s the battle between the premium
Ninetology U9 Z1+
 vs
Lenovo K900
, the current high-end smartphone by Lenovo.

Ninetology
 has come out with many new devices to add on to their arsenal. This time around, the new ones are codenamed “U9” for all their new models. Ranging from entry level such as the
Q1
 and the
P1
, to the mid range ones like the
X1
 and
Z1
. In this review, I’ve tested their current best…the U9 Z1+.

The Z1+ feels premium, thanks to the “Aluminium Mid-Housing Bezel” which allows rough handling and thus making the phone more sturdy.

The phone does feel solid. I really like the size which is not too big and not too small. The Corning Gorilla Glass gives the extra protection on the surface.

Now, moving on to the comparison review. Here is the brief specification and some images for the Ninetology U9 Z1+.

Ninetology U9 Z1+

Platform

Chipset: MediaTek MT6589 Cortex-A7

CPU:  Quad-core 1.2GHz

GPU: PowerVR SGX544

Operating System

Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

Memory

Internal: 16GB ROM with 1GB RAM

External: MicroSD Up to 32GB

Display

Size: 5.0 inch

Resolution: 720 x 1280 HD

Corning Gorilla Glass 2, Capacitive multi touch point, IPS Touch Screen.

Camera

Rear Camera: 13 MP

Front Camera: 5 MP

Camera Features

F2.2 Aperture, Autofocus, HDR, Continuous shot(up to 99 shots), Smile & Face detection, Anti-Shake, Quick Panorama. Front: Self timer, BEAUTY mode

Connectivity

Dual SIM support on GSM/HSDPA network.

The big sized box comes standard for every single one of Ninetology’s U9 series phones.

We can find all the usual things inside the box such as the USB charger, manuals and obviously the phone itself. But in this case, the Z1+ also comes with 2 extra special goodies, a World Travel Adapter made by
Skross
 and a 4,200 mAh power bank. I don’t have the power bank when I got the review unit as it was being used elsewhere. And I will get to the Skross travel charger later on.

As usual, Ninetology phones uses dual SIM for full convenience. As for the battery, 2,000 mAh last me about a full day use. Just nice to cover 10 hours of standby and usage.

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The camera on the Z1+ is quite good. Also comes with the LED flash but the brightness is just so-so. And here we can see the aluminium mid-housing bezel clearly in this one.

Moving on to the contender. Lenovo K900.

Lenovo K900

Platform

Chipset: Intel Atom Z2580

CPU:  Dual-core 2.0 GHz

GPU: PowerVR SGX544

Operating System

Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

Memory

Internal: 16/32GB ROM with 2GB RAM

External: None

Display

Size: 5.5 inches

Resolution: 1080 x 1920 pixels (401 ppi)

Corning Gorilla Glass 2, IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen

Camera

Rear Camera: 13 MP

Front Camera: 2 MP

Camera Features

autofocus, dual-LED flash, Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection

Connectivity

Dual SIM support on GSM/HSDPA network.

I really like the box that houses the K900. By one look, we can tell that it is a premium phone. And the K900 is powered by
Intel Atom processor
, which is a totally different chipset than all those I’ve reviewed recently. The 2GB of RAM helps a lot too. Using this phone is a breeze. But if you stay online too long, it tends to heat up a little bit at the rear top area, where the antenna is. This is probably due to the (almost) solid aluminium casing.

Standard stuffs inside the box…USB charger, earphone, extra ear buds and manuals.

The heated area that I mentioned earlier is located near the camera at the back of the phone. The heat is quite noticeable after long use. But it’s not really hot that you can cook an egg on it.

Took me a while to look for this. At first I didn’t notice the pin inside the box. And I was wondering how do I open the SIM slot. Good thing I double checked the box again and found the pin neatly in its place under the inner box cover.

The K900 really works well even under stress. I loaded as much apps as I can in the phone and it still performs well and is very stable. Quick and responsive, that’s how I would describe it.

Next: User Interface (UI) ->

1

2


Comparison Review: Ninetology U9Z1 vs Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3

Close to a month ago I did a review on a
Ninetology
 phone vs a
Samsung
 phone, and recently I did another review on phones made by the same companies. This time is more like a battle of the giants!

Ninetology U9 Z1
 is the largest Android smartphone made by Ninetology to-date with 5.7 inch screen. One the other side of the ring is the
Samsung Galaxy Mega
 with it’s huge 6.3 inch screen. Both of these phones can be in the phablet category but the Z1 can still considered as a smartphone rather than a phablet.

As how I did the last time, I split the usage between the two phones as 3 days each. Both phones are good. The Z1 feels solid and the size is still manageable but the Galaxy Mega is too big for me to handle in one hand. Let’s check out the brief specifications for both phones.

Ninetology U9 Z1

Platform

Chipset: MediaTek MT6589 Cortex-A7

CPU:  Quad-core 1.2GHz

GPU: PowerVR SGX544

Operating System

Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean

Memory

Internal: 16GB ROM with 1GB RAM

External: MicroSD Up to 64GB

Display

Size: 5.7 inch

Resolution: 720 x 1280 HD

Corning Gorilla Glass 2, Capacitive multi touch point, IPS Touch Screen.

Camera

Rear Camera: 12 MP

Front Camera: 5 MP

Camera Features

f2.2 Aperture, 2nd Generation BSI, HDR, Zero Shutter Delay, Panorama shooting, Face Detection, Fast Burst Shot, HD video recording (Video Effect)

Connectivity

Dual SIM support on GSM/HSDPA network.

If you look at the spec above, one thing that stands out is the camera. Front camera is 5 megapixel. Where can you find that in any other phones? That I like.

For a large phone, we need a large box. Ninetology’s standard sized box is suitable for this matter.

I really like the aluminium finish for the back cover of the Z1. It really gives that premium feel when handing this phone. To insert the SIM card(s), I just have to pop out the small cover at the rear top side of the phone. Simple as that. The battery cannot be removed though.

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Inside the box, you will also get a plastic back casing and also a flip casing. This is good because you won’t have to drive around town to look for a flip cover for this phone. Ninetology not only give you one, but two types of covers. Nice.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3

Platform

Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8930 Snapdragon 400

CPU: Dual-core 1.7 GHz Krait

GPU: Adreno 305

Operating System

Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz UI

Memory

Internal: 8GB ROM (5GB user available) with 1.5GB RAM

External: MicroSD Up to 64GB

Display

Size: 6.3 inch

Resolution: 720 x 1280 SC-LCD Capacitive touchscreen 233ppi

Camera

Rear Camera: 8 MP

Front Camera: 1.9 MP

Camera Features

3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama.

The Mega has 1.5GB of RAM. Trust me, that extra 0.5GB of RAM really helps, especially when the Mega only runs on dual core 1.7 GHz CPU.

I like the fact that Samsung is keeping everything so compact. A huge phone like the Mega can fit into a relatively small box.

The Mega is so huge to hold. But yet it is not too big that it is difficult to type on the keyboard. But someone with small hands such as the ladies may have a problem handling this phone from time to time.

For such a small box, Samsung can still managed to cramp all these stuffs inside it. Everything in the box is pretty standard, charger, manuals and handsfree kit/earphone.

User interface ->

1

2

3


Edison: Intel’s New PC The Size Of An SD Card

With this, we are looking ahead to more wearable gadgets in 2014.
Intel
 has revealed a tiny PC called “Edison” at the size of an SD card, powered by a dual core processor. It is said that the tiny PC is a “full Pentium-class PC” at a shape and size of an SD card. Yes, that’s the card which we use in our digital cameras.

Edison is running on Linux, and it has a built-in WiFi connectivity as well as Bluetooth. There’s a specific app store made by Intel especially for Edison.

How does it works? Here’s an excerpt from TheVerge.com:

To demonstrate the potential for Edison, Intel showed a concept for a “Nursery 2.0.” In the concept, a baby was wearing a Mimo onesie outfitted with sensors tracking things like temperature, and Edison was used display that information on, of all things, a coffee mug. When the baby was comfortable, blinking lights on the mug show a happy green smiling face, but when something is wrong that face turns red. A much more useful application, however, involved using Edison to switch on a bottle warmer when your baby starts to stir, that way it’s ready come feeding time.

Source:
TheVerge.com

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Google Glass? No. It’s Galaxy Glass!

Some of us didn’t get to play around with the Google Glass yet (me included) but Samsung is reportedly in the midst of making their very own glasses, dubbed as Galaxy Glass.

So now Google will have a new competitor this coming September when Samsung launch their new Galaxy Glass in Berlin during the IFA trade show. But the Galaxy Glass may be different than the Google Glass. Galaxy Glass may work only as a connection between your current smartphone to display any incoming messages or calls, or to display your location map if you’re lost somewhere. Google Glass is a fully functional Android device by itself, so is the Galaxy Gear smartwatch. So we have to wait and see the final product to know its full functionality.

“The new smart glass to be introduced by Samsung is a new concept of wearable device that can lead to an exciting culture of communication,” the unnamed official said, according to the report. “The smart glass will present our aim to lead the new market with proven capability. Wearable devices can’t generate profits immediately. Steady releases of devices are showing our firm commitment as a leader in new markets.”

No further detail was given about the Galaxy Glass’ hardware so far but one thing for sure is that Samsung will collaborate with another Samsung subsidiary, Samsung Display, in order to create the Galaxy Glass.

I have not tried the Google Glass yet. I would love to play around with it and to know how it feels and work the functions. I would think when the Galaxy Glass will soon start a trend when it’s launched to the public and knowing how Samsung fans are, this is a trend they won’t miss.

Source of news:
Mashable.com

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Lenovo ThinkPad 8: The Best Windows Tablet So Far

2014 is probably the year of the tablet war. Apple recently launched the iPad Air and the iPad Mini, both with Retina Display. So what’s the next best thing that we can get without the Apple price tag? Here we have the Lenovo ThinkPad 8, the one that they said to be a fully functional PC in the palm of your hand.

Lenovo is maintaining the name ThinkPad in this one. For what we used to know, ThinkPad is a name IBM used for their top of the line laptops before Lenovo took over the company. And in recent years, we know that ThinkPad is Lenovo, but in laptop form. So when we say ThinkPad, automatically we process the name in our heads as laptops.

That is the thing of the past. Lenovo unveils their latest tablet during the recent Consumer Electronic Show (CES2014) in Las Vegas with a promise of making the PC, more mobile. This I think is a very good move by Lenovo. We used to see the tablet as being either too sluggish or lack of power to be a PC/laptop. This the game has changed with this one.

The ThinkPad 8 is made to focus on power and maximum usage as a full scale PC. It is the first tablet to feature 1920 x 1080 resolution produced by any other manufacturer other than Apple. It is powered by Intel Atom quad-core 2.4GHz processor with 2GB of RAM. The 16GB space variant comes with WiFi without 3G but the 32GB space version comes with 3G network.

You can also connect the ThinkPad to a TV via the micro HDMI port and use the tablet as a normal computer. Just attach a keyboard to the USB 3.0 port then you have an instant laptop/computer.

The Lenovo ThinkPad is a 2-in-1 device, in my opinion. It can be a tab, while at home it can be my PC. Cool? Yes! Microsoft Office suite comes with it, I think and any office work can be done with this tab.

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I’m just waiting for this to arrive in Malaysia and it’s a high probability that I might get one. We shall wait and see.

Source of info:
TheVerge


Next iPhone Will Have 4.8″ Display

Any of you starting to complain about the iPhone being too small and that the screen is not big enough? Yeah, me too. Well, I never had an iPhone before and probably because I feel that the screen is too small by today’s standard anyway. But fear not, Apple has reportedly decided that the next generation of iPhone will have a 4.8″ display.

Thank you Apple and I think it’s about time they come up with a larger screen iPhone. A friend of mine was using the iPhone 4s and to me, the screen is way too small. This comes after I was using a Samsung Galaxy Mega for a review, which has a huge 6.3″ screen. So imagine me having to squint my eyes to read the text on the 3.7″ display on the 4s. Yes, to me it’s too small. And then the same thing happens when I played around with the iPhone 5s. The 4″ screen on that one is still too small for me.

So for Apple to finally release an iPhone with a 4.8″ display is good news. I think this will market well among the consumers this time around and we might see some Android users make a move to Apple or return back to Apple. It’s a plausible move.

Apple will usually launch their new products sometime in September but this time around, we may see the release for the next iPhone as early as in June 2014. No confirmation on that yet but we shall see how it goes.

Source of info:
GSMArena.com

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Normandy Photo Leaks Reveals Nokia’s First Android

I have posted something about
Nokia Normandy
 a while back and it is something that I would like to see come to reality. Normandy is a code name used by
Nokia
 for the upcoming and first ever Android device. It is a “better late than never” type of move by them, while already having a strong user base for their
Windows Phone
 market. Even their Windows Phone devices are moving up a notch in terms of internal hardware specifications. Their entry level
Lumia 525
 is already using 1GB of RAM, as opposed to the older but more expensive
Lumia 720
 which only has 512MB of RAM. And the
Lumia 625
 is LTE capable.

So, hardware is already good. Built quality is excellent. And by all means, the hardware specification is ready. Only thing to do now is moving on to a different operating platform. For what I found out, it’s coming really soon.

Thanks to
Evleaks
, we now have a glimpse of the upcoming Normandy device. As we can see, the Android development is currently in full steam ahead. Nokia has made some heavy tweaks on their Android OS. The User Interface (UI) seems more like a cross between Windows Phone and
Asha
. We can see some of the Asha elements after seeing the designs of the icons. It is also said to support dual SIM.

According to The Verge, Nokia is using a special forked variant of Android that is not aligned with Google’s original version.

Although we already starting to see the development is indeed in progress, we still won’t know the actual fate of the Normandy. This is because the Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia is still ongoing thus putting the Normandy project in limbo. The fate of Normandy will only be known in a few months, after the acquisition deal is settled between Microsoft and Nokia.

Read from:
The Verge

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Pebble Steel – A Solid Upgrade

At the moment, all tech geeks in Malaysia are glued to the news coming from the largest tech show in Las Vegas. The
Consumer Electronic Show 2014
, better known as CES is currently going on with lots of new tech gadgets being revealed. I kept myself well updated, because well, I’m a tech geek too. But one of the gadgets being revealed is the
Pebble Steel
 smartwatch. This I like!

My best buddy, Ronny, owns the first generation Pebble smartwatch and it didn’t appeal to me much because of its plastic casing with rubber strap. But yes, the Pebble is an excellent smartwatch to own as opposed to
Galaxy Gear
. I prefer the Pebble than to Galaxy Gear anyway because of the simplicity and functions. No point owning an
Android
 based phone and then buying an Android based smartwatch for you to wear. Kinda overkill right?

Back to the Pebble. The new Pebble Steel looks really good. The USD$100 upgrade from the first generation Pebble is worth it. What they did was upgrading the software and apps, and then cover the Pebble with solid steel casing and it comes either with a steel strap for a good match, or a leather strap for a nice premium feel. The Pebble Steel comes in two colours, silver and black.

Towards the end of January, Pebble will be launching their own app store for the users. The app store is basically where users can go to in order to download an update, skins/themes for their watch faces as well as other goodies.

Watch the Pebble Steel announcement video:

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Project365 #1: Old Market

A place for shopping, it once was. Before high rise buildings were built around the Old Market. It is a place almost forgotten at the turn of time. Nested in the center of a Northern town, the Old Market has lost its beauty during its hay-day. But yet, the common folks who lived to tell the tales of the Old Market still lingers close. For this was, and still is their place for making a living, in a modern era.

Location: Pekan Rabu – Alor Star, Kedah.

Note
: I’m trying to revive my old hobby, which is the Project365. One photo a day, for 365 days. I tried to do this in 2013 but I failed. Now I’m going at it again. Hopefully 2014 will be a good year for me. Do follow this blog. I will be uploading photos for the Project365 here on daily basis, or when I have the time. I may backdate some photos but rest assured, I will try my best to get all 365 photos up this year. Thank you for your support.

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Project365 #2: The One and Only

Click to enlarge

Project365 – Day 2.

Often, we would go by our day forgetting that we are not alone in the world who fails, who stumble, who feels miserable. There are always someone who is far worse than us, but they got up as soon as they were beaten down. And having to fight each day for survival in the modern world, we get knocked down many times over but those who bounce back will succeed. So  looking back at ourselves, we are not the only one who goes by each day fighting. But while doing so, we must not forget the only One.

Location: Shah Alam, Selangor.

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Project365 #3: Full of Zest

Click to enlarge [+]
Project365 – Day 3.

What do you do when life gives you lemons? Make sure you have an ice cold tea to go with it! Which also means, doesn’t matter what you’re getting in life, it can be good if you’re able to look at the bright side when things goes wrong.

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Project365 #4: Passing Through

Click to enlarge [+]
Project365 – Day 4

Evening comes, rush hour begins. Citizens from the town making their way back to their dwells trying the beat the rush hour. Don’t be late, for you might miss your ride. But luckily, this one is just passing through.

Location: Kuala Lumpur Train Station

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Project365 #5: Lonely

Sometimes, being alone does not mean you’re lonely.

Note: From now on, my Project365 photos will be posted from my Instagram account. Follow me and my Project365 progress in Instagram -> @kazwann or
http://instagram.com/kazwann

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Project365 #6: Speedy Hobby

Project365 – Day 6

It may be a toy or a craze for a normal person. But to those Tamiya enthusiast, this “toy” is more than just a play thing. And for me, I’m just keeping it for personal collection. Something I couldn’t buy during my younger days.

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Project365 #7: Cat Nap

Project365 – Day 7

You shall not pass. This is where I sleep.

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Top 5 Best Entry Level Smartphones in Malaysia – January 2014

Everyone wants to own a smartphone nowadays. It has become an essential to many of us. Being “offline” is not a cool thing. If you want to be in with the rest, you have to own a smartphone. But what can you get if you’re on a budget? I have been testing and reviewing some of the entry level smartphones available in the market out there and now I have come up with my own version of top 5 list and most of these smartphones are below RM800.

Check out my list of “Top 5 Best Entry Level Smartphones in Malaysia for January 2014”. All prices are based on the cheapest price that I found around the web.

#5 – Ninetology U9 R1

I reviewed about this phone last month
. It is a very chic and slim entry level smartphone made by a Malaysian company,
Ninetology
. Why would I recommend this phone? Because it’s slim and small, plus the quality of photos that snapped out by the camera is excellent. Most of the entry level smartphones are using a Mediatek chipset for the processing power. But surprisingly the R1 is using a Snapdragon 200 1.2GHz quad core processor with 1GB of RAM. Keyword, Snapdragon. To me, a Snapdragon processor performs great on any condition, even on the lower end devices. Plus, this entry level smartphone comes with 1GB of RAM, which is more than sufficient for daily use. Price: RM799 by Ninetology Malaysia.

#4 – Huawei Ascend G525

The
Huawei Ascend G525
 is a quiet entry level smartphone. “Quiet” here means, not many people know about this particular phone. But quiet doesn’t mean tame. The specifications for this smartphone is almost identical to the Ninetology R1, with the same Snapdragon 200 1.2GHz quad core and 1GB RAM but comes with higher resolution display. Almost all other bells and whistles in this phone is similar to the R1, except that it’s much thicker. Why I put this in the list and in number 4? Because it’s cheap! Price: RM459.

#3 – Nokia Lumia 625

The only odd one in this list. The
Lumia 625
 is a Windows Phone 8 based smartphone with a nice 4.7″ screen and powered by a dual core 1.2GHz Krait Snapdragon processor. The only qualm that I have with this phone is the 512MB of RAM. It’s just too little. 1GB of RAM is the standard nowadays. Fortunately, Windows Phone based smartphone doesn’t take up much of RAM space. So with only 512MB of RAM, the Lumia 625 performs well and there’s visually no lag at all. With some of the older Android phone that comes with 512MB RAM, we can actually see the lag when we open an app or scroll down on a webpage in the browser. But with the Lumia 625, none of these happened. So I applaud Microsoft for making a really good OS this time around. And this device comes with LTE network. Cool! If you want something different, this will be a good deal for you. Price: RM759.

#2 – Lenovo S650

Lenovo just acquired Motorola from Google
. So what does that tell you? Lenovo is about to become the main contender to go against Samsung, Apple and all other “big brothers” out there. So before they hike up the price for their smartphones, this is a good time to buy one of their entry level or mid range smartphones. One of their latest and in my opinion, their best entry level smartphone, is the
Lenovo S650
. At the heart of the processing power is the new Mediatek quad core 1.3GHz CPU with 1GB of RAM. It also comes with 8GB of space, unlike the Ninetology R1 and the Ascend G525 which comes with only 4GB of space. Screen size is bigger too with 4.7″ display. So if you’re looking for a nice entry level smartphone, I would recommend the Lenovo S650. Price: RM599.

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Edit (14 April 2014):
 Lenovo has also released a few new smartphones recently with a price tag below RM800. The new Lenovo smartphones are
Lenovo S939
 octa-core (RM729),
Lenovo P780
with 4000mAh battery (RM699),
Lenovo S660
 (RM599) and
Lenovo A859
 (RM649). Those are some of the ones that I know of. Others like the dual-cores ones are selling at a much lower price.

#1 – Moto G

Motorola has been acquired by Lenovo. But that doesn’t mean they will go down. Google still has a share in Motorola so what ever that comes out from Motorola or Lenovo, Google will still have a big role in the game.
Moto G
 is at the top of my list for the best entry level smartphone for January 2014. The big brother of Moto G, the
Moto X
, already won the hearts of the pure Android users and developers. Moto G is about to do the same thing. Released in December 2013, this younger sibling to the X is cheap and surprisingly very quick with its processing power. Snapdragon 400 1.2GHz quad core is the heart of this baby. Comes with 1GB of RAM and with an option of 16 or 32 GB of space. And being a Google developed phone, it is also upgradable to Android 4.4 KitKat. I fell in love with the Moto G when it was first announced because it’s a phone developed by Google and it’s cheap but I was skeptical about the processing power. But after reading more about it on the net and watching the reviews on YouTube, I know by then that this phone is going to be a big hit. Looking at the specification, it is not that great. But Google has made some special modification in the processor and the base kernel that it became much snappier. And now, it landed on my list as the best entry level smartphone. Price: RM688.

There you have it. My list of the best entry level smartphone for January 2014. Some of you may heard about these phones, but some may not. But I’m sure that the unsung silent heroes such as the Ninetology R1 and the Huawei Ascend G525 is almost unheard of. But the performance for those two are really commendable. Then we have the Lumia 625, the only Windows Phone OS in the list and the only one with LTE network.

Lenovo and Motorola are about to become one giant smartphone maker. The Lenovo S650 is Lenovo’s latest addition to the family. Good quality build and bigger ROM space. And finally the Moto G is the best performing of all. It’s my current favourite entry level smartphone and I will highly recommend the Moto G to whoever who wants to buy a cheap Android device.

I hope this list will help you with your dilemma if you can’t decide which cheap smartphone to buy. Thanks for reading.


Watch How Ultrasonic Array Levitate An Object

I would never think that ultrasonic wave can do such things. But it’s cool nonetheless.

An excerpt from Engadget:

Ultrasonic levitation has been possible for awhile, but it’s not very practical when objects must typically hover along a single axis. University of Tokyo researchers Yoichi Ochiai, Takayuki Hoshi and Jun Rekimoto have cleared this hurdle with an ultrasonic array that can push items around in 3D space. The machine creates a focal point from a three-dimensional standing wave; users just have to alter the wave’s properties to move whatever is caught inside that point. The technique can manipulate a wide range of materials, and it’s safe to disrupt with your hands. While the array will need to scale up before it lifts objects much larger than matchsticks or screws, it already shows that we don’t need exotic technologies like tractor beams to float things through the air.

Have a look at the video and see how it is done. Amazing!

Source:
Engadget

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10 Tech Things Going Obsolete

As we evolve, technology evolves too. From what used to be only a handful of (rich) people owning a mobile phone back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, to what we see today where even kids in pre-school have a smartphone in their pocket. Time changes everything indeed.

I remember owning my first mobile phone back in 1995 or was it 1996. It was an Ericsson phone. It was one of the smallest phones at the time but it was bigger than the famous Nokia 3310. It only has one line of text displayed in monochrome LCD, not suitable for SMS. Now, who needs SMS when we have WhatsApp?

Having said that, most of the things we used to have back then are going to disappear soon, or already gone. Maybe. After reading an article in a recent Mobile World magazine issue about things that are going obsolete, I too have a few things to add in that particular subject. I will also list the things that are mentioned in the magazine, just to share with you but with more elaborate details. Here goes…

1. Television

Well, I’m not talking about Astro here. But then maybe I am. Who needs a TV when you can watch Astro on-the-go on your smartphones? How about YouTube and NetFlix? How about downloading your favourite TV shows on your smartphones using Torrent? We are soon abandoning our TV sets because of these streaming medias. All thanks to the Internet speed that is getting faster and faster (Malaysia still have to catch up tho).

2. Text Messages (SMS)

The only time we receive an SMS is when the Telcos are sending us updates on their services. Would you send SMSes everyday to chat with your friends like we used to? Not when we have WhatsApp, WeChat, BBM, KakaoTalk, Line, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangout, KiK, Viber,…etc.

3. Physical Mouse & Keyboard

Somehow these two things are still needed. Good for them. I for one still use these two items during my day to day working hours. But, touchscreens are getting popular nowadays. You don’t have to point with your mouse anymore, you just have to touch it. Keyboards are being replaced with on-screen keyboards, sometimes we can use voice recognition to “type” the words for us. Yep, we’re going all Star Trek soon.

4. Removable Media/Storage

This goes for CDs, DVDs and flash drives. These are still in use of course. But there’s one thing that is gaining popularity. It’s called the “Cloud”. Here we have Dropbox, Box, Mega, OneDrive, Google Drive…all named differently but having the same function, that is Cloud storage.

5. Standalone GPS

The normal standalone GPS devices are no longer in demand. Today, devices that has a GPS function comes in many shapes and sizes. One obvious device is what we carry with us everyday, which is our smartphone. Nokia has the best navigation app on a smartphone so far, the Nokia Drive. But iPhone and Android users are able to download many other GPS apps on their phones, depending on their preferences. We have apps like Papago, Garmin, Waze, Cygic and even Google’s famous navigation software, the popular Google Maps.

6. Point and Shoot Camera

How many of you think that your smartphones take better quality pictures than a cheap point and shoot camera? And if it’s better, our smartphones can make it even better with so many free camera apps. You can even apply some cool effects to your pictures. So who needs a P&S camera nowadays?

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7. Keys

Keys? Oh…this is for the new upcoming technology which is known as keyless entry. No wait, this has been around for many years already. Many hotels don’t use keys anymore. They use cards to enter the rooms. Even cars too. One of it for example, is the Aston Martin which uses a watch made by Jaeger-LeCoultre that can unlock the car by pressing a button. Keys in the ignition? No need. Thanks to the Push Start button, we don’t need keys. Of course, the car owners would have to key in a password or do a thumb print scan to activate the Push Start button as a security measure.

8. Music/Movie CDs and DVDs

Still in use but let me ask you this. Do you actually buy a CD at Rock Corner? Or do you go there to look at the new selection, list out the names and then go home to download them? Same method applies for movies too. And then we have these things called iTunes, YouTube, Pandora and other online radio streaming where we can also record and save it in our computer.

9. Scanner/Fax Machine

I have done this before. I took a picture of a document with my smartphone and “scan” it using an app and save it in my phone for later use. We also have CamScanner and other scanner apps to scan any documents and save it into PDF. And then what? Need to send it as fax? No problem. There’s an app for that too. It’s available for free and some are paid. Available for iPhone and Android. How about that?

10. Laptops/Notebooks

This is last on my list because I think we still need a laptop to be carried around in our bags if we’re working outside the office, or for mobile offices. But soon it may be replaced by tablets. You name it, iPad, Galaxy Tab and Windows Tablets are getting popular. Who wouldn’t want a tablet? It’s lighter than a laptop, easy to carry around and nice to play games on it. Believe it or not, the current specifications inside the tablet is far more superior than a high-end PC back in the early 2000. And it’s cheaper too.

So there you go. I don’t know if I miss having the good old retro devices and using them on day to day basis. I can’t really feel it yet. Perhaps we can only feel it once it’s totally gone, like
Game & Watch
.

There, I’m done with my list of “10 Tech Things Going Obsolete”. I know there are many other tech things and gadgets out there that people are abandoning. I can’t think of it all at the moment. If any of you readers know of any other things that we used to have and are going obsolete, do share with us in the comment section.

Thank you for reading.