Thursday, December 22, 2011

Be smarter than your Smartphone

It crossed twitter few days ago a line saying "be smarter than your smart phone" I guess this hits me a bit with how things are now. Phones get smarter, but are we?

Pada dasarnya, telefon, handphone, tablet, pad, gadget,.. atau apapun itu, dibuat untuk mendukung kegiatan kita sehari-hari. Kata kunci? "mendukung". Saat ini tampaknya, seperti diperkirakan, keadaan agak sedikit berbelok dari niat awalnya. Gadget bukan lagi alat pendukung kegiatan.. atau sekedar alat komunikasi. Gadget itu .. Lifestyle, Fashion Statement, sampai status!

Things have evolve soooo fast! Sekarang bukan jaman 2 handphone lagi. 3!!. Salah satunya pasti ada Blackberry.! bener ga? Mulai dari Om-om yang bawa men purse sampai anak SMA. Dari tujuan "biar telpon murah, pake cdma.. yang 1 khusus buat nelpon" sampai "ini telpon kantor, ini pribadi".. ada juga ya "ini istri gw ga tau......" pfft!

Antrian gadget masih menjadi tren yang luar biasa. Tahun lalu kita dikagetkan dengan launching pertama nokia communicator di seluruh dunia yaitu di Indonesia,.. tahun ini adalagi dengan peluncuran Blackberry Bellagio yang juga pertama kali di dunia,.. di Indonesia. Bedanya, kali ini memakan korban sekitar 3 korban patah tulang dan 90 korban pingsan. Not bad lah ya? -____-

Tampaknya, Blackberry, yang kenyataannya di Amerika anjlok harga sahamnya, masih menjadi yang paling dibela-bela-patah-tulang-dan-pingsan di sini. Pangsa pasar operating system handphone di AS 80% dipegang iOS dan Android. Bahkan, Omset Appstore milik Apple, lebih tinggi dari Blackberry keseluruhan.

Lalu, Vertu makin banyak yang tidak takut memamerkannya! handphone mewah yang bisa mencapai ratusan juta ini ternyata tidak sendiri. Pernah dengar Gresso, Amosu?

Berapa banyak dari kita yang merasa harus memiliki gadget terbaru? baru memikirkan butuh atau tidaknya, belakangan? *disodorin cermin*

Yang terbaru, hadir dalam bentuk yang mempercantik gadget "biasa" yang sudah dimiliki. Dalam bentuk.. simple casing. Tapi, bukan casing biasa kalau tidak menyatakan status. Ini contoh leather case iPad dari Hermes yang harganya lebih mahal dari iPad-nya itu sendiri ($800 - $1400)

Itu hanya beberapa contoh tentang bagaimana sudah berkembangnya industry ini. Bagi para pengusaha tentu bisa melihat peluang yang luar biasa darinya.. mulai dari produksi gadget sendiri (contoh KohHengky dengan Ti-Phone-nya hihi) atau produksi casing aksesoris, content provider, sampai isi rington! (bukan ringtone)

Semua diatas sangat menjauh dari kegunaan gadget pada dasarnya yang merupakan pendukung kegiatan, untuk komunikasi, multimedia, organizer, atau bekerja itu sendiri. Tidak sedikit yang tidak tahu cara menggunakan meng-install aplikasi, mengunduh dan meng-edit dokumen,.. bahkan banyak yang lebih tahu cara menggunakan facebook dan twitter.

Gaptek masih jaman?

Setidaknya, semua gadget terbaru yang saya beli, saya ulik abis,.. selain cinta saya terhadap dunia teknologi tetapi juga menurut petuah tadi "Be Smarter than your Smartphone" .. Remember, it is human who create smartphones!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Reviewing the slim & sexy droid: Motorola RAZR Droid

Yesterday I briefly tweet sneak review of Motorola RAZR. Now I'm gonna rewrite here, and dig deeper.

Here we go...

Okay you must remember Motorola had a phone launched named RAZR? the very slim one that comes in several colors? yeah! here comes the latest version! still slim, sexy but packed with a whole lots of new things (bigger, touch screen, and android!)

Mine is not for sale! haha!





I'll show you how slim is RAZR, comparing the old and new:

This time RAZR droid is 7.1mm.. the thinnest android phone compared to 8.49mm Samsung Galaxy S2 and 9.4mm iPhone 4S! sickishly slim! (is that even a word?)

Still on the form factor. I like the kevlar meet aluminum meet gorilla glass back cover that looks premium. I love it!


Lets move on and have a look at the battery. Bad thing is its irreplaceable (just like iPhone). Considering the size, I guess they MUST made it that way. Good thing is, its 1780mAh (onyx 2 1500mAh, Dakota 1230mAh, Samsung S2 1850mAh, iPhone 1420mAh).. but its only numbers. The life of your battery depends on its life cycle (how many times you charge it), the use (whether its 3G? wifi? bluetooth? applications on, screen brightness, etc.. etc..). It claims to survive 8hours. I don't have that much time to test it. I gotta return this sexy thing! *broken hearted*

The insights? we call this "jeroan" in Indonesia. It packs 1.2 Ghz dual processor, which is not the fastest out there and 1GB ram. Fast enough for a size this slim


I promised you yesterday on my twit that I'm gonna share some pics result. Remember.. result also depend on the way you look at it! I mean.. DISPLAY! Here's how it looks on the phone comparing to iPhone 4 & Dakota:


Here's how it looks after I transferred it to computer:

Blackberry Dakota

Iphone 4

Motorola RAZR

The reason of why RAZR have more color on screen rather than after its being uploaded? the 4.2" Super AMOLED display that it has.

See.. super AMOLED is a new thing in display section. Samsung S2 uses super AMOLED Plus but RAZR support Pentile technology. AMOLED, for it to be easy lets say.... the black is REALLY BLACK! (relax Ario, we're not talking about skin color here, phew)

*the picture was taken at the same time. Sorry that I only have those other 2 phones with me*

What do you think?

Here comes the question. Why does it only packs with Android Gingerbread? not Honeycomb nor Ice Cream Sandwich? any andro geeks out there can help me with this? Gingerbread is 2 generation behind the new Ice Cream Sandwich (for those who are confused with all the FLAVORS here, I'm actually talking about the operating system and why its not the latest one)

Its a very sexy device that packs above average beef inside! with a price of less than 6 million Rupiah, I think its a catch! I give 9.5 for form factor and 9 for overall! its slim & sexy, who could resist? :')



Thursday, December 15, 2011

iPhone 4S : Reviewed! -- in a comma --

I've been doing this small survey on twitter asking my followers on which product I need to review. And, as promised, the winner is.... iPhone 4S.. with the total voters of... THREE! yeay.. out of over 1600 followers! I'm amazed of how enthusiast my followers are -_____- *yawn*

Imma do this review bilingual yeeeee... #justincase

iPhone 4S was already launched in several countries... dan Indonesia belum (surprise surprise). Gw beli i4S gw nitip dari temen di Perth. It cost me (di konversi) 7 juta. not bad for a iPhone 4S 16gb, early user! Waktu itu gw nitip 2, 1 buat temen gw, tompi, which is excited like a kid sitting in front of a chimney waiting for Santa on Christmas!

Basic knowledge on iPhone 4S:

1. first thing first is POWER. Jeroan 4S tumbuh! sekarang, iPhone 4S pake prosesor yang sama ama iPad 2. A5 dual core processor and a 512mb ram! anggep aja 20-30% lebih cepet, kira2! Make apps runs smoother, faster & less glitch, or hang, jam pasir, or whatevs...

2. it packs 8mp camera. I know "mp" doesn't mean a thing, kalo ga di print!, tapi, To me, iPhone4s is the best in MOBILE Photography! by far!! ini fotonya juara banget. Auto focus works fine, and the power of @instagram. Siapa yang ga tau instagram? online photo sharing community that changed the way people take photos on mobile phones!

3. SIRI: now how do I explain this.. Bahasa kerennya: "an intelligent software assistant and knowledge navigator functioning as a personal assistant application for iOS, anggep aja ada robot asisten pribadi di dalemnya!.

Siri adalah satu fitur yang harus diperhatikan di iPhone4S. Perlu diketahui bahwa Siri tidak menaruh database jawaban-jawaban atas pertanyaan kita, di dalam handphone.. tapi di simpan di server Apple. Yang artinya, setiap kita bertanya ke siri, Iphone4s akan mengirim rekaman suara pertanyaan kita, untuk dikirim ke server, dan kembali lagi dengan jawaban! So? it will cost you data connection! ini bahaya untuk yang paket dengan providernya, LIMITED! tanpa disadari, tagihan jebol!

Siri juga belum fully functional di Indonesia. terutama di semua hal yang berhubungan dengan lokasi.. misalnya tanya alamat, tanya restaurant, pompa bensin, ATM,... dll... yang sebenarnya sangat lancar di US

Siri juga sensitif menerima perbedaan aksen. Ada setting aksen US, Aus & UK. tolong ya diperhatikan.. thele is no Singapolean English laaaaaah

Kekurangan iPhone 4S yang lain adalah baterai. Sesuai hukum alam rimba dunia gadget. Semakin canggih suatu gadget, semakin banyak konsumsi listriknya. Artinya, batrenya semakin banyak kerja, borosssss.... dan ini diakui Apple. Hadirlah update iOS.. 5.0.1.

The following story might only be valid for my phone only.... here it goes:
I was so shocked knowing that my iPhone 4s went chaos after upgraded to iOS 5.0.1. It keeps losing signal without notice, and everytime it happens,.. satu satunya cara untuk bener? reset! Its not a freaking solution! Kenapa ini harus kejadian setelah Steve Jobs ga ada?? :S

Setelah browsing, it was between happy nor sad knowing I'm not the only one in the world. Silakan dibaca nih... https://discussions.apple.com/message/17004092#17004092

Jadi masalahnya ada di ketidakcocokan iOS 5.0.1 dengan SIM Card. Punya tompi ga masalah, punya gw MasyaAllah!! Gw pake XL (tompi T-sel) dan mereka ga bisa bantu karena XL belum menjual iPhone 4S. I'm well stuck!

Bottom line, I think you should postpone your intention buying iPhone4S until I SAY SO! hahaha.. I mean.. until Apple fix these problems (battery & sim compatibility). You might get lucky like Tompi, but hey.. who wants the risk!??

So I gotta spare iPhone4S lying around in a comma, waiting for an antidote from Apple. God save its soul!

Monday, June 13, 2011

HTC Flyer Review


Yow yow... sup dawg? aslik norak!

So yeah, Ive been using HTC Flyer for about a week now and I think its due for a review. Shall we?

I've sold my 64gb iPad 3G to my dad including the casing and the keyboard for a fair price.. but.. the hassle is... It is easier to teach my 1 year old nephew than my 55year old dad! x_x.

Enuf for dad-bashing.. its time for the real review!

Operating System:

A huge difference on using an HTC is that it uses Android as its operating system, version 2.3 gingerbread to be exact. iPad uses iOS .. remember?

The main important difference between Android & iOS is that one is open source, one is not. Open source means, or at least one of it is, it can be use multi-hardware. Android spreads it users through HTC, Motorola, Google, Samsung, Asus, LG, even to those "2nd line" mobile devices like Nexian, BlueBerry, ti-phone... iOS only available in Apple devices (iPad, iPhone & iTouch).

Android 2.3 Gingerbread is not the latest. The latest is 3.0 Honeycomb while Apple is coming with iOS5. other than that.. I think its habitual (tergantung kebiasaan maksudnya kakaaaak)

Processor:

1.5 Ghz flyer & 1Ghz A5 for iPad: ofcourse Flyer wins this area. but what about the dual core processor from LG? Acer Iconia. @gadtorade claims that Flyer is faster?? I haven't tried the dual core tho..

Screen Size:

Flyer has the same screen size Samsung Galaxy Tab, which is smaller than iPad. 10" is nice to view but 7" is perfect to hold... what do you think? its all preference. I believe its equal when it comes to resolution.

Camera:

This part, Flyer wins BIG time against iPad! not because its 5mp is THAT good, but because iPad2 camera is THAT bad! (iPad 1 ga ada kamera cyin, ga usa rempong nanya deh)
Both has dual camera, I tried taking pictures with both devices, both cameras, and uploaded it to my mac.. pooff.. Flyer winsssssss!

Seems like I'm comparing it a lot to iPad. Don't be surprised coz I just converted from it.

What iPad wins is at its AppStore depth! there are more than 100,000 apps at AppStore compared to about 20,000 apps on Market (Android's application store).

And what about hacking/cracking... err.. jailbreaking?

iPad have it, installous.. so far its good for all devices running 4.3.3 and below... EXCEPT?? the iPad 2.. yes. its not jailbroken yet. Android? it has that kinda software called blapk market (www.blapkmarket.com). Register, and takes max 1 day to be approved.


What makes Flyer different to other tablet is its Magic PEN. This pen is not only styles, like back at windows mobile era. It actually an electrical pen that can be selectively active in selected area. Its quite different. its good for marking, highlighting text.. circling, etc...



The BAD?

err.. I gotta be objective:

1. The lack of accessories.. till now, I can't find a screen protector yet.. I believe its because of its not that popular yet.
2. The white leather case..I don't like it at all.. come on! white casing? zzzzzzz
3. The form factor: no device can beat Apple's beauty
4. this is THE WORST disadvantage: BATTERY! battery really drains fast, especially when you have the HSDPA, 3G, wifi on all at once! less than a day! .. apalagi klo main? :(


all in all.. its a challange to learn sumthin new! we'll see how I go with this ;) till then....

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

WWDC World Wide Developers Conference

What is WWDC?

Its an apple famous event where they usually launch new product on a form of a neat, simple presentation, or should I say.. keynote!..

This morning .. till now.. I'm reporting the WWDC on my twitter: @sheggario .. so it won't be redundant, lemme just copy my twit here:

start from the very top:

"Good Morning! I'm watching WWDC @ apple.com! Have you?? You better!! :)"

" world wide developer conference. Buka apple.com. Watch the keynote & see how ur jaw drops!!"

" : World Wide Developers Conference : its a famous apple event where they usually launch new products! "

"At last night (our time) , apple launch 3 new AWESOME things: Mac OSX Lion, iOS5 & iCloud ! www.apple.com"

" Mac OSX Lion is the new Mac operating system after Snow Leopard! It has over 250 new features! On the keynote, it explains its top 10"

" don't worry. It was live last night at 12pm. Now you can watch it anytime streaming @ apple.com. No rush tho :)"

"I'm always amazed how apple does their keynote (presentation). I think its the only way to do your presentation! "

"Apple always compares themselves to PC & how it has beaten them! The keynote shows that Mac users has grown 27% while PC DOWN -1%! "

" baru akan dijual juli bro. $30. Downloadable. Skrg baru dilempar ke developers (pembuat software), blm publik. Ditunggu ya :)"

" Lion top 10 nu features: Multitouch gestures, FullscreenApps, MissionControl, Appstore, Launchpad, Resume, Autosave, Versions, AirDrop"

"Wait a minute, that's 9..here we go..I like the new MAIL! better view, search smarter & better threading emails! works better for me! "

"Kantor dulu aaaah... lanjut nya nanti.. u all gotta see iOS5!!"


there goes the break.. on my way to office... continue:


" Luanchpad on OSX Lion makes ur mac looks like iPhone/iPad on showing the apps, with catagories as well! Beauty!"

"Lion's Multi-touch gestures, FullScreen Apps & Mission Control works together perfectly! Deadly combo for you to work faster & better "

"While Lion's new feature: Auto-Save, Resume & Versions creates a safe & secure feeling while you work! Never loose anything! "

"You can't! :D RT : with all those announcements made at last night, how can you escape from Apple's sophisticated environment?"

"RT : The Big 2011 Keynote Roundup: "

"1 more: Appstore! No. 1 place to buy software, beaten Best Buy, Amazon, etc! Its included in Lion! & works with more feature! "

"OSX Lion will be available to DOWNLOAD on appstore July 1st for $30. I'll be buying original! I think its just worth it! :D "

"HACEP! Hahaha RT : nangis garuk2 tembok g ngliat OS X Lion yo! merinding disko 90an gmana gitu hahaha.."

"How's my macgeek friend doing? Macgasm on ? "

"Shall we move on reaching climax? On iCloud? iOS5? "

"You had ur macgasm yet watching dear ? ;)"


Even this disturbing twit! :P


"Bikin drop -__- .. RT : almost the same with Ubuntu 11.04 launchpad, both look appealing."

"Who hears use MobileMe? (Me) Better move ur data fast, coz iCloud is coming! (Okay) What's iCloud? "


and this....


"Tambah drop -__- .. RT : ga maksuud sumpahh! :D klo ada waktu senggang bolehlaah cek Ubuntu ... "

"Gw jd bingung gmn jelasin MobileMe & iCloud! x_x .. Gimana sih maaaaaass!! "

"iCloud stores your music, photos, apps, calendars, documents, and more. And wirelessly pushes them to all your devices — automatically "

" iCloud .. personal online storage khusus apple,.. dmn bisa share file between mac & iOS devices.. gitu kira2"

"jadi, iCloud itu smacem personal online storage (free 5GB) data, music, photos, contacts, calendar, video.. all.. no syncing needed "

"Apple does it better with its Appstore & iTunes Store power! :) RT : ICloud itu sama kyk Clou… (cont) "

"So, U buy songs, videos, books, apps.. it stored on iCloud for you to use in ur mac, iPhone, iPad & iTouch.. (compatibility based) "

" lom..well at least blm sepublik ini.. :P"

"iCloud is not so interesting to me tho.. coz we Indonesian suka menggoyang, nyolong dll! hahahha.. jelbrek bos! lanjut ke iOS5 "

"when I say iOS, its the operating system that runs in ur iOS devices. Which is iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch or iTouch. so u dont get lost "

"Apple has sold over 250 MILLIONS iOS devices! (25 million of them are iPads)! not bad hey? not bad at all! "

" RT : RT : i love apple !"


Even I made mistakes :|..


"sorry.. it was 200 Million iOS devices.. not 250.. but hey.. it'll reach there before the end of the year I bet! :P "

"Apple claimed iOS is the MOST USED mobile OS at 44% (Android 28%, RIM 19% Others 9%) its a world statistic. I bet here is different ;) "

"Notification Center is a new feature on iOS5: it collects all notifications, good thing? yes! new? not! Android does it first! "

"There's an app on Cydia that helps you do that now.. called the Lockinfo! tried it? moving on.... "

"so after iOS5 "kills" lockinfo.. whats next? Zinio! will be beaten by Newsstand? like iBooks but for magazine & Newspapers "

"I'm off for a meeting.. will be right back to report you ! :D"


Hang on....


"Ok I'm back.. back to reporting now.. ready?!?"

"So yeah.. Newsstand is a new app on iOS5. It acts like iBook but this time it focuses on Magazine & Newspapers! save paper? :) "

"the new Twitter Integration on iOS5 meaning you can relate everything u do to twitter.. it integrates to most apps "

"1 new feature you might like on iOS5 might be the iMessage. its like moving your BB Messenger.. to iPhone, iPad & iTouch!! am i right? "

"iOS5 updates camera app to have a shortcut button, updates photos to be able to edit, & mail to be more powerful! what else? "

"PC- Free is crazy! no more computer to connect your iOS devices? nice! lets chuck our computers! give it to Somalia! SOK! "


then comes the misspell :(


"chuck? chunk? whatever! you know what I mean :P"

"OSX Lion: you can upgrade when they are out, downloading from AppStore.. but??? its 4GB!!! it'll take ME a WEEK to download :( "

"iOS5? dont rush downloading when they come out.. coz u know the thumbrules.. early ones, dont get jailbroken! ;) "

""Keeping these devices in sync, is driving us crazy! .. *cough*" - Steve Jobs .. getting old, sick & skinny, Steve! :|"

"iMessage = Apple's Nuclear bomb for RIM's Blackberry Messenger!! "Die RIM, DIE" "

"Hi Apple Ladies, been following my timeline? "

"the thing about iCloud is.. Google does it first!! gotta hand it to them. But, we'll see who does it better! "

"Apple big flops was MobileMe! now.. they get a chance to fix their name with iCloud.. we'll see Steve, we'll see... ;) "

"Ati2 sesat! LOL RT : ai gak follow yor taimlain, but ai follow yu ;) :p"

"OSX Lion costs $29.99, iOS5 upgrade? FREE, iCloud? FREE .. thats how competitive the industry has become "

"For Apple App's developers.1 tip, don't make apps too brilliant & essential or apple will steal them! :D (LockInfo, Zinio, Things) "

"another thing on iCloud: .. think about this.. so apple have ALL your data on THEIR storage? what do you think? "


and umm... bit of my sadness, my tears in Indonesia...


"I hope Steve Jobs can also give solution to our CRAPPY data connection! I'm talking bout all operators here! CRAP! :| "

"That will be all folks! my report on ! gadget world has reached new level! I luuuvvvinnn it! back to trashy tweet! :D"



Helps??

Monday, May 30, 2011

Instagram!!

Hey! whats with all the buzz about instagram?

Instagram is a err.. a new kind of social network that lets user to share photos, like them, and comment them! but, the beauty of it is that it lets users edit, add filter, tilt & shape, etc! so its kinda like a social network to brag about their photos! I'll show you my pictures on instagram! I'll let you know on a different post on HOW to do it! it involves not only instagram ;)

*pictures are all created using ONLY an iPhone4 and they are copyrighted :)




















Friday, May 27, 2011

The talk of the town... iPad2



Hey! its been ages since I fill this blog. I remember I was writing my last one with a baby dinosaur on my lap... Now I'm writing watching bulls' new era under Derrick Rose.. that long?

Lately, I got so many iPhone, iPad to Jailbreak.. mostly are iPhone 4 & iPad 1.. on firmware 4.3.3, its very doable and very straight forward really. Not getting any request for iPhone 3G & 3Gs coz their old. But what about iPad 2? this soon-to-come-officially gadget is the talk of the town. "should I get one?" "should I sell my iPad 1 now? and save for iPad 2?" so many ways to answer this subjectively. Let me start comparing.

iPad 2 compared to iPad 1:

Yes, its better! in what way? It is true that its slimmer, lighter and most importantly.. faster! .. has an A5 processor with white & black front finish. I still prefer the black finish but some of you might think it differently!

The fact that it is lighter and slimmer is also an advantage. Kinda tiring to read ibooks, webpages, or anything on iPad 1 considering its weight! LLP = Lama Lama Pegel! :|

1 significant thing that makes iPad 2 better than 1? is the camera! iPad 2 has 2 cameras .. back & front! back for taking pictures, front for facetime! BUT! (a big BUT, not BUTT), sorry for saying this but the quality of the camera is just SUCK! big time! worse than any camera on a phone i can remember! plus its no flash! I once twitted its result.. wonder where they are now.

iPad 2 is being sold the same retail price when the first iPad was launched. Since iPad 2 was launched, the iPad 1 was reduced for $100. Remember, this is retail price on the web. Sure is different when it reaches your local apple store. As I write the blog, the iPad 2 is being sold from 6 - 10 million Rupiah depends on models & storage size. sure it does looks more expensive than iPad 1. but is it worth the gap?

Now, what about comparing iPad 2 with the other tablets?

Lets see.. what else coming?


the better-version-from-previous-tab Galaxy Tab 10.1?



the pen-based HTC Flyer?




the what-the Motorola xoom?




the never-gonna-come Blackberry Playbook?


I'll discuss bout them later on a different time! uda ngos-ngosan nih nulis blog segini doang! hahaha..

1 additional but controversial opinion from me is that, up till now, the iPad 2 is NOT jailbreakable.... YET! I know soon it'll come. but to me its a huge disadvantage that it only can run paid apps! I ain't dat rich! or just stingy and cheat! hahaha

So.. I'm postponing my decision on buying the iPad 2 based on 2 main reason: price & umm.. unjailbreakableyet! *notsureifitisaword* Some of you have got'em. Even my impatient brother got'em! good for me, I can try it but good for you bro?

You make your call. Buy for the beauty? buy for the style? buy for the excessive money? Buy just because its the talk of the town??

Sekian, selamat siang