So, fanboy vs anti-fanboy vs agnostics aside, why don’t we try to experience how (almost) it is like to surf the web on an iPad. Follow this simple step and have fun!

Step 1: Install Google Chrome

“Why not Safari?” I hear some of you might asked. There’s a reason for this. But rest assured, the experience would be similar since both of these browsers are indeed based on WebKit. You can download and install Google Chrome here.

Step 2: Change your screen resolution to 1024×768

Now let’s match your computer’s screen resolution to match the iPad’s. If your display driver allows you to rotate the screen, you can choose to do so too!

Step 3: Install CubeMe Google Chrome Extension

This extension will replace all the Flash content on any website with the signature ‘Blue Cube’ that you would see if you’re surfing with the iPad. This will make the experience more accurate.

Download CubeMe Chrome Extension

In fact, if you watched Steve’s keynote on the iPad launch you’ll notice that this blue cube actually shown on the big screen:

Step 4: Start Surfing!

Now, start surfing your favorite sites! With the exception of auto-zoom feature in the iPad, you’ll experience how rich (or how poor) is the experience of using the iPad to surf your daily favorites.

What I did is I surfed the New York Times webpage, and yes, that blue cube is there alright!

What about you? If everything turns out alright, then the iPad is for you, but if everything seems to look like the blue cube, then, please, by all means, stay away from the iPad.

I guess Nokia is trying to keep up with the competition, like Google Navigation, which is available to most Android devices, and it’s also coming to iPhone pretty soon. Good work, Nokia!

Download the latest version of OVI Maps with FREE Navigation now!

What is it, really?

This machine, in my opinion is a crossover between a netbook and a notebook. Why? Firstly, it is pretty small, the display is 11.6″ in size, and it sports the 720p TV’s resolution (well, similar) – 1366 x 768 pixels, but it’s not as small as a typical netbook (typically, a netbook’s display is between 8″ to 10″ and their screen resolution is anywhere between 800 x 480 pixels to 1024 x 600 pixels. HP calls it “Entertainment Notebook”.

Secondly, it is designed in such a way that the front part of the notebook (okay I’m gonna call it a notebook for sake of simplicity), where the touchpad and palm rest is, is thinner than the rear (a-la MacBook Air), giving you the impression that this unit is really, really thin.

Technical Specifications

• Processor: Intel Pentium SU4100 (1.30GHz, Two Cores, 2M L2 Cache, 800Mhz FSB)
• Memory: 2,048 MB (that’s 2.0GB) DDR3 RAM
• Display: 11.6″ 1366 x 768 (widescreen)
• Storage: 250GB 5400RPM SATA HDD
• Battery: 6-Cell Battery (est. lifetime ~ 4.5 Hours)
• Graphics: Intel GMA4500M (memory shared with main memory)
• Expansion Ports: 3x USB 2.0 ports, 1x HDMI port, 1x VGA-out port, 1x Ethernet (gigabit), 1x mic/headphone port (auto-sensing), 1x 5-in-1 Card Reader slot
• Connectivity: WiFi (Broadcomm 802.11 b/g), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• Others: VGA Webcam and Microphone
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic (32-bit)

This little thing packs quite some punch. With Intel GMA 4500M on board, this means this unit can decode full HD movies without much challenge (that means that HDMI port is of a good use after all).

With 2GB of main memory, while I agree that it is nothing to shout for, but it is decent for most daily tasks. 250GB 5400RPM SATA hard disk is pretty good too, enough to store quite a lot of materials, and pretty speedy as well. Some notebooks are equipped with the slower-variant 4200RPM disks, while these disk saves some power, but they can be quite horrible in term of speed, especially when you need the machine to be ‘just a tad bit faster’ so you can load your RM 100,000.00 proposal to your potential clients.

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic doesn’t offer pretty features like desktop transparency and the pretty effects, but it gets the job done. In fact, this machine gives the impression that it is a lot faster than my desktop, because the windows don’t animate and they don’t fade!

Ergonomics

First, let’s look at the keyboard. Due to it’s small size, they keyboard is naturally made smaller as well. According to the spec sheet, this keyboard is 92% of the size of a normal full-sized notebook keyboard. The spacing between the keys are narrower as well. If you’ve never used a netbook regularly before, you will have to get used to the smaller keyboard. Tactile feedback of the keyboard is good, and the keys are silent, making that late-night chatting or working less irritating for your partners at night.

Next, the touchpad input. I have some issues with this touchpad. Firstly the tracking and response of the touchpad is mediocre (and sometimes horrible). It doesn’t seem to register clicks properly. Speaking of clicks, the touchpad buttons are placed right at the edge of the unit, and it is very stiff and noisy (it makes that sound as if you’re tapping on an empty plastic container when you click on it).

Other than these two, there’s a power button and wireless on/off button on either edge of the keyboard. Everything else (volume, brightness, display toggle) is located on the keyboard itself.

The screen of this notebook is brilliant. It’s bright, glossy and it doesn’t strain my eyes even after almost half-day of using the unit non-stop. With a decent screen resolution, viewing most websites and applications is not a problem at all.

Upgradability

Upgrading this unit in the future is made easy on the two most-upgraded components of a notebook/netbook – Memory (RAM) and Storage (Hard Disk Drive). Both items are under the same cover underneath the unit, so upgrading both will only require you to unscrew one panel (rather than two for some units).

Summary

In general, I find this unit is a very viable little notebook (or you can call it a high-end netbook). The cost is very similar to most entry-level notebook as of the date of writing, retailing at MYR 2,199.

Pros:

• Good performance
• Able to decode full-HD videos
• Lightweight (only 1.48kg)
• Awesome audio (Altec-Lansing speakers baby)

Cons:

• Touchpad sensitivity is low, with noisy buttons
• Retail package doesn’t come with external optical drive

Links

• HP DM1-1018TU Product Page on HP.com
• HP DM1-1018TU Driver Downloads Page

Would I recommend this notebook? Yes I definitely would. In fact, I want one right now!

I have been trying to jailbreak my iPhone 3G (currently at firmware 3.1.2) for a few days, causing a lot of frustration, reboots and yet, my iPhone is still not jailbroken. So after a few rounds of trial-and-error, I manage to figure out the easiest way to do this.

First: Download Blackra1n

Go to the Blackra1n’s website and download blackra1n. If you’re somehow lost on how to download (for some strange cognitional reason), click on the windows logo on the blackra1n’s website. Don’t know which one? Are you for real?

Connect your iPhone to your PC

It doesn’t matter whether iTunes is running or otherwise. Just let it complete the backup process, sync, etc. Once you’re done, launch Blackra1n, but DO NOT CLICK on the “Make It Rain” button yet!

Do not click on the button yet!

Turn off your iPhone

While keeping your iPhone connected to your PC, turn it off (press and hold the power button until “Slide to Power Off” message appear, and slide to turn it off). Keep your iPhone connected via the USB cable!

Enter Recovery Mode

Now, hold both home and power button at the same time, the phone will turn on after a while. Keep the buttons pressed until the “Please connect to iTunes” image appears on the iPhone’s screen (it’s exactly like the image above). You can now release the buttons.

Start Jailbreaking

Now, click the “Make It Rain” button, and it would start jailbreaking your phone. Wait for the phone to reboot.

Now, you can click

Install Cydia

The whole idea of jailbreaking an iPhone is to allow installation of 3rd party applications on your iPhone, potentially turning it into a fancy touch-screen “there’s an app for that” device into something phenomenal, and potentially diabolical. If you have no plans to do all these, then I have no idea why you want to jailbreak your phone. Oh wait, maybe because you just can.

Once your phone have been rebooted, you’ll notice a new App called “blackra1n” on your iPhone. Launch this app, and proceed to install Cydia:

This is how blackra1n app looks like

This is Cydia

This is Cydia being installed

Yay, Cydia Installed!

(Optional) Remove blackra1n

If for some reason you’re not comfortable having the blackra1n app remain installed, you can remove blackra1n from the app itself!

No more blackra1n

There you go! Happy Jailbreaking!

[source]

One of the aspect that the manufacturers always push forward is the on-board camera. Back then, the best we could get was a VGA (0.3 megapixel) camera, but nowadays, it goes beyond, some more than 10 megapixels, with more features thrown in – autofocus, ISO control, macro mode and more.

Having a decent camera in your pocket all the time can be put to good use, not only to capture moments of events or embarrassing drunk colleague, but there are many other use of it. Here I am sharing ten of them.

1. Parking Lot Reminder

[source]

How many of us parked our car is a big shopping mall that have almost 8 stories of parking lot, remembered the lot when you leave your car, and forgot them few hours later after all that excitement of shopping and hanging out? I am one of them, and at times I spend almost an hour looking for my car. So why not you snap the photo of the nearest pillar to your car. In case the parking lot is complicated to access, start snapping photos on the way of some key sections that you can backtrack later to get to your car?

2. Future Shopping List

This has to be done with care, as most retail stores prohibit photographs inside their premises. However, when it is possible, and you saw something that you really like but don’t have the dough for it, snap a pic or two of it (perhaps with the name/model included). Not only you can do further research online for the details, but you might just able to get it sooner by looking up best deals online! For this kind of product shot, the macro mode (close-up mode, or some call it ‘the flower mode’) is essential.

3. An Emergency Mirror

[source]

You’ve got a date, or that very important client meeting, you’re rushing for time and do not have enough time to check yourself in a mirror to make sure everything is good, no chili marks on your teeth, your lipstick is good? Your phone can be your mirror! You could snap yourself on the way up in the elevator or right before entering the premise for some quick last minute humiliation-deterring touch ups.

4. Better Way To Explain Hairstyle

[source]

It is irritating when you told your hairstylist to trim or make your hair in such a way, but they always tries to outsmart you by doing it the way they “think” is better for you, ended up with a completely bad hair day or making you look 15 years older. So the next time you went to a salon and they manage to do your hair exactly the way you wanted it to be, take snapshots of it immediately, from the front, top, side and back. Get a friend to help you with it. Next time you could show the photos again to the stylist, or print it out on paper so they get it right this time. Don’t forget to tell them to do it exactly like the photo without needing their unpredictable wisdom.

5. Music Purchase Assistant

[source]

Have you ever browsed a CD store and suddenly bumped into an unknown album by some of your favorite artists? Or perhaps a compilation that contains almost all the songs that you loved? Some people do not like the idea of having a physical CD when they purchase music. Not only it cost more in the end (especially if you only want a few songs), but you might not have all that space to store the CDs? Snap a photo of it, go back home and search on your favorite online music store, like iTunes Store, Windows Live, etc.

6. Photocopy

This is literally putting the term “photo” and “copy” into one device. You’re browsing a catalogue or yellow pages at a bar, telephone booth or post office and found a contact that you need. Don’t bother jotting it down or reciting it fifteen times to ensure it is embedded in your mind. Chances are you will either loose the written copy and you will get the numbers mixed up in your mind. You don’t want to be accidentally dial a brother while trying to get a TV supplier, right? Snap it up, keep or print it later. Saves time.

7. Parking Lot Abuse

Take a snap of your car all around before you leave it in a packed parking lot. This might be handy for you to prove that someone have failed their driving class and parked their car out of proportion, brushing or denting your car while doing it. Make sure to get the registration plates of the car around you the very least.

8. Recipes Shopping List Assistance

[source]

Making a special dish for dinner tonight? Take a snapshot of the recipe so it will be easier for you to do the shopping lateron. At least you don’t have to run to the store in the middle of cooking to get that one missing item.

9. Disassembly Steps

If you’re an adventurous (and trouble-seeker) when it comes to fixing devices like me, you will snap each step that you took when dismantling that 1000 year old grandfather clock that belongs to god-knows-how-great-grandfather of yours. This is useful for electronics too, as they usually assembled with 40 types of screws in different sizes, threads and lengths. Snap the steps as you are dismantling the item, so you know how to put it back together when you’re done with it, along with the correct screws.

10. Renting or borrowing a car? Snap before you go!

When renting a car, or perhaps borrowing cars from your family or colleagues, you might want to snap the car’s condition entirely before you start driving. This manner, if there is any dispute of damage to the car upon return, you have solid evidence that the damage is already present previously.

These are some of the practical ideas that you can make a good use of your mobile phone camera. Do you have any other good use of the mobile phone camera? Do share!

Why not add a secondary SIM card capability along with an extended battery for your iPhone 3G/3GS?

It’s just too bad that it doesn’t have a capability to run both SIMs simultaneously. But might be handy if you’re the type who have corporate and personal number that you switch as the day ends!.

Swithing is made easy with on-board application on the phone. It takes about two minutes for the switch though.

Would you spend USD 60 for this?

[Source: iLounge]

Sure, I can easily purchase external portable hard disks and carry them around. In fact, I am doing this already. However, I don’t think it’s wise for me to carry around tons of them to make sure my library is always with me. Notebook hard disks cost a lot more per GB than desktop counterparts, and they face the same risk of failure during transport.

So after careful thinking, I’ve decided that I want to setup my own Home Fileserver (to be used over LAN). I have some ideas in my mind, but maybe you guys have better idea. Note that I’m not into fancy technologies or specialized tools, all I am looking for is something affordable, reliable and doesn’t use a lot of power during idle. Ultimately I will put this device on a ventilated shelf or somewhere where I don’t really have to see it all the time.

Here’s the target spec:

Ample processing power just enough to run the Operating System and doesn’t use a lot of energy and produce very little heat. I am thinking of getting Intel Atom-based CPU. Preferably with motherboard of integrated everything to make it simple.

Good amount of memory to handle high-speed and multiple file transactions over gigabit ethernet. Do you think 4GB is enough?

Redundant Array of storage. I am looking into a very simple setup – RAID 1 with 6 units of 1TB disks. Performance isn’t really an issue here since it’s serving over LAN. I’ve calculated that 3TB storage will be enough to keep my current stuff, and enough buffer for at least 6 more months. This storage does not include the disk for the OS.

- Fast and efficient network operating system. I am thinking of either Ubuntu Server or FreeNAS.

- MicroTower Casing. I don’t want it to be obnoxiously large.

Any feedback? I’m thinking of spending for everything below RM 3,000.00.

The decision of jumping ship is not triggered by Steve Job’s keynote speech, preachers of the Apple fanboys nor my internal desire to own a Mac (well that last one might support it), but I was told that the new venture that I am currently pursuing uses Mac as their everything – office, factory, servers, etc. I had to make myself more compatible, right?

Okay let’s get down to business.

Before I proceed though, please take note that this is purely my own opinion, and looking from the aspect of a long-time Windows user. I could be biased at some part of this article. So please excuse me for that.

Initial Experience

Naturally, like many people, I was both impressed and annoyed when I first got my Mac.

I absolutely love how the unibody aluminum chassis is built. It’s solid, sturdy and it just feels right in your hands (or lap, if you want it that way). The backlit keyboard is perfect for me, as I am a somewhat psychologically-challenged touch-typist. I get my fingers wrong if I can’t see the letters even though my hands seems to know where they are. The LCD screen needs a little bit getting used to initially, as it is generally warmer than any displays that I’m used to. By ‘warmer’ I mean the color hues, not the temperature.

Right after I got the unit, of course, I wanted to put the “it just works” tagline to the test. Can it “just works” when I want it? True enough, for most daily applications, OSX pretty much have everything I need. Printers “just works” whenever I plug them in. Apple seems to include most printer drivers into their OSX. I’ve tried with my Canon iP4200, Canon LBP 2900 and Canon iRC 3220N in my office. No complaints here.

The iLife suite is good enough for me. I actually don’t miss my Adobe Lightroom so much on this one (i still do, but not so much), mainly because iPhoto does offers the degree of tweaks that I need from Adobe Lightroom. Most of the software that I use daily is available in Mac platform, including Adobe CS series, Microsoft Office, Aptana Studio, Filezilla, SSH Terminal, iTunes, Firefox, Opera and all the popular IM’s. I managed to get everything up and running within a few hours (downloading, installing, configuring).

The multi-touch-capable touchpad is fantastic. I was a little bit nervous when I noticed that the touchpad comes with no buttons at all. However, I calmed down when I discovered that the touchpad itself is a whole button on its own. You can actually push it down and click. Right-clicking is possible too, by clicking the touchpad on the lower right corner (you can actually set which corner you want, but hey it’s called right click right? So I set it on the right). Touchpad gestures are fun. One finger to move the mouse, two finger to scroll in four directions (ala the scroll wheel of the mouse), three fingers to go back and forth (works with web browsing, folder navigation and all the stock apps), four fingers upwards to show the desktop, and four fingers downwards for expose. Four fingers sideways will trigger the application switcher (alt-tab kind). The sheer size of the touchpad surface makes the gestures easy as well (see photo above).

Like most notebooks nowadays, the MacBook comes with a webcam on top of the LCD screen, which Apple happily calls it an “iSight”. They really tries to rename everything don’t they?. I am not a big fan of webcam chats, but I do find the combo of iSight and Photo Booth (a webcam photo application) can be pretty amusing for a while. The quality of the images captured by the iSight is generally better than many built-in webcam I’ve seen before. It even handles low light properly. Another cute thing that Apple did was that they have a secondary function of the iSight – it is also a ambient light sensor for the MacBook, on which it will either brighten or dim the LCD screen and the keyboard according to the amount of light around it. Something like what most phones do these days. Pretty neat for saving battery power.

The absence of taskbar in OSX does makes me go bonkers for a while, but I manage to get used to the dock, and after a while, it’s a norm.

The Good

I do not intend to prove which Operating System is better here, but rather, OSX does do things a little different. To start off, it is a UNIX-based operating system, which isn’t really a problem for me since I have pretty good command of the UNIX platform. Actually, it’s good to see those UNIX paths in my everyday computing without needing to fiddle with annoying setup and configuration routine (read: LINUX) just to get simple thing like your second monitor to work.

Going around with the Mac is wonderful. The time it takes to enter and exit the “Sleep Mode” is pretty quick (usually just a few seconds) the moment you close down or open the lid. This explains my observation of other MacBook users before this where they just fold and go, rather than fold, wait and go or click, wait, fold and go (cough, Windows). I have yet to discover the ability to put MacBook in the “Hibernate” mode which I sometime would love to, when I want to freeze my work and travel for a while before I power on the unit again. Sleep uses battery, a tiny bit.

When the MacBook is in the “Sleep Mode”, there will be a white LED slowly blinking (actually, more like fading in and out) on the front part of the unit, next to the IR receiver, which gives me an impression as if the MacBook is really snoozing off (see video above, and excuse the McD.FM songs on the background and my shaky wobbly hands).

Display is fantastic. The colors and brightness is totally even everywhere on the screen. No strange extra-bright areas on the top or bottom. I guess part of the secret is that the display is actually powered by the LED, rather than the traditional cold cathode tube, which sits at the bottom (or top) of the screen.

The sound produced by the built-in speaker is pretty much how you would expect from any decent notebook speakers out there. I couldn’t figure out where is the speaker initially, as it was actually hidden at the hinge of the unit. The hinge also contains the openings of the cooling vents.

MacBooks comes with what Apple called the “MagSafe” power connector. Basically, the end of the power supply cable that connects to the unit is attached magnetically (unlike the usual fit-n-snug kind), which they claim can avoid accidental trip-on-the-table troubles, where the cable will happily disconnect and prevent your MacBook from flying across the room. It also attracts stray staple bits that sits in your bag. Which can be initially amusing then annoying.

The optical media drive is a slot-loading type, which appears like a very long slit on the right side of the unit. These days I hardly use the DVD/CD-ROM discs for anything but occasional burning of materials for my clients or my own use. Ejecting the media can be the fun part, where you either hold the eject key for a while, or just drag the CD/DVD icon into the Trash (read: Recycle Bin) and it will be spit out of the drive.

Battery life is pretty good, it’s anywhere between 4 to 5 hours of usage (with WiFi turned on). This makes me happy.

The Bad

This is my favorite part. Like any human being, I do enjoy ranting and complaining when I can :D. So let’s start with the “Maximize” button. Apparently, OSX doesn’t really have a “Maximize” button in their system. The green button with a “+” symbol is actually called the “Zoom” button. When clicked, it won’t make the window of the application fill the screen, but rather, resize it large enough so you can see everything that is there to see. Coming from the Windows background, I have some problems getting used to this. Sometimes I really want my windows to be scaled as large as the screen but the button just refuse to do so.

The CD/DVD-ROM drive is a slot loading type, which means I am only able to stuff in my normal-sized discs into the drive. I can’t use those little CD/DVD discs, nor can I use those wedge or business-card shaped discs, of which will cost me a visit to the Apple Store to get it yanked out.

The arrow keys on the keyboard is half-height of the other keys, which can be pretty annoying if I am trying to move around a certain document, or heck, games quickly. Speaking of keyboard, Apple have jinxed some of the most useful keys that I’m used to – Home, End, Page Down, Page Up keys. While multi-tap-scrolling on the touchpad is fun, but sometimes I just want a quick one-button-scroll-up solution. Apple also get rid of the “Delete” key. Well, actually they do have a “Delete” key, which is positioned, and behaved like a “Backspace” key.

Their main command button is, no surprise – the “Command” key (sometimes it’s called “Cloverleaf” since it sports the four-leaf-clover-like symbol). So to cut, copy and paste, its Command-X, Command-C and Command-V. Pretty similar to Windows, just replace Ctrl with Command. But there’s one annoyance here, that is, the “Command” key is actually located to the left and right of the Spacebar key. I am so used to the “Ctrl” key in most Windows keyboard where they are located on the far left or far right. So keyboard shortcuts feels a little weird because now I have to use a combo of my thumb+finger to press it, as compared to pinky+finger in Windows. This took me three weeks to get used to. Damn.

While the LCD screen is fantastic, it is also glossy, which is VERY VERY annoying and distracting when Im using the unit in bright places, as you can see from the photo above. Does anyone know of any anti-glare coating for MacBooks? It feels kind of weird while typing on a MacBook, while looking at your own shadow staring at you.

My geek side is complaining of the lack of the Hard Disk status light on the MacBook. I am not particularly obsessed with seeing the HDD light blinking off and on, but at times I would like to know what my Mac is doing. Is it idle? is it busy? I still haven’t got used to this till now.

Ports – Apple only provides two USB ports that I can use for my peripherals. This can be quite limiting especially when I wanted to transfer some data to and fro multiple storage devices. I had to fork out another RM50.00 to get a USB hub just in case. There’s also no FireWire port offered in this version of MacBook (the newer one have them, damn you, Apple). So I need to be extra careful when I’m buying a Digital Camcorder next time.

Another annoyance is the Apple DisplayPort. Part of the secret of Apple’s success of making the MacBook pretty thin is to jinx the VGA or DVI display port altogether, create their own port called “Display Port” and make it smaller than then RJ-45 LAN socket. This means I had to buy an adaptor if I want to connect an external display to this unit. That converter costs me RM99.00. Tch.

Conclusion

That pretty much sums up of what I feel after a month of using the MacBook. In general, it is a very good piece of carved metal, and while it does annoys me quite a number of times, I do get impressed, and more importantly, happy. I still find it funny that Apple calls their WiFi device as “Air Port”, and no, owning a MacBook does not elongate my phallus.

01 – iPhone Wallpapers Flickr Pool

Contains more than 11,000 wallpapers for you to start feeling giddy!

02 – iPhone Wallpapers.us

– This site is similar to sites that provide ringtones, except that it provides wallpapers.

03 – All iPhone Wallpapers

– Like above

04 – SCiPhone.net

– Somehow contains more chicks-in-bikini shots than the rest.

05 – ThemeMyPhone

– Said to be for 3GS, but we all know the screen is the same size!. This site also contains iPhone/iTouch themes for those who know how to use them.

06 – iPhoneAtMo

– Also contains high amount of bikini and I-almost-can-see-stuff chicks.

07 – iPhoneWallpapersX

– Sounds Asian somewhat. Have a look

08 – DeviantArt iPhone Wallpaper Pool

– This contains a very high quality selection. Even packs!

09 – ShowiPhoneWallpapers

– Another one of those

10 – iDesign * iPhone

– This is a pretty cool website with high-quality wallpapers.

Don’t blame me if you ran out of space on your iPhone!

• Unable to tether properly, unless I choose to downgrade the OS from .247 to pre-.190, which means I will face some buggy video capability, a lot more crashes and significantly reduced battery life.
• I am unable to configure sync between my Blackberry and my MacBook even though I’m using the supplied software, regardless of the old or the new version. The only way I manage to fix this is by relying on Google Sync

While these two might not be very critical, but they are like a sting at the back of my head because it always bothers me, especially the tethering issue because I do need to go online at odd locations sometimes to do some stuff. Sure, Blackberry have excellent (orgasmic) email capabilities that are unmatched by any other mobile phones out there, but it defeats the purpose of me subscribing to an unlimited data plan if I can’t tether.

So to help me decide which direction I should go with, I am listing every phone’s pros and cons right here.

Before I proceed, please take note the following:

• I am subscribed with Celcom Power188 plan (which includes RM143 worth of calls/sms, unlimited 3.6mbps 3G data access, and also subscribed to BlackBerry Unlimited Service (BES) for RM38/month) totaling to about RM226/month. Trust me, my phone usage for calls/sms alone will hit that much, so this package is a bargain for me, considering separate 3.6mbps unlimited data plan is already RM98/month, and same goes for BlackBerry Unlimited Service (BES) which is also priced at RM98/month. I am subscribed to Celcom in case you’re wondering.
• I surf the web A LOT through my mobile. It’s good to kill time, quick research and some information gathering to make me look smarter in front of my clients, who seems to have unlimited supply of knowledge out of thin air. Gotta stay competent you know?
• I would need GPS usage occasionally.
• I want a decent camera on a phone that I can happily abuse like nobody’s business. At times taking a snapshot of a document is way more convenient than photocopying!
• I would prefer a QWERTY keyboard

So with these ideas and cost in mind, let’s see how it will fare between these three phones:

Note: Cost difference is taking into account the price of my used BlackBerry Bold, to offset the total purchase cost of the other phones.

So guys, what do you think I should do? I am very inclined towards iPhone 3GS, especially with its debut this mid-July officially in Malaysia.

Oh, and I appreciate if you could give opinion on devices that you have experienced. I have experienced BlackBerry Bold, Nokia E71 (my pop is using it), and first-generation iPhone.

Note: I’m using the good-old (read: power hungry) Nokia N95-1 as a base for this review. However it should work on most S60 v3 phones out there.

Determining which version of Symbian OS is installed in your phone

First up, how to you determine which Symbian OS version that is installed in your phone?
This is a simple process, go to the Menu -> Tools -> Utilities -> About, and you should see the following screen:

(Note: Your menu layout may vary, just look for the “About” app somewhere in there)

This tells me that my phone is running on Symbian OS S60 version 3 (Feature Pack 1) version of the OS. Most of the apps that I am going to talk about in here is working with this version, so if yours is different, your mileage may vary.

Enough of the platform talk, let’s get down to the Apps shall we?

1. Fontrouter: Anti-alias (“cleartype”) your Fonts!

Depending on the version of your Firmware, you might or might not have font anti-aliasing turned on by default. I realized that there are some anti-aliasing on N95 after I’ve read Gizmodo’s N95 article. The images of the N95 sample that they have comes with a very nice, smooth fonts on the display, while mine is jagged and just plain ugly. After some research, I came across a 3rd party application that does just this, called Fontrouter!

Check out some screenshots from TheNokiaBlog to see the comparison of before and after!

Download Fontrouter at Oasisfeng
(yeah the forum is in Chinese. I grabbed the first link on the forum post and it works like a charm)

2. Take Some Screenshots!

All the screenshots featured in this post is taken directly on my own N95 phone. How did I do it? I used a neat, little app called (duh) “Screenshot”:

If you noticed in the image above, it shows how you can simply use the camera key on your phone to take screenshot of any application that is currently open. For models without a dedicated camera button, there are a few shortcut options that you can use. All screenshots are saved in JPG format by default, saving you precious storage space.

Download Screenshot by Antony Pranata

3. Browse your files easier with Y-Browser

Symbian OS by default comes with its own file browser, called the “File Manager”. While this is good enough for most file moving operations, it is very limited in terms of access. The default file manager does not allow you to see all the files in the system, supposedly protecting from any silly accidents by certain dumb curious users.

However, if you’re the kind who loves adventure and know what you’re doing (or simply a control freak), why don’t you download Y-Browser and fiddle around? Here’s some screenshots:

Download Y-Browser

4. View System Performance, Processes, Tasks and Memory Consumption with Y-Tasks

Looking for a task manager-like tool for your phone? From the same developer as Y-Browser above, here comes Y-Tasks!

The only odd thing about this app is that it will not work on its own. You’ll need to install the plugins of the functions that you wanted (they are all in the download link below, don’t worry) to use. Here’s some screenshot of Y-Tasks:

Download Y-Tasks

5. Geo-tag your Photos with Nokia Location Tagger

If your phone have a built-in GPS receiver, you can use it to geo-tag your photos taken with the phone. Geo-tagging means that the device will also record the coordinate of the location where the photo is taken. For certain sites like Picasa and Flickr!, they have special use for geo-tagged photos. This feature is also handy in case you tend to forget where your photos are taken!

To use this app, start the app and then once its locked to the coordinate, begin taking photos. The app will inform everytime it has tagged the photos of the locations! You can also set this app to auto-start everytime the phone is started up for that added convenience (and higher battery depletion rate).

Download Nokia Location Tagger

6. Conversation – get your Nokia Chat (or you can call it iPhone-like SMS) back!

I’ve used an iPhone before this, and I really missed the chat-bubble-like SMSes. It makes texting feels like chatting, it’s fun, and guaranteed to blow your SMS bills skyhigh. Fortunately (or is that an “un-”?), Nokia BetaLabs have an app called “Conversation” that does something similar (although not quite the same). Check it out:

Note: Please read the installation note properly, as this app is not a simple one-click install. You might need to do a few things before you can install this app (it’s well documented, don’t worry), depending on which phone you’re using.

Download Conversation

7. Supercharge your Web-browsing with Opera Mini

I honestly don’t know what the folks at Opera has been doing, but this is the most orgasmic mobile browser that I’ve ever used! When I switched to N95 from an iPhone, I terribly miss the web-browsing with Mobile Safari, but after discovering Opera Mini, I get exactly what I want back, and more!

You can sign up for Opera account on their website and later setup a mobile sync within your Opera Mini browser, which will sync your bookmarks across any Opera platform that you’re using (yes, even on your PC/Linux/Mac!). This feature alone already save me a few rounds of aggravation due to lost bookmarks!

Download Opera Mini

8. Twibble for those Twitter Junkies

Twitter have become one of the hottest way to tell the entire world about what you’re doing, what you’re up to, and for the smarter ones, use it for marketing yourself, your service or your blog the easy way. In fact, even this blog is marketed via Twitter!

There’s two ways to twit via your Symbian phone. Either via the web or you can just use Twibble!

The most awesome thing about Twibble is that it can utilize your GPS device and also identify your location! A word of caution though, if you’re Hirano Aya, don’t ever turn on the GPS feature, or you’re so going to get stalked!

Download Twibble

9. GMail Mobile

Trying to open the default Google Mail (GMail) from your phone will result the site to revert to its much lighter, faster mobile version (with limited capabilities). The problem is, what if you need to access your e-mail when you don’t have radio coverage? Simple! Why don’t get an app that can store the messages offline for late reading?

To download this app though, you’ll have to open the download link below in your mobile browser. There will be a link that says something like “Get Faster GMail”. You should know what to do next, I hope!

Download GMail Mobile

10. Mail For Exchange

Those that is working in a Microsoft-powered corporate environment will appreciate this app. It allows over-the-air synchronizing with your MS Exchange contacts, calendar and tasks, as well as allow direct access to the Global Corporate Directory for some e-mail address searching.

Read more details on Nokia:
Mail For Exchange

Primary Reasons:

• iPhone is a great multifunction device, but it is in general a terrible phone.
• The reception is comparatively bad to many sub RM300 “cikai” (lousy?) phones out there. Once it goes out of reception, it’ll actually take a few minutes to regain the reception back on.
• No MMS (Picture message) support out-of-the-box. I use these quite often, so it does gets on my nerve to be needing a 3rd Party application just to have this supposedly basic feature
• The camera is not up to my par of standard. I’m not talking about megapixels here, but rather the camera in general. Very poor performance in low light, not much thing you can do with it out of the box. Yet needing another 3rd party application to make it better. No video recording, no macro. Why I’m such a fuss? because I don’t wanna carry another digicam in my pocket, and I still want to have decent camera with me all the time. No flash too.
• I almost hit a truck, car, knock a motorbike off the road by trying to respond to an urgent SMS while driving. The on-screen qwerty keyboard is great, but not while driving (I know I shouldn’t be doing that while driving, but sometimes I had to). In this aspect, T9 just rules.
• Pretty crappy speakers for some ad-hoc music entertainment. Mono one to boot.
• I had to install iTunes to enjoy most of the features like synchronization. I need my outlook contacts and schedules to be synced to my phone else i might just miss quite a lot of meetings.
• No GPS support. Sure the mobile-cell tracking feature is quite handy at times. iPhone actually helped me navigate around Melaka once, but not when I’m driving. I don’t think I am able to tap, pinch and search locations while driving with the iPhone. The new iPhone 3G’s GPS is better, but it’s not as good as other GPS device out there.
• Almost impossible one hand operation. Thanks to the size of the screen and the weight of the device (yes it’s pretty heavy)
• No copy and paste! omg!

I do miss some features though:

• The games. Parking lot omg!
• Full-web browsing experience with mobile safari. Although I gripe the fact that it doesn’t have java and flash
• The multi-touch screen
• The big screen

So there you have it. I probably still have a few reasons that I can’t recall, I might update them as I remember them.

Yes I will lost all 3rd party application. But I’m sure this will be taken care of by the amazing iphone-dev team with their pwnage tool (sorry if I sounded like I’m taking your effort for granted!).

So the update went on. Nothing much happened. iTunes backed up my phone, reboot, upload firmware, reboot, yada yada, then another round of backup. Surprisingly, the backup only take like.. 35 seconds (previously it was like 45 minutes!). There is no sync, no asking to setup as a new phone. Nada!.

Apparently it didn’t really format the phone, just that the jailbroken apps are not there. Even my “Stocks” app are gone (because I hide it with BossPrefs). So my previous 2.0.1 customized springboard which looked something like this:

Fird's iPhone 2.0.1

Now turned back into the plain old boring iPhone as how Apple wants it:

Fird's iPhone 2.0.2

Anyway, let’s get down to details. In the changelog, Apple said the update is for:
- Bugfixes

(ok, talk about vague, but it is probably something they don’t want the public to know, either it is too cryptic or just risky)

So far from the update, I noticed:
- Much faster response (almost to the level of 1.1.4 performance). 2.0.0 was terribly horribly slow. 2.0.1 is better, and 2.0.2 is even better.
- My Appstore crashes the springboard the first time I run it (it went to that spinning wheel thing for a while before restarting the springboard). But it works fine after the second run.
- Faster backups from iTunes (averaging under 5 minutes per sync backup. This is probably due to Apple’s decision to make incremental backup rather than one full backup each time).

Anyone else notices anything else?

The thing about these ringtones is that I can hear them, and they hurt my head quite astoundingly. I just want a completely silent ringtone to use!

“Why silent ringtone? Can’t you just mute your phone?” – some might ask. The purpose of having a silent ringtone is so that I can assign it to any people that I might not want to answer their calls immediately, if not at all. So after some rounds of frustation, I downloaded Audacity, and make one of my own.

Here’s the silent ringtones if you’d like to use:

Mp3 Format
WAV Format
iTunes Format (for iPhones)

Happy silencing!