Thursday 30 September 2010

More Job Cuts

I am just thinking about those employees working in both Orange and T-Mobile in the country. It is mentioned that there will be job losses so as to ensure that there will be no duplication of job roles and also to increase efficiency.

What I am so baffled about is that they are already short of staff at the moment so it is quite strange for them to say that they are trying to prevent duplicate roles between the two companies. This is just an excuse to say that they are trying to cut cost. With the merge of Orange and T-mobile, it might just pull more customers from other networks when they start sharing their networks in the future.

From a consumer's stand point, Orange provides good coverage for 2G signals while T-Mobile is much better at 3G coverage. With both companies sharing their network will eventually benefit consumers as the mobile device will look for the strongest signal so as to reduce drop calls.

Besides that, it is also important for both companies to reduce their monthly tariffs! Let's be clear that their price plan is not the best of all and it is quite expensive to begin with. I would really hope that with the merger, they will reduce the price plan so as to increase their customer base.

I would stress on the point of customer service offered by T-Mobile. I had a bad experience with them before so I hope that they better improve on their customer service.

Good luck to them!

Why not Android, Nokia? Well...

After reading through the spoke person from Nokia regarding the incompetence of the Android OS, I would like to stress out that it will be wrong for Nokia to do so. I am saying this from a user's stand point.

I would like to say that the Android OS is not without problems. Like all other OSs, it has its own fair share of bugs and the Google OS team is doing what they could to improve on the OS. I think it will be an ill statement to criticise another OS especially when it is quite new.

Coming back to bugs on the mobile OS, look at Nokia. Nokia has its own share of problems with the Symbian s60 and s40 platforms. One good example will be the OS on the SE Satio. It runs on the s60v5 edition. Until now, the OS on the Satio is still crashing off and on and it takes a while for the digital camera to reload when taking pictures. Sad to see that the hardware is perfect but the mobile device has a crippled OS. What is Nokia going to respond in this then?

Never mind with SE phones. Lets talk about Nokia phones. There will always be a problem with their softwares when they have a launch of their new devices. That is why smart people will always wait for a while before purchasing a new mobile device from Nokia. Many people will wait until there is an update for the Nokia device before buying it.

I really do hope that Nokia will not under estimate other people's OS. They should, instead, keep up the good work by improving on their OSs.

Friday 17 September 2010

Malaysia Day

Happy Malaysia Day - 16 September 2010! May you have peace and find your glory!!! We need to come up to a solution in increasing our direct foreign investments!!!

HTC

Honestly, I have always admire the Taiwanese company for their hardwork and their creation when it comes to new designs of mobile devices. I had the opportunity to review two devices by HTC up to date, namely the HTC HD2 and also the older HTC Hero. I have utmost confidence in their mobile devices as they have worked very hard in introducing their Sense UI on most of the Android OS mobile devices.

I do like most of the HTC phones but I only have one reservation about buying a HTC mobile device - battery life. I just could not get more than 12 hours' worth of juice when I was using the HTC HD2 fitted with a standard battery. I think HTC knew that they need to come up with a better power solution so they have released an extended battery for the HD2. With the extended battery fitted, the HD2, somehow, has lost its former glory but hey, you do get extra day's standby power in return!

HTC, you need to release a better power solution to all your mobile devices!

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Virgin Media Broadband

Most of you might have known that there is only one company in UK which will be able to offer cable broadband to you. Yupe, that is right - Only Virgin Media can do so. In fact, they are quite successful as fibre optics would always be better than using ADSL or ADSL 2+ technology in surfing the internet. I don't have any problems with them until recently.

I have tried calling customer service but they kept on telling me that there is no known connection problem in my area. I am just wondering whether my wireless router or the modem have anything to do with the slow internet speed.

I was told to switch off the wireless router + modem and wait for 10 minutes before switching them on again. I don't see the solution in doing that because I have switched off the modem and the wireless router for 8 hours before switching them on again but yet the problem exist! Tell me what is going on over here?

Do I see a need to change of ISP?

New Devices from Nokia

I am so happy to receive a parcel from Nokia on behalf of WomWorld regarding today's Nokia World 2010 event. It is a blast! Nokia is beginning to come into their senses that they need to take the advantage of ther capabilities to produce better specification mobile phones.

During the very first day at the Nokia World 2010, Nokia has demonstrated their upcoming devices - The Nokia E7, Nokia C06-01 and the Nokia C7. At the moment, I am still having a look at the possibility of buying one in the coming months.

The Nokia E7 is more like an updated Nokia E90 but slicker with aluminium all around. I think I will be tempted to get my hands on the Nokia C7 when it is released! The specifications on both the C6-01 and the C7 are pretty impressive! I am wondering how much it is going to cost this time...

Kudos to Nokia!

Saturday 11 September 2010

Two Cents worth - HP Mini 110-3000sa

Nice Keyboard
I was really impressed with the keyboard on the Mini 110 which I am using at the moment. I could feel that the tactical feedback is marvellous and I do not have any problems with it. However, it is just a shame that HP did not come out with a backlit keyboard, unlike Dell. Perhaps HP would like to consider having a backlit keyboard on laptop keyboards across their entire range as standard. That will be just great! With a backlit keyboard, it allows a user to work in total dark.

Can't Stop the Fan from Spinning!!!
Even before I have started using the Mini 110, I did have reservations about a netbook's fan noise. From my encounter with Samsung netbooks, I had thought about it and feel that the fan on the HP Mini 110 will not be very noisy. This would extend to the fact that I am only going to use it to do some word processing. I was wrong, initially.

This is because I can't stop the fan from spinning!!! To be fair, I could disable the 'always on' on the option within the BIOS to prevent the onboard fan to spin all the time but I did not do so. I think it is good to have the fan to be switched on all the time as it will cool the netbook. Besides, I would not have any problems as the Intel Atom N450 have the ability to throttle down the speed when there is no such a need for it. The noise coming out of the ventilation is not loud. It is acceptable, unlike the Hannspree SN10 which I had originally.

Surprised Vanity Cover
I was quite surprised with HP for allowing users to pop the underneath open wide with just a switch and without any screw drivers! That is just fantastic! I think the vanity cover is just a good marketing strategy for HP as they know that users would like to upgrade their netbook to the maximum and they would like to upgrade the hard drive capacity to the maximum if they could. I think those designers at HP are quite thoughtful!

Memory
The single memory slot can only accomodate up to a 2GB DDR2 SODIMM. I got myself a Crucial and it proves to have speed up the many process when I am working on the Mini 110. Heck, it is expected that such netbooks will only be able to accomodate up to 2GB memory unless you are talking about more expensive netbooks like the DV2 or DV3 range from HP. The worst is Dell Mini 10v as the 1GB memory is the maximum which the motherboard can recognise! It would be totally different if you have the Nokia Booklet 3G. Although the 1GB memory is soldered on the motherboard, you can modify it and store a 2GB memory on it and the system will stick be able to recognise the 2GB!

Screen/Touchpad
I have no problems with the 10.1" screen as it is expected to accomodate a resolution of 1024x600. It is a far cry from the Nokia Booklet 3G but nontheless, I think it is justified from the amount of money which one is going to pay for it at £239. The Nokia Booklet 3G cost £650 when it was first launched. Presently, the Nokia Booklet 3G is around £400 brand new on ebay.

Pre-installed softwares
The Mini 110 came with Windows 7 Starter and filled with many HP softwares. I had to uninstall most of the HP softwares and the Norton antivirus to ensure that the unit will run much smoother and faster. I have nothing against Windows 7 but I think it will be much better if the netbook runs on Windows XP. Overall, I am happy with the speed of the OS.

Functionality
The Mini 110 comes with bluetooth, wireless N, 3x usb 2.0 ports and a mono speaker. I don't expect a netbook to perform as good as a laptop but the wireless N did surprised me. So far, I had no problems with the N450 cpu and the rest of the hardwares. So far so good. I would, however, recommend users to look out for dual core Atoms at the moment, namely the Mini 1503 from HP. The Asus 1201N comes with a desktop version of the dual core Atom N330. Obviously those netbooks will be much more expensive so take a pick!

Conclusion
There is no one perfect netbook. It is up to you to decide which is better for you.

Thursday 9 September 2010

iOS 4.1

I was really happy to see that Apple has released their latest iOS 4.1 for the Iphone range although it does not apply to Iphone 2G though. Nevertheless, I do feel that I would rather wait for the mighty Dev Team to come up with a jailbreak solution for the Iphone because I would like to use ring toggle since jailbreak no longer violates the rule for the moment.

I do have utmost faith in Dev Team... Keep it up!!! Oh yes, good work Comex! Bring it on an upgrade of jailbreakme 2.0!

Update:

11/09/2010: It is already two days since the launch of the iOS 4.1 and we are eager and patiently waiting for the jailbreak of the Iphone... Peace Dev Team!

Tuesday 7 September 2010

First Female Australian Prime Minister

Congratulations to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard as the country's first female prime minister! I know that the Australians would like to have a change and that change would begin with her! Let's hope that she will be able to fulfil her promises in due course.

What???

I am not sure what is going on but it seems that Malaysia Today's website has been taken down for no apparent reason since this morning! I have tried using different ISP but the webpage is just not responding. Oh well, someone please tell me what is going on over there, please? Have they banned Malaysia Today then? Pity!!!

Website Error

Monday 6 September 2010

MCA vs UMNO

If I am not mistaken, there is a silent war going on between MCA and UMNO. Recently Najib, who is the current Malaysian Prime Minister, had spoken out that he would like MCA and UMNO to solve their differences without lashing out at each other. In doing so, it will provide a better understanding of the coalition front (BN) to the people and this will in turn will install faith in the coalition government.

Nevertheless, we still see that the current MCA president is still lashing out at UMNO, the latest victim being Najib himself. Dr. Chua Soi Lek lashed out at Najib in asking the people not to believe what they hear on the mainstream newspaper or on tv. This was in contradictory to what Najib has said earlier. I am not in the best position to say who is correct and who is wrong but the people will have the final answer to the question.

The country needs someone to build up the country as Malaysia is sliding against other Asian countries like Singapore and Thailand in various fields such as education and foreign investments. The country is not as stable as it can be at the moment so fingers crossed... This is a blow to Malaysian who have just witnessed their 53th Independence from the British on 31st August 2010. We need to move forward and not backward.

HP Mini 110-3000sa

Introduction
HP has come up with many versions of their more popular Mini notebook until today. It started off with their 110 netbook which supports Intel Atom's N270 and now the Intel Atom N450. Recently, they have began shipping the 210 versions which will enable a single charge to last up to 11 hours taking into account that the specifications are similar to their Mini 110 counterpart. That is just simply amazing. However, it is noted that the Mini 210 is relatively more expensive than their Mini 110 counterpart so it depends on how much you are paying for it though.

Mini 110-3000sa
I had the opportunity to own my very first netbook. I used to say that the netbook is just not useful but with the time lapse, I do find that the netbook is quite useful in the sense that it is light and the specification is some how not as good as a notebook but it will not break your bank account! Moreover, you do get lots of features which comes with it so I am going to tell you all about it.

Hardware
The HP Mini 110-3000sa comes with a 10.1" TFT screen which supports 1024x600 resolution. It has a 1.3MP front facing camera for video conferencing (with microphone just beside the video cam) and an ingenuis indication lights on the keyboard to inform users as to whether the speaker volume is muted, is the caps lock engaged or if the wi-fi is switched on. There are also indication lights on the left hand side, one for the hard drive activity and another for the charging status.

I do quite like the keyboard. It is spacious and quite comfortable to use. I did not find any pain on my wrists after using it for a long period of time. HP has done it again with their remarkable netbook!

There are no buttons on the front but two vents to dispurse heat. There is only one mono speaker on the right hand side of the vent. The speaker could not be able to produce great sound even though it is loaded with IDT's high definition sound card. Perhaps HP is not keen in having more than one speaker on the netbook to save energy.

On the left hand side, you will find one speaker jack for headphone but it does not come with a microphone jack. There is also a usb 2.0 just beside the speaker jack and followed by a heatsink spreader. Besides that, there is also a VGA out and a power jack.

There is nothing at the back of the netbook. On the left hand side of the netbook, you will see that there are two usb 2.0 standing out followed by an on/off switch. You will find a 2-in-1 memory card reader which could only handle SD and MMC cards. I don't think that the memory card reader can only take these two cards because from my experience with HP, they will be able to accept xD card too. I will try it later.

I have been waiting for this time to tell you guys. The best part of the netbook is at the bottom. Do you know why? That is because there are no screws to remove the back door as it is being replaced by a vanity door. To remove the back door, users would only need to remove the battery and then you will see a notch just beside the battery door. Push the notch to the left and the whole back door will be removed. That is just one clever idea from HP. I do hope that Dell will take this into account as their Mini 10v are very hard to dissemble! Well, Dell designed laptops and also netbook are just too difficult for an average person to get their hands into. HP is making a name for themselves at the moment!

Before I move on to the bundled software, lets proceed with the rest of the hardware. The unit is powered by an Intel Atom N450 cpu and there is only one slot for a DDR2 SODIMM memory. I have checked that the memory slot will only take up to a maximum of 2GB as the netbook refused to boot up when I've tried to load up a 4GB DDR2 SODIMM memory chip. That is just unfortunate because the netbook could be an alternative to the Ipad at anytime!

The HP Mini 110-3000sa is equipped with a 160GB SATA II 5400rpm Western Digital hard drive and bluetooth 2.0 with EDR. The graphics engine is powered by an Intel GMA 3150 chip which I found out that playing HD video clips at 720p was choppy but not necessary hard to view though. Viewing video clips at 480p would be just fine though.

The onboard 1GB DDR2 SODIMM memory from ADATA is just not good enough as I would suggest users upgrading to 2GB DDR2 SODIMM. Bear in mind that users should buy it without  any delay as the price of 2GB DDR2 SODIMM has increased 50% over the past 12 months, thanks to the ready and much better DDR3 memory. Don't forget that the graphics card is using the physical memory of the netbook (up to 256MB). With 1GB physical memory, it is just insufficient so it is best to upgrade to 2GB.

Operating System
The HP Mini 110-3000sa comes with Windows 7 Starter. The only thing which annoys me is that I could not change the background at all. I would have to stick to the default desktop. What a pity. Overall, booting up from cold would take around 55 seconds and it would be around 120 seconds before you are ready to use the netbook. I do believe that the delay is caused by HP's own softwares which will run in the background. If you do uninstall many of the unecessary softwares, you will find that your netbook will run much faster as I have tried it since yesterday.

Connection is not a problem since it comes with wireless N. I have not experienced any drop signals at all. I was quite happy to see that there were many updates to the Windows 7 Starter and bluetooth started running at the background. Installation of programmes are reasonably fast and I have not experienced any abnormal delays. This is the case taking into account that the cpu is merely an Atom N450 - A single core cpu with hyperthreading running at 1.66Ghz. With the Mini 110, it came with Norton Antivirus for Netbook but I have decided to uninstall it and use other antivirus programmes instead.

Evaluation
I like the presentation of the HP Mini 110-3000sa box. It is slim and classy. I also like the way in which the netbook is being transported - two supporting cardboards holding on to the Mini 110. This is a better way of transporting a netbook or a laptop as it will minimise damage during transit.

The 3 cell battery is somehow short of the manufacturer's claim of 4.5 hours with a single charge. As far as I am concern, the battery can only last 3 hours the most under minimal usage (i.e. using word processor only). I would think that the a 6 cell battery will be much better as it will last 8 hours with a single charge. With the 6 cell battery, it will not increase the netbook's weight by too much though. I have checked on HP's website and at the moment, they are having a massive sale and it cost only £53 for a 6 cell battery. Is it worth while to buy it? Oh yes, it does!

I do quite like to use the comfortable keyboard but there is only one thing which I don't like - the arrow button. They are all extra small, located just below the right Shift button. The trackpad is excellent! I have no problems in me accidentally moved a mouse cursor, unlike on my Dell Studio 1555.

There are only two things which I don't like about the netbook - The mono speaker and the netbook's fan. As there is only one speaker, you would not expect it to produce a good sound, that is for sure. The netbook's fan is always switched on by default irrespective of whether there is a need for it or not. I do feel that the fan should be a little bit quieter. I do find that the Samsung N150P is very quiet and the battery can last up to 11 hours with a single charge!!!

Having said that, I do quite like the HP Mini 110. It is fast enough for everyday use and it is light. Perhaps a flash of the BIOS will improve on the fan noise but I doubt whether it could be done. Overall, it is a good piece of kit!

Sounds Like a Hummingbird

Introduction
I have told myself that I would get a reasonably priced Netbook very soon. This is an important issue because it will help me to pursue my work even better (In short - more efficient). However, I have to make sure that the price of the netbook will not be more than £260 irrespective of the size of the screen.

Acer Aspire One 751h
After doing some research online, I have come to a solution. I could get an Acer Aspire One 751h which is powered by an old Intel Atom Z520. The good thing is that it is equipped with a 11.6" TFT screen and the memory bank is upgradeable to 2GB! It is quite light and the battery can last up to 7 hours with a singel charge. The price of the netbook is also quite reasonable at £239.99 with one year's warranty nad free delivery. It comes standard with bluetooth 2.0 with EDR and 802.11b/g. The netbook is quite light and I do like the netbook's curve. It is quite quiet too so it is a strong contender.

HP 110-3000sa
The next netbook which I have in mind is the HP 110. It comes with a newer Intel Atom N450 CPU and 1GB of memory which one could upgrade it to 2GB. Hard disk space is 250GB and Carphonewarehouse is selling it for £239. Not too bad considering that I will get a Bulldog Internet Antivirus to go with it (The software cost £50 apparently). I do like HP and certainly the 110 as the memory card reader supports xD cards! The fan is also quiet and it comes with Windows 7 Starter, unlike the Acer Aspire One 751h which comes with Windows XP Home.

Lenovo S10-3
The next netbook which caught my eye was the Lenovo S10-3. It comes with similar spec as the HP 110 but it has a trackpad in addition to the touchpad. It is quite a tradition for Lenovo. A single charge of the battery will last for 7 hours and this is what I like. It is quite light too at around 1.25kg. It could easily be fitted into a small bag without any fuss. According to Carphonewarehouse, it cost £259. It is still within my budget at this moment.

I did not consider Samsung N130 because it is running on an older cpu - the Intel Atom N270 so I have decided to make it a pass this time.

Hannspree SN10
The final netbook which caught my eye was the Hannspree SN10 from Carphonewarehouse. It cost only £199 and it has similar spec as the HP 100 but the memory card reader does not support xD card but it is worth while taking it considering the nearest price to the SN10 is around £40 extra. I then decided to take the Hannspree SN 10.

Carphonewarehouse
According to Carphonewarehouse, it has a similar spec as the HP 110. It will support bluetooth, wifi at 802.11n and it is powered by an Intel Atom N450 cpu. The best of all is that it has a 2 year warranty! That is just brilliant! I bought it and happily took it home to use.

I was really disappointed with the unit that I have bought. The Windows 7 Starter was alright and most of the functions are running properly but wait a minute...There is something missing. Yes!!!! There is no bluetooth attached to it!

A quick check under the control panel showed that the unit does not have bluetooth hard wired on the motherboard. I then checked the machine and it showed a serial number of SN10E28B and not SN10E24B as advertised! If that is not bad enough, the noise of the fan was loud and it sound more like a hummingbird! I could not take it anymore so I have decided to exchange it for a different model. Stay tuned for more as I am going back to Carphonewarehouse tomorrow to get a different netbook all together. I think I will get the Lenovo S10-3 instead.

I do remember the branch manager of Carphonewarehouse telling me that I cannot return the unit but I could exchange it for a different unit. I told him that actually I can return the unit and get my money back if the unit which is sold to me does not correspond to the advertisement on the internet and that it fails to work like a netbook. He smiled. Oh well, here are some of the pictures of the Hannspree SN10E28B which I have received. Besides, I have statutory rights and so they can't really push their responsibilies away, isn't it?

Update:

I have finally managed to talk my way out and carphonewarehouse agreed to exchange the Lenovo S10-3 for me. Obviously I would have to pay the difference of £60 as the Lenovo is £259. Anyway, I took the netbook back and guess what I have found? The unit which they sold to me only came with a 160GB hard drive and not the 250GB! That is just disappointment one after the other. I have not yet open the box this time!

I then went back to the same shop the third time and this time I have asked for a HP Mini 110-3000sa. I then checked every single detail before heading back to my house. The netbook checks out and it is running beautifully at the moment. However, the Mini 110-3000sa only comes with a mono speaker and only have a speaker jack and not even a microphone jack. Apart from that, it works perfectly. I have to say that I could feel that the Mini 110 is much faster than the Hannspree SN10 which I had two days ago! There will be a review of the HP Mini 110-3000sa very soon.

Stay tuned!
Hannspree SN10E28B from the top
Another shot taken when it is openned
The box which house the Hannspree SN10E28B

Good price at £199!
Clearly stated that the netbook comes with bluetooth under 'connectivity'
Wow!!! What do we have under 'Bluetooth'? It is stated as 'Without'!!! Besides that the unit which was given to me was not SN10E24B but SN10E28B. Sneeky people!!!

Saturday 4 September 2010

Samsung Galaxy Tab

From the very first moment that I have noticed this beauty, I could not stop myself from admiring the sheer functions that is embedded in the device itself. I don't like to draw comparisons but I just could not help myself from doing it anyway. The new tablet from Samsung which is called the Galaxy Tab does have something to shout about. It puts designers and engineers at Apple to shame. Do you know why? Samsung could manage radio capabilities with two cameras but you can't have those on the IPad. Sad, isn't it?

Well, for Samsung, it is an achievement! They have managed to cram a few more things inside the Galaxy Tab than competitors. A good example will be the fact that you have a removable 4400mAH battery which will last you around 7 hours with one charge if it is being used sensibly. Another thing is that it comes with a 7" screen and so it is easily tucked away in your bag. It has an internal storage of up to 16GB with the option of installing more memory via external memory card of up to a maximum of 32GB.

The Galaxy Tab has Bluetooth and wireless capabilities. The best of all is that it runs on the Android Froyo 2.2 OS!!! That is just brilliant as one can use the Galaxy Tab as a wireless hub!!! It works on my Google Nexus One though. I am just waiting for it to be launched in the UK!!!

However, I do have reservations about the new device though. It is more expensive than the IPad. At a price of £699 for the 16GB model, i think I would most probably get the 64GB version of the IPad instead of the Galaxy Tab. Well, it is nothing personal but it is all down to preference. If you like the 10" tablet from Apple with Mac OSX, you will not give the IPad a miss. Other than that, the Galaxy Tab will be better suited for you.

Update:

07/09/2010: According to internet sources, the 16GB version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab will not cost £699 but around US$299. I wonder if the price is after carrier subsidising or not...