Tag Archives: Apple

[Not anime] One of the two Apple products that I don’t hate

  By Halfey Halphstein | September 20, 2012 - 10:33 pm | , , , ,
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Earpod


Earpod

With the launch of the iPhone 5 comes Apple’s new audio piece named Earpod. This Earpod will come as a standard earpiece to future iPhones and iPods from iPhone 5 onward (say goodbye to the ‘old’ white iPod earphone). The best part about it is it is also available as a standalone purchase, reasonably priced at US$29! At such price I could not complain much other that I’d have preferred my earpiece to be a snug-fit one (to block all ambient noise) but as long as this one can perform good then I can accept it. After all the best sound from an earpiece always comes from something bigger than the snug-fit type, which is to say the best would be the ‘proper’ headphone from the likes of BOSE or Sennheiser or similar. Anyway I might order this one soon although I’m no longer an iPhone user. So far I’ve seen mostly positive reviews about this earpiece and I must say it is treated differently and well accepted if compared to Apple’s other audio piece, the old iPod Hi-Fi.

iPod Hi-Fi

Remember iPod Hi-Fi? The short-lived overpriced piece of ‘junk’? I do agree about it being short-lived (retail availability from February 28, 2006 to September 5, 2007 only) and overpriced too (if I’m not mistaken it costed around a grand!) but I’d not go as far as saying it was a junk. Of course for that price one might be better to get one of Bang & Olufsen‘s speakers and even offerings from BOSE and Altec Lansing would sound better (at a much cheaper price too). I’m not really an audiophile type but I’m the kind of person who loves to make a collection of speakers (headphones/earphones included). I’d like to confess that the amount of money I’ve spent for speakers/earphones/headphones alone since year 2000 could allow me to buy several Macs and iPhones! Anyway one could say that iPod was another Apple’s failure under Steve Jobs reign (it’s not just overpriced, it was badly priced!). Anyway I still want one.

Those are not the only speaker products by Apple. Remember the cute speakers for the Mac G4? Not sure how they sounded though but I did not include them here because I don’t see them as ‘real’ speakers. I mean they worked on USB connectivity only instead of utilizing a proper audio cable that connects to a speaker jack, and on top of that it only worked on Macs only. Macs were pretty late in joining the audiophile camp (even Intel came up with their Azalia HD audio in 2004, 2 years before they started powering Macs!). No thanks to Macs’ absence of upgradeability so if you’re really into PC hi-fi you’d better build your own system.

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[Not anime] I don’t mind

  By Halfey Halphstein | August 8, 2012 - 10:27 pm | , , , , , ,
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iphone-guy



My first ever “web comic“.

Oh no, don’t get me wrong. I have no intention to rival The Oatmeal (if that’ is what you think I am doing), and I am not expecting this to be circulating into a meme either. I’m just doing this to show you my perspective as someone who used to have an iPhone, before I committed myself to Android.

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While I’m waiting for Summer 2012 Anime… (We’re recruiting!)

  By Halfey Halphstein | June 30, 2012 - 10:22 pm | , , , , , , , , ,
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Picture probably unrelated but it's Christina so there should be no problem.


Picture probably unrelated but it’s Christina so there should be no problem.

Many things happened since last week. First Microsoft announced their first “in-house-made PCs” or more specifically tablets named “Microsoft Surface Pro” and “Microsoft Surface RT”. They look beautiful to me and the most important thing is they don’t look too similar to iPad. The tablets invited mixed reactions where some (including me) appreciated it while some others hate it for various reasons. For me not knowing the price, the battery life and the launch date is not a reason to hate it as I can always wait and see. Besides just announcing doesn’t hurt my pocket and my planned purchase.

In the last few days Google on the other hand announced their take on tablet business by launching the ASUS-made “Nexus 7″ which immediately made available for purchase after the Google I/O event. For me Nexus 7 is more like a competitor to the existing 7″ Android tablets like Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook rather than iPad. Alongside that they also announced another Nexus-branded product which is the “Nexus Q” streaming media player, together with the recommended premium-priced Triad bookshelf speaker. I’m not interested in that player but if I got the money I’d get the speaker for sure.

With both Microsoft and Google already have their own tablet hardware let’s not forget about another company that is new to this tablet business. Vizio, one of the major household names in the US when it comes to LCD TVs are making their own PCs that look as beautiful as Macs if not prettier. For the first time I feel Macs now have a serious competitor that even longtimers in the PC business failed to achieve that reputation. They are also making tablets but so far the focus is more on their laptop and desktop offerings. Now I wonder if they would make their way to this part of the world.

And the tech thing that happened to myself this week is I was offered a broadband speed upgrade by my ISP (TMnut) to 4Mbps. I accepted the offer but not after I trolled them good for about 10 minutes, citing their various failures like the capping in their UniFi packages. They told me so far none of their existing customers have exceeded the allocated download volume limit ever since the introduction. I told them that’s bullcrap because if the ‘higher’ product (UniFi) comes with a limit that it’s ‘lower’ counterpart (Snailmyx) doesn’t have then it means the product isn’t worth getting for.
Oh do you remember sometime last year and earlier this year where I wrote about customizing my own smartphone and tablet? Well now I have another new interest to add to the list, which is to play with the reduced-sized ARM-powered computers, now that ‘toys’ like Raspberry Pi, FXI Cotton Candy and Pandaboard are getting closer to my hand. I hope more of these ARM ‘PC’ being made so that Microsoft would reconsider their decision of not selling Windows RT (ARM version of Windows 8) as a standalone purchase, unless they don’t mind Android dominating that market too.

About anime, yeah most of Spring 2012 titles have ended this week and we’ll be watching Summer 2012 anime starting next week. This spring I enjoyed titles like Tasogare Otome x Amnesia, Sankarea, Haiyore! Nyaruko-san, Acchi Kocchi and a few others, including titles carried from winter (Aquarion EVOL). Titles like Shining Hearts and NazoKano will end this week too (the finale for those series is not available yet by the time of writing). Other than that, Mouretsu Pirates, another title carried from winter will have its finale aired by tonight and I’m going to see Chiaki-chan again (^_^)

Speaking of ‘pirates’….. for now I’m happy with me being able to watch anime almost as the same time as it was airing in Japan. Earlier this week Apple has launched iTunes music store in my country after so many years waiting. The only problem is I can’t purchase anisongs from it without registering to the Japanese iTunes music store. Of course I could always register by using the iTunes prepaid card and use a random Japanese address but it shouldn’t have been that tedious! Record labels nag about piracy but then they never make it easy to get although I’m willing to pay! Bullcrap!

By the way do you have a blog? If you do then I would like to have a link-exchange with you. If you don’t have any then I’m inviting you to become a co-blogger at my blog. Currently I have only one co-blogger and I’d like to expand that number. I don’t set any particular requirement to become my co-blogger; as long as you’re interested and passionate about it then it’s enough. You may also give it a try by becoming a guess writer first so if you’re thinking of joining my team then reply to this post and I’ll guide you to the next step. Note: you may write about things other than anime/manga/games.

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[Not anime] The surface of the surface (This month in tech)

  By Halfey Halphstein | June 27, 2012 - 11:01 pm | , , , ,
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surface_05


If I were to list down the hottest tech trend in June I’d spontaneously say “Microsoft Surface and Vizio PC”. Yes, both companies that are known for something else has just ventured into a business a bit different from what they used to do before. Microsoft known with their software (mainly Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office) ‘upgraded’ their hardware business by making their own computers while Vizio, know for their LCd TVs are making computers as well.

Microsoft is no stranger when it comes to making their own hardware but all these times it was about making computer peripherals and not a full-fledged PC itself. I have nothing against it because, say what you want but the Surface is beautiful to my eyes, it didn’t fool me into thinking of it as an iPad, and more importantly I’m ready for the Metro UI no matter how suck you think it is. I even used Metro UI on Android phone thanks to some launcher apps for bringing it to Android users.

According to Microsoft, they’re aren’t really happy with some of their partners (OEM PC makers) included crapware in their products which resulting in “bad Windows experience” to the end users. I’m not sure whether this was true or sincere but I could think that Microsoft has always had to allow it or otherwise Windows won’t sell. The truth is Windows sales come mostly from OEM so it’s understandable if Microsoft always tried to keep a good relationship with OEMS all these times.

Now that they are making their own computers Microsoft can have full control in delivering the “Windows experience” to the users as what they intended it to be. With that said they would be facing Apple as another company that is senior in tight OS-hardware integration, something that Apple has done extremely well. Now if only Microsoft could give it a right price and at the same time not locking out DIY-ers I’m pretty sure these Surface tablets would take the world by storm.

So how about Vizio? I must say for the first time in my life that I feel a non-Apple PC maker sporting a PC design comparable to the beauty of Macs, if not better (I personally think they’re WAY better than the half-assed efforts shown by Dell Adamo and the likes back then). Too bad by the time of writing the page for computer in Vizio’s website was down (and I don’t want to use images found outside of their website) so there’s no sample image to be found here.

Before I end this I’d like to announce that Google+, the social network I primarily use now will be having its first anniversary which is just around the corner. I can’t remember the exact date (despite being one of the first few earlier adopters), and despite how awesome it is if compared to Facebook, I must admit that it is still a ****ed-up social network in many aspects. It’s not a failure but if they keep up with their stupid censorship policy then I wouldn’t mind if they’re doomed to fail either.

Dear Google, make this your doodle on G+’s anniversary. Thank you.

By the way sorry for 2 weeks straight without Hyouka review. I’ve explained why I didn’t write one last week but for this week’s episode, despite it was a good watch I found that there wasn’t any scene worth taking snapshots (I’ve always maintained that I need awesome snapshots to help in my reviews). I’m no fan of that smaller-eyed senpai and I’m not a fan of Chitandawg either so I had to give it a pass but I promise I’ll write a review again provided that the next episode has awesome scenes.

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[Interpost] The new iFad

  By Halfey Halphstein | March 10, 2012 - 7:13 pm | , , , ,
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Apple on Wednesday have revealed ‘half’ of the stories about what they call “the new iPad” (instead of “iPad 3″). However what’s so great about “the new iPad” anyway? Without expandable storage the tablet ain’t going to be a post-Mac (sorry, not post-PC) device. Sure we have cloud storage now but computing isn’t supposed to be an online experience alone. I believe we have to be able to get access to our files regardless an internet connection is present or not. After all we’re still far away from  a super reliable and free internet. Not to mention with all those efforts to censor our not-so-free internet that we still need to rely on.

With the last 2 generations of iPads I always thought “there are still room for improvements” yet the only thing I see improved are stuff that I don’t need. Apple still hate ports, slots and buttons.

“The new iPad” is not all bad. However I’ve never liked Apple’s closed ecosystem to begin with. Although there’s a thin possibility I’d need to jailbreak the iGadget, chances are there are even a lot more things I found too restrictive. For example I don’t see any reason in not allowing drag&drop file transfer and force users to use the iTunes.

I remember having earlier generations of mp3 Walkman where although drag&drop was possible for music files, those files weren’t playable unless you were using the SonicStage software to transfer them. In the end SONY stopped using that following user complaints and chose the conventional-but-works drag&drop. Now I can’t understand why Apple would like to force iGadget owners to use it as if they haven’t had enough control on the ecosystem. I found that there’s no excuse for not to allow drag&drop file transfer because it’s not that it’s not technically impossible. It’s also the most widely adopted method of transferring files to mobile devices so this just makes Apple look like some arrogant companies.

Now do you think you should or should not get it? I’ve set a few guides here and decide by yourself.

Reasons why you should get it:

  • You have ridiculous amount of money to spend and nothing to regret about it later.
  • You naturally love Apple and not realizing you’re being used all the time.
  • You’re happy to be in a jail-less jail.
  • You’re bored of your ‘old’ iPad 2 already, or rather the arrival of “the new iPad” made you think that you no longer need your ‘old’ iPad 2.
  • You’re clearly an Apple loyalist no matter how Apple ignore you.

Reasons why you should avoid it:

  • You know Apple is being dick all this time.
  • Apple hates you and your money.
  • You think Android tablet is still a better option despite having lower display resolution (who needs retina display anyway?).
  • Apple were deceptive in telling people that “the new iPad” is a quad-core device although the truth is only the graphics chip is quad-core (at least Android tablets are more honest about their offerings).
  • You believe that just because it’s Apple doesn’t mean it’s good.
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[Interpost] I’m close to getting a tablet (Part 1)

  By Halfey Halphstein | February 7, 2012 - 10:35 pm | , , ,
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(This is a follow-up post to my previous post about Android tablet which can be read here.)

I’ve gave up on my dying LG Androphone. And I’m not satisfied with the cheap Samsung Galaxy Mini my girlfriend gave me. Therefore I decided that my next purchase must be either a better smartphone or a tablet.

The problem with most tablets are they’re not as ‘smart’ as their phone counterparts. I’m saying this because no matter how proud a tablet for having 3G connectivity, it looks dumb enough to me for not having a GSM voice communication capability. That’s a crippled-down device if you ask me.

Now I have at least 4 candidates. Like I said before (either in this blog or somewhere else) I’m going to tolerate display larger than 4″ but that doesn’t mean I can accept anything more than 5″ for a phone. I’m also going to acknowledge that 7-inchers are tablets too.

For ‘big’ phones I have 2 candidates, the Samsung Galaxy Note and Lenovo LePad. I’ve rejected Galaxy Note right on the launch date but I think it’s worth explaining it again why. The display is a 5.3″ one so that has exceeded the maximum size allowed by me.

Samsung Galaxy Note

Sure Lenovo LePad maybe inferior in terms of hardware (480 x 800 display res as opposed to Galaxy Note’s 800 x 1280, not to mention having a slower CPU than the latter). LePad may have won my heart at this rate but there’s no radio, a feature that I rarely use but extremely important.

Lenovo LePad

Then for tablets I have 2 candidates as well, namely Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus and Huawei MediaPad. You might wonder why I chose those 2 while there are “better” 7-inchers out there. The answer is only those 2 have what I want, a voice call capability (a feature often missing in other tablets, even among 10-inchers), making them a great substitute for a phone.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus

Feature wise, Huawei MediaPad is closer to my heart. Not to say that It’s better than Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus for both of them are very similar in terms of hardware setup, MediaPad has an advantage in having higher resolution display (800×1280, just like most 10″ tablets. Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus only have 600×1024) despite both having the same 7″ display.

Huawei MediaPad

At this point I’m no longer mind getting an iPhone if that is the only way to be. The only problem is none are priced below MYR2k (new set, unlocked, contract free). After I’m once an iPhone owner too.

Speaking of iPhone, let’s talk about why I, if possible still want an Androphone even if I could get an iDevice. First, I don’t believe in Apple’s myth of “it just works” or “”works right out of the box” or “ease of use”. Only lazy people would want something like that.

Some might argue that Macs and iDevices are friendlier towards people who are fear of computers. That’s bullshit. It’s for people who don’t want to learn about computing.

By learning to configure a computer doesn’t mean you’d have to become close to being a computer scientists but at least try to be able to understand the configurations behind it. Believe me all computers can go wrong and will eventually go wrong. That said even if you’re using a Mac, sooner or later you’ll run into problems. That’s when knowing how to solve the problem yourself would become in handy, and it would save you your time and money.

Oh well I forgot it’s a ‘taboo’ set by Apple to open the PC case. I also forgot Mac/iDevice people are rich and have no problem to pay for even a small repair. I’m getting closer to get a tablet and t the same time I’m moving further away from getting a Mac/iDevice.

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[Interpost] Why it’s not a problem if Android tablets would never beat iPad sales

  By Halfey Halphstein | January 11, 2012 - 8:02 pm | , ,
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(Written in response to “Why Android tablets failed: A postmortem“)

English: Zinglife 10" Android Tablet

What is an iPad if you ask me? I’d answer it’s a device that is like an iPod Touch but bigger, and it can do everything that iPod Touch can do and nothing else. I could also say the same thing for Android tablets. Can you see the problem there? My statement itself is not the problem, it’s the truth. It’s a true problem and not just exaggerated.

I was close to get a tablet December last year (it was either Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet) but I managed to convince myself that it’s not the device I’d need, at least for now. If the only advantage that I could get from a tablet is having 2, 3 times larger display than my phone’s screen then there’s not much stuff worth paying money for. After all (apart from making/receiving calls and texting) I only do browsing/social networking on my phone and nothing else. If the need for the 7″ or 10″ display is enough to justify the purchase then I must say it’s an immature decision.

Having the 7″ or 10″ only allows more stuff in an app to be displayed at a time, as opposed to the need to swipe between screens on a phone to change panels. With a display of that size, it eliminates the need to swipe between screens by displaying all panels side by side. For example, if you’re using a twitter client on a phone you’d need to swipe left or right to switch between timeline panel and mentions/lists panel but on a tablet all of them are displayed next to each other. For me not having such feature is not a big deal, again, not for now.

As and Androidian myself, I think most of us Androidians are comfortable with having the phone only, unlike those Apple fanboys who tend to have deep pockets and more money at their expenses. Yes, for those Apple fanboys who have iPhone/iPad, there’s a big chance that they already have at least a  Macbook/iMac. Because they usually have more money, they’d usually failed to justify the ‘want’s and the ‘needs’ and easily deceived into thinking that having the iPad is necessary. In other words, they already have the love (“pre-love” a.k.a. fanboyism) to justify the ‘needs’ for such tablet as ‘valid’.

iPad maybe good but not good enough. Other than just being an oversized iPhone, it doesn’t carry more features as compared to iPhone (and it also shares the same restrictions as the iPhone). As a “religion” that preaches to people that tablet is something that everybody who doesn’t need a PC should have, Apple is a “religion” that only people with extra money could afford to embrace.

Apple committed one big mistake. Not everybody needs a PC, and not everybody needs a tablet either. If it was a future of tablet computing most people would have afforded one, and Android tablets sales would have rocketed but that didn’t happen because the ‘need’ for a tablet is simply a lie, a successful lie told by Apple.

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[Interpost] iPhone for ass (that spews crap)

  By Halfey Halphstein | October 17, 2011 - 11:21 am | , , ,
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iPhone 4s-tan. Cute but I can’t really say “nice ass” to her. That’s too bad…

From the article:

“Apple has just made the iPhone 4S official at Let’s Talk iPhone event in Cupertino, CA. It will be the first dual-mode world phone supporting both GSM and CDMA and will have the same design as the iPhone 4.

Other features will include Apple-made A5 Processor with dual core graphics (up to 7 times faster than in the previous iPhone), 8 hours of talk time, 14 hours of 2g talk time, 6 hours of 3g browsing, 9 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, an all new 8MP Camera along with an IR for better colour accuracy, f/2.4 aperture, 1080p HD video recording with image stabilization and noise reduction.”

The above specs is nothing but awesome, only a second (if not first) to the most powerful Androphone available. I’ve heard about the iPhone 4s’ performance, being faster than its predecessor but slower than iPad 2, despite using the same CPU as the latter. This is not much of an issue if you ask me though it’s weird considering the difference in physical size (if the same brain powers a smaller device, the smaller one is supposed to be faster right?)

This “iPhone for ass” comes with Siri, the “voice UI” with advanced AI behind it (“Siri” means “ass” in Japanese thus the “for ass” pun here). It’s great but it’s nothing new and it’s got an alternative too. This is perhaps the No. 1 reason people wanted to get the phone, other than it’s iOS5 ready.

For a very brief moment, I was an owner of an iPhone 4 too. Don’t believe me? Read here. Yes, it was great but in a similar way I pick my default browser, I had issues with the phone and decided to throw it in favor for an Androphone. True, an Androphone does not free from its own issues but it’s more acceptable for its openness and the amount of things I could do on it if compared to the iPhone.

Will I get the new iPhone 4s? Yes and no. Yes if I got unlimited money at my disposal but no if it still carries the same issues from the previous iteration. I admit that iPhone 4s is much better than the older iPhone but that’s it. Some issues still remain. It still doesn’t have a direct USB connectivity and have to rely on proprietary connector. Some people argue that the connector can be purchased easily these days and wouldn’t be a problem if you already have other iDevices that use the same connector. This argument is weak. It’s true that the connector is easy to find if compared to 10 years ago, provided that there’s an Apple store within 10 mile radius from where you live. In this part of the world an Apple store is a scarcity so it’s not an easy task to ind one. I could even say congratulation for those who managed to reach those stores in time whenever they need it.

Then the iPhone 4s still didn’t address the unavailability of memory card slot issue. Again some people argue that this is not a big problem as the iPhone comes in variety of internal storage capacity. But do I need 16GB, the smallest capacity available when I’d need 8GB at most, or I should decide whatever capacity of the memory card I want? A couple of months ago there was a rumor about iPhone 4 is getting a cheaper 8GB model but it might be just a rumor so I can’t put much hope on that. For me it’s better if the iPhone have 2GB internal storage to cut the price and let the buyer decide whether how much they want to expand the capacity by purchasing their own memory card later. For me the unavailability of memory card slot only implies that iOS can’t handle memory card storage properly. Perhaps it can’t even install an app into a memory card because of such limitation.

The new iPhone 4s also didn’t address the user-replaceable battery issue. Once again, some people argue this is unnecessary IF (that’s a big ‘if’ there):

  • The battery is of hi quality and won’t easily break down
  • The warranty covers it for a couple of years
  • You always properly charge your iPhone and carry a mobile powerbank
  • etc. etc.

Those are lame arguments. Battery, no matter how good it is always being the first faulty part in any electronic device. The user should have the freedom to be able to replace it on their own just like how you are able to refuel your car at any gas station when it’s running out. I’m sorry but whatever your argument about it you won’t be able to convince me because even Androphone manufacturers like Samsung, that managed to make a phone slimmer than an iPhone still able to offer user-replaceable battery.

There are three, most (over)used, generic, cliche argument by iDevices advocates are:

  1. iPhone is easy to use
  2. iPhone is easy to use
  3. iPhone is easy to use

OK that was a troll but generally it’s what they’ve always touted, the ease of use that some of them even claimed “even my grandma can operate it”. My ass. Why would you get a smartphone for your grandma? As if your grandma is going to go to the Appstore and start installing fun apps to entertain herself? Excuse me but for old folks like your grandma, a dumbphone made by Nokia is good enough. Your grandma doesn’t need to install an app every now and then. For a dumbphone you only need to set it once, give it to your grandma and forget about it. It’s a proven formula for may father who is now in his late 50′s. Despite being the one who introduced a computer in the family more than 10 years ago he never wanted a touchscreen phone. Believe me I showed him my iPhone once and he didn’t like how he always accidentally pushed (touched) the wrong ‘buttons’. He is content with my old Nokia dumbphone that is not only cheap but also “easy to operate”. FYI my father is born in a local tribesman family.

I have an issue with iTunes account to. It’s a requirement to get an app from the Appstore, including the free ones. But to set up an iTunes account means you’d need a credit card even if you most likely would never use it to purchase anything in the Appstore. Apple just want yours “just in case” you decided to buy something later. No, if I wanted to buy something later let me decide it LATER, not now. I kinda understand that Apple don’t want the user to go through hassles several times so they forced us to do it only once but hey, nobody likes to be forced to do something when it comes to money. And I don’t have a credit card to begin with (lucky my girlfriend have it so I registered under her name).

Last but not least, the need to use iTunes to transfer files and stuff. In these days? No matter how crappy a smartphone is it has to support drag and drop file transfer via file browser and not via specialized software like this. This is one of the stupidest decision ever made by Apple for the iPhone. Many people hate iTunes because it’s bloated but if they own an iPhone that means installing iTunes would be compulsory. What the hell? I heard the iPhone supports drag and drop in external drive mode I never got the chance to try and prove this. Even so external drive mode (if it really is available) should be the default method to do file transfer between a computer and the phone. Even the now-hated Nokia doesn’t rely on Ovi Suite to that so why can’t Apple?

There are lots of rooms for improvement in the iPhone in order to make it more appealing to me. Not to mention there are lots of stuff need to be dropped off the phone because I think they’re unnecessary. For example iPhone uses microSIM. MicroSIM is indeed the regular SIM card everybody is using, albeit having smaller size on the plastic plate side. Maybe I could live with that but for a phone that using microSIM, it doesn’t make sense if the phone doesn’t support dual-SIM. As a long time mobile broadband user I know perfectly the most economical strategy is to use different plan for calls and internet.

This post may sound like I’m an Apple hater. Apologies. Just so you know, There is no such thing as Apple haters. It is Apple that hates those people (me included). Apple doesn’t care about what I wanted although they have the chance to make me love them if they ever listened to my demand. No, I’m not trying to get in their way (of doing business) but I wanted them to do business with me, hence I pointed out those issues above.

[Interpost] Forgetting Steve Jobs

  By Halfey Halphstein | October 7, 2011 - 3:27 pm | , , , ,
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IN MEMORIAM

Steve Jobs is dead. Everybody knows that (should be by now). While most websites since the last 2 days went for “Remembering Steve Jobs” I chose to use the opposite. No, it has nothing to do with demeaning/belittling or not respecting the dead. Apologies if the above title and picture offend you.

I have stopped hating the man after I survived life-threatening condition August this year. After escaped death I started to become more tolerant towards 2 things I hate the most before, moe anime and Apple, but that doesn’t mean I’ve completely stopped hating.

In the past I only have hatred towards the man but after the accident I began to have some respect too. You could say I revere the man too though not as much as normal (non-hater) does. Anyways I’m not writing this in tribute to the man but to grab everybody’s attention back to the one thing that originally deserves it, Apple itself.

The demise of Steve Jobs is pretty much expected to me with news and statements of his deteriorating health. His ‘reign’ was pretty much over at Apple since last year but Apple had still managed to be ‘arrogantly’ successful without his regular presence. And by ‘arrogant’ I mean I still hate the company’s “arrogance” of manipulating people’s thought into thinking of them being special and owning an iProduct is cool as if it’s a status symbol.

Sure having an iDevice is not a bad thing per se but it’s the brand that makes it unique and great although it is by no means inferior to the competing products in terms of hardware power/price. Just now I came across an article about the reason people hate Apple. I’m not saying that it’s badly written in terms of language but it fails to explain why are there Apple haters in the first place as well as why is hating Apple is right or wrong. It’s not biased but it looks like it’s written solely from Apple’s POV instead of a pure neutral ground, and it’s written in such a way to make Apple appears as if it’s a victim and IS innocent.

For me there’s always a VALID reason to hate Apple. It doesn’t necessarily moral or ethics related but more of something genuine. I know Apple vs. everybody else is an ongoing war that’s never won by anybody so it’s wrong to say that it’s “so decades ago”. Apple’s advocate (READ: FANS) has always argued that the haters are jealous, citing that “haters are trying to get in the way” (I wonder whose way? Steve Jobs’ way?). Instead of really looking the reason behind the hatred they resorted to ‘forgive’ and giving excuses on behalf of Apple for defects/inferiority, which is something they wouldn’t have done if it was some other rivaling companies.

They forgot the best way to shut the haters’ mouth is not always to do things as demanded by the haters but in the case of to gain more buyers and the possibility to ‘convert’ those haters into potential customers it IS the only way.

So what can Apple do to turn hate into love? Actually it’s easy, and the only thing that would get in the way is, again, Apple’s own arrogance. Here are my top 2 suggestions for Apple to get more love and reduce the hate:

1. Reduce price
Apple’s products have always overpriced and that is the reason Macs didn’t really take off but only popular among existing fans. It’s a good thing that Steve Jobs realized that with Macs they wouldn’t be able to go anywhere thus he decided to sell something that is not Mac but can do things that a Mac can, albeit underpowered than a Mac and priced lower too. That thing is known as iPad today. Yes, Steve Jobs stopped relying on PC sells and started to fool everybody that the PC era is over and now it’s time for the so-called “post PC era”. I mean he wanted to kill Macs, something that he started but he didn’t want to do it immediately. Instead he chose to poison it slowly by diverting people’s attention to iPods and iPads so they would eventually forget about Mac. The most important thing is those iProducts are being sold at a fraction of the price of a Mac so if people wanted to get an Apple product but can’t afford a Mac they could always get the iDevices. However selling cheaper iProducts alone wouldn’t automagically turn hate into love. Apple would still need to market those products at a more competitive price.

2. Stop being an asshole
Yes. If there’s a company that can be called asshole, it would be Apple, and both started with the letter A. I’m not saying that Apple should turn itself into a philanthropy company that do charities all over the world but they should make clear judgment onto things that justifies the price of their products. For example the iPod. For its price they could pack more features into it to make it more value for our money but they keep sticking to their design arrogance, ignoring what users want and openly tell them “No, this is what you want and you don’t need anything more than this” and start making people believing that anything that’s not Apple is shit. I admit that iDevices look pretty but what’s the point of having pretty gadgets if they’re useless? The only thing that makes iOS devices great is because we can install apps inside, of which without those apps, things like the iPod touch would do no better than the classic iPods.

I’m sorry if this post sounds like a pissed off, raging statement but I can tell you in the past I’d have done worse. I could keep going forever on this but I chose to spare you because some of you are my friends and Steve Jobs himself would have been my friend too if I ever met him.

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Steve Jobs: From Apple To Nokia

  By Halfey Halphstein | September 1, 2011 - 4:36 pm | ,
1 Comment


Steve Jobs showing off his vision of Nokia's future.

Cupertino, Thursday: After coming up with the unexpected resignation from Apple’s CEO position last week, Steve Jobs has made another shocking remark by announcing that he is moving over to Nokia.

“I’ve been a fan of Nokia phones for an awfully long time. Don’t tell me that you thought I was using the iPhone since I returned to Apple. Excuse me, the iPhone only launched in 2007. What do you think I was using before that? Nokias of course!” explained Steve passionately when we met him outside of a public toilet when he was about to take a leak.

After the recent resignation Steve said that he’d remain as an employee and the chairman of the board. However the decision to leave Apple only been made following the report of iPhone 5 prototype being stolen from one Apple engineer in a bar.

“I am disappointed with the loss of the prototype. I mean how stupid people can be? Looks like those lab guys never learned a lesson from the similar incident with the iPhone 4 prototype. I don’t remember allowing any of them taking iDevice prototypes out of the lab. Even a kindergarten kid knows that a bar is the worst place to take a prototype. Anyone can take advantage of you being drunk. Well now that I’m going over to Nokia I’ll leave the matter to my successor to deal with.”

Asked about his comment for leaving what he had started (the iPhone project) he said the iPhone was an “accidental success” and never really intended to become a dominant smartphone platform.

“The only reason I came up with the iPhone was to alert Nokia that they’re doing it wrong. I was hoping that they would get my message but I was wrong.” he added.

Then Steve expressed that Nokia’s failure to get the message forced him to make such decision because he can’t stand it any longer.

“Up to iPhone 4 and they still didn’t get it. Even with iPhone 5 is just around the corner, the best thing they could do to match it was to roll out the ill-fated Symbian Belle! Not to mention that we still don’t see any WP7 coming from the Finnish phone maker anytime soon! I decided that I should not wait any longer and must convey the message to them directly!” expressed the determined Jobs.

Asked about whether he would replace Stephen Elop as Nokia’s future CEO, Steve Jobs refused to elaborate the details but hinted that he does not hesitate to do things “his way” (what people would call as “Steve Jobs’ way”).

“I’ll walk-in into the Finnish company as an employee. It’s up to the management whether they would make me into the board or remain as low-paid worker. Anyways I have unlimited visions for Nokia like how they could become the next most valuable computer maker. I mean they made the Booklet 3G. Of course it was nothing compared to the iPad but an experience is still an experience and that’s all I need.”

“We could rewrite the Symbian OS and might even licensing it for iPhones!” he added before rushing off into the toilet.

(Disclaimer: The “news” above is just a joke so don’t believe any part of it except for the Steve Jobs’ resignation from Apple’s CEO.)