Tag Archives: iPhone

[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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[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] Faildroid (and why it’s no big deal)

  By Halfey Halphstein | October 25, 2011 - 2:49 pm | , ,
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I know too Android is not a perfect OS. As an OS that is built on top of a slightly modified Linux kernel, it has its flaws too. However that is what makes me prefer it over iOS.

I found two biggest flaws in Android. Initially there were three (the third one was the source code is only available for the current release though not necessarily available at launch but I’m no developer so it’s OK).

My first issue with Android is it is not available for general public but only to phone makers. It is not something that you could download and install in any device you wanted even if the device is physically capable of running it (hardware). Not just the OS itself, it also has similar issues of availability for the updates. The updates usually not available via OTA (Over The Air) which means you can’t utilize your wi-fi or 3G connection to update your system in a similar way you update Windows/Linux desktop. You’d need to connect your phone and run the updater tool (which would download and flash your phone automatically). The need to flash the entire system just to apply an OS update is ridiculous, showing how premature the system is. At least from what I know, iOS updates may roll out in patches (except for major upgrade of course). I was informed that the unavailability of OTA update is the limitation by some telcos. That’s a lie. In my case, I own a no telco-lock, no contract LG Androphone. However I never got any updates from my telco, instead I’d periodically check for available updates from LG or online communities and get notified that way, which is very cumbersome and inconvenient.

This second biggest issue I found is the UI fragmentation. I hate it when Android phone makers keep overlaying the UI with their own. They should have just concentrate on the hardware instead of fiddling and tinkering with the OS. In other words they should concentrate on optimizing the OS for the hardware by perfecting the drivers and software-hardware integration. Google should never allowed these phone makers to replace the stock UI and make their own as default. Instead let the user decide what UI (homescreen) they would like to use. In some ‘extreme’ cases (like most LG’s Androphones) they even went as far as removing the stock UI completely. I’m not sure about Motorola because I wouldn’t bother to touch it (never liked Motorola since I was born although it was the first cellphone in my family) but I have a feeling that their UI would be equally sucks if they had it too. One of the worst vendor-made UI I’ve seen on Androphones is from Sony Ericsson that makes it feels like a Nokia phone (no multi home screen by default like Nokia Symbian phones). That is followed by Samsung’s TouchWiz. While most Androphone users praised HTC’s Sense UI, I prefer to stick with the stock UI.

Speaking of UI, I’m always thinking about the importance of having multiple homescreen. It is crucial to make the ‘desktop’ less cluttered in the similar fashion to multiple desktop (workspace) found in most Linux distro. For Android to be built based on Linux it is expected for it to inherit this feature to keep the good Linux reputation. Nobody has to go to the app drawer and scroll through it every time s/he wanted to launch an app if s/he can place the most used apps shortcuts on the homescreens. Homescreens also allow a user to categorize those shortcuts, which I think is a better categorization solution that categorizing them in the app drawer. I know some 3rd party homescreens allow app categorization in the app drawer but like I said let the user decide that later after they play around with the default UI for a bit. After all I don’t think people would like it if every PC vendor forced their own Windows themes on every PC they sell.

But all that doesn’t matter much to me as long as the benefit I gained from it is more than those flaws. I know most Androphone users didn’t buy the phone for for it’s tweakability and customizability, so does that not all iPhone owners bought it for iOS’ awesomeness. In fact I bet most of them would agree that iPhone is too restrictive to their liking. In a sense, once everybody starts buying the iPhone it would feel less special and less unique.

Now let’s talk about the most recent Android (phone and OS). Both Google and Samsung co-launched Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” (ICS) and Galaxy Nexus (see picture below) being the first ICS device. Galaxy Nexus sure looks cool but like I said above, it comes with flaws too. For example, the most basic needs I found missing is microSD card slot. Sure the phone has huge 32GB built-in storage but who’d immediately need that much storage? At least the iPhone comes with multiple capacity selection right at launch.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the latest addition to Google’s Nexus phones.

Also I hate the curved form factor (see picture above). To be honest I’ve never liked the curvature like those ‘chins’ found on many HTC Androphones. It would only make the phone looks bold from a certain angle, making it pointless to be this thin. After all when we put it in pocket the force would be unevenly distributed on the surface. I’ve broken my phone while it was in my pants’ pocket before so I know well about the risk.

When it comes to display size, for me 4″ is the maximum size for a phone. However Galaxy Nexus comes with a 4.63″ screen. I don’t care about the high resolution (1280×720) and I think the argument that it’s to enable people to watch 720p video is also lame. I mean who’d want to watch 720p video on a phone? Definitely not me as I think it’s a stupid thing to do. If I want to watch a 720p videos I’d go for a tablet or even a netbook. I want all Androphone makers to stop making big screen phones like this. Sorry but making larger display than the iPhone does not make it better than iPhone.

On the brighter side LG just announced the DoublePlay for T-Mobile. It looks very promising because of its 2 key features. The first one is it sports a dual-screen display (see picture below).

LG DoublePlay (a.k.a. LG Flip II) for T-Mobile

It is kinda disappointing that for a screen of this size (3.5″, which is the same as iPhone) it has a low resolution, at 320×480 only. Even my LG Optimus One also has the same resolution display, albeit at a bit smaller screen size (3.2″). Well this isn’t a Optimus phone so I guess that’s the reason.My only concern is since the word play is there this phone should give the impression that it is for gaming but for a screen with that resolution would make it feel underpowered. Just so you know this phone is powered by 1GHz CPU so it’s not that underpowered underneath though. BTW, speaking of gaming, I wish the second screen would act as a secondary display to show game stats like the one found in Nintendo DS.

The second feature (the one I missed a lot in touchscreen phones) is the physical keypad (see picture above). It is a trait  only found in some older Nokia phones. Taking a similar approach to Nokia’s old E-series flip-phones for business users, the keyboard is the split-type one, which is surprisingly easy to type on (see picture below).

Nokia E70 (image ripped from The Best Page In The universe by Maddox).

For me the haptic feedback of the touchscreen display is no match to the keypad’s tactile feedback. That touch and feel is irreplaceable and the most important thing is you could rest your fingers on the keypad without triggering/registering any keypress (the only tradeoff is you’d end up having a thick phone but for me it’s OK because I love the feeling that I’m holding a phone in my hand instead of holding a thin card deck). Couple that with the secondary display, it would be great if the smaller display would double as a separate numeric keypad when typing so that I wouldn’t have to press the Alt key every time I want to key in a number.

The biggest disappointment with this phone however (and probably with all LG Androphones) is that it doesn’t come with ICS although it is capable of running it for its hardware. Instead it comes with the older version of Gingerbread (2.3) as opposed to the newer ones. Yes, it an ‘old’ choice for an OS (and maybe bad choice too) considering that most other phones by this time are already updated to 2.3.4 or 2.3.5. Well LG has always at least one step behind all Androphone makers when it comes to bringing updated software. I know it perfectly as it happened to me many times already, being an owner of an LG Androphone (even the newer, more power Optimus-es than mine also came with ‘old’ Froyo instead of Gingerbread).

That said, I guess the last hope of my Android faith would be placed for ASUS Padfone or if possible I’d like to import Sharp/Toshiba Androphone from Japan! ASUS made some Adrophones to before, most notably the Garmin-ASUS series but I never wanted those ‘rubbish’ as they came with Eclair when all other phones already using Froyo. Sure it’s good as a GPS device but not as an Androphone. Actually there’s another promising effort worth noting where there was this Synapses Built-to-Order Android phone back then; great idea and supposed to be shipping this year but the effort seems dead now (even the website has been down for months).

[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] A Die-hard Adobe Flash

  By Halfey Halphstein | September 16, 2011 - 3:40 pm | , , , , ,
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Adobe Flash Player Icon

Image via Wikipedia

Adobe Flash being the subject of hatred is nothing new. In fact it has been like that since the Macromedia days.

Before the iPhone the hatred towards Flash was more genuine. Post-iOS hatred is most likely a hyped one because some people think it’s cool to join the hating-crowd since iDevices is the ‘in’ thing now.

Of course the post-iOS hatred towards Flash is not always the right thing. Therefore I prefer to talk about the original hatred towards it. Before Adobe acquired Macromedia (the original creator of Flash) it already gained the reputation of bandwidth hog. That was when most people are still on dial-up. You can imagine how hellish the internet back then when people are accessing Flash-heavy websites. Not to mention it’s also reputable for eating up system resources as well.

Although the intention of Flash is good, which is not only to ‘simplify’ the web animation but also to become its standard. By ‘simplifying’ here doesn’t mean to make the creation of web animation becomes simpler but to delegate the control of web animation to the animator. Because of Flash the web animator can manipulate the animation and even make it into a full-fledged website. The other idea of using Flash as a website is to prevent code stealing. However that idea seems redundant now with the rising popularity of dynamic websites created with programming languages like PERL or PHP.

After Macromedia’s acquisition by Adobe, Flash was given a new breath of life. It was reputable as a multimedia controller for the web, and with the acquisition it would then be used to display web videos. We can thank it for making video website such as Youtube so successful but that’s all to it. Today people started to see HTML5 as a replacement to the ‘aging’ Flash.

It was not because of Steve Jobs statement saying that HTML5 is “the future” when he announced that iOS will have no Flash support. There were mixed reactions to it. The ‘true’ web developers responded by saying it’s too early to say that and such declaration was unnecessary. Others were just joined the cool crowd and believed every bit Steve Jobs spewed out.

Actually iOS rejection of Flash alone is not enough to kill Flash. It’s almost 2 years since that announcement but we don’t see any significant decline in Flash usage. It would need another rejection, much bigger than iOS to kill it effectively. Microsoft also recently ditched Flash with the upcoming Windows 8 it’s now clear that Flash’s life would come to an end anytime in the future.

The death of Flash is pretty much imminent now. However Adobe is not done with it yet and they are more determined to update with more advanced features. Actually there’s no need to kill Flash. We only need it to become more resource/bandwidth friendly and more secure too. It is still too early to replace Flash with HTML5 now. HTML5 may not be the better replacement for it either.

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Steve Jobs: From Apple To Nokia

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

Does hating iPhone iPad iPod automatically makes me…

  By Halfey Halphstein | April 21, 2011 - 3:11 pm |
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Does hating iPhone/iPad/iPod automatically makes me an Android fan? No, that kind of logic is FAIL. In fact I’d still hate iXXX even if Android wasn’t there. The truth is I have issues with Android too like it’s not fit to carry the Linux label and incapable of running Linux apps (despite the much bragged point of being based on Linux, open source, etc), as well as some other stuff. However I have greater issues with iXXX. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not just Apple but also all other elite brands that claim to be the best, keep talking big and refused to admit/recognize/acknowledge it when ‘cheaper’ brands surpassed them (in a better way) in many terms.

So what would I do if there was no Android? Of course I’d root for Symbian. No, I won’t go for WinMobile (or WP7 for that matter) as I have similar issues with WinMobile as I do with iXXX. If there was no Android and people don’t like iXXX of course Symbian would be the king as those people would go for it, boosting its development and sales, unlike the current situation.

So if I care so much about Symbian then why do I hypocritically root for Android today? No, it’s not about being hypocrite, it’s about which one has a brighter future. I’m a practical person. I know iXXX has a bright future too but for it to force its users into a closed ecosystem is not something that I can live with. At least BlackBerry doesn’t have similar ecosystem, which is why I’m more compatible with BB than iXXX.

BTW I might have liked iPhone if it was a classic-iPodish looking phone rather than the touchscreen one. I understand Apple want to make it more than just a phone, hence the smartphone moniker but I think it was overkill on that time. I hope the rumor about Apple making a budget iPhone is true, and I hope it will have physical keypad just like a normal phone. After all I have a hard time to call a phone without keypad as a phone, even if it’s Android/Symbian.

The good thing about iPhone is it has only 2,3 form factor that 3rd party manufacturers have no problem in designing complementary devices/accessories for it. Well, it can be a good or bad thing, just like how the availability of different models/specs of Android phone becomes a good thing for different target groups. Anyways, I think for Linux (the real one, not Android) to conquer tablets as well, the software (apps) need to be touch optimized too. In other words, Linux needs to be less dependent on CLI and improve the GUI into touch interface.

So the question is not about what I love when I hate another.

What if Apple App Store never existed?

  By Halfey Halphstein | October 17, 2010 - 8:26 pm |
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App Store

Image via Wikipedia

What if Apple did not be the first one to roll out a centralized application store for mobile devices? What if it was pioneered by Google Android Market? I think most iFags would say a centralized app store is a bad idea, citing this and that such as “it restricts developers to one place only”, “developers have to share revenue by placing their apps in the centralized app store”, etc. Yeah, it’s not a new thing for iFags not daring to change Apple’s business ideas. Anything that comes from Apple, especially in the post Mac 3G era will always be deemed as good. The only thing they would have balls to do is complaining about one of two missing features. They even bragged about “nobody needs a multitasking on a smartphone” in the similar way they bragged about “nobody need a right mouse button” back then when Macintosh’s default mouse has only one button. Now with iPhone they are bragging about “nobody needs keypad on their smartphone anymore”.

This is a trend among iFags, and it has started since long time where they used to say PowerPC architecture is superior to x86 but now with Apple switched to Intel processors, those legacy Apple fanboys have lost their point. Not to mention when they used to say Mac OS (pre OS X era) is superior too but then they had to take back their words when Mac OS adopted BSD-variant kernel (Darwin) as the foundation for the Mac OS X. For iFags, iProducts are not just mere objects, they are religious relics. Steve Jobs is a saint, and whatever statement coming from Apple deemed as words of God that can’t be denied.

No, I don’t hate Apple as a company, but I hate their policies and the way they manipulate their fans to become their evangelists for free. They said their products are the best but they don’t care about befriending low-paid people. They are aristocrats. From what I see, the only iProducts that’s not really overpriced is the iPhone. No Apple rivals dare to sell their smartphones at higher price than a iPhone, unless they are offering lotsa extra features. Anyways I’m not gonna buy a Mac even if I have money because I think it’s pointless to buy a computer that lacks modularity. Yes, I could prepare enough money to buy an average Mac but then with that amount of money I’d buy an average PC and use the excess money to buy extras to make the PC performs better.

I’m not sure whether this is because of Steve Jobs but I have to admit that it’s only after the return of Steve Jobs to Apple that we started to see lower priced Macs (lower but still unaffordable to most). Now I wonder what would happen to Apple’s future without Steve Jobs. He seems to be irreplaceable, or should I say currently there’s no candidates charismatic enough to replace him. Let’s cross our fingers if things will change.

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