Posts
- Google Nexus One Review
- Giveaway Round #2: Gimme your best shot!
- The White Macbook is still classic
- Bayan Broadband 512 Speed Test
Posted: 02 Feb 2010 06:08 PM PST The Nexus One is Google’s latest self-branded smartphone. It has gone a long way since the Google G1 over a year ago. So, before you have one delivered to the Philippines, check out our Google Nexus One review first.  First, let’s get one thing out of the way — the Nexus One wasn’t really manufactured by Google. HTC is the company behind it, the same phone manufacturer that did the Google G1. Google’s involvement is with the design concept and software integration. It’s an interesting partnership since HTC also promotes its own Android-powered handsets like the HTC Magic and HTC Hero.  The Nexus One has a solid design — combine a thin form factor, sexy curved edges with a polished finish and you get an almost perfect body. What’s a bit disappointing is the color tone used in the matte finish of the handset — the brown and dark gray combo turned out drab, bordering on ugly. Had they gone with a brushed-metal finish, it would have turn out nice (like that of the HTC Hero). There’s not much physical buttons here — besides the optical trackball and power button, the only other button present is the volume rocker on the left side. There are dedicated touch points engraved on the bottom of the capacitive screen for Search, Home, Menu and Back. The bottom end houses the micro-USB port aligned with small metal contact points that’s used to connect to the optional dock (sold separately). At the back is the 5MP camera and LED flash.    The 3.7-inch screen is impressive — bright and crisp AMOLED display with resolution of 480×800 pixels. The screen real estate is large enough for comfortable viewing of web pages, Google Maps and watching videos. What the screen really is missing is multi-touch especially for browsing, viewing photos and navigating the maps. However, there are reports that the handset is capable of multi-touch and can be activated by a software update (The UK model has multi-touch and it is rumored that Google had a secret deal with Apple to temporarily disable multi-touch on the Nexus One for the US due to patent issues). The Nexus One is powered by QualComm’s SnapDragon processor running 1GHz and you can really feel the responsiveness and how quick tasks and applications run on this handset. I’ve used the HTC Hero beside this unit and you can really spot the difference between the 528MHz and the 1GHz CPU. I’ve also tried the HTC HD2 (same 1GHz CPU) run WinMo 6.5 smoothly. The CPU performance really adds to a better over-all experience.  The connectivity options worked just fine — 3G/HSDPA, WiFi 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth. There’s no noticeable problems with 3G on both Globe and Smart, contrary to earlier reports in the US. What’s telling is that the Nexus One does not have native controls to turn on/off mobile internet — Google really expects you to have connectivity all the time. Good thing there’s a 3rd-party widget/app you can install to control this (saves on data charges and battery life). On the contrary, I have that widget built-in with the HTC Hero. The handset does not recognize the 3G network so APN settings have to be manually inputted. The Google Android OS 2.1 has a number of improvements in it compared to version 1.5 which I am using on the Hero. However, they’re mostly cosmetic upgrades — live wallpapers, slightly new UI and better contacts list, among others. Using GMail is way better as the Contacts list automatically fills up the recipients filed as you type in the email addresses, a feature I didn’t have with the Hero. The apps in the Android Marketplace is now more appreciated than ever, with applications and widgets running much better. I have yet to purchase a paid app though so that will be for another entry in the future. The virtual keyboard is comfortable to use and responsive. Text input is still a pain in the first few weeks of using the unit. It gets better as you add more terms into the built-in dictionary. The voice-to-text feature is nice, especially for searching. Unfortunately, my diction/accent doesn’t help a lot in translation. One other feature of the Nexus One that got my attention off the bat was the performance of the camera. The camera is snappy and has fast focusing. The photos have good white balance and color saturation too. Here are sample photos I took:    Video recording is almost as impressive and nearing HD quality (720×480 pixels at 20fps).  At the same time, video playback is smooth and not jumpy although the player is very simple and doesn’t support fit-to-screen to maximize viewing size. Random skipping from scene to scene is a snap and the audio is always in sync with the video. Audio volume is decent but not loud enough for open playback. As for battery life, the Nexus One scored low in this aspect. I’d say one and a half days on regular use but expect to re-charge the handset at the end of the day, especially if you’re into mobile GMail and Twitter. Always bring the charger cable with you. There are some stuff and features I missed from the HTC Hero with Android 1.5 that I’ve been using for months:
Update: The official Google Nexus One blog posted an entry that a software update will be available starting today. This includes a fixed to enable multi-touch functionality. Coolness! The update is not yet available on my unit though.  Related posts:
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Posted: 02 Feb 2010 09:14 AM PST Okay, I have to admit that running a huge giveaway/contest is such a tedious job in terms of logistics especially if you have several hundreds (over 700+) entries to comb thru. Nevertheless, we’ll continue to do our give-away every month. So here’s Round #2 of the YugaTech Great Gadget Giveway — Gimme your best shot! This is your chance to get that MSI Wind U123H, the 10-inch netbook with built-in 3G powered by Globe Tattoo. So what do you need to do? Simple. Go to the most crowded place and have your picture taken holding the sign “Follow @abeolandres and @talk2globe on Twitter! “.  I’m looking for the best shot — the most creative, most difficult, most crowded that will draw the biggest impact.    Upload your submission on Flickr, PixLink, Picasa, Facebook, or any of your favorite photo-sharing site. I suggest to name your photos as “yugatechcontest.jpg” before uploading and/or include a tag “yugatech contest” when applicable. You can even put it on your blog and write about the ordeal of getting that difficult shot. You can download this Word document and print it out to use as props. You can make your own sign too — print it, paint it, put it on a tarp, cartolina, or manila paper — be creative, sky’s the limit. Once you’re done, leave a comment here with the link to your entry/page. What we’re giving away? MSI Wind U123H — for the most difficult, most creative that draws the biggest crowd attention or impact. I’ll pick 5 finalists and ask a panel of judges (TBA) to win the top prize. The runners-up get a Globe Tattoo. If you posted your entry on Facebook and get as many people to “Like” the photo, you win 5 Globe Tattoo and five Php500 Globe Load. That’s top 10 with the most “Likes”. If you posted your entry on PixLink, we’ll randomly pick 5 entries to win a Globe Tattoo each. If you blogged about your entry and linked back to this contest page, we’ll also pick 10 entries randomly to win five Globe Tattoo and five Php500 Globe call card. I’ll be running a Google Image Search and pick 5 random images on the front page of the search results and give them a prize as well (Php500 Globe call card each). That’s the reason why I mentioned using the file name and/or tag above.  That’s 34 minor prizes and 1 grand prize so far. But wait, there’s more! If you tweet about this contest, we’ll pick 10 winners to get 5 Globe Tattoo and five Php500 Globe call card. Just copy and paste this tweet message: Win an MSI Wind 3G netbook! Follow @abeolandres & @talk2globe. Join the YugaTech Giveaway: http://bit.ly/cWBn3M #thanks2globeIf you’re not on Twitter but have a blog, just post a blog entry about this photo contest. Make sure to have a live link to this page and use the first picture above (this one). I’ll pick another set of 10 winners to get 5 Globe Tattoo and five Php500 Globe call card. Okay, that should be enough, whew! We have fifty-four (54) consolation prizes and one (1) major prize — an MSI Wind U123H 3G netbook that comes with a Globe Tattoo SIM card. Some things to remember! You can join in any or all of the giveaways above but you can only win once. If you plan to submit multiple entries, you need to submit different photos/scenarios for it to be counted. That’s it! The fewer the rules, the better. Contest starts today, February 3, and ends February 26. Three (3) weeks should be enough for you to think of that awesome photo entry. Good luck to all! Related posts:
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Posted: 02 Feb 2010 02:04 AM PST Having used two Macbooks lent to me by Apple in recent months, I remembered the time when they changed from the simple white and black plastic body into the silver aluminum unibody. MacBooks were more expensive then, too. Of course, that 13″ MacBook Pro with Aluminum unibody is the new look.  Apple MacBook (White) 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB DDR3 RAM 250GB SATA HDD 8x double-layer SuperDrive NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics Built-in 7-hour battery One of the biggest advantage of MacBooks is their ability to last longer on a single full charge. The white MacBook promises up to 7 hours but from experience it’s just around 5 hours on regular use. However, that’s still better than most other regular laptops that offer 2 to 3 hours.    Anyway, having used the silver-tone, aluminum MacBook Pro and this new white unibody MacBook I’d say I’d go for the latter in terms of looks. Besides, this is one of the most affordable MacBook so far (Php54,990). I just wish they’d offer the black version back and make a 12-inch model. What do you think — how would you improve the MacBook design? Related posts:
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Posted: 01 Feb 2010 11:33 PM PST We’re able to get a review unit of the new Bayan Broadband 3G service. Their claim of TrueSpeed is hinged on the promise that they can deliver true 512Kbps EV-DO to your home as long as the signal is strong. The device is similar to the USB dongle you’ve seen with Globe, Smart and Sun Cellular. The modem is made by ZTE and the design series is the same as the one by Smart (the UAAP/NCAA series).  Unlike the other telcos though, this one doesn’t seem to have a SIM card in it. All I did was fire up the dialer, configure the settings to include my client ID and connect online. I was able to position on a location that gives me 4 or 5 bars on the signal meter and tested the bandwidth using 2Wire and Speedtest.net:   Based on the two tests, the service can do the 512Kbps it promises. What’s promising is that the upload speed is also the same/close as the download speed (as indicated by SpeedTest.net). However, that’s still dependent on signal strength. As expected, the speed also goes down as the signal degrades. I have to do a more extensive tests with different signal strengths and sustained download speed. Will post an update entry once I collect more data and test runs. Related posts:
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