The Big Bang

Dark is the Way, Light is a Place

2010-09-03T23:52:00.000-07:00

Anberlin's newest album "Dark is the way, Light is a place" just got leaked, well you really can't say it leaked cause they started selling a few batches today over at New York so probably one of those guys did this. Nevertheless, it's one heck of an album. Go download it now. Personal favorites are "We owe this to ourselves", "Art of war", "Pray tell", "To the wolves", "Depraved", "Impossible". The whole album rocks!

Filipinos=Asians

2010-08-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

I just got home from work, and apart from the same ol' boring day I had this friendly debate with my co workers. The argument? Both of them said that Filipinos were not Asians (gasp!) while I kept insisting that we are Asians. Funny how things work, huh? I never thought that there would be anybody questioning us being Asians. Now, I'm not good with history and geography, heck I suck at it! I usually fail my history tests, though I do get the occasional good scores. Anyway, after browsing a few sites I came out completely surprised. I never thought that there were a lot of people questioning us being Asians, some of them even Filipinos. A lot of them pointed out that the Philippines was never connected to the "Asian" continent, you know, the big piece of land where China sits. They also go on to say that the Philippines is near the Pacific Ocean thus considering us a part of the Pacific Islanders, right.

Now, there are two things that I would like to point out, actually make that three. First off, if you say that we are not a part of the "Asian" continent then you must also think that the Japanese, Malaysians, Singaporean (is that what you call the guys over at Singapore?), Indonesians, etc. as not being Asians too, right? Secondly from what I know, albeit I admit I know very little of history, is that the Pacific Islanders are the Hawaiians, and the three -sia (polynesia, melanesia, and micronesia. and no I didn't know this, El Googs helped me out). Lastly, if you do not consider us being Asians just because we don't look like our neighbors, the Chinese (no offense my Chinese brothers, it's just that everybody thinks you're the only Asians) then you are dead wrong. Consider the Indians, the Indonesians, the Malaysians, and the others. Not all Asians look alike.......just some, ok?

So, there you have it. I strongly and firmly believe that I am an Asian, the Filipinos are Asian, and the Philippines is an Asian county.

The Decision!

2010-08-09T00:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a funny video I just watched. This is one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen. Steve Carell is the man. Oh, I also can't wait for his new movie. Dinner for Schmucks!

The Decision

I'm back

2010-08-07T00:47:00.000-07:00

Finally, after a few months of hiatus, I'm back! I got to think about a lot of things, my blog included. I've decided that I don't need to cover all the mobile phone news these days, we have the great guys doing that (Engadget) already. I'd just stick more on what I do with my life and also the technology around my life. So, here goes to a successful and hopefully long running blog, without the occasional breaks. Cheers everybody!

P.S. thanks so much to sweetsaltyme, because of you I had the urge of getting up from my couch and start writing. Again, being a couch potato is what I'm best at. Seriously. Please visit her blogspot too (sweet and salty)

Video of Nexus One's genesis part 2

2010-02-07T03:27:00.000-08:00

I posted abut the video of Nexus One's early beginnings yesterday and now we have the second part of the series. On this episode we'll talk about the screen and the technology under it. Enough talk, just watch the movie at the source link.

Source

Rumored Windows Mobile 7 specs

2010-02-07T03:21:00.000-08:00

A week before the coveted MWC, the first batch of rumors have now surfaced regarding Microsoft's latest and greatest offering yet, Windows Mobile 7. The folks over at PPCGeeks just received information regarding the operating system. According to the info, WinMo 7 will sport an interface that is very similar and reminiscent of the Zune HD. We should also expect a completely revamped start screen. While the UI (codenamed METRO) was described to be "very clean", "soulful", and "alive". Now, for every pot of gold, there's always a leprechaun, right? No exemptions here, with all those goodies comes one bad news though not for everyone. WinMo 7 is reported to miss multi-tasking, with applications simply pausing themselves when in the background. Also, there's some talk about WinMo 7 missing Flash support. Aww, it looks like Microsoft's following Apple's footsteps. Other informations were that the OS will support full XboX gaming integration, full Zune integration, full support for social networking, and a try-before-buy system in the Marketplace. Hardware is set to the previously rumored info - September 2010. Full info at the source link.

Source

Xperia X10 confirmed to have Android upgrade!

2010-02-06T00:49:00.000-08:00

Good news and bad news for all the Sony Ericsson fanatics out there. First the good news, Sony Ericsson's front liner and first offering on Android, the Xperia X10, will receive an Operating System upgrade. If you'll recall the Xperia X10 only has Android 1.6 as its OS. What OS might it upgrade to? There's no word yet, though we're most probably looking at a 2.0, though a 2.1 upgrade won't hurt either. On the other hand, the bad news comes from the fact that the X10 WILL HAVE Android 1.6 straight out from the box, the OS upgrade will come from a future firmware update. We'll just have to wait and see when that firmware update comew, though sooner is better rather than later.

Source

Video of Nexus One's genesis

2010-02-06T00:40:00.000-08:00

Here goes a video of how the Nexus One came to be, from the concept designs, to the implementation of softwares. You'll hear from Google's own Erick Tseng, HTC's Tomasz Hasinski, and Audience's Lloyd Watts (Audience was the one who provided for the dual mic noise reduction technology). The video clip is only 4 minutes long but you'll be able to see a sneak peek of the Nexus One's docks - there are three docks to be exact. Video at the source link.

Source

Sony Ericsson Aspen caught on video

2010-02-06T00:34:00.000-08:00

Sony Ericsson's first offering on the full-QWERTY-in-a-candy-bar form factor, the Aspen, has now been captured in its full glory on video. Though the video is in Spanish (I think?), you can see the Aspen sized up against the iPhone, the N900, and the Blackberry Bold 9700. The video shows you the physical aspects of the Aspen as well as a simple walkthrough of the Phone's UI which is actually Windows Mobile 6.5.3, in case you forgot. Video at the source link.

Source

Sony Ericsson to pump out an AMOLED phone at MWC?

2010-02-04T03:58:00.000-08:00

A source has been kind enough to leave us with a little hint about what Sony Ericsson are prepping for MWC. Though "the source" didn't say anything revealing, he did leave a message saying "AMOLED anyone? :D". Though AMOLED isn't anything new, other manufacturers have already been rolling out phones with AMOLED screens, this is a good sign for Sony Ericsson and it looks like they're going the right direction this year. Let's see what they have for us this coming MWC. Oh, and by the way, Sony Ericsson's MWC countdown has started, hit the source link to go there. It really looks promising so I urge you to hit that link.....hit it already!

Source

Nokia takes Ovi Maps to new heights!

2010-02-04T03:50:00.000-08:00

In a rather appealing way, Nokia has come up with a very interesting campaign for its Ovi Maps, which is by the way free if you didn't know. They've positioned a large crane with an arrow on top of it in London. That's it, you say? Oh no, that's not even half of it. They've got something unique under their sleeves, just send a text or an email to them and they'll post your message over at the arrow on top and the crane or the arrow will point to the direction to where your message is directed at or to where you are at. Can't seem to get what I'm talking about? Just hit the source link for all the goodies.

Source

Motorola Devour is official!

2010-02-04T03:37:00.000-08:00

The new Motorola devour is now headed to Verizon and this is the first MotoBlur product for the big red. We've got a 3.1 inch capacitive screen, touch sensitive nav pad, bluetooth, microsd support, and android 1.6. No mention of multi-touch though.

Source

Motorola Zeppelin spotted in the wild, low-end Android

2010-02-04T03:27:00.000-08:00

Lo and behold, the Motorola Zeppelin has once again been spotted in the wild, but now we've got something new for all of you. We can now confirm (based on the photo) that the Zeppelin is really running Android though they've chosen Cupcake (1.5) for it, and expect the proprietary MotoBlur to be on top. It looks like it'll be sporting an HVGA screen. So this looks like a younger brother for the CLIQ/DEXT albeit a keyboard-less one.

Source

Android 2.0.1 ported to the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

2010-02-04T03:20:00.000-08:00

Finally, it's here. Android 2.0.1 (or 1.6 if you prefer) has now been ported to the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 thanks to the folks over at the xda-developers forum. It is still in its early stage, but we'll take whatever baby steps we can. As of the moment, the following are working:

1. touchscreen

2. keyboard

3. button pad

4. radio (GSM)

5. GPRS / 3G

6. microphone

7. charging

8. market

9. wifi

10. idle sleep mode

11. Turn Off LCD

12. Keyboar Slider

13. Phone Shutdown

14. Horizontal view

Whilst these are the features currently not working for the ROM:

1. bluetooth --> soon

2. camera

3. GPS

4. brightness LCD --> soon

If you want an early dose of Android on a Sony Ericsson you can wait for the guys to finish and successfully port a working android. But if you can still wait (which is not too long), there's the X10 to save you all the trouble, and sources say that the X10 has been delayed due to the fact that Sony Ericsson has updated the OS to Android 2.0 instead of going for 1.6. Nice indeed!

Source
Source (Video)

P.S. If you were able to watch the video on that source link, you can clearly see that the person who's behind all this is a Filipino, and I for one am a Filipino. I am proud to be one too!

Send text to the Philippines for FREE!

2010-02-03T02:21:00.000-08:00

Yes, you read that right. You can now send free text messages to anyone in the Philippines be it Sun, Smart, or Globe. It's too good to be true that there's bound to be a catch, right? Well, actually, no. You just simply type in your message, enter your recipient's number, and you can optionally add your phone number as well. So enough talking, you don't need all those UNLI-offers those carriers give you, just jump on here (scroll down a bit) and start sending your unlimited text messages.....for FREE! I really love that word. Also, this is not a scam or a virus, etc. This was created by my fellow BNC member usong725, and all the credit goes to him. It is still in beta mode though so be patient. And while you're doing that, why not jump over to our org as well over at BNC.

Thanks usong725!

Meet the new Sony Ericsson Aspen

2010-02-03T02:07:00.000-08:00

Sony Ericsson just announced the new Aspen, its has full QWERTY in a candybar form factor while supporting a touchscreen as well. It sports the WinMo 6.5.3 OS. It has a 2.4" TFT resistive touchscreen, 3.5mm audio jack, microsd support, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, 3.2 mpx fixed focus camera, HSPA, and all the other goodies. The Aspen is set for the business consumers and one source hinted that the Aspen will be sold for a relatively cheap price and is targeted mainly for business companies for bulk sales. That would be a good move for Sony Ericsson especially with the not-so-good 2009. Link to the promo video at the bottom.

Promotional Video

iPad UI ported to the iPhone, now that was fast

2010-01-30T02:06:00.001-08:00

Two days after the revelation of the iPad, hackers have been pretty busy from the get go and now they have just done what they wanted. They have ported the iPad UI over to the iPhone, not that there's that much difference. What you'll get though is the added 3D candy UI, and the iBookstore UI as well. Now, do you want to have some of that iPad flavor 58 days before the release? Hit the source link to get the full scoop and the instructional video.

Source

Samsung has stellar fourth quarter

2010-01-30T01:52:00.000-08:00

After four of the five top mobile phone manufacturers announced their fourth quarter and full year financial reports, there's only one left and this manufacturer shouldn't to be taken for granted. The last one is one of the two "Korean Giants". Samsung is the second largest phone manufacturer on the planet, only behind the "Finnish Giant" - Nokia. So how was their fourth quarter? Nothing short of spectacular. They sold 69 million phones in the fourth quarter that's a 16 percent jump from the same quarter last year. They sold 227 million phones for the whole year, amazing indeed. Mobile division reported revenues of $9.9 billion and an operating profit came in at $852 million. Samsung is surely positioning itself right behind Nokia, with these results they just passed the 20% market share in 2009. All of these are due to the steady growth in numerous regions, as well as the cheap touchscreen phones they have manufactured. All in all, Samsung is going steady and if I were Nokia I'd be biting my fingernails right now. Source link for the full story.

Source

One interesting tidbit from the financial reports of the top five mobile phone manufacturers, everyone gained positive profit except for Sony Ericsson.

Adobe: "Apple imposes restrictions on their devices"

2010-01-29T04:08:00.000-08:00

As what I have said about the iPad, Adobe has now just come clean with all the buzz surrounding it and the iPad as to why there is no flash support for the said device. No need for me to say more, just read the full text below to find out all the juicy information.

"It looks like Apple is continuing to impose restrictions on their devices that limit both content publishers and consumers. Unlike many other ebook readers using the ePub file format, consumers will not be able to access ePub content with Apple's DRM technology on devices made by other manufacturers. And without Flash support, iPad users will not be able to access the full range of web content, including over 70% of games and 75% of video on the web.

If I want to use the iPad to connect to Disney, Hulu, Miniclip, Farmville, ESPN, Kongregate, or JibJab -- not to mention the millions of other sites on the web -- I'll be out of luck."

Source

All HTC HD2 having 567MB, HTC just keeping the stash?

2010-01-29T04:04:00.001-08:00

A video over the internet has popped up showing an HTC HD2 (asian variant) having 567MB worth of RAM. What's so special about it? Oh nothing, just the fact that the HTC HD2 is supposedly only to have 448MB though the American variant was going to have a boost to 567MB. Having 567 MB of RAM rocks especially when it comes along the 1GHz processor and that oh so juicy 4.3 inch capacitive screen. Source link is where the evidence is at.

Source

My take on the iPad

2010-01-29T03:39:00.000-08:00

I'm kinda late on this post since I wasn't sure if I should take on this post since my blog focuses more on mobile technology and the like, though Apple's iPad might not be a mobile phone, I have come to a conclusion that I will write an article about it albeit a short one. The iPad, along with the other Apple devices, certainly caused some stir around the tech industry when good 'ol Stevie J. announced the product, oh and he did say that this will be "better than a netbook". Does it live up to the same expectation and impact that the iPhone left behind? I don't think so, not yet.

The iPad had a gorgeous screen, a 9.7" capacitive multi touch capable one to be exact, a 1GHz processor (Apple A4) which was Apple's, e-book capabilities, and ermm a home key, yeah that! Based on the photos, since I wasn't there though I did wish I was there, the iPad looks stunning and without a doubt leaves a pretty good first impression but dig deeper and you might get disappointed. It doesn't support multi tasking, no flash support, no USB port, no SD card slot, no removable battery, no camera even just a front facing one would have done, and the optional $130 add on for 3G seems pretty much steep. The $499 price tag seems wonderful to begin with, but 3G nowadays is a must so add $130 dollars then voilah! you get it for $629 for a 16 gig version while the 32 gig will set you $599 without 3G/729 with 3G and the 64 gig at $699 without 3G/829 with 3G.

There are three things that irritate me the most, the lack of flash support, multi tasking and USB port. These three are not new technologies, they have been here with us for years yet Apple, being themselves, purportedly did not include it. Oh apple, the Nokia N900 has flash 9 support while the Palm Pre will have flash 10.1 as well when webOS 1.4 rolls out. Multitasking has been a no brainer for the other companies, especially with Palm and Samsung showing off their powers.

The USB port? Need I say more?

I do not hate Apple nor do I worship them, I was almost jumping into the Apple bandwagon but they seem firm to not let me...yet. All these may not be deal breakers for others but it surely will be for me. Now, will I say that the iPad is a winner? In my eyes not yet, for others its drop dead the "most advanced" peace of tech they have ever seen, don't ask me why. But will it be a success, I still believe that it will, with the strong support of the Apple fanboys (blind ones to be exact), along with the strong developers community it will make the iPad all the more worth it. Oh, and a kick stand would have been a nice add on too, though you can buy a case with a kick stand. Other accessories include a keyboard dock, a dock alone, a camera connection kit, and a 10W USB power adapter.

Now, that wasn't too long, was it?

Motorola has a splendid fourth quarter, clawing back..

2010-01-29T03:31:00.000-08:00

Motorola has announced their fourth quarter financial report and the road back to success seems to be clearer. Motorola recorded a profit of $142 million, though that's not pretty big still we'll take a positive profit, that's $14 million better than the previous quarter and a whopping 3.799 billion jump or leap from the same quarter last year. 12 million devices were shipped this quarter, a 1.4 million down compared to the previous quarter. All in all Motorola is slowly clawing back into the game, they've covered up the wound. All that they need to do now is to keep an eye on it and do the right thing. Anybody up for a "Hello Moto" catch phrase right now? I am! Source link!

Source

What's up with 50? 50 apps, now 50 games?

2010-01-28T03:41:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know. What's up with 50 nowadays? We had the Palm Pre Plus run 50 simultaneous apps, hot off its heels was the Omnia HD, now we have the Motorola Droid/Milestone running 50 games. Though I doubt that these were all simultaneous, but still it has the number 50 on it. So far, we have Palm, Samsung, and Motorola on board the 50 apps/games. SE, Nokia, RIM, LG, and Apple its your turn, oh wait not you Apple. You're "too special" to have multi tasking, we know. Enough chit chat, just like what you did with the Palm Pre Plus and the Omnia HD, hop on the source link to enjoy the 50 games that were shown off on the Motorola Droid/Milestone. Ain't this a treat?

Source

Nokia to publish 4th quarter results (Update! and it's here)

2010-01-28T02:39:00.000-08:00

The Finnish giant and the biggest mobile phone manufacturer in the world should be releasing their 4th quarter and full year financial report today. They should be making their announcement at 1:00 P.M. (CET +1) and right now it's 12:45 P.M. over at Finland so the announcement should be near. Stay tuned for the financial report.

Update: and as planned, Nokia just released their fourth quarter full year financial report and where do they stand? Net sales are at 12 billion Euros, 11.988 to be exact that's down 5.3% from 12.662 billion from last year same quarter while that's a 22.2% rise compared to last quarter's 9.810. Nokia was able to ship 126.9 million units for the fourth quarter, that's a 13.8 million or 12.2% rise compared to last year's final quarter, and an 18.4 million or 17% rise compared to last quarter. Read on the full story at the source link.

Source

HTC Bravo and Supersonic spotted.....again

2010-01-27T03:04:00.000-08:00

First off the HTC Bravo, rumored to be HTC's flagship android smartphone. It has Android as its choice of OS paired with a 1GHz snapdragon processor. It has DivX support, 720p video capture, a 5 megapixel camera with AF and flash, also a 3.7 inch AMOLED (sweet!) display. Source link for the photo and the full story, click on!

Source

Next off, remember the Supersonic? Yeah you do! Who could ever forget those beautiful blurry shots? A leaked photo just surfaced, and now its clearer, finally! Not only that, a render also bumped us, now what are the chances? It seems like HTC wants this brute to get all the attention now, don't they? HTC has been busy with all these leaks, I'm not saying that we don't like it, we'll take whatever leak we can get. Especially the juicy ones, right HTC? The supersonic is said to have a 4.3 inch display along with WiMax and Sense UI on top of Android 2.1.

Now I wouldn't say HTC is that quietly brilliant, they're not quiet, oh no not at all. Though they are brilliant.

Pre does 50 apps, so does Omnia HD

2010-01-27T02:58:00.001-08:00

Remember how I reported about the Palm Pre running 50 simultaneous apps, that was awesome, right? Hold on though, Samsung won't go down without a fight and they really aren't. Here comes the Omnia HD running a CUSTOM ROM while running 50 simultaneous apps with the likes of Opera Mobile, Skyfire, etc. Yeah those are space hoggers. Now we'll be waiting to hear from the other top handset manufacturers, yeah we're talking to you Nokia, SE, Moto, RIM, LG, and Apple. Oh yeah, I spoke too soon. Hit on the source link for the full story.

Source

Say hello to Gigabyte's Android phone

2010-01-27T02:51:00.000-08:00

There were already rumors circulating about an android powered Gigabyte phone but now live photos have been posted by the guys at Mobile-Review. Specs weren't really that clear until now. It has a 528MHz Qualcomm processor with 192 RAM and 512 ROM, microsdhc memory card slot, 2 megapixel AF camera, and a 3.5mm headset jack. Connectivity-wise it has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. The operating system is said to be at Android 1.6 Donut.

Source

Motorola buys a Super Bowl spot, new MOTOBLUR device?

2010-01-27T02:46:00.001-08:00

Motorola just purchased a 30 second spot on the Super Bowl which would definitely create some added stir for the company. After a few hard earned cash, they can now do some more ads, hoorah! There's a preview on their site as well, oh and by the way, it'll feature a well known artist. Are you more excited about the upcoming phone or the mysterious sexy actress? I'd still go for the former :D

Source

LG having a good, no great 4Q

2010-01-27T02:29:00.000-08:00

LG has now released their 4th quarter financial report and it seems that the company is doing great. To be more specific, this is the highest in the Korean giant's history, the other Korean giant most probably will have the same results. So to break it down, sales rose 6.8% to 12.2 billion USD while the total sales for 2009 rose 12.5% to 43.3 billion USD. There were 100.7 million units shipped in 2008 while 117.9 million units were shipped this year. Read the full story at the source link.

Source

Nokia mobile radar is a cool app, certainly excites...

2010-01-27T02:11:00.000-08:00

Nokia is showing off its newest application which uses RADAR (RAdio Detection And Ranging) to control certain features, e.g. volume control though there are also certain apps which make use of the radar. This looks like a cool up especially when paired with let's say augmented reality. Check out the source link for all the "exciting" action. Oh, and if you're wondering about the mill factory that they are at, remember Nokia started off in the paper industry. Funny where they landed after 141 years, huh?

Source

HTC supersonic poses for us

2010-01-26T01:25:00.000-08:00

A photo of the HTC Supersonic just hit us on the internet. Sadly, the author didn't have a reasonable camera for the photoshoot but still we'll take whatever photo you bring us. Though we'd like a clearer shot. Ever heard of a DSLR?

Apparently, the Supersonic is rumored to be more like the HTC HD2 with a snappy processor (most probably snapdragon), a 4.3" display, and a thin waist line. Though it will supposedly run Android 2.1 with the ever loved Sense UI on top of it. A kickstand is also present when you take a look at the back which can be viewed at the source link. Of course I don't want to place all the photos here since I'm not the one who should get all the credit here, its really the source link, I'm just here to bring the news to the layman.

Can you say sweet?

Source

HTC Diamond 3 renderings spotted, might be fake...

2010-01-26T00:56:00.000-08:00

A rendering of the HTC Diamond 3 just surfaced up the net, and the phone looks great though you can see that HTC has dropped the usual design with its diamond series. This looks more like an HD2 of some sort. Diamond 3 IS supposed to run WinMo 7 as its OS of choice but the renderings clearly show that it runs Android, just a misunderstanding? I'm sure you've heard about this so take this one with a pinch of salt. Full story at the source link.

Source

Desktop

2010-01-26T00:46:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share this. Since we were sharing how our desktop looks like over at BNC, by the way join our org!, I thought that you might wanna take a look as well :)

Palm Pre Plus runs 50 simultaneous apps, yes 50!

2010-01-24T03:20:00.000-08:00

Here's another cool thing! Recently, Palm just announced the Palm Pre Plus headed for Verizon, though there is a GSM version so keep your fingers crossed for a worldwide GSM version. It doubles the memory while making a few changes over at the design department, at first read it seems like there's not much, doubling the RAM, pfff. Oh, but wait, you wanna see proof of how big this really is? Here's proof, a Palm Pre Plus running 50 simultaneous apps (or cards) sitting side by side the classic Palm Pre. Oh, and the old Palm Pre you say? It runs 13 apps while crashing and getting the "too much cards notification". 13 apps isn't that bad though, but 50? You must be kidding! Well, enough talking, here's the video. Check it out, you won't regret the 8 minute long video.

A quick walkthrough of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz

2010-01-24T03:12:00.000-08:00

Daniel Sandblom, the global marketing manager at Sony Ericsson, has just posted a quick walkthrough of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz. These include the 5 way panel homescreen, how to make a phone call, and how to send a text message. Video at the source link. Enjoy the clip.

Source

Sony Ericsson ready to spend big for the X10 and Vivaz, set for a comeback..

2010-01-24T02:57:00.000-08:00

Sony Ericsson is reportedly going to spend a total of £4 million to let the people of UK, take note that's only in the UK, learn and know more about these products. The ads range from TV, print, and billboard ads. The two seems to be where Sony Ericsson is putting all its last efforts at. The Sony Ericsson X10 is a powerhouse with all its features from a 4-inch capacitive touchscreen, to the 1ghz snapdragon processor the Sony Ericsson X10 surely doesn't fail to impress while the Vivaz doesn't fall behind with its 720p HD video recording. Everything can go according to plan, if these don't happen. If you're asking why Sony Ericsson focuses so much attention on the UK region, it's because the UK is one of their strongest regions, and despite the setback the company has had, this happened over at the United Kingdom.

Source

N900 with Android and Maemo

2010-01-24T02:51:00.001-08:00

Here's a cool thing for all you N900 lovers, the N900 has been ported with not one but two open platforms, yes, two. Maemo and Android. Now this makes the N900 that much sweeter.

Here's the video

Sony Ericsson's fourth quarter and full year report

2010-01-22T02:21:00.000-08:00

Sony Ericsson has now released their fourth quarter and full year report. It still looks bad for Sony Ericsson but they are looking better compared to the previous quarter. Number of units shipped is at 14.6 million compared to 14.1 million last quarter, a half million increase. Operating income is at -181 compared to -193, net income is at -167 compared to -164. Average selling price is at 120 compared to 114, which means more high end phones are being sold. It hasn't been a stellar year for Sony Ericsson but it does look like they're about to come out of the hole. The X10 should be their saving grace IF everything turns out right.

Read the whole press release here Sony Ericsson

Blackberry Magnum ousted, meet the Blackberry Dakota?

2010-01-22T02:00:00.000-08:00

The Blackberry Magnum has been in the prototype stage for a while now. But now rumors have emerged again and now it says that the magnum has been dumped for a better phone, the Blackberry Dakota. Blackberry hasn't been really into the upgrades "thing", when a phone gets a successor there's not much difference between them. BUT, the rumored Dakota brings something new into the table. It offers the same Blackberry-esque design but it sports a touchscreen and removes the trackball/optical pad. Sweet, huh? Now, the only thing we need to do is make the screen a little bit bigger and please, please, don't use your SurePress technology anymore RIM, ok?

and it's official, meet the Sony Ericsson Vivaz!

2010-01-21T02:56:00.001-08:00

Sony Ericsson OFFICIALLY announced today their HD video recording capable Vivaz. Though the leaks got to us earlier than the announcement still its nice to post the OFFICIAL announcement. Leakers, shame on you! though I'm not saying you're doing a bad job, keep it up!...or no...you know what I mean. As official as it gets, let's review the specs of SE's new phone. As far as entertainment capabilities are concerned Vivaz' best feature would be its HD 720p video recording capabilities, along with the 8.1 still. Oh, and let's not forget the continuous auto focus it touts when it does the HD 720p video recording, a very very very very......very rare feature we see on mobile phones. Usually we see this on camcorders, so that's a big plus! Along with the 8.1 megapixel still, you get 4x digital zoom, face detection, geo tagging, smile detection, and auto focus. Connectivity is covered as well with wi-fi, bluetooth (a2dp), DLNA, HSDPA, and GPS. The 3.5mm jack is a nice add on as well. The screen is a 3.2 inch WVGA one capable of showing 16,777,216 colours. the vivaz uses a 720Mhz processor to help it out with its HD recording. Here goes the official video of Vivaz, you know Sony Ericsson's pretty good with these!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Tet8ZnjbE&feature=player_embedded

Windows Mobile 7 is coming! (Update!)

2010-01-21T02:35:00.000-08:00

There are already numerous sources and leaks that indicate that Windows Mobile 7 is really coming to us in MWC (Mobile World Congress) this coming February 15-18. Microsoft's very own Robbie Bach, Head of Entertainment and Devices Division over at Microsoft, said that WinMo 7 will be showcased at MWC 2010. He also said WinMo 7 will "set the bar forward not (just) in an evolutionary way," and that Microsoft is going to be "more engaged" with OEMs in its "go to market approach". Other leaks point out that WinMo 7 is really upon us. Others have said it straight out that WinMo 7 is really near and that they are planning on WinMo7 capable phones to be released this year, specifically September, though I would like it to come earlier. I'm pretty much pumped up with WinMo 7 and I can't wait to see what it brings. I know someone who's as pumped up as I am, codename=muret! :D

Update - More rumors point to a September release for a WinMo 7 phone. Source

The new iPhone to offer multi tasking?...I'm sold!

2010-01-21T02:17:00.000-08:00

If rumors are true then the latest gen iPhone SHOULD have multi tasking up in it's sleeves. Along with touch sensitive casing, a new revamped UI (OS 4.0), and well, adding contacts to the home screen ala android. Setting the others aside, multi tasking is what I'm looking forward to the most. You know how I discussed my frustrations with the previous gen iPhones and why I'm not jumping into the bandwagon just yet. Now that they're bringing in multitasking well now ain't that a treat! If these do become a reality then Steve, not you Ballmer, you'll be glad to hear that you'll have one more guy jumping into the bandwagon soon. Oh wait, WinMo 7 is coming. I take that back, we'll see Steve, that means you Jobs AND Ballmer!

Sony Ericsson Kurara is now the Vivaz!

2010-01-21T02:03:00.000-08:00

The second full-touch Sony Ericsson handset running on the Symbian platform has just been officially announced. The previously rumored as Kurara handset will be known as Sony Ericsson Vivaz from now on.

Just as expected the Sony Ericsson Vivaz runs on the Symbian S60 platform and packs an 8 megapixel autofocus camera capable of recording 720p video. The 3.2" display sports a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels and is capable of showing up to 16M colors. The CPU inside the human curvature-inspired body clocks at 720 MHz.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz has an excellent set of connectivity options - USB (they used a standard microUSB jack this time), Wi-Fi, GPS, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 3G with HSDPA. The music fans will appreciate the 3.5mm audio jack, the FM radio and the built-in microSD card slot that allows expanding the 75MB of internal memory. There will be an 8GB microSD card slot included in the retail package so you can start capturing those magnificent 720p videos right away.

Who wants some pizza?

2009-12-28T02:28:00.000-08:00

Pizza shot taken from my D3000

Camera upgrade R3A (R27-35059) Camera

2009-12-28T00:34:00.000-08:00

I just bumped to this camera upgrade that I found out over at XperiaX1 and it works like a treat! It adds auto-flash as well as geo-tagging. Although you must have a ROM of either R2A or R3A. Credit goes to the guys over at XperiaX1 and XDA-devs, not me. Also, don't forget to hit the thank you button, they did give you a treat! :)

My Christmas gift

2009-12-27T03:16:00.000-08:00

Check out my new toy! Thanks to my cousin for the wonderful gift! It's a bluetooth watch, but most of all it's a Sony Ericsson!

Greetings from a familiar friend

2009-12-24T19:28:00.001-08:00

He wants to say Merry Christmas to all of you..

.

Merry Christmas to everyone :)

2009-12-24T04:14:00.000-08:00

So, here we go. A few hours away from Christmas, so let me be the first few to greet all of you and your family a merry merry Christmas. Careful with the fireworks, we want to keep all of our fingers, right? Spend it wisely and with your family. Once gain, a Merry Merry Christmas to everyone.

X2 ROM on my X1

2009-12-23T04:10:00.001-08:00

I know, this is kinda late, but I had a good time with my SPB Mobile Shell 3.5. But, you know what they say, better late than never. So here it goes, I just ported a PURE X2 ROM to my X1, kudos to the lads over at xda-dev for doing a great job. Along with the X2 ROM I ported some of the other stuffs to my X1, so those of you considering the x1, it just got better. Its a bargain, really. Photos are on the previous entry, enjoy the beaut!

P.S. If you think that the whole phone lags after booting up the new ROM, then you are completely wrong, it still is pretty fluid and responsive, there are no considerable lags, except only when you switch the tilewave panel to landscape from portrait and vice versa, there is a small lag, but overall, the experience is awesome! and I'm still loving it!

X2 ROM on my X1 photos

2009-12-23T03:29:00.000-08:00

GSMarena reviews the Palm Pre

2009-12-20T15:09:00.001-08:00

The folks over at GSMarena have just reviewed the Palm Pre, and from what it looks like the Pre has the potential but brings some minor setbacks with it.

"It is clear Palm didn't see much point in inching their way out of oblivion. They needed to come back with a bang. And they did. The Pre did its job and the sooner they move on, the better.

Whatever negatives we might have said about the phone can't change the fact that we like it. It's a strange looking thingy with a rather vague concept of build quality. But it got propelled to the top by its creative webOS. Not bad for a late comeback."

http://www.gsmarena.com/palm_pre-review-429.php

My take on the Palm Pre? It would have been a bigger success if they had released the GSM version of the Pre much earlier, it had the potential especially the new webOS. We'll have to see what Palm has on its sleeve. And as usual, don't forget to leave your comment below.

T-Mobile offering snapdragons - HTC HD2 and Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

2009-12-20T01:39:00.000-08:00

Well it seems T-mobile is getting serious with their smartphone lineup offering two of the most highly anticipated and powerful phones. The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 just as I have blogged a while ago has passed FCC with 3G bands for T-mobile, while the HTC HD2 did not (what?) yet. But the fellows over at WMEperst have just dugged up the ROM image for the US HTC HD2 and what they found out were pretty convincing that the HTC HD2 is heading to T-mobile USA as well. So, T-mobile subscribers, I think its time to rejoice again after a long long time. AT&T costumers you better look elsewhere, and I know your jealous with your GSM counterpart. Feel free to leave your thoughts about this over at the comments, are you rejoicing right now or not?

Source: GSMarena

Sony Ericsson X10 drops by the FCC (Update - Xperia X10 manual download)

2009-12-19T02:31:00.000-08:00

The much anticipated Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (Sony Ericsson's first take on Android) has just dropped by the Federal Communications Commision or the FCC for some photos of the device itself, the device being torn down, and the user manual. Also take note that if you rely mostly on carrier subsidy, the tests results here for the X10 are EDGE 850/1900 and WCDMA Band IV which is for T-Mobile. Not much details beside these, so what can we do now? Just wait for it, though feel free to leave your comments below if your sick and tired of waiting for this phone. I'm sure we can find an alternative for you.

Source: Engadget

Update: If you want to download the manual for the Xperia X10, you can do that by clicking the link below:

https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/oet/forms/blobs/retrieve.cgi?attachment_id=1216270&native_or_pdf=pdf

Source: SE-blog

Geek rush is like sugar rush, for us geeks...

2009-12-19T01:47:00.000-08:00

After watching Joshua Topolsky over at Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, I actually observed how he gets a , what I call, "geek rush". Of course, not all geeks are those who know and like technology, we have all sorts of geeks. From sports geeks, comics geeks, and movie geeks to name a few. You can see geeks go to the geek rush mode when they show off a gadget or something that they pretty much like. A geek rush instance was when Joshua Topolsky showed off the prototype of an Internet Tablet he quickly went into details like processor, but notice the way he talked that he was like out of breath due to excitement. That's the tendency when geeks show off what their interests are. Joshua Topolsky, a certified geek! How about you, are you a certified geek too? Shout it out over at the comments!

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 12/18 (Updated)

2009-12-19T01:37:00.000-08:00

Jimmy Fallon takes on Sherlock Holmes star Jude Law, comedian Abby Elliott, and Engadget editor in chief Joshua Topolsky.

Update: Joshua Topolsky just showed off the Nook, Dell's Adamo XPS, and a prototype of an Internet Tablet (I don't know the exact model though, yikes!)

Update 2: The tablet Joshua played with seems to be the ICD Ultra.

Steve Jobs, Apple, and the iPhone

2009-12-18T04:19:00.001-08:00

The iPhone hype has been all over the place since Steve Jobs and co. introduced the monster way back in January of 2007, and quickly became available by June of 2007. Apple has since then been one of the most successful companies in the mobile telephony field, along with Research In Motion and Samsung, the only difference is that they have one phone in their front line (or you could say one model line). They have a very loyal fan base, an impecable App Store, and one line of phone, the iPhone. Every year, they release an "updated" version of the phone, first we had the iPhone Classic, iPhone 3G, finally we have the iPhone 3GS 6 months into its existence, wait another 6 months then you can say hello to the new iPhone, what kind of naming scheme should the next one have?iPhone 3GSM?Really, are they trying to spell out GSM (Global System for Mobile communication)?

The update that you get from one version to the successor really isn't much, though the update from Classic to 3G did bring in something, you know, 3G, when everybody already had it in their phones. When Apple released the iPhone 3G, all the other phone manufacturers were like "Okay....3G....wow". Oh yeah, also the new white variant of the iPhone 3G. From 3G to 3Gs, faster web browsing, a more fluid experience, and better graphics. The 3GS support OpenGL ES2.0 while the 3G supports 1.1. Along with some more minor updates.

So, why is the iPhone such a winner? Simple, it gave everyone something new, multi touch. When pinch-to-zoom was demonstrated, everyone was going nuts! It also had one of the most finger friendly UIs since it uses a capacitive screen for its touchscreen interaction. Capacitive touchscreens rely on the electrical properties of the human body to detect where and when on the display the user is interacting with, thus, the use of the current stylus was not applicable, though we do have a new capacitive stylus coming. Also, the fact that it really doesn't take a genius or a techie to learn how to use the iPhone, it's so simple that nobody had a hard time with it. Unlike Windows Mobile where you had to dig through all those .cab files, root folders, etc. That's what makes it such a success, the new beautiful, simple, and fast UI. The multitouch capabilities. The single physical button. Last but not the least, the Apple Appstore - need an app to light up a christmas tree? they have it! Really, how hard is it to plug in the male plug to the female socket? I believe the AppStore is where they really got it, and look at it now, dare I say more?

Now, all these things surely make the iPhone one of the most wanted phone, right? RIGHT! It IS one of the most wanted phone to date, BUT, not everybody wants it and not everybody likes it. Despite all these, why?

Here's why. The iPhone does give you the best experience with the Appstore, UI, multitouch, and I do believe that the iPhone does bring out the most with current cell phones with its current offers in the Appstore. BUT, it still lacks multi tasking. It's not really about physical keyboards, a removable battery, a 5 megapixel camera, widgets, or open development (I think average customers don't even know what this is!), it's not (sorry verizon, but the droid is one heck of a machine). Though some might disagree, some might want all that megapixel count in their phones, some might want a physical keyboard, heck, some might even want their phone be a specific form factor. For me though, its about the lack of multi tasking. Though others might bug me a bit (e.g. the battery) but my main gripe is with multi tasking.

I always need a phone that can run simultaneous apps altogether, because when I browse the web, I need the music to play at the background, the notes open so that when I find out something new and cool I can take note of it, and the messaging department should be running on the background as well. There are times when I need to open the calculator when browsing the web, dig up a media file that I have, and so much more, and I need to do this without ever closing the app that's currently running. That is where the Iphone fails for me, WinMo did its part for me but the UI is really unbearable. Nowadays, UIs are pretty much important thanks to the Iphone as well. So, what's next for me? With WinMo 7 still faraway (thanks for screwing this up Steve Ballmer and co.), I believe Android is the next stop for me. Try out Android and see if it has what I need, and really evrything iDont, Droid Does! :)

Feel free to leave some comments below, let's see your take here.

Sony Ericsson Satio

2009-12-18T04:11:00.001-08:00

My brother just got his new Sony Ericsson Satio, and he says the camera is superb while the overall performance of the phone comes close to the Iphone. He is updating his current firmware to R1CA037. I will try to convince him on taking some shots of his satio, though a review seems near impossible :(

X1 review photos

2009-11-08T01:48:00.000-08:00

http://s990.photobucket.com/albums/af27/brentonang/Sony%20Ericsson%20Xperia%20X1%20Review%20Photos/?action=view&current=DSC_0350.jpg

My Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Xperience

2009-11-01T01:10:00.000-07:00

First of all, I would like to let everyone know that I am a certified Sony Ericsson fanboy as some of you might know, however I WILL NOT be biased during the span of this review, if I find something unbearable, and disappointing with the phone I WILL STATE it. Read on guys!

-Right out of the box:

The box that the X1 came in was horizontally long, where this was also evident on some of the high end phones from Sony Ericsson (SE) though at present they are using a smaller box. Upon opening you'll see a large XPERIA word across the whole box, though the letters XP and ERIA are separated into two boxes, the XP part of the package houses the accessories for the x1, the ERIA houses the lust worthy and svelte xperia x1 (I have a black unit). Upon removing the ERIA box/container you see another container which has all the papers inside, userguide, panels guide, browsing the web and messaging guide, a getting started guide, an opera mobile guide, and the PC suite CD. I won't dwell much on this part since all the contents are self explanatory. Overall, the package has what you need for the phone, nothing to go gaga about.

-Phone feel:

Upon seeing the phone, I immediately had a crush on it!(I already did when I saw it over the net when the first photos popped up!), this feeling is what you usually have when you are a certified techie and you see a certified tech in front of you, some people call it a "nerdgasm", some call it a "techgasm", you can use whichever you want, it really doesn't matter. When you hold the phone there are two (three for some people) things that you instantly notice: the metal back cover, and the 3" screen (the third one being the kinda hefty weight, since I am not too keen on weight then it did not bother me). The front portion of the phone sports 6 keys at the bottom of the screen, a left and right softkey, call and end key, Xpanel and OK key plus the directional pad/optical trackpad. On the right side of the phone you can find the volume rocker and the camera button. On the left side of the phone you can find the micro usb port, and the loudspeaker grill. On top are the power key and the 3.5mm audio jack. The bottom is quite bare with the lanyard eyelet only at sight. At the back are the 3.2 megapixel camera, LED flash, and uhmmm...the metal cover. The stylus is at the same spot, where it has been as always. Overall the phone feel is superb, you know that you have a premium device on hand. It's like sitting on a car, when you ride an audi r8 you instantly know and get that feeling that you are sitting on a luxurious car.

-Let it slide:

As you all know, the Xperia X1 sports a full QWERTY keyboard, and you can do so by sliding it out, duh! The sliding mechanism is crisp and smooth, and has a nice feeling to it, good job SE! The screen orientation is activated by sliding the QWERTY keyboard out (no accelerometer here guys), this is mainly because the screen orientation is activated by a magnet. Here is a simple video showing off how the xperia x1 screen rotates(video from pocketnow):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm4olfA25qw

The slider feels somewhat shakey though. When you slide out the keyboard and press on the body you'll feel a slight shake, same goes when the QWERTY is not slid out, when you press on the body you'll feel a slight shake. I don't know if this only exists on my unit but I have a gut feeling that this is also the case with other x1s since the x1 uses an arc slider, therefore the upper body might not be straight, it might have some slight of curve to it to give the arc slider feel, though I'm not sure, ok?Some of you might find it annoying, I find it quite annoying sometimes when I browse the internet in landscape view. Overall the slider is ok and I'll be honest, I have fun playing with the slider! :D

Here's a simple video(again from pocketnow) demonstrating how fast the screen rotation works with the x1 against the htc touch pro, also notice the better screen quality with the x1 :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfBLsMl-yoI

-Buttons and Feedbacks:

The buttons upfront gives you great haptic feedback and are easy to use EXCEPT the up button on the directional pad, there's just something different with it, I don't know what it is exactly, but its not a deal breaker...no, really, its not. Now off to the QWERTY keyboard, I'll give it an average score, not excellent yet not poor, though I would have preferred a better keyboard feel. As with other phones, you need to get used to it as well. Another complain I have here is the top row of the keyboard, there are times when my thumb hits the body when I use the top row buttons, especially if you have big thumbs then this might be the case for you. The spacing of the keys are big enough for you to avoid mistakes, one mistake that I usually make though is when I use the "p" key, there are times when I accidentally press the backspace/del key. I would have preferred if they had made the backspace/del key a bit bigger compared to the other keys. With the volume rocker keys I don't have any problems, but the camera key I'm not happy with it, why? Since when you use the camera key, you need to push it down all the way, and when I mean all the way, its all the way, unlike with other SE products this one seems like you need to push it a little more. So when taking photos, my photos tend to get blurry since I need to press it all the way down. The optical trackpad is also a very nice addition and works pretty well, you can set the sensitivity from 1 to 5.

-A hint of Sony Ericsson on Windows Mobile:

The phone comes with Windows Mobile 6.1, and there's only a hint of Sony Ericsson at boot up. Why do I say that? Since the preinstalled panels here are quite few - 3D fish panel, Sony Ericsson Panels 1 & 2, Today Panel, Media Xperience, Google Panel, Xperia radio Panel, erm...I think that's it. Browsing through the deeper part of the phone shows the existence of the dull OS covering up this phone, you can't brag about the looks of Windows Mobile 6.1, you'd rather keep it to yourself than show it off to others. That's the down part with WinMo but the great thing is that it offers great customization and applications, hooray!

-Panels:

THIS IS THE MAJOR SELLING POINT OF THE X1! Did you get that? So make the most out of it, and I'll dwell more on this, okay?

Panels are like small unique interfaces on the phone, the phone offers 6 panels via the X panel button though you can have more than 6 but only 6 are usable and viewable, you can interchange the panels though. The pre-installed panels are as follows (for photos, you can use GOOGLE or BING):

3D FISH PANEL

Overview: There are three fishes swimming around your screen. You can pet them, feed them, teach them tricks.......NOT! Actually, what you can only do with them is touch the screen and look at them approach your finger, that's about it.

Use: Additional fish appears when phone status udpates, e.g. new fish pops up when you miss an incoming call, etc.

Bottomline: Interactive and fun at the beginning though gets boring later on. I use this panel.

SONY ERICSSON PANELS 1&2

Overview: Its like your own personalized and customizable panel which displays certain information e.g. clock whether it be digital or analog, date, temperature of selected city, web feeds, program launcher, contacts, etc.

Uses: Able to show different information, e.g. clock, web feeds, connectivity buttons, appointments, tasks, temperature, and programs.

Bottomline: Very customizable for the owner's like though animations would have been great. Customization are based on blocks, total of 10 blocks. Here's how it works, we'll start of with a blank page, you can add a digital clock, analog clock, calendar, and a mixture, some will use 1 block, others 2, so on and so forth, e.g. an analog clock uses 3 blocks since its quite big, 2 analog clocks uses 5, a digital clock uses 1 block while a mixture of a digital clock and a calender uses 4 blocks, depending on which you prefer you will be left with a certain amount of blocks. So if I use a digital clock and calendar mixture (which is what I really use) I will still have 6 blocks available. You can set the default city as well. Appointment, tasks, programs result, and web feeds result to 1 block a piece so its up to your liking what info you want to display. I use this panel.

GOOGLE PANEL

Overview: Quick access to all of your google accounts and other google applications Google Maps, Google Mail, Calendar, Photos, plus a Google quick search box.

Uses: Search and use all your Google contents.

Bottomline: Its all Google, very useful though. I use this everytime I want to do a quick search, e.g. I installed the Mytopia Panel on my phone and upon opening the panel I became dumbfounded, so I quickly brought up the Panels Manager and used the Google Panel, and Voilah! I learned what Mytopia was, anybody have an account with Mytopia? I use this panel.

MEDIA XPERIENCE PANEL

Overview: A very eye catching way to browse and use your multimedia content, can be found at other Sony Ericsson featurephones.

Uses: View and update your media files - Photos, Videos, Musics, Games, Contacts. Contents shown are owner dependable so you can choose which contents are viewable through the xperience panel. Also, the color of background varies depending on time of day. e.g dark blue at night, orange at afternoon (I think). You can also add background effects - Icons, Squares, Reeds, or none. These float around at the back while you use the xperience panel, I use reeds.

Bottomline: Very useful and eye catching, animations are a plus! Media contents are easily viewable through this panel. I use this panel.

XPERIA RADIO PANEL

Overview: Shows radio information and clock on top, with finger friendly buttons for volume, change/search frequency, loudspeaker or headset. You must have a headset connected since the cord works as the radio antenna.

Uses: A simple radio panel

Bottomline: Shows station information, and clock. I don't use this panel.

-Other notable panels(for photos and other information you can search via GOOGLE or BING):

CNN PANEL

Overview: Shows updated news feeds whether it be international news, sports news, showbusiness, and others.

Use: A one stop panel to get you updated with all the latest news.

Bottomline: Great panel so that you can stay updated with the latest happenings. I don't use this panel.

COOL HUNTING

Overview: Shows you random photos wherein contents and information are stored inside the photo and once you choose a photo, the information pops up. You can also search for photos, data connection is required.

Uses: Gives you interesting facts about photos, you might find something very interesting here.

Bottomline: A unique panel wherein you can learn lots of new information. I use this panel.

FACEBOOK PANEL

Overview: A facebook panel built for your X1.

Use: Gives you instant access to your facebook account.

Bottomline: For facebook fanatics out there, this is your panel. Shows facebook updates though not every update can be seen. I use this panel.

GROWING PANEL

Overview: Shows you a growing plant with flowers on it, mushrooms, bees, etc.

Uses: Gives you access to some of your settings by clicking on some of the flowers. Other contents also show up depending on what season it is, e.g. pumpkins pop up during halloween, and the like.

Bottomline: Just like the 3D Fish Panel, its very interactive but gets boring later on.

ON THE ROAD PANEL

Overview: A panel used when you are driving (eventhough it is illegal to use your phone while driving). Offers finger friendly icons. It gives you three tabs, a tracker, music player, and a call log tab.

Uses: You can track your speed, speed average, and distance travelled via the tracker tab (data connection is required). Music player tab gives you finger friendly access to your musics. Call log shows incoming, outgoing, and missed calls. You can also call up a finger friendly virtual kepad so you can dial a number.

Bottomline: You can use it while driving, though I prefer you not :D Gives you information regarding your speed and distance travelled. Finger friendly as well. I don't use this panel.

SEUS PIXEL CITY PANEL

Overview: Gives you an overview of Pixel City. You can see some walking down the street, some playing football, a band playing, a helicopter and train passing by, an airplane taking off, just like a real city. The Pixel People are pretty cute as well :)

Uses: Not much, same with the growing panel, when you press something you are brought to a program. Here when you click a billboard with the GOOGLE sign, you are taken directly to gooogle maps. There are also billboards here which shows you if you have a message and an email.

Bottomline: Along with the 3D Fish Panel, and Growing Panel, this offers interaction with the homescreen though it also gets boring later on. I prefer this over the other two. I use it just for fun.

POINTUI HOME 2

Overview: Shows applets on top, applets are small screens on top of your screen wherein it previews the certain applet, and you can swipe left or right to access the next applet. Applets available are a today, messageing, world, tasks, appointment, and slideshow applet. There's also a Call History button below the applet, along with My Applications, My Contacts, and Messaging. Call History shows all call logs, from incoming, to missed, to outgoing. On the My Applications button, the user can customize which programs it wants to be viewable here, whether it be the Communication Manager, File Explorer, Opera Browser, etc. My Contacts is pretty much the same with My Applications but it just shows contacts which is pretty obvious, duh! Messaging button takes you to the Messaging department.

Uses: Shows applets on top, and a set of shortcut buttons at the bottom. Finger friendly and GUI is beautiful.

Bottomline: A unique and original panel, finger friendly as mentioned, and animation is ok! The ugly WinMo is covered up by a more eye catching desing, you can also set background image, and them. A recommended and a must have panel, try it out! I use this panel.

SPB Mobile Shell 2

Overview: Three tabs are present - A home tab, programs tab, and contacts tab. Home tab shows you information e.g. time, date, and weather information. Programs tab shows you the programs from connectivity, recenty used, personal settings, and many more. Contacts tab shows contacts information.

Uses: Gives you three tabs, a home tab, contact tab, and programs tab. By swiping your finger left or right you are moved to the desired tab wherein you can access different information.

Bottomline: A very finger friendly panel, animation is ok and customizable. A recommended and must have panel, though I prefer the PointUI Home Panel over this, you might prefer this over the PointUI, so I urge you to try it out! I don't have this panel anymore (reason later on).

HTC TouchFLO 3D (replaces today panel/can also be set as an independent and separate panel)

Overview: TouchFLO 3D from HTC phones. Shows different tabs on the home page with great animation. I can't dwell more on this one since I don't have this anymore (reason later on).

Uses: Shows different types of information and you can swipe through all of them, e.g. message, weather, mail, photos, music, browser, etc. Same HTC TouchFLO 3D UI found on htc phones.

Bottomline: Very eye catching, shows important information on one screen, animations are great! Finger friendly as well. Most of all, it is free! and if you are expecting this to be buggy and laggy when used on the x1, it's not. Everything goes smooth and transitions are all smooth as well. My only grip with this one is the landscape view, this will not come out as it does with other HTC phones but you can find the landscape fix via GOOGLE or BING. I prefer this one over PointUI Home. I don't use this one anymore (reason later on).

SPB Mobile Shell 3.5 (replaces today panel)

Overview: This UI gives you full control of your phone, you are presented with a professional home layout and lifestyle home layout. Just like android, you can add widgets on your home screen, drag them around, replace them, add some more, it's really up to you liking. You can also choose among 1 page, 3 page, or 5 page setup for the professional and lifestyle layout. By clicking the carousel view (or tile view, whichever you prefer) you are presented with even more options - Time layout, Agenda Layout, Weather Conditions, Weather, Contacts carousel, SPB Contacts, Favorite Contacts, Call Log, SPB Menu, and Launcher. Time Layout shows you your current time for your local city, and you can set two more cities so that you can view their time as well, next alarm is also shown. Agenda shows a list view of you agenda (weather conditions are also shown on the right, this syncs with your weather layout) as well as the calendar view at the bottom. Weather Conditions and Weather layout shows weather information for the city of your liking. It separates weather condition into quarters - Night, Morning, Day, and Evening, it also shows the highest and lowest temperature for that day and the next 5 days. Contacts carousel shows all your contacts in a carousel view, and you can set a ringtone and change a picture for a certain contact. SPB contacts gives you three tabs - call log, favorite contacts, and all contacts. Favorite Contacts shows all your favorite contacts which you yourself chooses, you can also set the layout e.g. having you wife at the center with a larger image and you friends around her along with your brothers and sisters, its all up to your liking. Call log shows all incoming, outgoing, and missed calls. SPB Menu and Launcher offers quick access to your programs and settings.

Uses: It can show different information, depending on what the user likes. Much like android. Widgets are replaceable and can be moved wherever you like it. Customizability is superb, from background, theme, widgets, everything. Carousel/Tile view is very useful since you can access different items with this.

Bottomline: The best panel to date, this is the one that I use right now. Very customizable, like android you can add and remove your own widgets, move it wherever you want on the screen, drag it. So the homescreen is your own style. You can add your own flavor on your home screen, BUT, the only downside is you have to purchase this for $29.95. This is my main panel, that is why I don't have SPB Mobile Shell 2 since it replaces it, and HTC TouchFLO 3D since you can only use one to replace the today panel and I prefer this one over touchflo.

-Multimedia plays its part?

The Xperia X1 is equipped with a 3.2 megapixel camera, with LED flash and is able to capture video at VGA resolution at 30fps.

The 3.2 megapixel camera has a so-so performance here, nothing great here. Though you have the ability to use touch focus, wherein you touch an area in the screen and the camera focuses on that point. Nothing spectacular here. Video is at an average level however video playback is superb also mainly because of the beautiful screen.

The one thing that I will dwell on is the music palyer, music quality is at a very poor level, no equalizer option, bass is weak, and sound quality is poor. However, the 3.5mm jack was a nice addition but they could have done a little better with the sound quality.

Multimedia can be accessed via Windows Media or the Proprietary Sony Ericsson Media Xperience, which is a panel. Personally, I prefer the Media Xperience Panel since it is more eye catching and more finger friendly as well.

-Battery Life

I really can't say much about the battery since I don't call or text much, but I do browse the web and play music every once in a while so what I'll do is I'll give you an overview of what I do with my phone on a day-to-day basis and see how long it lasts, you decide if the battery is good enough. I'll start up with 100% battery power level, ok? Everything is recorded with details, and time slots not shown here indicates stand-by mode. I'll show you a two day breakdown of what I do, then you can see how long the battery lasts a day with me.

November 05, 2009

-I removed the charger at 9:19 a.m.

-Alarm rings at 1:45 p.m.

I snoozed it for 15 minutes

-Alarm rings at 2:00 p.m.

I snoozed it for 10 minutes

-Alarm rings at 2:10 p.m.

I snoozed it for 10 minutes

-Alarm rings at 2:20 p.m.

Alarm dismissed

-I started the music player at 2:40 p.m.

-I missed 9 incoming calls

-I received 1 voicemail message

-I made 1 outgoing call (5 seconds)

-Received 2 incoming calls (25 seconds and 4 seconds respectively)

-I stopped the music at 3:22 p.m.

All programs closed

Battery dropped to 90%

-I browsed the internet at 10:15 p.m. via data connection (mainly HSPA)

-I sent 2 text messages

-I turned off data connection at 11:20 p.m.

All programs closed

Battery dropped to 70%

-I sent a text

-I downloaded the update for QuickGPS at 3:33 a.m. via data connection (HSPA)

-All programs closed

November 6, 2009

-Alarm rings at 1:45 p.m.

I snoozed it for 15 minutes

-Alarm rings at 2:00 p.m.

I snoozed it for 10 minutes

-Alarm rings at 2:10 p.m.

I snoozed it for 10 minutes

-Alarm rings at 2:20 p.m.

Alarm dismissed

Battery down to 60%

-I browsed facebook at 2:53 p.m. via data connection (EDGE)

-I switched to the facebook panel at 2:59 p.m.

-Turned off data connection and closed all programs at 3:03 p.m.

-I browsed photos at 3:04 p.m.

-Batter down to 50%

-I made two phone calls at 8:28 p.m. (57 seconds and 15 seconds respectively)

-Made a google search about "carita" (anybody know what this means?) at 8:56 p.m.

-I made an outgoing call at 11:00 p.m.

-I received a voice mail and missed an incoming call at 11:07 p.m.

-Battery down to 40%

-I sent a text message at 11:11 p.m.

-I received a message at 11:12 p.m.

-I sent a text message at 11:12 p.m.

-Battery still at 40%

*Everytime I close an application and let it go to stand by mode, the S2u2 application runs since that is what locks my phone (a la Iphone). Also, all notes were written through my phone so the note application was also running from time to time, activesync as well.

From what you can see above, my average use drains up usually 30% of my battery everyday. So it takes my phone 3 days before the next charge.

-Performance and Multi-tasking

One thing that WinMo phones are known for are their capabilities to multi task, and the x1 is no exception, it multi tasks pretty well being able to handle 5 or 6 applications running at the same time without crashing. Also with all the applications that you'll be able to install here, that won't be a problem for you.

However, I will admit that there are times when I run multiple applications and then when I pull up the Panel Manager, the phone hangs up, so a soft reset is needed. So there are limitations to the multi tasking capabilities that the x1 brings, especially if the panel manager is involved since this is where I usually find my phone hanging up. There are lags sometimes but not that it would really slow down your phone all the way, it will happen for a few seconds then the phone will be up and running once again :)

-Applications and Customization the Windows Way

WinMo maybe FUGLY but it is highly customizable. You can find about anything for WinMo you just have to be dedicated enough to look for it. For me, here are the following apps that I use (windows apps and xperia apps):

-.NET Framework v3.5

-WVGA Fix

-tnyynt SD Tune Up

-SK Tools

-gtrab SEX1icons

-SDKCERTS

-ActiveX Deployment

-S2U2 VGA

-Xperia Tweak

-Clear Temp

-FingerKeyboard

-Flashlite 3.1

-Advanced Configuration

-R3A Panel Manager

-X2 Flash Panels

-PHM Soft Reset

-HTC EZinput

-X1 Soft touch

-Opera Mobile Version 9.7 Beta

-Inhand X1

-Flash Panel Growing

-Point UI Home 2

-Pixel City Panel

-SPB Mobile Shell 3.5

-Windows Live Panel

-Wrap Up

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 is the first Xperia branded phone from SE, its a premium device, but does it live up to bringing the premium feel and experience?The poor music capabilities, Ugly UI, not-so-excellent keyboard and shaky build are the things that I am disappointed about the most. So if your looking for a phone with great music capabilities, the x1 isn't for you, if your looking for a phone with a great looking UI, this MIGHT not be for you though the customization capabilities might be able to fix this for you, as it did with me. So at the end of the day, the xperia x1 might not be the best music phone for you, nor the lightest one, and some features that lack may disappoint you (e.g. accelerometer), it just really depends on what your looking for. But if your looking for a premium feel device, with the abilitiy to customize and multi-task, then this is the phone for you! With the customizability offered by WinMo apps plus the additional customizability that the panels bring here for you then you need not to worry. The microSD, optical trackpad and 3.5mm audio jack are great additions as well. The beautiful screen is also one thing to look out for, oh and also the svelte and sleek look of the x1 is not to be left unnoticed. With the price going down right now, this phone should be considered and should be on your list, or you could also wait for the x2 or the much more powerful x10. Overall, the phone delivers for me.

To God be the glory!

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 (Vulcan)

2009-09-16T01:08:00.000-07:00

The Xperia X2 (Vulcan) was just recently announced by Sony Ericsson and will become available in the next six weeks or so, along with the announcement of Windows Mobile 6.5, and if you're still not familiar with the Vulcan, let me round up the specs list for you:

8.1mpx auto focus (Touch focus, geo-tagging, face detection, image stabilizer, smart contrast)
VGA @ 30fps (MP4 HQ)
Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional
3.2 inch WVGA 800x480 OLED (increased from 3.0 from X1)
Full QWERTY keyboard
Optical Trackpad
Accelerometer
3G with HSDPA and HSUPA support
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, DLNA certified
A-GPS
3.5 mm headphone jack
Accelerometer
Faster processor
512 RAM (user flash memory up to 110 MB )
Custom Windows Mobile 6.5
Upgrading to Windows Mobile 7 supported by Xperia panels
MicroSD™ and microSDHC memory card support up to 16GB
Qualcomm 7200A 528MHz with 3D hardware acceleration through OpenGL ES 1.0

Sony Ericsson Xperia X3 (Rachael)

2009-09-16T00:51:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know me well (or personally), you may not know that I am a Sony Ericsson fanboy, die hard Sony Ericsson fanboy if you will. BUT, I won't be biased with any blog posts that I'll add here so you don't have to worry about me complaining about the Cupertino boys, or the Finnish, or big Sam, or whoever it is that you don't want me to bash or complain about, ok?Honest! I'll be nice :)

But for now, here's a post about the much anticipated Xperia X3 or Rachael, the rumored specs are listed below.

• Display:

- 800 x 400 pixels

- 4" Touch Sensitive

• Network:

- 2G 850/900/1800/1900 (Quad-Band)

- 3G: 900/2100 (Dual-Band)

- HSDPA (10Mbps)

- HSUPA (2Mbps)

• Camera:

- 8 mega-pixels (auto-focus)

- 8 x Digital Zoom

- LED Flash

- Image Stabilization

- Smile Shutter

- Face Detection

• Video:

- VGA Video Recording

• Music:

- Supported formats: MP3, AAC, eAAC+

• Ringtones:

- Monophonic

- Polyphonic (64)

- MP3

- AAC

• Messaging:

- SMS

- MMS (with video)

- E-mail (POP3, SMTP, IMAP4, MS Exchange)

• Memory:

- Phone Book

- Dialled Calls

- Missed Calls

- Received Calls

- microSDHC (external)

• Call Features:

- Hands Free

- Caller ID

- Voice Dialling

• Connectivity:

- miniUSB

- 3.5mm AV connector

- Bluetooth (2.1)

- Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11g)

• Navigation:

- AGPS

source: http://www.gizmodo.com/

and here are a few videos of Rachael's UI and hardware

Rachael's UI

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZTZO1h1028

Rachael's Hardware

-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-LjbVYHR-A

A few DSLR tips

2009-09-16T00:42:00.001-07:00

Since I'm still new with DSLR photography as well, let me share to you some sites that offered great tips, whether it be outdoor shots, indoor shots, using the aperture priority, shutter speed priority, and when to use it, all of those things. So if you're also a newbie with DSLR photography, go on! click on the links below, don't be shy...

DSLR tips

http://www.dslrtips.com/

The Basics of Photography

http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/the_basics

Basic Digital Photography

http://www.basic-digital-photography.com/shooting-photos.html

All Things Photography

http://www.all-things-photography.com/digital-slr.html

Most of these sites offer great tips and guides, so....read on!

The PMP war!

2009-09-10T02:52:00.000-07:00

The PMP war goes on....and on! Today, it seems that you're not tech savvy enough if you don't have a PMP (Portable Media Player). Everyone has it, public utility vehicle drivers, construction workers, chamber maids, CEOs, businessmen, teachers, when I say everyone, I mean E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E! If you don't have one now then I'm quite sure that it's been some time now that you're planning on getting one, huh? Well truth be told, I don't have one BUT have been planning on getting one, see?I was right! A plethora of manufacturers have released their own set of PMPs including the ever-so-popular Cupertino boys Apple, Creative, Microsoft, Sony, Archos, Sharp, Shenzhen Powtele -say what? - etc. Now, their war will go on until our grandchildren's children, but we also have a war to go on - WHICH ONE SHOULD I BUY??? Here's a list of some of the PMPs you should be looking for, feel free to add if you have some under your sleeve.

Archos 3 Vision
-3.0 inch touch screen
-8gb internal memory
-MicroSDHC card slot
-VERY affordable price (oh, did I say it was VERY affordable?)
-Affordable price, ow!I said that thrice.
http://www.archos.com/products/mp3_players/archos_3/index.html?country=us&lang=en

Shenzhen Powtele PMP-400
-4.0 inch touch screen
-1gb, 2gb, 4gb variants
-SD card slot
-E-book support (yes, e-book)
-Tv out

Sharp SP600
-4.3 inch touch screen
-30GB HDD
-SD card slot
-Windows CE 5.0
-E-dictionary

Sony Walkman NWZ-X1000
-3.0 inch OLED touch screen
-Wi-Fi
-Noise cancellation
-16gb and 32gb variant
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665869102

Microsoft Zune HD
-3.3 inch OLED touch screen
-Wi-Fi
-Built-in HD Radio receiver
-High-definition (HD) video output capabilities
-NVIDIA Tegra Processor
-16gb, 32gb, and a rumored 64gb variant
http://www.zune.net/en-us/mp3players/zunehd/default.htm

Creative ZII EGG
-3.5 inch touch screen
-Wi-Fi
-Android OS
-X-Fi audio processing
-32gb internal memory
-StemCell Computing
-Front and Rear facing cameras (finally!)
-SD Slot
http://www.zii.com/Developer/Landing.aspx

Apple Itouch (new 3rd Gen Itouch unveiled today)
-3.5 inch touch screen
-Wi-Fi
-8gb, 32gb, and 64gb variant
-Niko+Ipod support
-TV-out
-Apple AppStore (yeah, you know why it's here in the list)
http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/

Samsung YP-P3
-3.0 inch touch screen
-4gb, 8gb, 16gb, and 32gb variant
-customizable widgets
-new UI
-Very Affordable Price (you know when I say Very I mean VERY)
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/mobile/mp3-players/mp3-players/YP-P3JES/XAA/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail&INT=us_mp3type_keyvisual1_p3jes

Cowon S9
-3.3 inch AMOLED touch screen
-AVRCP compatible (audio streaming and remote controlling)
-500 MHz dual core CPU
-16gb and 32gb variant
http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/cowon/s9/

other notable players:
-Apple 5th Gen Ipod Nano
-Apple Ipod Classic/Video
-Creative Zen X-Fi 2
-Creative Zen MX
-Sony Walkman S Series
-Archos 2

-Cowon A3

-Samsung P2
-LG T54

These are only a few of the "notable" PMPs out there. For other PMPs, Google and Bing are your friends, I can't put them all here you know. Now, you can narrow down your choices and choose the one that best fits your needs. I'd take any one of these any day. Now, don't get me started with MIDs, E-book readers, Internet Tablets, DSLRs, Netbooks. Wow! That's a whole bunch! well, maybe I'll give it a shot. Stay tuned the next few days, thanks! feel free to leave some comments :)