iPhone 5s

Finally, I upgrade my iPhone experience with a ‘space-grey’ 64G iPhone 5s. It is freaking expensive, but I have no regret doing that. Considering my upgrade is from a 3GS! With retina display, Siri, thinner body, the A7/M7 combo and surprisingly good the fingerprint recognization tech. It is just a great product! Using my fingerprints to unlock the phone is not just so cool, but very convenient! I’m sure Apple is gonna do more with this technology down the road. Also, with 64G, I’ve more room to take photos and movie clips. The slo-mo is cool, but I don’t use it that much. Siri is cool, but I rarely use it, perhaps I don’t like to talk to my phone much. But I think I will do more research to see what Siri is capable of. Also, I grab the official Apple case as well, all black leather with some kind of ‘soft cushioning’ inside, it is costly but given my wish to use it for next few years. I hope it is worthy. Lastly, one of the main reason why I do this upgrade is because of iOS7. It is a nice upgrade as well. Like the new settings in Photo, Camera, etc. Except the notification center is something that I’ve not yet comfortable with. There is still plenty hidden gems to be dug out when I have time. Anyway, it is an excellent purchase for me given my limited time to do anything else and the extent of usage that I have on my phone. I love my 5s!

Gravity

Having post anything for a while. Actually, I do have quite few things that I wanna share. Perhaps, I’m just make a few bullet posts about them.

It is better to be late than never. I saw this movie last month with my wife while we could squeeze out a late evening out on our own. She didn’t enjoy it that much but thanks for accommodating my taste. I like that movie very much. These are few thoughts that I have about that movie.

- Sandra Bullock is gonna be nominated in Acadamy Award next year. She leads the movie from beginning to end. A very engaging experience because of her acting.

- Agreed wtih Jim Cameron, it is the best space movie ever.

- Wish I saw it on iMax, but 3D is a must. 

- People criticize the simplicity of the script, but I think it is the simplicity that really make this movies more focus. If they add some flash back on earth and all that, it will ruin the movie.

My early iWatch predictions

Apple product speculation has become a constant topic among bloggers and tech news reporter since the late Steve Jobs resurrected Apple from death bed to become the trail blazer in tech. With the release of iPhone 5s/5c just over, speculation of iPhone 6 would be a bit too early, and that for iPad 5/iPad mini 2 becomes boring (gold color, flat back, thinner bezel,  lighter weight, same battery life, A7/M7, 64 bit, retina display, etc), I think speculation of iWatch is more interesting. 

We all know that Apple is making a watch. So far, only very peripheral info has been leaked to the public, 3 dimensions of screen are under testing and bended OLED screen is a possibility, also, it will have many sensors, a more firmly belief based on the implementation of M7 in 5s. Other than the above, all the rest are more about who are hired and a 100 person team was formed for this product. 

Well, with such limited info, that would give me more room to come up with my speculation of this product. These are my thoughts (not in any order):

1.  It is not gonna be cheap – Apple always put a premium on first generation product. So, Apple wouldn’t care Samsung Galaxy Gear nor Pebbles. It would just ride on its brand and charge 3 to 4x of material cost of the watch.
2.  Battery will be a key concern – I suspect that Apple will even make its battery if it could for the iWatch. Cuz, daily charging is not acceptable. I don’t care how many functions and how great those functions are if the battery is shitty. Without power, it is just a freaking damn bracelet. So, it may be charged by movement, solar light or whatnot, some kind of hybrid would not be a surprise.
3.  It’s gonna be metallic look – metal commands premium price. Plastic version will come in future, but not in first generation. But, it will most likely be some kind of light weight, durable, scratch-proof tainted silver color metal that being used to make the belt and the shell for the watch. The challenging part would be to hold the glass screen to make it less likely to be scratched and somehow water proof.
4.  It is supplementary as well as an independent product – the look would sell the product, but functionalities are as well be important, given it is Apple we are talking about. So, Apple would give a lot of thoughts on what this product means to its customers. Is it gonna a hi-tech watch? Or a supplement for iPhone and iPad? That should also tie to the form factor of the product as well. My thinking is that it is gonna be both, at least for the latest generation of iPhone/iPad. Also, iWatch, besides its form factor, should have one or two selling-points to be attractive enough for buyers who don’t have iPhone or iPad. For example, it make have one or two touch away from making an emergency call or providing some kind of alerts based on its embedded sensors in some occasions.
5. Simplicity in outlook and UI – I think it is in line with most Apple’s products. It is not how many functions you can cram it in the product, but what functions to be left out in the selection process. Thus, I don’t see it have Facetime or video-recording function on iWatch. In fact, I think even camera will be left out. It will have a home button, an on-off switch, that’s all. May not have a volume button. Just a very simple design, touchscreen for sure. Retina display? Not in first gen.  I think the screen UI should be similar to the 6^th gen iPod nano. So, Apple can leverage its App Store and avoid building something completely new. Except that there should be another category of apps that fit the screen size. The most important thing about the screen of the iWatch is not the material it will use to make it, but the screen size and shape. Once Apple sets it, it won’t be changed for years.
6.  Functionality that tie to iPhone/iPad – the iWatch should have Wifi and Bluetooth. As said before, it can be a supplement to iPhone/iPad. As mentioned by some bloggers, it will have multiple sensors to feed data to iPhone/iPad. I think there are few areas that would the functionalities should cover.

a.       Motion control – movement of iWatch would be gest control to iPhone/iPad (maybe to Apple TV in future, somewhat like Wii control).

b.      Health/Sport monitor – sensing heartbeat/pulse/skin temperature with body movement for monitoring workout and provide alert.

c.       Extension of notification center – rather than pulling out the phone to see what’s going on, it will be shown on the iWatch. But, I doubt it will provide anything too complicate to be operated on the small screen for both functional and battery concern.

7.       The Leftouts – As I mentioned before, there will be functions that I personally doubt they would be included mostly out of battery concern, like camera, Siri, earphone jack, phone function, Facetime, etc.

These are just some preliminary thoughts. Let’s see how it turns out in 2014. I bet it will be out in the fall along with iPhone 6.

Fall 2013 Phone Spec comparison

Here we go again....Thanks for Droid-life.com:

My liveliood these days (as of the last day of 3Q 2013)

For some reasons, I'm able to find few minutes to blog. Don't have one central theme to blog about today, but just a bunch of thoughts long or short want to share....

Life
Being a husband with a full time job and two young boys that require respective attention and effort is tough. These days, I don't think or plan for anything long term anymore which is not supposed to be right. Man should plan! right? But, I'm just too tired! So many tedious things that need my time and efforts. There isn't much personal time or space once I got home. Sometimes, my wife would scold me for spending like half hour on doing my own stuff on Internet at net. Instead, I should do this or that, blah blah blah! She has her point IF I look from her perspective, but I won't! So, I just still my minutes here and there to satisfy my needs to look at things that interests me on the website, could be on Facebook, or news/commentary sites, etc. Come on, I just think spending more than 15 minutes to watch a longer YouTube video is a luxury for me. I can't recall when this happened that a thing that I can commit my full attention to at home without any disturbance don't last for more than 15 minutes on most cases. Is it sad or just me?

Work
It is becoming a thing that I don't want to talk about much to anybody this day. A zombie in, zombie out thing if you know what I mean. Yes, I know that's not right again! But, shit happens and it is happening. I will do something about it in next few months, but it is under cruise control these days.

Love life
I love my wife as always, except when she gets cranky and goes crazy. That happens every now and then for combination of reasons which only partially known to me. Even though she is 'nice' enough to give me some 'so-called warning', but I still don't like it! Human emotion is not a volcano, it can be controlled, but she won't. I'm not sure if it is a woman thing or human thing for some individuals. But I guess I live with it and have to sleep with it. Other than that I do love my wife very much and appreciate her for doing or paying attention to things that I don't like to be involved. Thank God to create differently and I do believe the 'key-and-lock' theory to make things work! I still find my wife beautiful though I don't tell her that often and I should!

Kids
My older son is smart and does have potential to be very good and do great things. Certainly, he has many shortcomings as well. The biggest problems for him is to make him share his thoughts on why he does or doesn't do certain things. As usual, the best way to help someone is to make him self-realizes why he needs to improve and motivate him to self-motivate to improve. The ways to improve effectively are numerous. The problem is all inside his head. His homework are getting tougher, he is still very dependent on housemaids to do things for him. We still have not gauged the right level of punishment, tolerance of failure, and encouragement to make things work. Anyway, he is a work-in-progress case.

My younger son has his own problem. He is a bit behind in learning in few aspects. Glad that there is some signs of improvement since he changed to a full-day school that cultivate his independency. Feel bad for him that he stuck in a hole that has to climb out before he can compete with most kids. I still have strong  belief that he will catch up within 2 years, though my wife would like that to be much shorter. I'm more practical and realistic than her, but it is really a tough thing for our family to deal with on logistics and financial sides. Well, our sacrifice and burden are supported by his frequent innocent smile and improvement. At the end of the day, he is still our son!

Other activities
The general statement is all the same to most things - Not much! Time is allocated to kids activities, learning, etc. They basically blocked out many possibilities. We have not travelled far away for years. Short local trips happens may be once or twice a year (besides those school trips). We rarely go to movies. Shopping are primary kids related. As I mentioned before, I rarely can do things that takes time. I don't have time to read books but oddly I still download ebooks when I have chance, as my virtual hobby. I don't watch much TV neither, lately not even news! Most of the time, TV is on for Disney shows for my younger son as a reward for eating or else. Actually, since learning that TV in general is not good for him, we rare turn it on. My wife would yell out to turn it off once he gets close to the 42" screen in 2 feet. So, no TV for me.

My biggest entertainment is actually my iPhone, strangely for a self-proclaim music fan. I rarely listen to music these days! I still download them like crazy as an addicted virtual hobby. With a library of 300-400G, they are big enough for the rest of my life for sure. Nonetheless, I still download them even if I don't have the time to listen to them. Actually, I listen to podcast the most with my iPhone, basically on my traffic time or when I'm having lunch by myself. I listen to all sorts of topics that interested me these days: politics, tech, conspiracy, news, finance, etc. Given my broad range of interest, no wonder I constantly have a backlog to clear, before I can squeeze time for music. As such, I've just put an order to get myself the new iPhone. It costs $$$, but I think it is worthy as self-motivation gift given the usage time that I spend on this gadget and the value that it offers me. More about that in future blog once I got it in house.

My Thoughts on iphone 5s

Many people in the general press cried fowl on the latest release of iPhone 5s and 5c as if Apple is going down hill like many others. They cited what happened to Nokia as a prime example, comparing the 40% market share it had in feature phones few years and look at where it is now? They cited how wonderful the iPhone was when Steve Jobs was still alive, and bah bah bah... Yes, the stock price of AAPL dropped few % and all that. But, is iPhone 5s really spell the end of Apple? I don't think so!

I use Apple products, but I really don't count myself as an Apple fanboy. With so much info out there, it is very easy to pick and choose things to meet your stand regardless it is black or white. I don't really think Apple's iPhone 5s or 5c as a matter are really bad products. Too much have been read into the 5c, saying that it is a cheap plastic version that has no improvement. I think it is a matter of just giving ONE alternative choice to buyers and crave out 5s as a top-notch product for the year. 5s' fingerprint reading is not a gimmick, but it is really part of the big picture that Apple is painting that many news critic just missed or don't bother study. The most impressive part is the A7 chip with 64bit structure with M7. These are a bit technical that more general press don't bother neither. Actually, these are very important things that Samsung, Google and the rest are playing very close attention to internally.

Some general press like to do comparison table of specs and pointed out how 5s lacks behind Galaxy S4, etc. I think that's kinda silly. What matter is user experience. The only 'so-called' shortcoming of 5s is the screen size IF you are really into video viewing. Other than that, the user experience of 5s would no way below any competitors can offer. Yes, that's what I believe, cuz I've not get a hand on the phone yet, though it is gonna be my next purchase very soon. My belief is based on the hardware-software bonding that Apple has which is superior than all the rest. Yes, Android is improving very fast, but it is still catching up to what Apple is doing. A7 64bit is whole game changer that users will get a sense of it in 1 or 2 years when App developers full embrace it and release all apps that can exploit the capability of it. By then, the Apps are gonna be very impressive! Server capability on a phone running crazy Apps! The key thing is that this move by Apple first of all has caught surprise by its competitors. They won't be able to reach the same capability till sometimes next year. Secondly, Apple has full thought of the backward compatibility of older apps and would make programmers' life very easy in upgrading to 64bit. I've not heard similar claims from Android side. Thirdly, with M7's biometric capability, Apple is testing the water before iWatch release. Reportedly, this biometric thing has huge potential in fitness, health, etc areas that Samsung and others are still lacked behind. Furthermore, the A7+M7 thing will surely be on iPad in few months. It is a major ammo that others competitors have to deal with in all fronts. With this, I'm not surprise if Apple will release additional hardware for gamers with integrated power linking all the Apple gadgets sometimes next year.

So, saying Apple is going down hill is just silly.

See more thoughful articles here: 1, 2, 3, 4

Nokia RIP

Long time no blog!

Microsoft is acquisition of the services and hardware business of Nokia is a desperate attempt by the former in the smartphone and tablet market in these days and age. There are always a flip side of a coin, but I see this corn is not shinny on neither side.

MS is in a Catch22 situation in the phone market. It needs more apps to appeal customers and app developers need more phone sales to justify their effort in developing on the Window platform. MS's products (except the Xbox) are never been the 'apple' in most customers' eyes. It probably goes back the the bad-haired Bill Gates vs the smartass Steve Jobs back in the old days. The big mouth Steve Ballmer doesn't help neither. So, my guess is that Nokia's name will remain on the phone, cause MS phone just doesn't sound right! 

With a blip on the smartphone market of mere few percentage points, regardless how iOS and Android fight the heart of each other. People are just not gonna jump on the Window phone wagon regardless. Unless they can come up with some killer features or apps. As the smartphone market is maturing, it's gonna be really hard for MS/Nokia to come up with anything. Just see how the tablet market is gonna peak in 2 years and the rest of the markets are developing wearable gadgets, you see the picture?

Of course, MS/Nokia is not gonna go away for at least in the next 8-10 years. MS has a war chest of money. It makes lots of money from patents that Android phones are using. Actually, it would make more money from Android than its Window phones. So, MS would have enough cash to fund its platform. Also, the corporate side may be the inroad that they would go. With Blackberry on the death bed, corporate IT guys' smart understanding the Trojan horse of Android, iOS is the only game in town. But Apple is never a nice guy to corporates, so MS surely has the chance. Anyhow, the corporate market is still only so big!

Anyway, being an ex-Nokia user myself. I really feel bad for the Finnish giants. They make durable phones with LONG battery life. I'm sure Nokia phones will become collectibles as well as key tools for the underground given what Snowden have disclosed and gonna disclose. In an alternative universe, if Stephen 'Trojen' Elop has not grabbed the top chair in Nokia. Nokia would be on Android and it would probably fight neck to neck with Samsung these days. What a big fxxking 'What if'?! 

Next iPhone

I'm going to buy the next iPhone, period! Being an Apple fan and a long time spectator of Apple news, I actually think that the iPhone 'next' to the upcoming one would actually be a more revolutionary product than the upcoming one. Of course, I've no proof, it is all my 'informed' guess.

Well, why I'm gonna buy the upcoming iPhone? My 3GS is on its last leg, battery is surprisingly ok, cuz I plug it at work and sync it on my PC every night, so power wise it is fine. However, the cracking case is a bit annoying and the screen actually is really getting old, it goes dim every now and then. After skipping 4S and even 5, I think it outlast longer than I had expected. However, the killing factor is gonna be iOS7 which will not support 3GS. I'm still using the latest version of iOS, though many features are not applicable to me, obviously without the front camera, Siri, facetime, etc, I still get security update and other things like notification center in my last upgrade. But, with the tremendous change in iOS7, I don't want to be opted out completely with this upgrade. So, a new phone is needed. Also, given my extent of usage, in spite of other high priority expenses at home, the purchase of a new iPhone would still deem to be justified.

Based on all the rumors about the next iPhone, I think the most believable outcome will be: same form factor, upgraded cameras, A7 inside, fingerprint recognition, iOS7 compatible, no NFC, black and white iPhone. It will be called iPhone 5S, S will stand for 'Security' with fingerprint recognition as the key selling-point. The cheaper version of iPhone 5C will come out, C will stand for color, though black and white will still be available among iPhone 5C which should have mostly the same spec as iPhone 5 except one key feature which is something I would just guess!

For me the iPhone 5S would be good enough and be a major major upgrade for me iPhone usage experience. However, why I guess iPhone 6 would be better is because I think it would have a bigger screen size, regardless it's gonna be 4.3", 4.7', or 5". It would be a more interesting selling-point to existing iPhone users. I know there is a sea of Android phones out there has those sizes or bigger, but they are Androids. That's why I'm actually a bit tempt to get a hand of a Nexus 7 tablet just for the sake of tasting what Android is all about without leaving iOS camp. Well, it is just a tempt, based on my busy schedule, I doubt that I would have the luxury time to play with another gadget, so it may just a thought. Actually, I doubt Nexus 7 will be the end product of Android tablet. The killer one will be the one that is in Motorola's shop currently cooking by Google. That's gonna be the one that will go head on with iPad in 2014 and onwards. Wait and see if my guess is gonna be correct!

Be a good parent

Theories sometimes are hard to be practically use in the real world. I have my beliefs in what count as a good parent. In fact, I know what kind of parent I want to be, but in reality, I would say I've not been able to do what I want to be so far. It is not that I've not tried, but I fail quite often. To step back and analyze it, when I do and say certain things with a good intention, the recipient end may not view it the same as I do. So, the expected results never come and my emotion kicked in. It is not their fault, cuz how can I remember what I thought when I was five or six years old? Even two six years old kids don't behave the same way, he is my son, but he doesn't think like me. So, communication is really an art that takes a lot of time to practice.

I just need to be more patient and keep my temper down, since being too emotional goes against the person what I want to be. My wife every now and then would say what if we are not parents, how our life would be different. I always reply to her that there is no 'what if' in my dictionary. I'm mature enough to understand that being a parent is my choice with no regret. There are certainly both plus and minus for every decision. I still think that being a parent gives me more to cherish than the opposite. I'm happy to be a father, though it is not easy.

My dream is to be my sons' personal guide, their lives' companion that they are willing to share their thoughts to me and seek my opinions actively. That's much more advanced than simply being a friend or an old-fashioned father figure that you fear/respect. That's not something that can be done easily, a lot of cultivations are needed. I need to observable, approachable, knowledgeable, caring, and patient. I still have so much to learn..... 

Pacific Rim

Better be late than never, I went to see this movie weeks ago but never got the time to talk about it. Just try to be brief and clear about what I think of this movie:

Good Parts:
CG, robotic design, site selection of fights between robots and monsters.

Decent Parts:
Characters and acting - there are many actors, they are provided enough to do, but not enough to shine. Acting demand is not great, but the characters are not too boring.
Script - not great, understandable, logical within its own universe, smooth, not much dragging.
Cutting - understandable, smooth.

Bad parts:
Nothing too specific, just doesn't give me a feeling to see it again.

This movie clearly pay homage to Japanese robotic animations. I think the movie somehow lacks 'something', I 'm not sure exactly what it is....Surely, I love to see those robots and monsters duel them out and smash, bang, bang, etc...but I think the story, the premise, or the characters are all good, but not great enough to make audience care and hang on them to really bump our 'blood' to strike our fists in the air when the monsters were killed, a bit worse than Transformers, I think.

However, just for fun and don't mind leave my brain outside the entrance of the cinema, for entertainment value wise, this movie does do its job. I would give a B.