Wednesday, November 24, 2010

10 reasons I'm dumping my iPad for a Galaxy Tab

Acknowledgment: This is originally taken from TechRepublic
  • Date: November 22nd, 2010
  • Author: Debra Littlejohn Shinder

I bought an iPad for one simple reason: I wanted a light, thin tablet I could easily use out on the patio, while riding as a passenger in a car, while lying in bed, or while sitting on the sofa in front of the TV. All of these are situations where a regular laptop or notebook, or even the bigger and heavier convertible tablets, just didn’t work as well. The iPad was the only thing on the market at the time that fit those criteria at a cost of under $1,000.

But I’ve had a love/hate relationship with the iPad from the beginning. I love the form factor and the ease of connecting to a network and setting up my Exchange email account. But I hate the lack of storage expansion, its frustrating inability to display Flash-based Web sites, and the difficulty of entering text on its keyboard. And it’s still just a tad heavier and bulkier than I’d really prefer for the uses to which I put it. Most of all, I hate Apple’s ironclad control over what apps I can install.

I’ve been eagerly awaiting a viable alternative. I’m a Windows loyalist from way back, and I’ve used Windows Mobile smart phones since I got my first, a Samsung i730 back in 2005. I still have an Omnia II running WinMo 6.5, but recently I was won over to Android, first by testing a Droid X and then by testing a Samsung Fascinate. I fell in love with the Fascinate, which is a Galaxy S phone, so I had a feeling I was going to like its big brother, the Galaxy Tab. And I was right. In fact, despite the Tab’s somewhat high price, I’ve decided to dump the iPad for the Tab. Here are 10 reasons why.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: Size

Yes, I loved the iPad’s 9.7-inch form factor when I got it. That’s because it was so much smaller and thinner than the tablets (Windows-based convertibles and slates) I’d used in the past. But it still wasn’t quite enough. It’s just a little too big to slip into my favorite small bag. Want to put it in your pocket? Forget about it. And unless you’re a big, burly guy (I’m not), holding it in one hand isn’t easy to do.

Steve Jobs pronounced 7-inch tablets “dead on arrival.” He might think bigger is better, but I disagree. The Tab’s 7.48- by 4.74-inch dimensions (compared to the iPad’s 9.56-by-7.47) make it roughly half the size of the iPad. And that means it’s easier to hold onto and manipulate, easier to “thumb type” on, and easier to fit into a small bag or even a large jacket pocket.

2: Weight

At 25.6 oz. (a little over a pound and a half), the iPad seems light — especially if you’re comparing it to older style tablets that weighed 3 to 4 pounds. However, if you hold it up for a moderate period of time, you find that it gets tiring. This is especially important if you use your tablet for reading ebooks. And carrying it around adds a noticeable, if not burdensome, weight to your bag.

The Galaxy Tab weighs in at a trim 13.4 oz., less than a pound. The difference might not seem like much, but it makes it far easier to use for longer times without tiring and makes it more likely that I’ll bring it along at times when I might not bother to bring the iPad because of its bulk and weight.

3: Expandable storage

One of my biggest complaints about the iPad was the lack of a flash memory slot to allow me to add more storage space. Of course, Apple didn’t want me to buy an SD/microSD card from one of many vendors — they wanted me to buy a higher capacity, more expensive iPad from them. That type of blatant gouging is one of the reasons I hate giving any of my money to Apple.

The Galaxy Tab has a microSD slot that will officially accept cards up to 32 GB in capacity. I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we can tweak it to use 64 GB cards when they become readily available, just as we could use 8 GB cards in phones that officially only accepted cards up to 4 GB.

Another nice thing about the Tab is that the memory card slot is easily accessible — unlike on the Galaxy S phones, where you have to remove the back to change out the card (although I give Samsung credit for not making you remove the battery to change the card, as you have to do with many of today’s phones). On the Tab, the slot is on the side of the device and you just open the small cover to access it.

4: Choice of 3G carriers

The iPad has finally come to Verizon Wireless — well, sort of. The problem is that it’s the Wi-Fi only version, since Apple doesn’t make an iPad with built-in support for CDMA/EVDO (the technology used by Verizon and Sprint). To use it with Verizon’s 3G network, you have to buy their MiFi mobile hotspot device and then connect the iPad to that via Wi-Fi. The upside is that you can connect up to five devices to the MiFi — but it means carrying around yet another (albeit small) component.

The Galaxy Tab is going to be available through all the major wireless carriers and will have 3G capabilities built in, so there is no extra device to carry.

5: Better Bluetooth

The iPad comes with Bluetooth 2.1 support, whereas the Galaxy Tab has Bluetooth 3.0. The later version supports faster speeds, up to 24 megabits per second. (Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR supports a data rate of 3 Mbps.)

6: Two cameras

The iPad lacks a camera of any kind. I don’t really mind not having a rear-facing camera, since my phone has a camera and is much better suited for taking photos. Holding the big almost 10-inch iPad up to snap a picture would be awkward anyway. But I always thought the tablet form factor would have been perfect for video conferencing — if only the device had a front-facing camera.

The Galaxy Tab has two cameras, a 3.2 MP rear-facing and a 1.3 MP front-facing one. And the device itself is small enough so that the rear camera will be a lot less awkward to use.

7: Flash

Steve Jobs has made it clear that he hates Adobe Flash and doesn’t want it on the iPhone or iPad. I’m not a big fan of Adobe myself, but there are just too many Web sites out there that rely on Flash, and the lack of support for it can make browsing the Web with an iPad a frustrating experience.

The Galaxy Tab includes Flash Player 10.1, so you can access those Flash-enabled sites. This does slow things down a bit, but it’s far better than not being able to access them at all.

8: Swype

The iPad is too big for thumb typing, and although you can (sort of) touch type on it, that’s likely to result in a lot of errors, in my experience. That leaves me doing a modified version of touch typing, in which I have to look at the keyboard while I’m typing, and it slows me down. Worse, it’s uncomfortable to try to do it for any length of time. Thus, I use the iPad for consumption but try to avoid creating text content on it.

The Tab, like the Galaxy S phones (and other Android phones I’ve tried) comes with Swype. It’s a different way to enter text, by sliding your finger from key to key, and at first you can’t believe it would really work, but it does. I first became acquainted with Swype when I got my Omnia II Windows Mobile phone, and within a week was able to enter text at over 50 wpm — on a phone! I swore I’d never have another phone that didn’t use Swype. After you get used to the longer distance your finger has to travel, it works fine on the Tab, and it’s far less tiring than typing on the virtual keyboard.

We keep hearing rumors of Swype coming to the iPhone/iPad, but so far, it hasn’t happened.

Even if you prefer to tap the keys instead of Swyping, the Tab has a feature that makes text entry much better than on the iPad: You can tap and hold a key to get a secondary character. On the iPad, if you want to type a number, you have to switch to the alternate symbol keyboard. On the Tab, you can simply hold down the appropriate alphabetic key to type the number displayed above the letter. Switching back and forth between the alpha and numeric/symbol keyboards on the iPad drives me nuts, so I love this feature.

9: Comparable battery life

One thing I really did love about my iPad was the battery life. Compared to just about every other portable computing device (other than a simple MP3 player), its stamina was amazing. I easily got close to 10 hours of fairly heavy usage out of it, and since I don’t normally use it that heavily, I could go a week sometimes between charges.

This was the deal breaker on most of the alternative tablets I saw. Many of them sounded great — until you got to the part that said “Battery life: 4 hours.” I wanted something that was comparable to the iPad, that would at least let me use it heavily for a full workday without recharging. The Galaxy Tab doesn’t quite measure up to the iPad in this respect — but it’s good enough. It’s rated at seven hours for video playback, and longer for less intensive tasks. That stacks up well against the iPad, with which I got about eight hours when streaming video constantly.

Another plus is that you can charge the Tab from your computer’s USB port, although you have to use the cable that comes with the device to do it since Unfortunately, Samsung used a proprietary connector on the Tab’s side. This was a strange decision, given that the Galaxy S phones have a standard mini USB port.

10: Freedom

For those who chafe at being under Apple’s thumb when it comes to software, the Tab offers something that’s priceless — the freedom to install apps that don’t have to be “approved” by the phone’s maker. The Android Market is a convenient and easy way to download apps, but you aren’t limited to its offerings.

Of course, the carriers do lock down their devices to an extent, and depending on where you buy it, the Tab may have vendor-installed crapware on it that you can’t easily remove. However, rooting the Tab is easy; there is a one-click app for that called z4root. And it’s likely that custom ROMs for the Tab will emerge in the near future, as they have for Android-based phones .(Just remember that rooting — similar to jailbreaking an iPhone/iPad — voids your warranty.)

Summary

The iPad is slick and pretty and does some things well. I had fun with mine, even though at times I felt like throwing it into the lake. But it lacked a lot of the things I want and value most, such as the ability to expand storage, to “type” at a decent speed,and to carry and hold it comfortably for long periods of time without it becoming burdensome. I also need to be able to view Flash content and do video conferencing. The Tab offers all that, and more.

Sure, the next generation of the iPad will probably include some of these features. But there are some that the iPad is likely to never give us, such as expandable storage and freedom of choice when it comes to our apps. Those things might not be important to everyone, but they’re important to me. So important that I’m dumping my iPad in favor of the Tab.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

APN setting on Galaxy S for Celcom 3G users to enable MMS

Galaxy-S has this combo type APN called Internet + MMS. So, for celcom users;

Name: Celcom3G MMS Combo
APN: celcom3g
Proxy: Not Set
Port: Not Set
Username: Not Set
Password: Not Set
Server: Not Set
MMSC: http://mms.celcom.net.my
MMS proxy: 10.128.1.242
MMS port: 8080
MCC: 502
MNC: 19
Authentication: Not Set
APN Type: Internet + MMS

Have fun !

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Islamic Android Apps review - What's on my Droid

1. IQuran by GuidedWays - This is the best Quran Apps with large and clear fonts, easy access table of content with English title and awesome and smooth finger friendly buttons and menus. This is the only Quran apps with huge arabic letters.

2. Al-Nawawi's Forty Hadith - Nice with clear table of content

3. Islamic Prayer from AppFlute - It has prayer times which can be displayed on the Home screen as Android widget and the most accurate Qibla compass I have tried so far

4. DQH - Daily Quran Hadith by eXcelarz - Good daily reminder of hadith and verses of holy Quran

All apps above are freely available in Android market.

Have fun !

Tip untuk mengesan Cyber Scam

Terdapat banyak berita-berita dalam surat khabar tentang Cyber Scam atau Conman yang menipu orang melalui internet. Saya ingin berkongsi beberapa tips berdasarkan pengalaman untuk mengelak diri dari ditipu di internet...

1. Too good to be true - Harga barangan yang terlalu rendah

Kalau jumpa Iphone4 32GB yang harganya RM1200 atau Ipad yang harganya RM900 atau Nikon D90 berharga RM1000 atau lain lain gajet yang harga begitu rendah, kemungkinan besar ianya adalah satu scam. Penjual-penjual ini biasanya menggunakan email address dari free email service seperti live.com, gmail.com etc. Cara berurusan dengan mereka adalah melalui pos dan email sahaja. Dan bayaran melalui western union. Contoh-contoh klasik ialah seperti website ini - http://www.adpost.com/my/employment/23167/

2. Western Union

Biasanya scammers atau conman dari oversea akan hanya menggunakan perkhidmatan Western Union SAHAJA. Ini adalah salah satu tanda besar yang barangan yang dijual adalah tidak wujud. Salah satu taktik mereka ialah, mereka kata pembeli boleh meletakkan nama sesiapapun (emak, adik, saudara mara) sebagai penerima Western Union dan apabila barang sudah sampai, pembeli kemudian menukarkan nama kepada nama penjual. Masalahnya, sebaik sahaja mereka dapat number rujukan Western Union, duit pembeli akan lesap

3. Deposit duit dahulu

Scam ini banyak orang terkena jika membeli barang di mudah.my atau lain lain klassified website. Kalau barangan lebih dari RM200, lebih baik jumpa dengan penjual dan berurusan COD (Cash On Delivery)

4. Buyer dari oversea

Kalau ada mengiklankan barangan dan ada pembeli dari oversea yang nak beli barang tersebut, kemungkinan besar mereka adalah conman. Antara cara-cara mereka adalah;

a) Mereka membeli barangan untuk dihantarkan kepada saudara mereka di Afrika
b) Mereka sanggup membeli dengan harga yang amat mahal

Tips berurusan jual beli di website...
  1. Mudah.my atau lain lain Classified website - Hanya berurusan secara COD. Ianya adalah selamat dan puas hati kerana kita dapat jumpa penjual dan tengok barang sebelum membeli
  2. Lelong.my - Lihat rating penjual ataupun pembeli. Sekiranya rating mereka adalah 0 atau negative, maknanya kita kena berjaga-jaga. Ini adalah contoh rating saya di lelong.my - http://www.lelong.com.my/Auc/Feedback/UserRating.asp?UserID=nazron@1
  3. Ebay.com - Lihatlah rating penjual atau pembeli. Juga, lihat tarikh mereka menjadi ahli
Jadi, berhati-hati berurusan di internet !

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Battery saving tips for Android

There are a lot of programs and tips out there but here's something that I am using on my Galaxy-S droid. Now I only charge my droid once every 2 days - awesome !
  • Kill them 2G/3G mobile data - If you are like me, I don't need constant data to come to my Android. Most of my usage is on Games, Phone calls, GPS and occasional internet browsing - none of those real time weather forecast, real time Gmail or real time stock price etc. So, I turn on 2G/3G mobile data only when I need it. To quickly toggle this, I use the free apps called Quick Setting - available in Android market






  • Kill them processes when phone is locked/Standby - Android has this bad habit of starting processes at the background. I have tried a lot of apps that kill processes but here one that's very stabile and does not interfere with my activities such as making long conference calls etc - Automatic Task Killer. Select all applications to kill and leave the important ones to be run in the background. For me, I exclude Dialer, Message, Backup, Alarm & Clocks and Quick Setting


So, have fun !

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Jailbreaking IOS4.1 on Iphone4/3GS and Ipad 3.2.2

A lot of people are waiting for this, especially those you upgraded their IOS to 4.1 by mistake. Now you can jailbreak your phone using these tools

Greenpoison Or Limera1n

For those with U.S.A AT&T or other oversea sets, please note that this will only add Cydia to the springboard and it has nothing to do with unlocking the phone to be used on other operators such as DIGI, Maxis or Celcom.

If you accidentally upgraded to baseband 5.14.02, then you are stuck with a glorified Ipod !

Limera1n can also be used to Jailbreak Ipad version 3.2.2

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Sync Lotus Notes with Google Calendar

Found this awesome application called "Lotus Notes to Google Calendar Synchronizer (LNGS)" - http://sourceforge.net/projects/lngooglecalsync/ which allows me to transfer all calendar entries into my Google GMAIL account and then to my Android.

1) Download "Lotus Notes to Google Calendar Synchronizer (LNGS)"

2) Get Java 1.6

3) Set the account information


4) Sync away !

Once completed, log in to your GMAIL to check if lotus notes calendar is on the calendar list and all entries are in Gmail calendar



On your Android,

1) Open Calendar

2) Setting -> Calendar

3) Enable the Lotus Notes Calendar

Have fun !

Migrating data from Win mobile (Omnia II) to Android (Galaxy S)

I used to rely on outlook to transfer my data from Symbian phone P1i to Omnia II a few years ago as both of them can sync nicely on Microsoft outlook. However, Android phone does not talk well with Outlook so I had to trial several ways to move my data to Android Galaxy S.

After scouring the internet, forums and trial and error, I found a simple way to migrate data from Win6.5 Omnia II to Android Galaxy S (this applies to all Win6.5 phone to Android as well)

a) Open an account at MIQ - http://miqlive.com/

b) During your registration, you will need to select your current smart phone, your phone number and etc

c) The next step is to connect your phone to the internet and point your browser to http://m.miqlive.com

d) You can start the Sync process - I synced Contact, SMS, Call history and Pictures

e) Once all data is synced, you turn off the existing Win6.5 phone and log off MIQ on your computer

d) Setup a Gmail account just for the purpose of transferring data. You can use you existing Gmail account but it can be messy as you will have both your phone and gmail contacts in you Android. So, the best is to open a new Gmail account

f) Log back into MIQ and select "Change Phone". Select your Android phone model

g) Follow the instructions on how to get the MIQ app for Android

h) Sync away !

MIQ will ask for your GMAIL account for it to sync your contact with your GMAIL contact. So just type in the GMAIL account you just setup (see step (d) above)

Have fun !

Sunday, October 3, 2010

PAPAGO X5 for Android (Malaysia and Singapore ONLY)


Note: Please see this posting for Sygic - an alternative to Papago, especially for Galaxy Note

Note: This version of Papago is obsolete. Check out the latest Papago! M9 here


I got these tips and files after scouring the internet for a GPS software on my Galaxy S. So, here they are;

1) Download these compressed RAR files

File1
File2
File3
File4
File5

If you do not have WINRAR software to uncompress/unpack these file, you can download it here

(Note: Moved away from Rapidshare to one of my dedicated servers)
(Note 28Dec2011: Overflow of bandwidth on my dedicated server. Moving them to a new site)
(Note 17May2012: Move files to 4shared)

2) Place the files in a folder and then open File1 with WINRAR and it will take care of the rest - No need to open the rest of File2, 3, 4 and 5. You will get the following as a result;
a)NaviSEA folder
b)PAPAGO_X5SEA_0806_WWEMarket.apk - this is the Android installer file

3) Download the PAPAGO Lib

4) Uncompress libpapago and copy libpapago.so, paste it inside NaviSEA folder

6) Copy NaviSEA folder, paste it inside your storage card, root directory.

Note: If you are stuck at O_R_SIDE.gwv while installing this on Galaxy S2 or Note, please refer to this post HERE

7) Install PAPAGO_X5SEA_0806_WWEMarket.apk via computer or apk installer

Do let me know if any of the files in unusable- email me directly nazri.jamil@gmail.com

Please go to this post to update map for Malaysia and Singapore

Note: This version of Papago is obsolete. Check out the latest Papago! M9 here

Also, please email me directly to nazri.jamil@gmail.com if you have any question or problem with the download