What are your thoughts on mobile blogging? Mobile for micro-blogging feels right but what about for the likes of wordpress and blogger?

How many words will it take for you to feel comfortable posting your thoughts here? Do you think its ‘right’ to use txtspk to type in your entry?

Ultimately, is mobile just for microblogging?

an unfair comparison

To be blunt about it, Android is a capable and promising OS, but it’s not “here” yet. Pundits say that the os has arrived, but after giving it a spin for about a week or so, it really feels unfinished.

Perhaps we can blame the apps. Or my familiarity with the iOS version of the apps. Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, 4SQ, TweetDeck and Social City – these are my staple apps both on my 3GS and on the spica. Now I don’t want to go in to @nal details, but I can’t help but feel that the Android versions of the apps are forcing the issue of using the menu/back buttons for the ‘droid. Some actions HAVE to be seen from the get go and not shown after a button click. Try 4SQ and you’ll get my drift.

Screen

The spica’s screen is quite nice for it’s pricepoint. Resolution is so-so, the brightness is manually adjustable and is capacitive -which means it should be responsive to say the least. Never mind if it doesn’t support multi-touch out of the box, but it should be responsive, right? Wrong. Even with a speedy 800mhz processor, for some reason, the display IS JUST FRIGGIN FRUSTRATING! It’s just so unresponsive that there are lot of moments that I feel like smashing my phone on the ground! Scroll through tweets and you’ll end up clicking on a particular tweet by accident. And accidents do happen with the screen.

Right now, I’m on the standby screens of both the 3GS and the spica and the spica just won’t let me swipe to unlock. I have to press a bit more or use a different finger for it to respond. What the hell is this? A capacitive/resistive display?

Anyways, just typing my impressions of how unresponsive the display is just frustrates me so I have to cut this short. I might end up just bashing the phone (unfairly) because of the display. I’ll try my best to come up with a better review of this soon, but if I don’t, you’ll know what happened – I probably got rid of the phone! hahaha

Cheers!

“No more excuses not to be online”

Product Description

(from the Smart Shop website) Surf the web wherever, whenever at broadband speeds of up to 5.8 mbps, powered by SMART’s HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) network. Get the new Zip 188, SMART Buddy’s most affordable HSDPA phone. Includes a SMART Buddy SIM Card. Available color: Silver

Handset Specifications:

- Frequency HSDPA/UMTS 2100/850MHz
- EDGE/GPRS/GSM 1800/ 900MHz
- Chipset MSM6260
- ID Bar Type, Internal Antenna
- Dimensions 108mm x 48mm x 12mm
- Data Speed UMTS 384KBPS UL
- Display 176 x 220 pixels, 262 K color TFT Screen, 2.0″
- DRM, OMA1.0 UMB, PIM, Video Streaming
- Memory T-Flash Slot
- 72 Polyphonic ringtones
- Multimedia Support MP3/AAC+/MPEG4/H.263/H.264
- USB V 2.0 FS
- Messaging MMS, WAP2.0, JAVA MIDP2.0, Email
- Battery performance talking Time/Standby Time:200min/200h
- 2 megapixel camera

Package Content:

1 pc       Transceiver
1 pc       Charger
1 pc       Earphone
1 pc       Battery pack
1 pc       User Manual
1 pc       Warranty Card
1 pc       Data Cable
1 pc       CD (PC Suite)

First impressions:

“Another unbranded phone from SMART” was the first thought that crossed my mind when I heard about the new Zip188 phone.  Being a brand snob, didn’t expect much from this phone after finding out that it was from ZTE.  Still, the premise of a well-priced HSPA phone enticed me.

The Box:

The kit comes in a nice white and green motif box, with interesting graphics, and some call outs that says it’s Sandbox ready, HSPA powered, 2MP camera.  That got me hooked. (photos  1 and 2)

Zip 188 Photo 1

Zip 188 Photo 2

Unraveling the goodies inside, I was pleasantly surprised to see all the accessories that comes with the phone.  A well written manual, CD installer (more on this after), the phone, charger, micro-USB plug, and headphones – this pack is ready to go! (photos 3, 4 and 6)

Zip 188 Photo 3

Zip 188 Photo 4

Zip 188 Photo 6

ZTE has a warranty card inside, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to submit this for validation or if SMART will honor this.  After sales service might be an issue, but for now let’s go through the goods. (photo 5)

Zip 188 Photo 5

The Phone:

The Zip188 is a standard candy-bar type of phone, that isn’t spectacular looking nor will catch phone-snobs attention.  That said, it’s not a bad looking phone at all.  The keypad setup looks like it was lifted from Sony Ericsson, with a committed key for delete/cancel and a return/back key.  Tactile feedback is positive, and you get a very nice “click” when you press the pad.  You might want to turn-off the default key tone as it is very annoying.  When you try to SMS you sound like you’re composing your own ringtone as the keys are arranged musically – do re mi anyone?

The phone is made of average plastic parts, but there are some very thoughtful details that will help prolong its useful life.  For example, instead of having a flimsy cover for the USB/charge port, they installed a slider cover.  You won’t lose it, and you won’t break it, and it protects the port from dust and grime. Well done.

Installing the battery is just like any phone – slide off the back cover, insert the battery and you’re done.  However, the batter prevents  you from pulling out the SIM card (which is just so) and the T-Flash card – which means that you’ll have to power-down and remove the battery every time you have to remove/replace the memory card.

Fully loaded, the phone is about the size of a Nokia 2630 (photos 7 and albeit slightly thicker.  But this added thickness is welcome in exchange for HSPA!

Zip 188 Photo 7

Zip 188 Photo 8

Camera

Looking at the rear of the phone, we have a standard 2 Mega Pixel camera. It works fine, but is far from what we consider “good” out there.  There is an annoying lag between clicking on the shutter, hearing the shutter, and actually taking the photo.  This will result in a lot of blurred shots.  Perhaps a future firmware update can speed this up.

Screen and Interface

The screen is a generous 2 incher, with vibrant colors and a neat menu.  It’s not cryptic nor archaic and even without going through the manual, practically anyone can navigate the menu.  The only real difference here is how the directional keys are mapped to open different menu items. Standard phone settings, which is usually buried underneath several menu clicks, is just a right click away from the home screen – which is both good and bad. (photo 12)

Zip 188 Photo 12

Texting is a three-click affair.  Click on the center button, click it again to go to messages and then click again to create a new message.  I’m not so sure if you can create shortcuts or reassign soft keys, but for now, it’s 3 clicks away.

Mobile Internet

Ah, now here is when things begin to get exciting.  Smart has recently invested in a kick-ass HSPA network that already allows subscribers covered by the signal to access the internet (on good days) at DSL speeds.  On a personal note, I’m already very happy with my Smart Bro plugit because it averages upwards of 1Mbps when I access the ‘net – what more with a dedicated HSPA enabled phone like the Zip188?

Accessing the ‘net is easy thanks to the dedicated Sandbox key.  One click and it takes you to the Sandbox mobile portal (m.mysandbox.com) and from there you can already do your social networking, blogging and chatting – FOR FREE!  I understand that the Sandbox Mobile Site is free to browse if you’re on the Smart network.   For some reason though, Sandbox doesn’t look to good on the Zip188. I’m not too sure if it’s because of the smallish screen or if it’s because the site doesn’t recognize the wap device signature of the Zip188.

Next stop was Facebook, and it was good.  The site loads up really quickly with no hitches at all.

Zip 188 Photo 13

USB Modem

If you have a laptop, you might want to take a good look at the capabilities of this phone as your modem.  The bundled software (cryptically named “Join Me”) is a breeze to install and it really unlocks the potential of this phone.  From the menu, you can easily manage your contacts, messages, and connect to the internet with one click.  You probably won’t need another dedicated USB dongle once you get the hang of the software.

Just for fun, I tried downloading a torrent file of a 700MB movie, and guess what? I completed the download under 2 hours, with the average download speed hitting 2.2Mbps! (photo zip speedtest)

A pleasant surprise here is that since the phone connects via USB and the charger cable is based on USB, you get to charge your battery while you use the phone as a modem.

Conclusion and Recommendation:

The Zip188 is one amazing phone for its price.  The SRP is Php3,995 and if you buy it in the smart shop, you can get it even lower at Php3,795.  In absolute terms, the phone itself is dated, with a so-so interface, three-click message access, two-inch screen and a sluggish camera.  However, considering the cost and value, as well as the bundled software and HSPA capabilities, this phone is a very good buy.  It’s far from perfect, but for people wanting to try mobile internet either via phone or hooked up to a pc, this phone can’t be beat.

Pros:

Fast mobile internet (in areas with good HSPA coverage)
Very good bundled software
Easy to use, though subjective
Generous kit with accessories
USB Charging  (and you get to charge your phone while connected to the internet via USB cable)

Cons:

Phone feels and looks dated
Poor camera
Lack of Bluetooth
System tones not customizable

For people interested in mobile internet:  8.5/10

For people NOT interested in mobile internet: 6/10

There’s been so much hype about BlackBerry phones lately that I find myself wanting one, without really knowing why. I’m a big fan of Smart (http://www.facebook.com/SmartCommunications) and when they came up with a prepaid BlackBerry offer a few months ago, I thought that it was da bomb almost went for it.

But reality bites, and my techie plans got waylaid when my wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl (worth another post – soon) project BlackBerry had to be shelved.

I work for a digital marketing agency, and work moves fast and being away from our desk is no longer an excuse to respond asap so a mobile email solution was imperative.

Thankfully, Smart launched their GoMail service which allows webmail users to access their yahoo mail, gmail and Hotmail via mobile phone.

So what’s the big deal? Well for starters, it isn’t a mobile internet play where you can access the mobile version of their mail websites for a set fee. It’s a service which optimizes your phone to actually download mail onto your mailbox! Yep. GoMail (with certain phones) will add a new folder within your inbox for your webmail!

How to get started (from my experience)

1. Text MAIL to 7077 – you’ll then receive a reply with instructions… but you’re better off accessing the website at:
2. http://smartmobileemail.smart.com.ph – a sparse looking site with a simple interface. It asks you to input your mobile number (in international format – +639xxxxxxxxx)
3. Be ready to have your email address and password on hand and you have to know the model of your cellphone as the site will ask for it.
4. once registered, the site will SHOW you an activation code on screen AND will send a configuration message to your phone.
5. Once you receive the configuration message, open it, and you will be prompted to input the activation code from the site. Input the code to activate the configuration.
6. Once done, you will have to send a text message to 7077 again, if you want the DAY option (php20 for one day unlimited email) or if you want the MONTH option (Php199 for 30 days) text DAY or MONTH respectively.
7. Go to your phone mailbox and note the new folder which has your email address as the folder name.
8. Click on it – you have two options: download all or download new mail. Unless you have an uber fast HSPA phone, just go for the download new mail

and that’s about it! I’ll post more stuff here as I use it.

This is a very geek post for me, but I’m just stoked that my two-year old Zpdee connection suddenly gave me a speed boost, up to 1mbps.

We’re paying about 900 bucks initially for around 380++kbps two years ago. About a year ago, the speed went up to 512kbps while maintaining the price. Zpdee didn’t email or announce anything then, so I was really impressed with that.

About a week ago, I noticed that www.zpdee.com was redirecting me to the sky cable internet site, and the site was offering insane speeds of up to 12mbps. Went through the site and really, nothing was said about existing Zpdee clients and connections.

The past two weeks have been internet hell though. Speed was really inconsistent and torrenting was a pain.

Well, I just hope that this speed boost will be permanent and will be the norm for my internet connection of choice.

Last weekend was no exception.

Ela and i hurriedly booked our trip there, a mere 2 weeks before peak season starts. Flights were still cheap and accommodations aplenty and reasonable. We ended up taking PAL Express and staying in Nigi Nigi Too.

Two firsts in one

It was our first time to take PAL Express – the new budget airline extension of PAL and it was our first time to go to the new Terminal 3. T3 is really nice. It reminds me of Kingsford-Smith International Airport in Sydney. It’s big, yet not intimidating, spacious without being too massive. Just what we need to welcome weary travelers. Oh yeah, make sure you BRING A JACKET when you’re passing through terminal 3. It’s really cold there!

It was raining cats and dogs that cold Friday morning, so we were rather worried that either our flight gets canceled or delayed. Surprisingly, we flew out just in time. Oh yeah, funny thing about taking PAL Express in the new terminal – you feel like you’re a second-class citizen in the airport. The gates are in the lower part of the terminal – with some electrical wirings still visible and temporary sound systems in place. Heck, you even have to board a bus and drive far from the terminal just to reach the plane!

No biggie though, because the new PAL Express planes are quite nice. Q300 – that’s the aircraft model they have. Turbo-prop, very clean and neat inside. The FA’s uniforms are festive too. Floral button down shirts and bermuda-looking shorts.

But there aren’t any potholes in the sky…

The weather was awful and the minute we took off, it was evident that we had to tighten our seatbelts throughout the flight. Clouds clouds everywhere, and the plane was battered by monsoon winds. There was even a moment that the plane was pitching and rolling in all 4 axes for about 3-5 minutes – which seemed like an eternity! Man o man… that was one of the scariest flight experiences I’ve ever had. Seriously!

Mercifully, the turbulence ended soon, and it was relatively smooth sailing all the way to Caticlan. I have to applaud the pilots of PAL Express – they landed that plane quite well. You know how scary Caticlan landings can be right? Rushing down and approaching the runway at over 200KPh, and you can see the water mere meters away, and then when the plane hits the ground, the pilot seems to slam it and hit the brakes as hard as he can…
That wasn’t the case with our flight. It was smoooooth as silk.

next up… pictures and pictures of our stay in boracay

http://chewychua77.multiply.com/journal/item/33/Things_I_need…_alteratively_titled_as_things_I_want

“…  I decided to make a list of the stuff I think I need and not just want…

1. a nice dell/acer/hp laptop with at least a pentium core 2 duo at 1.66ghz (up to 2.0ghz) at least 1gb ram (2 better) about 120gb hdd, 128mb nvidia card, 4x usb 2.0 ports, firewire etc…
2. iPod video 30gb or bigger
3. 1 or 2gb flash drive (perhaps this can be a freebie when i buy the laptop?)
4. 250gb external hard disk (the big one)
5. 120gb external hard disk (the pocket sized one)

and since we’re at it… “

Luckily, most of the things I lusted after, I actually got!

I now have a kick-ass laptop
a 160gb portable hard disk drive
a 500gb external drive
over 10GB worth of flash drives (who would have thought that they’d cost a little more than 2 starbucks coffees now??)
We now have a Wii back in sydney (with all the fun games and the Wii fit)
I got a free iPod video and a shuffle
a real fender strat
a real gibson les paul
several kick-ass amplifiers (marshall, line6, peavey)

these things aside… here are the things I want for this year:

minimum 32″ LCD TV
non-overheating xbox 360
a good condition playstation 2 (yep, i still love my old games)

hmmm. that’s not a very long list, ain’t it?  being 30 has been good to me

Being the leader of this massive wireless tribe is really an accomplishment if not a Herculean feat – so kudos to Smart for being the clear leader in sheer numbers, in ARPU and in total business. Globe isn’t a laggard either, with their excellently packaged 24ever campaign, their iconic iPhone 3G and their die-hard influential post-paid subscriber base.

But credit is due to what I sincerely believe as the most INFLUENTIAL player here in this field: Sun Cellular.

These guys are the true mavericks in the arena. Sure, they haven’t really brought in any new technologies or new products, but for some reason every move they make warrants either massive paradigm shifts or tectonic pricing movements across the industry.

They seem to have a knack of knowing what people *actually* want from their telcos – unlimited bucket pricing for calls and text (check)
call all you want promos for off-peak usage (check)
easy subscription plans (check)
less red-tape to get subscriptions (check)
bottomless 3G mobile broadband (check)

Sure, their GSM offering was years behind Smart and Globe’s, but the way they priced it was light years ahead of the curve – they effectively turned mobile telephony into the landline of old – Telebabad was back!

Again, there’s nothing special about their post-paid plans – in fact, purists complain about signal quality, dropped calls and other generation-one problems – but the fact remains that for people and companies who shift their telco requirements to Sun, they experienced massive savings on telephony.

Lastly, this bottomless 3g mobile broadband offering is so tempting – even Smart lowered their Smart Bro dongle cost. Globe did one even better and really dropped their prices to less than 50% of original price.

Market leaders and brand innovators are supposed to lead the pack in technologies, pricing and products, but why is it that the smallest reputable telco here is the one causing shifts in pricing and in consumer behavior?

Leadership versus Influence.

I imagine both Smart and Globe following suit by offering simple one-ID subscriptions, uber-cheap per minute calls, 3G rate cuts among others just to counter Sun’s offerings. Which is just fine and dandy for the much beleaguered Filipino consumer.

With that, hurray for Sun, hurray for Smart and for Globe. Thanks for taking care of the Filipino mobile customer. Keep up the good work

Just had it in Mag:Net cafe earlier, and the group found it quite nice and agreeable.  To sum the experience up in one word…  

heineken

that’s the beer closest to San Miguel’s newest and supposed best.

San Miguel is the country’s oldest and largest brewery (and food conglomerate) and it has been known to be one of the world’s best brewers of beer.  How good? Well, let’s just say that some Spaniards (mostly my friends) think that this proudly Filipino brand is their own!

Going back to SMP (san miguel premium) it is a departure from the usual San Miguel taste.  Gone is that malty (aratiles) taste that goes well with fried and grilled foods… Gone is that “chico” aftertaste that makes our beer distinctly Filipino.

instead you get a very refined beer, and a very good one.  It has none of the usual bitterness that is associated with beer, and it has that “imported” vibe that can only be delivered by beers 3x the price of our much loved Pale Pilsen.

Heck, even the bottle looks sosy, and it’s actually green.

Verdict: If you’re a foreinger looking for the classical Filipino beer, stay away.  You’re better off with either pale pilsen, red horse or super dry… but if you’re a local looking for that imported taste then look no further.

hic*

MSI WIND 100XP

Honestly, it really wasn’t a difficult choice.  It’s just that I made it difficult for myself.  

4 weeks ago, it was the ATOM N270 1.6ghz that made it compelling (same as the aspire one and the eeepc 1000h.)

3 weeks ago, it was the “free upgrade” offer that made the hardware specs even yummier – 2gb RAM and 160GB HDD – though asus lowered their prices a bit.

2 weeks ago, after seeing all the netbooks side by side, the aspire’s smallish LCD screen let it down.

Last week, it was the realization that the asus eeepc’s keyboard was just awful and something that will be a painful stone in my shoes in the long run that made the wind the ONLY viable choice.

Then my much beloved Compaq Presario 2400 laptop finally crashed last Friday very early in the morning (when I forgot to bring home my Dell’s charger when I had to finish a friggin pitch presentation) – and that was the final straw.

Which version to get then??  The 100LX with DOS selling for 20K was really enticing while the 100XP with XP, 2gb RAM and Bluetooth seemed a bit expensive.  After chatting with a few laptop techs and sellers, I decided to get the all-in 100XP.  why?
Simply because I was too lazy to do some things that *could* have saved me money.  Like purchasing cheaper licensed windows (i know i could get away with pirated stuff, but i’m too old to be like that hahaha.)  Like having to purchase an external optical drive.  Like having to spend a good 2 hours of installing the OS… and the drivers… and downloading updates.

The toughest thing then was choosing the color.  White, Black, Pink or “love.”

Let the pictures do the talking…