Month: September 2013

General

Apple iPhone 5S vs Apple iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S4

By on Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Now that Apple has announced the iPhone 5S, it’s time for a side-by-side for comparison against the previous iPhone 5 and the de facto Android flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S4.

The first question is, is it an upgrade over the iPhone 5? The answer is yes, specifically in the processor, the camera, and Touch ID. Apple’s “S” releases are normally minor updates. So this is actually significant. Apple obviously is feeling the competitive pressure.

The next question is how does it fare against the Galaxy S4? By the numbers you would see that Galaxy S4 would win. But most numbers don’t matter much (e.g. processor speed, and megapixel count) without context. So I won’t even go into the 64-bit (although really that is significant). Numbers are nothing compared to the experience.

I’d say you can’t go wrong with either iPhone 5S or Samsung Galaxy S4. Personally, I’d go for the iPhone 5S due to four reasons: design (understated elegance), the size (I like my phones small and light), the camera (True Tone flash, 2.2/f aperture and 15% larger sensor) and Touch ID (definitely more secure than Android’s rather gimmicky face unlock).

Apple iPhone 5S Apple iPhone 5 Samsung Galaxy S4
Size 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6mm 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6mm 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm
Weight 112 g 112 g 130 g
Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100
LTE LTE LTE
Display LED-backlit IPS TFT, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors LED-backlit IPS TFT, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Super AMOLED HD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
640 x 1136 pixels, 4 inches (326 ppi) 640 x 1136 pixels, 4 inches (326 ppi) 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.0 inches (441 ppi)
Processor unspecified processor, unspecified GPU, Apple A7 chipset, 64-bit unspecified processor, unspecified GPU, Apple A6 chipset Quad-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7, PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU
RAM unspecified unspecified 1/2 GB RAM
Internal Storage 16/32/64 GB 16/32/64 GB 16/32/64 GB
External Storage No External Memory No External Memory Up to 64GB
Data Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n dual-band
Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP v4.0 with A2DP v4.0 with A2DP
NFC none none yes
Operating System iOS 7 iOS 6 Android v4.2 Jelly Bean
Camera 8 megapixel AF with True Tone dual-LED flash and f/2.2 aperture lens, 15-percent larger sensor, 10fps burst 8 megapixel AF, f/2.4 aperture lens 13 megapixel AF, f/2.2 aperture lens
Video 1080p at 30fps, LED video light 1080p at 30fps, LED video light 1080p at 30fps, LED video light
Apps About 900K from the Apple App Store About 900K from the Apple App Store About 1M from Google Play + access to non-market apps
Battery Standard battery, Li-Po Standard battery, Li-Po Standard battery, Li-Ion 2600 mAh
Standby Up to 270 h (3G) Up to 225 h (3G) Up to 370 h (3G)
Talk-time Up to 10 h (3G) Up to 8 h (3G) Up to 117 h (3G)
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General

30-30-30

By on Monday, September 9, 2013

I’ve been having problem with my Globe Tattoo Mobile WiFi for the past few days. I tried everything: reboot, tweaking the settings (with and without tech support), transferring the SIM to different devices, to no avail. So I applied for a 15-day trial of SKYbroadband with the intent to switch if it proves to be good.

This morning, the SKYbroadband team arrived and quickly set up the cable modem. When they left, I went to work and configured my Buffalo AirStation with DD-WRT. I set the router to DHCP and connected the modem. It wouldn’t work! I tried reboots, resets, pre-configuring the TCP/IP settings, downgrading up to two DD-WRT versions back, etc. All to no avail.

Finally, after some research, I found out that there seems to be a bug where the old settings are retained and read. The solution is simple: 30-30-30 aka Hard Reset:

  1. While the router is powered on, hold down its reset button for 30 seconds
  2. While still holding down the reset button, unplug the router and hold for an additional 30 seconds
  3. While still holding down the reset button, plug in the router and hold for 30 more seconds

When the router booted up, it immediately grabbed a WAN IP and I was finally able to able to use my SKYbroadband trial. And can I just say I’m loving it.

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General

Reversing The Flow

By on Monday, September 9, 2013

If America is was the land of opportunity for the world, then Metro Manila is the land of opportunity for the Philippines. People would go to Metro Manila for the education and work opportunities it presents. This has resulted in a population of 12M, and a daytime population of 14M. This is out of the 97M Philippine population (12.3%!).

Indeed there are lots of opportunities but at the same time there’s a price to pay: high population density, tight living spaces, long commutes, monster malls, high prices, traffic congestion, pollution, … and these often interacting with each other for worse.

It’s way past time for at least some of the 12M to disperse back to the provinces and other cities where there are opportunities thanks to vastly improved trade, commerce, communications, peace, and order. And doing so can create even more opportunities. That is an ingredient for continued and inclusive economic growth.

So as an incentive, maybe the government shouldn’t subsidize MRT fares and just let market forces do their work :P

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General

Wearable Computing

By on Saturday, September 7, 2013

Wearable computing isn’t new and its utility is not up to debate. Athletes are wearing them to monitor or even enhance performance. Patients are wearing them to monitor health vitals. The same goes for soldiers, astronauts, etc.

Then there are those people wearing those Bluetooth earpieces, Oakley Thumps, smart watches like the Pebble, wrist-mounted iPod nanos, and Google Glasses. There are (were?) even people wearing backpack computers with heads-up displays and on-hand keyboards

On an average day, by and large those people look nerdy at best, and dorky at worst. Certainly not fashionable. For wearable computing to go mainstream , the key obviously is for the devices to become fashionable. Either by changing shape and form. Or by changing the norms of fashion. This is what the more successful companies are doing.

Take watches, it’s not a debate that on an average day they are jewelry first, and timekeeping device second. And so “dumb watches” are arguably more successful than smart watches. Supposedly, they’re “dumbness” and “lack of innovation” is actually what’s helping them sell. I think it’s actually more because these dumb watches are fashionable.

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General

MacBook Air

By on Friday, September 6, 2013

macbookair

Michelle needed a computer for her research, and Jeanne iPad mini just doesn’t cut it. So we decided that I get her an early ;) Christmas present: A MacBook Air.  It’s small and light, the perfect ultraportable. As expected, build quality of the aluminum unibody is excellent. It has a 1.3GHz dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of SSD storage. And most importantly for an ultraportable, it uses the Intel Haswell architecture which has been especially great in terms of battery life.

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