We made the mistake of dropping by the PhilEquity office to create an account for Michelle and Jeanne. We ended up getting delayed and got to the airport terminal late. And then we found the overnight parking brimming FULL!!! The only recourse was to head over to Park ‘N Fly. After fighting through heavy traffic, hastily parking the car at Park ‘N Fly, and fighting through traffic (this time on a chauffeured shuttle) back to the airport terminal, we found the check-in counter already closed. We were directed to the service counter where we found out that all flights were booked. We asked about being chance passengers and luckily we would be the first ones. There was a hefty change in the fare (almost four times) but we had no choice. Michelle (with Jeanne on her lap), and I were able to on the next flight and James, who was travelling with us, got on the flight after that. Talk about being lucky!
As I was putting on my trail shoes for trip to the airport when I felt something inside one shoe. I pulled it out and what do I find? My long (almost a year) lost Oakley Unknown! I haven’t the faintest idea how it got there but Christmas is suddenly a wee bit brighter :P
The latest Google Android reference phone is out. This is going to be a three way fight between the current top Android phone and the latest iPhone. The tale of the tape:
| Samsung Google Nexus S | Samsung Galaxy S | Apple iPhone 4 | |
| Size | 123.9 x 63 x 10.9 mm | 122.4 x 64.2 x 9.9 mm | 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm |
| Weight | 129 g | 119 g | 137 g |
| Network | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 |
| HSDPA 1700 / 2100 /900 | HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100 | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 | |
| Display | Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors | LED-backlit IPS TFT, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
| 480X800 pixels, 4 inches | 480X800 pixels, 4 inches | 640 x 960 pixels, 3.5 inches | |
| Processor | ARM Cortex A8 1GHz processor | ARM Cortex A8 1GHz processor | 1 GHz Apple A4 processor |
| RAM | 512 MB RAM | 512 MB RAM | 512 MB RAM |
| Internal Storage | 16GB | 8/16GB | 16/32 GB |
| External Storage | No External Memory | Up to 32GB | No External Memory |
| Data | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP | Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP | Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP |
| Near Field Communications | Yes | none | none |
| Video | 720p@30fps | 720p@30fps, LED video light | 720p@30fps, LED video light, geo-tagging |
| Operating System | Android OS, v2.3 Gingerbread | Android OS, v2.1 Eclair w/ TouchWiz 3.0 | iOS 4 |
| Camera | 5 MP, 2560 x 1920 pixels, autofocus, LED flash | 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus | 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash |
| Apps | About 100K from Android Market + access to non-market apps | About 100K from Android Market + access to non-market apps | About 300K from Apple app store |
| Battery | Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh | Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh | Standard battery, Li-Po 1420mAh |
| Standby | Up to 713 h (2G) / Up to 428 h (3G) | Up to 750 h (2G) / Up to 576 h (3G) | Up to 300 h (2G) / Up to 300 h (3G) |
| Talk-time | Up to 14 h(2G) / Up to 7 h (3G) | Up to 14 h(2G) / Up to 7 h (3G) | Up to 14 h (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G) |
Based on the specifications, the winner is the iPhone 4 though not overwhelmingly. And it seems the Nexus S in not at all too different from the Galaxy S. Understandable since it’s made by Samsung but not expected since it is newer and Google is involved. So there’s no real reason to get the Nexus S unless you’re developing NFC applications. Just as well since it’s probably going to be priced higher than the Galaxy S which is already overpriced as it is.
I walked into the office this morning and found my desk littered with cables and wire strippings. It seems the contractor has been working overnight on the incomplete cabling. It’s not something I cannot live with or clean up myself but I believe they should do a proper job and not be leaving such a mess.
I walked into the office this morning to find the new cubicles and partitions finally in place. It’s something overdue for about a month already. But a closer look and I saw that the cabling was not yet done, there were no plugs at the ends of the cables which were stuffed haphazardly within the cubicle panels. There was also a pile of discarded old cables on the floor. But worst of all, there were no network guys to be seen! This was at past 9AM already.
So we had to make a call to the help desk. Not straightforward as the phones rely on the same cabling so there were no working phones in the immediate area. When someone finally arrived, he went about laying out temporary cables picked up from the pile of cables on the floor. He didn’t even check if each user has a working connection. In the end, I had to finish up my network connections myself.
I’ve worked with smaller teams with less budget and they were more proactive and could do a far better job. Sheesh!