Tag: phones

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Nexus S vs Galaxy S vs iPhone 4

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.

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Apple iPhone 4

I put in a reservation for an Apple iPhone 4 a few weeks ago but but never got a call. I learned that some of my friends actually received calls about their reservations. Unwilling to wait anymore, I went back to the Globe business center.

As usual, Globe customer service was thorough (read: slow) unless of course if you’re a Platinum subscriber in which case they would gladly turn back any other customer they’re about to talk to and even give you the last stock of a phone another customer is about to get.

Continue reading “Apple iPhone 4”

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Objective: Objective-C

Since I’ve recently decided to study iPhone programming and and since Starcraft II is still a few days away, I was able to spend some time learning Objective-C, the programming language of choice for iPhone development. Since, I’ve gone through quite a few programming languages (LOGO, BASIC, Pascal, C, some C++, Java, and more recently Flex), picking up the syntax and the basics was a relative breeze. I expect, as usual, things will get exciting once I start working with the iOS APIs. Haven’t felt this excited in a while!

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Buying Starcraft II

Since I’m almost done with Red Dead Redemption on the PS3, I decided to finally get Starcraft II. Everything went smoothly at first. I logged on to the Blizzard store and picked a version. I decided on the US version since it is less expensive at around P2600 compared to P3600 for the Asian version. I paid and started downloading.

Then I hit a snag: Downloading the Blizzard Downloader was so slow using my Sun Wireless Broadband connection. After finally completing the download, the Blizzard download site won’t recognize the downloader as authorized anymore. I tried it several times with the same result.

I needed a faster connection. So now it looks like my US version savings is going down the drain. Since Globe’s unlimited surfing promo doesn’t work for postpaid, I borrowed Michelle’s phone, sent “SUPERSURF50” to 8888 and tried downloading again. Success! I was able to get the downloader and start the download of the game client.

After a few hours, I hit another snag: Globe SuperSurf “unlimited” surfing stops after you have downloaded 1GB of data. It not just slows your connection, it completely stops you from connecting. Fail! And you can’t even register for another day of SUPERSURF 50 because the previous one has to expire first! Double fail by Globe.

I guess it will be a few days before I can play.

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Swype For Symbian

The other day, Leslie told me about Swype for Symbian. Swype is an alternative input method for touchscreen devices where you swipe your finger from letter to letter onthe virtual keyboard without taking your finger off to spell a word. It’s all the rage in Android virtual keyboards.

Unfortunately, it’s only available for the Nokia 5230, 5800, N97, N97 Mini, X6, and C6-00. I tried it on Michelle’s 5800 and it was great. The nicest thing is that it provides a new keyboard for both portrait and landscape orientations. The new keyboards are way better-looking than the built-in keyboards. The portrait qwerty keyboard even shows the interface of the app you are working with instead of taking up the whole screen. As a bonus, regular key tap input still works.

UPDATE: Today, I found out it’s now available at the Ovi store for the N8. Does it fix one of the N8’s biggest problems? Not quite. The portrait qwerty keyboard is not available on the N8 version so you’re still stuck with the regular phone keypad. Still, you get Swype and that already quite an improvement.