LG Optimus Black: Paint It Black
I needed an Android phone to test the Android version of PSMonitor. I wanted a low-end phone, a least common denominator, so I checked out the Samsung Galaxy Ace. While it has better than usual low-end specs (800MHz processor, 3.5″ 320×480 display), it didn’t have a front camera and is not expected to have Ice Cream Sandwich. So scrap that.
This led me to search some more and eventually to the LG Optimus Black which is a bit higher-end (1GHz processor, 4″ 480×800 display). Expectedly, it was quite expensive. But that changed when LG lowered the price and, even better, announced that Ice Cream Sandwich will be available for it. After a few more days of considering, I finally went ahead and got it.
My first impression is that it’s a well-designed, minimalist, and low-key phone. Almost everything is black. Even the LG logos are in subdued shades of gray. Once you hold it, you see it’s also very slim and very light. Probably the one thing that really screams “Look at me!” is the Nova display. It is just BRIGHT! Unfortunately, it has a yellowish tint when viewed from the front which is a bummer.
The user-experience is typical Android, a whole lot of power and flexibility. Frankly, it’s way more than what you actually need to get real work done. It’s not drastically more complicated or worse than iOS, we know they each got their particular quirks. It’s just different.
However, it does feel like it needs a bit more polish (but that’s supposed to change with Ice Cream Sandwich). Also, it’s a little bit laggy due to the low-end specs as well as all those virtual machinery and hardware abstraction layers. The price of multi-hardware support. But it’s nothing that you can’t get used to.
Performance with the built-in Frozen Yogurt is good although I expect it would improve once the promised updates comes out. Gingerbread after all is an enhancement, optimization, and bug-fix version. Performance with Ice Cream Sandwich would probably suffer. I’m hoping it would still be passable though. At least still enough for its primary purpose as my Android test phone.
Steve Jobs
Even better, this book is not just about Steve Jobs. Because they’re closely intertwined, it is also about the companies he founded, Apple, NeXT, and Pixar. Creativity and innovation are Job’s hallmarks and it provides a glimpse of the creative and innovative processes in those companies. One thing you note is that in these companies, it’s not just Jobs coming up with ideas. A lot, including many that he initially rejected, also came from his colleagues. A definite read not just for fans and admirers of Jobs but also for any student of business.
Speck ToughShell
I mentioned before that putting the gorgeous iPhone 4 inside a case generally fuglifies it. So I prefer the iPhone naked or wearing a Sena Ultraslim Pouch. And for the times when I do need a measure protection I use a Speck PixelSkin.
But if the going gets tougher, the only answer, at least previously, is a heavy-duty case like the Otterbox Defender. Unfortunately, it costs a lot, P2,500 the last time I checked, and it has an ugly circular cutout to show off the Apple logo (why?!?). So I searched and found the Speck ToughShell.
Hanna
Hanna is a spy thriller and growing-of-age drama. Sort of like Leon but different, quite different. Erik (Eric Bana) is a widowed ex-CIA officer living in remote isolation with his daughter Hanna. He is raising Hanna to prepare her for going out into the world. And that world just happens to be a worst case scenario. Toss in shades of the Grimms’ fairy tales (e.g. Cate Blanchett is “The Witch”) and the almost surreal (watch it) and you have a quite an interesting movie. The action choreography needs a bit of work but is quite passable.