Tiago's Tech Blog » Technology

Samsung Galaxy S and the iPhone 4′s amazing screen

tiago — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:16:28 +0000

I went into an O2 store today. I was merely looking to handle the new iPhone 4, to see how it looked like in person, to see how it felt in my hand and... obviously, to test the death grip, or, more correctly, the death touch. Yes, you don't really have to grip it like Steve J. suggests, you really just have to touch it on that joint point on the bottom left corner of the phone and the signal goes all the way down to just two, and then one bar. You can clearly see the effects of the new firmware though, it no longer goes into no signal, it will still tell you that there's some signal, while in fact it's probably impossible to make any calls at that point. But anyway, I was there, I tested it. I didn't grip the iPhone, I merely pressed my index finger against that tiny little spot and the signal instantly started dropping from the full five bars to two bars and ultimately to just one bar. Similarly, as soon as I raised my finger from that spot, it gained back the signal to full strength. This is why I'm dubbing this issue not "death grip" but "death touch".

Not all is bad about the iPhone 4 though. The screen is amazing, tantalizing, fabulous, ridiculously fantastic and I might just have ran out of adjectives to describe how "real" it feels to look at such a screen. It's like there's no screen at all and you're just looking at something "real". If you've read my blog, you'll know that by now I loathe Steve Jobs. He's an arrogant prick who bullies his employees and he might as well have been the one who gave the order to go ahead with this design, despite having been warned about the issues it could have. Still, the screen of the iPhone 4 is just... fantastic. It's something that has to be seen in person to be wooed by it and trust me, you will be.

Anyway, enough beating the dead horse with a stick and moving on to more serious matters. I've had my eye on the Samsung Galaxy S for a while now and based on the reviews and videos I saw of it, I was pretty much convinced on getting one. I had a few deals on eBay that I was keeping track of and I was just waiting for my own phone to sell to then buy the Galaxy. However, what was not my surprise when on the O2 store, I saw the Samsung Galaxy S for sale and it had actually been one of the motives for me to go up to the store: I wanted to try the phone in person just to get the feel of it. I asked the lady if she had one other than that one on display as it had no battery and she went to get one, a BNIB handset, just for me to try. I was impressed with her amiability with this and I had the chance to take a glance at the price tag - £319 it read. I thought to myself that it was a really nice price but it was probably locked to O2, which isn't desirable at all for me. I'm at a point in my life that I might have to move to God knows where and having a phone that's locked to a British network is anything but ideal for me.

The lady came back with the handset and she let me mess around with it a bit. I tried (and failed) to enable Swype, and on a casual chit chat with the O2 lady, I asked her whether the phone was locked and she told me she didn't actually know. Those phones were supposed to be sold on contracts and those are usually unlocked, but she didn't know. She also told me that she was fairly sure they were unlocked, as the box had no O2 branding whatsoever, but she didn't know for sure. After asking a few of her colleagues, none of them seemed to be sure either but at some point, one of them assured me it was unlocked to all networks, and I just knew it: I have to buy this phone. And I did. I made an excellent deal, better than any of the deals on eBay because I get 1 year warranty and in the end it's actually cheaper than anything on eBay.

So, to everyone who's wanting to buy a Samsung Galaxy S, I say try your local O2 shop. Maybe they have a few units like this!

Lufthansa offers Gray Powell flight to Germany

tiago — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:34:16 +0000

Everyone who follows the technology world would know the name Gray Powell. This is the name of the lad who lost his prototype iPhone 4G at a German beer bar. Well, guess what? Lufthansa is offering him a business class flight to Munich for him to "pick up where he last left off".

Image of the letter after the jump.

Imagine Cup and volcano ash

tiago — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:11:06 +0000

So! It's been a while and I come back with nothing but sad and unhappy stories.

As perhaps some of you knew, my team was one of the UK finalists in the Microsoft Imagine Cup competition. As fate wanted, we did not win. We came home, not empty-handed but in a way, empty-hearted. Maybe it is for the best; my team is composed of Master's students and the workload isn't comparable. I did not expect to have enough time to make it through to the finals, so maybe it is indeed for the best that someone else won.

Still, we got some loot from this competition! We won a magnificent Microsoft LifeCam HD and a superb Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000, with the new BlueTrack technology! Last but not least, we also got a diploma signed by Bill Gates himself! Quite good huh?

Unfortunately I cannot post many details from this visit to Microsoft's campus in Reading as we were all forced to sign an NDA to prevent us from leaking the latest details. All that I can say is that I've tried a Windows Phone 7 and it's amazing. It's a complete break with Windows Mobile and it is definitely a great break. From my experience I can say that the OS still feels a bit unpolished on certain aspects like image handling, but that's to be expected as it hasn't even been released yet. I also got to try a Microsoft Surface in person and whoa.... it's quite an amazing experience and I quite like the applications they have to showcase it. Perhaps the only disappointing factor is that it doesn't use either resistive or capacitive technologies, but instead it resorts to a projection and five cameras to detect touches. That is why it is such a tall device.

We also got a nice presentation by a gentleman from Lionhead Studios but unfortunately they had really strong feelings about the NDA and I am really not supposed to say anything about that!

Moving on to the next topic there's... volcano ash! Namely Eyjafjallajökull's ash. This is the name of the very nasty Icelandic volcano that has stopped me from going back to Portugal for my well deserved holidays. I had a flight booked for the 16th which got cancelled, then I rebooked it for today (the 19th) and again it got cancelled, and right now I have it booked for this Friday, hoping that things will look better in a few days.

The latest news on this is that the volcano comes from the UK Met Office (check image) and they tell us that it has actually stopped erupting and that maybe now the skies will start clearing.

Apple Tablet – the iPad is… meh

tiago — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:10:40 +0000

The so much awaited Apple Tablet has finally been announced by good ole Steve Jobs. My first impression? Meh. Put it this way, I was very very excited about the Apple Tablet, I was amused that the name could have gone the iSlate way (is late, get it?), but even the name is a total and uttermost failure. iPad... what's with the easy iPod pun?!

Those of us who read Gizmodo and other technology-oriented websites have been showering in mockups of how the iPad would look like and truth to be told, most of them look better than this chunky piece of an eBook reader. What's this supposed to be anyway? A phone? But it has no 3G... An eBook reader? But it costs $1000... An MP3/video player? BUT IT COSTS $1000!

Come on guys, who does not sincerely believe that Apple has just shot themselves in the foot please raise your hands and drop me a comment with sound reasoning. As for me, if I had Apple stock I'd be hitting the sell button as hard as I could right now... poor move Jobs, poor move...

Photos after the break (courtesy of Gizmodo).

UPDATE: Alright, alright, it only costs $500 after all. My point still remains: it is ugly and it only allows one app running at a time... $500 for a giant iPhone? Meh.

iMacs and the yellow tinted screen

tiago — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:08:27 +0000

Oh oh! No, not Santa, this is actually a juicy story. Mark Wilson at Gizmodo brings us an issue with the latest Apple's iMacs. According to said person, some of the latest iMacs randomly display a yellow tinted screen, turning the whites into... well... yellow. Manufacturing issues like this happen you say, and I would agree; that's not really the issue in this case.

The issue is the fact that Mark's iMac was exchanged but the replacement computer is also icteric. So what's the deal? Well, I'm not a fan boy for either side, I'm not fanatic so this brings me no special joy; despite that, I share Mark's opinion on the issue: multi-thousand dollar computers, computers that are known for being overpriced for their specifications, shouldn't have issues like this. Moreso, the issue should never happen again on a replacement computer. This can only mean one of two things - either the issue is happening on a large percentage of iMacs or Mark has just been extremely unlucky. Considering Apple's previous rapport with manufacturing issues and faulty parts, I would go with the former.

Right now Apple has been creepy and resorted to shady backstage data mining to flag Mark's Apple account to disallow any other exchanges; apparently his computer will now be repaired instead. Mark isn't happy and he's trying to spread the word; this is my attempt to help him and to get Apple to change this behavior. This would be acceptable from a cheap computer brand but not from Apple, THE most expensive computer brand, whose flagship is to produce computers with above-par quality. This sure as hell isn't above-par.

[via Gizmodo]

10 Google Wave Invites

tiago — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:06:19 +0000

Yeah, it is serious I have 10 Google Wave invites to distribute to the first ten visitors to leave me a comment on this post. This is NOT a contest, I will be giving the invites to the ten first lucky people who leave a comment on this post requesting an invite. Please be sure to leave the comment with a working e-mail address, or the invite won't go through and you will lose your chance.

Comment away!

[UPDATE]: 8 invites left!

Adobe and the slap on Apple

tiago — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:29:15 +0000

Well, for some weird reason, Apple refuses to give in and have Adobe port Flash over to the iPhone. It would be a massive advantage if we could see an iPhone with a full blown version of Flash, as opposed to Flash Lite. But... Apple won't bend. So what does Apple do? The best it can do right now: get people angry at Apple.

Below is the image that people will see when they try to download Flash on their iPhones (courtesy of Engadget):

A day in the life of a Presario CQ60

tiago — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:20:13 +0000

So here I am now, finally alone. My owner won't leave me alone for a second during the day! I'm surprised he gave me some rest now, I guess I should enjoy it.

Well, first things first so I should introduce myself. I'm an HP Compaq Presario CQ60-200EP and by the looks of it, I must be pretty darn good as my owner uses me every single day! It can be maddening at times... having him (literally) push my buttons all the time...

Lately he's done a smart move though and installed Windows 7 on me. I feel so much lighter now. It's as if I went to the gym regularly for a year... except I didn't!

I don't get to do much fun stuff very often but he does a lot of work with me and in a way I'm happy with that. I like feeling useful and handy and I know my owner trusts me with some pretty serious stuff...

I pack a generous 15.6 inch screen which is pretty wide and still portable (in your face, you 17 inch monsters!). All in all I was very affordable and I'm a dual core, from Intel - by far the best CPU maker out there right now. My graphics are also by Nvidia which is pretty darn good, I say. You know, I also have a DVD burner with lightscribe which is the next best thing these days and did I mention that I have an integrated card-reader, a webcam and an HDMI output?! I love it when he plugs me in to his 52 inch flat screen. I feel like a whole different computer when he watches 1080p movies with me!

Do you need a laptop? If you do, I have a few brothers that would gladly live with you and accompany you everywhere! I'm a sexy piano-black and have a cute aluminum "Q" on my lid. Interested? Well, for a limited period I can get you $30 off in orders over $150 on the HP Home Store. Sounds good?

Just go over to the HP Home Store and use the following coupon code: SV2132.

Keep in mind though! This coupon is valid through the 31st of October or while supplies last! So get yours while it is still time!
(Restrictions and exclusions apply)

Sponsors:

iPhone virus – avast!

tiago — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:22:03 +0000

Soooo... apparently Mac's can't catch viruses but the iPhone certainly can. There is a flaw in the iPhone's software that allows any attacker to gain complete control over your phone. Flaw which Apple is aware of but still hasn't patched. The details are simple and as such I will cut to the chase: if you receive an SMS with a single square in it, by the love of God - TURN OFF YOUR PHONE.

You have been warned, be safe, buy a Palm Pré.

[via Engadget]

Imageshack Hacked? – Yes!

tiago — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:31:42 +0000

The famous website for hosting images, imageshack.us, has just recently been hacked with the manifesto below. Our sources say all images were replaced with this manifesto, but according to the manifesto itself «no images were harmed in the making of this... image». Let's hope for the users' sake that this is indeed true.

It remains to be seen what does Imageshack actually have to do with the topic of this manifesto...