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Tuesday June 23, 2009

Samsung Jet S8000 review and technical specifications

Samsung Jet review, AMOLED display and first impressions :

The Samsung Jet aka Samsung Jet S8000 mobile phone was announced at a series of global launch events in London, Dubai and Singapore. It was one of the highlights at the Communicasia 2009 exhibition and I was able to try out actual production models. Samsung showed off its deep pockets this round with practically one booth babe standing next to each phone on display, ready to explain to you all about the phones, but that's not what people are really there for, is it? Oh wait ... :) Well, given where I work, I don't have a mobile phone camera with me, but this is from Hardwarezone to give you an idea :

"You know about the AMOLED display?" mine asked. "Yes, Active Matrix OLED," I said, because the full acronym of Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode would have been a mouthful and I was trying to get a feel for the phone. Yes, the phone. Honest. I mentioned that I was right there, at Communicasia 2003, at the same Singapore Expo location, looking at the first OLED display prototypes, and that I had waited some 6 years for OLED to actually be put into mobile phones for sale. "Oh I didn't know that", my booth babe said. It would have been a little too geeky to talk about the issues of the blue OLED lifespan, response time, and how individual pixel addressability eliminated the need for a backlight leading to 40% lower energy consumption compared to TFT-LCD and a much slimmer display profile, n'est-ce pas? Rest my case. So I left it at that.

So this is my Samsung Jet review with an actual production model, of which 2 million units are said to have been pre-ordered before the launch. According to the press release, the Samsung Jet enjoys the benefits of both advanced features of a smartphone and easy-to-use user interface of a conventional mobile phone, and the large banners outside the show proclaimed how the Samsung Jet phone is "Smarter than a smartphone". So we'll see about that.

First impressions of the Samsung Jet's 3.1-inch AMOLED display : it's fantastic. The 16-million colour WVGA 800x480 resolution display is fabulous, with the true deep blacks and rich vivid colours that OLED delivers in spades, together with a high resolution of 480dpi and a viewing angle of a full 180 degrees. This has been the promise of OLED all along and it was great to be able to see the actual device in hand. The touch screen is pretty responsive and applications opened and closed snappily enough.

Samsung Jet vs Apple iPhone comparison :

With the Samsung Jet, though Apple iPhone users may sniff at the comparison, I'd say first-hand, first-impressions-wise it actually does do its bit to give the iPhone a run for its money. The Samsung Jet even has a faster CPU to boot, with an 800MHz processor compared to the Apple iPhone 3GS's 600MHz and the earlier iPhone original and Apple iPhone 3G generation's 412MHz. Of course iPhone users will tell you that tech specs don't tell the whole story, it's the whole package with the UI and apps and such and of course the entire invisible Apple halo thing which can't be easily duplicated.

Application support is a potential issue for mobile developers wanting to write their own applications who might want to stick to the Apple iPhone or Google Android since all Samsung has promised is the ability to download around 30 self-developed online "widgets" from their website for such things as weather, news and search, though details of SDK and such have not been forthcoming. But if you're just a user and not an aspiring mobile developer, I'd suppose that's fine. Myself, I haven't installed that many apps on my own Nokia E51 S60/Series 60 Symbian phone, just a Tetris game and a Sega emulator which I play with only occasionally.

Samsung Jet user interface, Internet browser :

For the user interface, the Samsung Jet claims the TouchWiz 2.0 user interface, with motion UI, smart unlock, customizable widget screen and a multi-tasking manager. It supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync for push emails for both business users and consumers. The Samsung Jet also claims multi-window browsing to surf several web pages simultaneously, with up to five pages at a time.

For Internet browsing, it uses Samsung's Dolfin Internet browser. Avoiding Apple's patented multi-touch zoom technology which as they have pointed out requires the use of two fingers and two hands, the Samsung Jet supports a unique "one finger zoom" which enables one hand operation to zoom in and out not only for the Internet browser, but also for Photo browser and file viewer to see TXT, PDF and PPT files. It took a bit getting used to but once you get the hang of it, I'd suppose it would be a useful feature to have on the move, while holding it in one hand.

The Samsung Jet also has a "motion gate", which is a motion sensor that accesses multimedia and speed dialing by tapping, tilting or flipping the handset. The interesting feature that I was shown, which ought to be standard on all full touch-screen mobile phones, was the ability to enter text, whether an SMS message or whatever it is, in the usual phone-like T9 style in portrait mode, and when you turn it around to landscape mode, the keyboard transforms into a QWERTY keyboard. Pretty neat.

Samsung Jet GPS, camera, DIVX/XVID video :

The Samsung Jet has an A-GPS application that claims 3D map navigation, GPS on Google maps and location-Based Services, geo-tagging, and a compass, which I'd suppose is getting quite prevalent on mobile phones today.

The 5-megapixel camera seems to work well, even with the odd colours, lighting and white balance problems usually associated with trade show floors. There is still a bit of a colour tinge but it ought to be much better outdoors. From what can be seen on the display, the photos are pretty clear, and the video recording works reasonably well. It ain't no Canon Powershot SX1IS or Canon EOS 5D2 with 1080p Full HD video, but overall for a mobile phone, video playback and recording looks reasonably good.

To top it off, the Samsung Jet has DIVX and XVID video codec support, so I'd suppose you get to watch your favourite AVI videos on the go, which is a good idea if you have many of these to catch up on, such as a drama series or something, while on your daily commute on a bus or train.

Samsung Jet technical specifications :

Display : 3.1" 24-bit 16-million colors WVGA 800x480 AMOLED screen
Networks : EDGE/GPRS Class 12 (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), HSDPA 3.6Mbps (900, 2100 MHz)
Camera : 5-megapixel camera AF Autofocus camera with Dual Power LED
Camera features : Face Detection, Smile Shot, Panorama Shot, Blink Detection, Geo-tagging, Photo Editor
GPS geolocation : Built-in GPS with A-GPS, On Board Navigation with 3D Map
Video recording/playback : 30fps video recording, MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV, DivX, XviD, Video Editor
Audio recording/playback : Music player with DNSe & SRS WOW, 3.5mm earphones jack, FM Radio/ Recording
Audio codecs : MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, AMR, MIDI, SP-MIDI, i-melody, WAV, MMF, XMF
Internet browsing : Dolfin Internet Browser, WAP 2.0, One finger Zoom
User interface : TouchWiz 2.0, Motion UI, Media Gate 3D, Multi-tasking Manager
Application support : Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, Share Pix & Mobile Widget
Connectivity : Bluetooth 2.1, microUSB (USB v2.0 Hi-Speed), Wi-Fi
Processor : Samsung 6410 800MHz "Jet Engine" application processor
Memory : 2GB/8GB, External MicroSD slot (Up to 16GB)
Battery : 1,100 mAh
Talk time : 2G/492 minutes, 3G/300 minutes
Standby time : 2G/422 hours, 3G/406 hours
Size : 108.8 X 53.5 X 11.9 mm

Conclusion :

The Samsung Jet S8000 looks good, works well, performs smoothly, and comes with an entire boat-load of cutting-edge technological features. It is probably a bit early at the time of writing to declare it a runaway success but it does look set to be a rather popular model. If you're in the market for a fully-featured phone and as a user you don't really mind the proprietary OS as compared to a mobile developer who would be setting his sights on something along the lines of a Symbian-, iPhone-, Android-, Windows Mobile-something or the other, the Samsung Jet with its sleek form factor, good looks, fantastic display and fully-loaded feature set makes a pretty compelling pitch as the touch-screen mobile phone of choice.

(2009-06-23 13:35:19 SGT) [Tech] Permalink

Friday May 01, 2009

Transformers 2 : Revenge of the Fallen HD Movie Trailer 3 direct download

movies.yahoo.com :

The 3rd HD movie trailer for the upcoming second Transformers movie, Revenge of the Fallen, aka ROTF, has been released. The Yahoo link to watch online is as above, and the direct download link is here. The trailer is of HD quality at least width-wise, even if it is not really 1080p. The specifications of the video according to Media Player Classic are :

Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 1920x800 23.98fps [Video]
Audio: AAC 48000Hz stereo 1536Kbps [Audio]

Lots of good (and new) stuff going on. We see Sam getting visions of those weird Transformers letters / Cybertronian alphabets just like his grandfather did. A fragment of the All Spark is around, and appears to be affecting him somehow. Megatron emerging from the deep ocean. We've got new Egypt scenes with the pyramids. We've got Optimus Prime owning Decepticons (and using his energy swords at that) and also getting owned. (The bad guys often get the upper hand in the second movie. George Lucas got that trend started with "The Empire Strikes Back").

And there is Jetfire, and there is *Devastator* !! The new scene is of Devastator sucking sand, leading some in the community to remark that not only does the toy suck (well, IMHO it does but then again different people may feel differently), the character literally sucks as well. We see Mudflap getting sucked in but barely managing to hold on (I think). The other scenes we've seen in earlier trailers, Sam telling Bumblebee he's not taking him to college, Demolisher arriving and trashing an aircraft carrier.

Good stuff. Do check out the trailer. There's lots of discussion on the forums as well.

Fast and Furious 4 movie review

edition.cnn.com :

In the first truly shocking box office result of the year, "Fast & Furious" sped away from expectations to gross a humongous $72.5 million ... best F&F franchise opening ever, beating "2 Fast 2 Furious'" $50.5 million ... best opening ever for stars Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster, as well as for director Justin Lin.

- Let's just say that Fast and Furious 4 (also known as "Fast & Furious" elsewhere), the latest instalment in the Fast and Furious franchise, has exceeded my expectations. Never mind the holes in the plot that you could drive 4 gasoline tanker trucks through (you just have to watch the first part of the show to see what I mean), but our expectations for this kind of movie simply involves nice fast flashy cars, lots of action and a generous helping of explosions and it delivers in spades.

Consider this Fast and Furious 1.5 - this movie wants you to forget that parts 2 and 3 ever existed. Of course the biggest draw is that Vin Diesel (as Dominic "Dom" Toretto) is back with Paul Walker (as Brian O'Conner), his ambivalent friend/accomplice/associate. The plot? If you really want to know the plot, try Wikipedia. Otherwise, just enjoy the car scenes :)

A Singapore mother on parenting and life - parentimes.com

This is a website review on behalf of my cousin-in-law (if there is such a term), or to put it in easier terms, my cousin's wife. As is the case for quite a number of Singapore mothers nowadays who are venturing into the blogging domain, the topics revolve around parenting, family and life in general.

The blog itself seems to be fairly frequently updated at the moment, though the first-time visitor browsing through the archives may get a little confused by the large number of blog entries dated 28 Feb 2009. It looks to me that this could be due to an import from the old site, where the timestamps look correct.

As for the page design, it is a 3-column layout with a bit of a twist - the navigation menu takes up two columns by itself on the left and the main body is on the right. The categories, links and decals take up the first column while the second one contains a search box, calendar and a nuffnang ad slot.

Overall, it's a much better template than the old site. Click over to read more about the Lim family and catch up on what they're up to.

Singapore fresh/marine aquarium supplies online store - freshnmarine.com.sg

This is a website review on behalf of my cousin who's been doing this fish/aquarium business for nearly as long as I can remember. He used to have an actual honest-to-goodness brick-and-mortar store too back in the day (imagine that), and now this venture has been brought online.

You can see from the screenshot and by visiting the site itself that some effort has been put into the site design. It is a typical 3-column layout with shopping-oriented navigation and categories on the left sidebar, ads and various gadgets on the right, a nice custom logo and banner on top with a Google search to boot, and another set of banners at the footer.

Now I am no subject matter expert, but the product categories seem to cover much or perhaps most of what an aquarium owner would need. Except for fish tanks perhaps, and the fish themselves. That would probably be covered elsewhere since this site does profess to being a provider of aquarium supplies, and they do seem to cover that well, as compared to a one-stop shop for everything.

The internationalization part seems to work fine as well. Since this is a Singapore-based business, the default currency denomination is in terms of the Singapore Dollar, but you can also pull down a currency drop-down list near the top-right corner and choose from the US Dollar, Euro, and a bunch of other currencies. Of course, you could always refer to my live forex site to check out the real-time forex/currency quotes as well.

So if you have any needs for aquarium supplies, click over to freshnmarine.com.sg.

(2009-03-06 13:25:17 SGT) [Read] Permalink

Monday February 02, 2009

Transformers 2 : Revenge of the Fallen movie HD trailer download

The teaser trailer for the upcoming movie Transformers 2 : Revenge of the Fallen has just been released, as seen in the 30-second Superbowl ad slot. It's over here :

http://transformers.moviechronicles.com/2009-02/transformers-2-teaser-trailer-is-here-early/
(Click and save : "Download the Transformers 2 Teaser Trailer in HD")

A lots of stuff is going on in the short 30 seconds - an aircraft carrier group is attacked, Captain Lennox and his troops are back, yet another Blackhawk down, Ravage makes an appearance, the Audi R8 transformer [Sideways] makes a really cool entrance (or was that an exit), Starscream menaces Sam Witwicky, Optimus Prime gets whacked in the face by some gigantic, umm, Constructicon-like-thing [Demolisher]. That rolls about on one wheel. Transformers fans everywhere are now wondering what the heck that last part was about. We'll see.

Update :

There are more downloadable HD movie trailers for Transformers 2 ROTF at Dave's Trailer Page :

Superbowl Spot :

* HD 720P (22.9MB)
* HD 1080P (38.9MB)

Teaser Trailer :

* HD 720P (104MB)
* HD 1080P (155MB)

(2009-02-02 13:24:00 SGT) [Watch] Permalink Comments [1]

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