My Globe, My Worst!

Even before the wrath of Ondoy, Globe has been giving us problems with our internet connection which affected our Internet Business.  And after Globe’s network was devastated by the storm it became even worse.  It’s almost four  months already and still there is no internet connection, I think this is already out of the line.  Until now Globe is still unresponsive with almost a hundred complaints that we deposited in their Customer Service Hotline.  Every time we call 171 the same bunch of questions is being bombarded to us.  It seems that they have no record or something of what is happening with their subscribers.  I hate to say this but it gets to the point of being pissed-off rather than sympathy to the only ISP that we have.  They gave us a letter promising us that everything will be restored on or before November 30, but still even a hint of activity cannot be seen from Globe.   If only that we have other choices like PLDT or Sky Internet in our area then probably Globe will no longer be in our vocabulary.  Business is Business, but I think Globe is really minding their own Business this time and continuously ignoring their subscriber’s businesses.


Another thing that makes us angry is sooner finding out that there are new subscribers in our area which got their landlines in a zip while we, the old subscribers, are trying to survive with a piece of landline that seems to be useless.  They even have the guts to distribute catalogues and pamphlets offering DSL services in our area.  What a big insult to old subscribers.  If I would score Globe from one to ten, then probably I will give them a negative 100.  I hope they read this article and do something about their scrappy service.

My Netbook OS Search

My EeePC is my personal miniature PC that resembles much closest to my 14" notebook.  Although it's keyboard is tiny I can still manage to touch type.  I resorted to Linux as my OS since this is virus free and is as fast as Windows XP during operation.  I installed Easy Peasy from the Ubuntu for netbooks project.  It works just fine before until I got my Sun Wireless Broadband.  I have difficulty having the Huawei E1550 to work in Linux.  That is why I opted for other stable but light Operating Systems built for netbooks.  First I upgraded the Easy Peasy to the latest version thinking that the upgraded version has fixed the compatibility problems with new devices such as the Huawei E1550.  Although the modem worked sometimes, it really is quite a dissapointment sometimes when the OS couldn't recognize it properly.  So I decided to go back to Windows.  I looked for a lite version of Windows XP on the internet and downloaded a copy just to see how it would work on my device.  But it seems that the installer was so stripped down that it cannot install the Huawei modem sucessfully.  That was the point that i decided to try Windows 7 on my netbook.

The installation took overnight (because I have fallen asleep during installation) and by the morning the set-up was done.  My first impression is that it is kinda slow, but to think that this is a netbook then that would justify it's slowness and besides I installed the Ultimate edition.  The OS automatically disabled the aero thing to catch up with the processor speed and that kinda gave me the idea of disabling them all.  I optimized the performance by disabling effects and used the old traditional Windows theme.  There was a significant improvement in the performance and I am seeing improvements as time progressed.  But there is one more thing that needed to be tested before the OS would satisfy my standards, that is to play Youtube videos without skipping.  At first I connected to a nearby Wifi hotspot and typed the Youtube URL in the built-in Internet Explorer.  There were a bit of skipping on the beginning scenes but the movie went smoothly as soon it got loaded.  It's kinda fair already and it seems that it is the OS that I need, not until I tried my Sun Broadband Wireless USB modem.  It seems that Internet Explorer and Firefox kinda have noticable lags upon launch and the Youtube videos were no longer playing the same way when I was connected to a Wifi hotspot.  That made me decide to switch again to another OS, but now I decided that it would be Windows XP since this is the most stable OS that Microsoft built since Windows 95.  Besides, only XP drivers are available in the ASUS support website.  After a gruesome ground zero installation, finally I got the OS that I want for my netbook.  I had no problems with the internet connection since Wifi and SBW works fine in this old Microsoft OS.  And for unwanted viruses and malwares, I installed Deep Freeze so when my system is penetrated I just restart and everything goes back to the first installation.  So I think I'm going to settle myself with this OS and begin my work and leisure in complete harmony.  No more lagging Youtube videos, and hardware incompatibility.

SUN rises after the Storm

It's been a while since my last post and it is just now that I have got hold of my laptop.  It has been a busy month after the wrath of Ondoy most especially during the weekend.  We have fixed all our things and thrown away all those that deemed useless to us.  Our small internet shop was also affected when our service provider was unable to serve us up until now.  It was just week when Globelines showed signs of life when the dial tone was again present and the DSL line was a bit alive.  Until just now it went dead on us again without a dial tone and our beloved DSL internet connection.  We have been calling their service hotline ever since the flood water went away and it's really hard to get past those very long announcements and voice promts.  They always say that they are doing their best to restore all broken lines and will be done before November 30, 2009.  But the damage has already been done, our internet shop suffered major losses just like the ongoing global economic downturn.  That is why I opted for other sources of internet connection like Sky Broadband and PLDT.  Unluckily neither of them were offering services in our area.  Good thing that there was SUN Wireless Broadband that was just hanging around.  I thought that it was not possible to have a USB wireless modem to become the internet source of our shop until I discovered the power of ICS or Internet Connection Sharing built-in Windows 7.  It is also available in Windows 2000, XP and Vista but our main server PC was running on Windows 7 so it was an opportunity for me to learn this old technique when dial-ups were still dominant.  And the good thing is that SUN offers a cheaper unlimited data service compared to Smart and Globe.  Also SUN's 3G service is quite abundant in our area even in the deepest parts of our house, the comfort room.  Although it offers speeds up to 2Mbps, having it shared to more than 10 PCs makes it's status to just being a back-up rather than the main internet provider.  I am still hoping that Globe will fully restore their system before I finally make the decision to let them go and search for another permanent provider.

Back to you (Sony Ericsson T200)

It's already a week now without my HTC Touch Viva, I returned it for repair since it lost it's Camera function for no known reason.  That is why I resorted to using my old phone, the Sony Ericsson T200.  It was the first of it's kind (I think) back then when Ericsson and Sony merged to have a multi-purpose, multi-functional phone.  It was launched years back when Globe Telecom offered free mobile internet through GPRS service.  It's still in black and white LCD but has a better resolution compared to it's Nokia colleagues.  And just like my other devices it was used appropriately to its full functionality.  The good thing about free internet is that you can have it anywhere, anytime.

After using it again for a week it seems that it got me closer to my love ones most especially my wife.  Since Globe's GPRS service is no longe free then it left me with one of the basic functions of Philippine mobile phones, the SMS message.  I always text my wife to ask how she is and tells her what's on my mind.  Good thing I'm now a SUN Cellular subscriber I don't have to worry about diminishing load.  This made me think that the leaving you empty handed in functionality makes you more closer to your family.

Sony DSC-H5 Subic Pictures

Last week me and my family went to Subic for a vacation and I had a chance to borrow my Dad's Sony DSC-H5 to take some amazing pictures of the flying dolphins and the crouching tigers.  He bought it a couple of years ago somewhere in Hong Kong.  It is not an SLR camera but it did captured amazing shots since it has a 12x optical zoom to take a closer look at distant subjects.  And thinking that this is a H series then I believed that it is easy to operate and quite heavy on features.  It already has a built-in flash so you don't have to carry a separate one.  Below are the sample amateur pictures that I took.

Thanks to it's Super Steady Shot Optical Image Stabilization shot mode I have no hard time capturing those fast subjects.  Animals tend to move fast so you need a fast shutter and a lens that allows more light to have a brighter picture.  That is why the Carl-Zeiss lens is a superb main component in this digicam.  I just set the settings to Auto Mode since I have no time to browse it's built-in scene modes and I do not have the user manual with me.  Amazingly everything went fine and I felt like I'm holding a P200+ high quality camera after reviewing the pictures that I took on it's 3 inch LCD.  Some shots were taken with less than the maximum pixel rating of 7.2Mega Pixels to utilize Sony's Smart Zoom function.  Sony's digital zoom is the only digital zoom that I know that do not distort pictures compared to other digicams.  This camera is an entry level camera for those who knows nothing about taking pictures.  For me, this is the best camera that I got hold of.

For a complete review and full specifications of this camera visit the link below.
http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/sony/dsc-h5/sony-dsc-h5-review.html

Vista Slowly but Slower

Recently my friend asked me to copy some action movies into his Sony Vaio VGN-P688E, the one that I have reviewed a month ago.  I told in my review that Sony has just won the Vista lottery, but now I retract my statement.  After a month of usage Vista seems to degrade in performance.  Maybe because of the anti-virus that was installed and other connectivity managers like Nokia's PC Suite.  But despite these, I haven't experienced this type of slow down on XP or in Windows 7.  I also had another friend who is also a Vista user and attests on my comments about Vista.  It seems that Vista is Microsoft's Black Sheep and this one's not doing what it's parents are telling it to do.

Vista is a no-no for me from the moment that it was launched and I guess that will never change.  I just hope that Windows 7 will not exhibit the same thing when installed in netbooks.

High Definition - My Way

It's a good thing to have a PC around.  The almost all purpose device that we unconsciously use at work and at home.  Last night I just watched a movie in High Definition using my Asus A8He Laptop PC but instead of using the laptop's built-in LCD monitor I used the LG 42LC4R LCD TV instead.  And guess what?  The result is Spectacular! I say goodbye to the dream of having a costly Blu-ray Player since I already have my multimedia power house. The audio is fed into my CD-R King FM Modulator and into our Sony Stereo set. Not only you have a full detailed movie you also get a bass rich sound experience.

The LG 42LC4R displays rich colors and deep black content.  It has a contrast ratio of 8000:1 which is already good compared to other brands with the same dimensions.  It has a standard aspect ratio of 16:9 and with the dimensions 685.5 x 1032.7 x 88.5 mm.  It's color is piano black and is quite attractive and elegantly presentable.  I removed the stand since it came with a free wall bracked plus a free installation.  The wall bracket can enable the TV to tilt up or down but not sideways.  Maybe its because of it's viewing angle of 178 degrees since it already uses the S-IPS technology.  Refresh rate is 5ms which makes this fair enough to use for gaming.  With it's 1366 x 768 resolution this is comparable to its smaller brother LG W1642S which was posted just recently but this one has a brightness of 450cd/m2 and obviously weights heavier at 20kg.  Another thing that made it stand out is LG's 2007 XD Engine with 3D comb filtering.  It is 1080p ready but have'nt tried using it through the HDMI interface since I don't have a player with it yet.  Aside from the two HDMI inputs it also have S-video, VGA, Composite video, and Component video inputs.  As for the meantime I am using the VGA input so what appears on my Laptop screen has exactly the same resolution on the LG TV.  This makes this TV panel as my second monitor. 

This TV set introduced me the beauty of High Definition movies by playing MKV movie files using KM Player software.  But like other 42 inch LCD panels this one costs pretty high but not higher compared to other brands.  Good thing that the LG 42LC4R was given by someone who have much to spare.

LG W1642S LCD Monitor Review

Just bought a new LG W1642S LCD Monitor today in PC Home in Market-Market Taguig.  This will be used on our old Pentium II 233MHz PC that was bought way back in 1997.  I have revived the old fella since our Internet Shop is running out of workstations.  It will be used as a server to run the Cafe Manager Software that I acquired last month.  I just hope that it will last longer since it's past beyond its lifetime.  And if it will die on me then I am forced to buy another workstation to accommodate our increasing number of customers.

This monitor is not the best monitor available in the market.  The main reason that I chose it is because it's one of the cheapest and it is being offered for 0% interest for 6 months.  So it won't be a big bang on the budget.  Another thing is that it has lower ampere rating compared to other brands which made me think that it will consume lesser power even though I did not brought a power meter with me.  Among other choices are AOC and Acer but I chose it because of it's brand.  No offense to Acer and AOC but I already bought 10 of these LG's before and so far I have no problem with them.  I oftentimes opt for products that I have already tried and am afraid to try new ones thinking that I can't afford to do a trial runs.  Aside from this is that our LCD TV is also from LG.  That gets me to think that LG should reward me for being loyal to them.  Anyway, the LCD Monitor that I bought has only a resolution of 1366x768 which makes it a widescreen and it's diagonal size is approximately 15.6".  It's pixel size is 0.252mm with a contrast ration of 5000:1.

It is not ideal for gaming but after trying Special Force and Crazy Kart on these LCD's it gives you decent enough resolution to throw a flashbang and making sharp turns.  It is quite good when it comes to Internet Surfing but it would be better if it had a taller headroom.  Good thing that it does not have one of those glossy screen like the ones installed in cheap laptops so you won't see yourself when the gaming scene is pitch black.  One annoying thing is the power button which has a blue glowing LCD when the status is on. Although you loose to notice it after some time on using it.  The LCD turns orange when the PC is turned off or if the panel is not receiving any input signal.

So far so good, this LCD is worth the buy and is one of the cheapest available. But if you have more money to spare then better get yourself a bigger screen.

Free Stuff Under the SUN

Due to the current economic crisis a lot of belts have been tightened and some businesses are closing. Retrenchment is still haunting employees everywhere. But despite all these we strive to lessen our expenses so we can still thrive to live normally. For the tech point of view there are still things that you can get for free like mobile internet.  Aside from the free Wifi services being offered in restaurants and coffee shop you can access free internet usage using your Java capable cell phone, and a SUN prepaid SIM card with a load less than P10.  I heard it from one of my colleagues and I thought it was just a hoax until I tried it myself.  You can be online wherever you go as long as there is a cell site around.  Well this is a fun thing that doesn't cost a cent.  The speed is quite decent and I do not expect it to be fast using my HTC Viva since it is only a GPRS/EDGE phone and has no 3G.  But it is enough to view my non work related emails and blogs.  This is a cheap way of being online under the SUN.

Encore ENHWI-G2 Wi-Fi Router

I bought my wifi router about a year ago from the famous CD-R King for about Php1,300. Untill now I'm still using it and it still works very fine. I connected it directly to a 16-port switch that was used for a small internet shop just located at the side of our house. It came with a 3dbi antenna that is why it's quite hard to connect when your room is on the 3rd floor of your house. Good thing that our room is located on the 2nd floor and with wooden floorings and the signal is around 34% on my Linux EeePC.  It also has 4 ethernet ports located at the back. It doesn't have a power switch so the power adapter is plugged-in for an instant turn-on. It's really plain and simple plug in wireless router. I had a hard time setting it up since i was quite new to wifi routers but the instruction manual that came with it was really helpful. One problem I encountered is that if you are not using the default Windows wireless network connection manager there is a tendency that you will get lost. I have returned the unit to CD-R King twice thinking that there was a problem with it but discovered later on that it was my Laptop's Wifi Manager that needs setting up. Well anyway I'm still glad I read the users manual twice. But if you are not a beginner then probably it's just a piece of cake.
 
The security option that I used was WPA2 with a passphrase to be able to connect.  So far there were no intruders found accessing our internet connection. There are so many setting jargons that I could not explore more so sorry if I cannot mention more than you expected.  For me it's reliable enough to give me the connection that I want.

N97 Encounter

I got hold of the N97 when my Dad pulled it out of his pocket. I thought it was his old N93 but noticed that it was quite different. It had a 3.2 inch bright LCD display and a quite elegantly spaced keyboard. It still has it's temporary plastic sticker on the flat LCD. I am not quite familiar with the Symbian OS so I was a little bit of slow on navigating my way on the menus. The good thing about Nokia Phones is that they are not hard to navigate. I had a Nokia before when the colored lcd displays are non existent yet. Well as for the user experience I'm quite impressed on how fast it responds to every command. When using the touch screen it vibrates slightly every time it receives a screen tap which slightly annoys me but is a good indicator that your command was acknowledged. The main screen consisted of widgets like Calendar, Facebook Application, Yahoo Messenger and the clock. There is a silver button on the lower right of the screen which will take you to the menu. There are lots of programs in this view including the contacts, calendar, applications, Ovi store, Maps, GPS, and the settings menu. Good thing that I'm under a hotspot that time so I connected to it immediately. I went directly to the wireless LAN menu and searched for a hotspot so I can surf the internet and check my email. The surfing experience was quite well considering the larger screen. Although, its still much comfortable viewing webpages on a full size monitor. The touch interface was often used during surfing since the four way navigation right beside the keyboard was much more accessible. I did not had a hard time on the cursor movement and was able to select on the links easily.

The keyboard was well spaced and not hard to use. Although your hand needs a little offsetting to the right due to the navigation control is located at the left side of the keybard so a little adjustment will is needed. I'm not used to slider phones so the mechanical structure of the device gives me some doubts on it's robustness. But the position of the screen to the keyboard is well inclined for your viewing pleasure.  As far as I had used it I don't find anything that belongs to the downside.  It didn't stayed long with me so I have'nt had the chance to test how long it lasts but according to some reviews it doesn't even last a day.  I'd still say that to try is to believe.
But despite of all the good things that I have said this baby still costs a lot (SRP:P34,000) and it's not within my budget range so I'd still sick with my HTC touch viva which has been a good companion to me ever since I bought it.  But if you have a lot to spare then maybe this device will keep you occupied.

Easy Peasy Not the Ordinary

Today I have encountered a couple of worms lurking on my EeePC and it's really not comfortable knowing that you might have a security issue anytime while using windows. That is why I decided to try Easy Peasy which was derived from Ubuntu. Just like any other Linux distro it can be used without installing it locally on your hard disk. But this time it's different, since the EeePC doesn't come with an optical drive the linux distro can be run using a USB thumb drive. Yes you heard it right I ran this using my 4GB thumb drive and I was actually excited to try it. The OS was a bit slow upon boot up while loading the kernel and stuff but upon using it I didn't experience a freeze just like I did with windows xp, just yet. I ran out of time again and will continue the experience tomorrow, that is if I can get home early. So expect a part two of this post soon.

EeePC 900 Acquaintance

I just got my new (second hand) black Asus EeePC last Monday and it's just now that I have tried using it. Last night I did a hassle-full of uninstallation. There were so many applications installed by the previous owner that are deemed unapplicable to my purpose of acquiring this wonderful piece of netbook. I wanted to have a netbook instead of a notebook since nowadays I don't usually use my laptop for power-use. I temporarily ceased digital edititing (both video and photos) that is why I opt for a more light and smaller PC. Besides, I am very busy with work lately that I no longer have the time to check my personal emails and also do some blogging.

Although the A8He gives me enough display real estate, it was not handy enough to carry it at different parts of the house. But with the EeePC 900 it's like a handheld notebook that can fit anywhere I go. I do not mind having a small screen since I am used to the screen of my PDA Phone. The 8.9-inch (226 mm) 1024×600 LCD was not a bother to me unlike the Sony Vaio P series which have greater screen resolution but is difficult on the eyes. It came with a VGA camera which I really do not use and do not care if it's there or not. It's Intel Celeron 900MHz processor is not as speedy as the Pentium Dual-Core on my A8He but it sure is enough to do some basic task like word processing and web surfing. I do not expect to play SF on this machine and I do not want to play games using the small screen. It came with a decent 1GB of RAM and a total of 20GB of solid state drive. And since it's solid state then it's more robust but a little bit of slow when it comes to file transfer.

The OS that came with it when it was bought was Xandros Linux Distro but when I received it, Windows XP was the OS that greeted me. I planned to change it to the original OS but after doing some system maintenance it went just fine so I'm having second thoghts right now. Maybe I'll install the Linux distro later when the Win XP installation is already bloated with viruses and malware. I also need Win XP to run active sync to connect my HTC Touch Viva and back up important information. I also liked to use the Atheros wireless utility because it somehow maximizes the wifi capability of the device. When using the Windows built-in wireless connection the signal seems to be weak but if using Atheros the wifi signal seems to be strong. The 3 usb 2.0 is quite useful when copying files from my former notebook PC. It also came with a headphone jack found at the left side and is quite useful when you don't want to disturb someone when watching movies or videos from youtube. I have'nt had the time to test the VGA output but I'm sure this will work just fine.

One major problem that I'm encountering right now is that the keyboard is not that user friendly. It adopted the EeePC 700's tiny keyboard. But somehow I manage to type words correctly except for the numbers, backspace, enter, and the right shift button which is located far to the right and is often mistaken by my huge fingers as the up/down keys which ruins everything. The problem escalates when you are typing in dark and slows you down a little bit. But this is a type of thing that's getting used to so I gotta do some typing more often. As far as I can assess it won't take time to keep this gettin going.

Tech Guard

A month ago before the Sony Vaio in my previous post was bought by my friend we took a look at the ones available in the stores. We found the Sony Vaio VGN-P15 and VGN-P13 in Trinoma AV Surfer store. The sales guy was busy processing one of their customer's purchase and we found ourselves on our own in exploring the capabilities of these amazing devices. To our surprise we were greeted by the security guard and asked us of how he can be of service to us. Surprised and stunned, I asked for the specifications of these two netbooks. He said that he will try to ask the store cashier if they have the tech specs but first is that he will take all our questions first and hoping that he can give us an answer. Surprisingly he had all the basic tech specs in his mind and even know what free stuff we can get if we buy it immediately. I guess this guard is doing multitasking by entertaining customers and answering queries regarding the products that his store sells. Now this is what I call dedication. Another thing is that if he cannot answer a question he tries to find the answer using the netbook's wifi connection. My friend told him jokingly to quit being a security guard to lessen the risk of being shot. Suddenly I came to think if the store is cutting cost or that this guy is just really a techie like me. Whatever is the answer to this I leave it to AV Surfer to answer. But for me I salute you Mr. Techie Security!

SF on Win7 Works!

I thought I would never make SF (Special Forces from MyGame) work in Windows 7 until I did it today. It took me some time to learn how to actually make it work. I thought that Windows 7 is not compatible with this game but it turns out to be a discover it yourself kinda thing. What I did was copy the whole folder from a Windows XP computer and put it in the Program Files of Windows 7. Then run the DFPatcher.exe found in the SF folder and after it downloads some patches it launches the application instantly. I was so happy that I won two complete rounds. Its like a fire in the hole to me. I've been trying to install the program so many times using it's downloaded installer but it fails to launch the game console after installation. What Windows 7 do is just terminate the program. I thought I had the reason to move back to my old OS but suddenly it vanished in thin air. I hope somebody will find this helpful since I haven't found a single post in the SF forums that tells how to make the game work in Mocrosoft's newly polished OS. As for now I'll enjoy my time throwing flashbangs and shooting at enemy troops.

Sony VAIO VGN-P688E

The unit was bought in the US just this month and yes it was cheaper compared to the ones being sold locally. The one who bought it said that it was a 4th of July sale in Best Buy and even his friend bought one also. The netbook is extremely small that it could fit right into my cheap clutch bag. It has a Maroon shiny Lid and metallic interior on the keyboard side. Located at the front left are two card slots one is for an SD Card and one for a Memory Stick. Just on top of it is the Wifi switch. On the right side is the power switch which is a sliding type and not a push button switch. On the right side of the device is a proprietary connector and one USB slot. While on the other left side is the power jack mating connector and another USB slot right beside it. There is nothing at the back but just the battery.

This baby packs a 1.33MHz Intel Atom Z520 processor with hyperthreading technology. It has 2GB of RAM which makes it faster than other netbooks and a 64GB of solid state hardrive which makes it more robust since there are no moving parts. It also has a built-in VGA webcam, which I really don't appreciate since I rarely use webcams. The unit came with a power adapter, two extra track points, one cleaning cloth and the rest are papers consisting of users manual, License Key for the GPS software and a track-it certification in case you left your netbook somewhere and a kind hearted person returns it to sony.

Despite the fact that it's a netbook it is quite smaller compared to its competition. It has an 8 inch backlit LCD screen to stare at. Although it’s very small the fonts and icons are still very clear. If you have difficulty seeing texts on your cellphone then this device is not for you. But if you dont have any problems staring at tiny screens for a long time then you won't have any trouble. For me this is the smallest PC screen that I have put my eyes on. I myself had a hard time adjusting to its minuteness.

The keyboard is not the full size type but you can type on it decently. The Track Point is quite responsive and is not strenuous to the tip of the fingers. The mouse buttons are located just below the keyboard and it feels plastic when you press it. I hope Sony will improve this by giving it the soft press buttons like the ones you can find in IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads. Additional function buttons are found right beside the mouse buttons. One is the zoom button and the other one is what they call quick function button. Using this button you are able to view your photos, watch videos and surf the net without even booting in Windows. The quick launch interface is similar to a Sony Playstation OS. You have to put all your media files in the designated folders in order for you to access them using this interface. Although its supposed to be faster than loading windows I find it a little slow upon start-up. I did not have enough time to use it since I am supposed to give it back to the real owner later that day. That is why I concentrated on the Vista OS instead. It runs on Windows Vista which made me doubtful of it's speed since it is known for it's being a resource hogger. But guess what, it was not that bad at all. It was fast compared to other netbooks. It seems that Sony asked Microsoft to tailor made it's OS to fit their product. If there is a Vista Lottery then Sony might have won it.

This netbook is good for travel and is a head turner when you are in a coffee shop. But if you will use this for business you gotta spare extra cash for the Ethernet connection and the VGA output since it doesn't have any. When this was bought it went only with the basic and don't come extra free stuff like the pouch and the LAN/VGA adapter. The LAN/VGA adapter costs Php3,499 and the original Sony pouch costs Php3,999.

First impression does last and my first impression on this netbook is quite good. At first, to me it’s just one of those expensive toys thay Sony sells but after using it for sometime it really is a good thing to have this one. My Asus A8He looked gigantic after using this amazing device from Sony. But when talking about the price it really doesn't fit my wallet's qualifications. A Php50,000 on the price tag is an overkill me and I'd rather purchase an HP or a Eee PC which is way more cheaper and already comes with the basic Ethernet and VGA out. If you have lots of cash to spare and want a really small PC to carry around then this one is for you. But if you have your tight budget in mind then this will simply be at the bottom of your list.

CDR King Wireless FM Transmitter

I bought this FM transmitter from one of the brances of the famous CD-R King store. They sell really cheap tech products and they are quite useful. The prime purpose of buying this is to hear out my iPod with the use of my car's speakers. I hate dangling wires that is why I opt for wireless devices and an FM transmitter is one thing I dream of having. This is really not a need for me that is why I refused to buy expensive ones worth a thousand or so. But when I saw this FM tuner from CDR King's website I was anxious to buy it since it was so cheap dropping one zero from the pricetag of competing products. I saw one of these in Electronics Boutique and it costs around Php1,500 while CDR King's only costs Php150. What a huge difference and it just fits my wallet's qualification. My Dad bought an FM transmitter from Belkin a year ago for his iPod and it costs almost Php4,000 since it was bundled with a car charger. It does work fine but the bucks doesn't make it a better product for me.

The unit consists of only two switches, one for the power and one for the frequency selector. There are only four channels to choose from that is why I cannot use this on my Dad's car stereo which was imported from Japan. The Japanese stereo's frequency selector can only reach 100MHz while the FM tuner's frequency starts from 106.7MHz. So before buying this device I recommend to check first if your FM tuner if its made from other countries which has a limited frequency selection. The unit gets the source from its built-in standard 3.5mm stereo jack pigtail. This is good news since you can almost feed different types of devices aside from an iPod. It is being powered by a single AAA Battery. I cannot estimate on how long the batteries last since I do not use it everyday but it already served me a couple of times already including three full two and a half hour movies. I use my laptop to play movies in our LCD TV and feed the sound to our Stereo system which do not have a built-in Line-in or Audio-in that is why this device really come in handy. Although the distance of the antenna of the FM receiver should be near to the device to get better reception.

Since were talking about FM you cannot avoid getting disturbances from other sources of noise. So you should position your transmitter to get the best reception. What I did is that I searched for the perfect position of the transmitter where there is less distortion and as soon as I found it I placed a velcro sticker right on the spot and the other to the device so that I would know where to put it by the time I plug in my iPod. Another velcro sticker was placed on my iPod and a spot on the dashboard where I can easily view videos especially when I'm stuck in traffic. Although my iPod Nano has a very tiny screen, the sound is clear and pretty much audible. Another cheap device very well used and has freed me from wires ever since.

iPod Touch 2G - A Lot of Touching

The iPod touch was received with it's full pckaging still intact. The unit came with the standard Apple iPod proprietary connector, earbuds, users manual, cleaning cloth, and a piece of it's docking device which I have no idea how to use. Apple does a good job in packing their iPods. It's quite intuitive and very presentable as well. There are no polybags, corrugated carton, tie wires, and silica gel. It's perfect for displaying in stores since customers can already see the product without removing them from the packaging.

The cable that came with it was truncated loosing the clip release button. The earbuds were standard but it would be great if it already came wth the foam since this somehow improves the sound quality most especially the bass. I love to listen to high quality music that is why I choose players which deliver deep bass with rich high and midtones.

The capacitive display is very responsive and does'nt seem to loose its integrity. Compared with my HTC Touch Viva this device is meant for entertainment. Its large 480-by-320-pixel LCD screen is perfect for viewing pictures and videos. The pan & zoom function is an awesome way to view pictures and is quite responsive in every way. When viewing videos the orientation is always a default full screen mode. You cannot rotate it if you want to view it in portrait mode. But there's no problem in doing playback you just tap the screen then appears the controls and the volume slider control. One thing I love about this device is it's ability to automatically adjust the screen brightness depending on the ambient light so this helps prevent eyestrain.

I tried using the Wi-fi and found it quite slow compared to my HTC Touch Viva. It also has a built-in Youtube program. It loads video thumbnails quite slower than the Viva. The built-in Map is very useful and faster than other internet programs. I found the map of our house in no time. Other programs are also useful like Notes, Calendar, and contacts but I'd rather store these types of information in my Viva instead.

The music function is the most important thing since it is the soul purpose of the device, to play music. The sound is sparkling to the ears compared to my Creative N200. Although it came with the standard earphones I still recommend buying a more high performance earbud or headphones maximizing it's standard 3.5mm input jack. For cheap and high quality earphones I'd recommend Sony MDR-E818LP series. Since these are older models they are much cheaper. I bought mine in Hong Kong for around HKD35 (PHP250) and it had never failed to impress me. Compared to other higher priced equivalent, to me, it still sounds better. My friend bought a pair of Senheiser and another bought a Pioneer both costs around PHP700 but still my Sony Earphones sounded superior. Just always install the included foam for a much richer bass experience.

The Touch is quite big and a slight discomfort in holding it was observed. But maybe this is due to the thin and flatness of the device which takes getting used to. It requires to be operated both hands to get the correct function you want. Although you can still use one hand but to me it seems not quite comfortable. Most especially the playback controls which requires the lcd screen. It would be more better if it had external controls just in case you need a backtrack of something. The back of it is a stainless steel covering and is a fingerprint magnet. The model labels were laser printed and is not a hinder to the beauty of the device.

The iPod Touch 2G is an ultimate portable entertainment device and can also be a personal organizer. It has capabilities that other media players don't have. Despite Its gorgeousness, it is difficult to operate when not looking on the screen so you'll be forced to use both your hands. The automatic screen brightness adjustment function works perfect and really is eye friendly. This baby is quite expensive but does it's job well but if you love viewing in a bigger screen with higher definition then this device is for you.

My Oldie O2 XDA Mini Buddy

My almost 5 year old O2 handset was bought as a second hand unit. I was looking for a mobile device flexible enough to do micro computing while I'm on the go. Majority of it was monitoring my credit card, reading my work related pdf files, reading e-books, viewing presentations, watching movies, and playing my music. Since it was a second hand, it costs less than it's original market price. At that time it was about P42k, but i bought it for only P20k. The device was imported from Germany and was bought from a cellphone botique/stall in a Mall according to the owner. The first owner was from Epson Philippines and said that the reason that she's selling it is that she will be leaving the country in a few weeks and she needs the money in addition to her travel expenses. We met at Starbucks Libis to did the exchange there.

At first glimpse the unit it looked quite elegant, small and thin. The words Pocket PC was written all over it. It is indeed a pocket PC and it boasts a lot of features that the traditional PC's have. It has a buit-in Microsoft Pocket Office and a Pocket PDF viewer. It's 2.8 inch LCD with has the same number of pixels compared to it's bigger brothers, the O2 XDA, and XDA 2. This means that it's as sharp as them but smaller. Its running on Windows Mobile 2003 which is not the latest at that time but has more available third party applications than the newer Windows Mobile 5. It has an Intel PXA272 processor with a clock speed of 416MHz, 64MB of RAM and also 64MB of ROM. The memory is not enough to open all the programs that you want that is why you have the option of installing programs in the external SD card when using ActiveSync. One thing that bothers me is the memory allocation/usage technique of WM2003. The local storage space is shared with the current running programs, that is why you have to close those programs that is the least importance. Aside from that is that the programs does not terminate when you exit it using the x at the upper right corner of the screen. You have to end the programs by accessing the task manager in the settings menu(control panel in Windows). Good thing that Dinarsoft's Handy Switcher can be installed to make things easier. Another software that I recommend is Resco Explorer. It makes file browsing more easier like it was Windows Explorer. You can expand or compress folders for easy navigation. It also comes with a Today Screen monitor to view the status of your main battery, back-up battery, RAM allocation, internal storage, and external storage.

I have maximized it's potential when I went to China for a business trip. I asked my Chinese counterpart to sent me pictures of Chinese characters and symbols of my Hotel, Company, and the names of the places to help me tell taxi drivers and people that I bump along the way of where I am going. And while I am riding the train and ferry I never got bored since I have packs of reading materials right inside the Mini most especially Avantgo channels like PC World, CNET, and CNN. I even watched an entire 12 rounds of my favorite boxing match. I also installed an English to Chinese translator with voice, that even helped me further in reaching my destination.

O2 bundled it with Sprite Back-up software so you do not loose everything when you experience an unexpected device black-out. When your device looses all the juice thats left in it's main battery it has a back-up battery to maintain all your contacts, calendar events, tasks, installed programs and other current information for a short period until you find the charger wherever you left it in the house. But when you find your charger on a later time then all of your data is gone. So I suggest that you back-up regularly maybe at least once a month to safekeep all your precious data. That is why i created a cd that has all the necessary programs that I need when a black-out on my device comes in the way. The programs that are very useful to me are: Resco Explorer, Tome Raider, Repligo Viewer, The Core Media Player, WordBook Dictionary, Avantgo, DinarSoft Handy Switcher, and Adobe Pocket Reader. I stored these installers in a folder and burned it in a CD so I have something to break in case of emergency. I usually use Outlook to back-up all my contacts and calendar events. Take note that you have to configure your ActiveSync set-up as to how to resolve changes made either in your PC or your PDA. I usually configure ActiveSync to overwrite the items on my PC during syncing since I always enter new contacts on my PDA rather than on my PC. Also, be careful not to accidentally open the back cover since this is the major cause of data loss. The device will turn-off itself when the cover is removed.

The built-in 1.3 Megapixel camera is not as good compared to Sony Ericsson handsets. Although it has more pixels in store but the quality takes it down since it does not have an aoutofocus and is not really good when using at lower light levels. Imagine the picture quality of the Nokia 7250 with increased picture size. I do not recommend using this in taking those special moments but use a much abled point and shoot digicam instead.

Call quality is not a problem since my wife and me never had a misunderstanding while talking over Globe's cellular GSM network. But problems came when receiving my Dad's Smart handset which gets to the point that it's like I'm holding a single duplex radio. Maybe it's the interconnection between Smart and Globe that's the problem and not my handset.

As of now my XDA 2 Mini is in my wife's possession and she said that it's much better than her Nokia handset since she likes to read e-books. She asked me to install e-book readers such as MS Reader, and Mobi Pocket Reader so that she can maximize it's potential. Although the battery is not as good as before, she have no problem charging it every night. She never lost her data ever since she used it. I

The O2 XDA 2 Mini is a perfect device for those who need a basic phone and a powerful multi-tasking PDA. This has helped me a lot while I am on the go and has served its purpose as being really a Personal Assistant.

For more information about the O2 XDA II Mini please click on the links below:

http://www.gsmarena.com/o2_xda_ii_mini-944.php
http://mobile.softpedia.com/phones/O2/O2-XDA-II-mini.shtml

Ready, Set, Avant-Go!!!

I like PCs that are small, the smaller the better. That is why I have my Pocket PC but still have my ASUS Notebook with me. I use these to sync files so that even when I'm not in touch with my PC at home I can still view my documents while on the go(Even inside cubicle number 1 in the men's room). Mostly I read offline webpages downloaded from my notebook and also some e-books. One good software that I recommend to all users of pocket PC is the Avantgo program. Good thing about this is that you can view offline content like you are viewing it online. All you have to do is just download contents everyday and it's like bringing a pocket newspaper with you wherever you go. Although there are no news channel available from my country I still enjoy reading news from CNN and two of my favorite tech channels, CNET and PC World. Well the best thing about Avantgo is that you get it for free. Just click on the link below and after signing up you can download the installer. Happy reading!

www.avantgo.com

Windows 7 a Heaven?

For me as long as it's free then it's a gotta have. Just this month I switched from Window XP to Windows 7 RC1. I never upgraded to Vista despite of the killer aero 3D interface. As I have mentioned in my previous blog I have used Windows and Linux, and my comment about Wndows 7 is that it's like a combination of both. It looks like Vista, it's fast as XP, and stable as Linux. My experience so far made me go "Yeah!". Windows 7 is really the best thing that happened to Microsoft. It still has the Windows Vista Aero but does not take too much juice out of your system. As far as I am concerned, this OS packs a lot of features than the older Vista. This has set the standards for the latest computing trend. I no longer have to install Vistamizer in XP just to dress up my OS. This one is already dressed up and it sure is dressed up well.

My first impression with Windows 7 is that it's like I have seen this before. If you happen to have installed or used a Linux KDE disto like LInux Mint then you probably might have guessed that Microsoft copied yet another style from other sources. The taskbar looks like KDE and almost has the same icons on the system tray. Although, Windows 7 taskbar is not configurable (moving and replacing the position and contents) like Linux, it still maintains it's standard template of the taskbar in Microsoft style. Some Linux distro tries to immitate Windows by positioning their tools to look like Windows but still it doesn't feel like being Windows.

So far my experience with this brand new OS is not yet final. I'm still in the early stages and have not seen the full capability of it yet. Time is surely not a luxury to others and so is with me. So expect to read more about Windows 7 in my future blogs. I'll be glad to share my experience in using this new amazing piece of OS.

OS User Compatibility

I'm really not a fan of Microsoft Products it just happens that I've been using it's products from my PC to my mobile phone. It's like the movie "There's something about Mary" kinda thing but you have to replace Mary to Microsoft. I've heard of the commercial in the US that's comparing the Mac versus a PC. The PC is a more complicated operating systems to some that is why they opt to purchase a Mac instead. I've never used a Mac before but to me it's about the being user friendliness that counts to some. Maybe it's about being straight to the point of usefulness. Most of the photographers I know uses a Mac perhaps not only because of the hardware but mostly because of the interface or getting straight to your desired task with few commands. Using a PC, you have to be more technically levitated than the average and should be patient to be able to do what you ought to do(If it's out of the ordinary typing and surfing). But to me since the dawn of the old DOS (or Disk Operating System that Bill Gates bought from some programmer and then marketed it as if it was his own creation) I knew it right at the spot how to use it already. I have to learn the basic commands of course (dir, md, cd, cd.., etc.) and the structure of a directory. It's hard to imagine if generation of today suddenly shifts from the brilliantly designed user interface of Windows or MAC OS to the basic DOS, Unix, or other syntax-command interface. It's like shifting from the Jetsons to the Flintstones. I bet that today's user is not backward compatible with the old OS that we once had.

HTC Toch Viva - Horaayy!!

My HTC Touch Viva
I bought my HTC handset in E-Hub(an affiliate with Complink) Eastwood City just last few weeks. It's SRP is around P21k but I got it for only P14k(P13,990 to be exact). I found this out when I was browsing the web and somehow ended up in Complink's website. That is why I rushed to their store thinking that it would go out-of-stock in a few days. My old XDA2 Mini's battery is already showing signs of deterioration and my wife needs a new phone since her Nokia handset is already giving up on her. If I will buy the Viva then my wife will inherit my XDA2 Mini which is a perfect replacement according to her.

The sales guy also could'nt believe it. He even called their main office just to verify if the current price is valid. I also couldn’t believe that it was sold 50% off. It was like selling a second hand phone. They said that it was HTC’s move to slash the price. It was the only HTC item that was on sale at that time. It will cost P15k when purchased by credit card and i thought that the extra P1k can already be spent on a 4GB of flash drive at CDR King so I decided to purchase it on Cash. I borrowed money from my friend and promised to pay him up when the midyear bonus arrives. He agreed and gave me the cash that I need to purchase the Viva.

But before purchasing it, I made some Googleing first since the price made me suspicious that there might be a catch or some sort of bad reviews about it. After a day of research I couldn’t find any drawbacks that would hinder me from doing my usual tasks upon using the device. Most of the reviews came from India which the reviewer states that this device is made for developing country since this is much cheaper than it's mightier siblings. It’s already running on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional which means that it already has built-in MS Office Mobile which was one of my major requirement. I always do Financial and mathematical calculations using Excel and view office documenrts using Word and PowerPoint. I also like to read e-books using Pocket Acrobat Reader, Repligo, and TomeRaider. It should also able to play MP3s since i plan to use it as a substitute for my ipod nano when its not around.

By the time I bought it I immediately given it a test drive. The touchFlo interface is seamless and fast. The way it was designed for me is user friendly and I have no trouble using it. I turned-on the Wi-fi using the Comm Manager and looked for the nearest hotspot. It takes a little while to load the built-in Opera browser but once you're in everything seems to function okay. It has a Youtube program to directly link you to the site and view videos immediately. The bluetooth function was also tested by connecting the phone with my Cardo Bluetooth headset. The text message function in touch flo is also superb with the iPhone like scrolling. The phone is a bare since applications are not yet installed. I like using the built-in file explorer but Resco Explorer is better. It's more windows explorer like than a cellphone file explorer.

Okay enough with the hype and I'll tell you some drawbacks. First is that the device can open pocket office documents from my previous SD card used by the O2 handset, but it cannot save it in it's original form. You have to use the "Save As" function in order to do some changes and it saves it as the conventional .doc and .xls files. These files take larger amount of memory compared to the Pocket Office documents. I'm feeling the growth since I have'nt decided yet to upgrade my memory to more than 2GB. Second is that the device cannot play continuously video files like MP4 and AVI. But it's not a major concern for me since I play videos on my PDA rarely. Maybe that is the reason that they built a software exclusively to play Youtube videos online. Youtube videos play smoothly by the way once it is played. Maybe the reason is it's processor is only 201MHz compared to the O2 Mini which has a 400MHz Intel Processor. Third is that although you can use your bare fingers to do some things, most often I get a false commands. So it is better to use the stylus that came with it. I use my thumbnails to input commands and type on the very tiny keyboard of my O2 mini (Maybe that's why they call it 2 Mini) and probably I will still use it most of the time. Despite of this, the full QWERTY soft keyboard is quite functional with larger keys compared to the old traditional pocket PC soft keyboard.

The HTC Touch Viva is not as powerful compared to it's HTC Touch siblings but for me it packs all the functions and flexibility that I need to do most of my tasks. I recommend this phone to those who are tech savvy with a tight budget. The Viva can be a direct replacement for the more powerful but pricey Windows Mobile handsets. So I give it a one Viva-Horaay!!!

You can view the complete specifications of the HTC Touch Viva in the following links:

http://www.htc.com/www/product/touchviva/specification.html

http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_touch_viva-2527.php

iPod Nano a no No-No.

I got my iPod Nano last year from my Dad when he went to the States for a business trip. At first I was thinking to buy a Creative Media player but when I found out that the price difference was not that much then I decided to have an iPod instead. Guess what, I did a right decision. I was amazed how clear and sharp the LCD screen was despite of it's size. I have made use of it to the maximum potential. I love to watch movies when I'm caught up waiting for something. And one of the most innovative thing that Apple has created were podcasts. I love to watch G4 shows, CNET Live, MTV News, and PC World videos. Aside from my music I also listen most of the time to Audiobooks. I listen to them when I am driving so that no time is wasted while commuting. This device is also helpful at work, it serves as a noise cancellation device. Some of my officemates are quite audible when talking about work and you can't avoid to get annoyed. The solution, filter noise with music(but my playlists are almost noise to some). No wonder that this baby is the best selling iPod aside from the iPhone.
But this has also it's major weakness. One is that since it is an iPod, you cannot just copy and paste your music and videos in it. You have to do this using iTunes. And one thing I do not like about iTunes is that you have to import all your media files if you can't afford to buy your music online. This is quite a nuisance to me because it takes a lot of time. It's second weakness that I find is the scroll wheel is quite small for my large fingers. I often get a false selection which i find quite annoying. It's back cover is also a fingerprint magnet. But I don't mind since I put it inside a leather case.
Despite all the annoying aforementioned drawbacks, it served it's purpose of being an entertaining portable media device. And it looks good also. Apple did their assignment again when it comes to aesthetics. For this device, I can't do anything without it and I recommend it as a must have.