Roiji's Blog

Yes, I am now an Android user and I love it!!

Android 1.5 on my Samsung Galaxy Spica is almost as good as the iPhone exprience. I can’t wait to update to Android 2.1!

Samsung with Android isn’t so bad in combination.. Anything with Windows Mobile is!! Damn, I wasted money with that Samsung Omnia II!! So slugish after 3 months use…

That’s another story and post. Anyway….

If only the Sony Ericson X10 is proven to have multi-touch then I’ll upgrade to that this year. If not, then I’ll wait for the Samsung Galaxy S price to go down.. (expected to cost around 40 to 45 PHP) or the rumored Motorola Shadow be official. The rumored specs makes me drool! LOL!!

After Villar wins the Google Trends search query, this time how many results do you think your candidate have?

We’re all here for the results right? (continue reading…)

I really don’t want to talk about politics as much as possible but when technology is involved, it’s a different story.

Most people don’t know this Google service. It’s called Google Trends. It graphs the number of search queries of a particular set of keywords in a given amount of time.

I used the following keywords taken from the top 5 Presidential candidates taken from the PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE FOR THE 2010 ELECTIONS, PHILIPPINES survey in the NICKNAME SURNAME format. Of course, searching for ‘villar’ only or ‘aquino’ only will add irrelevant results as ‘villar’ is a Spanish term used across the globe and there are many ‘aquino’: kris, cory, and ninoy.

• noynoy aquino
• manny villar
• erap estrada
• gibo teodoro
• eddie villanueva

And VILLAR leads!! (data taken February 3, 2010 2AM PHT)

(continue reading…)

Official iPad Technical Specifications:

Size and weight

• Height: 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
• Width: 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
• Depth: 0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
• Weight: 1.5 pounds (.68 kg) Wi-Fi model; 1.6 pounds (.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model

Display

• 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
• 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)
• Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
• Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Capacity

• 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash storage

Processor

• 1GHz Apple A4 – custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip

Sensors

• Accelerometer
• Ambient light sensor

Wireless and Cellular

• Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology
• UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz) (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
• GSM/EDGE (850, 900,1800, 1900 MHz) (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
• Wi-Fi + 3G model (Data only)

Location

• Digital compass
• Assisted GPS (Wi-Fi + 3G model)
• Cellular (Wi-Fi + 3G model)

Input and Output

• 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack (top)
• 30-pin Dock connector (bottom)
• Built-in speakers (bottom)
• Microphone
• SIM card tray (Wi-Fi + 3G model only)

External buttons and controls

• On/off / Sleep/wake (top)
• Mute, Volume up/down (left)
• Home (front bottom center)

Battery and Power

• Built-in 25Whr rechargeable lithium-polymer battery
• Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music
• Charging via power adapter or USB to computer system

Audio Playback

• Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
• Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
• User-configurable maximum volume limit

TV and Video

• Support for 1024 x 768 with Dock Connector to VGA adapter; 576p and 480p with Apple Composite A/V Cable, 576i and 480i with Apple Composite A/V Cable
• H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

Mail attachment support

• Viewable document types: .jpg, .tiff, .gif (images); .doc and .docx (Microsoft Word); .htm and .html (web pages); .key (Keynote); .numbers (Numbers); .pages (Pages); .pdf (Preview and Adobe Acrobat); .ppt and .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint); .txt (text); .rtf (rich text format); .vcf (contact information); .xls and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel)

Languages

• Language support for English, French, German, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Russian
• Keyboard support for English (US) English (UK), French (France, Canada), German, Japanese (QWERTY), Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, Italian, Simplified Chinese (Handwriting and Pinyin), Russian
• Dictionary support for English (US), English (UK), French, French (Canadian), French (Swiss), German, Japanese, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, Italian, Simplified Chinese (Handwriting, Pinyin), Russian

Accessibility

• Support for playback of closed-captioned content
• VoiceOver screen reader
• Full-screen zoom magnification
• White on black
• Mono audio

Accessories

• iPad Keyboard Dock
• iPad Case
• iPad Dock
• iPad Camera Connection Kit (USB or SD card)
• iPad USB Power Adapter (6-feet)

All in all this is a cool device and a cool price tag..

• 16GB – $499
• 32GB – $599
• 64GB – $699
• +$130 on the base price for the Wi-Fi + 3G model

If I had this I wouldn’t be using it much like the iPod touch that I’ve bought for my mom. It hasn’t been used for 7 months.. lol

I did enjoy reading those rumors.

It’s sad that something that would have been cool didn’t make their way to the device.

Some things like: built-in SD card expansion slot, removable batteries, front facing camera.

But looking at Apple’s trend. They don’t want to make people to open things, it complicates things for lesser knowledgeable people, or hard to pick up on things people.

I think I’ll just buy the latest iPod touch… XD

Just today Apple announce the most important thing they’ve ever done on their ‘Come see our latest creation’ event. The iPad.

Facts summarized from watching the live coverage of GDGT.com

Name: iPad
OS: iPhone OS
Screen: 9.7 inch IPS capacitive multi touch LED backlit display with more than 1,000 sensors
Other Hardware:

• 0.5 in thin 1.5 pounds
• custom chip Apple A4 1ghz processor
• 16, 32, 64 GB storage capacity
• wifi 802.11n
• bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• accelerometer
• compass
• speaker
• microphone
• 30-pin dock connector (bottom)
• 3G model available using GSM micro sims
• gray plastic back
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• on/off switch above
• 1 home screen button on the bottom center
• a volume rocker at the right side

Battery Life: 10 hours of use 1 month os standby time
Other Features:

• Customizable background
• 2-panel email
• Spaced keyboard
• full screen webpages
• built-in slideshows… with a background music
• HD youtube playback
• Brushes app
• iBooks app
• iWork
• every app in the app store can run unmoldified: they run the black box in the middle of the screen or double the pixel to make them full
• inline video player in native new york time app

Accessories:

• Full sized mechanical keyboard dock available, but not compatible with landscape mode
• Protective case also available that also doubles as a stand

Price:

• 16GB – $499
• 32GB – $599
• 64GB – $699
• +$130 from base price for 3G model
• Ships in 60 days, 3G models ships in 90 days

Let down:

• no front camera
• no back camera
• no adobe flash
• no sd slot
• no word on multi tasking

It’s gonna revolutionize gaming eventually with partnership with GameLoft and EA games.

The name is ok with me but some feel awkward especially if it sound like women’s feminine napkins…

The thing looks more like a digital photo frame to me than a tablet.

The frame spacing (screen to edge) distance is really handy while holding the device. Some of the readers don’t like it but it’s quite useful in holding the device.

What amazed me is the 10 hour battery life. It wasn’t stated if it’s for games, surfing the net, video, or playing music straight but still. And than 1 month standby time is just simply crazy.

Given the size of the device, it’s really great that it doesn’t have a back camera. It’s awkward to see people in the street point that big device around. Although a front-facing camera would be big BIG plus.

I won’t buy this now because, as you know, Apple has a track record of upgrading things quite fast.

Basically the device is a big iPod touch. With word processing feature and paint.

I would want this if someone gives it to me. LOL

What I liked about this is the customized background of the home screen. I would have guessed that it had a bigger icons. But I did not imagine it having a dock at the bottom similar to OS X.

The iPad website is now up.

I’ll post a specs from the website soon.

See also: rumors

[UPDATE]: iPad official specs