Huawei S7 Slim

Huawei S7 Slim

Along with the Huawei Ideos X5 we managed to take a look at the Huawei S7 Slim which is an updated version of the Huawei S7. A more budget friendly (B$499) 3G tablet with phone capabilities, it has a similar UI to the original S7 which is a more landscape oriented and also has a lot of space for apps (2.7GB+). The original Galaxy Tab is currently going for B$575 at Shopping.com.bn and thus the S7 Slim may be a hard sell at the current price (the Galaxy Tab has less space for apps 1GB+).


(YouTube link to video)

The Good

  • A decent Android tablet at B$499 with ample space for apps
  • Support for Flash
  • On customer request the device will be rooted and upgraded to Android 2.3 running CyanogenMod

The Bad & the Ugly

  • May not have Android updates
  • The Galaxy Tab is less than B$100 more

Specifications

  • Android 2.2 / Android 2.3 (upgrade to 2.3 upon customer request)
  • 7″ WVGA 800×480 capacitive multi-touch screen
  • 1GHz CPU
  • 2.7GB+ space for apps
  • 400MB+ RAM
  • Rear and front facing cameras
  • Full SIM slot
  • microHDMI, microUSB, microSD card slot, propetariy dock
  • Connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS

Note: We would like to thank TenTen for allowing us to film this at their shop in Kiulap. TenTen offers many Huawei and they also have battery packs for your iDevices or generic battery packs with a USB output to charge for your phone

Sample Photo (max resolution: VGA, 640×480)
Rear camera
Huawei S7 Slim sample photo - rear camera
Front camera
Huawei S7 Slim sample photo - front camera

Sample Video (max resolution: 352×288, 3gp file with h263 and amr mono encoding)
Rear camera (YouTube link to video)

Front camera (YouTube link to video)

Huawei Ideos X5

Huawei Ideos X5

I managed to take a look at the Huawei Ideos X5 that I first laid hands on at the TechXpo 2011. It is a very decent device at an affordable price of B$399. My only gripe is the lack of a front facing camera which means you will not be able to do normal video chats. If it had a front facing camera, this device would be one of the best budget Android phones. It has a bigger and higher resolution screen compared to the Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman and the Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro and thus makes it a good size for thumb typing, even for those with fat fingers like mine. Overall a very decent device, with 450MB+ for applications (a lot of space for a budget device), but I fear that there will be no official Android version updates.


(YouTube link to video)

The Good

  • A decent Android device at B$399 with larger and higher resolution screen compared to some cheaper phones
  • High resolution 3.8″ WVGA (800×480) screen
  • Support for Flash
  • On customer request the device will be rooted and upgraded to Android 2.3 running CyanogenMod

The Bad & the Ugly

  • No front facing camera
  • There are cheaper phones with front facing cameras
  • May not have Android updates

Specifications

  • Android 2.2 / Android 2.3 (upgrade to 2.3 upon customer request)
  • 3.8″ WVGA (800×480) capacitive multi-touch screen
  • 1GHz CPU
  • 460+MB available for apps
  • RAM 350MB+
  • 5 megapixel camera with flash (no front facing camera)
  • microSD card slot
  • Connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS
  • Micro-USB connector

Note: We would like to thank TenTen for allowing us to film this at their shop in Kiulap. TenTen offers many Huawei and they also have battery packs for your iDevices or generic battery packs with a USB output to charge for your phone

Sample Photo (max resolution: 5 megapixel 2592×1944)
sample photo from Huawei Ideos X5 2592x1944

Sample Video (max resolution: HD 720p, 1280×720, m4v with h264 and aac mono encoding)

(YouTube link to video)

The bmobile Pure budget Android Phone

The bmobile Pure is a budget Android phone running Android 2.2 and has pretty device specs but a pretty good 3.8″ high resolution screen. The high resolution 3.8″ screen makes it nice to read and surf the Internet but the 256MB RAM may be limiting for multi-tasking and general smoothness of the device. I was not able to get the Flash apk to try install and test Flash on the device but the 600 MHz CPU may not be capable of Flash, so I wouldn’t expect it to run.

Sadly there is no Android Market or Google apps such as Gmail, YouTube, Maps and the Market. Not having the Market means that the device needs an alternative Android app store. The Pure is bundled with the local grown Widget Warehouse for apps, however it seems that the Widget Warehouse doesn’t even work with the Pure. So I guess there is a need to rely on other 3rd party app stores such as GetJar, Soc.ia Mall (previously AndAppStore), SlideME, Opera Mobile Store. Side loading apps via downloading apk files (Android installer files) work well and that was how I installled apps to the device.

I love the fact that Android is able to scale down to a device as cheap as B$199 and with that device, although having limitations such as not having Google apps, it still has all the full functionality of a smartphone.

Video Overview

(YouTube link to video)

The Good

  • Cheap at B$199 (existing b-mobile customers) / B$229 (non-existing customers pay an extra B$30 for a Yes! prepaid mobile broadband starterpack)
  • High resolution 3.8″ WVGA screen
  • 2 stage dedicated camera button

The Bad & the Ugly

  • No Android Market or Google apps (Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Market)
  • No 3.5mm headset jack
  • Locked to b-mobile
  • Not likely to get any updates

Specifications

  • Android 2.2
  • 3.8″ WVGA (800×480) capacitive multi-touch screen
  • 600 MHz CPU
  • ROM 512MB (260+MB available for apps)
  • RAM 256MB
  • 5 megapixel camera with flash (no front facing camera)
  • microSD card slot
  • 3.5G handset
  • Connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS
  • Mini-USB connector
  • 1500mAh battery

Sample Photo (max resolution: 2592×1944, 5 megapixel)
bmobile pure sample photo - 5mp

Sample Video (max resolution: 640×480, VGA, 3gp with h264 and amr encoding)

(YouTube link to video)

The Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook

Acer Aspire S3

I stumbled upon the Acer Aspire S3 at Netcom at the Mall and it being the first Ultrabook in Brunei, I just had to take a look and play around with it.

It is a 13″ ultrabook which a form factor similar to the 13″ Macbook Air meaning it is thin and light but without an inbuilt DVD drive. Ports are similar to the Air with two USB 2.0 ports, one full HDMI port, SD card reader and a 3.5mm headset jack.

Based on reviews (LaptopMag, The Verge, Engadget) I knew that a few things to look out for were the keyboard, cursor keys as well as the touchpad. I found the keyboard to be fine but the touchpad was hard to press. It has no physical buttons but pressing the lower left or lower right sections of the pad acted as left and right mouse clicks. It can be configured to “click on tap” as a usable workaround although this still isn’t ideal for drag and drop actions. The cursor keys are indeed the smallest I’ve seen: 3 cursor keys side by side is of the same length as a single Shift key. This is surely too small for typical use.

The quick resume worked as advertised, with the laptop being on by the time the screen was at a viewable angle. The base (i.e. cheaper) model comes with a hybrid drive which combines a solid state drive with a conventional hard disk drive to try give the best of both worlds: SSD for faster disk access (faster boot up, stand by, resume times) and the typical HDD gives you space to store all your files as SSDs are expensive and have less capacity.

All in all I liked form factor of the device but was initially put off by the price of B$1778 which I was told as the based model price. However after the recording I found out that the price of B$1778 was for the higher specification model, not the base model. According to Concepts’ pricing the base model is B$1188 which is much less than the B$1728 or B$1328 for a 13″ or 11″ MacBook Air thus it may be a good deal for those who want a thin and light but capable but with a large enough screen for viewing your content. Do have a look at the device and take into account that this is a first generation device and that Acer competes more on price than actual quality.


The Acer Aspire S3 spotted at Netcom in The Mall for B$1778 (mp3)

Specifications

  • 13.3″ display (Resolution: 1366 x 768)
  • 1.6 GHz Core i5 / 1.7GHz Core i7
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 300GB HDD with 20GB SSD / 240GB SSD
  • Webcam (Resolution: 1280 x 1048)
  • Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
  • 3.5mm headset jack
  • Ports: 2-in-1 card reader (SD, MMC), 2 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x HDMI

Convergence 2011: From Success to Significance – Recordings

Convergence Logo
I had the pleasure to help out at Convergence 2011 and thought I would record it as I do most events I’m involved with. Enjoy the dialogue and some inspiring stories from the speakers..

Host / Moderator: Delwin Keasberry aka @BruneiTweet

Emcee: Nadzri Harif aka @NADZtheNADZ

Speakers at the Event

  • Nor Alizulrainee Ali Yusop (@Norali_AliYusop): an education officer at the Special Education Unit (Ministry of Education)
  • Dato Hamdillah, a local entrepreneur with interests across a number of industries
  • Lai Pei-Si, Chief Executive Officer and Head of Consumer Banking for Standard Chartered Bank Brunei.

Recordings
Download All

  1. Opening Remarks from ProjekBrunei.com
    Delwin Keasberry
    (Download)
    [audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/01OpeningRemarksFromprojekbrunei.com.mp3]
  2. Opening Remarks from BMW
    Clement Chong
    (Download)[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/02OpeningRemarksFromBmw.mp3]
  3. Introduction of the Speakers
    Nadzri Harif
    (Download)[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/03IntroductionOfTheSpeakers.mp3]
  4. Dialogue Introduction
    Delwin Keasberry
    (Download)[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/04DialogueIntroduction.mp3]
  5. Describe Yourself in 5 Words
    Dato Hamdillah, Lai Pei-Si, Norali Yusop
    (Download)[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/05DescribeYourselfIn5Words.mp3]
  6. Word Association – Music. Delicious. Brunei. Success. Significance
    Dato Hamdillah, Lai Pei-Si, Norali Yusop
    (Download) [audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/06WordAssociation-Music.Delicious.Brunei.Success.Significance.mp3]
  7. What Has Changed in the Past 16 Years?
    Dato Hamdillah
    (Download) [audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/07WhatHasChangedInThePast16Years.mp3]
  8. Why Did you Move from Comfort to Something Unknown and What Was it Like?
    Lai Pei-Si
    (Download) [audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/08WhyDidYouMoveFromComfortToSomethingUnknownAndWhatWasItLike.mp3]
  9. What it’s Like as a Blind Person?
    Norali Yusop
    (Download) [audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/09WhatItsLikeAsABlindPerson.mp3]
  10. What Would You Say to The 65 Year Old?
    Norali Yusop
    (Download) [audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/10WhatWouldYouSayToThe65YearOld.mp3]
  11. What Would You Say to 18 – 65 Year Olds Considering Chasing Their Dreams and Steping Out of Their Comfort Zone?
    Lai Pei-Si
    (Download) [audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/11WhatWouldYouSayTo18-65YearOldsConsideringChasingTheirDreamsAndStepingOutOfTheirComfortZone.mp3]
  12. What Would You Say to The 18 Year Old?
    Dato Hamdillah
    (Download)[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/12WhatWouldYouSayToThe18Year.mp3]
  13. Did your Previous Roles Help you become an Entrepreneur?
    Dato Hamdillah
    (Download)[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/13DidYourPreviousRolesHelpYouBecomeAnEntrepreneur.mp3]
  14. What is Success? How Do You Balance Family and Work Life?
    Lai Pei-Si
    (Download) [audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/14WhatIsSuccess.HowDoYouBalanceFamilyAndWorkLife.mp3]
  15. What are you Daily Difficulties Getting Around in Brunei. What Kind of Changes would you Like to See to be More Independent?
    Norali Yusop
    (Download)[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/15WhatAreYouDailyDifficultiesGettingAroundInBrunei.WhatKindOfChangesWouldYouLikeToSeeToBeMoreIndependent.mp3]
  16. Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone: What Have You Got To Lose?
    Dato Hamdillah, Lai Pei-Si, Norali Yusop
    (Download)  [audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/16SteppingOutOfYourComfortZone.WhatHaveYouGotToLose.mp3]
  17. Closing Remarks
    Delwin Keasberry
    (Download)[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/Convergence2011FromSuccessToSignificance/17ClosingRemarks.mp3]

Brunei Online – Social Media: That’s Where it’s @ Recordings

Download all

1) The Backbone for Social Media (mp3 download link)
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BruneiOnline-SocialMediaThatsWhereIts/01TheBackboneForSocialMedia.mp3]
Speaker:
Lim Ming Soon of Telbru

2) Dude, Where’s My Traffic? (mp3 download link)
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BruneiOnline-SocialMediaThatsWhereIts/02DudeWheresMyTraffic_.mp3]
Speakers:
Rano Iskandar of ranoadidas.com / @ranoadidas
Delwin Keasberry of projekbrunei.com / @BruneiTweet
Dinoza Maruf of Breeze Magazine @dinoza
Moderator:
Azhani Abu Daniel of EmmaGoodEgg.com / @emmagoodegg

3) 140 Characters or Less: Why Join the Twitter Conversation? (mp3 download link)
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BruneiOnline-SocialMediaThatsWhereIts/03140CharactersOrLess_WhyJoinTheTwitterConversation_.mp3]
Speaker:
Dato Timothy Ong @Timothy_OngTM
Moderator:
Hj Rozan Yunos of Brunei Resources / @bruneiresources

4) From Idea to Enterprise: What Does it Take? (mp3 download link)
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/BruneiOnline-SocialMediaThatsWhereIts/04FromIdeaToEnterprise_WhatDoesItTake_.mp3]
Speakers:
Keeran Janin of MeSixty / @keeranj
Simon Soo of MixMedia International (MINT)
Moderator:
Mr Tom

iOS5 has been released for your iDevice!

iOS5

So last week iOS5 has been released with all the new goodness that it brings: notifications, iCloud and general usage tweaks to make it all a better experience. We did cover iOS5 in Corner Geeks Episode 5 Part 2 – iOS5 and Episode 5 Part 3 – iCloud.

You will need to update iTunes first before you can update your iDevice. Ensure you authorize your computer, if not you will not be able to restore you apps and media (if you backed up and restore contacts and messages should be restored). Also remember that there is always a risk when updating your firmware.

Conventional Method:

  1. Connect iDevice to computer
  2. Authorize the computer
  3. Sync your device
  4. Press the update button to download and update to iOS5

Direct IPSW Download Method:
You can also do a direct download of firmware updates (especially useful if you have multiple iOS devices of the same version) to save download times.

  1. Download the appropriate ipsw file
  2. Connect iDevice to computer
  3. Authorize the computer
  4. Sync and Backup your device in iTunes
  5. Shift + Click Restore button (or Command + Click on OS X)
  6. Select the approriate ipsw for your device
  7. Once restored to iOS5 you can restore for the last backup (to restore data) and sync to restore your apps and media

MD5 hashes
The follow are the MD5 hashes of the firmware files that I got from the downloads. All have been verified with other online sources except for iPod Touch 3G

  • iPhone4: iPhone3,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw
    8ac7ae6a7f6fadbd34ba9abacd15e2dc
  • iPad2 WiFi: iPad2,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw
    ddd7bc45b65aeed8308d12facf4c32b0
  • iPad2 WiFi+3G: iPad2,2_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw
    95ff7c4a311919f04985bade7d184731
  • iPad Wifi: iPad1,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw
    729c72a9880b82b37aef5997173d9578
  • iPhone 3GS: iPhone2,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw
    54aa71d20263580653eafd06064c557c
  • iPod Touch 4G: iPod4,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw
    29ead00d2726f688d393a5fdd0de4a97
  • iPod Touch 3G: iPod3,1_5.0_9A334_Restore.ipsw
    989b8327acab76e7632443a0e179250c

To get the full iCloud integration/features there is an OS X Lion update and a Windows iCloud control panel (for Vista or later). Sadly Photo Stream is only available for iPhoto ’11 or later or Aperture 3.2 or later in OS X while in Windows you need Outlook 2007 or later for mail, tasks and contacts iCloud integration.

Overall this is a great update for notifications, wireless syncing and iCloud. While they did copy Android’s notifications, Apple also added functionality by being able to have notifications on the lock screen which can be acted upon directly by swiping the notification.
iCloud, wireless syncing and future incremental upgrades (instead of downloading 700MB+ update files) should bring an overall better experience to iOS devices and now let’s see how Android responds with Ice Cream Sandwich.


Download link: iOS5 has been released for your iDevice!

Streaming KristalFM on iOS Devices (iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch)

So recently KristalFM relaunched their website with the ability to listen through webstreaming but alas they forget that not all devices have Flash.

So based on Zulfadly’s request and some research and my previous research for streaming UBDFM on iOS device here is the same method but for Kristal FM

  1. Open Safari
  2. Go to http://202.152.84.115:801/kfm(open in a new page/tab)
  3. Click done, and add it to the Home Screen

This URL should work in any stream application (VLC for Windows, OSX, Linux / StreamFurious for Android). Hope that helps people