Singaporean iPad, iPhone and Android Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Dec 2014 16:07:00 +0000

I attended the 2014 International Sound and Sight Exhibition held at the Parkroyal on Kitchener Road on 30th Nov. The turn-out was pretty good even on the third and last day of the Exhibition, even with the $15 entry fee which includes a free sample CD and a glass of red wine.

I was pretty impressed by some of the latest designs and technology. Sony led the way with a $62,000 short throw projector which can be situated only 7 inches from the screen, and yet produce a 140" image at 4K resolution!

Yamaha had some good speakers like the LSX-170 which produces good sound as well as lighting at a price of $549.

Another Yamaha designer piece, the Relit LSX-700 at $799.

I was also attracted to the B&O H6 headphones.

Of course, B&O headphones don't come cheap at a promotional price of $548.

Not a tech posting but definitely a gadget of sorts...men's shoes!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 15:08:00 +0000

I purchased a pair of LLYR Thomas single monk shoes from Swagger at 15 Ann Siang Road, and rounded off with a plate of Tian Tian chicken rice at the Maxwell food centre next door with the family on 29 Nov 2014 (Sat).

This is a Swagger Exclusive with goodyear welting and dark purple inner lining. The dark brown patina is applied by Atelier LLYR. LLYR is among a select group of boutique Singaporean shoemakers.

The monks come with shoebags that are well made. Given that they are about $520 RRP, this is within expectations. Cedar shoetrees are recommended to absorb moisture and keep the shoes in shape.

LLYR shoes can also be found in Tangs Orchard. However, the Thomas single monks are exclusive to Swagger and I was told by Sherwin that only 3 are made for every size.

Field trip to Sim Lim Square Digital Mall in Singapore: Special focus on Xiaomi products

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 15:30:00 +0000

Sim Lim Square has a reputation of being one of two major digital malls in Singapore for all kinds of cutting-edge electronics products. In its heyday of the 90s and early 2000s, it has always differentiated itself from Funan IT Mall by being grittier and more supportive of the DIY culture, as well as being quicker to embrace new products and technology. However, that also became its Achilles Heel, in a way making Sim Lim more susceptible to major changes in the market, and being significantly impacted by the change in technology away from customized PCs and laptops, towards tablets and smartphones. After-all, how much hardware DIY can you really perform on the iPad, iPhone or Android products?

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

For a short while in the late 2000s, it tried to ride the wave of tablet and smartphone accessories, but with high rentals and pricey parking, it did not really have any competitive edge over the neighbourhood stores or any of the online portals.

Curious about how it was faring now, and keen to see how much Xiaomi has penetrated this digital mecca, I decided to make an independent field trip to investigate.

Level 1: OPPO Find 7A spotted; strong Xiaomi competitor

After a brisk walk through the central façade to gaze at the latest accessories, I was a little disappointed not to spot any Xiaomi product. My attention was caught by a prominent presence of an up-and-coming Xiaomi competitor, the OPPO Find 7 and 7A! I took a brochure to scan at the specs; OMG, 4G LTE on the OPPO 7A at a price point of $599! (Note: M1 is offering it as $168 on the LiteSurf+ plan)

From the shop owned by the Song brothers

I was particularly interested in the Oppo Find 5 as this is one of the supported models for the MIUI V5 ROM. However, I did not see it on display. I was however able to run through all the OPPO display models N1, R1, Find 5 Mini and Find 7A and came away very impressed with the screen sharpness and camera of the Find 7A.

Brochure from Level 1

Level 3 – Redmi Note spotted

I hit the Xiaomi jackpot on this level!

I was very excited to see the Redmi Note 1W on display running the China WCDMA ROM.

The shop was also selling a range of other products and the Xiaomi parallel imports were tucked in the corner next to the android TV boxes. The salesman is from China and he was very busy trying to sell a TV box to an uncle who wanted to be very sure that he could watch HK drama series on the box (He was still there an hour later when I re-visited the shop). As a result, all I could do was to ask about the price, which was $279. I did not bargain as I was not going to buy it. The Redmi Note seemed authentic under the Settings page, running on JHDCNBA with 2Gb RAM and 8Gb Storage.

Next, I investigate another shop on the same level that was offering many smartphones and tablets from China. The focus seemed to be on Ainol 艾诺 tablets. I did not notice any Mipads...yet.

Level 4: Some Xiaomi phones, but watch out for Coolpad 4G LTE!

On this level, there was another shop selling many PRC gadgets and the Xiaomi phones were prominently displayed. I could try out the Mi3 and Redmi phones on display. However, I could not understand why anyone would be interested in these models which can be purchased directly from the official Xiaomi website at very competitive prices. I guess they must be targeting the tourist market.

However it is clear that Xiaomi has overturned the market for smartphones because there are now many models offering dual-sim. I have even seen a triple sim smartphone from Lenovo (i think)!

Of the ones on display, I was drawn to the Coolpad 7296 on display, because this model is supported by the MIUI V5 ROM. Unfortunately, the listed price was $199, which I felt was not competitive compared to the Redmi. However, there could be room for further bargaining.

Coolpad 酷派is a very well-known PRC smartphone manufacturer (3^rd largest in China), who is venturing into 4G LTE. In my opinion, they are not as Cool酷 as Xiaomi - You can check out their website (especially the homepage) here and decide for yourself.

Their next generation of products hitting the market appear to be very impressive. In particular the Coolpad K1 promises dual sim 4G LTE on a 5.5 inch screen. There is also the Coolpad Halo with a 7 inch display and dual sim 3G.

Xiaomi has to keep up with 4G LTE!

If you are keen, you can also try out the less well-known brands such as THL (糖葫芦) and Ulefone (欧乐风). Some of their models are officially supported by Miui V5 ROM.

Huawei phones are pretty mainstream now, hence I did not check them out. They are easily available.

The unofficial ROMs for Huawei, THL and Ulefone are listed in the MIUI forum thread here.

Level 4: Xiaomi Accessories.

I finally made a stop at one of my favourite accessory stores on Level 4. This accessory store on level 4 has all sorts of phone covers and casings. However, the sales lady led me to a rather small selection of casings for Redmi, Redmi Note and Mi3. The casings range from $10 for the silicone cases, $15 for the cases with covers, and $25 for the metallic ones. Unfortunately, I did not see any oem replacement back covers for Redmi. You will easily obtain a better selection from Taobao.

At another store, I saw some Xiaomi powerbanks and Xiaomi piston earphones. I could not tell for certain whether they were authentic, but they seemed poorer in make quality compared to those I have purchased from the Mi store during the Singapore online sales.

Xiaomi will face a strong challenge: China smartphones gaining traction

Xiaomi’s presence was not strongly felt at Sim Lim, but overall, I felt that Xiaomi is leading a wave of better quality Chinese phones that has transformed the local smartphone market for the benefit of consumers. Sim Lim Square has seen its heydays, and only time will tell if Steam OS consoles and other smartphone technological innovations to come will bring back the crowds to this venerable mall.

Note: All logos in this article are provided for illustrative purposes and belong to the respective copyright of the owners.

First look at the Miclick - delivered by 65daigou to Singapore

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 14:48:00 +0000

After several days of waiting, I was rather excited to have received my Miclick today from the 65daigou deliveryman, using the 65daigou service recommended by 杰x杰 in the Miui forum thread here. The Miclick was purchased from the official Mi.com website in China.

The service was punctual as I had received a reminder sms that the deliveryman will be arriving today at the scheduled timeslot. It took about one week from ordering it from the official mi.com website in China and finally receiving it in the evening.

The Miclick is a customisable button that plugs into the 3.5mm audio jack of any handphone. It is a quite a snug fit, and you have to really give it a go and push it all the way in. The tight fit means that it will not accidentally slip out.

As you can see, the button is not completely flush and will be sticking out slightly from the headphone jack, but not in an uncomfortable or excessive manner.

The Miclick requires that the Miclick (米键) app be installed from the Xiaomi market. The Miclick is supposed to work with any android phone that can install the Miclick app.

Once the app is installed, the insertion of the Miclick will activate the UI which allows the customisation of the button. Miui forum moderator Clintonccy has a good tutorial over here on how to install the Miclick app.

For my Miclick, I am using the default one click to activate the toolbox (工具箱) that allows me to choose the camera, torch or voice recorder.

The default setting for two-clicks (双击) is the torch. The Miclick app makes it easy to customise the button clicks.

I have customised three-clicks to make an automatic phone call. This is useful in an emergency situation.

You can also customise the button to send an automated sms, just with one press of the Miclick button!

There is a lot of novelty and entertainment value in this little device, and all only for RMB 4.90 (about S$1)!

However, if you are using a service like 65daigou, the chargeable amount inclusive of land freight to its Guangzhou office did cost me more than that, and I had to pay S$3.67 as an initial payment for the domestic shipping.

Once it reached the Guangzhou centre, there will be an email prompt for international shipping. I chose the Economy Air option for the shipping to Singapore and opted for home delivery (an additional $5). Once the parcel reached Singapore, I had to make the second payment of $11.57.

In summary, I had to make the following payments:

65daigou purchase and PRC Mainland freight to Guangzhou $3.67
Economy Air freight and Home deliver $11.57

Grand total: $15.24

You can save $5 by opting for self-collection at one of the collection centres in Singapore.

Given that the 3.5mm audio jack is still likely to be with us in the near future, I think the Miclick is an entertaining accessory for any android user.

The flagship Mi3 from Xiaomi

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 05:56:00 +0000

I bought a Mi3 recently to replace my dad's iPhone 4 which was getting long in the tooth and frankly, unacceptable to the eyes with what we now consider a tiny 4" screen! The infamous unresponsive iPhone 4 home button was also becoming an issue.

Despite all the good reviews that I have seen, I was still pretty stunned by the quality of the IPS screen on the Mi3.

There has already been several good reviews about this phone such as one by Hardwarezone here and others comparing the Mi3 with the Samsung S5 over here and I am generally in agreement with them. The lack of 4G LTE would be a step-backwards for some, and 16Gb internal memory without an sd card slot might not be acceptable for power users.

Hardwarezone did a decent review of the Mi3 using various benchmarking apps over here. However, most Singapore Samsung S4 users would only have the S4 LTE i9505 that runs the Snapdragon 600 quadcore 1.9Ghz instead of the i9506 that has the more powerful Snapdragon 800.

Hence I decided to offer an enthusiast's approach by adopting a variation of the usual benchmarking reviews by using the Antutu benchmark to compare my stock Mi3 (android 4.3) with a Samsung S4 LTE i9505 running Cyanogenmod 11, which is also based on jelly bean 4.3. I will then try to push my S4 to the limit to see how close I can come to the Mi3's performance.

Stock Mi3 performance

I ran my favourite CPU-Z ID to gather all the necessary information about the Mi3.

Now comes the Antutu benchmarking! The Mi3 trashes all the competition!

Free backcover for Redmi phone: Compliments of Xiaomi

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 29 May 2014 13:40:00 +0000

I received a package in the mail from Xiaomi today. Had been waiting for this since Xiaomi Singapore announced on its facebook page several weeks ago that those who were affected by Paypal payment issues would be compensated with a complimentary red backcover for the Redmi phone.

My pleasant surprise in the mail:

The backcover itself was not exactly red, as it was closer to a deep orange. Since it is free, I am not complaining! It had a nice glossy finish, which was a contrast from the original matte grey cover. Putting it on my Redmi phone, I thought the glossy finish gave the Redmi phone a more premium feeling.

The buttons were also of the same colour, and the MI logo was a reflective dark red.

Thank you Xiaomi, even though you didn't have to!

Review of MiWifi usb dongle

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 May 2014 03:40:00 +0000

Those of us who participated in the Miui fan meet-up in Singapore were each given a free Miwifi usb dongle as a door gift.

In case you are wondering what you could be using this for, let us consider what it is supposed to do. In short, it allows any laptop or PC to wirelessly tether and share internet connection or transfer files to and from your smartphone.

This is useful if you are a frequent overseas traveller and find yourself in a hotel room with only an Ethernet LAN connection and no wifi. For example, many local hotels in China may only offer Ethernet LAN but not wifi in your room.

Miwifi beside a Singapore $1 coin.

The Miwifi is a small usb dongle that is very handy and portable for PCs and laptops. It does not require any external power, as it draws current from the usb port.

10.8 mb Set-up file sitting on my desktop.

A small .exe set-up file (10.8mb) is required to install the driver. This is downloadable from the Miwifi website here. Look for "download"("下载") , and "xiaomi portable wifi client" ("小米随身WiFi客户端").

The set-up will require administrator rights if your laptop is a corporate piece of equipment sitting behind a firewall. Unlike software-based solutions such as Connectify which I have previously tried with limited success (possibly due to driver incompatibility or firewall issues), I did not encounter any driver issues with the Miwifi. Miwifi driver installation is very straightforward and user-friendly.

Upon installation of the driver, plugging in the Miwifi will activate the UI as shown below.

UI is well designed and sits in the task bar tray

Once the UI is activated, the Miwifi will have a secure wireless network (WPA2 PSK) and show the 8 digit pin for entry into your smartphone as the wifi password. Under settings ("设置"), the wireless network name and password can be changed and customised.

When unplugging the Miwifi, right clicking on the icon will call-up the UI and you can choose the option to ''safely unplug device" ("安全拔出设备"）

Like all USB devices, don't forget to right click and stop operations before unplugging

The driver version used here is 1.0.0.175.

There is an option to connect to the Kingsoft (金山软件)-managed Kuaipan cloud storage (云U盘). However, access to Kuaipan may not be possible if there is a firewall.

1st MIUI fan meet-up in Singapore with Hugo Barra, Ren Tian and Peter

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 11 May 2014 02:39:00 +0000

I was one of 60 fans selected to attend the inaugural Miui fan meet-up in Singapore. It is also the first fan meet-up outside China.

I thought it was an awesome opportunity for fans to meet-up and listen from the people at Xiaomi who were going to talk about miui development and design. The meet-up at Limestone along Jiak Chuan Road was very comfy, but no beer unfortunately.

I took a picture with Hugo Barra before the event and he nicely obliged (there was a long queue for his autograph at the end of the event!) and recorded his presentation on the history of Miui. With his PR skills, I think he is going to be a key member of Xiaomi's global marketing efforts outside China. Youtube link over here.

Dexter Ren Tian was next to talk about Miui design. He was competent in English but I am sure he would have explained in deeper detail if he was delivering in Chinese. It is quite amazing to hear that Miui version 1 was only launched in 2010. With a new version of Miui every year, Xiaomi has achieved very impressive growth over a short span of 4 years. Youtube link over here.

Then there was a presentation on the nifty features of Miui by the product manager Louis for Singapore. (I stopped recording around about here because the arms were getting stiff). This was followed by Q and A with the speakers (Hugo, Dexter and Head Engineering Peter). The quality of questions was ok, but I would rate it only at 7 out of 10. I may update this article later with more thoughts about the Q and A session.

I thought Peter was pretty stressed out but that is probably because English is his second language. He probably already has like numerous features he needed to introduce into Miui V6 and hardly needed the audience to remind him (and we did). On the whole, I really thought that the Xiaomi China team tried very hard with communication in English and it is something they will do more often as they expand into other markets.

Did I mention that I was one of the lucky winners of a MiBox? That will be reviewed in another post *heh heh*. Take a look at my free gifts from this meet-up (Mi rabbit stuffed toy, MiBox, MiWifi, Miui T-shirt)

After the lucky draws, there was a Redmi Note unboxing session. The Redmi Note shown is the TD China version.

My unboxing group did a side-by-side comparison of Samsung Note 3, Redmi Note, Redmi 1, Mi2 and iPhone 5 (from top to bottom, in that order). Well, actually I thought that fans should only bring Xiaomi phones to a meet-up.

Group photo! (Thanks to Nanana and Miui forum)

Installing the MIUI V4 ROM or Cyanogen Mod 10.2 on S3 Mini i8910N

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 14:54:00 +0000

This is the proven method for MIUI V4 ROM and CyanogenMod 10.2 (Jelly Bean 4.3.1)

1. Download the MIUI V4 ROM file, GApps for MIUI and Xperia keyboard from XDA forums over here for S3 Mini.

or Download the Cyanogenmod 10.2 files, and GApps from Maclaw over here.

2. Copy into external Sdcard.

3. Shut down device. Enter recovery mode by holding the volume up, home button and power button simultaneously.

4. I used TeamWin's TWRP. Then follow these steps:

- Full wipe (dalvik, cache and data)
- Flash the ROM
- Flash the GApps (check that they are for the correct Android version!)

For MIUI V4 ROM only:

- Flash the Xperia Keyboard (necessary for MIUI V4 ROM because the MIUI keyboard is 'force-closing' (but you can install other keyboards later).

5. Reboot.

Common Whatsapp issues and fixes:

(1) Whatsapp Contact List is missing

This is usually due to a Security app on the custom ROM that is denying Whatsapp permission to access your Contact Book. Under MIUI V4 Rom, go into the LBE Guard app to allow Whatsapp access.

(2) Whatsapp unable to send and receive under mobile data connection (but ok when connected to Wifi).

This is due to the phone having the wrong APN setting. Under M1, this was resolved by choosing the Sunsurf Internet APN. This should already been detected. If not, they are:

Name: Sunsurf Internet
APN: sunsurf
Proxy: Not set
Port: Not set
username: Not set
password: Not set
server: not set
MMSC: not set
MMS proxy: not set
MMS protocol: WAP 2.0
MCC: 525
MNC: 05
authentication type: not set
APN type: default, hipri

Update on 11 May 2014

I have updated my S3 Mini i8910N to MIUI V5 Beta 1.3. It appears to be quite stable. Under MIUI V4, I was not able to send long SMS. This was an issue I could not live with. This is no longer an issue under MIUI V5 Beta 1.3.

Rooting any Samsung android phone

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 15:15:00 +0000

The general principle behind rooting any Samsung phone is the insertion of the correct custom recovery for the model and android version.

For example, in the case of the Samsung S3 Mini i8190N (International version) running Jelly Bean 4.1.2, the following steps are proven to work:

1. Enable USB debugging mode under Developer Options. Ensure that Samsung KIES is installed to allow PC to detect the phone.

2. Download and install Odin v3.07 onto PC. Run as Administrator.

3. Put the phone in Download mode (Pressing Power+Volume Down+Home button simultaneously,then follow onscreen instructions 'Volume Up'). Odin is normally zipped up together with CF Autoroot .zip files.

4. Using the PDA function, select the appropriate custom recovery. For example, the correct Twrp .tar file must be downloaded from TeanWin's website. For example, for S3 Mini, it will be over here. Then connect up the phone via USB.

5. Once the phone is detected, flash the custom recovery .tar.

6. Reboot phone. Put phone into Recovery mode. (Pressing Power+Volume+Up+Home button simultaneously). Twrp will detect that the phone is not yet rooted and give you the option to install SuperSU.

7. Once SuperSU is installed, the phone is rooted.

Rooting the Redmi 红米 for Singapore version

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 08:14:00 +0000

This is the proven method for the Singapore version first launched on 21 Feb 2014 by Xiaomi (and sold out in 8 mins) with the following build under Settings > About Phone:

Model number HM 1W
Android Version 4.2.2 HM2013023
MIUI Version MIUI-JHBSGBA12.0

Updated on 25 Mar: Framaroot no longer works for updated MIUI ver 13. For updated version 13, use the proven method over here.

Nice picture from Denny (taken from Xiaomi Singapore facebook page)

Steps

1. Download and Install the Framaroot apk into your Redmi. The MIUI forum link discussing this is over here. The apk version used successfully is Framaroot-1.9.1.apk

(Note: You need to register as a forum user to download the apk.)

2. Choose the Barahir Exploit. (Note that besides the option to Install SuperSU, you can also choose to Unroot).

3. Reboot device after you see the Exploit Result screen.

4. You will have SuperSU installed after the reboot.

5. The main reason to root is to have the ability to move Apps to your SD card. This can be done using the app "System App Remover (Root)" over here. Photos are already saved onto SD card by default without rooting.

Note: If you need assurance or simply curious where are your apps on the SD Card, use a root browser such as the function in the app "ROM Toolbox Pro" to check the system folders that are normally hidden. In this case, the apps are under /mnt/asec. There is normally no need to change or move anything.

On the other hand, your apps in your internal or phone memory are under the folder /data/app.

6. If something goes horribly wrong and you need the original SG ROM, check over here.

For more tips, including online purchases and shipping of phones from China, read this article over here.

For a full review of the Singapore Redmi, check over here.

Update on 5 Mar 2014:

Google Playstore prompted for SuperSU to be upgraded to version 1.93. After reboot, the SuperSU and Redmi appear to function normally. However, for future prompts to update SuperSU, it is suggested not to update until it is verified to be safe. In other phones, there are reports of possible incompatibility or instability after updating.

The default in Playstore is auto-update. To disable auto-update in Redmi, it is the same with other android devices. Just go to Playstore and under Settings "..."> Auto-update apps>Choose "Do not auto-update apps".

Update on 19 Mar 2014:

62 tips over here on the MIUI V5 rom that is used on the Redmi. The custom rom can also be installed on many other phones.

4G LTE bands in Singapore and USA

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 04:02:00 +0000

Do note that Singapore LTE networks mostly use bands 3 and 7.

Operator	Frequency (MHz)	Band
M1/Singtel	1800/2600	3 & 7
Starhub	1800	3

Buying a 4G Nexus 7 '2' from the US would mean that there's a risk that you can't use LTE here (3G HSDPA will work fine however...). European models are preferable.

For the equivalent iPad Mini with Retina, do purchase the model that supports the most LTE bands as shown in the table I've compiled below.

Refer to this link here on Apple's website for the latest updated models with LTE support for iPads.

Nexus 7	North America	700/750/850/1700/1800/1900/2100 MHZ (Bands: 1/2/3/4/5/13/17)
	Europe	800/850/1700/1800/1900/2100/2600 MHz (Bands: 1/2/3/4/5/7/20)
iPad Mini with Retina	A1454	700b/850/1900 /AWS (Bands: 2/4/5/17)
	A1455	700c/850/1800/1900/2100 (Bands: 1/3/5/13/25)
	A1490	700b/700c/750/800/800DD/850/900/1800/1900/2100/2600/AWS (Bands: 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/13/17/18/19/20/25/26)

Installing a custom ROM on the Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 04:35:00 +0000

I dug out an old Samsung Tab P1000 that was launched back in Sep 2010 (reviewed here by Hardwarezone). Surprisingly, this Tab P1000 with only 512Mb RAM is still going strong in the modding community. With the stock Froyo 2.2 firmware, it was well behind the times. It was time to get to work...

FIRST ROOTING, UPGRADE ATTEMPT WITH CYANOGENMOD 9.1 STABLE

First of all, I tried the Z4root method, but that didn't seem to work. Then I tried the Superoneclick method and was successful. However, I realised that most upgrade paths to Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 (ICS) required Gingerbread stock ROM. Furthermore, ROM Manager didn't support the Tab P1000. After downloading and installing Samsung Kies, I successfully upgraded to Gingerbread 2.3.3 (and unrooted the Tab in the process). This took me several hours as the Kies took a long time to update itself, and the GB download was very slow as well. I then flashed Clockworkmod (CWM) recovery using the Superoneclick method again in order to upgrade to CyanogenMod (CM)9.1 Stable running on ICS. However something must have gone wrong in the process, resulting in unknown baseband and IMEI issues on my TaB P1000, effectively giving me a stable CM9.1 on my Tab P1000 with WiFi, but disabling my phone, SMS and 3G.

BACK TO SQUARE ONE (RESTOCK GINGERBREAD 2.3.3)

Subsequently, I decided to restock to Gingerbread using the Overcome method. My tried and tested update process was:

1. Flash GB stock safe tar, gt-p1000_mr.pit and JPZ modem using Odin 1.7 (gets you back to stock Gingerbread 2.3.3 with the Euro ROM).

2. Flash Overcome 4.0.0 Kernel using Odin (gives you CWM ver 5.1.2.6).

3. Flash Overcome 7 Series 4.1 Wipe.zip ROM using CWM recovery.

4. Flash Android Open Kang Project (AOKP) ICS ROM using CWM recovery.

I am using AOKP ICS Milestone #6 on my Tab P1000. Everything works i.e. WiFi, Phone, 3G, SMS, camera. The AOKP Jelly Bean 4.1 build is also available but the general feedback indicates that it is not yet bug free.

DOWNLOAD LINKS AND INSTALLATION GUIDES BELOW

Follow the Team Overcome instructions at this google doc link. Alternatively, download the pdf here. Another installation guide in PNG image is available for download at the AOKP site under the comments section of the #40 build here.

Page 7 onwards of the 15-page Overcome guide details the steps required to restock to Gingerbread and flash the Overcome kernel to install an updated version of CWM Manager. For my Singapore Tab P1000, installing the JPZ modem works. The links for the various files are most likely not working though, so you can try to download from this XDA forums thread here. Also available for download at the AOKP site under the comments section of the #40 build here.

The AOKP Milestone #6 build ROM can be downloaded at the AOKP website under the downloads section. The mirror site is faster for folks in Singapore, with the link over here.

PERFORMANCE OF THE TAB P1000 UNDER ICS

If we compare the Tab P1000 specifications (circa Sep 2010) with the Huawei Mediapad (launched in Sep 2012, reviewed here at Hardwarezone), the Tab P1000 is comparable in many respects. The P1000 runs on a 1Ghz single core ARM Cortex A8 CPU vs Huawei's 1.2ghz dual core ARM Cortex A8 CPU.

Though RAM wise, the P1000 only has 512Mb RAM vs 1Gb RAM on the Huawei, other tabs launched by Shinco and Toshiba also only have 512Mb RAM. Furthermore, the P1000 has its own venerable GPU (Power VR540SGX). This is a pretty good GPU in its time.

A comparison of GPUs of that generation and how they render:

Motorola Droid: TI OMAP3430 with PowerVR SGX530 = 7-14 million(?) triangles/sec
Nexus One: Qualcomm QSD8x50 with Adreno 200 = 22 million triangles/sec
iPhone 3G S: 600 MHz Cortex-A8 with PowerVR SGX535 = 28 7 million triangles/sec
Samsung Galaxy S: S5PC110 with PowerVR SGX540 = 90 million triangles/sec

Quadrant Standard Edition benchmark

Based on the Quadrant benchmark, the HWZ review indicates that the Huawei Mediapad scores 1,747 on Honeycomb 3.2 (and between 1000-1500 depending on review for ICS) vs P1000 Tab score of 1,784 (without overclocking). Hence ICS objectively can and should run smoothly on P1000. Admittedly, the Quadrant benchmark isn't optimised for multicore tablets, and hence the Tab P1000 can appear to perform.

Smartbench 2011 benchmark

Over here, the Tab P1000 feels its age, coming in at only 894 for the Productivity index and 2091 for the Games index. After overclocking the CPU from 1Ghz to 1.2Ghz, the scoring improved to 1019 for the Productivity index and no significant change for the Games index(~2034). After bringing back the CPU to default, the GPU was overclocked from 200Mhz to 320Mhz. This time, the Productivity index registered 897 while the Games index improved slightly to 2118. The overclocking options are available on the AOKP ICS ROM in the Performance Tweaks section under Settings. In this instance, the benefits of overclocking can be considered to be in line with analysis at Tom's Hardware Forum discussed in the article over here.

For the entire plethora of benchmarking tests possible on an Android, refer to this article here which incidentally demonstrates how the Samsung Galaxy S3 is the top dog.

Review: Samsung S3 4300mAh OEM replacement battery

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 03:13:00 +0000

Since my switch to a Samsung Galaxy S3, while the battery life is slightly better than my iPhone 4, I have increasingly found the 2100mAh battery insufficient. It is a vicious cycle that once you have better battery life, you end up using more of the smartphone functions, and what was once enough becomes unbearable. Recently, I came across a battery accessory that appears to promise a quantum leap in battery life. It is a thicker replacement 4300mAh battery with a customised S3 backcover in order to accommodate the extra battery thickness.

At a price of $19.90 (available from the online Singapore marketeer Gmarket), I thought this would be the answer. The only downside was that it did not appear to be an NFC-enabled battery. However, the NFC feature was not important for me.

The customised backcover comes in choices of white or matte purple, and the white version matches with my S3.

Some people might be put off by the increased resultant thickness. However, I found it easier to actually hold the phone now and the battery does not add significantly more weight. The backcover is also plastic and practically weightless.

Some customers at Gmarket has complained that their case was damaged during postal delivery. Fortunately, this did not happen during my purchase. However, at this price, the vendor did not provide any fanciful protective packaging. My purchase arrived in bubblewrap inside a normal brown envelope. Some of you might even be able to obtain a better price if you have coupons from Gmarket for being their VIP customers.

i.Paid.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 07:06:00 +0000

All dads know who pays for all those Apple gear on the cool crowd.

Joining the Android world with the Samsung Galaxy S3

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 05:45:00 +0000

I finally decided to join the Android world by swapping my iPhone 4 for a Samsung Galaxy S3. Mostly because I perform all my time-consuming tasks and leisure surfing on my iPad 2, and increasingly, the shortcomings of my iPhone 4 could be addressed by the S3. Furthermore, the Google Play Store has come of age and there are many iOS apps that have also been ported over to android smartphones. It has been more than a month since I recontracted on 29 May 2012, and I haven't regretted my decision. The advantages of the S3 over my iPhone 4 are: 1. Better camera (8MP) 2. Music and pictures transfer easily for android phones, much like a usb drive. No need to go through the iTunes. 3. Bigger screen 4.8", less strain on the eyes. 4. More intuitive file system. 5. The S3 comes with 2 years of free 48Gb Dropbox subscription.

My top 10 jailbreaks and 100 reasons to jailbreak

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:05:00 +0000

Pretty cool youtube HD video "100 reasons to jailbreak" by Mario Dubek from JailbreakMatrix. I first got to know about it from a tweet by @iH8sn0w.

Much has changed since iOS 4 when I first experimented with jailbroken tweaks. Now with my iPhone 4 on iOS 5.0.1, some of the top 10 tweaks are:

1. Aloud (powerful voice announcer for incoming calls, sms, mail etc)
2. SBsettings (the 1st tweak i download; together with Cydelete, RotationInhibitor, RemoveBG)
3. iFile (Windows explorer for iDevices)
4. Facebreak (Facetime over 3G)and 3G UnRestrictor 5 (you decide if an app uses 3G)
5. Five Icon Dock (5 instead of 4 icons on the dock)
6. Gridlock (Place your icons anywhere)
7. iKeyWi (customise your keyboard - i like my extra 5th row with numbers)
8. noOTA badge (remove that reminder badge from your settings if you don't want iOS 5.1)
9. Zephyr (powerful customised gestures)
10. Winterboard and Dreamboard(customise themes, ringtones etc)

Dual simcard capability for iPhone 4: Unique iPhone battery case from 2phone

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:18:00 +0000

Many business travelers often need to be contactable on 2 mobile numbers: 1 local number for their business clients and another personal number for family and friends. Until now, this means having 2 phones and the constant need to make sure that contacts are transferred from one phone to another, or having to forward messages from one phone to another.

The 2phone dual sim case is a very neat solution that is offered by a website linked to the well-known iPhone accessory maker, the QYG group. This iPhone case not only protects the iPhone, but also has its own full size simcard slot that allows the iPhone to operate a second mobile line SIMULTANEOUSLY. And i mean complete voice and text messaging functionality for the second simcard.

The iPhone is able to run two mobile lines simultaneously with the 2phone case.

The 2phone app is where voice calls and messaging can be made using the 2nd simcard. The settings for the 2nd line is also accessed from this menu. The menu interface has been thoughtfully designed to have the same outlook as the iPhone's call app.

The 2phone case also has its own separate 800mAh battery that can serve as an emergency battery charger for the iPhone. The catch is that this accessory requires the phone to be jailbroken because the 2phone cydia app is required in order to install the 2phone voice call and text app.

2phone case comes with an internal replaceable battery and extra simcard slot for a 2nd line. It also has a free simcard tray pin and mini simcard adaptor that neatly sits within the case.

During testing with my iPhone 4 running iOS 5.0.1 (jailbroken with redsnow), I found that the voice and text messaging capability works smoothly as advertised. The ringtone for the second line can be set differently from the main line so that you can immediately identify whether an incoming call or sms is coming through the main or second line.

2phone settings allows the user to set a different ring/text tone for the 2nd simcard.

However, I found that there is added battery drain on the iPhone due to having 2 lines operating at the same time. With my usage profile (with about 50-100mb of data usage per day, checking email throughout the day, making about 5-10 calls and 5-10 sms per day), I found that I could be low on battery by the evening. The added battery capacity of 800mAh also proves to be insufficient at times as it will only charge the iPhone if it has more than 50% of charge remaining. In practice, this means that it will only charge about 10-20% of the iPhone.

Battery issues aside, I found that the added convenience (and in my case, necessity whenever I am overseas) of having 2 lines on my iPhone turns out to be a game-changer. I can now easily buy a local simcard while overseas for making local calls while retaining the use of my own simcard for any calls from home. I can now use both at the same time without worrying about missing calls or sms from either line. Since the 2phone app is able to access the iPhone contact book, there is also no need to maintain two separate contact lists on separate phones. The build quality of the case is good and does not add much weight or bulkiness to the iPhone. It is similar in size to the Mophie Juice Pack Air but slightly lighter at 59 grams.

iPhone 4 with 2phone case.

The 2phone is available in Singapore for about S$99. The international model is FM-01A.

The 2phone packaging is basic but provides the key specifications at the rear.

The specifications are clearly shown.

The 2phone official website can be found here. I bought mine at Sim Lim Square.

Update 1:

This is what an incoming call would look like using the 2phone and a second simcard:

How to transfer pdf to iPhone without iTunes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 08:57:00 +0000

1. Download ifunbox.

2. Use the Copy from PC button to browse for the pdfs and copy to the iphone's ibooks directory under 'private/var/mobile/media/books'.

3. Open iFiles (purchase from Cydia) and navigate to the abovementioned directory. iFiles will give you the option to open the pdf using iBooks. From thereon, the pdf will always be displayed on the iBooks bookshelf. No need to go through iTunes.

Connecting iDevices to the TV: an Apple-compatible AV Cable accessory from Pisen (品胜)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 06:36:00 +0000

Some of us would like to connect a 1st Generation iPad or 3rd/4th generation iPod to display on a bigscreen LCD or LED TV, especially if this allows family and friends to watch Youtube and other streaming videos together, or be an active audience during an Angry Birds session. This feature, known as display mirroring, though incorporated by Apple from the iPad2 onwards, was not meant to be ready for the older devices, and is still not a fully supported feature on the older devices.

Jailbreaking your older devices will however unlock this feature, through the installation of free Cydia apps such as TVOut and TVOut2. The Pisen (品胜) AV Cable, developed by the Guangdong Pisen Electronics Co Ltd is one of the third-party accessories in the market that is affordable and at RMB 165 (approx. SGD 35) significantly cheaper than the official Apple adapter.

The Pisen AV cable is meant for connecting iDevices to any TV or Monitor via the older AV connectors (Red-Yellow-White). It also comes with a usb connector that works with the official Apple plug, thus allowing the iDevice to be simultaneously charging while connected to the TV. This is a critical feature because users do not have to worry about running low on battery midway through a movie. The Pisen AV cable can also be used in place of the default Apple charging cable so that users who are travelling, do not have to bring along two sets of cables.

The main design shortcoming of the Pisen AV cable is that the cable for the usb connector is very short. Hence the power plug will have to located very close to the AV connections in order for charging and display mirroring to take place at the same time.

In my test session, after connecting the iPad 1st Gen to the TV, I had to run the TVout app in order to configure the iPad to display properly on the TV in the correct aspect ratio. This was easily done.

After setting-up all the connections, the Springboard and LeTV mirror well on the LCD TV. The audio was also working properly.

The Pisen AV cable is a useful accessory that can revive your older iDevices that have been made obsolete by the newer iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. Given the proliferation of streaming apps such as w.tv, Hulu+, Netflix and LeTV, the older iDevices that have been jailbroken, can serve as portable media players at home. At SGD 35, this is an affordable accessory and an interesting device for all enthusiasts.

The manufacturer, Guangdong Pisen Electronics Co Ltd 广东品胜电子股份有限公司 (www.pisen.com.cn) is an established manufacturer of Apple accessories, including portable battery chargers. Their products appear to be well made and packaged. We will likely continue to see more of their accessories in time to come.

Top 10 Educational Apps for Toddlers and Pre-schoolers

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:30:00 +0000

1. iPlay&Sing

 Category: Learning Music
 User Ratings : 4 stars out of 5
 iPhone App, Free
 Developer: Penrillian

Description: App uses an onscreen piano with keys highlighted in sequence for the child to tap out familiar nursery tunes. It is kind of like a really slow-paced Guitar Hero, with a piano, and no scoring.

2. Baa Baa
 Category: Learning about Shapes, Colours and Words
 User Ratings: 4 stars out of 5
 iPhone App, $1.99
 Developer: Duck Duck Moose

Description: Child can drag and drop various shapes into their matching slots. Most of us probably have come across these shape toys, usually made out of wood. Now we don’t have to find them strewn everywhere with this app.

3. SingSing ABC
 Category: Animated Flash Cards
 User Ratings: 3 stars out of 5
 iPhone App, $0.99
 Developer: Ninewheels Co Ltd

This category of apps is the ‘low hanging fruit’ of educational apps for toddlers. Relatively easy to develop because the concept is straightforward – take the traditional flash card-based learning system, add in snazzy graphics (sometimes animated but not in this app), put up on the appstore, repeat.
Again, another useful app that will save parents time and effort from picking up cards strewn all over the floor.

4. Word Magic
 Category: Learning 1st Words
 User Ratings: 4 stars out of 5
 Universal App, $0.99
 Developer: Anusen Inc

Description: This is Hangman for toddlers with only 1 or 2 missing alphabets. And since it is for toddlers, you get the picture clue as well. Toddlers are really excited about this one.

5. Bob Books Reading Magic #2, Bob Books Reading Magic #2 HD
 Category: Learning 1st Words
 User Ratings: 4 stars out of 5
 iPhone, $1.99; iPad, $3.99.
 Developer: Closure Associates

Description: This is tougher than Word Magic. The kid will have to assemble whole words from the jumbled-up alphabets. Parents will be pretty excited when their kids unexpectedly complete their first difficult word, words like 'iphone'.

6. Shape Builder
 Category: Learning about Shapes
 User Ratings: 4 stars out of 5
 iPhone, $0.99.
 Developer: Darren Murtha Design

Description: Drag and drop shapes into matching slots. This is one of the early educational apps that have been in the appstore since 2009. Probably one of the first apps that kids would be interested in.

7. I Write Words
 Category: Tracing Alphabets
 User Ratings: 4 stars out of 5
 Universal App, $2.99.
 Developer: gdiplus

Description: Tracing alphabets and numbers onscreen is another concept that is tailor-made for iPhones and iPads. Also available in Spanish and French.

8. Teach Me 1st Grade or Teach Me Kindergarten or Teach Me Toddler
 Category: Learning about Addition, Subtraction and Spelling.
 User Ratings: 4 stars out of 5
 Universal App, $0.99.
 Developer: 24x7 DigitalLLC

Description: This app allows several kids to create their own accounts within the same app so that they can complete the lessons at their own pace. It is in the Question-Answer learning format and covers Addition, Subtraction and Spelling. For older preschoolers who can read.

9. Fish School
 Category: Animated Flash Cards for Alphabet, Numbers, Shapes and Colours.
 User Ratings: 3.5 stars out of 5
 iPhone or iPad, $1.99
 Developer: Duck Duck Moose

Description: Schools of fish swim in tight formations that look like Alphabets, Numbers, Shapes. Sometimes all of them have the same colour. You get the idea.

10. 123 Kids Fun Games
 Category: Animated Flash Cards for Alphabet, Sounds, Numbers, Animals.
 User Ratings: 3 stars out of 5
 Universal App, $2.99.
 Developer: RosMedia

Description: Another app that uses animated flash cards for learning. Probably needs a better app name rather than one that is made for search engines.

Angry Birds Humour

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:39:00 +0000

LOL. I've actually gotten pretty bored of Angry Birds as a game. Cat Physics and Where's my Water are better and more engaging IMHO.

As a phenomena, Angry Birds has been very interesting and certainly proves that first movers have a huge advantage in the app market.

Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 10:23:00 +0000

Thanks to Jonathan Mak from Hong Kong, this is the most befitting logo for the man who is at the core of this blog.

As Jon Stewart puts it aptly: "We won't see the likes of him for quite some time."

When will the iPhone 4S be launched in Singapore?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:26:00 +0000

The iPhone 4S will be launched in Singapore on 28 Oct 2011.

Navfone Singapore by local company AGIS: A competent offline GPS voice navigation iPhone app

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:13:00 +0000

Against the better known products by TomTom , Sygic and Papago, comes a fairly well-made GPS voice navigation app for the iPhone. Like its bethren, Navfone is able to operate offline since its map and POI database is included in the app. Initially, I was quite sceptical of Navfone since its user-interface is very utilitarian in its design and does not have any fanciful graphics.

However, since it is a local product, one would expect it to perform better with its search engine in terms of speed and accuracy. In this area, it does not disappoint. Navfone was able to show the correct places and map positions almost immediately after I performed searches of the following: Bird Park, 46 Lor 5 Toa Payoh, Marina Bay Financial Centre, Maju Camp, Iluma.

Searching "46 Toa Payoh Lorong 5"

Searching "Maju Camp"

In terms of features, Navfone was also quite basic but I feel that it has stayed focused on the more practical toggles such as Avoid ERP/Toll, Reroute, and Audio cue intervals of 200m, 500m and 1km. Having used the Garmin 255W previously, I can appreciate this fuss-free approach.

Again, showing off its local pedigree, Navfone is able to toggle between various audio languages such as English, Chinese, Bahasa Malay or Bahasa Indonesia.

Under Planner, besides the usual choice of routing from a start point to a destination, there is also the ability to run a simulation of the route. This is useful if you need to review your route in your office or home (without GPS coverage indoors) before setting off on your journey.

Headquartered in Singapore, AGIS was founded in 2000 and now has over 50 experts in GIS across the region, with subsidiaries in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Besides the Navfone Singapore app, it has also released apps for other areas such as Malaysia, Bali, Luzon, Cebu, Java, Vietnam and, Trindad and Tobago. There is also an App that covers both Singapore and Malaysia at $14.99, whereas the Singapore app alone will cost $9.99.

The Navfone app is fairly usable for those who value an accurate and fast search engine, and it has a basic interface that is intuitive and easily usable (due to the lack of fanciful features). The maps are less colourful and detailed than its competitors but that may not be an issue for those who merely want an accurate and responsive voice navigation aid. In addition, the appsize is at a lean 54.2Mb compared to 100-400 Mb for the other better renowned navigation apps.

Note: Version 2.0.11080 was used for this review which has Mapdata dated 8 Feb 2011. The current appstore version is Mar 24, 2011.