I have only ever owned two brands of smartphones – Blackberries and iPhones. I’m an Apple fan; I love Apple products and I’ve owned many of them. Currently, I own an iPad 3, an iPhone 4 and a mid-2012 Macbook Pro –I’m deeply entrenched in the Apple ecosystem and it has worked really well for me. I’ve never had anything favorable to say about Android devices, but I’ve never actually used one extensively either.

I’ve been using a Samsung Galaxy S4 for exactly one week and… wow. Transitioning from a 4  x 5 grid, 640 x 960 pixels, 3.5 inches 1 GHz 2010 iPhone 4 running iOS 6 to a 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.0 inches, Quad-core 1.6 GHz, 2013 Samsung S4 running Android’s Jelly Bean, wow, wow, wow. The difference in specs is ridiculous, but even bigger for me is the difference in operating system functionality.

The  Galaxy S4, Samsung’s latest flagship phone, is the successor to the S3,  a widely popular phone that did really well ( and still does). No doubt one of the best phones to start my Android experience with. My introduction to the S4 and the Android operating system was weird. It went something like ( in this particular order):

1. Yeah! this is a pretty cool phone: The novelty of a new phone, obviously curious and excited to “get into it”.

2, Jesus, I’m overwhelmed; I have no idea where to start: Personalizing the phone was a challenge – you know, the basic things like changing the notification sounds for apps, understanding and utilizing widgets, configuring the home screen etc

3. I hate this damn phone; I’m going back to my iPhone:  After not being able to figure things out, I started to become frustrated. I also missed some iOS features, albeit small ones, but sometimes small features are the best ones; features you’ll never miss until you don’t have them anymore. The openness of Android vs Apple’s closed restricted approach is really what sets both platforms apart. Both have their pros and cons. I’ll give examples. Because of Apple’s “closed” approach you’ll find that your experience on the platform is usually consistent, i.e if you’re using a third party or a system application you can be guaranteed that some procedures will always be the same, one such example of this is copying and pasting. The procedure of copying and pasting is the same, no matter what application you use.

Another system-wide feature that I love is tapping the status bar in iOS to “jump to the top” of an application. So, let’s say you’re scrolling through some pictures on instagram and you want to get back to the top of the page, you would simply tap the status bar once and it will instantly bring you back to the top of the page. Those are examples  of  benefits to Apple’s closed nature; a consistent and predictable experience. Now because of this closed approach, iOS is not without its limitations.  A couple of which are: system apps like the  native calendar, calculator, email, photos, messages, camera etc cannot be changed from being your default app. So, let’s say you downloaded a third party calendar app. You would not be able to set said app as your default application.

These are some of the many annoyance of iOS, but I forgot about those annoyances briefly while using Android. Unlike iOS, you don’t have a consistent experience across applications. For example, copying/pasting text may vary from app to app. I found this extremely annoying. There’s also no streamlined way to jump to the top of an application.

4. Ok, I’m starting to figure things out. It’s not so bad:  I decided to look past this and focus more on the virtues of the phone and realized there were many that I liked. Some of which are Android features while others are specific to the Samsung S4.

5. Wow, I love this phone: I love the LED light on the front of the phone that can flash in any color you want ( a particular color can represent a specific notification), I love the S4′s brilliant 5″ AMOLED screen, the battery life is amazing – with tethering on, screen brightness at 100%, GPS on and other features I still managed to go through a whole day with battery life left ( from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM). I love airview, but found the other features that Samsung is pushing to be gimmicky. I should also note that these features are limited to system apps.  Widgets can be really useful on a phone with a screen as big as the Samsung s4′S. See my schedule and my to-do list at a glance is really useful, unlike on iOS where I have to actually open the application to see appointments and to-dos. The ability to add widgets to the lock screen is also a plus.

Another general Android feature that I like is the interconnectivity between apps. This is a really powerful feature that has me hooked. Let’s say you took a picture from your iPhone’s camera and you wanted to edit it. To do this you’d have 1. Take the picture, 2. Open the app you want to edit it in, 3. Browse for the picture in the app 3. Open and edit. The process would be the same for other applications. If you wanted to upload it to Dropbox for example, you would need to actually open dropbox and find the picture to upload it. I should also mention that you’re limited to uploading videos and photos in iOS ( You can however get around this with a little hackery)

On Android the process is much easier. You would simply take the picture and share with any application that supports it. Whether it’s sending it to dropbox, twitter, your picture editing app or wherever.

The S4′s camera is great, but I’ve chosen not to focus on features that have been widely reviewed  elsewhere online.

To conclude, The Samsung 4S is a really powerful phone that can be overwhelming at first, but you’ll grow to love it more everyday. If you’re an iPhone user and you’re considering an Android phone to switch to this would be a safe bet. You’ll miss a couple iOS features at first, but you’ll love the openness of Android.

  Disclosure: My Samsung Galaxy S4 was a gift from Samsung. This, however, did not influence how I reviewed the phone. 

These figures may seem negligible to many, but they add up. Especially if you do point of sales transactions regularly. Let’s say you use your scotia card  on average once daily, that’s $115.5 weekly, $511,50 monthly or $6,022.50 yearly. Many of us more than one bank so that’s a conservative figure. Also take into consideration ABM charges etc. Another good thing about tracking bank charges is that it’s easy for them to charge you in error without you noticing, especially if you have large balances.

I will add more banks to this chart in the future and also update them as the bank changes them.

Notes

Feel free to scrutinize my figures. 

The figures quoted from Scotia are for their regular savings account.

You can avoid Scotiabank’s charges (for their POS and ATMs) with their Electronic Access Account with a flat figure of  $190 per month

You can avoid all of NCB’s charges (for their POS and ATMs) with their midas plus facility. Unlike Scotia’s $190 charge, NCB’s MPF is free.

Scotiabank charges 2% for all online visa debit transactions.

Scotiabank’s and First Global’s fees will be raised as of May 1, 2013. Chart shows new fees.

If your Jamaica National account goes below $2,500 JM $75 is deducted monthly.

Sources:

NCB Fee guide: http://jncb.com/docs/NCB_Fee_Guide.pdf

First Global Bank: http://www.firstglobal-bank.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=95&cat=1  (Rates are being modified on May 1, 2013, table reflects such. )

ScotiaBank:  http://www.scotiabank.com/intl/jm/PDF/about/Schedule_of_rates_v5.pdf (Rates are being upgraded on May 1, 2013), table reflects said charges. )

First Caribbean: http://www.cibcfcib.com/uploads/pdf/Schedule%20of%20Charges/Personal%20Banking/Jamaica-Schedule_of_Charges-Retail.pdf

RBC: http://www.rbtt.com/jm/personal/file-706105.pdf

Jamaica National: I couldn’t find a fee guide from their website so I got the information from their customer. The name of the CSR that I spoke to was Kimberley. Customer care # is 1876- 5343

VMBS:  http://vmbuildingsociety.vmbs.com/express_24_abm.php

1. “Networking” at parties is a joke. They’re usually large, loud and nobody’s going to pay any attention to you if they don’t already know you. Owen “Blakka” Ellis responded to this tweet with a line that I liked. “…Folks whispering in your ear, with liquor etc on their breath isn’t networking, it’s ‘not working‘ ”

2. If there’s somebody you want to meet and you have a mutual friend ask them to introduce you. If the person you’re asking thinks you’re a joke they’re not going to put their name on the line for you. You screw up, they look bad. If the person that’s doing the introduction isn’t respected by the person you want to be introduced to then…yeah.

3. Your online reputation matters. Trust me, it matters. Thankfully there are many tools at your disposal to showcase yourself, talents, services etc online. If you don’t have anything to showcase….well. A good starting point is a domain name that bears your name (e.g marcgayle.com, francinederby.com, shanakaybarnett.com, ryanmattis.com etc). A friend of mine, Kimroy Bailey has been doing a great job at this. Check out his blog, twitter page and facebook page for inspiration. If you’re looking for a job this is a great way to impress your potential employer. I inadvertently started working on my online reputation at 15 years old. This has paid off big time for me. Hint, do a google search for “Gordon Swaby” and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

4. Volunteer your time and/or work for free. Great way to get some experience and meet new people. Among other benefits. (hint: Do some reading on The Rule of Reciprocity)

5. Try not to step on too many toes. “Too many” because you’re going to step on toes,  it’s inevitable.  ( I have a lot of stories about this, but that’s for some future blog post.)

6. It’s your duty to be aware of what is happening in the country (and other countries too) that you live in. Holding your own in a conversation is very important and first impressions matter. Keep informed.

7. And finally….READ. Read the Observer, read the Gleaner. Read tech blogs, read international news, read books etc. No better way to get smart [er].

I have been training for Sigma Corporate run, but it has been extremely difficult for me to get myself into the habit of getting up and running each morning. I knew what the ultimate goal is. The ultimate goal is being fit enough to complete the 5k race, but that was a huge goal with no milestones on the way there, I wasn’t motivated and the task seemed insurmountable. It’s easy to say you want to be rich, do a 5K race, do well in school etc, but if you don’t set specific goals it’s going to be extremely hard for you to accomplish anything.

For my 5K race:

specific: I know I wanted to run non-stop from point A to point B. I wasn’t concerned about my speed ( that’s another goal), but getting from point a to b was the first specific goal. Achieve one, move on to the other. Simple.

measurable: Via the nike+ running app

achievable: Broken down into small specific chunks. Be realistic.Not setting myself  up for disappointment.

time-targeted: The race is on February 17, 2013.  I have 15 days to prepare and I know what I want to accomplish and by when which will prepare me for the big day.

These are principles that you can apply to anything. Work, relationships, exercising etc.

Setting goals is giving yourself direction.

And an amazing year it was. I crossed off another thing from my list of life goals ( I call it my life wireframe).  I think a large part of being an entrepreneur is having confidence. You have to to envision it before you say it (out loud or type it) and you have to believe it before you do it. I believe in myself and my  my ability to work hard and accomplish the goals I set for myself. We’re all great in our own way and it’s a shame that many people (especially people I know) don’t see greatness that they posses.

On March 15, 2012, I launched EduFocal,  my technology/education startup at the Jamaica Pegasus (pictures here) with the help of my girlfriend , my parents, Paul Allen, Shane Shipston and many, many, many other people. I won’t write at length about EduFocal here because it deserves a post of its own. Running a company has been hard, but gratifying and totally worth it. I’ve made a lot of great decisions, but I’ve also made many mistakes, each time learning from them.  2012 was about starting, 2013 will be about growth, not only for my company, but also me.  I don’t fight my battles alone, I have an amazing board (Peter Levy (CEO, BCIC), Wayne Robinson (Founder/Principal, Quality Academics), Lloyd Swaby (my father), Grace Lindo (Associate, Nunes, Scholefield, DeLeon & Co.), Chad Cunningham (CEO/Founder, Jamdeal.com) and Maxwell Jardim (Director, Rainforest Seafoods).

Personally, I have a lot of support from my girlfriend, family and friends.

My year is really ending on a high note when on November 29 I will collect an award for being selected as one of the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica 50UnderFifty awardees. I really am honored to be selected with so many other amazing Jamaicans.

2012 was amazing, 2013 is going to be even better. Let’s go!

Let’s start by saying, CUSTOMER SERVICE IN JAMAICA IS HORRENDOUS!!!! — *breathe*, *deep inhale,…… long exhale*.

I’m writing this blog to express my utter, thorough disgust with the customer service offered by 2 of our country’s leading financial institutions. Now, as I am unfamiliar with the defamation laws that exist in Jamaica, I will refrain from calling the names of the financial institutions. In my own interest, I will refer to them as BCN and SNB.
My engagement with them is as a result of an opportunity given to me by my employer to partake of an interest free (yes 0% interest) 10yr motor-vehicle loan. In order to take up this opportunity, I would have to change the current loan agreement from BCN and move it to SNB, as BCN does not take second lien on motor vehicle loans, and my employer has to have first lien on the vehicle.
Not to bore you too much with the process, let’s just say that getting all the technicalities sorted out, has taken me a total of 3months …and counting. I’m still trying to ponder the exact reasons but I have narrowed it down to these:
1. The people in the banks are unfamiliar with the process
2. The people in the banks are clearly incompetent
3. I must be so handsome that they insist on seeing my ‘Adonis’ face over & over again to handle matters that could have been completed in a month maximum.

I’ve rounded it down to #3 for my own narcissistic reasonsJ. But that has not quelled my frustrations.

………………Hold up!………………. #pauses…………yeah, had to stare at that sexy woman that just darted elegantly across the banking hall. “God is truly amazing” J…………..but back to the topic at hand.

In all honesty, this process has taken sooooo long to complete, I believe it is attributed to the staff clearly knowing nothing about customer service. I dare say, were it another industry, where pleasing the customer was tantamount, they would be that lady on the ‘stump’ who gets no customers all night weekly, and in awe as to why. -___-.
In trying to execute my business, I have had to contend with extended “3-5 working days Sir” waits, that seem to never occur in under 10 working days, and not to mention, the always present “Oh, you also need to carry in XYZ document” – something that could have been provided on my first visit to both institutions. Oh, and each time I have to bring in an “additional” document, it extends the duration of “3-5″ working days.

Then there is always the lack of “follow-up” from the institutions. It is my strong belief that if a customer has requested a document or for any service to be provided and a deadline is given, then by the expiration of the deadline, or preferably before, some communication is to be had with the client or customer, informing him/her of any delays. Customer “servants” are to also be courteous and inform the client that any delay of service is unexpected and will be rectified with expediency.

I know we’re working on standardising patois, but it’s extremely hard to read. It’s also very dynamic – new words are seemingly created monthly via the Dancehall genre.

I’m not against teaching students English with patois, but I’m also not for it. I’m mostly neutral right now. But the status quo isn’t working so a change needs to happen, I’m just not sure how teaching students in patois is going to work, but research has been done and I’d love to know more. If you’re more informed than me, shed some light in the comments section.

English A is offered at the CSEC level on EduFocal ¹ We collect data on every student’s performance and I’ll be more than willing to share this data with the Ministry in a few months (not an individual student, in aggregate). When you’re testing students electronically nothing is missed, so those results will be interesting to analyse.

We contend that Jamaica has entrepreneurs equivalent in talent to our top athletes, particularly Mr Usian Bolt and Mrs Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. What we have not had, and desperately need, is a public policy and a system which identify entrepreneurs, nurture them with training, and support their development with resources until they achieve international competitiveness.

From today’s Jamaica Observer editorial. I briefly mentioned having something like this on All Angles earlier this week (albeit specific to tech entrepreneurs), but unfortunately I didn’t get the opportunity to elaborate on it (9: 08 to 9:45, see interview here)

Give the article a read.

★

I just came from lunch with Chad Cunningham and Gordon Swaby. We are trying to figure out, and put into words, the issues facing tech (more specifically internet/web) companies in Jamaica for a meeting with a government official coming up shortly.

Blog post coming out of a great meeting with two friends today. A thought of mine inspired this blog post. Please read.

★

Before I go much further, I would like to express my gratitude to the G2K for inviting me to speak. I am certainly honored.

The Way Forward – Mission of this Generation
The theme that I was asked to speak on has very special meaning to me.

Special because for me, it has always been and will always be about the way forward. Aware and informed about the past, aware of our challenges, our successes and our failures, all of which have helped to shape Jamaica into the nation that it is today. I’m not old enough to be jaded by Jamaica’s past, but I’m still young enough to make a difference, a big difference.

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world” is a quote that I think my counterparts and I epitomize, each day I wake, I try to be that change that I so desperately want to see in Jamaica. I sometimes complain, I sometimes become frustrated, but mostly I work, contribute and keep myself productive because I want to leave this world knowing that I made a difference, a part of the solution and not a part of the problem, for my children, my children’s children, for Jamaica

Many of us are working hard to see real change in Jamaica. Whether it’s Tyrone Wilson from E-Media interactive – a young multimedia company that is paving the way for new Media in Jamaica which employs over 8 people.

Wayne Jones Jnr from Hybrid Solutions, who is pioneering mobile technology apps in Jamaica.

Alex Morissey from Jamaicansmusic, a premiere reggae portal with an audience of over 2 million people

The Moore brothers with Play Jamaica, Sandor Panton with Top5 Jamaica, Ingrid Riley with Kingston Beta and so many others.

We often worry about our talented people leaving our shores to help other countries grow, but many have stayed, many are staying because they love Jamaica and know that they can do a world of good for many here. Others, who have chosen to leave are representing us proudly and are doing immense good from afar.

As Martin Luther King said so eloquently
Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation.

We’re not short on problems in Jamaica, but we’re also not short on opportunities.

Where the average person sees a problem, as an entrepreneur, I see opportunity, an opportunity to earn, an opportunity to create jobs, an opportunity to solve a problem

and an opporuntity to make a difference.

My focus for the last 2 years through my company, EduFocal, has been about leveraging technology in education, specifically with the use of the internet.

I remember, not so long ago when I was connecting to the internet at 25 kilo bits per second, now I’m connecting at 12,000 kbps.
For the benefit of the not so techie people in the room, when you’re connecting to the internet at 25kbps a 5 minute youtube video can take over 6 or 7 minutes to load. Now, in 2012 it takes seconds. I can still remember when I could barely find any Jamaicans online, now there are over 600,000 Jamaicans living in Jamaica on facebook. Jamaicans are embracing the internet and now we need to show them how they can use it to earn and create employment for others.

In the year of our 50th anniversary Jamaica has some of the fastest internet speeds in the world and almost 100% island-wide internet penetration via Digicel’s 4G. This, in my eyes is progress. Without these advancements I could not be an internet entrepreneur in Jamaica today. With that said we have a lot of work to do, internet connection prices still need to come down, the price of hardware needs to go down, people need to be trained and so much more, but as I said earlier, all of these problems are opportunities for industrious and creative thinking people to solve. Jamaica is almost 50 and we’re definitely on a mission.

Nobody has ever changed anything by remaining quiet, idly standing by, or remaining part of the faceless, voiceless masses. If you ever want to effect change, in your work, in your life, you must learn to persuade others.

And I want to do just that, persuade my family, friends and everyone else around me to be great, to believe that Jamaica can be the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business.