iPhone5 Cheap and iPhone5 Standard?

Apple released two of the same product today: the iPhone is now available as an iPhone5C or an iPhone5S. Everyone’s chiming in on what do C and S stand for, and we’re all having a riot filling in the meaning. Much like when the iPad came out.

iPhone5C may very well mean ‘color’ but having a plastic body means it’s looking pretty cheap — meant for the consumer market. Meanwhile, the classier/’standard’ iPhone, the iPhone5S gets a new security feature through its new fingerprint scanner integrated into the home button.

So, what’s so wrong about it?

Apple is losing money, I reckon, because of Android and the great number of handset manufacturers adopting it as their operating system. Nokia, of course, still maintains its Symbian units but until the recent acquisition by Microsoft, we think we all know how it’s going to be pretty soon. Perhaps as a last hurrah for the generations of their feature phones, the premium Nokia 515 made its debut a couple of weeks back and it really isn’t a bad move, in my opinion, most specially since we’ve been drowning in everything ‘smart’. It was quite a refreshing idea.

iPhone 5C, image from engadget.com

I don’t know if Apple felt threatened or if it’s running out of ideas. But releasing two models of the same product — a product that has a loyal following — is like being betrayed for your years of loyalty. You stick with them and buy the product because it’s a flagship premium product and then they say, “Oh, we can make more money if we sell the premium product and lower our standards a bit. Yeah. Let’s make it cheaper so we can make more money and get a bulk of consumers on our side! Let’s do that! As for our loyal ones, yeah… we have this new feature for yah. Enjoy!”

If I were a real Apple fan, I would be fuming right now.

Building a New Home PC

I’ve been planning to build a new home PC that could handle most of the needs nowadays, i.e. torrents, watching movies, and playing games. I’d like to compartmentalize work into the laptop and nowhere else. The PC that will be staying at home will be for backup of the files on the laptop but will not be used primarily for work. So because of this, I needed the PC to be not so power-hungry but good enough to handle some form of work.

HTPC builders recommend mostly an i5 for those who want an all-around-er for the home but that would seem a bit too much power for my needs. A little more future-proof perhaps but I don’t see myself as a gamer so I thought I’d stick to being practical. So I got the Asus E35M1-M by mistake. I actually asked the purchasing office to get me the Pro but they only had this instead. Goodbye USB3.0. (deep sigh)

Still, it wasn’t really bad. I’ll try to find the other components I need. So far, I have the Asus Fusion board, 8 Gb of RAM and 1 Tb Hard Drive. I’m still contemplating on whether to get an ITX for better stowage in the living room or an mATX for better ventilation as the Asus E35M1-M doesn’t include a fan. They also say that ‘generic’ power supplies will be enough for this kind of setup but I’m not that sure… but I’ll look into it.

Counterfeit Nokia BP-4L Battery?

I needed to replace my BP-4L battery so I bought one from those mall stalls. It’s one thing that they admit that they only sell imitation electronics and gadgets but it’s a different matter when you pass-off something as “original” or a genuine product when it’s really not. We hear this often as “Class A” products.

I bought this one and was told that this was “original” from Nokia. I had my doubts so I still haggled with the price a little. After opening and comparing my original BP-4L with the one from the box, it was somehow pretty evident that they were just after my money. Here are some shots I took for you to compare:

Although it may not seem fair because I’m comparing one battery that came with my Nokia phone with a replacement battery, I would think that Nokia produces the same batteries with their genuine enhancements/accessories and would differ very slightly from the ones pre-packed in the units they are selling.

First sign was the label. If you’ve heard of RTFM when having a problem, you should RTFL (label) when buying stuff. Or maybe that’s just my way of saying “Read the Fine Print” 😀 I hope you don’t buy stuff like this anytime soon.

By the way, Happy Holidays!

Why buy a PSU when your case already is supplied with one?

It’s been generally an issue, most specially with those building budget-PCs, is the PSU. Often, this component of the computer gets overlooked. Yes, you buy a neat motherboard, the best ‘bang for the buck’ AMD processor (sorry Intel, I like AMDs) and RAM, and yet, you settle for your PC case’s bundled Power Supply Unit (PSU). Now, lemme see… If I were an ordinary user, I don’t think I’ll ever use up all the 500Watts that the PSU ‘can handle’. But if you’re a gamer, an overclocker, or a performance user, then it would be easy to gobble up all the 500 Watts (which is actually just about 300 Watts if you really test your PSU). But is is just that?

Heart vs. Head

Does it make sense, now, to own a separate organizer when smartphones are the latest thing in technology? It’s nothing really… it’s just that I’m one of those sorry losers who can’t affort to buy them fancy Apple iPhones, Samsung Omnia, Nokia 5800 or Nseries but still want to keep organized. And lives the digital lifestyle!

My latest temptation — the old Zire 22 by Palm. It still looks cool, it’s quite presentable. And if you get tired of the white color, bring it to Gmask and choose the skin for you!

The 3M MPro 110 MicroProjector

It’s amazing how technology is going through so much micro-miniaturization that now, even a portable projector is now available!!!

iPhone: cool or uncool?

I’ve always liked to watch Top Gear from the BBC. I’m a big fan of supercars and, well, cars in general. Anyway, they have a segment on the show for “the Cool Wall” where they post the cars and categorize them as Seiously Uncool, Uncool, Cool, and Sub-zero. I just thought I’d toy with it (I hope I don’t have any copyright infringement cases knocking soon) and apply it to the gadgets I’ve seen, I’ve had, and those that I don’t have but want.

And just like in the program, It’s not about how ‘good’ they are but simply how cool they are. Of course, as the “Jeremy Clarkson” of this blog, your opinion might differ from mine but this is my Cool Wall so it doesn’t count. LOL…

Today, I pick up the iPhone. It’s looks sleek, it’s got a good feel to it. Weighs just right, fits the hand nicely, nice curves, brilliant screen. But it’s Uncool.

tad too late?

i’ve never been attracted to the iPod thing before. I always though of them as expensive, overpriced music players that lacked the functionality of a phone for the steep price. I dreamed of owning one because 1.)it looked cool and 2.)it’s a status symbol. Of course, who wouldn’t want to be part of the ‘elite’ in a third-world country where Macs and iPods are for the rich and famous?

But i had to settle for those generic mp3 players made in China that had LCD screens on them too. OK, so they weren’t as sophisticated and hi-tech as the iPods but they followed functionality over form (but not quality, i guess. :P). They stored music, videos (but in their own format, unfortunately), pictures, files, and had voice recording capabilities! It even had an FM radio tuner! And I could just plug it in a USB port and drag-and-drop files… iPod doesn’t do that. It requires you to have iTunes installed. You need mp3 files and have to convert wma to aac or mp3 first. and no radio! GRRRRRRR…

eneloop

OK, so now i have new digital camera. And expenses on batteries are summing up to a hefty price tag. And that’s a bad thing.

I initially thought of having ordinary Alkaline batteries for use with the camera well, since i wasn’t going to use it often. I thought that I’d just be using it occasionally — during birthdays, during special events, during swimming parties, etc. But in the end, I ended up using it every day! I took pictures on the bus, I took pictures of my room, I took pictures of the garden, I want to take pictures of the house, I took pictures of the road, I took pictures of the office grounds, I even took a picture of my coffee mug! And I’m officially a snap-happy individual! I’m a shutter-click-aholic. I’m not a cam whore. I just lurve taking pictures!

So now, I was resolved in buying rechargeable batteries. And, after Google-ing stuff and doing a little research, I finally decided to get Sanyo eneloop rechargeable batteries. Well, they claim to last longer in storage than your conventional rechargeables. You lose 25% of your battery charge in 6 months in ordinary ones but you lose just 5% on eneloops. How convenient for the ‘occasional’ photographer!

I now own 2 pairs of eneloops for backup power while keeping another pair of ordinary but 2700mAh rechargeables. eneloops are 2000mAh by the way. That’ll keep me clicking happily for a long time without charging I guess. 🙂

Now What?

Finally, we have DSL connection at home!!!

Our current provider told us that their new ‘system’ isn’t supporting our old telephone line anymore. Ours had an antenna at the top of the house which was due to the desire of our provider to continue servicing the people in our area but not risking getting their phone lines destroyed by land slides, hence, this cellphone-slash-land line.

One problem… NO PC!

I’m still building my practical PC. salary isn’t enough to buy the components yet since I’m partially supporting my girl’s finances. So that’s the dilemma. Should I get a loan now? Hmmm… better borrow that credit card from my bestfriend. 😀