What's the deal with WhatsApp?

So many people give high praise to this app as if it's the greatest thing since sliced-bread. Here's how WhatsApp is advertised on their website (www.whatsapp.com)

WhatsApp Messenger is a smartphone messaging app which allows you to exchange messages with your friends and contacts without having to pay for SMS. WhatsApp Messenger is cross platform and available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Nokia (beta) and yes, those phones can all message each other! To send and receive messages, WhatsApp utilizes your existing smartphone internet data plan: 3G/EDGE (or Wi-Fi when available)

So, I don't understand what's the appeal?

1. It advertises itself as a cross-platform smartphone messaging app that utilizes your data connection so you don't have to pay for SMS. Every smartphone platform already comes built-in with such an app. It's called email.

2. Let's be honest with ourselves. WhatsApp is an instant messaging application. Every smartphone platform has apps for the main instant messaging applications already (ie, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, Yahoo, etc)

3. WhatsApp uses your mobile phone number as your user-ID. An instant messaging service provider has no business knowing your mobile number. So, there's actually a privacy/security concern here.

4. WhatsApp is in trial mode for Android. So it's currently free. But it costs US$1 for the iOS and this will certainly be the same for Android soon. Why pay for an app when you already have the functionality native on your device? Who would ever pay just for an instant messaging app? There's not even a desktop client!

In response to the comments:

Using your phone number is the reall clever bit. It means you can instantly see all your friends who also use it instead of having to find out their usernames. It is only an IM app but it's useful because so many people do use it across all platforms.

Like I said, using your phone number is a privacy risk. How do we, as users, know what the guys at WhatsApp are doing with all this information? They can be selling it to telemarketers for all we know.
If WhatsApp is useful only because so many people use it across all platforms, then it will never be as useful as email. Email is used by everyone and it's supported on more platforms.

Alot, if not most of the Mobile IM clients are not always on (i.e., working in the background), you need to sign in to WLM or Yahoo! Messenger. WhatsApp is always working in the background therefore you get the message exactly when it is written. Thats a huge selling feature!!

Yes, for all IM clients, the user has to sign in. Having to sign in is not a flaw. It's an option the application allows the user. You also have the option to sign out. Also, most IM clients include the option to automatically sign in. (Strange enough, you don't have the option to sign out of WhatsApp.)
With Windows Mobile or Android, once you sign in with your IM client, you just leave it in the background. As long as you don't reboot your phone, you are always signed in. I can't say the same for iOS though. So perhaps, this application is really for iOS users because they can't multitask properly?

I still fail to see how WhatsApp is better than email, which:
- is also instant.
- has no limitation on the type of attachments.
- is a native feature to every smartphone. You don't have to pay for and use a separate application.
- doesn't even require you to "add" a person. Just begin typing the recipients name and every smartphone will autocomplete the field for you if you have that person's email in your contact list. If you don't have the person's email in your contact list, just type the address.
- is not only cross-smartphone platform; it is truly cross-platform. Email can be accessed on smartphones, dumbphones, and computers.

Update
I'm getting multiple comments with various insults over this. They're not published because they're simply not constructive. The main purpose of this article is not to say that WhatsApp is terrible. I'm just trying to say WhatsApp is redundant and I find it odd that people are paying for what's essentially an application that provides you with a functionality they already have. So if anyone has an opposing view, then please, let's discuss because I would be interested to know why exactly is this app so popular.
From the comments so far, I respect the following reasons for using WhatsApp:
- Your contacts list is not populated with email addresses.
- You like the IM-style of WhatsApp but don't like to sign in to other IM apps.

Update #2
Wow. I just realized that WhatsApp on Android is free for the first year and then $1.99 per year thereafter. There's a subscription fee and there are still people who use this? It's just appalling to me that people will pay an annual fee for instant messaging.

Update #3
Lots of comments flooding in about how Whatsapp is better than email because of the IM nature of the app. Ok, I get that. Look through the comments and I've conceded that IM is better than email when it comes to chatting.
The reason I initially use email as a point of reference is because email is native to every single smartphone. There's not a single smartphone that doesn't support push email. If you have to open up your inbox to refresh it to see if you have any new emails, then you've set up your account the wrong way. So if you want to send and receive messages or files instantly, you don't need a third party app for it.
But if IM is your cup of tea, why not stick with Google Talk or Windows Live Messenger? There are numerous reputable IM cients available for free. Why support these guys over at Whatsapp?
Also, the previous argument against using other IM apps is that they drain battery. Not anymore. Both Android and iOS support push messaging background services. In fact, Whatsapp uses the same service.

Update #4
Commentors, please stop comparing Whatsapp with SMS. Whatsapp is not SMS, is not emulating SMS, and has nothing to do with SMS.
Can it replace SMS? Sure, but so can every other IM client out there. And they're free, more secure, and more fully featured.
Is a $1.00 one-time fee or a $1.99 annual-subscription a lot of money? No, not at all. But it's all relative. Consider what you're getting before paying for it. If everyone else is offering the same (and better) product without charging for it, what's the logic in paying for an inferior alternative?
It's like if your neighbor bought an ambulance and decided to announce to everyone that he's going to offer ambulatory services. He'll charge you a few bucks and bring you to the nearest hospital. Sure, it's not a lot of money. But why not just call 911?

MiLi Power Miracle HB-B20 Review

Mili advertises this as an "External Power Bank for Digital Products". This is essentially just an external battery. You charge it and it will charge your other devices. If you tend to wander away from a power source for long periods of time, this will come in handy for charging your mobile devices.

Here are the official specs:
Capacity:2000mAh Input: 5V-0.5A(Max.)
Output: 5V-1A(Max.) Charging time:5.4 hours
Self power consumption Time: Up to 5000 hours
Product Dimension:86(L)×48(D)×17(T)mm
Package Dimension:198×110×24mm
Inner Box Dimension:400×208×120mm,15pcs
Carton Dimension:431×415×255mm,60pcs
Gross Weight:10kgs/22.05lb

Here are the Product Features as advertised by Mili:

1. External battery for iPhone*, iPod*,Mobile Phones and other digital products.
2. Small, convenient, easy to use, high capacity.
3. Use USB cable to charge MiLi Power Miracle.
4. 4 LED power indicators.

Other than the device itself, it comes packaged with the following:

• USB cable that allows you to plug different types of tips to support multiple devices.
• It includes tips to support proprietary ports from Apple, LG, Samsung, and Nokia. It also has tips to support the universal standards of MiniUSB and MicroUSB.
• Microfiber pouch.

The device itself. It's just a battery brick. It's small and light. It's about 3/4 of the size of my HTC Desire. There's a single button on the face of the device flanked by 4 LED indicators. Pressing the button will light up the LEDs to indicate how much charge is left. Each LED indicates 25% charge. On the bottom of the device, there are 2 ports. One is an output port which will accept a normal USB. The other port is for input which will accept MiniUSB. There's nothing else on the device. The rest of the device has a shiny plastic finish.

Charging the battery. In order to use the battery, it must first be charged. To do this, you need to plug a MiniUSB cable into the battery with the other end connected to a power source. If you're going to do this as intended by the manufacturer, you'll plug the MiniUSB tip into the provided USB cable. Then plug the MiniUSB end into the battery's input port while the other end goes into a PC's USB port. As noted in the specs, this can take over 5 hours to charge.
I personally use a Blackberry charger which ends in a MiniUSB tip. The other end goes directly into a wall socket. This shortens the charging time to under an hour. It would have made sense for Mili to include a wall charger.

Charging your device with the battery. Plug the USB end of the provided cable into the output port. Use the appropriate tip for your device and just plug it in. The charging process begins automatically. Simple and easy.

I've tested the battery with an iPod Touch and an HTC Desire. Works wonderfully. It seems to provide enough juice to charge each device up to 2 times. I like how the provided USB cable is coiled to keep everything neat and compact. The rate at which the battery charges my devices was quite impressive. It's on par with directly charging my devices via AC/DC. You can continue to use your mobile device while charging via the battery with no ill-effects. It will charge faster than you can discharge it through your usage.

The Good

• Easy to use.
• Support for multiple types of devices.
• Compact and light.
• The provided pouch is quite nice. Handy for preventing you from losing all those connectors.
• Inexpensive. I purchased it for HK$280 (roughly US$35)

The Bad

• Mili should have provided a wall charger. Charging through a PC's USB port is simply too slow.

More camera gear: Nikkor 35mm f/1.8

I told myself I was not going to get more camera gear. But gosh darn it, I couldn't resist.

I got myself the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 lens.

Reason? It's relatively inexpensive; and I wanted to shoot without flash with indoor-lighting. The use my SB-400 speedlight to bounce the flash was great. But there are times when I just don't want flash. I figured my babies would appreciate being shot without flash as well.

While it's certainly significantly better in low-light conditions compared to my 18-55mm, it's still a thousand times better when used with flash.

The sharpness with the 35mm is remarkable. I also appreciate that it's much more compact than the 18-55mm. This is definitely a lens that I should have bought a long time ago. Unless I want to shoot at a wider angle, the 18-55mm lens is going to be on the back-burner gathering dust.

Here's a test shot with the 35mm (resized 25%).

Here's the same shot with my 18-55mm set at the same focal length.

HTC Desire experience - Custom ROM

A day after rooting, I've taken another step forward in modding my Android device. I went ahead and installed a custom ROM (ie, LeeDrOiD).

I went through all this trouble with rooting and flashing my device; and for what? Just these 3 tiny reasons:

1. Battery indicator showing 1% increments - This feature should be standard on all devices. Without rooting, I would have to install a separate app to achieve similar functionality. I use to use Battery Indicator which shows the battery reading in the taskbar. But it's in addition to the default indicator; it doesn't replace it.

2. Access to paid apps in the Android Market - When I decided that I wanted access to paid apps, I didn't actually have something in mind I want to purchase. I just wanted the option to do so. The HTC Desire already has most of the apps I ever need preinstalled. For most of everything else, there are free selections readily available on the Android Market. To date, I've purchased just 3 Android apps.

Beautiful Widgets: I bought this several months ago when I was in NY and I had access to paid apps (legitimately). I use this only sometimes. I switch to this when I use alternative launchers which doesn't include HTC Sense widgets.

Documents-To-Go: Sure, it's expensive at US$9.99. But this is definitely worth it if you want to do any office document editing on-the-go. I bought this a day after I bought my phone. Thankfully, you don't need access to paid Android apps to buy it. You just download the free version off the Android Market and then pay at DataViz's site to get a registration code.

Fruit Ninja: First app I purchased after rooting and using Market Enabler. Just a silly casual game. It's cheap and fun! 

3. Ability to install all apps to microSD - I find this to be a bit overrated. I find the internal memory capacity just fine for my use. After installing all the apps I need, I find myself still with about 20-30MB free. But I see how this can become a problem for some who needs a ton of apps. Now with all my apps moved over to the microSD, I have about 90-100MB free. But I now have to seriously consider getting a larger capacity card because my 8GB card is about 70% full with all my media and apps.

Can't say anything else about the custom ROM. It's suppose to perform better but I can't really tell from day-to-day use. But performance was never really an issue on stock ROM. Apart from the above 3 items, I just need stability. As long is it doesn't crash on me, it's fine.

Finally rooted my HTC Desire

Back in my Windows Mobile days, I would be flashing new ROMs every other week or so. But ever since the switch the Android, I've not tinkered too much with my phone anymore. Mostly, it's because the device works just fine right out-of-the-box. That's not something you can say about Window Mobile devices...

Anyway, I've finally decided to root my device. It's not because I want to flash custom ROMs. It's just because I want to access the Android Market for paid apps. Currently, Hong Kong is not in the list of countries that Google has approved for paid apps. Using unrEVOked, the entire process was a breeze. It took about 10 minutes (8 of those minutes were for waiting for the downloads and reboots). There was very little user input required...

I then installed Market Enabler and voila. Done. I can now finally purchase apps from the Android Market.

This seems to be something that everyone must do. It's just too easy. It doesn't hard reset your device, so all your data is intact. There's really no reason why not to do it.

Over the next few weeks, I'll finally look into custom ROMS...

New and improved HTC Sense

1. Recent apps now appear in the notification shade. Seems a bit redundant to me when you can get to the same list by holding the Home button.

2. Maps. Offline mapping. Just brilliant.

3. HTC Sense in landscape. Meh. I think I'm in the minority for not feeling excited about this. Sure, it makes sense to have your homescreen in landscape mode if you're using a qwerty slider. But for those of us who uses a slab device, this is just meh...

4. Changes in the Mail application. I hope they changed more than just adding a "compose mail" button when viewing the inbox. currently, the HTC Mail application is not bad so, I'm eager to see what improvements they can manage.

5. Fast boot up. Videos are all over showing how the Desire Z and Desire HD boot up in just several seconds. I have my doubts on this. Seems to me that the devices are just waking from a deep stand-by state. I'd like to see the battery pulled and reseated before booting up to see if it's the real deal.

6. Changes in Camera application. The current HTC Camera application is very basic. I hope the revised version has more tools (ie, templates, stitching, continuous shots, etc).

7. Status updates in caller ID. Meh, this was available since the release of the Wildfire and was included in the official Froyo update for the HTC Desire.

8. Changes in customization. You can now rearrange entire screens which is nice.

9. HTCSense.com. This appears to be HTC's cloud-based service. Seems interesting. I hope this service will be free. Allows you to:
Remotely ring your phone.
Remotely lock and wipe your stolen/lost phone.
Backup data (contacts, call history, messages, etc)
Sharing and editing multimedia. Not sure how this is going to work.

See here for some screenshots.

Thoughts on 2010 iPods

Ah, September. Another refresh of Apple's iPod line-up. Does anyone still use one of these things? Back when it wasn't standard for phones to include a music player, I had an iPod Nano. A couple years back, I wanted to try out iOS so I got a 2nd-gen iPod Touch. Now, my Nano is used by my mom. My iPod Touch stays at home where it only gets used sparingly for games.

iPod Touch

Made for people who want to use iOS but don't want an iPhone. But there are a couple of things Apple left out which is understandable since they probably don't want it cut into their iPhone sales. It doesn't use the new industrial design of the iPhone4. It still has a curved shiny back just like the previous gen iPod Touch. While it has a rear camera capable of capture HD video, it's not a 5MP shooter like on the iPhone4. It captures stills only at 960x720. While I've shown a distaste to the iOS as a smartphone platform, I think it's perfectly fine for a digital music player.

iPod Nano

This is essentially an iPod Shuffle with a touchscreen and up to 16GB of storage. This one seems the most interesting to me. Would be great as a running device. It seems to also have Nike+ built-in. I wonder if Apple would finally decide to give up on using their proprietary dock connector. It just seems very out-of-place on such a small device. Micro or mini USB would have made much more sense.

iPod Shuffle

I never understood the Shuffle lineup. I didn't think it made sense to use a music player without a display right from the start, so there's no way one of these things was going to appeal to me. Then last year, they removed all the buttons from the device and touted it as a feature! This year, they put the buttons back. To me, seems identical to the Shuffle 2 generations ago. It's just very archaic; 2GB storage and no display? Just doesn't make much sense to choose this over the iPod Nano.

I really wonder just how far Apple is willing the push the limits on the design of the iPod Touch and the iPhone. I honestly think that they've hit a wall. I'm not talking about software here. Here are the hardware designs that Apple seems to just refuse to change about those 2 products even though it's evident that they are restricting usage behavior.

3.5" screen
Compared to competitors, this is just too small. Considering the amount of wasted space on the bezel, this is just not acceptable.

Lack of hardware buttons.
On the iPod Touch, you have buttons for standby, volume rockers, and home. The same applies to the iPhone except it also has a switch for toggling between mute and ringer. Seems like they're trying to do too much with too little buttons. You have to use the home button for everything. There's so much space on either side of the home button that it just seems odd not to put more buttons there...

Dock connector
Everyone got the memo about microUSB except Apple...

Non-removable battery
This is just not smart and I can't believe people still put up with it. I can accept a non-removable battery for my music player but definitely not for my smartphone.

Smartphone feature wishlist - HTC Desire

I'm very satisfied with my HTC Desire. But like everyone knows, there's no perfect smartphone. There's always a feature or two missing. Here's a couple of things I wish the HTC Desire had.


Screenshot-taking ability
Requires root access which is quite silly. This is the only reason I'm considering rooting my device. It may be the best thing I've ever done. Will have to see how that goes!

More homescreens
7 Should be more than enough. But apparently, homescreens are like closet space. You can never have enough!

Dedicated dual-action camera hardware button
Pressing the optical pad to activate the camera shutter almost always results in blurry pics. For now, I'll have to settle for pressing directly on the on-screen viewfinder. I wonder if I'm able to somehow map one of the volume rocker keys to do the job...

Longer battery life
Current battery life is barely adequate. Unfortunately, battery technology is lagging behind.

Better video capture capability
Out of the box, the Desire can capture video at 800x480 (WVGA). After the official OTA 2.2 update, it can capture at 720p. I've found that WVGA captures were barely passable with good lighting. With inadequate lighting, framerates dropped and quality is horrible. 720p captures are no different. Instead of crappy video at 800x480, you now have crappy video at 720p.

Use HTC Sense widgets in conjunction with other launchers
I prefer using LauncherPro. But because HTC Sense widgets are tied to the default launcher, I can't use them in LauncherPro. This is the only reason I've not switched over to LauncherPro full-time.

Dedicated call-end hardware button
It would be much more convenient to be able to hit a physical button, hit standby, and slide the device back into the pocket without looking at the screen to verify that I indeed ended the call.

True multi-touch screen
The screen on the HTC Desire is limited to 2 touch points. That's fine for zooming and for typing. But being able to register more than 2 points is crucial for gaming. I'll try to explain in Nintendo terms. With the HTC Desire, you can instruct Mario to run to the right. Using your left thumb, you push the virtual joystick to the right while as the same time, you press the virtual B button with your right thumb. Things get tricky when you try to run and jump at the same time. You cannot hold the virtual B button while pressing the virtual A button. Along with the virtual joystick, that would mean you have 3 points of contact and the device will not register the presses and you will inevitably fall to your doom.

What can my smartphone not do?

I’ve blogged about how the Apple iPhone can’t do this and can’t do that. Here, I'll talk about what my smartphone, the HTC Desire, can't do.

To up the ante, I'm not going to compare the HTC Desire to the iPhone. Doing so wouldn't be fair to the Apple fanboys. I'm going to put my smartphone up against a computer running a desktop OS (desktop, notebook, or netbook running Windows, Linux, or OSX).

Here are the things the HTC Desire can't do when compared to a full PC.

• I can't buy movie tickets online at The Grand Cinema website. I can buy tickets at every other Hong Kong cinema site except that one. None of the other smartphone platforms can do so either.
• There's no optical drive so I can't access optical media.
• Even if I have DVD files, I can't play them because I'm not aware of a DVD player software for Android. The DVD files would first have to be encoded. This brings me to the next item...
• I can't encode video on my HTC Desire. First, there's no encoding software for Android. Second, I can't rip source files from a DVD. Third, CPU is not fast enough. My quadcore desktop CPU that clocks in at 2.5ghz still needs about 40 minutes to convert a movie. Several years ago, my Pentium 3 that ran at 1Ghz took about 6 hours to convert a movie. I don't want to imagine how long a mobile 1Ghz processor would take.
• I can't plug in USB devices (ie, flash memory drives, peripherals, etc).
• I can't perform elaborate photo editing. I can still do basic things like resize, rotate, and crop. I can even edit things like brightness, contrast, and saturation. But I can't do layers, extracting, etc.

That's all. That's the best I can come up with. The first item is the only really disappointing one. The others are things that you wouldn't ever expect a mobile device to do anyway. Can anyone else come up with some more things?

By the way, there are a couple of things that my smartphone can do that surprises even me.

• Edit and create PowerPoint presentation. Even the official Microsoft version of PowerPoint on Windows Mobile was view-only. However, I can only edit text. I can't insert images and I can't even edit the slides' styling.
• Access the full desktop-version of my HSBC online-banking web site. The iPhone browser can't do it. I couldn't do it even if I spoofed the browser-agent in Windows Mobile. This means, I can pay bills, transfer funds, and manage my investments while being nowhere near a computer, bank branch, or ATM.
• Play Flash-based web games. I'm not talking about simple stuff. I'm talking about games like Bejeweled and Plants vs Zombies.

Convince me I need an iPhone. I dare you.

Why is everyone out to get an iPhone these days? Even before the 4th-gen iPhone was announced (or leaked), everyone wanted one. They wanted one without knowing what it was going to look like or what new features it was going to have. Everyone trusted Steve Jobs to deliver.

Now that new iPhone is here, even more people want the new device. It just boggles my mind how Apple does it. Let’s imagine that I know nothing about the iPhone. Here’s what a conversation between me and an Apple employee would sound like.

Apple: Hi, can I help you with anything?

Me: Hi, I have a smartphone already; it’s the HTC Desire which runs Android. But I just heard that you guys have an iPhone4 that just released.

Apple: Yes, that’s right.

Me: It seems everyone wants one. So perhaps you can tell me why I should buy the iPhone4?

Apple: Well, it has got a Retina Display which makes everything appears super sharp on screen.

Me: It does look sharp…compared to previous iPhones. But it’s hardly sharper than the WVGA display on my phone…

Apple: Well, it has a front facing camera for FaceTime.

Me: That’s interesting, but I’ve had phones with front facing cameras since 2006 and I’ve never had the urge to make video calls over 3G.

Apple: But FaceTime is new. It allows you to make video calls only over WiFi.

Me: Isn’t that less convenient than 3G?

Apple: Right…anyway…We have this other new feature. If you double tap the home button, you get access to your most recently used apps. We call this Multitasking.

Me: Sorry, that’s not very impressive. My PocketPC back in 2001 could multitask just fine.

Apple: You can organize your apps into something we call Folders. And you can set an image as a background on your homescreen. We call it Wallpaper.

Me: Have you been living under a rock? Folders and wallpapers have been around for as long as I can remember!

Apple: You can shoot video in 720p and take still pictures with the 5MP camera with LED flash.

Me: The quality of the videos and pictures are impressive, so you got me there. Anyway, let me ask you some questions.

Apple: Sure.

Me: What happens when I receive an SMS or email while I’m using the device?

Apple: You get a popup with options to read the message or dismiss it.

Me: What if I don’t want to read it yet but I don’t want to dismiss it either because I’m sure I’ll forget to read it if I do?

Apple: Sorry, you'll have it read it right away.

Me: Can I save email attachments?

Apple: Yes, if someone emails you some pictures, you can save them directly to your photo gallery.

Me: But what if the attachments are not images?

Apple: Nope.

Me: Can I send emails with attachments that are not images?

Apple: Nope.

Me: Can I download files from the browser? Let’s say I want to save a pdf file I found on the web locally. Can I do that?

Apple: Sorry, no, but the browser is very fast and text is crisp on-screen.

Me: The browser does look nice. But those top and bottom bars seem take up a lot of space, especially in landscape mode. Can I get rid of those to get full-screen browsing?

Apple: Nope.

Me: Can I send and receive files via Bluetooth?

Apple: Nope.

Me: Ok, I’ve heard enough. Let’s recap. What am I impressed with?

Apple: The quality of the recorded videos and photos?

Me: So, you’re telling me that is worth HK$5000?

Apple: Uh…yes…would you like me to help you preorder the device?

Me: Seriously? Your device can't deliver on features that are basic mundane tasks. I'm not asking for out-of-this-world things. I'm not asking the iPhone to be able to microwave my dinner and then feed it to me.

Apple: Well, if you order now, we can give you a free case so that the cellular radio works properly.

Me: What?!

Some thoughts on the official Froyo update for the HTC Desire

HTC released the much anticipated official Android 2.2 (a.k.a. Froyo) for the HTC Desire over the weekend. I was already quite satisfied with Android 2.1 (a.k.a. Eclair) on my device but Froyo seems to have really taken it to the next level. There are a number of new features but I'll just highlight a couple of main ones here.

1. Overall speed is slightly improved. It's noticeable but not a huge difference since it was plenty fast before.

2. Probably the most touted feature of Froyo is Flash support. The native browser can now utilize Flash Player 10.1 to take advantage of numerous Flash content on the web. HTC had initially built-in limited Flash support in their original Eclair ROM for the Desire. It works but performance was quite poor. Flash videos would play but framerates were just horrible. Now, with Froyo and Flash 10.1, Flash videos load quick and play surprisingly smooth. I was able to watch videos from ESPN.com. Youtube videos would load right within the browser (ie, I wasn't kicked out to the streaming video player or the Youtube app). I was even able to play the browser version of Plants vs Zombies! It's a bit slow in that scenario, but it's a miracle that it works in the first place! Kudos to Google, Adobe, and HTC here. Very well done...

3. I'm pretty sure tethering was possible in Eclair. But now, it's idiot-proof. You just toggle the WiFi Hotspot on, set your device's SSID and encryption password, and that's all! Are you listening, Steve Jobs?

4. Installing applications to external memory should have been a feature that was suppose to be there since the beginning. But, better late than never.

5. Chrome to Phone is something that was new to me. I tried it out and it's just brilliant! With just one click in your desktop browser, you can send snippets of information to your Froyo enabled device! (ie, hyperlinks, phone numbers, text you want to copy to the clipboard, Youtube videos, Maps coordinates). This feature really can't be explained. It must be experienced. See here http://code.google.com/p/chrometophone/

6. 720p video recording was rumored to be a feature of the HTC Desire prior to release. Now, we finally get it. I must admit, it's not very impressive. Framerates are quite poor and there's a lot of noise. If you intend to view the video on your device, you should just record in WVGA resolution. If you intend to view it on a larger screen, by all means try 720p but manage your expectations.

Photography is an expensive hobby!

I'm scared. I've just spent a bunch of money on photography equipment. I'm not an enthusiast and I don't ever want to be. I just want nice pictures =)

There are people who spend tens of thousands of dollars on camera equipment. I'm not one of them. Again, I just want nice pictures.

Like most people, I started off with compact digital cameras. I probably went through about 4 of them over several years, each of them having a higher megapixel count than the previous one. But as the megapixels increased, I didn't noticed much quality increase. That's when I decided to take the jump to Digital SLR cameras.

I'm no photographer and I don't pretend to be. I just want a camera body that's no-nonsense and easy to use. So I went with the Nikon D60. The kit version came with an 18-55mm lens which is just perfect for an amateur like myself. (HK$4200)

Finally, I'm able to get shots that have excellent color clarity and are not ruined by noise. But my camera is like the Dark Side of the Force or the One Ring of Sauron. It keeps leaving me wanting more!

I quickly outgrew the 18-55mm lens and want something with more zoom. I found the built-in flash to be completely useless because it always produces pictures that are over-exposed.

So, I recently picked up some stuff:

The AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED

Relatively inexpensive, just HK$1750. It's compact and lightweight (which is critical for me). Comes with a hood (which I honestly had no idea what it was for at the time!) Photos look good with no visible distortions. Even when zoomed all the way in, I'm still able to get sharp pics thanks to the built-in Vibration Reduction. Because it's so lightweight and exterior is made of plastic, it feels cheap in hand. But it costs a fraction of the price of higher-end stuff.

Nikon SB-400

Small and compact (seriously, this is critical for me!). Cost HK$950. The flash unit swivels up so you can bounce the flash. Unfortunately it doesn't swivel laterally.

I was trying out the flash at home and it's amazing. Photos using bounce flash just looks more natural and alive. But then I realized, I can't always depend on having a white ceiling. So I need a bounce card. I know I can make one out of paper, but it's ghetto.

So, I went ahead and bought one of these for HK$20.

Now, with all this new stuff, I'm going to need to get a new bag. Seriously, somebody needs to stop me before I spend all my savings just for the sake of nice pictures.

I need Gollum to chew off that Ring.

I need my wife to say the following lines to me:

Her: I don't believe what I'm hearing! Obi-Wan was right... you've changed! You have turned to the dark side!

Me: I don't want to hear any more about Obi-Wan. The Jedi turned against me. Don't you turn against me!

Her: You're breaking my heart! You're going down a path I cannot follow!

Me: Because of Obi-Wan?

Her: Because of what you've done... what you plan to do! Stop! Stop now... come back... I love you!

Then, I'll Force Choke her before Obi-wan Kenobi sets me straight with a swift lightsaber swing to my left arm and both legs as I leap over him to get to more camera gear...

McDonald's Fries with Seaweed Seasoning?

So, I'm sitting at McDonald's and decided to slowly kill myself by having my side of fries. I noticed the little pack of seaweed seasoning that you're suppose to add to the fries. Checking the ingredients on the little package, I decided that the fries didn't need the additional help in slowly killing me.

Here are the ingredients of the seaweed seasoning.

Maltodextrin - Food additive; made from corn starch; often found in sodas and candy.

Dextrose Powder - This is just glucose; probably part of the maltodextrin.

Salt - Self explanatory.

Seaweed powder - Probably aonori.

Sea Lettuce Powder - Not sure how this is different to seaweed powder.

Lobster Powder - I was almost sure this was going to be a shady ingrediant. But apparently, it's actually made from lobster and is quite natural.

Sugar - Self explanatory.

Soy Sauce Powder - more salt and maltodextrin but this time with soybean.

Flavouring - Right...

Anti-caking agent E551 - Yum...

Flavour Enhancer E635 - Is this really necessary with all those aromatic powders already?

Vegetable Oil - Of course.

Spices - Right...

Mix this with the ingredients of McDonald's fries and you see what a mess it is.

Potatoes - Certainly...

vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives], citric acid [preservative]) - Wonder what they use for "natural beef flavor"...

Dextrose - We've seen this before...

Sodium acid pyrophosphate - Keeps potatos from darkening.

Salt - More of this?

Prepared in vegetable oil ((may contain one of the following: Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness), dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent) - Again, more yummy goodness..

My Mobile History...

Nokia 8110

These first couple of phones were not mine by choice. I was too young at the time. My phones were basically old models that my parents no longer wanted. I remember the Nokia 8110 as the phone that was used in the movie, The Matrix. Unfortunately, unlike the movie version, the slider is not spring-assisted. Damn thing was huge. I remember a huge problem with it was that it had no vibration mode and the ringer was really soft. Missed all my calls.

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_8110-11.php

Ericsson 768

Finally, a phone that was pocketable. I don't recall much about this one, except that this also didn't have vibration mode. But I bought a 3rd party addon that added this functionality. It was a thin black thing that attached to the bottom of the device via the charging ports. There were magnets inside it which vibrated everytime there was a call. Pretty ghetto solution.

http://www.gsmarena.com/ericsson_pf_768-108.php

Nokia 8210

This was a phone that my parents literally picked up from the streets. Someone had left it on a bus. Even more petit than the Ericsson 768 and it finally had native vibration! I remember I tinkered a lot with the ringtone editor. Ironically, I lost this phone on the tram heading to the Peak in Hong Kong.

http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_8210-19.php

Motorola StarTAC

This will be the last phone that my parents choose for me. I just moved back to the US for university. And this was one of the most advanced phones in the US at the time. Mobile tech in the US at the time was just crap. Anyway, it was good enough. But this had to be the most boring phone I ever had.

http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_startac_130-73.php

Sony Ericsson T68i

I remember I bought this phone because it was one of the first with a color screen (albeit 256 colors). Also, I liked it because the formfactor resembled the Nokia 8210 which I was quite fond of. This phone was also one of the 1st to support a camera. But the camera wasn't built in. It was an add-on to be purchased seperately and attaches to the bottom of the device. Similar to that vibration add-on for the Ericsson 768 and equally as ghetto. The joystick soon started to malfunction after about a year and a half of use.

http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_t68i-325.php

Sony Ericsson T630

With the joystick failing on me, I sprung for the T630. It was an obvious upgrade path for me. Larger screen with 65k colors and built in camera! The camera quality and screen resolution were pretty pathetic. I had no idea why I thought the camera was cool. Again, joystick was the first hardware to start failing on me. I was beginning to see a trend...

http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_t630-559.php

LG KE820

My T630 was purchased over in the US and didn't work with HK networks. So I was forced to get another phone when I moved back to HK. Besides, the joystick was shot. I decided that I just wanted a phone as small as possible. With the KE820's 9.9mm width and the relatively large screen, I was sold. I remembered that I thought to myself at the time "Wow, the screen is so huge. I should be able to enjoy videos on this thing!" So, I converted and loaded a couple of DVD's onto the thing. Unfortunately, the video player lacks a full screen mode. The video filled only about 75% of the screen. The number pad layout was also an issue. And then there's the friggen joystick which was again, the first hardware to start failing. Never was I going to get another device with a joystick.

But it wasn't the joystick that killed the phone. One rainy morning, I was running to the bus stop to catch my ride. Somehow, the phone slipped from my pocket, landed on the concrete, and I didn't even know about it. It just layed there for a while in the rain before someone picked it up and used the phone's contact list to reach me. I picked it back up from the kind individual, but by then, most of the buttons were dead.

http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_ke820-1761.php

HTC Touch Dual

HTC, an unknown brand at the time, started to market their Touch phone. I thought to myself that it would be nice if it had a keypad. Then the Touch Dual released and I couldn't wait to pick it up. At the time, I was sold on the large screen and formfactor. I had high expectations for Windows Mobile because I figured it must be pretty advanced compared to the last time I used the OS which was back in 2001 with the Compaq iPaq. Boy was I wrong. The OS is still the same and the device was pretty unstable. (See my review)

http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_touch_dual-2127.php

HTC Touch Diamond

I remember not liking Windows Mobile very much. But I loved what HTC did with the OS with TouchFlo3D. The Touch Diamond's release was pretty spectacular. I was almost drooling at the TouchFlo3D animations and the VGA display. (See my review)

http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_touch_diamond-2368.php

HTC Touch Pro2

I was ready to jump ship from Windows Mobile, but Android was just not ready for primetime yet. And I really don't like the iPhone OS. At the time, the Touch Pro2 was my most satisfied phone purchase. Best hardware keyboard, huge screen, and snappy performance. It was still Windows Mobile, so there will be the occasional freeze but they were very rare. (See my review)

http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_touch_pro2-2690.php

HTC Desire

The HTC Desire had all but one of the specs that I wanted in my next device. Internal storage of at least 4GB. But with the falling prices of microSD cards, it's something that I can overlook. The Desire has surpassed the Touch Pro2 as my most satisfied phone purchase. (See my review)

http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_desire-3077.php

Retina Display? Really, Apple?

This "feature" of the upcoming iPhone4 is way overrated. All that was done was they doubled the horizontal and vertical pixel count of the previous iPhone. This resulted in a display that has 4x the resolution of the previous iPhone. That is, 960x640.

While this is impressive, it's not as magical as Apple makes it sounds. Most smartphones for the past couple of years have had WVGA screens (800x480). You'd be hard-pressed to find someone with eyesight good enough to perceive individual pixels on WVGA displays.

The increase in display resolution was not a surprising move by Apple. The previous resolution was quite pitiful. But only Apple can come up with a term such as "Retina display" as if it's some sort of new tech.

It's not! All they did was improved the screen resolution while maintaining the same 3.5inch screen size! The sad thing is that people will believe in this "Retina display" technology. When they go into a store and ask a sales about a non-Apple product, they'll say "Does this have a Retina display?"

OMFG...

Edit: This is in regards to the 1st commenter. I understand why they're calling it the "Retina display" but I don't understand why they have to call it anything at all. It's not new tech. It's not like we've gotten to the point where we just couldn't increase pixel density any further. Other than price and practicality, there was nothing to stop people from creating a display with 300+ dpi pixel density. Back in 2007, the Toshiba Protege G900 was released with a pixel density of 313dpi.

Conclusion: I praise Apple for releasing a commercial device with 326dpi pixel density. But I despise them for flaunting it as if it's something new that they invented.

(Are we going to have to come up with a new term everytime someone increases the pixel density beyond 326 going forward?)

Convince me I need an iPad

Apple announced it sold it's 1 millionth iPad in just it's 1st month. I don't get it. How are these things selling like hotcakes? I can't come up with a reason to get one of these things. Even if one was given to me as a gift, I don't see myself using it very often.

Steve Jobs mentioned he wants to position the iPad to fill the niche between laptop and smartphone. First of all, I had never felt that there was a gap between these 2 devices that needed filling!

I have a Macbook and an HTC Desire. (I also have a desktop PC, a TV, DVD player, etc but let's focus on these 2 because of what Steve Jobs said.) The Macbook is strictly for web browsing, managing my photo collection and managing my music collection. I also bring it with me when I travel for watching movies. The HTC Desire is my smartphone which I carry everywhere. Where does the iPad fit in here?

I can use it to browse the web, but so can my Macbook (and Desire for that matter!). The desktop browser allows me to do so much more on my Macbook than I could on an iPad. For example, load multiple Youtube videos across multiple tabs, play Flash-based games, attach all sorts of files to emails, etc.

I can't use it to manage my photo collection because there's no USB port to import files and can't connect to printer. (Edit: I just noticed that Apple makes an accessory called the "Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit". Well, maybe I can use it to manage my photo collection after all. But this "feature" really should not require additional cost in the form of an add-on.)

I can't use it to manage my music collection because of the following:
-Can't get music onto the iPad. No USB port, browser can't download files, no optical drive for importing.
-Can't get music from the iPad. No USB port, no optical drive for burning media.

I guess it might be a better alternative than the Macbook for vacations. But then I only travel maybe 2 or 3 times a year. It's just not worth it.

I would love for someone to be able to convince me to get an iPad. Because I want to play with one. The large multi-touch screen looks fun. But, so far, I can only come up with one remotely valid reason to get it and many many reasons why not to get it.

1. The iPad is a portable device, not a mobile device. It's not like your smartphone which you take everywhere while not even thinking about it. You can't just put the iPad in your pocket. You're going to need a backpack or briefcase. If you're going to take it out of the house, you need to think about it and dress/accessorize accordingly.

2. The iPad is a portable device, not a mobile device, but yet, it runs a mobile OS. So why not just use a mobile device that runs a mobile OS? That is, either the iPhone or iPod Touch.

3. Because of the above, it seems to me that the iPad is best to be left and used at home. But if I'm at home, why don't I use my main computer? Why not use my TV? Why not use my stereo?

4. According to Apple, the iPad offers the best web browsing experience. Really? It doesn't support Flash. There's no file system so you can't download or upload anything. No, the iPad does not offer the best web browsing experience. It has a multi-touch mobile browser on a large screen. That's it.

5. According to Apple, the iPad offers the best email experience. Really? Again, there's no file system so you can't download or upload attachments (except for pictures). My smartphone offers more functionality here.

6. The most attractive feature of the iPad is, of course, the screen. A typical laptop has a larger screen. And since it's a real computer, you can do loads more things with it.

I haven't even started mentioning the other limitations of the iPhone OS!

This leads me to believe that Apple could have released anything and it would have sold a million units in 1 month. Just ask people about the upcoming iPhone. Even before the recently leaked footage, people all say they can't wait for it and they'll get it, no questions asked. What the hell? Only Apple fans think this way. There is no information released about a product and yet, they know they want it.
Before a person decides he/she wants to buy something, shouldn't he/she know what that thing is first?

Tips & Tricks for the HTC Desire

Long-pressing the Stand-by key brings up options to:
- Power off (obviously)
- Toggle Silent mode
- Toggle Vibration mode
- Toggle Airplane mode
- Toggle Mobile network
The last 4 items are particularly handy since that means you don't need dedicated widgets on your homescreen for them.

Pressing the Volume Down key after the ring volume is 0% will toggle on Silent mode and then Vibration mode. Similarly, pressing Volume Up key will toggle it back the other way.

Android does multi-tasking extremely well. Long-press the Home key to toggle between the most recent 6 applications you've been using.
Edit: After the official Froyo update, the most recent 8 applications are now available.
Edit2: If you have an Desire HD/Z ROM port, then the recent application list is also accessible in the notification shade.

To quickly move widgets across screens.
1. Tap and hold a widget.
2. With another finger, swipe across the optical pad to the screen you want to land on.
3. Release the widget.
The Home key also functions when you're holding a widget. So if you want to move a widget from the far left to the center screen, you just have to tap and hold, press Home, and then release the widget.

Speed up your browser
I've been doing this since Opera Mobile on my Touch Diamond and I'm pleasantly surprised I can still do this on Android's browser. The browser on the Desire is actually already quite fast. But try disabling Javascript. Many sites work just fine with this disabled and you'll definitely feel the difference in loading speeds.

In the browser, if you want to get to your History list, long-press on the Back key.

In the browser history, you can easily and quickly add/remove bookmarks by toggling the stars on the right.

Select and delete multiple messages at once in Mail application
This may already be well-known but it took me a while to figure it out so I'll include it here.
1. Press the Menu key.
2. Tap Delete.
3. Select the messages by tapping on the "X" on the right of each message.
4. Tap Delete.
Edit: If you run a Desire HD/Z ROM port, then your Mail application will have checkmarks always visible on the left.

Moving messages into folders in Mail application
1. Press the Menu key
2. Tap "More"
3. Tap "Move to"
4. Select messages by toggling the checkmark on the right of each message.
5. Tap "Move to (x)"
6. Select accordingly

In Mail or Messages application, tapping on the contact picture brings up several icons for you to do one of the following:
- Call the contact
- View the person's contact card
- Send SMS
- Send email
- Send IM via Google Talk

Synchronize with Google Exchange server as an alternative to the Google Mail application which is quite limited. Set up with the instructions here.
Edit: Ever since Google started releasing updates to their Google applications, the Google Mail application has actually become quite robust.

In the dialer, tapping the contact card icon on the right of each item will take you to the respective contact card. Tapping the plus icon allows you to add that number to your contact list.

In the dialer, if you don't input any numbers and you don't select anybody on the list and you just tap "Call", it will call the person on the top of the dialer list.

In the dialer, scrolling (either swiping the list or using the optical trackpad) will hide the number pad.

In the dialer, swiping laterally on the optical pad will toggle between different phone numbers of the selected contact.

Calculator can be rotated into landscape via accelerometer to transform into a scientific calculator.

As an alternative to the downward swiping gesture to unlock, press Menu key. Edit: This is no longer applicable after the official Froyo update.

To unlock the device, you don't actually have to swipe downwards on the bar near the bottom of the screen. You can begin your downward swipe anywhere and then let go once you make contact with the bar.

To see the current date, just tap on the notification bar and it will be displayed in the upper-left corner of the screen.

In camera application, tap and hold on a spot to focus there and take the picture.

The word suggestion bar (that appears during text editing) can be moved by tapping, holding and dragging it.

Press the Back key to hide the on-screen keyboard.

To select custom sound files for notifications, put them in the following folders in the root of the microSD
Ringtones
Alarms
Notifications

To jump to a particular letter in the Contacts list, you need to use the scroll bar. The scroll bar appears on the right when you scroll but will auto-hide after 2 seconds. To easily grab it, touch and the contacts list, scroll it (don't flick-scroll), stop, and let go. The scroll bar should now be stationary for you to just get it.
Alternatively, try scrolling vertically with two fingers on the screen.

Use the Search key. It's not just for searching Google.
-If you type a contact's name, you can easily access the contact card.
-If you type an application's name, you can easily launch it.
-If you press the Search key while you're in your browser bookmarks, you can search within there.
-many more uses!

Use the Menu key. Try it everywhere. You may find some helpful settings/options/features.

Press the following into your dialer to access some interesting stats:
*#*#4636#*#*

Go easy on widgets. HTC Sense has some really nice widgets but some of them adversely affects your battery life because of their need to be updated throughout the day. I'm not suggesting you don't use any of these. But try to take a conservative approach for better battery life.
-Twitter. Don't use the full screen Twitter widget. It only allows you to view tweets and post tweets. You can't interact with the tweets in other ways and you can't hit links. If you tap a tweet, you're just taken to the full Twitter application. Solution: Just have a shortcut to Peep on your homescreen. If you must tweet from your homescreen, use the 2x4 Twitter widget.
-Friendstream. See above regarding Twitter. Same thing.
-Latitude. Why anyone would use this is beyond me. This just keeps updating your current location. It'll wreak havok on your battery, especially if you have GPS enabled.
-News. Just have a shortcut to News application. The Widget almost doesn't make sense if you have more than several RSS feeds.
-Stocks. Again, you can just have a shortcut to the Stocks application.
-Weather. Remember, none of the weather widgets are necessary if you already use the HTC clock+weather widget. You can just tap the weather icon in that widget to launch the Weather application.

Use the optical track-pad. Lots of review sites mention that it's useless and that they'd prefer HTC to just not include it so that they can either have a larger screen size or smaller device. I find it to be very useful.
-Use it for precise cursor placement in text editing. Great for going back to correct a block of text.
-Use it for selecting text in text editing. Place the cursor where you want to start your selection. Long-press on the optical track-pad to bring up the context menu. Tap "Select text". Then use the optical track-pad to fine tune your selection. Afterwards, you can long-press on the optical track-pad to bring up the context menu to cut or copy the selection.
-Use it in the browser to jump between links. This is useful if the links are very small. You can also long-press on the optical track-pad to bring up the context menu so that you may open in new window, etc.

If you don't want the default Photo or Music application to pick up media files in a particular folder, just add a blank text file name ".nomedia" in that folder.

Install Voice Search and Voice-to-Text. For whatever reason, HTC decided to leave these 2 amazing features out.
1. You'll need a file explorer application from the Android Market. Astro works for me.
2. Download and install Voice Search.
3. Download and install the HTC_IME mod.
4. Go to Settings > Language and keyboard
5. Toggle on "HTC_IME mod"
6. Long-tap on a text entry box.
7. Select "Input method" from the popup
8. Select "HTC_IME mod"
Edit: This is no longer applicable. The official Froyo update includes Voice-to-Text and Google has since made Voice Search available on the Android Market.

Music controls on the lock screen autohide after a few seconds. Swipe up to bring them back.

To get your Google Reader feeds on to the HTC News application:
1. Export your Google Reader subscriptions as OPML file.
2. Save this file onto your device. (If necessary, rename the file extension from xml to opml.)

3. Import this file into your News application.

If you are locked up in a loop where HTC Sense acts up and starts to force close, use the search key and type the first few letters for "Applications". You should be able to access the Applications settings menu. Go into "Manage applications". Go into "HTC Sense" and tap "Clear data". This will erase all your Scenes but it's better than doing a hard reset.

Fastest way to soft reset is to press Power/Standby key + Volume Down key + trackpad. Not recommended if your device is still responsive.

When composing an email using the Mail application and you have multiple email accounts configured, you can select which account to send from. This applies even if you are replying to an email. For example, if someone sends an email to your Gmail account, you can reply to it with your Hotmail account.

In the email composing screen, scroll all the way to the top. Above the "To" field, there's a button that indicates which account the email will be sent from. Tap that button to pop-up a menu that lets you select an alternate account.

If you are listening to music via the default music player, pulling out the headphones will stop the music playback. So you don't have to stop the music before pulling out the headphones.

Chrome-to-Phone. Anyone who has used it will agree this is a killer feature of Android. See here for installation. It connects your desktop Chrome browser with your Android. Allows you to send several different items to your Android.

Text: Select any text in the browser and click the Chrome-to-Phone button to copy the text onto your Android's clipboard. I use this all the time if I want to type out a long SMS on my desktop. I just go to Google.com and type it in the search box. Then I select the text and hit the Chrome-to-Phone button. Then all I do on my Android is to paste the text onto the Messaging application.

URL: Go to any site and click the Chrome-to-Phone button to send the site url to your Android. Depending on your settings, the site will automatically start loading on your Android browser or you'll receive a notification which will open the site if you click it.

Phone number: If you select a phone number in the browser and click the Chrome-to-Phone button, the number will appear in your dialer.

Map: If you've navigated to a location on Google Maps, clicking the Chrome-to-Phone button will open up your Android Maps application and navigate to the same location.

Youtube: If you're on a Youtube video page, clicking the Chrome-to-Phone button will open your Android's Youtube application and load the same video.

In the browser, enable "Open in background". This allows you to stay on the current page as you open links in new windows. You'll be able to browse much faster this way. For example, let's say you want to open 4 links from the site you're visiting. Just open up the first 3 links in a new window and the 4th link in the current window. While it's loading, switch to the next window to view the 1st link which should have loaded by now. Then you can continue on to the next windows without waiting since they would have loaded by the time you finished with the first window!

Thoughts on Android - from a former Windows Mobile supporter

It has been about 3 weeks since I made the switch from Windows Mobile to Android. I've previously used the HTC Touch Dual, Touch Diamond, and Touch Pro2. I've now finally made the leap to Android on the HTC Desire.

I was previously reluctant to make the jump to Android because of fear that the OS is just not mature enough. I loved the capabilities and freedom of Windows Mobile, but I was getting increasingly frustrated with always having to worry about RAM usage and random lags and lockups.

Once I realized that I was spending more time tweaking my device in order to use it properly rather than actually using it, I knew it was time to let go of Windows Mobile.

After a single day of using the Desire, I came to one conclusion. I should have given up on Windows Mobile long ago. Android is actually very similar to Windows Mobile in terms of usage and capabilities. But it's so much smoother and more beautiful to look at.

Things I'm no longer bothered with since using the Desire:
1. RAM usage, closing applications, and task managers. The Android OS does a wonderful job managing multitasking and memory, so I don't have to.
2. Disabling browser features. I used to disable images and javascript to load web pages faster. I no longer feel this is necessary. (Although, this does speed things up even more!)
3. In the browser, I no longer have to zoom and then pan. Multitouch zooming allows me to zoom in exactly where I want to. Much better than using the scrollring on the Diamond and the zoombar on the Touch Pro2.
4. Registry edits and ROM flashing to boost the performance. I may install custom ROMs when they're available but I'm not in a rush to do so. The device is quite fast enough.
5. Soft-resets and RAM cleaners. The device doesn't slow down even if it's powered on for weeks.
6. GPS lock. The device gets a good lock within 10 secs from a cold boot. My Touch Pro2 used to take about 2 minutes from a cold boot. I can actually use the HTC Footprints application now. Previously, just waiting for the GPS to lock took the fun out of everything.

HTC Legend Review

Worthy successor to last year's most talked about smartphone

The HTC Hero was one of the better smartphones released last year and arguably the best Android device. The HTC Legend improves upon the Hero in many ways.

Specs here.

The retail box contains the following:

• The device itself
• 2GB Class 2 microSD memory card
• USB to microUSB cable
• Wall charger (USB output to the above mentioned cable)
• Stereo handsfree set (Uses the 3.5mm audio jack, contains mic, and buttons to answer calls and control your music playback)
• Manuals, Warranty info, and other literature.

Just looking at specs, there's really not much difference. There's a 72 Mhz improvement in CPU clock speed and 96 MB improvement in RAM. The trackball has been replaced by an optical trackpad. The camera is still 5MP but is now accompanied by an LED flash.

Despite the minor hardware improvements, the Legend feels significantly faster than the Hero. No lags in animations and screen transitions. Pinch-to-zoom (in either browser or photos) feels much smoother than on the Hero.

The main difference from the Hero (and other devices available now) is the design of the Legend. It's has an aluminum unibody design. This makes the device thinner and feels very sturdy in hand. The brushed finish makes it less slippery to hold. It's compact size makes it very pocketable. The chin from the Hero is still here but it's more subtle.

Consider swapping out the 2GB microSD card for something at least 8GB. It would have been ideal if HTC had included a couple of GB of internal storage. But it's a minor issue since 8GB cards are pretty inexpensive these days.

The device does not come with screen protectors or a pouch. So you may want to invest in one or the other or both. The screen is glass so it won't scratch easily. But having a screen protector won't hurt. Plus, it'll greatly improve the resale value if you decide to sell it in a year or two.

The screen is HVGA resolution which you would think pales in comparison to WVGA devices. In reality, it doesn't. There's a difference obviously but it's not like everything is fuzzy in HVGA.

Please see my Desire review for my comments regarding the browser, keyboard, and negatives about the device. The same applies here.

(Unlike the HTC Desire, the Legend allows you to attach a lanyard.)

A couple more differences between the Legend and Desire:

• Less options available in email retrieval scheduling compared to the HTC Desire.
• You can have seperate wallpapers for the lockscreen and homescreen on the Legend while you can't on the Desire.
• The Desire supports live-wallpaper (animated) while the Legend doesn't.

Conclusion:
The Legend is perfect for someone who wants something compact and sturdy. The unibody design makes it look super sleek. It's got both style and substance. If you choose it over the HTC Desire, you're not missing out on anything other than screen size.

HTC Desire Review

Truly deserving of the name "Superphone"

The HTC Desire is the ultimate do-everything device. It has everything that can ever want from a smartphone, except a hardware qwerty keyboard. But then once you try HTC's on-screen keyboard, you'll realize you don't need physical keys. More on that later.

Check out the specs here.

The retail box contains the following:

• The device itself
• 4GB Class 2 microSD memory card
• USB to microUSB cable
• Wall charger (USB output to the above mentioned cable)
• Stereo handsfree set (Uses the 3.5mm audio jack, contains mic, and buttons to answer calls and control your music playback)
• Manuals, Warranty info, and other literature.

A couple of things to consider after getting the Desire.
You should swap out that 4GB microSD for something at least 8GB. It would have been ideal if HTC had included a couple of GB of internal storage. But it's a minor issue since 8GB cards are pretty inexpensive these days.

The device does not come with screen protectors or a pouch. So you may want to invest in one or the other or both. The screen is glass so it won't scratch easily. But having a screen protector won't hurt. Plus, it'll greatly improve the resale value if you decide to sell it in a year or two.

(Not sure if anyone finds this significant, but the Desire does not have a place for you to attach a lanyard.)

I'll start with aesthetics.

The back and the chin (Yes it has a chin but it's so subtle that you'll barely notice it) of the device is covered in a black rubbery finish. This coating is soft to the touch and has good grip, making the device feel very good in hand. The round edges, light weight, and thin form-factor means it doesn't feel bulky at all.

The screen is just excellent. Colors really pop and blacks are really black because of the AMOLED technology. Photos and videos look amazing. Many people are saying that there's a flaw in the display because some shades of gray appear in a pink tint. I can verify that this issue exists but it doesn't deserve the amount of attention it's getting. The pink tint is extremely subtle, only visible in certain rare instances, and really doesn't interfere with anything. That is, you really have to look for the pink just to barely see it.

The software of Android and HTC Sense has been covered extensively by other reviewers so I'll try not to repeat what everyone knows already.

Performance is spectacular. Screen animations are smooth. GPS locks in 10 seconds from cold start.

The browser deserves praise. It is the fastest I've used on a portable device. It probably rivals some desktops. It renders swiftly and accurately. Flash content appears in their full glory. (Personal tip: try disabling JavaScript via the browser settings. Most sites will work with it disabled. You browser will feel even faster than it already is!). You can of course use pinch-to-zoom. The text will re-flow so that you don't have to scroll horizontally. Try flick scrolling rapidly on another device and you'll notice the checkerboard pattern as the screen refreshes to display the content. This doesn't happen on the Desire.

It's been mentioned by other reviewers that HTC's on-screen keyboard is excellent. I think it's so great that it deserves mentioning again. It is indeed excellent. The portrait keyboard is fine for short phrases. But turn it sideways to switch to landscape and you'll be able to type full speed with 2 thumbs. The word recognition software works great. You don't have to be even remotely accurate and it'll be able to guess correctly. Try keeping your eyes on the keyboard as you bang away at the keys and you'll be amazed at how accurate your message turns out.

A couple of minor gripes about the device:

Can't edit Microsoft Office documents. Coming from Windows Mobile, I've gotten used to being able to view, create, and edit Office documents. Natively, you can only view Office documents with the Desire. But there are paid applications in the Android Market that will enable this functionality and it is well worth the price.

HTC Mail widget doesn't pull info from Gmail application. The Mail widget only feeds from the Mail application. So, if you want to use the Mail widget to display your Gmail account, you'll need to set up your Gmail account via IMAP4, POP3, or Exchange.

Can't select and copy text from Gmail application. Again, you'll need to use IMAP4, POP3, or Exchange. (Edit: This has since been fixed since Google started releasing updates to their Google applications through the Market)

The OS should be re-skinned to use more blacks to fully utilize the AMOLED screen. This might help with battery life which isn't very impressive. It'll last at least a day but it really depends on what widgets and applications you use and how often they are refreshed/updated.

Voice-to-text is not included. You'll need to install it separately. (Edit: Voice-to-text has since been included in the official Froyo update.)

Conclusion:
I wonder how Google feels about the HTC Desire. Google asked HTC to build the Nexus One, which they did admirably. Then HTC goes and builds their own version with better hardware and design plus their own superior software.
When I went from the HTC Touch Diamond to the Touch Pro2, the experience and performance benefits were like night and day. Now, from Touch Pro2 to the Desire, again, it's like night and day.

Is the HTC Desire the best smartphone available today? I think I can claim it to be better than the following devices:
Apple iPhone 3GS
HTC HD2
Google Nexus One
Motorola Droid/Milestone
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

This is now the phone to beat. Look out...

iPhone OS 4.0 - What's new?

This isn't the 4th-gen iPhone. I'm sure Apple has got some more things that they've not shown us yet. But here's my recap of what's new from the latest Apple event. This is from the perspective of someone who thinks the iPhone OS platform is a bit inadequate compared to Android and Windows Mobile.

Multitasking
Great! Everyone saw this one coming since it long overdue. It's not multitasking in the traditional sense (as with Windows Mobile 6.x or desktop OS's). I may be wrong but it seems to be that applications can now instruct the OS to run specific services that are allowed to run in the background without the application itself being active. These services are the following:

Background audio
Nothing new here. This just means you can play music in the background which you can do since the 1st-gen of the OS.

VOIP
This is useful. You can make and receive calls in the background with applications like Skype.

Location services
I'm guessing this means you can keep your navigation application in the background while still keeping your connection to GPS. But if so, I can foresee a lot of people forgetting to exit the application and the GPS will quickly drain the battery. I'll need more information on this...

Notifications (push and local)
Push notifications are nothing new. I'm guessing local notifications are just notifications that originate from your applications. For example, a popup for a calendar reminder. I'm sure there's more to this so we'll see how applications can utilize this service.

Task Completion
Applications can now complete what they're doing even when you leave them prematurely. I guess this is similiar to what happens after you tap "install" in the App Store. The application continues to be downloaded and installed even when you do other things.

Fast app switching
It actually sounds very much like the technique used by Windows Phone 7 or Android. Applications don't actually close when you go away from them. They just stay in a suspended state that doesn't use up system resources. When you navigate back to the suspended application, the OS reallocates the system resources back to it and you resume where you left off.

Spell check
Self explanatory. It's a feature that's good to have but it's not going to raise any eyebrows.

Bluetooth keyboard support
Ported from iPad.

Tap to focus when recording video
I'm surprised it wasn't there in the first place.

Folders
You can now organize your application icons into folders. Perhaps you can have one for games, one for productivity, etc. You won't have to swipe through pages and pages of icons just to find the one you need. Nothing revolutionary here. Android has this functionality. Windows Mobile has had it since the beginning.

Wallpaper
Up to now, you can only change the iPhone OS's lockscreen wallpaper. Now you can customize the background of your application launcher screen. Again, nothing extraordinary since this feature is one of those should-have-been-there-in-the-first-place things.

Unified inbox
Apple deserves credit for this. All your emails from multiple inboxes are consolidated into one. No doubt usefule for those who manage multiple accounts.

iBooks
Ported from iPad.

Enterprise
Features remote device management and wireless application distribution. Should be good for businesses. Probably a nonfactor for regular consumers.

GameKit
Since the iPhone OS is a pretty significant gaming platform, this is a good idea. You can now have leaderboards and match-making. We'll need to see how this gets implemented.

iAd
Tapping on advertisements no longer will kick you out of the active application and open the browser.


Personally, out of all that, the only thing that impresses me is the multitasking and the unified inbox. Even so, Engadget has pointed out a major omission. There's no background service for managing a conversation like IM or Twitter. This is actually my main purpose for using multitasking on my smartphone! But then perhaps this is where the "local notifications" service comes into play.

We'll need to see what else Steve Jobs have up his sleeve come this summer at the 4th-gen iPhone launch and how everything gels together. It's going to get interesting...

More things that Android does better than the iPhone 3GS

This list is in addition to the list compiled by Pocketnow.

Text-reflow in the browser
With the low-resolution screen on the iPhone, I find I have to zoom in to the text more to be able to read it. But then I have to scroll horizontally as well as vertically. That's shameful.

Home screen customizations
You'll be able to get at-a-glance info if that's what you want. And your phone won't look like everyone else's.

Multi-tasking
Very well-documented flaw of the iPhone OS. No explanation required.

Removable battery
Self-explanatory. This isn't something that just Android has over Apple's product. It's what every mobile phone has!

Non-obstructive notifications
With the iPhone OS, notifications such as those for new messages or appointments pop up and force you to deal with them right away. What happens if you just so happened to be busy? If you tap "Dismiss", you'll likely just forget it a couple minutes later. Android organizes your notifications on the top bar and you deal with it when you choose.

Smart-dialing
Without smart-dialing, that means you have to drill into a list (be it your contacts, favorites, or call history) every time you want to make a call.

Standardized plug for charging and syncing
Self-explanatory.

Accessing the SIM card slot doesn't require a dedicated tool
Some phones have SIM Card slots that are poorly designed. But the iPhone takes the prize here. You actually need to poke at a hole with a stick to access the SIM slot. It's similar to getting your computer's optical drive to eject the tray without turning on your PC.

Looking forward to the announcement of the 4th-gen iPhone

I'm not an iPhone fan. I don't even have the device. I've been using Windows Mobile for several years and will soon be switching to Android (pre-ordered the HTC Desire). So why do I care about the upcoming 4th-gen iPhone? 2 reasons...

1. Innovation. The 1st-gen iPhone was the one that reshaped the whole smartphone landscape. Capacitive multi-touch, smooth OS animations, and fingerfriendly navigation. We've never seen anything like it before. Every other smartphone manufacturer were suddenly now playing catch-up. Because of this, everybody else started making much better devices. If it were not for the iPhone, we would not have superphones like the HTC HD2, Nexus One, Desire, Legend, X10, etc. It's been quite a long time since we've had something truly innovative in the iPhone world. (I would say the last time was when they introduced the App Store). If Apple is able to bring something truly new and awesome to the smartphone arena, their fanboys would rejoice. But better yet, every other manufacturer will once again try to one-up Apple and as a result, we'll all benefit with even better devices in the future.
2. To watch Apple crash & burn and see how their fans defend their device's mediocrity. Apple has some tough competition in the Motorola Droid and HTC Desire. They also have to be wary of the imminent launch of Windows Phone 7 Series devices. They have to come up with something better than (or at least on par with) the devices that are already out. It would be unacceptable to have a margin of improvement similar to the difference between the iPhone 3G and the 3GS. Imagine if the only new features were a 5MP cam with LED flash, more storage, and a longer-lasting battery that's still non-removable. Apple-haters would be having a parade over this.
   

As much fun as I would like to see Apple fail, I would much prefer if Apple got their act together and delivered something truely awesome for everyone come this summer.


For Apple not to fail, they need to improve the following at a minimum!

• Low resolution screen. The 480x320 screen that was introduced back in 2007 needs to be upgraded to WVGA (800x480) at least)
• Multi-tasking. The most well-documented glaring flaw of the iPhone OS. We all know it can be done because of jailbreakers. So why isn't it being implemented natively?
• Wouldn't hurt to allow some sort of customizations. Except for the wallpaper on the lockscreen, every iPhone looks exactly the same.
• It needs to be able to do something that has that wow factor. (I'd argue that HTC achieved this with their HTC Sense interface in the Legend and the Desire).