Year: 2013

Does Apple Really Make Premium Products?

iphone_5s_stacked

Often you hear or read comments from bashers and non-bashers alike about how expensive Apple products are especially when there are new products released, just like the recent iPhone 5s. So the question is, does Apple really employ premium materials to their products that they’re worth that much?

I have a 3-year old, network-locked, 32GB (base model) iPhone 4 and a 2-year old unlocked Samsung Galaxy S II (SGS2). Both were selling at the same price level when they came out (~PHP32K). If you look closely at the spec sheets of both, SGS2 is the clear winner being a more recent smartphone and with a dual-core processor (see the comparison at the GSMArena). But today I can easily sell the iPhone 4 for PHP10,000 (~US$240) while the SGS2 for only PHP5,000 (~US$120). There goes your premium, ladies and gentlemen!

The Complicated Globe Superplans

Subscribing to a new Globe Telecom postpaid plan today has never been complicated. Globe is trying to project that you are getting value for your money by making you go through their slow (and I mean slow and painful loading of their website) process of choosing the plan, gadget, combos, etc. The sad truth is — that is not the case.

If we are to simplify Globe’s postpaid plan and compare it to Smart Communications’, let’s take a look at the table below, assuming we are to get an iPhone 5 with 16GB capacity at both Plan 999:

  Globe Smart
Device iPhone5 16GB iPhone5 16GB
Monthly MSF* ₱ 999 ₱ 999
Cash Out* ₱ 19,200 ₱ 19,000
Free Data Unlimited Unlimited
Free Calls nil 40 mins.
Free SMS nil 100 texts
Remaining Consumable* ₱ 101 nil

* In Philippine Peso

Globe uses Peso Value as unit of measure to be allocated/amortized among the cost of the gadget (e.g., iPhone 5), combos, and consumables. Yet, it appears (from the table above) that you really are not getting value for your peso.

On Yahoo! Acquiring Tumblr

Yahoo! and Tumblr

AllThingsD reports: Yahoo! Board to Meet Sunday to Consider $1.1 Billion, All-Cash Deal to Acquire Tumblr.

I’d say no to this deal! Remember what happened to Delicious and Flickr, among others, after they were acquired by Yahoo!? Can you imagine if the next time you login to Tumblr you are greeted with a Yahoo! account authentication? I can’t!

UPDATE: Yahoo Tumblrs for Cool: Board Approves $1.1 Billion Deal as Expected

It appears that the deal indeed went through. But I have to wait for the changes before any drastic action is taken to my Tumblr blog.

The Features Over and Above Android

Samsung recently released their new Galaxy S4 ad to demonstrate their features like Drama Mode, Air Gestures, Hover, among others. Check out the video below:

Personally, I believe these are the features that the Galaxy S4 owners would enjoy showing off to friends and ignore thereafter. They would hardly find real life applications for those features, especially when those are the same things that drain the batteries fast.

But of course, Samsung was wise enough to leave off the issues that plague their flagship phone, like overheating, unreliability of the system, slow recharging but fast discharging of the battery, involuntary system reboot, etc. That’s Android for you!

Visita Iglesia 2013 — A Walkathon Around Makati

It was a little over 10K walkathon for me this Good Friday as I visited seven (7) churches around and about Makati’s business district.

The route I took is as follows:

  1. St. Joseph the Worker Parish, 4927 Enrique St., Palanan
  2. San Ildefonso Parish, A. Arnaiz Ave. cor. M. Reyes St., Pio del Pilar
  3. St. John Bosco Parish, A. Arnaiz Ave. Cor. Amorsolo St., P.O. Box 1336, M C P O
  4. Sts. Peter And Paul Parish, 5539 D.M. Rivera St., Poblacion
  5. St. Andrew The Apostle Parish, N. Garcia And Neptune Sts., Bel-air II
  6. Holy Cross Parish, 211 J. P. Rizal St.
  7. National Shrine Of The Sacred Heart Of Jesus, Sacred Heart St. (formerly Dao St.), San Antonio Village

I actually planned and mapped in advance the locations and routes in Google Maps:

visita_iglesia_map

You may check out the map in Google Maps.

I had my Canon Powershot G15 with me and here are the pictures I took to document the day: Check out the Gallery after the jump »

The Sad State of Google Reader

Google Reader, 2005-2013
Google Reader, 2005-2013

From the Google Official Blog:

We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.

I’m an ardent user of Google Reader. I use it everyday to keep abreast of the latest news, from general news, tech, photography, videography, basketball, chess, personal financing, investing, etc. I access it directly from the web, or using desktop and mobile clients. The sync function facilitates tracking of read and unread articles across the various platforms.

I’ve come to know about feed aggregators when I came across the web-based service called ‘Netvibes‘ back in 2005. I’ve used that service since to follow my favorite blogs (which were few then) and also to discover new blogs. Until I came along Google Reader — same concept but carries the Google brand, a mark of a service that is here to stay.

Apparently, it was a grave mistake. Keep on Reading »

Winter is Coming on March 31

Yes, the Game of Thrones will be back on television with its 3rd season on the 31st of March, 2013.

So, prepare for the epic battles and stormy rivalries among the dragons, lions, direwolves, etc. Of course, let’s see if winter is indeed coming from the north during the 3rd season.

Check out the trailer video below:

The Smartphone Dominion

smartphones

There are a lot of metrics to measure smartphone dominion among different smartphone brands and operating systems. Survey organizations use sales figures, net profit, internet traffic, apps ecosystem, etc., even broken down into different demographics and/or geography, to demonstrate the different systems’ leadership above the rest.

But, really, if you are going to be realistic about it, try going to restaurants, malls, and/or coffee shops around the metro, and observe which smartphones are predominantly in the hands of other people around you, you’ll find that these statistics are not quite accurate.