Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II Snap Review

The Samsung Galaxy S II (also known as the Galaxy S2) is Samsung's flagship mobile device, their fastest veer selling smartphone. This isn't surprising, the Galaxy S II improves over the original Galaxy S by a huge margin. When the Galaxy S II was announced, it was the thinnest smartphone in the world with a dual-core processor. Even today the specs of the S II is still considered market leading, rivalled only on paper by phones that aren't yet on the market.

Read on to find out what I think of the Galaxy S II.

Specifications:

• Exynos SoC with 1.2 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex A9 CPU and Mali-400MP GPU
• 1GB RAM and 16GB built-in flash storage
• 4.3" Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen with 480 x 800 resolution
• Quad band GSM and 3G
• 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 8 Megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and 1080p30 video recording
• 2 Megapixel front camera
• Bluetooth 3.0 and WiFi 802.11b/g/n
• GPS with A-GPS
• Digital compass

Despite being made entirely of plastic, the Galaxy S II's built quality is great. It feels great in my palms, and at 116g, is very light. The plastic does make it feel cheaper than say the HTC Sensation. Regardless, the Galaxy S II is also very thin, measuring 8.49mm at its thinnest point. A solitary 3.5mm headphone jack sits on the top, while the microphone and microUSB port, which supports Mobile High Definition Link (MHL) and USB On-The-Go, are found on the bottom. Unfortunately the MHL adaptor, required for HDTV-out, is not bundled with the device. On either side of the devices you will find the power button and volume rocker.

I have had my doubts in the past, but after a month of using the S II, I have grown to love the large 4.3" Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen capacitive display. The display, which is covered by Gorilla Glass and has oleophobic coating, is absolutely gorgeous. This is the same screen as seen on the Galaxy II, except that the pixels are now made up of RGB stripes rather than the much maligned PenTile stripes. While the resolution is still 480 x 800, the screen remained sharp, with strong contrast and black levels and colours so over saturated I had to reduce the colour levels in the settings.

Below the display are three hardware buttons. One, the Home key, is physical and the two (Menu and Back) are touch sensitive. By pressing it down, the Menu key also doubles as a regular Android Search key. Not being a fan of touch sensitive buttons, I am glad that the buttons are not too sensitive. You will find the earspeaker, 2 Megapixel front camera, ambient light sensor and proximity sensor.

At the back of the Galaxy S II resides the 8 Megapixel camera with auto-focus and macro capability. The camera is capable of full HD (1080p) video recording. A single LED flash sits next to it. While some may prefer Xenon flash, I found the LED flash to be more useful as it you can use it as a video light. Near the bottom of the back you will find a small speaker grill. The single speaker itself gives out a loud, but unfortunately unfulfilled audio experience. Best to stick with headphones. Underneath the thin textured battery cover you will find the none hot-swappable microSDHC card slot, a full size SIM card slot and a removable 1650 mAh battery. See Apple, this is how it's done.

The design of the Galaxy S II is simple, almost understated. Overall I liked the design, though I do wish Samsung has put in a bit more effort in differentiating their products. The Galaxy S II reminds me greatly of a couple of phones from Samsung's own portfolio as well as this one popular phone from a competitor of theirs... ;) Overall I liked the design, though I still preferred Sony Ericsson's effort with the XPERIA Arc a little bit more. Continue reading.....

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Google Nexus 7 Review

I viewed Google I/O, Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) and the first Nexus tablet as Google's last chance to deliver a knockout in the tablet space before the onslaught of Windows 8 and Windows RT devices later this year. While the show was undoubtedly a success, I don't know that the market for $499+ Android tablets has a life after Windows 8/RT hit. We should see Windows RT tablets at $499, and Ivy/Haswell based Windows 8 tablets will handle the higher price points.

It seems that Google also realized this as the Nexus 7, its first Nexus branded tablet, starts at just $199. There's a huge market for tablets as a primary computing device, and I believe Windows RT/8 offers something unique and compelling for that usage model. At the same time however, there's decent demand for a tablet to augment your existing computing world. It's a far more specific usage model but one that really demands a lower price point. Users are willing to spend a lot for something that does everything in your life, but for something that's more nice than necessity, price matters even more.

The Nexus 7 is aimed at the latter. It's a device for users who need ultra portability and tons of battery life for content consumption. While Apple has been quietly empowering the iPad to be a content creation device, and dockable Windows 8/RT tablets will attempt to replace your notebook, the Nexus 7 is a more traditional ARM based tablet by default.

It's clearly Google that I have to thank because the Nexus 7 is the most solidly built ASUS tablet I've ever used. That's not to say that its predecessors were examples of shoddy workmanship, it's just that the Nexus 7 is damn near perfect. The back has a great grip to it. The whole thing actually feels like a well made book because of the soft touch plastic back. The book comparison is sort of hilarious because it's a feel that Amazon couldn't get right with its overly generic Kindle Fire. The book illusion stops once your hands touch the glass for obvious reasons, but man does it feel nice to hold.

The Nexus 7 feels considerably lighter than the Kindle Fire, but I still had to prop it up on something or hold it in two hands if I was going to use it for a long period of time.

The power button and volume rocker are placed much like they would be on a phone - at the top right edge of the device. The sole buttons on the device do feel a bit ambiguous, something I feel that I would get used to over time. I had the disadvantage of switching between several tablets during this review and never did get used to the position and feel of the buttons on the N7. That's probably the biggest gripe I have about the design of the device. In other words, there's not much to hate.

The Nexus 7 features two mics for noise canceling action (likely in support of Google Now). You get NFC, Bluetooth and 802.11n WiFi but there's no LTE option as of now. I know there's internal debate about releasing an LTE enabled version at some point in the future.

Cost is the major selling point for the Nexus 7: for $199 Google will sell you an 8GB version with a $25 credit at the Google Play store, along with some preloaded magazines, books and a movie (Transformers: Dark of the Moon). It's tough to buy a new tablet and not buy apps for it, so the $25 credit is likely to be incredibly useful - making the effective retail price of the Nexus 7 $174. If you want 16GB of storage the price does go up to $249 however. Unfortunately even Google is not above charging $50 for $4 of MLC NAND.

The limited NAND capacity prevents the Nexus 7 from being home to more than a single full length movie or a couple of TV shows. Streaming video content isn't a problem, Netflix works beautifully on the device but there's no hope if you want to keep a ton of content local. Unfortunately USB OTG isn't supported for storage, so you're left with no other option for expanding local storage (short of rooting the device).

In every sense outside of portability, a 10-inch display is much nicer to look at than a 7-inch one in my opinion. There's less zooming in you need to do on web pages or magazines. Text in general is just easier to read and perhaps I'm getting too old, but there's something nice about everything being comfortably bigger.

Does the Nexus 7's form factor make it feel substantially better than using a smartphone? Yes, I'd say so. The same reasons I gave above for a 10-inch tablet being nicer to use than a 7-inch tablet are equally applicable to 7-inch tablet vs. a smartphone. There's this size/usability optimization curve that requires some soul searching to figure out exactly where you land on it. I suspect most people fall into the small smartphone + large tablet dichotomy, but the beauty of this current mobile revolution is the availability of choice. The Nexus 7 in many ways is very much like the 11-inch MacBook Air. A bit impractical for many, but those who crave portability are drawn to it. The Nexus 7 still feels like you're using a tablet, just a small one.

I needn't dwell on the benefits of a 7-inch form factor for portability any longer. If I'm wearing baggy enough pants I can even pocket the Nexus 7, something I simply couldn't do with the iPad. I'm more likely to carry the Nexus 7 with me than I would the iPad, but the comparison isn't quite as open and shut as that. The iPad offers LTE, the Nexus 7 is more portable, the iPad is easier to look at, the Nexus 7 is more affordable...the back and forth is endless.

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SingTel Fiber Broadband Review

I am selected to conduct a trial on the SingTel Fiber 200Mbps Broadband aka exStream. 5 x SingTel technicians came to install the devices on the 17 Sept 2010 @ 1700hrs. Yes, 5 of them, I was surprised why they need so many people to do it. Anyway, service was not activated at time of installation. Only able to use it 1.5 day later. A total of 3 devices were given:

1. Optical Network Terminal (Ericsson T063G)
2. Mio Gateway (2Wire 5012NV-002)
3. MiO TV Set Top Box

The specification of the fiber connection stated on SingTel website claimed to be able to achieve up to local 200Mbps download / 100Mbps upload, international 25Mbps download / ? Mbps upload. Did several speed test using speedtest.net and ftp, I am unable to achieve the stated max speed. (You can refer to the results at the bottom of this post). However, i manage to get 1ms ping for local. Haha… It will be good for gaming i suppose. During the test, I am using a 3m Cat6 LAN cable connected directly to the 2wire gigabit port. This router has 4 x LAN ports. Unfortunately, only one of them is a gigabit port. How strange. Should have made all 4 ports gigabit. Also asked my friends to test my upload speed. He is using StarHub 16Mbps MaxOnline and he manage to download files at his max speed @ 2250KB/sec from my FTP. Cool….

The internet connection is quite stable, has been up for 3 days and I did not encounter any disconnection so far. As for the IP, it is classified under the same range as the SingNet ADSL BroadBand’s IP. I can’t determine whether it is static or dynamic assignment yet. Till now, my IP has not yet changed. It could be static, or it could be the DHCP lease time is configured to a long period?

Have attempted to bypass the 2wire router and connect my laptop directly to the ONT. However, my laptop’s LAN adapter was unable to grab any IP. Inspected the 2wire router WAN configuration and saw that it is using DHCP for WAN. But i got no idea why I can’t grab any IP using my laptop. Tried to configuring PPPoE…failed. Even tried cloning the 2wire WAN’s MAC address, also failed. Tried to set static IP using a few well know range, also failed. Lastly, also tried setting static public IP leased to the 2wire router, also failed. Can’t seem to find any administrator manual online for this ONT. If anyone got any idea what is wrong and how to bypass the 2wire router, please do let me know.

In order to bypass the 2wire router, you have to assign VLAN ID to receive the respective traffic:

• Internet: 10
• IPTV: 20
• VoIP: 30
• Management: 40

Unfortunately, DIR-655 do not support WAN VLAN tagging. Guess have to stick to 2wire.. =( Thanks to xieliwei from HWZ who found out that the packets are vlan tagged using wireshark.

Speedtest.net – Singapore

Speedtest.net – Los Angeles

Speedtest.net – Hong Kong

The fiber broadband service comes with Mio TV and Mio Voice. So far, Mio TV was quite good, no freeze, no lag. This is the first time i use Mio TV after it has launched for so many years. I am surprise they do not have Net Geo and Discovery channel. They are my favorite documentary channels. Furthermore, they also don’t have my favorite Taiwan channels to watch all the lame variety shows. Nevertheless, they do have Video On Demand (VOD) for movies, MobTV etc. However, these shows are not free… Have to pay on a monthly subscription basis or per view basis. Conclusion for Mio TV, i still prefer Starhub CableTV. The boot up time for Starhub set top box is much faster, they have more channels, more HD channels, better GUI and lastly they have net geo and discovery.

FTP download from ftp.singnet.com.sg – 1GB file in less than 1minute… COOL!

FTP upload to ftp.singnet.com.sg – 1GB file

As for Mio Voice, no comments so far. I didn’t really use it because I also have Starhub Digital Voice and my mum friends do call the Starhub number. I don’t want to purposely buy another phone just to test it out. Anyway, I did made a few phone calls. No voice lag, sound quality is normal. I do not have the device to test the video call.

Optical Network Terminal Modem (Ericsson T063G)

Rear view of the modem

SingTel’s 2Wire 5012NV-002 vs StarHub’s Motorola SB5120v VeCM

Mio TV Set Top Box

In conclusion, I feel that the fiber broadband is not necessary for home users unless you need to use Mio TV or you are a heavy file leecher. I cannot feel any difference when I use it to surf the net. It is because surfing net doesn’t consume much bandwidth and also international traffic are throttled at 25Mbps, which ADSL/MaxOnline are also able to achieve. I would think more than 95% of my traffic are channeled to overseas, unless i surf HWZ/VRZ. And for the price starting at $85.90/month, IMO it is too expensive.

This article was written by technet posted by guest blogger you can also post yours contact me!

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'Wowowillie' summons over gender-sensitivity issues

After summoning ABS-CBN and GMA-7 over provocative numbers in its respective show, the MTRCB (Movie and Television Review and Classification Board) is calling the attention of TV5, this time on gender-sensitivity issues raised in its noontime variety show “Wowowillie.”

The program recently made news after main host-producer Willie Revillame reprimanded fellow hosts Ethel Booba and Ate Gay on air for allegedly getting irked for losing in the “Mini-concierto” talent contest. This, in turn, led to a confrontation among the three parties in the Feb. 28 edition of the show.

Portrayal of women

MTRCB Chair Eugenio Villareal told Yahoo! Philippines OMG! in a phone interview that he summoned TV5 executives to his office to discuss the said episode as well as other viewers' complaints regarding the portrayal of women on the noontime variety show.

“The summon to TV5 over “Wowowillie” was further to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between MTRCB and the networks, ABC included, on the portrayal of women in media as well as on account complaints of on-air decorum we received through social media and based on our own monitoring. It concerns a recent episode where there was an on-air castigation of a female talent, as well as that female talent’s use of unsavory language in referring to a talent from another network. To be tackled too is the manner how women appear in the said show,” Villareal said. MTRCB and TV5 representatives will meet over the said issue on Wednesday, March 13.

“We sent them already a notice for inquiry and that would be on Wednesday, 2pm. We will be having a panel for that, an ad hoc committee,” Villareal added. - source

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D-LINK DSL-520B Review

This modem supports high download speeds, Quality of Service (QoS), and extensive firewall protection, providing all the essentials that a home or small office would need to establish a secure and high speed remote link to the internet.

AFFORDABLE HIGH-SPEED CONNECTION FOR HOME & SMALL OFFICE

The DSL-520B ADSL2+ modem router is an affordable high-performance ADSL device for home and the small office. With integrated ADSL2/2+ supporting up to 24Mbps download speed, firewall protection, Quality of Service (QoS) and 1-port switch, this router provides all the essentials that a home or small office needs to establish a secure and high-speed remote link to the outside world.

Brand	D-Link
Model	DSL-520B
Spec
Type	DSL Modem
Interface	RJ-11 ADSL port RJ-45 10/100BASE-TX Ethernet port with auto MDI//MDIX
Standards	ITU-T G.992.5 Annex A/M
Max Transmission Rate	24Mbps Downstream, 2Mbps Upstream
Features	Surf the Internet, check e-mail, and chat online Easy setup – no technical experience required Connect your computer with Ethernet

FIREWALL PROTECTION & QoS

Security features prevents unauthorized access to the home and office network from Internet intruders. The router provides firewall security using Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI) and Denial of Service (DoS) attack protection. SPI inspects the contents of all incoming packet headers before deciding what packets are allowed to pass through. Router access control is provided with packet filtering based on port and source/destination MAC/IP addresses. For Quality of Service (QoS), the router supports multiple priority queues to enable a group of home or office users to experience the benefit of smooth network connection of inbound and outbound data without concern of traffic congestion. This QoS support allows users to enjoy high ADSL transmission for applications such as VoIP, streaming multimedia and on-line games over the Internet.

WHAT THIS PRODUCT DOES

This ADSL modem router connects to the Internet using an integrated high-speed ADSL2+ interface. Multiple computers at home or the office can share the high-speed Internet connection. The router provides firewall protection and QoS for secure and smooth on-line games, voice communication and download of photos, files, music and video over the Internet.

GET HIGH-SPEED ADSL SPEED

Ready ADSL connection with up to 24Mbps downstream and 2Mbps upstream. Watch TV, listen to live music and broadcast on the Internet, play games and experience clear Internet phone calls. Now, smooth streaming multimedia and VoIP voice are possible at home and in the office through a simple connection to this router.

Amazon Most Helpful Customer Reviews

By big_joe_mcbob on January 1, 2013
Verified Purchase

I was having slow DSL performance and wanted to replace a Verizon provided DSL modem with something that could show me at least my DSL line was running well. My criteria was to find a DSL modem that supported the later standards (ADSL2+ Annex M, etc), at least have some sort of recent support (datasheets or firmware dated within past 2 or 3 years) and have full statistics. As another reviewer mentioned, there's not a lot to choose from overall.

This modem fit the bill for me, it has detailed WAN, ATM, ADSL statistics that at least showed me my local loop was clean. It supports OAM and BERT tests.

There doesn't seem (as of this review anyway) any firmware updates from DLink, so whatever is loaded is basically what you get. It seems likely this is because there is some country specific firmware.

The manual shows settings for Internet Time (NTP) which is missing in my firmware and can't set the time, This is a little annoying when looking at the logfile and trying to understand when an event happened.

My DSL performance issues didn't change with this modem and it turns out it was a Verizon issue, which they have now fixed. I see many reviews for various DSL or cable modems which claim to have solved performance, but I would caution problems can always be somewhere else. The statistics from this modem, plus some detailed speed tests I ran, made me confident the problem was not on my side of the wire.

By TechT on March 3, 2011
Verified Purchase

Let's be honest, there isn't much diversity in the market for dsl modems. After trying 2Wire's that have poor network functions, Motorola's that don't stay connected, and Netgear's that fail after 6 months I decided to give this D-Link a try. It came with an install cd which I of course chunked and used the web interface so I can not tell you about the install cd. The web interface has a, "quick setup" menu which avoids a lot of technical network terminology but still had a ton of options in other areas including DHCP and NAT functions so you don't necessarily have to have a separate router to use it with multiple computers. It was very easy to bridge with my existing router (which was the only way I could figure out to get the modem to stop blocking ports and let the other router handle it) and did not have the connection issues Motorola's seem to have with a bridged router handling the login info for your internet service. If you need help configuring it D-Link provides a 800 number inside the box. Overall this modem seems to be well-made, holds a connection well, and performs better than many out-dated models still on the market.

By Michael P Levy on May 24, 2013
Verified Purchase

I bought this DSL modem to replace a Westell 327W DSL modem/wireless G router that I got when I signed up for my Verizon home DSL six years ago. We live in a rural area and are toward the end of the recommended distance from the switching station for a DSL line. The Westell was very unreliable and would drop out the connection to the internet regularly and often needed to be re-booted to reconnect. It was especially bad when the weather was less than a perfect sunny day. This unit, the 520B is rock solid. I have had it for about a month so far, during which time we have had severe rain and thunderstorms - including lightning strikes - and it has not even skipped a beat. The unit was easy to install with the included software and it automatically self-updates via the signals sent from your ISP so it is a true "set it and forget it" kind of device (as it should be), but access to manually configure the unit is great also should you ever need it. The VPN pass through feature is faster and more reliable than the Westell was - much needed for me as when I telework I have to connect into the company network via a VPN connection.

I have a Linksys EA 4500 wireless router connected to the modem and the two work flawlessly together as well. The EA 4500 is the hub of a fairly complex wired/wireless home network with multiple wired nodes, two router/wireless access points, an eight port switch and one wireless signal repeater/range extender. At maximum usage, there are four computers, two wireless printers, two Android phones and two Android tablets on the network running through the network and utilizing the modem at once and I never sense any traffic hitches or slow down issues. I am very pleased with this product in both price and performance.

By T. Fisher on September 10, 2013
Verified Purchase

I JUST got this modem to connect, and I have a little advice for people calling tech support:

If you're like me, you didn't write down your DSL password because you NEVER need to know it. Big mistake. After this, you'll write it down somewhere.

Now, the people at Verizon are not going to be used to supporting a different modem than the one they issue. Also, when they look up information on this modem they're going to be looking at outdated information. So you'll be doing the heavy lifting.

To get the modem to work, use the CD that came with the modem to initiate automatic network configuration. Next, get your DSL username and password from your ISP... this is the hard part.

After that, make SURE the DSL and Internet lights are on. If they are you're DONE with the modem. You hear me? DONE. They'll wind you round and round in circles and you'll just keep rebooting it.

Try to connect to the Internet. If you can't, the problem is in your NETWORK settings. Go to your network card properties and click configure. When the Window pops up with all of the networking protocols, click on IP Version 4. Make sure at this time that it says "Obtain IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS Server Address Automatically".

Click okay and close the dialog boxes.

Right click on your network adapter and click status. This will force the network card to refresh it's status and everything should work properly.

Congratulations, you figured it out.

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