My Z10 gone LTE

After a good year using the Z10, I decided to upgrade. Not to a new system as such, but to an upgraded version of the same phone. The Z10, LTE version. Shame that it only came in White. Pricewise, it had certainly took a dive. There was no guarantee if BlackBerry would continue making phones. In fact, they were talking about selling their phone portfolio.

Why did I upgrade? Well, Maxis offered LTE at no extra cost and my workplace was covered. And the price, it was under RM800! I just couldn't say no to that! It was too good an offer.

As it stood, the keyboard was miles better any I had ever used, including the iPhone. I was not ashamed to admit that. The App Store was improving although it still lack plenty in the imaging department, but who in their right mind would be using a BlackBerry for their photography right?

I pray that BlackBerry would continue to soldier on. They had plenty more to offer on the platform I was sure, even if the profit margin was against that ...

Another Look at BBM

The clinic had been slow this morning which I couldn't really complain as it had been hectic since I returned from the break. And tomorrow going to be busy again.

So, I spent some time going through the news. It was all dominated by new releases from CES - Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. New cameras, new phones, TV and the likes. But what cough my eyes was the iteration from BlackBerry on their new version of BBM. Still due to be released, but it promised to be true cross-platformed.

It was compelling enough an announcement that I booted up my Z10, and installed the BBM on my iPhone. Just to see how well it worked.

The main problem with WhatsApp was the fact that you'd need to give away your phone number. With this, it was like giving away your email but minus the possibility of spam - although I was sure that would come.

So, I would want to give BBM a try yet again. Good luck to me!

What's Cooking Timmy?

Despite having fever, I was still waiting to see what Tim Cook is cooking tonight. Well, I slept earlier before being called for an admission. I would be seeing the case first thing tomorrow morning since I needed the rest.

It was now just past midnight. Took my paracetamol, brufen, vitamin C, zirtek and Augmentin. If I couldn't sleep in the next 20 minutes, I would stay up to catch at least the beginning of the keynote. I have told Anita that we would be upgrading our iPhones after this - my 4S and Anita's 4. Both were out of contract already for some time.

Will it be the 5S? All would be revealed soon. But first, lets see if I could catch some sleep. I have a long day at work tomorrow.

Switching to the One

After putting off the switch for quite a while, it had finally became official. I would be retiring my Nexus 4 in favour of the HTC One.

After using the One for the last couple of months, the difference became rather obvious. First of all, the speed as far as blogging was concerned. The main drafting app I use is called Writer. The speed between the two devices were very obvious when I type. The One was definitely superior.

Then came the camera. Not much difference between the two camera-wise although One took better photos off the sensor, but when it post-production, using Snapseed was definitely a better experience on the One. Since the file was smaller - the sensor chip was only 4 MP - editing was snappier.

But the main killer was battery life. It was abysmal on the Nexus 4. Snapdragon Battery Guru helped a bit, but not much.

I might still be visiting the Nexus especially if it had the 4.3 upgrade pushed down first. But for daily use, I had to use the One. There were just to many reasons to switch.

Low Yat Time

Yesterday was one hell of a busy day. Starting with the tax submission, runs to the bank followed by a quick lunchtime visit to see a friend who had just had an operation the day before. And then after that, a walk around Low Yat to check out the latest buzz on what was going on in the local gadget scene.

The Galaxy S4 was finally out, and there were plenty of units available from both the official and the not-so-official retailer, and the abundance of phones in terms of availability made sure that there were not much price distortion going on. Most of the vendors were trying to outdo each other by adding on packages such as covers and screen protectors. Me? After having a feel of the device for a good 20 minutes, I decided to stick with my Nexus 4.

But in the middle of this all, I was still intrigued by the Blackberry. But to give up either the iPhone or the Nexus for it? Not quite yet. Even though I got SIMs for the three main local telcos, I just couldn't justify carrying three phones in one go! The Nexus just worked fine as a communication hub.