The New Typecover

The new Surface Pro 4 certainly looked appetising to say the least. Better processor and higher resolution screen. But to be honest, I couldn't really justify an upgrade to my knee year old Surface Pro 3. The old unit was still going strong and the processor was still fast enough, certainly for what ever I was using the computer for.

It was mainly for letters in clinic, the odd email and of course scheduling into my Google Calendar.

But the new types cover which was launched with the new Surface was a big jump from the old one. And the good news was, it was compatible with the old notebook. Great!

It took a while before I could find a store that had it available far sales. So far, they only bundle it with the new Surface. And even harder to find one in black. I guessed I was lucky today and managed to pick one up. Not cheap, but it was certainly worth the investment.

It felt like I now own a new Surface!

What's That?

That was really one big tablet. It was mainly salt replacement. Luckily you don't have to swallow it whole. It dissolves in water, and you drink it then.

Imagine having to gobble down the whole tablet ...

Juicing the Kit Kat

I can say that there was no real noticeable difference since the upgrade so far except for the battery live. I have yet to charge my Nexus 7 since the morning although I had been with it almost constantly with push options turned on via my mobile network. I still have 37% on the battery indicator.

Is that a good sign? I sure hope so, even though I don't have any games installed on the unit. I had watched a few YouTube video though.

There were mentioned that battery optimisation was one of the key features of the new update. Hopefully it lives up to the billing. In the meantime, I would continue to be online until I go to bed, and would not charge until I wake up in the morning. If there is still juice, then I would be really impressed. Watch this space ...

This also made me wonder if the update on my Nexus 4 would prolong its battery live. The battery really sucks on that phone, and it would be nice if there is improvement even though I would only have wifi on it.

Intuos5

My Wacom tablet from seven years back was still going strong, but the tip was a problem. The rubberised grip had melted - from grime and what have you - and I was struggling to get it replaced. I was walking around Mid Valley last weekend and came across a store doing sales for the Wacom tablets.

I browsed around to sample some of the low-end versions. They were good, and did the trick week, but I noticed that the ones which responded to stylus and touch were still expensive. A few extra hundred would get me one of the higher-end ones, which were bundled with softwares such as Adobe Photoshop Elements that were going at the App Store at around USD80. I might as well get the more expensive one then.

It came with a stand for the stylusThere were programmable buttons on the left side of the tablet, and a multifunctional touch-sensitive scroll-wheel for navigating.The tip of the nib is touch sensitive to 2048 levels, whatever that meant!There is an option to use Bluetooth connection using an optional accessory. But I wondered where the tablet would draw its power from.I went for the Intous5 Touch, the smallest size. The price was very reasonable with the discounts, and add to that the softwares - including the budged version Nik Color Efex Pro - I was really pleased. Setting them up on the Mac was easy, and I was really enjoying it now. It would keep the smudges of the glass-paned touch pad on my MacBook Pro.

Some of the custom gestures took a while to get used to, but once you mastered them, it was a doodle to use.

Hmm! Which One?

I was at Low Yat earlier this afternoon and had he chance to take a close look at the latest Samsung offering, the Note 2. A modest gunfire and clearly DiGi was pushing the product pretty strongly. They offered a 3 year package, where you take home the device for RM1399, plus a RM600 bill advanced payment. You would then had to pay RM88 for the data alone - 5Gb - monthly which is slightly more expensive than the current DiGi package I was grandfathered in. And the thought of having tonne tied down for a couple of years on a contract alone made me cringe.

It was a hard sell that the promoter made, but I was keener on the software than the hardware. I was trying to test the Jelly Bean, but the promoter kept on telling me about the magical thing the device could do. I could do those task better on a 7 inch tablet, but those were yet to run the new operating system except the Nexus 7.

And the problem with the Nexus 7 was the fact that it was wifi only. I want my tablet to be cellular.

One of my colleague - @palmdoc - carry the Tab 7.0 with him, and it looked quite handy. I held on to see what the Nexus 7 going to be like, and maybe a bit longer to see whether the iPad Mini would materialise. iPhone 5 was yet to interest me as I find the 4S more than adequate. I just wanted a 7 inch device I could carry in my labcoat, for me to access emails and various other app on a screen larger than my iPhone. The Note is big, but a 7 inch device would fare better. And I prefer to have an Android device along, just for the variation.

So, at the current rate, it looked like it was going to be the Nexus 7 as I have a debt wifi coverage at work. Hmmmm .... dilemma.