Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by Similan

Official thread iPad 3

Similan — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:51:35 +0800

Apple Inc may unveil its third-generation iPad on Feb 24, in honor of the birthday of its late founder Steve Jobs, according to a Taiwan-based newspaper.

After the iPhone 4S successfully took the tech market by storm, the iPad3 is widely expected to be Apple's first hit product to be released next year.

Industry sources said the first shipment of the iPad3 could exceed 4 million units.

Because it is a new gadget, it is taking time for makers in the supply chain to raise their yield rates. The sources said all OEM and ODM makers have exercised great caution in ensuring the smooth operations of their production lines.

To meet the iPad3 delivery date, the sources said, main assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry's iPad division will only allow its employees to take five days off during the Lunar New Year holiday, while staff at the company's other divisions will have a longer holiday.

Casing producer Catcher Technology said that at least some of its employees will have to work overtime during the Lunar New Year holiday.

Other high-end component suppliers such as battery maker Simplo Technology, connector maker Amer International Group and optical lens supplier Genius Electronic Optical Co. are all planning to ask at least some of its employees to work during the Lunar New Year holiday, industry sources said.

Institutional investors said the first quarter tends to be a low season, but Apple's busy suppliers reflect Apple's urgent demand for iPad3 delivery and the likelihood that first quarter sales of these OEM and ODM makers

Apple unveiled the iPad on Jan 27, 2010 and the iPad2 on March 3, 2011.

-China Daily/Asia News Network

sauce

The Official Meizu thread

Similan — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:52:41 +0800

Dimensions: 121.3×63.3×10.3mm
Weight: 139g

Screen size: 4.0"
Display: AVS
Resolution: 960x640

Camera: 8 megpixel rear facing camera, 0.3 megapixel front facing camera
Video: 1080p video recording

Memory: 16GB

Processor: Dual core

[WTA] Peugeot 5008 vs VW Cross Touran

Similan — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 22:19:42 +0800

Looking for a good value compact MPV, with lower cost of ownership.
anything extra is a bonus.
so far i know

both are
CBU : high quality assured
turbo-boost: pickup and fuel economy doesn't differ much

Exterior:
Don't really care but Pug looks more elegant

Interior:
Pug has leather seats but VW seems more comfortable
Equipment list Pug is more but seems more prone to faults?

any further helpful comments?
about reliability of brand?
after sales service?

WTF Motorola Mobility sued!

Similan — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:29:58 +0800

ROTFL

thought google had bought moto mobile and now this happens?

must be bozos who are running the company.

QUOTE

Motorola Mobility is being sued over six patents used in Android by a company that Google themselves provided funding to. The company, Intellectual Ventures, is a collector of patents and intellectual property, and was founded by Microsoft's former chief technology officer, Nathan Myhrvold. The company gains profit from ownership of these patents and intellectual properties by licensing them to different companies.

The six patents relate to transferring files between computers, networking capabilities, and portable computing. The company claims to have been in talks with Motorola since January 2011, which was shortly after Motorola Mobility became its own company (on January 4th, 2011). After the talks "broke down", a lawsuit was issued to the Illinois-based company. According to Intellectual Ventures, they have previously signed successful licensing agreements with other handset manufacturers.

In May, Intellectual Ventures released a legal disclosure naming Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft as companies that have helped provide it with funds. During the summer, Google made preparations to buy Motorola Mobility. If they did this, they would be able to merge Motorola Mobility with their Android operating system, evolving the search engine giant into a cell phone manufacturer. When contacted by ZDNet, Google did not respond in time for publication, and Motorola Mobility declined to comment.

BBC News questioned Google's ability to protect Android phone manufacturers, citing patent experts who said the case was "concerning", as well as reporting that Intellectual Ventures owns a pool of approximately 35,000 patents. Patent expert Florian Mueller was also cited by the BBC, saying that Google's backing of Intellectual Ventures was an "own goal", and that their failure to defend Android partners was "inexcusable".

sos

[!RED ALERT!] HTC Massive Security Vulnerability

Similan — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:57:41 +0800

Hope this notice helps htc android users from suffering massive losses and anguish.
Never store your PIN numbers, passwords or personal data on HTC android phones.

HTC apparently modified Android in a way that leaves some models of its phones open to hacks and data theft, researchers reveal.

Security researchers say they've uncovered a flaw in several smartphone models produced by HTC that gives any application that has Internet access the keys to a trove of information on the phone, including e-mail addresses, GPS locations, phone numbers, and text message data.

The researchers, Trevor Eckhart, Artem Russakouskii, and Justin Case, say they informed HTC of the vulnerability on September 24, but after HTC failed to respond to their warning for five days, they went public with their knowledge on Friday.
The security gap in the HTC phones stems from modifications the company made in versions of the Android operating system in EVO and Thunderbolt models. Those changes add a suite of logging tools to the system. "If you, as a company, plant these information collectors on a device, you better be DAMN sure the information they collect is secured and only available to privileged services or the user, after opting in," Russakouskii wrote yesterday at the Android Police website.

That's not the case here, he notes. The modifications made to Android by HTC allow any application that you give permission to access the Internet from the phone access to a plethora of sensitive information on the device. What's more, it also has permission to send the data that it finds wherever it wants on the Net without your knowledge.
"Normally, applications get access to only what is allowed by the permissions they request, so when you install a simple, innocent-looking new game from the [Android] Market that only asks for the INTERNET permission (to submit scores online, for example), you don't expect it to read your phone log or list of e-mails," Russakouskii explains.
He compares the vulnerability to leaving the keys to your house under the welcome mat and not expecting anyone to find them.

Data that can be peeked at by any app with Internet access include:
E-mail addresses
Last known network and GPS locations.
Phone numbers from phone logs.
SMS data, including phone numbers and encoded text.
System logs, which track everything your apps do, such as logging into secure locations.
System information such as onboard memory, CPU data, running processes and list of installed apps, including permissions they use and your user IDs for them.

In addition to the logger suite, Russakouskii notes, HTC has further modified Android with the addition of something named androidvncserver.apk. While the addition of that app, which is designed to give third parties remote access to a phone, might end up being insignificant, he did find it "suspicious." "The app doesn't get started by default, but who knows what and who can trigger it and potentially get access to your phone remotely?" he asks.
According to Eckhart, there's no way at this time to patch the vulnerability without rooting the phone, which, of course, will void the warranty. If you do hack the phone's OS, you can remove HTC's logger suite, htcloggers.apk, found in /system/app/.
This latest vulnerability exposes the problems that can occur in an open source environment like Android. While it allows phone makers and application developers to make creative changes to the basic system, it can also open the door to abuse of a phone owner's data.

sauce

[Official thread] BB9860 Torch

Similan — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 08:41:41 +0800

Specs/features:

3.7" 16M-color TFT touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels)

Quad-band GSM support and quad-band 3G with HSDPA

Single-core 1.2GHz QC8655 processor

768MB RAM

BlackBerry OS v7

BlackBerry’s proprietary email service and data security

Wi-Fi b/g/n connectivity

GPS receiver and BlackBerry maps preloaded, digital compass

5 megapixel camera with autofocus and a LED flash

HD video recording, 720p@30fps

2.5GB of inbuilt storage

Optical trackpad

Four physical buttons at the bottom

Reviews:

GSMArena

The new BlackBerry generation offers better specs and improved user experience. They are closing the gap, although still catching up with last year's top performers. We guess it's a comfortable position for RIM, behind but not losing sight of the leaders. Safe in the knowledge that they have something unique to offer, but not too complacent to learn and do better.
On the other hand, they had something to unlearn too. Sometimes, short-term memory loss can be a good thing. RIM had to forget about the Storm if they wanted to make a difference. They can take something from the experience but the Storm belongs in the closet with the other skeletons.
The Torch 9860 is a new way RIM go about this whole touch affair. Not that the OS 7 is radically different in its approach. It's the fact that for the first time they're going for a traditional touchscreen. In a way, they're going against their own nature with a keyboardless messenger. No excuse this time, no hiding behind SurePress, they're going head-on against all kinds of fearsome competitors.

Phonearena

This is the device that RIM should’ve put out three years ago when they embarked on the touchscreen form factor with the original Storm 9530. As we know, the key to success in the industry is partly related to timing, and it’s remarkable to witness that RIM is finally coming around to producing a decent all touch BlackBerry. Needless to say, we’re glad to see that they decided to completely drop all the gimmicks found with both Storm iterations. Of course, it’s better to be late than never because its low pricing alleviates some of the uncertainty of picking it up. If you’ve been burned by any of RIM previous all touch offerings, you’ll be enamored by the intuitive experience found with the Torch 9850. Even that, however, doesn't make it quite on par with rival Android models and the iPhone, which still have much more polished software platforms to offer.

However, if you're simply after a BlackBerry device and having a touchscreen is not among your top priorities, then we'd suggest that you get the Bold 9930, which is arguably the best smartphone from RIM's camp right now.

Techradar

3 out of 5

The BlackBerry Torch 9860 marks RIM's first foray into pure touchscreen control, without any of the SurePress shenanigans of the Storm 2 or the slide-out keyboard of the Torch 9800 and 9810.

With the improvements of BlackBerry OS 7 and better specs across the board, the result is largely a success. Certainly, it looks like RIM has laid the groundwork for a strong touchscreen operating system.

The problem is that everyone else was laying this groundwork two or three years ago, and they've since ironed out the sort of little issues that plague the Torch 9860.

We liked

The BlackBerry Torch 9860 is a really nice bit of hardware. It feels well made, the screen is detailed and vibrant, and it's got a decent spec list.

The Liquid Graphics technology lives up to its name, making most of the interface quite fluid, and the continuing integration of social networks and IM services make messaging on the device as slick to use as it is to look at.

Videos look great on the screen, and this is a good showing as a media phone.

We disliked

Whereas its competitors seem to be releasing something close to the finished article these days, the BlackBerry Torch 9860 feels in need of a raft of updates.

It's got interfaces lurking that clearly weren't designed for touchscreen phones, great internet integration in some areas that's marred by poor integration in others, a browser that's improved but still inconsistent and many more little niggles.

In particular, we found the keyboard to be just horrible in portrait, with nearly every other tap going astray.

The GPS problem was really galling, and the issue with apps being able to use autocorrect in the password field seems downright bizarre.

The price is too high, as well. We know RIM considers this a premium phone, but better phones are available for much cheaper, and much better phones are around for the same price.

Final verdict

It's a slick package from afar, but using the BlackBerry Torch 9860 after the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S2, HTC Sensation and iPhone 4 feels like going back to 2009.

There's lots to boast about on this phone, no doubt, but we just can't recommend it over the rest out there for anyone other than those desperately tied into RIM's services who want a slick new all-touch experience.

Images courtesy of GSMArena

income tax relief for ipad

Similan — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:54:36 +0800

Apple iPad is entitled to LHDN personal income tax relief

In reference to Paragraph 46(1)(j) of Malaysian Income Tax Act 1967, an amount limited to a maximum of RM3,000 is deductible in respect of the purchase of non-business use personal computer for individual tax payer.

This deduction is allowed once in 3 years, but no deduction will be granted if the computer is used for business purpose.

Now, the question: are tablet computers such as Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Viewsonic ViewPad 7, Toshiba Folio 100, CSL Spice Mi700 DroidPad, Blackberry Playbook, ZTE V9, etc. entitled for this personal income tax relief?

I have asked this question to LHDN, and the official answer is: if the tablet computer only have computer features and is for home and family use only, then it will be treated as "computer" and is entitled to the personal income tax relief of up to RM3,000, claimable once in 3 years.

This will be the case for Apple iPad, Toshiba Folio 100 and Blackberry Playbook. Let's say you purchased an Apple iPad 64GB with Wifi+3G at the price of RM2,599 in year 2010, and your tax rate is 24%, when you file your 2010 personal income tax now, you can claim back RM2,599 tax relief, which is equilvalent to a saving of RM623.76 in your income tax. (If you have any family member or friend or colleague who purchased Apple iPad recently, please forward this good news to them using the "Share" button below.)

However, if the tablet computer also have handphone features in addition to computer features, which mean you can make phone calls and also send SMS/MMS using the telco service with the tablet, then it will be treated as a "phone" and is not entitled to personal income tax relief. This is the case for Samsung Galaxy Tab, Viewsonic ViewPad 7, CSL Spice Mi700 DroidPad, ZTE V9, etc. Bad news.

If you need to verify this information, can make a call to LHDN at 1300-88-3010 or email to callcentre@hasil.gov.my.

iPhone4 still the slimmer

Similan — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:40:41 +0800

i'm astounded by the lengths that they go just to gain unfair advantage over the successful iphone.
first they illegally copied the design and now, make false advertising claims.

QUOTE

Don't believe anyone who tells you size doesn't matter because in the world of mobile phones it's who's got the smallest that counts. Apple was forced to get out its measuring tape (the iTape?) after it was challenged over its claim that the iPhone 4 was the "world's thinnest smartphone". Oh yeah, but what about the Samsung Galaxy S II phone, eh? In stepped the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to sort things out after it received a complaint about the boast in an iPhone ad. Turns out parts of the Samsung phone, at just 8.71mm, are indeed thinner than the iPhone 4's uniform thickness of 9.3mm. But – and this is crucial – parts of the Samsung are also thicker, at a whopping 9.91mm. "Apple pointed out that the Galaxy S II had prominent bulges at the top of the device," reported the ASA in its ruling on Wednesday. "Apple said consumers would not be interested in the thinnest part of the device, but in its overall measurements, as these would, for example, affect whether the device could fit into a pocket or purse." The ASA agreed with Apple "because the iPhone 4's thickest point was thinner than the thickest point of the Samsung Galaxy S II" – and the complaint was dismissed. Forget about length, it's all about the girth.

sauce

HTC Sense 3.5

Similan — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:53:11 +0800

supposed to run on slower hardware.
looks great huh. htc rawks!