I’m a new Blackberry convert now
Posted by S.S. in Technology on June 6th, 2009
Finally, after 2 months of absent from the blogosphere, I’m back now. There are a lot of things going on in this past monts that made me so busy, that I have little or no time to blog. In the future, I’ll try to set up priorities so that I can still blog even though I’m so busy.
If you were following my blog, you’ll know that I fall in love with iPhone. The reason that I haven’t got it until now is because I’m waiting for iPhone’s new release this June. Lo and behold….I ended up with Blackberry Bold now. You might ask why in the world that you changed your mind? Well…there are several reasons:
- iPhone is more for entertainment, but I need a phone that can be used for both entertainment and business uses. First of all, iPhones lacks physical keyboard. Since I’m emailing, typing and texting a lot, physical keyboard is more comfortable to use for me. Even though iPhone has bigger screen, BB Bold has decent size screen with screen sharpness and color deep that are in par with iPhone.
- Blackberry (BB) has the true and “real-time” email and application push notification that are not yet to be found in iPhone (the next iPhone might have this push feature included) or any other phones. The reason is because iPhone doesn’t support bakground application processing, which make the program “unaware” of any new content updates.
- BB has its own BB Messenger that works even as International text message. The downside is that it has to be between BBs. BB Messenger is so robust that it can send files, pictures, and voicenotes (max 2.9 Mb) to your BB partner. It is surprisingly much faster than sending them through regular email though. It may be because they went through BB server instead of just a regular server.
- BB looks more professional for business use. I don’t know why, but BB has this business atmosphere around it. It is just different when you found out that your business partner is using BB than if he was using iPhone.
- BB is not ATT’s owned, so you can unlock it for free, and bring it overseas and use your own local cellphone carrier.
Picture Gallery
Cons
Even though BB Bold is a great device, there are couple things that can be improved by RIM in the future:
- Memory Management. You need to do a battery pull once and a while, or using application such as “Quick Pull” to accomplish the same effect. If the memory is low, your BB will work really slow.
- Battery life. If you are using BB Bold for chat, email, browsing, and checking FB constantly, you will probably get a half day of battery life. The power management definitely needs some works. You can buy a more poweful battery though, even it might add the bulkiness of BB Bold.
Final Verdict
BB is definitely for business people. It is so easy to send email, texting, and typing using BB. However, it lacks the entertainment glamour that is in iPhone. However, BlackBerry, especially BB Bold, starts catching up in entertainment side with its nice Media Player looks and stereo speakers (the loudest and clearest cellphone speakers I have ever heard so far). So if you are a “text” person and can’t miss a single email or maybe a private message from someone special on Facebook, you should go with BlackBerry, in my case, it’s gonna be BB Bold. Why? because it has 3G and faster processor.
7 Surprising Facts About Sleep
Posted by S.S. in Miscellaneous on March 30th, 2009
I don’t know why, but I really like sleeping. I belief that it’s one of God’s greatest blessing that we can sleep. Can you imagine not being able to sleep for several days. Would you be so miserable? not to mention also how cranky you can be on that day. This past week I found several facts about sleeping that I thought really interesting. Here are the 7 surprising facts about sleep:
- Sleep improves memory.
- Lack of sleep has immediate consequences. Our brain and memory are affected after just one night of lack of sleep. The more poor sleep you got, the more severe it’s affecting your brain function.
- Sleepy deprivation could cause catastrophes. Lack of sleep is probably the top health problem according to CNN Also, lack of sleep could lead to disaster if you are not careful.
- Countermeasure don’t help much. I’m sorry coffee lovers, but coffee doesn’t help you wake up according to Will Meek, Ph.D. Playing music in the car might help you fight sleepiness, but it won’t completely get rid of the drowsiness you got.
- Sleep people don’t know they’re impaired. Sometimes when you were sleepy, you just didn’t realize that you had poor judgment. I can be a witness to this. If I’m reading a book when I’m sleepy, it really frustrates me. Sometimes it took me 30 minutes just to read one short paragraph when I’m sleepy and drowsy. The problem was that during those 30 minutes, I didn’t even realize that what I’m doing was a total waste of time. Eventually, I realized it, and took a power nap for 10-15 minutes, then resume whatever I was doing. That power nap made a whole difference, believe me.
- Poor sleep may contribute to serious health problems. Do you know that lack of sleep could cause obesity, emotional problems, heart problem, and diabetes?
- Think about it. So how is your sleep? are you getting good sleeps lately? I heard that an average adult need 7-8 hours of sleep. I know…maybe some of you can’t afford that much of a sleep. It’s ok….the answer is to increase the quality of your sleep. Turn of the light, sleep in a quite place, have a good bed. They all can help you to have quality sleep.
Personally, I’m the one that’s guilty the most of this. Usually, I only get 4 hours of sleep every night, so I need to make some “adjustment” to my schedule so that I can get enough sleep. How about power nap? Did you ever do it? my definition of power nap is sleeping for only 10-15 minutes. It really helps me when I got a lot of things to do.
Can you live without a fridge?
Posted by S.S. in Miscellaneous on March 25th, 2009
Arrggh….my fridge has been broken for 3 days now. All my food went bad. I and my roommates have called the maintenance department for couple times to no avail. Finally, he came today to fix it. The bad news is that it can’t be fixed anymore since my refrigerator was so old. So, what he’ll do is replacing it with another one. The problem is that the fridge is in one piece with the sink, so in order to remove it and replace with another one, he has to cut it out and stick the new fridge back in. Sigghh….I don’t know how long it’s gonna take to do that.
He said that he’s gonna come back again in an hour or so, with the new fridge. Don’t know if he’s going to yank the old one out today or tomorrow. I don’t care, I just want my fridge back so I can store things there (can you sense the frustration here? LOL). I have been living with ramen and can food these past three days. I guess I could go out and eat, but I just didn’t want to spend more money for that.
One thing I learned is to be content for everything. It is just a mere fridge, it’s not something that I can’t live without. Sometimes we were being so dependant with techonology and the conveniences around us that we take many things for granted, like your computer and Internet that you were using right now. Can you live without computer and Internet that you are always using and be in front of everyday? I don’t know, it must be really hard for some of us. Can you live without microwave? Can you live without air conditioner (AC)? the bottom line is be thankful for what you had.
Second, always be ready with can food and ramen, because you’ll never know when you will need them the most. 
I hope you have a great day. Talk to you later.
PCC Indonesian Fellowship Kebaktian Padang Spring 2009
Posted by S.S. in Social Life on March 21st, 2009
This past weekend we went to the beach to have our “PCC Indonesian Fellowship Kebaktian Padang Spring 2009.” It was really fun. Unfortunately, it was little bit raining and windy for a while when we went there. The weather was clearing up later in the afternoon though.
Since we didn’t have enough car, I ended up doing three round trips to pick up my friends and dropped them back. It’s ok though. I did use more gas, but they compensated me by allowing me not to pay for the food and everything else, so I was saving around $8.
I also enjoyed the moment where I and the other two guys playing guitar for Praise and Worship. It was also the same day when I began to like Digital SLR. There were three people in our group who brought their DSLR. I tried two of the cameras, and I liked it. The quality is so much different then when you took pictures with digital camera. The problem is that DSLR is so expensive, around $400-500. Plus, you need to buy carrying case, tripod, and more lens for future use. These expenses could cost me another $500. So in total, I need to save up $1000 to get DSLR. Wow….it’s a lot of money for me. I guess we have to look and see if God provides me with the money or not in the future. When the time is right, I am planning to get a DSLR.
Here are couple pictures that I selected to best represent what happenned when we were in Pensacola beach.
What’s new in iPhone OS 3.0?
Posted by S.S. in Technology on March 18th, 2009
Apple finally released preview of iPhone OS 3.0 yesterday. It’s going to come out this Summer. I’m not sure when, but it’s this Summer. If you want to know more about what’s new in iPhone OS 3.0 you can check it out in more detail at gsmarena.com, phonedog.com, engadget.com or cnet.com.
To summarize, here are the changes that I think worth to mention:
- Cut and Paste
- MMS
- Tethering
- Email push notification
- Landscape keyboard
- Stereo A2DP Bluetooth
I’m kinda upset that Apple did not include video recording capability in its new OS, but it’s ok, at least, Apple has added most of the features that I want to be included in the new OS.
I think the reason why Apple is not including all features at once is more of marketing strategy. If iPhone were to have all features that consumers want, people will less likely to buy iPhone future releases since they have already got all that they want in their current iPhone. To prevent this to happen, Apple “gradually” adds features to its phone. I know there might be others issues such as security issues, power management, and other problems as well, but they are not as important as their marketing strategy. Plus, a lot of Apple’s competitors start to catching up with iPhone, such as Palm Pre, HTC Touch Pro 2, HTC Magic, etc. So if Apple didn’t do something, it will be crushed by the others. Luckily, Apple released iPhone new OS 3.0.
On the side, I’m so glad that iPhone is finally available in my home country, Indonesia. It’s about time. The reason for this is because if I end up getting iPhone as my next phone (I’m available for discount upgrade next month. Yiippeee…..the option is either to get iPhone or wait several months to get HTC Touch Pro 2), I want to be able to use it when I go back to Indonesia. So now, I don’t have to worry about that anymore.
| Post Paid* | Post Paid* | Post Paid* | Pre Paid | |
| Turbo | Turbo Plus | Turbo Premium | Turbo | |
| Monthly fee** | Rp. 354 | Rp. 488 | Rp. 733 | - |
| Free Talk** | - | 180 minutes | 360 minutes | - |
| Free SMS** | - | 150 SMS | 300 SMS | - |
| Free Data** | 500 MB | 500 MB | 1,000 MB | 500 MB |
| Handset Price 8GB | Rp. 4,455 | Rp. 3,844 | Rp. 2,622 | Rp. 9,605 |
| Handset Price 16GB | Rp. 5,912 | Rp. 5,301 | Rp. 4,079 | Rp. 11,205 |
(price is in thousands)
Selling time at Pavilion-South Entrance, Pacific Place
20 March 2009 : 08:00 PM – 00:00 AM (Midnight)
21 March 2009 : 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM
22 March 2009 : 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM
* For eligible customers
** Every month for a year period
For more information go to telkomsel.com
(4.00 out of 5)
