Samsung Galaxy S4 - Hardware features

Samsung Galaxy 4 is finally unveiled and I believed you have read a lot of reviews or discussions about the phone.

Below are some of my favorite hardware features of the phone:

The screen got larger. From 4.8” to 5”, as compared to S3, yet the size of phone still stayed the same.

It got a slimmer body with premium finish. Its back cover is still made from plastic though, available in 2 colors.

It has a Full HD Super AMOLED display to provide an immersive experience. With 1080 x 1920 pixels (441 ppi pixel density), it provides one of the brightest and clearest screen, bringing the vibrant colours alive.

The cameras got upgraded. The rear camera is a 13-megapixel camera, with flash and high shutter mode. The front camera is a 2-megapixel camera which can be used to control the phone as well. Both cameras will be able to capture video at 1080p@30fps.

In order to enable the phone to operate seamlessly, the phone is equipped with either Exynos 5 Octa 5410 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset. Which processor you will be getting, will depend on where you live in the world. 

The eight core unique design is actually a Quad-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7. The more powerful Cortex-A15 cores will be used to handle the more hungry powered tasked where Cortex-A7 will be used to take care of the simpler task, thus extending the battery life.

The phone will comes with a Li-Ion 2600 mAh battery, 500 mAh bigger than the battery used in S3. This will come in handy with all the upgrades of the phone. As usual, the battery is removable, so you can always carry a spare battery around if you are unable to charge your phone.

In terms of hardware wise, it is comparable to S3 with a few upgrades. In fact, it does look like a S3 with a bigger sceen. So what you think of the hardware specifications for S4?

For the full specifications of the phone, you can just click on the link here.

A "want to lay my hands on this phone" Polarbear

Samsung UNPACKED 2013 Launch Event

The long awaited event finally happened on 14 Mar 2013 (Singapore time 15 Apr 13, 7am)! I watched the live streaming over You Tube, anticipating for the unveiling of the latest member of the Galaxy family, Galaxy S4.

Instead of talking of the phone here, I am going about the launch event itself first.

The event was hosted in New York, Radio City Music Hall. Prior to the event, Samsung had billboards all over New York Time Square to hype up the launch.

The event was carried out in a very Hollywood awards ceremony style. It looks more like an award ceremony than an event to launch a new phone.

The event started where the 2 Samsung teasers advertisement left off.  Jeremy Maxwell “the messager” walking onto the stage with the “Unpacked” box. The host, Will Chase, did a short introduction and introduced J.K Shin, President and Head IT and Mobile Communication Division, who introduced and unveiled the new Samsung Galaxy S4.

From left to right: Will Chase and “Jeremy Maxwell”, J.K Shin and Ryan Bidan

After the phone was unveiled, Shin handed the reins over to Ryan Bidan, Director Of Product Marketing to show what Samsung S4 can do. At this time, the presentation turns into a Broadway show and via singing and acting, it showed what the phone can do.

I will be talking the functions of the phone on a later posting.

Through four very different acts, it did managed to highlight the functions of the phone and how the normal users (like us) to use the phone on a daily basis.

After big fanfare, the show wrapped up and the front of the stage was turned into a big exhibition area for audience to view and play with the phone.

I liked the launch event. From the ad teaser leading the way to the actual launch event, it shows how much effort Samsung put into this launch. It was just not a boring presentation with 1 person talking away about how good the phone was but it showed the functions via an interesting way of song and dance.

After all, they went all the way to New York to do the launch rather than to do it in South Korea instead. I wonder why. Hmm…

So if you missed and want to watch the launch, you can always watch it on You Tube.

Please comment if you like the launch event.

Coming up next, I will be talking about the phone and what are my favorite functions of the phone.

Please note that the pictures are screen captures from the live streaming of the show.

A "excited to see the phone" Polarbear

Be Ready 4 The Next Galaxy

Today is a BIG day for all Samsung fans as they are ready to welcome the latest member of the Galaxy family.  I think all Samsung fans would do anything to get a ticket to the event in New York, so that they can be the first in the world to see, touch and play with the new product. I know I would!

This time round, Samsung is going all way out for this product launch with a BANG, based on the hype created and discussion everywhere about the event. To shed some light on this event, Samsung had created 2 advertisements to “explain” what the event would be about.

The story is based on a young boy named Jeremy Maxwell, who is the secret messenger of SAMSUNG UNPACKED 2013, collected a SPECIAL package from Samsung. Is he going to leak out what is in the box? Watch to find out!

Part  1: (Samsung UNPACKED) Be ready 4 The Next Galaxy

Part  2: (Samsung UNPACKED) Be ready 4 The Next Galaxy

So would you be watching the live streaming of the event at 7am, Singapore time? I know I am! Be sure to log into either Samsung Mobile’s official YouTube channel or Samsung’s official Facebook Live streaming to watch the event.

A "excited about Samsung S4" Polarbear

My short but wonderful experience with HTC One X+

All thanks to Starhub and HTC, me and 49 people have the chance to try HTC One X+ for 2 weeks.

For me, I had never been a HTC or Android user. I had been always a BIG fan of the other brand and OS. I think that is enough information to let you guess which phone I am using now. Hee....

In a matter of days, I am convinced to use HTC One X+ as my primary phone!

I am not going to state all the specifications / details / reviews of this phone. You can click on the links below to read it yourself.

1. HTC One X+ Page

2. CNET Review on HTC One X and HTC One X+

I will give my own review of the phone and how come I would to love to own this phone so much!

When I first received the phone, I found the packaging interesting. The box is like an egg carton and the phone is set inside the box like a precious egg. The packaging, like the phone, neat and clean cut.

First look on the screen, I loved the big LCD display. The casing is clean cut. The battery in a internal one. However, the rear camera len is protruding out of the back casing, I would prefer it to flush level with the back casing instead.

Upon switching it on for the first time, I was impressed with the bright screen and the ability to bring out the colours to its true form. It feels like watching HD TV. It is good for watching HD videos on you tube now. Below is a screen capture when I was watching the new Superman trailer.

The setting up of the phone was simple and easy for all ages of people to follow. You can read it here.

The first function I tested for HTC One X+ was the camera. With such a good camera, it really took amazing pictures, similar to point and shoot or DSLR cameras. It is able to bring out the details and colours of the picture. With the available camera functions like HDR, Touch Screen to Capture and many more, there are no reason for you to take lousy pictures again. Below are some of the pictures that I took with the camera and the pictures are in their original form.

 

No worries about the phone running out space to keep all your pictures. With 64 GB internal memory and 25GB of drop box space, there is more than enough for everything that you want to keep in the phone.

 

The purpose of taking all these photos is so that I can share it online with all my friends via social media like FB and Twitter. Using all these apps at the same time is smooth going, all thanks to the super fast Quad processor, there is no lag in the phone speed when I am multi-tasking.

 

 

I always use the phone as my music player, with inbuilt BEATS Audio Amplifier, listening to music is never the same for me again. It just makes me feels like the singer is singing in front of me live!

 

 

Now, with so much things going on with the phone, I would tend to worry for the battery life. Usually I would get a portable battery charger whenever I go. With HTC One X+, I can say that the battery is able to last me for at least 1.5 to 2 days for my normal usage of the phone! This is really a bonus.

 

Of course no product is perfect. I do have a few grouses about this phone.

 

1. The screen is quite reflective especially when using outdoors, making it quite hard to see what is on the screen.

 

2. The battery tend to heat up rather quickly and hot when I am multi-tasking.

 

3. The BEATS Audio does not work when on speaker mode and no BEATS earphones as well to enjoy the full spectrum of music.

 

4. The local version does not come with LTE (4G).

Still, I totally loved this phone and what it is able to do! All my friends were also impressed when I showed them the phone and what it is capable of doing!

My Birthday (which is coming) and XMAS wish would be able to own one HTC One X+ very soon! Hee...

A "Wish I got a HTC One X+ phone for XMAS" Polarbear

Note: This is part of a two weeks trial for the loaned HTC One X+.

HTC One X+ New and Improved Front Camera

For those who always use their phone to take their self portrait pictures, would be happy to know that HTC One X+ has a new and improved 1.6 mega-pixel front camera. I have to say the front camera does take pretty decent self portraits pictures.

One of the functions that I liked is when you are ready to take the picture, just press anywhere on the screen (Touch and Capture Function) . There will be a 2 second countdown before the picture is capture. This will allow for some last minute adjustment or changes before the picture is taken.

There is a portrait mode that automatically detects faces, enhances skin tones and eyes as well.

Below shows 2 pictures taken using the front camera, 1 outdoor and 1 indoor.

Personally I still prefer to use the rear camera to take pictures, as it is able to take better quality pictures.

So what you think?

A "Got a new phone to play with" Polarbear

Note: This is part of a two weeks trial for the loaned HTC One X+.

HTC One X+ LCD Display

One of the first thing the attracted me to HTC One X+ is the Super Bright and Clear LCD display. It is able to bring out the brilliant colour and crisp images.I am impressed by the screen since I started using the phone.

Based on the official specifications, the screen is a 4.7 inch super LCD 2 touch screen with Gorilla® Glass. So what is so special about this Gorilla Glass? Just click on it to read more about it.

The picture below show how the screen display is like indoors. This is based on auto brightness set by the phone. What I loved is the brightness and the sharpness of the images on the screen.

 

Now for the outdoor test.

Under the sunlight, I have to say the screen is not as bright as I expected it to be at outdoors but still I am able to see the screen pretty clearly. One thing that I don't really like is the reflection on the screen. It does obstruct the screen at times. When the phones goes to sleep mode, the screen becomes a mirror.

I uses the phone to watch You Tube videos. I am pleasantly surprised to be able to watch the video full screen without borders. Below is a screen capture while watching the latest Superman movie trailer. It does feels like watching it on a TV screen!

Overall, I like the the screen display big, able to show bright colours and bring out the life in pictures and videos!

I feel that the above picture did not bring out the actual display on the screen. Why not just go and take a look at the phone and judge for yourself?

A "Got a new phone to play with" Polarbear

Note: This is part of a two weeks trial for the loaned HTC One X+.

It is easy to shoot a video and take a picture at the same time using HTC One X+

Do you ever wish to capture a certain frame when you are watching a video clip, especially from those self taken videos?

Well now you can, using HTC One X+! You no longer need to select or toggle between camera or video mode! It is that simple. The picture taken can be as clear as using the camera to take the picture.

There are 2 methods that you can capture a picture from a video.

First method: Start to take a video using the phone, and press the capture button to capture a screen shot.

Second method: Play the video and press the capture button to capture a screen shot.

Below is the picture that was captured. See how clear the picture is.

Below is the video of the clip of my dog performing a trick. Just for fun!

So can your current phone do all these? Hee....

A "Got a new phone to play with" Polarbear

Note: This is part of a two weeks trial for the loaned HTC One X+.

HTC One X+ Camera's Continuous Shooting Function

Nowadays, it is common to have camera incorporated with a phone. I have to say the phone's camera is catching up with those point and shoot camera.

HTC One X+ has a 8 megapixel camera with auto focus, LED flash, and BSI sensor (for better low-light captures). It comes with F2.0 aperture and 28mm lens as well.

Almost all cameras now can take continuous shooting function (I think). However HTC One X+ has moved the notch higher by enabling the phone capable of capturing up to 99 shots continuously with 4 frames per seconds.

So how does it work? Simple. Just press and hold the capture button and let the camera take care of the rest. You will hear a series of clicks at the same time.

Above was taken as my dog is performing some tricks! Each picture was captured clearly. From the screen captures, I am able to choose the best shots. If not, I can put them in a folder, just press the next button fast, it will appears as a video-like shot!

This function is best used when you think some action will be going on and you would not want to miss a single shot, like taking a star jump photo for example.

I loved this function. Take first then decide later which pictures to keep. This way, I will never miss any magical moment.

A "Got a new phone to play with" Polarbear

Note: This is part of a two weeks trial for the loaned HTC One X+.

HTC One X+ Battery Life

HTC ONe X+ has been fitted a 2100mAh rechargeable  Li-ion Polymer battery. It is supposed to last 35% longer for all day performance on a single charge as stated on their website.

Based on my current usage of HTC One X+ phone, the battery is able to last up to 2 days before I would need to charge the battery again. I am impressed by it as the current phone that I am using, I would need to charge on a daily basis!

There is a Power app in Setting where you can see the history of the battery in terms of a graph. It also shows when the power is being used when it is awake, wifi on, screen on or charging happens. You can able to see from the chart above, I am trying to use up the battery before I do a full charge again.

As the phone battery is in-built and I do not have a mobile charger for this phone, I charge it on a daily basis whenever I go to sleep. So that I will not have the phone die on my half way through the day.

I have been using the phone for the past week. Overall, I have to say that I am satisfied the battery life of HTC One X+ as it has performed beyond my expectations.

A "Got a new phone to play with" Polarbear

Note: This is part of a two weeks trial for the loaned HTC One X+.

Multitasking on HTC OneX+: How much can it handle?

With the latest 1.7GHz Quad Core processor, it makes HTC One X+ one of the fastest phone around. This meaning, it is supposed to do a lot of task at the same time (multitasking) seamlessly and yet each task perform as they are supposed to be, meaning no lag or pause. So does it perform to its expectation?

So what I did was to open the usual apps that I will open during the day. Below was what apps I opened (could be more):

1. You Tube
2. Twitter
3. Music Player
4. Google Map
5. Whatapps
6. Foursquare
7. Dropbox
8. Facebook
9. Instagram
10. Play Store
11. Camera

Guess what? All the apps still functioned properly without any lag or pauses. I am able to seamlessly move from one app to another almost instantly.

I am totally impressed by the processor!

I was using a older model of HTC phone and encountered while playing Angry Birds and listening to music, the birds did get stuck halfway, pauses before moving slowing again. This is what it would happen if the processor is slow and unable to multitask at the same time.

On the downside, opening so many apps at the same time, it tends to load on the battery. The battery heats up quite a lot quickly.

I usually would close the apps when I am not using them to save the battery life so I am satisfied with the speed for my daily use!

A "Got a new phone to play with" Polarbear

Note: This is part of a two weeks trial for the loaned HTC One X+.

HTC OneX+ with Beats Audio built in

With the use of smartphone, I have ditched my mp3 player aside. Why need to bring so many gadgets when I only need to bring one. I always loaded a lot of music into my phone so that I can listen to it everywhere I go.

I used to think my current phone provided one of the best music player but HTC OneX+ proved me wrong.

With built in Beats audio and dedicated built-in amplifier, I felt like I am inside a concert environment whenever I am listening to my music. It provided the best sound experience like those in cinema when watching a movie.

The music that I hear is now crisper vocals, deeper bass. If I close my eyes, I would think that the singer is singing right in front of me. It separates the music into different layers and able to hear each layer clearly.

When I tried to listen to the same song with Beats Audio activated, the songs falls back into one dimensional. I am now totally spoiled by Beats Audio. I totally understand the fuss when Beats came out with their own earphones (and why they are so expensive!) and when HTC incorperated Beats Audio into their phone!

However the Beats Audio function does not function when the music is played over the speaker phone. I wonder why that cannot be done. Hmm....

It would be best if the phone comes with the Beats Earphone! Woohoo!

A "Got a new phone to play with" Polarbear

Note: This is part of a two weeks trial for the loaned HTC One X+.

HTC One X+'s Camera: Touch-to-Capture Function

One thing that I alwasy look when I am shopping for a new phone, is for the phone to come with a good camera.

After using the phone for a few days,  I think I have found one of the best phone camera inside HTC One X+. It is a 8 megapixel camera with auto focus, LED flash, BSI sensor (for better low-light captures) with F2.0 aperture and 28mm lens.

Why I say that? Just look at this picture. Guess which one is taken by HTC One X+ and which one is taken by another brand of handphone camera? Hmm.... I will let the pictures do the talking.

There is one camera function which I loved with this HTC One X+: Touch-to-Capture function. I was wondering how come the others did not thought of this earlier. I have seen people dropping their phone while trying to take pictures cos their fingers are trying to press the "Capture" button usually at the bottom or side of the screen.

Once it is activated, you just need to tap anywhere in the screen to take the picutre! No more searching for the "Capture" button. How cool is that?

Of cos, where there is good point, there is a bad point to this as well. As it is pretty sensitive to touch, I find myself taking a lot of unintentional picutres. This could be due to after taking the picture, it stays in camera mode and it will start taking pictures once the screen is touched.

Below are some of the pictures that I have taken with the phone's camera. Since I loved to eat, they are all food pictures. I loved how the picture came out clean and clear. Just a note that the picture are all unedited.

For the answer to the first two pictures, the top photo was taken with HTC One X+.

A "Got a new phone to play with" Polarbear

Note: This is part of a two weeks trial for the loaned HTC One X+.

Setting up HTC One X+

Getting a new phone is always exciting yet terrified.

Why terrified, cos it is like stepping into the unknown. This will set the trust between the user and the phone. Hence if the set up of the new phone is easy, the relationship between the phone and the user will be off to a good start.

I am glad to say that for HTC One X+, the set up was as easy as 1,2,3!

Upon receiving the phone, the packaging was nice. The phone is like an egg sitting nicely inside an egg cardboard box. The phone looks precious, sitting on top when the box is open. As usual, all the common accessories are hidden beneath the phone.

Next is the set up of the phone, usually this is a nightmare part for most of the people.

What is most important part? To me it is The Contacts! When transferring from one phone to another especially between different brands of phones, can be quite a chore.

For HTC, they made it simple. Just by a touch of a few buttons, the contacts, sms would be transferred to the new phone via Bluetooth! Wala!

It works with almost all brands and models of phones!

For me, the contacts got imported but not the sms. However, this does not bother me that much.

HTC had set up a website to make the phone set up on a website rather than on the phone. Instead of going through different screens on your phone to make selection for wallpaper/apps/email accounts etc, you can just set up the phone by doing the following steps:

1. Go to HTC Get Started
2. Create a HTC account
3. Select your phone model
4. Following the step by step instructions to set up the phone.
5. Log into via the phone and all the set up will be loaded into the phone

This makes the whole set up process so simple.

Once all these are done, your new HTC phone is all ready to be used! Just gone through the set up and I am already falling in love with this phone.

A "Got a new phone to play with" Polarbear

Note: This is part of a two weeks trial for the loaned HTC One X+.

HTC One X Plus

It has been a long time since I came in and write something.

Well I am going to revive it to keep a diary of my HTC One X Plus experience for the next 2 weeks!

I am no expert in reviewing the phone but going to try my best to test the phone out during the my daily use and give my 3 cents worth.

Of cos along the way, I will be required to complete 10 tasks using the phone and hopefully I will do enough to win myself a new phone!

Today is Day 1, I would just let you see a pic of the phone package first. Hee...

Presenting "HTC One X Plus"

More details of my experience coming up!

2010 is here!

Happy New Year to all! May 2010 be a better year than 2009 for you!

For me, after a very bumpy ride in 2009, I definitely hope that my 2010 will be a better one in terms of work, family, relationship and friendship. Whatever had happen in 2009 is history and hope that it will not happen again in the coming year. The last few months in 2009 was terrible for me, but to say I really enjoyed and recharged myself for the last 3 weeks of 2009, plus the surprise on my birthday, I am all ready to move on.

Decided not to have any new year resolution, since it will be hard to track. Haha... Just decide to finish whatever I ahve started and hope that all will go well by end of the day (or deadline). Haha...

I think I should really start blogging here a lot more often cos too any backlog already. Hee...

A "happy to start new year" Polarbear

Bodyguards And Assassins

I hardly watched Chinese movies nowadays cos they usually produced the same type of movies. I have to say that I am happy to have seen this movie as it surpass my expectations of this movie. With a lot of big stars and a good story plot in this movie, it can be one of the best chinese movie of the year. The simple story line of protecting somone important during a trip to Hong Kong and what happen to the people protecting him during that day. I give this movie 4 stars out of 5.

A "why they did not meet on the boat?" Polarbear

I fired you!

This morning, when I step into office, I was informed of a sad news. Based on the news, I intend to shift everything forward. So today after helping the company to get certification, which the company do not deserve at all, I threw in the letter.

It seems to me that the HR was prepared for it and she even dared to tell me straight in the face that she had checked my leave balance a few days ago. Hmm... Well she offered something that I do not agree to and in the end I got to teach my HR how to calculate my last day. She did not even ask me for reason of leaving etc. I really wonder did she ever did any HR stuff beforehand. OMG! I was happy that I got more than enough leave to offer me another week of break. Luckily I was prepared to leave on that day so I had cleared all my stuff and returned everything.

I am really happy to leave that forsaken place and hope I will never ever got to endure through that again. Good luck to whoever will be going to take over my position! I pity him. Oh boy!

A "the worst is over" Polarbear

Finally got the reply I want!

After a few months of searching, I finally got the reply that I have been waiting for! The call came while I was in the bus on my way home. I was excited to get what I want but was (a little) disappointed for what was offered.

Well my main aim is to get another job soon and it offered me what I want! I was relieved and was ready to move on. So when should I throw? Hmm....

A "very happy" Polarbear

Another 10km run

Today is the D date for another 10km run. Thought that I will be able to have time to train, in the end... ... managed to sq in a few slow jogs / walk session a few weeks leading to the run.

So went in unprepared and just decided to run when I can, walk if I cannot. Haha... Managed to reach the starting line in time for the flag off (not in the front of cos), after 1 hr 37 mins later, I finally reached the finishing line. Nothing much to talk abt the run, except I am not the last one to return to the finishing line. Haha...

Looking back at the last 2 runs, I think I am the only person that the more I run, the more my timing got worse. Haha... Undeterred, I decided to take part again next year and hope that I will be able to train for it and improve my timing. Maybe a personal best? Haha...

A "dun like to run" Polarbear

Broadway Beng - Jiak Liu Lian!

Having missed this show for 2 yrs, I bought the tickets when it was released, especially hearing all the good reviews about the last 2 shows. To me, this is a must watch.

After watching the show, I have to say that the show is one of the better local productions that I have seen in the year. The Beng can really sing, in English, in Chinese and in Hokkien. The director was Royston Tan, which I can see a lot of 881 getai shadows in the show, which makes the show more Beng. Haha... The jokes are pretty much spot on and not to the point of lame. The Chios Bus in the show can also really sing. Haha....

I think this is one of the local production that I will be keen to watch when it returns with new ideas. Looking forward to the next show.

A "want to sing like Beng" Polarbear