5 Reasons Why I left You, Apple.

I am a smartphone enthusiast . I won't say I am ADDICT OR FANATIC OR EXPERT in that sense but I love it enough to always keep a lookout on the latest smartphone news. And I can't help to notice the big hype on the latest Mi3, released by a underdog brand - XiaoMi from China. Maybe being underdog is understatement, because most of the important executives they hire are ex-Google employees or android developers. And on top of that, he is like the founder of MIUI, one of the most popular Android Custom ROM in the world.

So yeah, in short, I jumped ship - from Apple to XiaoMi3.

I first started off with Android when I first entered the smartphone market and then changed to iPhone later. Now that I have switched back to Android, I couldn't tell you how much I actually missed this operating system by Google. I am so glad that I did! As much as I love and appreciate the simplicity and straight forwardness that Apple provides, I have some like 10 solid, valid, totally profound reasons why I change.

And if you are considering making the ditch, read this:

LARGER SCREENS, MORE AND BETTER HARDWARE CHOICES.

Once you go big, you never go small. This is true, the moment you are used to the bigger screen, it's really difficult to change to something smaller and you will be squinting your eyes to do so. While Apple products only limit you to one specific design and specifications.

Need something with bigger ram then go pick one of the brands that offer that; an expandable slot maybe? Aluminium bodies perhaps? or want plastic body for its light weight. The choices are all in your hands.

MULTIPLE GADGETS, ONE CABLE.

One thing about Android phones or plenty of modern gadgets in the market use the universal USB cable except for Apple products. And I don't know how that makes certain loyal fanatics (or extremists) feel so proud of it because they are literally sucking cash by making you purchasing their cables, chargers, connectors or whatever. To me, that's horribly inconvenient! And I don't want to deal with having multiple cables inside my bag for all the different gadgets I want to own! (NOTE: I WANT TO OWN)

THIRD PARTY KEYBOARDS

An avid Apple user will not be able experience the true feeling of using a third party keyboards. Whatever they tell you about how original keyboard is better is bullshit until they have tried Swiftkeys or heck, even Google Keyboards itself are that good! You don't even need to lift your finger these days and the prediction/correction feature is so intelligent. This function alone is enough for me to throw Apple products of the windows! It makes all my surfing and chatting so speedy, fun and easy.

Apparently now iOS8 will be supporting third party keyboards soon so this proves that Apple is only starting to realise what the consumer wants when Android has already done so for so long!

INTEGRATED GOOGLE SERVICES AND FEATURES

Believe it or not, whether you're Apple or Android users, you have a GMAIL account and you are probably actively using all the features and website owned by Google. Using Android allows you to integrate everything into one without compromising security. If that doesn't spell c-o-n-v-e-n-i-e-n-c-e to you then I don't know what is. Besides, let's admit it, most of the features that google offers is that good and so helpful in our lives, think gmail, sheets and docs.

FREEDOM MATTERS

While having iPhone is cool (or used to), but it's like dealing with communist in general. Apple shoves you a device, making you think it's cool and then you are forced to use whatever software they give you and make you purchase the accessories because you aren't allowed to share with others. Unless you jailbreak the iOS but still what you can do with it is limited unless you are allowed to change custom ROM entirely, can you? But with Android (rooted) you can totally customise whatever you want, even if you are not familiar with rooting your android, it's fine. Tons of themes and customisation apps for you to explore and have lotsa fun!

 

Just like how my friend has said it:

"I want to use my device how i want to.. not to be told how to use it."

I couldn't agree more with how true this statement this! Using iPhone feels like being locked in a jail. (Thus the word jailbroken.) Nope, it's not something I want to head back for a long while. It feels like I have found my wings again. So maleficent.

10 Reasons Why E-Readers are AWESOME!

I have a Kobo Mini in my bag wherever I go these days. If you have no idea what I am talking about, you ought to check out this tiny little nifty gadget right here. I know you can't stop squealing now over its cuteness, so let me reassure you again that this adorable little thing is absolutely brilliant.

THE CONVENIENCE

Imagine having 1000 choices of different reading materials packed just inside a tiny, featherweight gadget. That sounds pretty real convenient to me! I don't have to think about which books to bring for my trips anymore!

GOOD FOR THE EYES

Yes I know, your tablets or smartphones can do the same! But try staring at those expensive LCD, LED, Retine display screen for at least 30 minutes and you get what I mean, your eyes will be strained. Most E-Readers use E-Ink technology for their screens which literally translate to NO GLARES, NO BEAM, NO FLARES and whatnot. NO MORE EYES STRAIN! YESH! Your eyes will love you for this!

READ UNDER ANY LIGHT CONDITIONS

Sunlight? No problems, your screen is still as sharp it can be unlike those smartphone or tablets and their glares. Dark places? No problems, switch on the preinstalled LED light which many E-Readers come with these days.

LIBRARY ON THE GO

Did you know that E-Readers have Wifi capability? You can browse and purchase E-Books instantly whenever some random titles pique your interest. NOW, tell me that's not convenient at all.

ON BOARD DICTIONARY

Yeap, your vocabulary may suck but now you don't have to worry anymore! Just click on the words you don't understand and voila, the word and its meaning will appear to you immediately.

AFFORDABLE PRICES

E-Readers are cheap, must cheaper than your meal at times. For RM250, I got myself a decent Kobo Mini which I could easily store 1000 books inside. And e-books aren't as expensive as you think, better than those books you got from the store that cost you an average RM30 for one. It's a good investment in the long run.

SAVE THE TREES

The world needs more trees than those books you put away in your dusty cupboard after one read. And screw those arrogant notion like it feels better flipping a real book or the smell of the pages. The truth is, with each page you flip, another tree is going to meet its end to make instead of producing oxygen for the Earth and some innocent animals are losing their homes. Yea think about it, it's cruel reading a real book so it's time to switch!

LONG BATTERY LIFE

You don't have to worry about the battery for its power usage is really minimal unless you are constantly online with it. They are able to fully function for 1 month without charge, definitely good for people on the go without needing to worry about battery life.

FONT SIZE ADJUSTMENT

One thing about TREEBOOKS is that you can't freely adjust the sizes you like. If you want them bigger, the price of the book will be different, probably more expensive since they need more paper to print them. E-Readers however, give you the ability to control the font sizes, whether you like them big or small and you can even change the font type to whichever you are most comfortable with.

THEY WILL LAST & OUTLAST

They will be in the market for a long time and they have adapted to the fast moving world. They are able to sync with your other available gadgets so that you could still read your E-Books from where you stop on your reader on any other gadgets with you, as long as you have the Reader app and an account signed in.



 

With all that said, I am seriously loving my E-Reader right now. I know TREE BOOKS won't disappear but this is definitely a good change as my fellow friends who are avid readers could testify so, it's much easier to read from the E-Readers than the hardcover books when you can finish them real quick and in the long run you will find yourselves save more than you expect.

Come on, don't be a snob and ignorantly claim that hardcover books are always better, that's just because you haven't enjoyed all the good things that come together with an E-Reader. =)

Hydraskins: Gadget Skins Specialist Product Reviews

Few weeks back, when Hydraskins was having their Free Bumper promotion, I instantly bought two sets from them since I was also looking for a new case for my iPhone.

The well-packed package came after a few days as promised.



Seal of quality sticker.


The entire package came with the skins and a free screen protector together with it. Honestly, the screen protector is nothing much; the quality is decent and it seems really thin. And after a few days of using it, I realise that it actually yellowed. I took it away after like a week.



The shock bumper that came together for free! Hydraskins actually put effort into their packaging even though the quality of the bumper seems merely OKAY.


This is how the bumper looks like from different angles. It's actually quite tough but I found that the workmanship of the bumper is quite horrible. The one for I  received for Samsung Note 2 is damaged. The rubber already came off in certain sides. There an obvious lack of quality control here. This looks like those $1 cheap bumper you could easily source from ebay.


The skin!


Unlike the bumper, the skin quality is actually good, as you could see from the photo below, it's different than the normal sticker and I truly trust Hydraskins when they say the skin won't leave any residues on your gadgets.

When I was putting the skin on my phone, I had to peel the skin off a few times to get the angles right and it was surprisingly easy to put on the skin too! So much easier than putting on the screen protector as the skin won't leave any bubbles and even if you found some air space, you could easily slide them off with a card! One advice though, don't try to pull the skin as it will elongate.



My iPhone looks pretty good with the skin and bumper!


Samsung Note 2 actually looks better with the skin on as the surface area is much wider.


For RM39 per skin (Full Body protection), it is pretty worth it as the skin quality is good. I have no doubt that it will definitely keep my phone from scratches while leaving no residues on the body after that. However, the bumper (selling at about RM29 normal price and RM19 for add-on price) is not worth the money. The quality is horrible and we ended up going to retail shops to get transparent cases instead.

I hope Hydraskins look into this matter and exercise better quality control not only for their skins but also their bumpers.

All in all, thank you Hydrakins, now my phone has an awesome looking body. I might consider having another set of skins if they have better promotions! *hint*

 

 

How to Disable Auto-Play Video on Instagram

We all love Instagram. And just in case you haven't heard, Instagram recently introduced their video features.

You may now upload up to 15 seconds worth of videos with multiple cinematic filters to your liking.

Sounds pretty awesome yeah?

Except for one icky thing, the video plays back automatically on your news feed....

Not only it might horde your limited 3G data plan, it's plain annoying.

So here's a short tutorial on how to switch the Auto-Play mode off.

(Android should work the same.)

Note: You'll need to update your Instagram to the latest version.

Step 1: On your news feed, click the icon to enter your profile page

Step 2: On your profile page, click the Setting Icon on top.

Step 3: There you have it, the option to switch off the Auto-Play feature!

There you go! =)