I can’t say in the long term if this is how our gadgets are going to be like this. But this idea seems like something workable in the short term. Can we merge our notebook or desktop computer into a smartphone?

I like carrying around my applications and my data with me, so that I have a consistent working environment and user experience wherever I go. I know, there’s the cloud. Use cloud apps and put data on the cloud. But that cloud isn’t quite the solution that I’m looking for. Maybe it’s just that I don’t trust the cloud. I use the cloud to help me get things done, but I don’t want to have to need the cloud to be able to get anything done. I don’t think cloud apps are ready to replace native apps right now. There are more reasons, but let’s not get into those in this post.

I want to have the computer with me.

So basically here’s my idea. Smartphones are getting more powerful than ever. The Tegra 3 powered Transformer Prime is already boasting a quad-core CPU and 12-core GPU. Can you really use such a device for real work, like you would with a notebook or desktop computer? Oh, that’s right, how can you do real work with such a small gadget? You need big screen real estate and you need a real keyboard.

Can we fix that? Yes! You can wirelessly connect the smartphone via bluetooth to a keyboard and mouse. You can connect the smartphone via HDMI to a big monitor. In fact, you could do the likes of AirPlay or AirDisplay to wirelessly connect to a big monitor too. So, there you have it, the keyboard, mouse, and big screen problem resolved.

It’s hardly useful, however, to be able to see the Android OS super-sized to a big screen display. What we need is a true operating system that will work as a desktop OS. Yes, that means we’re asking for something that will adapt to various environments. You need a user environment that works with tiny screen sizes typical of smartphones and tablets, and yet be able to adapt to much larger notebook and desktop screen sizes. Better yet to be able to support multi-screens.

So that’s why I was quite interested to hear about Canonical’s demonstration of Ubuntu running on an Android smartphone. They run both Android and Ubuntu on top of a custom Linux kernel. I’m wary of the part about having both Android and Ubuntu, because, I’m not sure how well integrated the experience is going to be. Yes, I’m think a lot about the experience nowadays. You don’t just slap two things together and say, there, you have the best of both worlds.

Today, Apple can be said to have the most unifying experience across all our mobile smart devices: notebooks (and desktops), tablets, and smartphones. There is no Google solution on desktops. No, Google web applications on top of Windows or Mac OS X don’t count. Chrome OS counts, but it can hardly be seriously considered by anyone in its current incarnation. It’s really a pity. I was thinking about acquiring a Chromebook, but I think it’s still a developer’s toy.

Let’s talk about other physical aspects of this gadget. What I’m asking for doesn’t have to be that small. I’ve been saying smartphone, but we could perhaps work with slightly larger form factors too. After all, it might be quite a challenge packing so much power into such a tiny gadget. We could probably work with tablet-sized gadgets (e.g. Samsung Galaxy Tab with a 7″ screen), or something in-between (e.g. Samsung Galaxy Note with it’s 5.3″ screen). The gadget’s own screen, you realize, can also function as a secondary display when you’ve hooked it up to a big monitor to use it like a desktop.

Maybe, given these circumstances, I wouldn’t mind carrying a large smartphone with me, something as big as the Samsung Galaxy Note with its 5.3″ screen. Yeah, I’ve been complaining even about the 4.3″ screen in the past. I’m getting used to it now, I don’t know if I would eventually accept the 4.6″ size, and for now, 5.3″ is a little far off. Unless you tell me with 5.3″, I can do so many more wonderful things.

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Alright, what is this discovery? There is not just one Nexus S. It seems there is the Google Nexus S, and there is the Samsung Nexus S. Are you thinking “isn’t that the same thing?” After all, it’s well known that the Nexus S is made by Samsung.

Well, they are different. Not just a name difference. The phone is slightly different. The Google Nexus S has a Super AMOLED display screen, while the Samsung Nexus S has a Super LCD one instead. The different types of screen result in some very slight physical differences too: The Samsung Nexus S with its Super LCD screen is slightly thicker and slightly heavier. A review on HardwareZone found the Samsung Nexus S battery life much shorter. They really are different.

Just to be sure, what exactly are our telcos selling? M1′s and StarHub’s websites clearly label their phones the “Samsung Nexus S”. The listed specifications confirm it is the Samsung variant. SingTel, however, was ambiguous, just referring to the phone as the “Nexus S”.

When I happened to go past a SingTel premium reseller shop recently, I was tempted to go in to check out their Nexus S. But alas, there was no Nexus S demo set available. However, the brochures listed specifications that confirm it’s also the Samsung Nexus S.

I am quite disappointed about the confusion created by the second Nexus S. When HTC made the Nexus One, they also sold a very similar variant which they called HTC Desire. The phone looks slightly different too, but most importantly, the name made it clear that the HTC Desire is not the same phone as the Nexus One. However, the Google Nexus S and Samsung Nexus S is certain to be confused by consumers.

Interestingly, the Samsung Nexus S seems to be free from Samsung’s usual add-ons like their TouchWiz. At least, that’s how it looks like from their brochure.

So just you know, the Samsung model number for the original Google Nexus S is I9020, while that for the Samsung Nexus S is I9023. Follow the links to check out the specifications on GSMArena.

The next Samsung phone to look forward to will be the Samsung Galaxy S II. It’s said to be expected in Singapore in April 2011, and will first launch with SingTel.

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First of all, Google sold the phones themselves through their own Google Checkout. Google Checkout is not new, and I guess it probably works well. But has Google themselves sold any consumer good on a big scale on their own? Well, I hear some people complaining about their order being “received” by Google only like two days after they place their order. Even a few hours is too long for an online store. Shouldn’t an order by instantly received the moment a customer places the order? It’s not as if a postman needs to send a paper purchase order from the Google Checkout building to the Google Phone building (and it wouldn’t even take two days if that were the case).

I suppose Google should have tried selling something else first, before risking tarnishing their image goofing up the ordering of the Nexus One.

Then, there are the 3G connectivity problems that are being complained about all over the Internet now. Possibly, the Nexus One wasn’t actually tested in the various telco networks of the countries where they are sold to. I don’t know how widespread this problem is, but seeing it being reported by numerous reliable new services suggests to me that they should have been reasonably well researched before the story is published. I think this 3G connectivity problem, if it is real, is probably the most disappointing.

Customer support is also a problem. I suppose Google is new to this, the support infrastructure has not yet been properly built up. Phone customers used to contact their telcos because they bought phones from the telco. But they must now contact Google (or HTC) because they are sold directly by Google. But there is no phone support. Google appears to be accepting only email queries, to which they are promising a response time of 1 or 2 days.

So, for people who want to buy the Nexus One, but haven’t placed your order yet… what will you do now?

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The Nexus One has about everything: quad-band GSM, tri-band UMTS, 802.11b/g/n, A-GPS, 3.7″ AMOLED screen, 5MP auto-focus camera with LED flash, and a really powerful processor. It’s 512MB of RAM is respectable, but non-volatile storage will depend on a micro-SD card (4GB bundled) because the 512MB of flash is too little. Perhaps the 512MB flash is really just for the OS and apps. It also has a digital compass, accelerometer, and bluetooth 2.1+EDR, all features one would expect in modern smartphones.

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The phone actually feels nice to use. The physical built of the phone is superb. But it was not usable. Not when it hangs and the display blanks off. So off it went to Nokia Care again. Expectedly, the phone stayed there for several days. This time, they apparently changed about everything. Including the LCD display again.

The good news is that the phone actually works now. Just like how all phones ought to work, this is now a superb phone that can actually be used.

The sad thing is the hassle we had to go through to get a working phone. A brand new phone that had to be sent in to Nokia Care twice, practically back to back?

Nowadays as technology catches onto us everywhere, sometimes I wonder if our future lives involving living with gadgets that don’t work like they should. I mean, we’re already used to software bugs. Windows crashes, that is normal. It needs regular patching to stay alive. (Ok, the same is true for Linux, Mac OS X, etc, etc…)

The other day, my HubStation auto-rebooted to update its firmware. I didn’t know it could do that. It was during the live telecast of the Formula 1 practice session. I would have been terribly annoyed if it had auto-rebooted during the actual race.

It’ll be cool if technology companies remember we want things to work.

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At that point, I tried to make a phone call. The call was connected. But shortly later, I lost signal again. Then it came back again. The SMS text message was still unsuccessful. Mobile broadband Internet surfing did not work. Other people have reported a combination of various problems.

In general, things seemed to have gone back to normal by about 19:40. But I’ve just noticed right now as I type, already after 21:00, that my phone can’t pick up a 3G connection. There is a normal GSM (2.5G) connection, but no go for UMTS (3G). I gave up waiting to speak to a person at 1626; I imagine the hotline must be overwhelmed from customer calls.

We are definitely quite dependent on mobile phone networks. A downtime like this causes great inconveniences. It might have been worse considering if you had to make an emergency call, and the call could not be connected.

It’s scary to think about disruptions to critical infrastructure. A fire at a substation in Somerset Road can somehow cause over-voltage conditions in several areas around Singapore. An outage at one data centre in Singapore can cause massive disruptions to many online government systems. Are we getting complacent about the availability and robustness of our infrastructure?

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Personally, I don’t really fancy the iPhone (maybe because I don’t have one…). The technology is not earth-shattering. Lousy camera, no 3G (yet), no GPS. It does have good marketing. But what is most remarkable is all the news surrounding it… both the good and bad news seem to work favourably for the iPhone.

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Internet sites are now rife with discussions on this software upgrade (or downgrade for those who ended up with an iBrick). One big issue is whether Apple was entitled to disable the hacked iPhones. Martin McKeay questions the legality of tying the iPhone to an AT&T contract. I am too far away from the US to be familiar with US laws, but I imagine there is no question about anti-competitive laws playing into this matter.

The iPhone software is copyrighted. Does its license permit users to make modifications to its software? This could be a point that Apple might use to their advantage. If there was a breach of license terms, technically Apple could be entitled to terminate the license… which could in turn be effected through the disabling of the iPhone software.

Lest we forget, amid the fury of iBrick developments, the latest iPhone software update is supposed to fix things. It does reportedly fix 10 security vulnerabilities in the Safari web browser, the Mail application, and the phone’s handling of Bluetooth service. The bluetooth fix is probably the most critical. A mishandling of the bluetooth’s Service Discovery Protocol packets allows remote attacks to execute arbitrary code on the iPhone. This means that an unfixed iPhone can be rather trivially exploited by an attacker within the vicinity.

Thankfully the software update does deliver clear benefits, otherwise it would seem like Apple clearly had an iBrick’ing agenda.

Now, I can see owners of hacked iPhones in a dilemma. Upgrade their iPhone to an iBrick, or give up their iPhone to a drive-by hacker.

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But anyhow, most reviews do agree that the JX10 is also excellent in function. Superb audio quality with great sound clarity (how you hear the other party, and how the other party hears you) and loud volume. The JX10 features a digital signal processor that automatically adjusts volume levels while reducing background noise, a good enough reason for people like me who need an explanation on why it’s better.

[photopress:20070928433.jpg,thumb,pp_image]The JX10 ships with both a sleek desktop charging cradle, an AC charging adapter and USB charging adapter. The AC and USB charging adapters can either plug directly into the headset, or via the desktop charging cradle.

One thing I’m missing with the JX10 is the ear gel. Although many reviewers thought the headset fit perfectly in their ears, I felt it was not totally comfortable. Ear gels might have been better. Or perhaps I’ve become too used to th ear gels I had with my previous Jabra BT250v.

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