Zit Seng's Superwall

I figure that anyone who uses a smartphone like the Nexus One is going to have a 3G data plan, so being able to hook onto a wireless network isn’t going to be so important. But anyhow, I thought I’d just make a small little community contribution by sharing how to configure the Nexus One phone (I suppose just about any Android 2.0/2.1 phone will work the same) to connect to the NUS wireless network in, well, NUS. But first, credit goes to the information posted in Answers@Comp. The GUI isn’t enough to get the config done.

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I’ve used the Nexus One for a little over a week now. I think the biggest thing I will miss with my previous Nokia N97 is its camera. It’s quite capable of taking some really nice photos, like this shot of the Nexus One (as well as that in the previous post). This is one area that the Nexus One is trumped by the N97. Both phones sport 5 megapixel camera sensors, auto-focus, and LED flash (dual LED on the N97). But the bunch of photos I’ve taken with the Nexus One have been unimpressive, at least in terms of quality. The Nexus One is fast, though.

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When Google announced the Nexus One last month, I felt it was an interesting development that has begun to change what an Android phone can represent. Some people will know that I have been, until then, rather anti-Android. There were two reasons: unimpressive hardware features (and uninteresting design too), as well as an open source development environment that I felt didn’t quite live up to the spirit of what open source was supposed to stand for. But, the first reason was beginning to fall apart with the launch of the Motorola Droid in end 2009, and now somewhat invalidated by the Nexus One. Finally, this is an Android phone that boasts features and hardware specifications expected of any decent smart phone of 2009 and what will come in 2010.

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It looks like SingTel Mobile has mucked up again. In the late afternoon, I found that my mobile phone had no signal. After rebooting, it seemed to be okay. So perhaps it was my phone. Then my colleague noted that he had no 3G data connection on his SingTel Mobile line. Later in the evening, for much of my trip home, my phone again had no signal at all. When it did, it had no data. Eventually, I got to find out that people have been calling me and were not able to get through. The callers were not on SingTel Mobile network and they got a network busy message calling my phone.

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The Nexus One, Google’s branded Android phone, finally arrives in Singapore. It comes in a nice packaging that on opening, kind of resembles how iPods are packed. Singapore customers are automatically offered a 3-pin charger during the order checkout. This will be an additional charger over the US 2-pin charger that is still included in the box. If you want to save a few bucks, the 3-pin charger isn’t all that necessary. The Nexus One charges via a micro-USB port (the new standard mandated in the EU), so if you already have one such charger, you don’t have to get another one.

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I’ve been poking fun at the owner of this HTC Magic phone. You see, its battery doesn’t last very long, so he often keeps it charging. The funny thing is that the charger is humongous. It’s like 17″ diagonal. It’s pretty heavy too. In fact, it is so large and so advanced that it even comes with a huge LCD screen, and a keyboard too. Yeah, the charger is actually a MacBook Pro.

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Local telco M1 is set to become the second carrier to officially sell the iPhone in Singapore, according to this MacNN post. This will happen before the end of this year. Currently, iPhones are available exclusively through SingTel, which started selling iPhones since the iPhone 3G model in 2008. This new deal between M1 and Apple will set the stage for greater competition in iPhone sales, and we’d expect more aggressive phone prices and subscription rates.

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Good photography skills are not so easy to come by. That’s why you have professional photographers. To get a good photo, you probably need both good photographic equipment and good photography skills. Professional photographers have their professional camera rig. But how about camera phone photographers? I think camera phone photography requires even more skills!

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I’m looking at the new Nokia N97 flagship smartphone. It seema like a worthy upgrade replacement for my existing Nokia N95 8GB. For a Mac OS X user, a big question is if there is an iSync plugin available for the N97? Or an easy hack of an existing plugin to use with the N97?

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It feels like stepping back in history and it sorts of feels so nostalgic holding this antiquated mobile phone. Surprisingly, its form factor isn’t all that antiquated. At least, it’s not one of those “big brother” mobile phone that could double up as a weapon any time. No, this is something more elegant, and one of the star phones in its hey days. It’s the Motorola StarTac X. It’s something I had in 1999, which makes it about 10 years old.

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