I’ve been very excited to review the K3003. I shared my first impressions much earlier on, but subsequently decided to review the Q350, K518LE, and Q460 first, saving the flagship K3003 for the last. If your experiences with headphones have been limited to the free earbuds included with your mobile phone, music player or other mobile gadget, be prepared to be totally awed. You’ve probably never heard music so real, so present, so engaging, so pure.

The K3003 is packaged inside a premium gray box which features a magnetic closure on the lid. Nothing fancy, just simple and functional. Open the box, remove the cleaning cloth, and the exquisite gems are revealed.

In the box, apart from the K3003 itself, there is also a premium genuine leather carrying pouch, two pairs of acoustic filters (in addition to the pair already on the K3003), 6 pairs of ear sleeves (2 pairs each for small, medium and large sizes), a flight adapter, and a TRRS-to-TRS audio adapter cable.

The K3003 is individually handmade, and each one bears a serial number. The brushed stainless steel shells are chiselled out of a single block of stainless steel metal. The skin of the cables from the headphones leading down to the Y-junction are made from a silicone material. The cables from the Y-junction to the 3.5 mm plug are covered in a fabric material.

The iPhone-compatible inline mic and remote are found down the right-side earpiece. It is steel-skinned, and together with the similar skinned Y-junction and stainless steel plug, complete the exquisite bling-bling look of the K3003.

The leather carrying pouch is a nice touch. There are cutouts to hold the K3003 and the flight adapter, and the cables of the K3003 can be wound around the edge of the case. It provides the necessary protection for a gadget as prized as the K3003.

Comfort and Fit

The K3003 is very small. At 10 g, it is also very light, considering that the shell is made out of stainless steel. Not aluminum, mind you, but stainless steel. The material and manufacturing method gives it a very robust and solid feel. Being both small and light means that the K3003 fits into your ear almost as if it wasn’t even there.

As an in-ear headphone, the K3003, with the attached ear sleeves, fit directly into your ear canals. Earbud headphones just sit in your outer ear. In-ear headphones go into your ear canals, while the sleeves provide the seal and isolation between the hard parts of the headphone itself and the walls of your ear canal. The seal is important because it blocks out external noises so that you can hear your pure music without distraction from unwanted sounds. The sound isolation also means you don’t have to push up your music volume to overcome the external noises, ultimately saving your own ears from damage.

The sound isolation on the K3003, however, was not superb. Sure, it did mute out external sounds, just not as much as I’d have expected.

The ear sleeves are made from hypoallergenic latex-free materials. They are available in three sizes to so that you can choose the best fit for your ears. I would personally have preferred Comply-type foams, and the good news is that you can buy the T-400 or TX-400 foams for the K3003 as well. I tried those on too, like you see below.

The K3003 is easy to fit on. With the silicone sleeves, you just push the headphones into your ears. No need to fiddle around. Since the cables are designed to run straight down (as opposed to over your ears), there’s no inconvenience to position the cables.

The cable length, at 1.2 m, is what I’d consider to be just right to connect the K3003 to a gadget in your pant’s pocket. The cable is somewhat free from microphonics, and it is largely tangle-free. Unfortunately, the cable is not replaceable. This is always a concern with expensive headphones.

Sound Quality

I’m quite particular about comfort and fit. But ultimately, how good the comfort and fit becomes completely irrelevant if a pair of headphones cannot deliver quality sound. I’m pleased to say that the K3003 does not disappoint.

First, a few words on the technical aspects. The K3003 is a three-way three driver headphone. One dynamic driver delivers the bass frequencies, two balanced armature drivers deliver each of the mid and high frequencies. This hybrid driver design draws on the best qualities of dynamic and balanced armature drivers to deliver the reference quality sound of the K3003.

To suit individual preferences, because everyone is different, the K3003 has three types of acoustic filters. The standard reference filter gives you the most natural sounds. The other two filters are the bass-boost and high-boost filters.

So, finally, what about sound quality?

The thing that hits me immediately is the immense clarity and detail in the mid and high frequencies. When you play your favourite music, the K3003 could almost review new parts that you’ve not heard before.

I was originally not terribly impressed with the bass performance of the K3003. I had, at that time, been driving the K3003 from a Cowon J3. The bass extension was clearly evident, but there just wasn’t enough punch. It seemed like the K3003 lost steam going down to the lowest frequencies.

Later, I paired the K3003 with the Fiio E10 DAC/amplifier, and the sound was quite noticeably improved. I’m quite surprised, because the K3003 isn’t, at least according to the specifications, supposed to be difficult to drive. So going on forward with the E10, I found the bass neither too tight nor boomy. It is about the right balance to suit most genres of music. I would still have preferred more punch, more tightness, and more articulation.

The mids and highs, are simply amazing in their clarity, detail and transparency. It’s almost like pure sweetness was pouring out of the K3003. Vocals come across with outstanding realism. While there is no discernable sibilance, I found the highs to be a little too bright.

The soundstage of the K3003 is decent. Not as good as I’d like to have, but certainly acceptable for an in-ear headphone.

I was curious if the bass boost filter would help with my preference for a punchier bass. It didn’t. All the bass boost filter did was to cloud the music. I’d say, just stick to the standard reference filter.

Conclusion

Is the K3003 worth its price? That’s not a simple question to answer. Is an Aston Martin worth its price? At $1599, the K3003 is going to be out of reach of some listeners. For others seeking the ultimate in listening experience, the K3003 is certainly a very worth consideration.

My review of the K3003 may have been a little more critical than average. That’s because of the price category that the K3003 has put itself in. You’d certainly expect a whole lot more from the K3003 than a pair of headphones that cost under $100.

With that in mind, I’d still say the K3003 is plenty good. Its sound is about the best you’d ever get from any pair of universal in-ear headphone. The overall sound quality is outstanding, and if you’re coming from free headphones or others that cost under $100, the K3003 will open your ears to the world of luxury listening and hear music from headphones like you’ve never heard before.

Words can only describe so much. The ultimate test is for you to listen to the headphones for yourself. You can audition the K3003 at Stereo, located at Plaza Singapura (#04-06) and Ion Orchard (B4-23/24). Technical specifications are available here.

Pros:

• Overall astounding balanced sound
• Very detailed, very good clarity through the mids and highs
• Very good build
• Small, lightweight, easy to fit on

Cons:

• Non-replaceable cable
• Sound isolation could be better

This post was originally written as part of my participation in Omy.sg’s K3003 / The Sound of Luxury blog. I’m now reposting some of those posts, with some minor edits, on my own blog.

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Thanks to Omy.sg, IMS Marketing and AKG, I was provided with this pair of K518LE on-the-ears headphones, the Q350 in-ear headphones (read my review), the Q460 on-the-ear headphones (review coming up). I also had the opportunity to try out AKG’s flagship K3003 in-ear headphones (read my first impressions).

The K518LE is an on-the-ear headphone design. Although it is labelled a DJ headphone, you don’t have to be a DJ to use it, and there isn’t really anything particularly special about its design to make it more suitable for DJ-use than use for other purposes.

Packaging of the K518LE is simple and functional. The entire K518LE is visible from the clear cover, and the wires are neatly tucked into the back.

The K518LE comes in a total of 7 colours: red, green, orange, blue, yellow, fuchsia and white. I suppose AKG wants to make sure there’s something to suit everyone’s fancy. Not quite the 7 colours of the rainbow, but I’m sure you’d find something you like.

Inside the packaging, tucked behind the headphones, you’ll find a nice PVC carrying pouch with the AKG logo printed on one side. A gold plated 3.5mm to 6.3mm adapter is also included, useful if you want to plug the K518LE into a bigger audio gadget.

The wires of the K518LE run down from both ear cups, meeting at a simple Y-junction, then continues on as two wires suck together before terminating in the 3.5mm plug. It’s not my favourite style of cabling, but still perfectly functional.

The headphones are pretty light, weighing in at 150 g (without cable). There is quite a plasticky feel to the build. but they look to be quite rugged, not that you want to be careless and throw them around, but at least not something that requires careful attention when handling.

Comfort and Fit

The K518LE’s ear cups sit on a 360-degrees swivel and a unique folding mechanism, You can easily maneuver them to fit on your ears comfortably. Or, you can fold them into a small, more compact, form for storage. The ear cups fold in at a slightly opposing angle so they can overlap each other. Cushions on the ear cups are pretty comfortable on the ear.

While the ear cups themselves are comfortable, I found the grip of the headband to be too tight for my liking. I don’t have an unusually large-sized head, yet after wearing the K518LE for a while, I start to feel some discomfort from the pressure exerted on my head/ears.

The tight grip means, however, that the isolation afforded by the ear cups are pretty good. You’ll enjoy the music from the K518LE without much distraction from outside noises.

Sound Quality

The K518LE has a single dynamic driver. As I mentioned right at the start, the bass on the K518LE is awfully good. The first time you hear these headphones, you are going to be struck by the deep punchy bass, with excellent bass extension. Unlike some headphones that loose steam at the lowest frequencies, the K518LE continues to pack good punch down to about 20Hz. The bass is reasonably articulate and packs enough details, but I felt they were slightly boomy. However, considering the price of these headphones, the bass is really good.

I found the mids recessed. The highs, while presenting plenty of details, they do not sparkle. I would still consider their performance to be above average, again, considering the price category of these headphones.

The impressive performance from the bass sort of overwhelms and overpowers the mids and the highs. It’s not that the mids and highs performed poorly, just that they don’t measure up with the bass.

Being a closed-back headphone, sound from the K518LE felt up-front and its soundstage is narrow.

Although the K518LE does not need a headphone amplifier, I found that its performance is greatly enhanced when driven by a decent amplifier. I paired the K518LE with a Fiio E10 DAC/amplifier, and it sounded a lot warmer and richer than compared with direct output from either a Cowon J3 or MacBook Pro.

Conclusion

The K518LE is a good looking headphone, comfortable, and offers good isolation. Its tight grip is a little too much for me, but your mileage may vary.

The bass is really very impressive for any type of headphones, even compared with higher-end ones, and the overall sound quality certainly exceeds its price category.

The K518LE retails for $139.90, and you can find them at retail shops such as Stereo.

Pros:

• Very good bass, good overall sound quality
• Good isolation
• Low-price

Cons:

• Grip is too tight
• Recessed midrange

This post was originally written as part of my participation in Omy.sg’s K3003 / The Sound of Luxury blog. I’m now reposting some of those posts, with some minor edits, on my own blog.

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There’s nothing not to like about Fiio’s newly launched E10 DAC/amplifier. It joins Fiio’s line of many other DAC and amplifier products that are relatively cheap yet sporting good quality construction and sound quality. While some other reviewers managed to get a pre-release sample, which may possibly be slightly different from the final production version, this is the real for-sale thing.

I was originally considering the Fiio E7. My previous DAC (GoVibe Vulcan Mini) stopped working one day and it was painful hearing direct from my MacBook Pro. The E7 seemed like a reasonably suitable replacement. However, I’m not a fan of volume up-down buttons which the E7 had. I really much prefer a volume control knob. I also don’t need to have an OLED screen or other funky features that the E7 has. But ultimately, it was the lack of volume control knob that pushed me to find alternatives. That’s when I noticed the E10 had become available.

The E10 comes in a simple, plain, yet elegant tin box. Open it up and the E10 is revealed within. The included USB cable is found behind the cushioning plastic that the E10 sits in.

The E10 is simple. On the front, you’ll find the 3.5 mm headphone jack, a toggle for bass boost (+3 dB when on), and the volume control knob. There is a blue LED indicator light next to the volume control knob to point to the current setting. It can also serve as a power indicator.

On the back, there is a mini-USB input, a coaxial output jack for digital output, and a 3.5 mm line out jack. The only way you can deliver sound to the E10 is via USB, so there’s no need for a battery of separate power supply input, because the power can come from USB.

There is no line input to the E10. I had initially thought it odd that the E10 didn’t include a battery or power supply input, until I realized from published specifications that there was no line input. It’s a non-issue anyway if your purpose is to connect it as an external DAC to your computer.

The underside of the E10 has just one switch: gain control. Select high gain when you connect higher impedance headphones.

There is no on-off switch, so the blue LED indicator mentioned before is the only way to know if the E10 is powered on or not.

Eight rubber feet were included in the box. Feel free to use them if you think the E10 needs some air separation from the surface it sits on. The brushed metal casing of the E10 is rugged and very well built. The volume control knob has a solid, premium feel to it.

What about sound quality? Very very good! The E10 simply makes music fuller and more complete. The sound is very well-balanced and very clear. There is no discernable hiss or noise, at least not at slightly-higher-than-normal volume levels. It seems like the E10 just makes good music sound better. Although it seems impossible to turn a pair of crappy headphones into great sounding ones, the E10 almost seems to do that. Alright, that would be a bit of an exaggeration, but the E10 really does enhance your listening pleasure.

If you love added bass, the bass boost gives you +3 dB through the E10′s in-built bass boosting circuit. The bass is delivered with a strong fat punch, although, I feel, some clarity in the bass got lost. Just some. It’s still pretty good. If you have a not-so-good pair of headphones that is lacking in the bass department, the E10′s bass boost could help make up for it.

The E10 handles sample rates up to 96 kHz / 24 bits, and drives headphones from 16 ohms to 300 ohms. It uses the Wolfson WM8740 DAC chip, AD3897 headphone amplifier, and Tenor 7022 USB receiver.

Definitely recommended. If you’re still listening to music straight out of your notebook or PC, you don’t know what you’re missing.

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The AKG Q350 Quincy Jones in-ear headphone is one of the three Quincy Jones signature line of headphones from Harman’s AKG division. The other two models are the Q701 over-the-ear cans and the Q460 on-the-ear headphones. The Q350 stands out as being stylish and ultra-lightweight, very portable and definitely very convenient for anyone who is always on-the-go.

The most important question, of course, is how does the Q350 perform, and does it live up to the reputation of the legend whose name it bears? We’ll find out.

I’m particularly interested in the Q350, because it’s an in-ear headphone. These are my favourite style of headphones due to their portability. Thanks to Omy.sg, IMS Marketing and AKG, I was provided with the black-coloured version of the AKG Q350 for this review.

The Q350 is packaged in a nicely designed cardboard box. The ear buds are neatly arranged and visible through a clear window on the box. A photo of the legend himself graces the front of the box. You can also get bright green or white colour versions of the Q350. The colour options are for the ear buds only. The wires and connectors are always in bright green, the signature colour of the Quincy Jones signature line. Yes, plenty of bright green… some may like the striking, trendy style. Others, may beg to differ.

Inside the box, the Q350 in-ear headphones  are accompanied by two extra pairs of ear sleeves (in addition to the pair already on the earbuds), a nice carrying case, a few information booklets and a brochure on AKG’s Quincy Jones signature line of earphones. The brochure, I suppose, might tempt you to try out the Q701 reference-class full-sized headphones.

The ear sleeves, total 3 pairs of them, come in one each of small, medium and large sizes. Pretty standard. They seem quite soft and comfortable.

The way the wires are packed in the box leaves a lot of kinks in it. That’s how most manufacturers pack the wires anyway. In the case of the Q350, the kinks are particularly evident around the remote and microphone, to fit into the arrangement under the plastic window of the box. I suppose after some time, the kinks will straighten out. The wires are bright green, as I’ve already mentioned. On one end, they terminate in a 3.5mm gold plated plug wrapped in a bright green sheath with the letters “AKG” embossed on it. The Y-junction also has the letters “AKG” embossed on it. The wires are nice to feel, but I worry about the kinks and manageability. The total length is just a little over 1m. It’s long enough for most practical purposes, but I personally would have preferred a little more slack.

You’d expect in-ear headphones in this price range to include a carrying case, and the Q350 is no exception. You get a pretty sturdy, compact, lightweight black zippered case which looks to be of pretty good quality. It’s only just 9cm at the widest point and 6cm deep. Too small, in my opinion, for wires to be coiled around your fingers and still fit comfortably inside this case. But, of course, I suppose you can compromise and arrange your wires in a more compact manner.

Comfort and Fit

The Q350 weighs in at just 3g, without the wires. That’s awfully light. So light that you wouldn’t even notice them. The wires themselves are also pretty light. The Q350 is designed to be worn with wires coming straight down (as opposed to having the wire wrap around the ear). There is a remote and microphone about 10cm down from the right earpiece, just about the place where your mouth would be. It’s a standard iPod/iPhone/iPad compatible remote, so you can control music, adjust volume, and answer calls, etc.

I have a fit problem with AKG’s in-ear headphones. Their tips are too large! It’s a common problem for me. My left ear canal is a little small, so I often have difficulty getting the correct fit with in-ear headphones. The Q350’s tip measures 7mm in diameter, and even with the smallest sleeves, I cannot get a comfortable fit in my left ear. The tip of my UM2, for example, is just barely 3mm. I have no trouble fitting the Q350 into my right ear.

You can replace the Q350’s sleeves with Comply foam tips. Comply’s -400 range of tips are compatible with the Q350. These tips are a type of memory foam which you squeeze before inserting the earpiece into your ear canal. It then expands and fills out your ear canal, effectively holding the earpiece in place and isolating all outside noises.

Sound Quality

The Q350 is driven by a single dynamic driver. The specifications list the Q350 as a closed-back headphone, but I see holes at the back of the earpiece, music from the earpiece easily escapes to the outside, and isolation isn’t all that great, so I’m just wondering how closed the back of the Q350 actually is.

For these sound quality impressions, I used a Cowon J3 player as the source. I was actually trying to use a Govibe Vulcan DAC connected to a MacBook Pro, but the Govibe broke midway (no fault of the Q350).

The first thing that hit me when I started listening to the Q350 is the strong bass. The Q350 may be small, but it certainly packs an impressive bass that will satisfy most people who love their bass strong. The bass is plentiful, but not too overpowering to drown out details. The more discerning audiophiles, however, may find that the punch doesn’t extend down to the lowest frequencies, and at some point it starts to loose definition and clarity. It’s not bad, actually, and casual music listeners will probably not be bothered at all.

Going toward the mids, the Q350 performs with excellent clarity, plenty of details and good resolution. There seems, however, to be an unusual colourization to the music. It is as if some EQ filter has been applied. This is something that needs getting used to. The highs are muted. It’s not all too significant, actually, but I would have loved to hear more sparkle and brightness. This might be alright if you mostly listen to bass-heavy music.

Overall, the Q350 produces an excellent expansive soundstage and depth. Add to that the strong bass performance, it’s quite impressive for an in-ear headphone in its price category.

As I’ve mentioned, the Q350’s isolation isn’t great. I suspect it must have something to do with the holes in the earpiece, which must have been there by design. Perhaps this design lends the Q350 the feeling of openness and airiness.

The wire is prone to microphonics (i.e. the noises you hear through the earpiece when the wire rubs against objects such as your body or clothing). I suppose if you are using the Q350 while doing sports, your sporting activity is going to drown out the microphonics anyway.

Conclusion

The AKG Q350 looks fun and trendy. While you might find the colour a little gawdy initially, they don’t really standout and scream for attention. If you can get the right fit with the ear sleeves, they will be quite comfortable. The Q350 is so light you’re not even going to feel it there.

The integrated microphone and remote will be very convenient if you plan to use this in-ear headphone with your iPod/iPhone/iPad or other compatible music player.

The impressive bass performance is definitely one of the Q350’s many strengths. The colourization may need some getting used to, but otherwise the overall clarity, definition and soundstage will provide much satisfaction to the casual music listener.

The AKG Q350 retails for $159.90. If you’re looking to upgrade from the free earbud earphones that came with your mobile phone, music player, or other mobile gadget, check out the Q350.

This post was originally written as part of my participation in the Omy.sg’s K3003 / The Sound of Luxury blog. I’m now reposting some of those posts, with some minor edits, on my own blog.

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This would be my second solid state disk. I finally got to the bottom of the occasional (but getting more frequent) problems with freezing that occurs a few seconds after resuming from sleep on my MacBook Pro. After a fresh installation of Mac OS X Lion and replacing all other hardware, the only thing left to suspect was my OCZ Vertex 2 SSD. It was somehow locking up. So I’ve sent it in for RMA. Sadly it would take about 4 weeks to get a replacement.

I couldn’t wait 4 weeks without an SSD. So, I started scouring for solutions, and decided I would invest in another SSD. It seems the market has gone toward SATA3, and SATA3 SSDs are awfully expensive. I have no use for SATA3. So I limited my search to SATA2 devices, and with capacities of at least 160GB. Although SSDs have dropped in price, they are still quite pricey. After almost a year since I got my OCZ Vertex 2, it seems the choices have not changed much: the OCZ Vertex 2 is still in the market, and now joined by the Intel SSD 320.

Should I go with OCZ or Intel? The OCZ Vertex 2 has very good specifications. On paper, the Intel SSD 320 wasn’t superior. Rated read/write performance was slower, and there is no garbage collection. The latter would benefit Mac OS X Lion since it was no built-in support for TRIM on non-Apple SSDs. Real world benchmarks, though, show that the Intel is both superior in some cases, and yet inferior in others. There are some comments that the Intel is more reliable. I wouldn’t mind trying the Intel too, but was worried about its performance.

When I got down to Sim Lim Square, Intel or OCZ became a non-issue. No one had stock of the OCZ Vertex 2. So I came back with the Intel SSD 320.

The Intel SSD 320 is packaged in a clunkier box than the OCZ Vertex 2. It’s still a 2.5″ notebook-sized form factor, of course. The disk enclosure itself, however, looks more like a hard disk than the OCZ Vertex 2 does. Installation was straight-forward. I’ve done many disk swaps on my MacBook Pro, so I’m pretty well-experienced.

How do I feel about the Intel SSD 320′s performance? I don’t have the benchmark numbers from my OCZ Vertex 2. Objective time measurements show that it’s faster than spinning disks, of course. Subjective feeling, however, is that the OCZ Vertex 2 is definitely much faster than the Intel SSD 320. Once my RMA OCZ Vertex 2 is back, it’s going back into my MacBook Pro, and the Intel will move to my desktop.

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I had the opportune few moments to try out AKG’s latest flagship in-ear monitors, the K3003, a couple of days ago. There is definitely an air of exclusivity and elegance surrounding the K3003, starting the moment you unbox it. It’s like opening a jewel box. There is no bling in the gray box itself, but the K3003′s stainless-steel shell almost seems to be sparkling, and the whole packaging certainly exudes a sense of premium quality.

Now, there are in-ear monitors, with varying performance and quality, to suit every budget. The K3003 doesn’t come cheap, and clearly it’s targeted at the more affluent music listeners willing to invest in top quality audio products to satisfy their listening pleasure.

The K3003 is a true 3-way design, one driver each for high, mid and low frequencies. Each bud comprises two balanced armature drivers and one dynamic driver, encased in a tiny brushed stainless-steel cylinder case, and capped off with interchangeable acoustic filters to suit your listening preferences. Six pairs (two each for small, medium and large) of slightly translucent white hypoallergenic ear sleeves are included.

The 1.2m long wire that come with the K3003 is, quite uniquely, made from two types of materials. The bottom end, from the connector to the Y-junction, is made with a fabric material, while the other portion from the Y-junction to the buds are made with a silicone material. I would personally have preferred to have the fabric material all the way.  The wire is free from microphonics, and it is largely tangle-free. The wires are not, unfortunately, removable.

I did not listen to the K3003 long enough, and not in the best conditions, to speak about its audio qualities. I shall have to do this in another post. But here’s my casual first impressions, playing off a Cowon J3 player. The K3003 does not disappoint, performing with impressive crystal clarity and brightness, especially in the mids and highs. Bass extension is excellent, although I would have loved to have more punch (not that it is lacking, it’s just my preference). For a universal in-ear monitor, the K3003 is superb.

The three acoustic filters provided let you choose from neutral reference, bass boost and high boost. I personally don’t like my music tainted. However, just to test if the bass boost filter would satisfy my preference for a punchier bass, I gave that a shot. It does give the bass more support, overall warmth, but at the cost of slightly muted highs.

AKG says this is the world’s smallest true 3-way reference quality earphones. It’s definitely tiny, the smallest I’ve seen. They are also reportedly individually hand-made, and each set is uniquely identified by a serial number. Hence the air of exclusivity around it.

Oh, did I mention the price? It’s a cool $1599.

If you’re interested to audition the K3003, head down to Stereo’s outlets at Plaza Singapura (#04-06) or Ion Orchard (#B4-23/24).

This post was originally written as part of my participation in Omy.sg’s K3003 / The Sound of Luxury blog. I’m now reposting some of those posts, with some minor edits, on my own blog.

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Several months ago, I did quick review of the recent line up of Android phones. Nothing stood out as particularly spectacular that would represent a significantly worthy upgrade to the Nexus One. Sure, there were many better phones, but none were, in my opinion, all-around significant enough improvements. Then SGS2 arrived, and it qualified as significantly better for several reasons:

1. 8 megapixel auto-focus camera
2. Dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A9 CPU
3. Super AMOLED Plus display with true RGB subpixels
4. 1GB of RAM, 16GB built-in flash memory
5. Very slim (8.49mm) and very light (116gm)

Notice that I omitted to mention the large 4.27″ display. You see, I don’t actually consider that an advantage. I’ve figured that a 4″ display is more than enough. I don’t see any compelling reason why a phone needs to have a 4.3″ display. One of the reasons I liked the Nexus One was its diminutive size. Alright, the Nexus One isn’t exactly diminutive, but it’s more compact than the previous phones I’ve owned (Nokia N97 and N95 8GB prior to the Nexus One). The SGS2 was, in terms of its surface area, too big. I know some people will love the 4.27″ sized display, so this could be a rather subjective matter.

The thinness of the SGS2, at just 8.49mm, is really something spectacular. It might even help win over people (like me) who feel that the display is too large. I’m quite happy that Samsung got rid of the chrome edge that adorned the original Galaxy S. Gorilla glass completely covers the top surface of the SGS2, except for the speaker at the top and the home button at the bottom. The phone’s shell is somewhat featureless, which gives it a very clean look. Overall, this large thin black slate is simply gorgeous. I’m almost willing to forgive the 4.27″ display.

I was still very worried about the size of the SGS2. That is, the size in terms of surface area. It looks very big, too big. It felt too big even when I play with the demo sets. But after using the SGS2 for several hours, it turns out that it didn’t feel too uncomfortable to hold in my hands. I think it could be that my hands are relatively large (at least by Asian standards). On hindsight, I realized that my Nexus One was slightly too small in my hands, lending a sense of insecurity that the phone would slip out of my hands. I liked that the Nexus One doesn’t make much of its presence felt when placed in my pants pockets. The SGS2′s 125.3mm x 66.1mm surface area, however, was just a little too much, and the 8.49mm thinness was not enough to make up for it. Again, I think a 4″ display would have been better. Alright, I’ll stop complaining about the display’s 4.27″ size for the rest of this post.

The SGS2′s display is superb! The Super AMOLED Plus is really magnificent. I’ve simply not seen anything so brilliant. The display is very bright, and the colours come out very vibrant. In fact, the display is so brightly lit that I thought it must have been set at maximum brightness, and I subconsciously worried about how it would drain the battery. But it was not so, on both counts (i.e. it was nowhere near maximum brightness, and it is supposedly quite energy efficient). Viewing photos and watching videos will be so much more enjoyable with such a splendid display.

The SGS2 fails in the “nice to touch” department. The all-plastic shell makes it feel cheap, and the plasticky buttons don’t feel good to push either. The power button of my Nexus One failed me after almost one year of use. I sure hope the SGS2 buttons will be more hardy. The textured back cover helps to make a more secure grip when you hold the phone, and it’s a good thing that Samsung didn’t make it glossy to blend in with the rest of the phone’s overall look.

Like many other Samsung phones, there’s a chin at the back of the SGS2. It’s actually not as pronounced as it looks in photos. I’ve found a usefulness for the chin: It’s something to grip as I pull it out of my pocket. The real purpose, of course, is probably to help the phone balance properly when placed flat on its back, because the 8 megapixel camera housing also protrudes slightly from the back.

One of the thing I love to do very much on my phone is to take photos. I’ve been stuck with 5 megapixel camera phones for many years, starting with the Nokia N95 8GB, the N97, and then the Nexus One. The SGS2 is not just an upgrade of megapixels. It’s the picture quality that has also improved. My Nokia phones clearly produced better quality photos than the Nexus One did. I guess, generally, Nokia made better camera sensors than HTC. I can’t compare directly with Nokia now, but the SGS2 does seem to produce better photos than the Nexus One (again, I’m talking about image quality, not about megapixel count). Better than the iPhone 4 too, if I may add. The shot-to-shot time on the SGS2 is also much faster than the Nexus One, but I still no match for the iPhone 4.

Although the Nexus One’s 1GHz Snapdragon CPU was no slow-coach, newer more demanding applications are starting to push its limits, and this year, everyone starts to look at dual-core processors. The SGS2′s dual-core 1.2GHz Exynos processor, based on ARMv7 Cortex A9 architecture, is the current champion of mobile phone CPUs, with no competition in sight at this time.

I wasn’t looking out much for better sound quality when I was deciding if I should get the SGS2. But when I took my first phone call on the SGS2, I immediately noticed the superior sound quality of its earpiece over that of the Nexus One. The bass reproduction is strong and clearly present. Voice is crisp, and overall sounds are crystal clear. I’m also pretty surprised at the quality of the earphone output, using a proper pair of earphones (I’ve made it a habit of immediately abandoning the free earphones included with any music-playing product). I’m not going to critique it like an audiophile would expect of audiophile-class equipment, so I’ll just summarize thus: It’s the best I’ve heard from any mobile phone.

GPS fixing speed on the SGS2 is remarkably faster than the Nexus One. In places where it might have taken a minute for my Nexus One, the SGS2 took like 10 to 15 seconds. Getting an accurate fix on your map location is now a lot more convenient. I am quite surprised that the SGS2 can even get a GPS fix while it is indoors… 3m away from the nearest window.

Last… and certainly not the least, something that is very important: battery life. I think it is safe to say, it beats the Nexus One. So far I’ve got less than 5 full charges on the phone. Each cycle the battery seems to do better and better. Of course, it will plateau somewhere and reach its optimal performance level. Right now, it’s doing about 2% battery drain per hour with light use (yes, the phone is actually used… not that I’m just leaving it on standby without touching it).

So that’s my thoughts on the SGS2. Apart from the oversized display, I’m liking everything else about it. I feel it’s a worthy upgrade from the Nexus One.

Pros:

1. Super AMOLED Plus display is awesome
2. Long battery life
3. Quick GPS fix
4. Camera quality
5. Overall good looks (of the handset)
6. And… the original 5 reasons at the top of this post

Cons:

1. 4.27″ display is too big
2. Cheap plasticky feel

Incidentally, I found myself quite liking Samsung’s firmware. I had originally planned on jumping to CyanogenMod 7 as soon as I can, but I’ve decided to stay with Samsung’s firmware. At least for now. I’ll write more about this another time.

If you like links to full SGS2 reviews, try the following:

• http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/28/samsung-galaxy-s-ii-review/
• http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Samsung-Galaxy-S-II-Review_id2728
• http://www.slashgear.com/samsung-galaxy-s-ii-review-26148446/
• http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/samsung-galaxy-s2-930907/review
• http://www.trustedreviews.com/samsung-galaxy-s-ii-i9100_Mobile-Phone_review

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The Transformer’s hardware specifications are quite up-to-par: 1280×800 10.1″ display, powerful dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16 or 32GB of flash, 5MP rear camera and 1.3MP front camera, GPS, Bluetooth, Wifi (and 3G edition coming soon), mini-HDMI output.

The physical build is also pretty good: looks good and feels good. It is certainly heavier and bigger than the Samsung Galaxy Tab, but I thought the latter was a little too plasticky, so I think the Transformer feels a lot better in my hands. I do think it feels a little too heavy though, particularly once you attach the docking station.

The docking station is really interesting. You get a good-sized real physical keyboard and a generously-sized trackpad. The tablet connects to the docking station on a hinge, so that the “screen” and the “keyboard” sections open and close in such a manner that the Transformer essentially becomes a netbook. It does look like a netbook too. The docking station packs an extra 6 hours of battery (the main Transformer is rated 10 hours on its own), has two USB ports and a SD memory slot.

The Transformer runs the tablet-optimized version of Android, Honeycomb. I’m familiar with pre-Honeycomb Android, not with Honeycomb itself. The UI changes in Honeycomb really helps to improve the tablet experience. If you had used the Galaxy Tab before, the Android experience on it might have left you feeling that it was simply an oversized smartphone.

Sadly, the software experience fell short of my expectations. Despite being blessed with a powerful dual-core processor and plenty of RAM, the Transformer felt rather sluggish and jerky as you navigate around the user interface. This is particularly evident when you move between homescreens. Hopefully, this can be improved (significantly) with future software updates.

Price? The current 16GB Wifi version of the Transformer sells for S$699 without the optional docking station. The equivalent iPad 2 model sells for S$668. It’s a pity that the flagship Android tablets can’t compete against Apple’s iPads on price.

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But our choice could be severely limited if we were to add on one more requirement: compatibility with our existing supply of Epson 73N ink cartridges. We have about $150 wort of those cartridges. There apparently aren’t many Epson printer models left that still used this type of ink cartridges. We could get a cheap compatible printer now to use up our stock of ink cartridges and then upgrade the printer again later, or just to give up (maybe try to sell them away) on the ink cartridges altogether.

After some thought, we decided to go with the Epson TX220. It’s the cheapest AIO model that uses the 73N ink cartridges. The printer prints, scans and copies as advertised. Installation and setting up to print from my MacBook Pro was no-brainer. Just connect the USB cable, Mac OS X automagically detects the new device and downloads updated drivers. (Actually I expected it to just work right away, but I suppose since the update took place automatically anyway, it’s still a simple enough process.)

We did get caught by a little surprise over the ink cartridge compatibility. We have plenty of 73N ink cartridges, but we also had one set of 73 ink cartridges. It was the latter type that I initially tried to install. The cartridges were physically compatible (they could be installed), but the printer complained that they were unrecognized. I eventually figured out that 73 is not the same as 73N. This printer really needs 73N or 73HN cartridges.

In terms of features, this printer is basic. There are plenty of other printers to consider. Unfortunately, when we decided to use up our stock of 73N ink cartridges, our choice was limited.

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As you might have read from my last post, I’ve already signed up with Bluehost. But I really want to support a pro-green company. I had considered GreenGeeks previously, but unfortunately, their price was not attractive then. Now, however, with discounts and promo codes, it turns out that their 36-month hosting price costs less than Bluehost. Time to check them out!

So I signed up for an account with GreenGeeks. The nice thing about money back guarantees is that I get to evaluate both services side-by-side, then make up my mind which one to keep and which other one to give up.

In summary, in favour for GreenGeeks:

• Better throughput bandwidth for downloads (outbound from website)
• Slightly cheaper cost
• Green

In favour for Bluehost:

• Software suite generally more updated
• Software development environment
• Better latency, lesser hops
• Hardware that is a hell lot more powerful (although benchmark score doesn’t reflect that significant a difference)
• No swapping observed (swapping was observed on GreenGeeks)

I very much like to support green power, so I very much like to go with GreenGeeks because they are pro-green. Unfortunately, there are a couple of things going against GreenGeeks:

• Swapping was observed. Swapping is a big no-no to me as far as a web server is concerned, because it negatively impacts performance significantly.
• The hardware configuration is considerably mediocre by today’s standards. It seems to be somewhat “old tech” too. That means, firstly, that the hardware is probably less energy efficient than more modern hardware. Furthermore, it’s lesser compute power means it cannot take on as much load, and thus requiring more physical servers than if more powerful modern hardware was used. That’s not very green. (GreenGeeks’ Intel L5310 CPU has a rated TDP of 50W, and Bluehost’s AMD Opteron 6168 has a rated TDP of 115W, so indeed it looks like GreenGeeks’ CPU consumes far lesser power. But on the other hand, consider that the L5310 is 4-core, while the Opteron 6168 is 12-core.)
• The company’s hosting size seems to be pretty small. My order number is 24xxx (it seems to suggest there were only like 24K accounts before me), and the server I’m assigned to is “server6…”. It’s not a very scientific way of estimating their hosting size, but nevertheless, I don’t feel good.
• The company is fairly new. I don’t want to discriminate against a company simply because they are new, but the lack of anytime money back guarantee doesn’t instil much confidence in me about their confidence in keeping their customers. Also, without track record, and an apparent small customer base, I’m concerned about their long-term survival, particularly since I’m going to be signing on a 3 year contract.
• I’m deeply concerned about the excessive capping on user processes and virtual memory. While performing the UnixBench benchmarks, I very quickly received an email about having violated their excessive use policy, threatening to suspend my account. I ran the benchmarks many more times on Bluehost without any trouble. (It could just mean Bluehost doesn’t monitor so closely, which could either be a good or bad thing.)

There are just two main issues that I’m concerned about Bluehost:

• Comparatively lesser bandwidth.
• While a big customer base is a good thing, I’m also concerned if they may have over-committed on server resources and overall network bandwidth.

Before summing up this review, I just want to mention a couple of things about “green”. GreenGeeks does not run on green power. Like almost all other web hosting services, the servers and data centres still take power from power grids fed from traditional power plants. There’s nothing green here. Green companies like GreenGeeks buy Renewable Energy Certificates, which pay for purchasing renewable electricity that is generated and delivered back into the power grid. The purchasing of Renewable Energy Certificates offset the non-renewable energy consumed by the company. In the case of GreenGeeks, they buy 300% as much Renewable Energy Certificates as the electricity they actually consumed. Green purists will certainly argue that this does not actually eliminate or reduce the CO2 footprint of the company.

There are true-green web hosting companies. If you are really interested in them, check out www.aiso.net (among others).

So, finally, what is my verdict? I’ve more confidence in Bluehost. I like green, and I like fast download speeds, but ultimately, I’ve more confidence in Bluehost’s reliability, server capacity, and their ability to keep their infrastructure up-to-date.

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