IT Issues: Android vs. iOS tablet

A’salam and good days..

Yes..! 😀 At last after a long hibernate period, finally I have will to write a blog. Sorry guys I’m just too lazy to write things. 😛 Alhamdullillah tonite Allah give me will & strength to write something that I wish to write long ago. The topic is: “Android vs. iOS tablet”.

Introduction

First of all, thing we are going to discuss here is about the Operating System (OS) for tablet, not for mobile phone. So what is the different??? Don’t get confuse, generally mobile phone is something that u can hold with one hand and often use to make a call. The standard screen size for mobile phone can range up to 5” inches. As for tablet, normally the screen size range from 7” to 11” inches. Some example of popular tablet nowadays are; Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom, Apple iPad 2, Asus Eee Transformers, etc.

What is tablet?

In general, tablet categories as devices that operate as computer. The major differences are the ways how to operate it and the interface of the application. Normally tablet doesn’t provide physical keyboard. Therefore, all of them are touch-based operation which required practices to get used of it. Several finger touch gestures are available in devices as well. There are numbers of application available that help in daily activities such as word processing, image editing, web browsing, reading, media player etc. You won’t have exact application that run in Windows operating system in the tablet. So don’t expect apps like Ms Office Word, Excel, Adobe Photoshop, etc. that normally run in Windows are available. The apps name might be different but they can operate similar as in the Windows version with limitation capabilities and function. Please bear in mind that our discussions are based on standard operating system for Android (without rooted) and iOS (without jailbreak).

Android

Android is an operating system develop by Google Inc. The latest version is Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Example of tablets using Android operating system are; Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom, Asus Eee Transformer, Acer Iconia A500, Lenovo IdeaPad K1, etc.

Pros

Support Flash Plug-in

Unlike iOS, Android OS are capable of displaying Adobe Flash content through webpage or apps. If you used to open Flash content website, you should consider buying Android tablet rather than iOS tablet. iOS are not capable of viewing flash content due to restriction made by Apple to reduce the risk of its device being hacked or jailbreak.

Download and upload file through the web

Standard web browsers for Android are capable in handling downloading and uploading files. Compared with iOS, Safari is not capable to download and upload any file. There is an option from the other 3^rd party apps but the user has to pay for it.

Customizable Widget Screen

Numbers of widget are available through Android OS. Some of them are even free from the market. It is useful for the user to customize the screen page by adding widget such as calendar, clock, weather, favourites, etc. Compared with iOS, no widget screens are available with the standard OS or through the AppsStore.

iOS

iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is an operating system develop by Apple Inc. The latest version is iOS 5.0.1. The tablets that used iOS are Apple iPad 1 and iPad 2. There are no such things as iPad from Samsung, Acer, Dell, etc. Some people misinterpret that iPad as a term to describe the tablet while iPad is a sole product from Apple. Therefore I often heard people say, “I bought an iPad brand Samsung” or “Aku beli iPad brand China”. What..??? O_O China is a country guys, not a brand. Yes I do agree that iPad assemble in China but the iPad brand is only Apple.

Pros

Advanced multi-touch gestures

iOS is the first OS that support multi-touch gestures. Up to 10 touches point can be detected at one time. This features greatly make ease of closing and switching between apps with less confirmation.

Smooth interface

iOS smoother than Android in term of interface reaction while scrolling, zooming, rendering, etc. This is due to the OS itself is made for the devices and Apple customize the iOS based on their hardware specifications. Compared with Android tablet that produced by numbers of company such as; Samsung, Acer, Dell, Asus, etc. which produced different hardware specifications lead to different performance in every devices with same operating system.

Wide-range of apps

iOS exist before the existence of Android OS. Therefore the number of apps available in iOS is more than Android. Even though there might be a possibility that the number of Android apps beat the iOS in the future, until now iOS still lead with wide-range of apps from as silly as u can think into as complicated as development tools.

Conclusion

As u read my article, u’ll realize that I don’t write any cons of the OS. What pros of the OS are actually the cons of its rival and vice-versa. Therefore as a user we need to choose right product that fulfil our need. What we do most really help in making the decision… 😀

Product Review: iPad

Introduction
Its been almost four (4) month since i bought my iPad last year. I believe this is the right time for me to write a review about this product. Before i explain further, let me highlight that this article focus on the standard features (plain device) of iPad (WiFi + 3G) with latest iOS 4.2.1 WITHOUT jailbreak and any tweak apply. A numbers of people have ask me such as whether iPad could replace PC, laptop or netbook? What is so special about iPad? Is it worth for money or just to show off? Can iPad do this, and this and so on? Therefore i hope by reading this article it might give u and one of my fren (that keep asking me to write this article: sape lah tu kan..) some ideas what is iPad, its features and whether it suit ur need or not. 😉

What is iPad?
iPad is a tablet by Apple (manufacturer for iPhone, iPod, MacBook). Currently there are two (2) model of iPad in the market; the one with (WiFi) and (WiFi + 3G). The different between the model is in term of price and GPS support. The one with the 3G is embedded with GPS unit as well and of course the price slightly expensive and heavier (50 grams) compared with the other one. There are three (3) storage option for each of the model which is 16, 32 and 64 GBytes. Other than that the specs are undoubtedly exactly the same.

Price
iPad price are vary depends on the model and storage capacity. While the price i state here prior to change without any notice, i suggest u to check the latest price from official Apple store via this URL: store.apple.com/malaysia

iPad (WiFi)
16 Gb – RM 1549
32 Gb – RM 1849
64 Gb – RM 2149

iPad (WiFi + 3G)
16 Gb – RM 1999
32 Gb – RM 2299
64 Gb – RM 2599

Specification
Here i will highlight the most important spec for a computer based gadget. u can check the detail and complete spec via this URL: http://store.apple.com/my/browse/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad

Processor: 1 Ghz A4 Apple CPU

RAM: 256 MB (This spec doesn’t stated in the official technical spec. It have been founded by various group of expert who manage to disassemble and test the iPad RAM)

Resolution: 1024 x 768 pixel

Connectivity: WiFi, bluetooth, 3G micro SIM card, GPS.

Weight: 730 g

Basic Operation
Since iPad is a tablet, those used to PC, notebook or netbook might have a hard time to perform basic operation like it used to be for the first time. Unless u’ve iPhone or iPod touch before, thing might get easier. iPad use a lot of finger gestures to perform basic task such as copy, cut, paste, zoom in/out, delete, etc. Holding finger on any text will enable zoom mode and releasing it will enable the properties. You can move the finger while in zoom mode make ease of selecting the text and perform the desire task (copy, cut, paste) after releasing it. Most of the iPad apps support zoom in or out by spreading and pinching two (2) finger on the screen.

Holding finger will enable zoom mode

Releasing finger will enable properties

Internet
The default internet browser for iPad is mobile Safari. Its fast, stable and easy to operate. Even so it still can’t beat the speed of Android based OS with similar processing power such as Galaxy S or Galaxy Tablet. It seem that Google is a steps forward in optimising the website to its mobile OS. While Opera is far ahead in optimising web content than Google, it only support Windows Mobile, Android, iPhone and JAVA based devices. There is no Opera version for iPad yet. Another issues of mobile Safari is Adobe Flash support. Apple have restrict iDevices from accessing Flash content due to security issues which may lead to the accessibility of restrict area of the devices. Therefore u cant see any Flash content while browsing via Safari.

Mobile Safari interface

Multiple tab Safari interface

Email
Email apps work great in iPad. It support threaded email which will automatically group the email based on its subject even u are using other than Gmail (support threaded mail). iPad natively support popular email client such as GMail, YMail, Microsoft Exchange, MobileMe and AOL. As for the rest of the email client user need to manually configure it the email setting option. Push email notification option are available as well for supported client. Search can be done easily which can also be filtered by sender, receiver and subject. Any email attachment can be displayed directly within the client without the need of opening others apps.

Email interface (the one with number 4 is threaded email)

Productivity
There is a lots of free and paid apps available for productivity purposes or daily working environment. Since this article focus on the basic features of iPad, i’ll just highlight the apps already installed once u bought a new one. Basic apps for note taking is ‘Notes’. It is simple as notepad for Windows based OS and no text formatting supported. ‘Calendar’ work as agenda organizer while ‘Contacts’ to mange the person contact detail.

Notes

Calendar

Contacts

Sound
Sound quality is good but not great. There is only one speaker for the output so stereo audio sources would have no different compared with mono. At the top of the iPad there is slot for ear-jack to plug-in the earphone. Yet i didn’t feel it is convenient for someone to listen to music along the way due to the size of the iPad. The best way is to just leave it stationary while listening.

Videos
Movies and videos work great in iPad. With 9.7″ screen and 1024×768 pixel resolution, it is a good portable devices to watch movies or video clips. The playback quality is great, the movies can be played smooth without lagging and the size can be optimized due the MP4 H.264 compression used by Apple.

Movies selection interface

Apps
There are almost fifty thousand of iPad apps available in the market. PLUS the apps for iPhone/iPod touch that can also be installed into the iPad make the total of 400,000. It is a intense apps option for daily use.

Storage
iPad use flash disk for the storage so one wont hear any noise while launching the apps, reading or writing into the disk. Each of the apps have dedicated file storage for data stored. Opening any file from one apps into another would actually copy the original file into the other apps storage. Which mean any editing done wont effected the original file but at the same time it lead to waste of storage since the original file still exist in the other apps storage. There is no universal storage area reserve in iPad that can be access freely from any apps make it harder to edit single file through various apps.

Multitasking
With the latest iOS 4.2.1 release in the public, multitasking features have been added. It is a good add-on but the concept are different compared with Windows based OS. Once we switch into another apps, previous apps would be put into frozen state (not running in background). Therefore some apps won’t run properly in the background. The only solution is by downloading the latest version of apps that support the native multitasking. Unfortunately, not every apps developers updates their apps according to the latest iOS produce by Apple. Yet multitasking in iPad is something handy when compared with the previous version that doesn’t allow any multitasking.

Multitasking interface

Battery life
Well.. This is the most interesting part. 😉 For me iPad battery life is totally crazy. iPad able to maintain its power for up to 10 hours continuous usage with WiFi enable. The duration slightly reduce to 9 hours if you are using 3G for internet connection. You can use the iPad for the whole day activity without worrying need for recharge.

Pros

1. high battery performance
2. huge option of apps
3. great video quality
4. great email client
5. fast internet browser

Cons

1. doesn’t support real multitasking
2. no universal storage for apps
3. price quite expensive (you can get good netbooks with the lowest price of iPad)

Conclusion
I really suggest you to have PC, laptop, netbook or Macbook before u buy the iPad. This is due to the iPad need any of the devices i mention above to sync the apps, docs and make any backup. iPad couldn’t replace 100% of Windows based PC function. Without any tweak applied, it can only support around 60% of PC function. This is a trade-off between something that u get in return and something that u’ll lose. Do consider everything before deciding to buy an iPad.

*However, there is a ways where u can get almost 90% of Windows based PC function in an iPad with jailbreaking the device and several tweak done. But as i mention in the introduction above, this article focus on the basic features (plain device) of iPad when u bought new one. InsyaAllah i’ll write other post for the method.. Kalau rajin lah.. 😉 Yawn.. Its late already.. I’m so sleepy.. ~.~

How To: Make a screenshot for active windows application

Since im currently stuck (due to heavy rain) at Friven & Co bulk sales at Tmn Shamelin, i feel that its better for me to write a simple article to my blog. Maybe some of us wonder how u can simply take a screenshot of any application and paste it into word doc, photoshop, etc. Even thought i believe that some of us already known the steps but im going to write it anyway since it might be useful for some group of people.

Most of us press ‘PRINT-SCREEN’ button on the keyboard and paste into in word or ms paint. This is the most simplest method to make a screenshot of the current screen BUT not for the active application. The method will grab all the pixel in the screen and would be used once u paste it into any application.

But lets say if u ONLY want the screenshot of certain apps such as ‘calculator’, ‘ms-dos”, etc, here is the steps:

1. Switch into the application u want to have a screenshot.

2. Hold ‘ALT’ + ‘PRINT-SCREEN’ on the keyboard.

3.Paste in to ur desire application.

The above method is very useful to those who want to write a book, guide, blog, article, etc with figure or image attachment.

*In case of u want to save it as an image file, open ‘Ms Paint’, paste and save it so u can use it later (i suggest u save the file as JPG file format due to smaller file size optimization).

Software Review: Cooliris

What is Cooliris?
Cooliris is a software developed by Cooliris Inc. It is a “plug-in” for web browser such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc. Its core function is as image browser for the webpages.

Price
The best thing about this software is it doesn’t cost u a thing. U can get it for free without any restriction to use the software features compared with some others free software that available for free but u’ve to pay small amount of money to get the extra features.

Installation
The software can be downloaded from the following URL below:
http://www.cooliris.com/downloads/
Please select the right version depend on your browser and follow the instruction to complete the installation.

How to start Cooliris
Cooliris cannot be open directly like any others software since it is a plug-in to web browser. In order to start using it, user need to open web browser that have been installed with Cooliris from previous steps. Move your mouse cursor into any images in the webpage until u see Cooliris symbol (as in image below). Next click on it and Cooliris will launch as a new tabs in the web browser.

FEATURES

Interactive web image browser
Cooliris provides 3D interactive wall like image navigation as in a screenshot below. It allow user to zoom in and out by using the mouse scroll and keyboard cursor (left, right, up down). This is really nice add-on if u are using tablet based PC where u can simply navigate the image by touching it.

Support popular website
Cooliris support most of popular website such as Google, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Picasa, DeviantArt, etc. Below is an example of screenshot for Google images search (keyword: computer) result displayed via Cooliris. Another ways of launching the software is by manually clicking the Cooliris icon (as in the image above) BUT this action wont ensure that the webpage support the function of software.

Browsing local storage image
Even thought Cooliris initially designed to browse images for the web, with the latest version of Cooliris came out, more advances features have been added. Now user able to browse local storage images such as hard disk and others external storage (external hard disk, SD card, Flash-drive, etc.)

Pros

1. Most of all it is free. So why don’t u have a try when u got nothing to lose.. 😉
2. Very neat interactive ways of viewing and browsing images
3. Full support on most of popular website
4. Capability to browse local image as well as web images
5. Loading all images in background (user doesn’t have to press next result of images especially when searching via Google images)

Cons

1. Cannot be launch directly without web browser. I do wish in the future it can be launch directly without the need of web browser especially when browsing local storage images.
2. Lack of basic image editing. Cooliris doesn’t provides any tools even for basic image editing.

Conclusion
What can i say??? Its FREE guys!!! How do i expect more from a free software yet very powerful and interactive. Support most of popular website especially Facebook and Google images. It really worth to try.. 😀
Don’t you…??? 😉

How to: Recover hidden files infected by viruses

Almost every new technology has its own threat. Nowadays most of us use USB flash drive to transfer files between devices especially computer or PC. Some of us couldn’t care less the risk of the files being infected by viruses when transferring (which involves the process of copy/paste) files between two (2) of the devices. One of the most common consequences of doing so is the files couldn’t be found (hidden) inside the flash drive. So don’t get panic. Here is a tip and steps to recover the files hidden in your flash drive.

1. Plug in ur thumb drive into the USB port.

2. Just after the computer detects the flash drive, open My Computer (or u can simply press “Windows + E” keys together) and identify the drive letter for the flash drive. In this example the drive letter for the flash drive is ‘E’. You might be able to see some or all the files and/or folders are transparent (this is actually the hidden files/folders). In case of u didn’t see any files, no need to worry because it is due to the explorer setting which restrict the user from viewing the hidden files. You might be able to see it later once the process is complete.

3. Next, click on windows START button then click ‘RUN’ and u’ll get a run window like the image displayed below. Type ‘cmd’ in the textbox given then press ‘OK’ button.

4. Inside the new window (this is actually MS-DOS prompt), type the drive letter for the flash drive followed by colon ‘:’. In this example our drive letter for the flash drive is ‘E’. Therefore, type ‘e:’ then press ‘enter’ key. Next, type “attrib –s –h *.* /S /D”. Wait until u see ‘E:\>’ prompt again just after the command we have type before. (Please be patient since the process of recovering hidden files might take few moments depends on the number of files/folders in the flash drive.)

5. Once the process completed, open My Computer again and Whoalaa!! :O the hidden files will appear in ur flash drive again.. 🙂 Have a try.. 😀