[Browser] Opera Mini

I have a confession to make.

I installed Opera Mini merely to have a look on how Opera Web Pass works.

But I am pleased to report that Opera Mini has now became my default browser.

Why you may ask.

Let me just put it quick and sweet:

Main Pros

1. Save on data

I don't know how they did it, but somehow, surfing using Opera Mini uses very little data compared to other browsers.

According to Opera, data costs can be reduced to up to 90%.

From my own not so scientific real life comparison however, Opera Mini uses around 25% of the data that my stock browser normally used in a month. Not 90% but good enough for me.

For us who do not have an unlimited data plan, this works like magic.

2. Fast

Perhaps due the compression technique that Opera Mini uses, webpage rendering is relatively faster than stock browser and another browser that I was testing.


Main Cons

1. Mediocre Picture Quality

Perhaps also due to the trade off from the data compression technique, the picture quality is mediocre. If you do not enlarge any picture in the browser, they are fine. But if you need to enlarge them, it is advisable that you do not use Opera Mini.

Slight trade off for me.

2. Small Fonts

I need to set the font size to the largest setting to comfortably read on Opera Mini. And the testing was done on Samsung Galaxy S3.

3. You can't press back to exit

For some reason, if you press back till the end, instead of exiting, Opera Mni will merely go into background i.e. it is still running. You have to click the "exit" button, which brings us to the next problem.

4. No Exit button on default setting

Maybe Opera Mini intends to run all the time, that you need to specifically enable the "exit" button in the setting. To do so, go Setting > Advanced > press "On" for Exit Button.


Conclusion 

I would say despite the quirky cons here, the fact that it uses little data and still being awesomely fast wins it for me. As i said earlier, this is now my default browser.

Google Maps now available for Apple

iFans rejoice! For now you don't have to rely on some life threatening maps apps!!

Google has finally launched Google Maps for iPhone (click here), saving you the need to rely on the increasingly embarrassing Apple Maps.

With a proven track record, it is hoped that nobody dies in Australia due to reliance on Apple Maps.

Apple, don't you think its time for your maps to move over?

Australian Police: Apple Maps is life-threatening

Apple Maps is so bad that Australian Police thinks that it is life-threatening, reports BBC.

Why?

Because, Apple Maps may lead you to a place with searing heat with no water supply nearby.

According to Australian force, if you look for Mildura, Apple Maps will bring you to the middle of Murray Sunset National Park some 70 km away where the heat can rise up to 46 degree Celcius with no water supply in the park.

In that circumstance, stranded there might be potentially life-threatening.

The biggest question now is this - when will Apple swallows its pride and bite the bullet to drop Apple Maps? 

Lumia 920 and 820 are available in Malaysia

Lumia 920 and 820 are officially here in Malaysia!!

DiGi is the first telco that allows you to pre-order spanking new devices running the latest Windows 8 - Lumia 920 and Lumia 820, giving you a subsidy of up to RM900.00.

DiGi's Lumia 920

But the best thing is this - yesterday (6.12.2012), DiGi's facebook page asked its fans to wait and stay up till midnight for something big to be announced. And most people, this blogger included, thought that DiGi is finally activating their pre-registration page for iPhone 5. But some moment after it struck midnight, instead of iPhone 5, Lumia came online instead, sending legions of iFans (this blogger is not) into tears.

Recognizing iFans' frustration, DiGi finally activated iPhone 5 registration without much fanfare.

But leaving iPhone 5 aside, Lumia 920 represents the gamble of Nokia (and to some extent, Windows's mobile OS) to recapture the market share it once has. You would note that Nokia doesn't produce Android devices, only Windows (and to a lesser extent, Symbian). Will this gamble pay off? Looking at the specs of Lumia 920, I do hope that the answer is a yes.


Now, when will Maxis and Celcom announce their plans for Lumia?

iPhone 5 coming to Malaysia on 14th December 2012

The wait is finally over. iFans all over Malaysia can finally stop salivating and start throwing their money for the latest toy from Apple!

It has been announced by Apple that iPhone 5 will land on Malaysia on 14th December 2012.

And telcos in Malaysia wasted no time in allowing iFans to register their interest to be the very first to lay their dainty hands on iPhone 5. At press time, you may register your interest with Celcom or Maxis.

With Celcom, you may choose the color of your choice, as long as they are Black or White. Over at Maxis, you may even choose between 16GB, 32GB or 64Gb.

There is no registration of interest available from DiGi or U Mobile yet. DiGi merely has a "iPhone 5 coming soon" notice on their webpage.

However, this blogger is pretty sure that they will announce their own registration of interest or even offer their plans pretty soon.

If you are not a fan of getting tied down by any telco, you would just have to wait for iPhone 5 to land at Apple Store near you.

UPDATE 7.12.2012: You can now pre-order your iPhone 5 from DiGi here.  

[Game] Real Football 2012 / Real Soccer 2012

Note: There is already a Real Football 2013 / Real Soccer 2013 in Google Play. But since the concept of the 2012 version is almost totally different that of 2013 version, and both version are, at press time, still available for download, this post is dedicated to the 2012 version. Review of 2013 version will be up soon.

For some reason best known to Gameloft, they have two seemingly identical free apps on Google Play - Real Football 2012 and Real Soccer 2012. Perhaps Gameloft is afraid that those American do not know what is football and the rest of the world cannot recognise soccer.

Anyway, I am moving on the assumption that both are the same. But for the record, I have, for unknown reasons, downloaded and installed Real Soccer 2012.

Concept

For most football gamers, this game is fairly simple. You join a tournament (cup or league) and win it. In keeping with other apps in Google Play however, you have to play in a certain starter tournament to unlock other leagues and cups.

Getting Started

When you enter the game, you will be greeted by David Villa's face.

In a funny way, you start with the biggest football tournament - World Cup. Upon kicking asses in World Cup, you will unlock English League, so on and so forth.

You whole life would be revolving around winning more and more tournaments.

Control

Control in this game can be seen from the following picture:

You get an eight-point directional control, and separate buttons for pass and shoot when attacking. When defending, the pass and shoot will turned in "press" and "tackle".

There are also a few default special moves like step-over etc that you can pull.

The control will take some time to get used to, but is generally acceptable. There are however two major problems with the control:

1) Lag time

During defense, you have to wait for some time before you can use a selected player. By then, your player may not have been at the place you wanted him to be. It pissed me off quite a few times.

2) No header?

Until now, i still can't find the button to head a ball. Everytime i crossed, my player chest the ball down then kicked it goal-wards. Nevermind that i hit "shoot" before the ball even reaches his head.

The funny thing is, your opponent can use header. 

Stamina Points

Like any free apps, quite apart from irritating ads (which is acceptable), there are some built-in money grubbing mechanism.

RF2012's one and only trick is something called stamina. You need stamina to play. Each match costs you 50 stamina points, each stamina point costs you 10 minutes wait, and stamina points will be fully filled up at 100 points.

In short, if you refused to pay, you can play around 2 matches a day.

You may be wondering why the hell Gameloft didn't just allow you to buy the game outright. The answer, i think, lies here - consider its closest competititor, FIFA12. You may make a one-off purchase for FIFA 2012 which costs you $5.18. RF2012, however, will seduce you with its free game status and then seduce you to continuously pay them as long as you need the in-game stamina point.

No, that is not Messi!

One of the reason why you would spend some money and time to download a huge game (or pay for one) is to play your favorite team.

Naturally, that includes having the real-life players of your team in there.

RF2012 however was unable to provide this experience fully.

Unless the team name is the name of a place, they can offer your the name, so Arsenal became London, Manchester United became Manchester Red and Liverpool became Merseysides.

So far as players' names are concerned, they got all the correct names in English Premier League but messed up players' names in other league. I certainly have no idea why. Was it because there is no intellectual property rights for personal name in UK? Beats me.

So your Messi would be, surprise, Sairme!!
  

Strangely however, when you go into practice mode and use Argentina to practice, you get your Messi.

Final Verdict

Despite the above, i genuinely enjoyed the game. It is not perfect but hey, when do we ever get a perfect game?

If you are not preparing to play this game for a few hours in a trot, you should really consider installing this game. For a free game, this game is awesome.

[Service] Opera Web Pass launched in Malaysia, DIGI first provider

Digi Malaysia has been in partnership with Opera for a while now and it came as no surprise that when Opera launches its Web Pass, Digi Malaysia would become its first partner.

Opera Web Pass works in this way - you open Opera Mini, pick a deal, and now you can surf.

If the idea is too vague for you, fret not. Let's take Digi Malaysia's Web Pass as an example.

First, open Opera Mini (Opera Mobile doesn't seem to support Web Pass).

You will be greeted with this page (normally).

Click on Digi Internet 50 cents. You will be greeted with this:

Choose you plan and enjoy your internet!


Currently, in Malaysia at least, only Digi subscribers can use this service.

A word of caution - the plan will only work if you surf using Opera Mini. And it is not applicable for video/music streaming and file download. 

Make sure you read the T&C so that you are not surprised by your bill. 

I myself have not actually bought any of the plan so I can't vouch for anything. However, when I do, I will post my experience here.

If you have tried this service, share with me your experience by thrashing the comment box!!

To download Opera Mini, click here.

To view Opera's press release, click here.

HTC, Apple enters into settlement

We might be looking at the beginning of an end to Apple's courtroom intellectual properties war against some major Android makers.

It was recently announced that Apple and HTC have reached "a global settlement that includes the dismissal of all current lawsuits and a ten-year licensing agreement".

The terms of the licensing agreement have not been made known (yet).

This bodes well for HTC who should be focusing on getting its feet back on the ground and not on courtroom battle.

But what all techies and consumers would want to see is an end to courtroom battles and back to showroom battle where everyone benefits from endless innovation and combining the best of all worlds.

Could this be the end of an era and the beginning of another?

Apple ordered by UK court to pay Samsung's legal fees

In making its disapproval of Apple's conduct clear, the UK court ordered Apple to pay all Samsung's legal fees. The UK court held that:

"As to the costs (lawyers' fees) to be awarded against Apple, we concluded that they should be on an indemnity basis. Such a basis (which is higher than the normal, "standard" basis) can be awarded as a mark of the court's disapproval of a party's conduct, particularly in relation to its respect for an order of the court. Apple's conduct warranted such an order."

 The UK court based its decision on two main points.

1) Non-compliance with the court's order in relation to publicity in magazines and newspapers

The UK court ordered Apple to post a "Samsung did not copy" notice on some specified newspapers, magazine and its own website. The order required the notice to be published on newspaper and magazines "at the earliest available issue".

This order was made on 18.10.2012 but the notice was only published on newspaper on 16.11.2012.

This, the court held, "was self-evident non-compliance with the newspaper/magazine aspect of the publicity order".

2) Website

This part is so well publicized that it is easy to guess why the judges in UK were not impressed. Mr justice Sir Robin Jacob make it so clear and simple that I can do no better than to quote his judgement:

   "22.  Here what Apple added was false and misleading. I turn to analyse it. The first sentence reads:

However, in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design.

That is false in the following ways:

(a) "Regarding the same patent." No patent of any kind has been involved in Germany or here, still less "the same patent."

(b) As regards the Community Registered Design, the German Courts held that neither the Galaxy 10.1 nor the 8.9 infringed it. As to the 7.7 there was for a short while a German provisional order holding that it infringed. Whether there was a jurisdiction to make that order is very doubtful for the reasons given in my earlier judgment but in any event the order had been (or should have been) discharged by the time the Contested Notice was published.

(c) There is a finding and injunction, limited to Germany alone, that the 10.1 and 8.9 infringe German unfair competition law. But the statement is likely to be read as of more general application.


1. The second sentence reads:



A U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple's design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc.

That is misleading by omission. For the US jury specifically rejected Apple's claim that the US design patent corresponding to the Community Design in issue here was infringed. The average reader would think that the UK decision was at odds with that in the US. Far from that being so, it was in accordance with it.


2. The third sentence reads:



So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung wilfully copied Apple's far more popular iPad.

This is calculated to produce huge confusion. The false innuendo is that the UK court came to a different conclusion about copying, which is not true for the UK court did not form any view about copying. There is a further false innuendo that the UK court's decision is at odds with decisions in other countries whereas that is simply not true.


3. The reality is that wherever Apple has sued on this registered design or its counterpart, it has ultimately failed. It may or may not have other intellectual property rights which are infringed. Indeed the same may be true the other way round for in some countries Samsung are suing Apple. But none of that has got anything to do with the registered design asserted by Apple in Europe. Apple's additions to the ordered notice clearly muddied the water and the message obviously intended to be conveyed by it."

The full judgement can be found here.

What do you think? 

[Game] Angry Birds Star Wars

After hearing the news about Disney taking over Star Wars and planning for Episode 7, 8 and 9, does it not trigger some fond memories lie sleeping deep inside you?

Do you need something to ease your itch for the galaxy far far away?

Look no further, for Rovio has finally released the long awaited Angry Birds Star Wars!

Brace yourself, Angry Birds will present you Star Wars in a way never seen before, with sheer and ultimate cuteness!!!!!

If you are familiar with Angry Birds, which you no doubt will be unless you were from the galaxy far far away, the latest incarnation of Angry Birds and Star Wars should be no stranger to you.

Noting that when thing is not broken, don't bother fixing it, Rovio applied the same gameplay engine that served them so well previously - you slingshot birds to kill pigs.

But that is not all. Angry Birds have now adopted the handsomeness and prettiness in the like of I'll-be-one-Can-not-be (Obi wan Kenobi), Princess Leia, Skywalkers etc. Now not only are they cute, they are also cool.


Angry Birds Stars Wars, as the name suggest, was set in the Star Wars universe. Your first mission would aptly be on Tatooine (for the uninitiated, this is where Jedi Knight Qui-gon Jinn found the chosen one, Anakin Skywalker, in the Star Wars universe).

Nothing is wasted. Even the score sheet is in Star Wars theme.

Rovio did a great job in combining their experience in Angry-birding on land and in space with this latest incarnation. Your mission now includes slinging birds on land and in space.

It would be a great waste if Rovio did not adopt some of the most memorable Star Wars characters and features in this game. Look at the two pictures below. Which character can you see and what skills it is using?

I am not going to spoil the joy for you. Install this app and see for yourself how Angry Birds reshape the world of Star Wars! Or Star Wars reshaping the world of Angry Birds!

My fellow Jedis, may the force be with you!

Apple posted another "Samsung did not Copy" statement

After being ordered by the UK court to replace its initial statement, Apple has posted another statement to acknowledge that the UK found that Sammy's Galaxy Tab did not copy its iPad.

No hanky panky, just two paragraphs stating that the Galaxy Tab did not copy iPad and that the ruling has effect throughout the European Union.

And to Apple's credit, it did acknowledge that the previous statement is inaccurate. The link to the statement is also more prominently displayed compared to its first statement on Apple UK's website:

So prominent the link you no longer need a little red circle to find it. 

   

Apple ordered to replace "Samsung did not Copy" notice

UPDATE:  Apple has posted another notice to comply with the court's order.

You would recall the "innovative" notice that Apple came out with when ordered by the UK court to post a notice stating that Samsung's Galaxy Tab did not copy its iPad.

Samsung was not amused. Neither did the judges in the UK court. And they made that clear by ordering Apple to remove the "inaccurate" notice and replace it with a new one, reported BBC.

Apple has 48 hours to come out with an accurate notice.

As at the time of this post being written, the "inaccurate" notice has been taken down. No new notice posted yet.

Let's see what Apple will come out with next.

[Tool] Pocket (formerly known as Read It Later)

This formerly paid apps (now free) has one and only one function - save your page to be read later. Ladies and gentlemen, enter the Pocket!

It can save pages from apps, browser or from the computer.

The mechanism is simple. For pages from apps and browsers, click "Share" then "Add to Pocket". Voila! Now you can read the page that you have saved anytime anywhere without the need for an internet connection. Perfect for those who will be boarding a flight. Pages that you have saved will come out here:

Apart from that, considering how connected our world has become, this app is, in my opinion, rather redundant.

Having said that, Pocket does its one and only job exceptionally well. Look at the screen capture here:

For demonstration purpose, a page from this blog was saved from the mobile version of blogger. You can see that the page is rendered quite nicely.

One little niggling problem - after you add the page to Pocket, you must open the same page in Pocket to allow it to download the page. In other words, double work. If only Pocket can download the page automatically when you add the page to it.

Be that as it may, as a free app, it does its job well and if you need some offline reading, do get this app! Just remember to open the same page in Pocket to enable the same be downloaded into Pocket.

And as per customary, here is the promotional video:

[Firmware] Malaysian Samsung Galaxy S3 is upgradable to Jelly Bean starting today

(Photo from Android)

If you are a Malaysian owner of Samsung Galaxy S3, good news for you!

Now you can upgrade to Jelly Bean OTA (over the air, vide wifi or data) or vide Kies.

To upgrade OTA, go Setting > About Device > Software Update > Update

Or you can upgrade vide computer using Kies Samsung. You must first download and install Kies on your computer. To download, go here.

File size, for some people, is huge. If you are going OTA, make sure you use wifi.

This is version 4.1.1 so unfortunately there is no Multi View. Let's keep our fingers crossed so that version 4.1.2 will come soon.

Meanwhile, enjoy your Jelly Bean!!

Samsung did not copy me - Apple style

UPDATE: The UK court directed Apple to replace the notice with another one. Apple has since done so.

Apple is bringing innovation to the next level.

As required by a UK judge, Apple posted a notice on its website stating that Samsung's tablets did not copy their iPad.

No one would want to do that, but when you are forced to, you must make the most out of it by being ultra innovative.

First of all, this is a screenshot of Apple's UK website where you can find their notice:

Maybe a close-up:

As you can see, the link read "Samsung/Apple UK judgement". It was not "Sammy did not copy Apple".

The innovation did not stop here. 

In the actual notice itself, Apple acknowledged that a UK court has found that Samsung's tablet did not infringe Apple's design. As expected, it went on to highlight that the UK has found that Apple's design was cool but Samsung's was not as cool.

Apple then decided to deliver its sucker punch. The last paragraph of the notice read:

"However, in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design. A U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple's design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc. So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple's far more popular iPad."

Yes, while UK court found that Samsung's tablet did not copy Apple's iPad, other courts had found that Samsung, to borrow the word used by Apple, willfully copied Apple's iPad. And the iPad was more popular.

Apple deserves a meme for their innovative notice, and I duly obliged.

[Game] Plague Inc

Some of us wanted to kill zombies and nail the chicks.

Some of us wanted to drift around tight corners and nail the chicks.

Some of us wanted to slingshot some birds and nail the pigs.

But a minority of us just wanted to infect the whole world with plague and whip human beings off the face of earth.

If you are in the fourth category, I have a game just to cater to your noble mind. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you - Plague Inc

All you need to know

All you need to do is to create a plague, infect everyone, kill them off. Simple? You can't be more wrong.

Before you start the game, I would personally suggest you imagine yourself as the almighty God, who felt that human being have failed you. Now, you want to destroy them, not through natural disaster, but through some illness.

But since you, the awesome God, have given human beings the faculty to think for themselves, human beings will not just lie down and die. You will have to pit your almighty intelligence against the arrogant human beings who now think that they can play God.

Thus begin the tussle between you and the human beings.

On another note, if imagining yourself as the God offends you, why not imagine yourself as a terrorist with a remote control to control your biological weapon?


Game play

The game play is simple. You first chose a country to infect with your pathogen. Your pathogen will initially be weak and useless. You slowly evolve your pathogen to infect more people and kill more people.

But human beings will fight back, and start to create cure. You will have to have a battle of wits with them, outsmart them and stay ahead of them to ensure that your mission of human annihilation will succeed.

So that I don't kill the joy for you, no strategy will be discussed here.

Performance

So far, I have not experienced any glitches. The app runs well and smooth, no complaint.

Graphic

This is not a game where you have a character jumping around. It's a plain old click click read read kind of game. Be that as it may, the graphic here is fitting and excellent. It certainly looks gorgeous on my HD screen.

Audio

The dude who did the audio must be given a hand of applause and a few pats on his/her back. The music, sound effects, are eerie enough that you may not want to switch on the sound when you play this game at night. No, no sample here. Go play this game and experience it yourself.

Noteworthy Points

While this seems to be a dead serious game, it does not lack humour. Occasionally you will see message like below:

Winning the Game

And when you this message, you are half way to winning.

And when shits hit the fan, you win!

Final Verdict


This is a must play for all who wanted to be the ultimate badass. Remember, it is fun to be the bad guy. You can't save the world all the time.



And here is the promotional video by the developer.

Welcome to Apps Review Station

Hello readers,

Welcome to Apps Review Station.

Ain't nobody has got time for a long winded welcome page, so to put it very simply, here, we review all sorts of apps found on Google Play, as well as posting interesting news in the mobile world.

For the time being, there will be no review on Apple's App Store.

If you wanted your app to be reviewed or if you want to suggest an app to be reviewed, drop me a mail on amethyst213@gmail.com

cheerio!!