Commentary – Dummies, Apps and Mobile Phones

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Several conversations I had recently revolve around mobile phones. It is inevitable that some of it revolves around the iPhone iCrap.

I was never impressed with the iCrap and I despised the unethical way Apple does business. The iFreaks (aka Apple product evangelist) offends me to the very core of my being with their incessant preaching of how superior Apple products are compared to the rest. While I will not join Philip “Fail-lip” Yeo in bashing users who bought the apps, his politically incorrect comments had me chuckling. In my personal opinion, someone who had a good reason to buy an app need not be upset about those comments because he is not a dummy. To be even upset about it suggests that somewhere deep inside even he has his doubts about his own decision. An old friend and secondary school classmate even pointed out that the real dummy was the one who jumped out objecting to “Fail-lip” Yeo’s comments and in defense of Apple over his own purchase of an app.

I am not taken in by the hype about having “an app for everything”. Even if there is, I may not need it in the first place. Not to mention there will probably an alternative for Blackberry and / or Android because if an app only exists on the iCrap and is particularly useful one way or another, there is no question there will be calls by users of other phones to have it for their platform. Take for example Bloomberg’s mobile app which was originally available to traders on Windows Mobile and Blackberry. Otherwise, developers will make one anyway for a popular platform, such as Bak2U’s Phonebak application.

Also, I recalled there was once when DK showed me the app on his iPhone which will return the song name by simply holding it to the speakers, and I discovered that a comparable one came pre-installed on the Sony Ericsson W902. On further searching, I discovered that the app called Shazam exists on the Blackberry as well though it needs to be purchased. While it is quite nice to have this app, I discovered that I do not really use it very often either, and while testing Shazam it was not particularly useful with non-English songs.

Simply put, all this hype about the apps does nothing more than to create a whole new consumer market. Having many apps in not a new phenomenon as there used to be a time that there’s probably an app out there for everything for the PalmOS. Palm was certainly way ahead of its time but technology at that time did not provide it the opportunity to leverage on the Internet. Apple merely picked up where Palm left off and the only thing innovative is perhaps putting everything in an app store so it is easier for users to find them. (And I won’t start on why and how Apple stifles choice, nor start ranting about its anti-competition practices for now.)

Even so, I am not impressed by the iCrap App Store. Common apps such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Maps, Youtube etc should already available free for any Android powered phone or the Blackberry, if not for smartphones of all other brands. There is also the question whether people will continue be interested in whatever app long enough to stay on the iPhone and / or buy enough of them to sustain the developers.

The next discussion was about this Business Times article which states: “Singapore was the only market in the Asia-Pacific region, outside Korea and Japan, where Nokia was not number one in smart phones.”

I am in the opinion that Nokia’s will inevitably lose its leadership in mobile phone manufacturing. That came to my mind not long after I sent the W902 to the service center and switched to a Navigator 6710. It was to my irritation to find that I had to go through the same steps again and again to randomly select a few SMS for deletion when it certainly took me less effort on the W902 to do the same. If this is the kind of interface that is on all other Nokia phones, it would suggest to me that Nokia appears oblivious to the improvements its competitors are making on the user interface.

Next, there’s probably more products from Nokia than what its competitors can put up, but I certainly can’t really tell one product from another without making a serious effort to compare. It’s a complaint I also made regarding Research In Motion’s range of Blackberry Smart Phones. It is my considered opinion that Nokia should just concentrate on a few products as the jumble of products really doesn’t help to convince a user to decide on a Nokia phone. Not to mention that having so many products would inevitably cause quality control to suffer.

That is not just some idle comment or personal speculation. It is an opinion formed as a result of feedback and personal experience. To start with, the Nokia Navigator I am now using has been sent to the service center twice because it does not power up. The fault first happened roughly two months after purchase. It was fixed by the service center after a week but the problem recurred a few months later. This time round, the entire circuit board in the phone was replaced. That is fine since it is almost as good as a one-to-one exchange (as the IMEI number is now different).

While my Nokia phone is still in the service center, my mei Xinyun told me about problems with her Nokia N6300, where wordings on the browser will go missing at times or the phone will just freeze up for no reasons. Unfortunately for her, this phone has been in use for almost one year and may no longer be under warranty. But that is not all, my other mei Nicole also had problems with her N97. It froze because of (what she mentioned was) an OS corruption and she has to google for a solution online. While the reset brought her phone back to life, all her personal information on the phone was wiped. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the very same phone failed her in the midst of one of Nokia’s own events in Bangkok, and if I remembered correctly, the PR firm who invited her did her the favor of sending it to service center when they were back in Singapore. Furthermore, I received feedback from fellow Plurker and famous math tutor Miss Loi that the main camera on her N86 has failed, a mere two months after purchase. While I am going through the people having problems with their Nokia phones, I recalled that Simply Jean also has problems with her Nokia 5800 less than one year after purchase. Her entire call history and sms messages will go missing if she shuts down the phone and start it up again.

One might say that the failures I have listed here is a really small fraction of phones that Nokia sold each year and it would be an ‘acceptable failure rate’. Unfortunately, this happened to be a rather high proportion of the handful of Plurkers whom I regularly meet up with. The fact they are all reporting failure of their Nokia phones is nothing short of remarkable. While we maybe a really small group of people, we will be able to influence our immediate circle of friends to avoid a Nokia phone until problems with some other brands catch our attention. Now compare that with just three Blackberry users complaining about batteries not holding charges and bad reception on their new Blackberry 9000 Bold, out of almost 100+ Blackberry users I support in just my employer’s Singapore office alone. The impression that Nokia’s standard of quality control has suffered is thus not hard to imagine.

The last conversation I had was on selecting a mobile / smart phone when re-contracting. While geeks may talk about features (and the technology), most often we are just influenced by our friends or the media. Many people rarely consider what their requirements (or needs) really are, and end up paying for a phone with features which served no function at all. Just how many people use the Bluetooth or Wifi on their phone frequently? Is there anyone who actually take a moment to think just how often Wifi-tethering – what I called Wifi Internet Connection Sharing [ICS] – would be used or even how useful it is going to be when friends tout such a feature to them? If one is impressed by the number of apps available to a particular ‘smart phone’, have they really decide on what apps are important and relevant and whether it is available for that phone before purchase? Generally most of us just buy it because we decide we may need it later.

Unfortunately, many people are oblivious that all electronic devices (mobile phones in particular) comes with ‘built-in obsolescence’ (All the more so with the iCrap with its non-replaceable battery!). There simply may not be enough ‘life’ left in the phone for later as the next upgrade model may already be in prototype stage and under evaluation when the ‘latest state of the art’ mobile phone hits the streets. Just consider how long ago the iCrap 3GS hit the market and then the recent furor surrounding one of Apple’s stolen 4G prototypes. With that in mind, spend no more than $1 a day to own a mobile phone for one year until the next replacement. In short, pay no more than $365 (preferably without contract).

Talking about upgrades, I will be thinking about how existing data or apps are going to be ported over. It is probably quite seamless between products of the same manufacturer, but it is going to be a real pain in the arse between different manufacturers. However, at times even porting data between phones of the same brand can be quite pain as I recalled data exported from one version of the manufacturer’s desktop program is only readable by that version and the new phone uses another version of desktop program that has no way to import the existing data sitting right there. With that in mind, I wonder whether any of those cheap ‘dummy’ apps can be ported without any the need to ‘jump through hoops of fire’ during upgrade… and I am not even talking about changing to another platform.

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Photos – Marina Bay Sands

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I still have a few more days of leave to go after coming back from Phuket and it’s no good cooping up at home. So I head down to town in the late afternoon of a rainy Tuesday to the Marina Bay, hoping to take some photos of the Marina Bay Sands and the Helix. If you ask why did I go to the Marina Bay Sands instead of Resort World Sentosa which has opened earlier, the answer is simple: Marina Bay Sands is easily accessible on foot or by public transport without any add-on cost.

My first impression of the place? WORK IN PROGRESS! There’s still a whole bunch of scaffolds, construction equipment (cranes) still in operation and many construction workers milling around putting the final touches to the place. Even the Helix itself is half completed.

The impression is similar for Resort World Sentosa when I looked across from Vivocity. Frankly, both of the Integrated Resorts [IR] are nothing more than construction sites in their final stages of touching up. Had it been just any other mall or commercial building, it would not have been allowed to open.

Thus, all the glitches and issues in them are of no surprise to me. While a human baby is expelled from the mother’s body before its head grows too big for its passage through the birth canal, the IR was forcefully opened so that the casinos can begin operation. Had there been more delays, there will be damage (financially and economically) to the entire project. Very much like a baby staying longer in the womb would have died stillborn.

Either way, there is really nothing spectacular about Marina Bay Sands until its own sky garden is opened. It’s just another high end mall like Ion Orchard with shops selling branded goods. The view of the skyline of the Central Business District [CBD] from it or the Helix is another matter entirely. If you want a good photo of the skyline of Singapore, this is one of the place to go to snap some pictures. Personally, I would return in the evening some time in the future to obtain some night shots of Singapore’s skyline.

So, here’s the pictures I took. They might not be impressive since I ain’t a photographer and I take them for my own pleasure. At least I am proud to say I didn’t rip them off from someone else’s site.

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Revisited – Phuket, Thailand

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This my second visit to Phuket. Before the trip, I have been repeatedly asked by many kind people why I am still going to Thailand in spite of the chaos. Even my parents are worried.

Either way, I confirmed with friend who went up the week before and he told me there was no trace of tension or unrest over in Phuket. On top of that, another friend was in Bangkok. If I am not wrong, he stayed just a few junctions away from where the red-shirt protesters were holed up and the fact that he could tweet about his situation there tells me that even in Bangkok, much of the Thai capital is safe. I was not very concerned with what goes on in Bangkok and to be frank, I was actually more concerned with an earlier quake down at Sumatra. After all, I had already taken leave, booked the tickets and hotel rooms. I am quite sure I would be perfectly pissed for the rest of the year if another tsunami wiped out the beaches in Phuket.

Why am I going Phuket again? It’s because I just wanted to get away from Singapore – where every road is always congested and everywhere is full of people. I just want to go to a place where I could get away from the crowd here to just laze around and relax, even if I am not doing much sightseeing or shopping.

Either way, this round I didn’t get out to Phi Phi Island again, even though I originally wanted to go. The reason was that I was running short of Thai currency and end up spending a lot of time near the vicinity of the resort (Phuket Island View) at Karon bordering Kata and two nights sipping beer and looking at ‘ladyboys performing’ over at Bangla Road in Patong.

If I compared it to the last resort (Woraburi) I stayed in, the room Phuket Island View is just passable. I didn’t quite like this because there wasn’t enough power points in my room to go around (I had to ‘steal’ from one of the bed lamps), the air-conditioning was weak on the first day until a technician came by to fix it, and the water pressure at the shower was pathetic. However for the price difference (almost 6000 baht if I remembered correctly) between Woraburi and Phuket Island View, it is difficult to complain. The consensus is that we’ll still go back to Phuket Island View as long as prices stayed at that range. After all, we don’t really spend that much time in the room.

So as usual, here are the photos from this trip.

~~~ * ~~~

Back to the situation in Bangkok, as I am writing this post the Thai army is clearing and in fact, has cleared the area where the ‘Red Shirts’ are holed up in. Around 1500 ~ 1530 hrs Singapore time, it was reported that the leaders have surrendered, and two of them have been arrested. The rest will surrender to the police soon after.

My personal opinion is that democracy cannot come to a land when there is no rule of law and a strong and vibrant middle class. The government gahmen must also have a vision for nation building – a ground plan on how the country should proceed for the next 10 ~ 15 years, whether it remains in power or not. A gahmen can claimed itself to be democratic, but it is not just about free elections and universal suffrage. When a country does not have these fundamentals, then its elected gahmen will be as fragile as Thailand’s.

Anyway, I sympathise with the ‘Red Shirts’ for several reasons. First of all, it wasn’t the ‘Red Shirts’ who started this entire mess. The so-called People Alliance for Democracy or ‘Yellow Shirts’ did much worse back in 2008. While the ‘Red Shirts’ have generally stationed in central Bangkok, the ‘Yellow Shirts’ created trouble not only in Bangkok but all over Thailand. Secondly, most of the ‘Red Shirts’ are generally just poor people from the poorer north and northeast regions of Thailand. The People’s Power Party (PPP) gahmen they supported after the last election in December 2007 was removed through a combination of street violence, political intrigue and what I called ‘judicial wizardry’. Not only were two Prime Ministers, Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat ousted, the PPP was ultimately dissolved. It was the political equivalent of razinjg the stronghold to the ground after killing the leaders. Lastly, while the police had issued arrest warrants for Sondhi Limthongkul and 8 other ‘Yellow Shirt’ protest leaders on charges of insurrection, conspiracy, unlawful assembly and refusing orders to disperse, no action has been taken against them until today.

The military operation in central Bangkok may have ended the protest and the violence but it will not end the deep rooted resentment of the poor in Thailand against the more affluent or those considered to be the social elite. The people will pay close attention to the action taken against the ‘Red Shirt’ protest leaders now in custody and it is unlikely that the political situation in Thailand will normalize in the near future.

I will remember Bangkok May 19th, 2010 the way I remember Beijing June 4th, 1989.

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評論: 德士附加費

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【新明日報 五月十日報導】 為了三元附加費，德士紛湧向 IR，商場德士短缺。

俺一向來都認為附加費這個爛制度一直都給了德士司機 “柿子選軟的捏” 的方便，而結果卻是搭客任其宰割。附加費一直的加而且種類越來越多，多到眼花繚亂但是問題解決了嗎？情況何時有改善過？現在德士司機更是變本加厲，讓人實在忍無可忍！是已經到了應該徹底廢除德士附加費 (機場和半夜過後附加費除外) 這個怪胎的時候了。

這世界上只有在新加坡德士這門買賣是告訴了他顧客在哪，他還理直氣壯的給你一籮筐的理由和藉口來拒絕。甚至政府規定了顧客要給付 “小費”，他還似乎有點老大不願意去做的呢。德士附加費儼然已經變成了德士司機的一種變相的 “福利制度”！在咱們這一直都要求國民勤勉和自力更生的偉大國家裡，德士司機竟然像某種特權階級似的得到如此的優待和保護！政策基本上一直都是反對任何形式的福利的新加坡，不但容忍德士附加費如此違反國家核心價值的弊端存在，似乎還是立法允許的！這到底是哪門的狗屁道理？最近好像有某電台的主播拿了他們和妓女來比較還令到他們暴跳如雷。但俺覺得妓女比他們可憐多了，至少俺可從來沒說聽過有什麼時間去芽蘢 “叫雞” 是要給什麼附加費的。

德士司機老申訴錢難賺，但是有多少人的錢是容易賺的？既然大多數人賺錢都不容易，那麼他們憑什麼要求咱們讓他們更方便的賺錢？難道他們不知道什麼時候哪裡有搭客？倘若開德士真的賺錢如此困難，為何咱們不時見到路旁的搭客無助和拼命的招手，但德士卻寧願空車的開在公路的中間車道卻又死都不肯開到路邊接載乘客？為何很多地方的德士站裡的人大排長龍而德士卻渺無影踪？為何乘客要到了忍無可忍的電召德士才好不容易的召來一輛？為何德士人均比例比香港還高的新加坡，一輛德士就那麼難等？為何，俺香港來的同事來了兩天就向俺申訴新加坡的德士服務是如何的糟糕？咱們的德士服務已經徹底的影響了… 不，應該說是毀壞了咱們國家身為一個國際都市的優良形象！

咱們廣東人有句話說：畫公仔唔使畫出腸。問題是在哪一看就明白。廢除附加費制度是勢在必行的！廢除了它就猶如 “摟草打兔子”，順便也把德士司機裡的那些害群之馬給逼出來。這樣那些濫用這可惡制度而且通常也是態度最惡劣的敗類從此就無所遁形再也不能不勞而獲了！

就讓德士的起車價上漲來徹底取代這雜亂無章的附加費制度吧！既然公路收費制都把德士和私人用車相提並論了，顧慮是不是有人會搭不起根本就是多餘的。搭德士的費用基本上就應該和擁車持平。況且，如果更多人用地鐵或者巴士那不是更環保嗎？

【注】俺是一個時常搭德士的人，以上的文章對俺是無利可圖的。建議德士起車價上漲來平衡被取消的附加費對所有的搭客未必是件有利的事。但是俺認為這一面倒而且單方面只照顧德士司機 (而間接是德士公司) 的利益的制度是必須馬上廢除的。要多快廢除？最好是朝令夕改！但請避免朝三暮四！

2 years after a traffic accident…

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It’s been more than 2 years after this accident. Now that the verdict has been reached, I could freely talk about this.

First of all, I had wasted a fair bit of time on this, having to turn up at a lawyer’s office to sign an affidavit, and later to attend a court session. This is in spite of the photo evidence we have presented, and I was told the other driver insists that my friend was solely at fault, and he wants to claim against the insurance company covering my friend’s car insurance (NTUC Income in this case) 50% of his repair bill.

His bill was a hefty $10,000 and that means he was trying to claim $5,000. It was shocking to us because it cost my friend less than $2,000 of that to repair his own vehicle which spares are more difficult to obtain. That’s not mentioning, another friend who completely wrecked his Subaru WRX STi when travelling in Malaysia only had to pay $8,500 to restore it to tip top conditions if he so wishes. The front of the WRX was completely ruined, and a large branch fell from a tree to crush the top of the vehicle after the collision. Now compared that kind of damage to the Toyota Altris at fault! (See photos shown on my other blog post.)

The fact that it took long enough for such a minor matter to be resolved certainly reinforce my bad impression of NTUC Income, which reminded me of the acronym – No Trouble Until Claims. In fact, when we were having coffee after the court session, my friend informed me that the insurer didn’t give the photo evidence to the lawyer which represented us in this case until September last year. That is in spite of the fact that the photos were submitted the next day, and my friend was given the assurance that the case was very clear cut and not disputable. Contrary to what he was told, the entire case dragged on until a hearing became necessary. I do not know what discussions and agreements were made between the lawyers, but in the end it was agreed upon that it should be resolved at the Primary Dispute Resolution Centre (PDRC) in the Subordinate Courts.

Thus, we were ‘summoned’ before a judge a few days ago to whom both sides will present their case. It was to my disgust when I discovered that the other driver gave a completely different account – one that in my opinion defied the laws of physics and a load of blatant lies. It was quite interesting to see how the other lawyer tried to ‘grill’ us in defense of his client, even presenting an utterly ridiculous scenario. In this scenario, the accident was a result of ‘bad handling’ in which the fault solely lies with my friend. He suggested that our vehicle has hit the central divider first, and the deflection then caused us to hit his client’s vehicle. He also repeatedly rephrased his questions in his attempt to get my friend to admit that it was his fault.

Fortunately for us, it seems the judge found the photo evidence to be more credible, and she has asked the other driver on several occasions to explain the photo evidence and why it differs from his account. At one point when the other driver was talking out of point she told the interpreter to remind him to look at the photos and explain again how that tallies with his account of the event. To me that was quite a relief, as it was quite clear who the judge has found more credible. It was rather difficult for us to keep ourselves from wanting to interject, though we refrain from doing so as we do not wish to offend the judge.

After a gruesome 40 minutes or so, the judge asked for us to leave the room and the lawyers to stay behind. In the end she told the lawyers that the photo evidence was more credible in describing the event, and told the lawyers that the matter should be settled 80 – 20, in our favor. It was an acceptable outcome, even though we would prefer that the other driver gets nothing and be made to bear 100% of all his repair cost. After all, that fellow has not only failed to be responsible for his mistake, he has lied thorough his teeth to take advantage of the insurance claims.

Either way I hope this would be the final conclusion to the matter since I do not want to waste more time on this matter. However, as a result of this experience, I would like to point out several things.

Firstly, it is not good enough to have photos of the final resting position of the vehicles in the accident. It is also necessary to show clearly in the photos the lane markings, especially when the other driver is at fault. Thus, have a photo further away showing the road in front and behind the vehicle. Preferably, these photos should capture any u-turns, arrows indicating the direction of travel, traffic lights, speed camera, ERP gantry etc. All of these will help when there is a dispute on who has the right of way. It also gives an indication of the traffic condition at that point of time, i.e. clear or congested. Also, take photos of any brake marks on the road, since the speed of the vehicles is also taken into account. Beyond that, take photos of the damage of not only your vehicle, but also that of the other vehicle so you will not be caught by surprise when you are shown the damages and presented an entirely different account of the events.

Beyond that, allow no one from either vehicles to leave the scene. Friends or relatives or not, these people are witnesses. Take special note when ‘helpful people’ who are not involved showed up to give suggestions where to take both vehicles for repair. Ask whether these people are related to the other driver since these people are choosing to get involved. My personal opinion is that these might just be people from shady workshops nearby who are trying to pull a fast one.

It is most likely these people will not want their presence to be noted down down in the statement. In my opinion, if the other driver is adamant that nothing like this had happened that may work to his disadvantage since he appears to be covering up the details. If the passenger is assisting the driver to take photos, it would be best if the photos capture some of these people in negotiation with the driver.

Lastly, take note of who the other party has called, especially if you are asked to speak with someone on the phone and told to take the vehicles to their workshop for evaluation. Get hold of the number called if possible but if that information is not available, at the very least that should be mentioned in your statement. Both of us got some a little chewing out from the lawyer previously when he questioned us about our statements and found that we failed to put these details in.

Basically, the more details and visual evidence in support of your statement of the event, the less room there is for the other guy to worm himself out of his fault and waste the collective time of everyone – lawyers, the judge, the insurance company, and yourself. There is entirely no reason to waste so much time on a minor accident especially when the other person is at fault.

~~~ * ~~~

And talking about such accidents… it was to my dismay that on April 23 I was again involved as a witness in another one on Keppel Road around 10am in the morning. I was in a cab on the center lane of the 3-laned Keppel Road somewhere next to the KTM Station at Tanjong Pagar. The cab was straight and stationary in its lane, waiting for the traffic light to turn green when I heard a loud bang. I didn’t even realise the cab I was in was hit until the taxi driver turned his cab towards the KTM station. It was then I noticed that the left mirror twisted in an odd angle and the culprit: a white van (with hazard lights on) at the drop off area in the KTM station.

How that idiot van driver hit us with a glancing hit was beyond me. I was too shocked to react and it was over within a few minutes after the 2 drivers exchanged particulars. By the time I got off the cab and look at the damage at the destination at Anson Road, I realised that there was a big dent on the side of the cab and the left head light assembly and that side of the bumper was totally wrecked.

But here’s the good news, I will be taking the MRT for some time…

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