Transition and Back.

VS

I've used the iPhone 4 as my daily driver for two years. If you're following me on twitter (obviously you don't) you will know that IOS and I have a love-hate relationship. It wasn't really always fun with IOS. There were a lot of times where you just want to be away from it. There were times where you get tired of the same old UI but let's be honest here, IOS just works. The UI is outdated but it works...

The transition of IOS to Android was always the reason why I held on to the iPhone 4 for two years. It wasn't because I was saving money, it was a bit more of being practical. I always viewed Android as BETA Phone OS. For me, the first "REAL" android version is still the Ice Cream Sandwich… But Jelly Bean brought the house down when it launched.

Jelly Bean, yes Jelly Bean is the main reason why I tried (yep past tense) my luck with Android. Here's a piece of advice if you breathe IOS for a loong time and you wanted to try Android go for the Galaxy Nexus. Just like what I did.

I've been using stocked android on my Galaxy Nexus for about a month now. It was a painful transition and it wasn't easy. Letting go of my iPhone 4 was really hard. It was like letting go of your pet cat into the wild after loving and caring for it so much. It had cracks, damages, scratches on the hardware but it's still intact. IOS 6 is still working really well on the phone. It had some random crashes here and there but those weren't serious. It was just the phone's hardware failing to work with the bugs of the OS. The battery life of that phone was still solid. Like seriously the iPhone 4 survived a beating in my hands (not intentionally okay). But yeah using the Galaxy Nexus was really hard at first. I had to adjust to the non-retina display of the Nexus which wasn't that big of a problem. For me 720p displays are still amazing. But I did have problems with the Nexus' subpar camera considering that the iPhone 4 had a similar 5 megapixel shooter but it takes a much better image than the Nexus. And of course the layout of Android which can be frustrating at times.

Mine came with Ice Cream Sandwich. But after playing with it for an hour, it updated itself to Jelly Bean without me knowing. I just knew about it when the phone prompted me for a reboot. The OS is really smooth and yes Android is a little bit more complicated than IOS. I had no problems finding the apps that were installed on my iPhone until.... Tweetbot for android was nowhere to be found.. Well it doesn't exist. Then all of the problems just came in pouring. I miss the IOS feature where you only have to tap the top part of the screen to bring you to the latest tweet. I miss the simplicity of IOS.. all of a sudden the simple/boring UI of IOS made sense. It isn't broken so why fix it? I miss typing on a phone with one hand (first world problems). And yes.. I miss the IOS keyboard that I complain a lot in the past.

After a month with android, I'm patting myself on the back for not buying a Nexus 7. For ignoring the temptation of the Galaxy SIII, Note 2, ect. Android is amazing and the next versions of it will only make it better. The UI is amazing and it's still user friendly like any developers would hope for. It may have its minor flaws and shortcomings but it's an amazing OS for phone and tablet. Android will continue on to be the most used OS in the world and I wouldn't be surprised if it stays that way forever. But, Android is not for me. After going through Symbian, IOS, Windows Phone (for a week) and Android.. I came to the conclusion that IOS is the best OS for me..

IOS has a lot of problems and it frustrates me a tad bit. It's locked and it has a complicated way of updating the software. iTunes is a piece of ship and it makes IOS worse and it should be destroyed for all eternity. But after all the complains and the rants you end your day beside an IOS Device. Thankful for another day that it didn't crashed, break, ect. We complain a lot about the iPhone but despite its flaws.. IOS still.. Feels like home.

So it Begins..

The iPhone 5
Picture courtesy of The Verge

Still waiting for Apple to use that catchphrase, I wonder when will that ever be? So today, Apple and a bunch of guys (Apple employees, queue the fail joke drum roll) presented the new iPhone which they are marketing as "The biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone". Which is really sketchy and to be honest corny. What ever happened to "This changes everything"? What about the "This changes everything again.." Those were catchy, no gimmicks just straight forward and catchy. Enough with the slogan thing. No one can still beat Samsung's "Designed for Humans..".

The New iPod Touch 5th Generation
Picture courtesy of Tech Crunch

After presenting the iPhone 5 to the world, Apple introduced the refreshed iPod lineup. Well IMO the iPod Nano looks rubbish. The coloring of the said nanos were a bit not too Apple-ish for my taste. Meaning it's not like apple built the said product. But i do like the 2.5 inch touch screen. You can't really install apps on it like the iPod touch but you can view pictures and watch videos. But watching movies on a 2.5 inch screen will be a  pain in the ass though, 2.5 is too small. So there's that. And for me the launch of the iPod touch 5th Gen was the highlight of the event. I mean, seriously it stole the spotlight of the iPhone 5. What's not to love about the new iPod touch? It's freaking 299$ (32GB)! And you have a 4 inch screen, just like the new iPhone. An A5 chip processor which isn't bad. It's truly an upgrade from the A4 chip processor that the last gen iPod had. A freaking 5 MEGA PIXEL CAMERA. Which is a huge huge huge huge... (19999999399432949x) improvement from the camera of the last generation iPod touch. It supports 1080p video capturing (rear facing cam) and 720p for the front facing camera. So there's that.

And let's not miss what the new iPhone has to offer.. It has a 4 inch retina (same as the iPod Touch) display. It's supposed to be the thinnest smartphone in the world (which I don't really care cause the iPhone 4 fits perfectly in my pocket I don't need it to be more thinner). Supports LTE speeds (which isn't really a deal breaker for me cause I barely use cellular data). An 8 Mega pixel camera (which is the same thing as the iPhone 4S). Supports panorama capturing (if you don't know what that is google it for heaven's sake). It has an improve Siri (well i guess speaking to a phone is so much better than searching stuff on google using the keyboard). Of course IOS 6... (which looks like the last generation IOS 5, 4, 3... the list goes on unfortunately). And a bunch of more stuff including the replacement of the 16-pin dock connector, the Lightning (No joke that's really what apple named it..).

Apple's launch of the new iPhone 5 would have been more exciting if these "tech" sites haven't leaked the said info about the iPhone. Just like what famous YouTuber said: "Seeing this leaks of the iPhone 5, is like seeing what your parents are giving you in Christmas..". It's like watching The Avengers knowing the Hulk is going to try to kill a god. It's already all over the place AKA the movie or the series was already spoiled for you. You already knew what the ending was that's why when apple presented the new iPhone it felt nothing. It was dull and my reaction was basically.. "I already knew that.." "Well that's just like the S..." "I already knew that.." "Wait a min, didn't the Samsun.... III....". It was just like watching a scripted reality TV show. It was so predictable.

So there you have it.. The iPhone 5 launch which was overshadowed by the new iPod Touch. New iTunes layout and features and of course the IOS 6.. which was the dullest moment of the keynote. To end all debates and stuff. Apple will sell maybe 10 Million of this phone in the first month of it's release. It has the apple logo on it, people are gonna buy it. And to be quite fair it's still an amazing phone unless you already have the droid thingy.. Well I mean the latest versions of course.

Apple set the bar too high when they announced the iPhone 4 almost 2 years ago. We expected a lot from them. To be honest this isn't the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone.. It was still the innovation of the iPhone 4. That changed everything.. And for the iPhone 5.. Apple didn't really try to challenge the new smartphones out there.. They only tried to level with it. 

WWDC 2012.

Microsoft's attempt to steal some of Apple's costumer by introducing the ultra-books was short lived. It was a fun ride and yeah you gotta admit that those Ultra-books really looked awesome but it's nothing with what Apple introduced yesterday at the annual WWDC in San Francisco. 

Apple, finally updated their Mac lineup with the new Macbook Pro that has a stunning RETINA DISPLAY with a 2880 by 1800 pixels resolution 15.4 inch screen. Also running with Intel's latest processor, the 3rd Generation i7 quad core processors aka IVY Bridge, 8 Gigabytes of RAM (expandable up to 16GB), 720p HD camera, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory and automatic graphics switching and many more amazing features. Well I was asleep during the WWDC but I had the chance to watch the full keynote at Apple's website. I'm still disappointed with Apple deciding not to introduce the next generation iPhone but the Retina Display Macbook Pro is enough for me. IOS 6 is basically IOS 5 with little improvements. It's not like when apple introduced IOS 5 everyone was dying to download the said software. With IOS 6, it was just full of disappointments. Siri's finally going to the New iPad which was already expected. Facebook integration is crap. Twitter was enough I don't need facebook integrated into my (old) iPhone 4. They did introduced a new Map application which is said to be better than the previous maps that was provided by Google. I don't really use facetime so it wasn't a big news for me that it's finally going to work on cellular data plans which before it only worked through wi-fi networks. You can view more of the "new" features here. IOS 6 will be available to the public this fall and it will be compatible with iPhone 3gs and newer versions, Ipod touch 4th Gen and of course the iPad 2 and the new iPad. 

All in all it was a solid keynote by apple. I still think they should have started their keynote by introducing IOS 6 first before introducing the new lineup of Macbook Pros and Macbook Airs and of course the Latest Generation Macbook Pro and OS X Mountain Lion. It kinda got dull in the end, I think the only reason why people stayed in their seat was they were still hoping that Apple's going to introduce the next generation iPhone but like what we witnessed they didn't. After the keynote apple has finally taken a step up in the battle of the notebooks. This goes to show you that Microsoft is nowhere near them. Yes, apple products are a bit overpriced but that's just the price you pay for innovation. It's a membership, once you go Mac you can't go back. Now I ask you, after seeing all those features that the new OS X Mountain Lion has and what Windows 8 is going to offer. Which one would you pick? 

MS hasn't even released Windows 8 yet but inside my head it's already losing the battle. The Ultra-Books tried to stop the bleeding. Windows 8 is MS' last resort and this hurts (as a MS loyal user) but it's not going to be near the caliber of Apple's latest OS and hardware. 

Windows 8 & the MAC OS.

When Windows 8 was announced last year, nobody really jumped on their couch and talked about it on twitter. It was just an ordinary day for the tech world. But when Apple announces any of their product, they call that day "historic". Windows OS is STILL the best selling operating system out there. And that has to mean something. Windows 7 is Microsoft's most successful product to date followed by Windows XP. We all know that Windows Vista (the successor of Windows XP) was a big failure and what I think triggered most of the MS users to switch to MAC.

I'm going to be honest, Windows 8 looks like a failure to me when I first saw a DEMO of it on YouTube. It doesn't make me want to switch to it. It makes me want to stay with Windows 7. I don't know if it's the Metro Design or the fact that it's more of a tablet oriented OS. I'm not a fan of tablets to begin with and I just can't see myself using a tablet PC for work or for my daily internet activities. (and oh using tablet as a camera IN PUBLIC makes you look stupid). Back to my point the user interface of Windows 8 is just abandoning the user friendly environment of MS. I do think a lot of adults will get confuse with the said UI design and will be another reason why people will switch to MAC. Apple's ability to make almost everything simpler (but expensive) is one of the MAC OS main attraction. Why make it complex if you can make it easier? That's the thing that's bothering me ever since they announced Win 8. People are lazier than the last generation they won't spend an hour or two to learn about a new OS.  They want everything to be "READY MADE", that's the reason why microwave is a hit this century. (that's actually a joke). 

At the end of the day it isn't about that Apple logo on you computer. Or the Windows sticker on.. oh wait. I mean the fact the some of tech consumers only buy computers to call themselves rich is out of the question here. There will always be the stupid consumers. The productivity of the OS is the most important thing and right now it feels like (or at least what Apple wants Windows users to feel) MAC OS is more efficient than Windows. (Especially that Microsoft Office has a MAC version). I'm sticking with my Windows 7 and of course I'll give Windows 8 a chance. But keep in mind there's always the MAC OS who's just waiting to blow your mind. 

The New iPad (3rd Generation)

Apple announced the NEW iPad today, surprisingly they didn't call it the iPad HD. With it's stunning 2048x1536 "Retina Display", 4G LTE capability, a "brand new" A5X processor (dual core, Quad Core Graphics) and of course the 5-Mega Pixel rear facing camera (5-element lens, 1080p video capturing). We are all left drooling by apple but here's the thing... They could have blown us away more.

My problem with the "New" iPad is it's the same design from the second generation iPad (ehem 4S). It's really getting annoying that they introduce us a new products with the same design (no changes at all) and call it new. Well I guess we still need to give them credit for making the impossible, possible. Finally turning the iPad resolution into a RETINA DISPLAY. With the 5-Mega Pixel camera I guess we'll see more people trying to make the 9.7 inch tablet into a freaking camera. Could have been better if they also updated the front facing camera (VGA). I really don't care about the 4G LTE thingy for the internet here in the KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) really sucks big time so there's that. Here's a given there's still no SD card slot for the iPad which I think will never happen anymore considering they're selling a 64Gb iPad for 699 which is a lot of money for storage.

All in all I think this was a decent launch by apple. Like I said, they could have done better but what the heck the Retina Display is the killer punch here. Imagine the apps that would be supporting the 2048x1536 resolution of this device.. *drools again.. But then imagine the space that it would take up in your device. Yep it's going to be a problem cause "RETINA DISPLAY" supported apps would eat up a lot of space in your storage. Making that 16GB storage look really small. That's why I thought the SD card slot was a miss by apple.

The new iPad doesn't change anything about my opinion when it comes to tablet PCs. You don't need it unless you don't have a freaking smart phone. Apple will still sell millions of these new iPads cause the world thinks it's cool to have one of these. But one day you'll realize that buying either a new PC or a Mac is still the way to go. The iPad is an accessory you don't really need but Apple tells you that you do. 

SONGS SONGS SONGS...

I always considered myself as a "Frustrated Song Writer". I even put it on my bio every time I get a chance. I love writing songs even if I'm not a superior guitar player, heck my girlfriend's even a better guitar player than me. I love playing with random words inside my head. I wanted to learn piano but you know guys will be guys and most of us guys are lazy when it comes to those things.

I started writing random verses of words when I was a Junior in high school. I thought they were poems but as the days passed by it became a song. The first problem I had that time was how to put those verses into songs. Since I had a guitar at home I just started strumming random chords then boom we have a song. Then I got deeper into it and I realized that maybe it's a talent. I got a little bit serious with it during my Senior Year in HS. I was so afraid of criticism of other people so I just decided to keep the songs that I wrote to myself. Not even my parents know about it. It was until one of my closest friend discovered my song "Heavy Heart" which became a little famous to my batchmates. They liked the song so it was really heart warming hearing them say good things about it. The best feeling was when the official YFC band sang it in the MEC event on Bahrain back in 2008. Sad to say that I wasn't there when they sang it but I'm happy that at least out of the 8 Billion people in this world someone actually appreciates my talent and my work.

Let's just say I got my heart broken so bad. It was like kicking me when I was down. 2 Birds in one stone.. Well I'll admit that yes I was deeply in love and was writing like a bunch of songs for this certain someone. She never got the chance to listen to any of them btw but it came to the point where I just gave up song writing cause I thought there was no point to continue it and such. ATL's The Girl's A Straight Up Hustler says every thing.. "I'm sick and tired of writing songs about you... This is it this is the END.."

After moving on from what happened.. I tried picking up the pen and write a song.. but it was hopeless. There's about 20 unfinished songs on my notebook. And I have no plans on finishing them. I tried everything. It's kinda funny that whenever I started to like a girl, I always give myself a challenge.. To end my so called "drought" with her.. (no not the sexual drought... SONG WRITING DROUGHT). I thought I was never gonna write a song again but that changed a month ago.

I was lying in bed getting ready to sleep after talking to my special someone then there's goes the words... So I picked up a guitar and I was recording whatever comes out of my head then a week later. I finally made it....... I wrote a song again!!!!!!! It was actually my Valentines gift to her and I'm so happy that she liked it. Even my dear father liked it.. Which was a little bit awkward cause I really didn't mean to share it with them but I'm a happy camper! :)


In case you're curious here's the link to the song.

I don't why I wrote this entry here on Random Blogging. I usually don't post personal stuff in here but I guess I wanted to share with you guys my story. There will always be a struggle in your life, all you have to do is face it cause running away from it won't do anything it's just like you're showing the world how weak you are.

iPad HD.

The day has finally come, The iPad HD or whatever it's called is just around the corner. In case you didn't know I'm not a fan of tablets anymore. I have just given up on them, so obviously I'm not really excited with the launch of the iPad HD today but I am kinda looking forward to it. 

Don't get me wrong tablet PCs are awesome and in my opinion the iPad 2 is still the best tablet out there right now. I just think that smart phones are better and tablet PCs is just an accessory. For short don't buy it cause you don't really need it unless you don't have a smart phone in hand. That's from a person who owned an original iPad and the iPad 2. Both iPads aren't in my possession anymore which says a lot. Funny that my iPhone 4 survived two iPads. But today apple has a chance to change that. Apple will finally launch the iPad HD. After like a million rumors, our questions will finally be answered.

I'm not expecting much from apple right now but I'm kinda hoping that they blow me away with their launch today. It's like preparing for the worst and hoping for the best? Well here's me hoping that there will be no gimmicks anymore. Just give us something that we're asking for. Give us what we like, not what you like us to like.