Just last week I got myself a Samsung Vitality Android Phone from Cricket, then just now I saw an article with a title “Top 5 Reasons You Should Avoid Cheap Android Smartphones” in AndroidAuthority, I can’t help myself to not write a post with counter arguments.
I believe the author has valid reasons, so although some of the reasons I have below can apply to most people in general, this article is actually targeted toward the software developers who are just starting to develop app for Android phones. Continue reading →
As I’m starting to get serious with Android app development, I realized that using the Android Virtual Device (AVD) is really not the way to go. Until now, it’s very slow to start (snapshot helped a bit), and it’s prone to problems.
I told myself that this can’t go on like this, and I should get myself an Android phone.
Why not use the Asus Transformer tablet I have? Because I’m still learning how to develop apps for phone screen size, not tablet. Besides, I need to test the apps I made in the Android Gingerbread, which is the most common Android version out there (58.6% distribution), while my Asus Transformer is installed with Ice Cream Sandwich already (1.0% distribution).
So the search for Android phone was on since last week. The problem is I already have a phone, and I don’t plan to shell out too much money for a new one, so I was looking for a non-contract Android phone.
Quick search on Amazon resulted some options, but in the end I bought this Samsung R720 Vitality CDMA Phone yesterday from BestBuy for $50, and it’s really a steal.
Check out my review below.
*Since this post is more about how the phone perform for developing apps, I will not review much about it’s other specifications.Continue reading →
I’m going to be honest with you, a Wacom tablet is one of my dream gadget of all time. Eversince I was in college, I always wanted to buy one. It wasn’t so cheap back then, and I wasn’t an art student so I couldn’t really justify the need to my parents.
Fast forward to 2012, finally I afford to get one, yey!
Surely enough, it’s not the professional-grade Intuos series, I still can’t justify that one even until now. The one I bought is the middle model of the Wacom Bamboo tablets series, called Bamboo Create.
I’ve played around with the tablet for a few weeks, and I think it’s time to write a review. Continue reading →
I was hesitant at first since my experience with OS upgrade for my iPod touch 3rd generation to iOS 5 equal slower response. So I thought maybe the same thing would apply if I upgraded my Asus Transformer tablet to ICS.
Yet, the upgrade notification bugged me, and I read some people response were good last Friday, so I thought “Whatever.. let’s just upgrade it!”. And yes, it was great! So let’s check what changed.. Continue reading →
I’ve bought this tablet for more than two months but I just got a chance to review it, for some reason I don’t review gadget as fast as I used to. :p
But yeah, as tablets are getting more ubiquitous around us, I hope this review can help you to decide if Asus Transformer is the right tablet for you. Continue reading →
Well well, just on my last day of work in my co-op semester, I found out that one of my office friend has the Bose AE2i headphone.
What a pleasant surprise, it’s about time for me to post another headphone review also before the year 2011 ends. So I immediately borrow the headphone and give it a quick test. So, does the sound quality justify the price tag? Let’s see.. Continue reading →
The Little Martin LXM is a travel guitar that is about 3/4 size of a full size guitar. My roommate has it and he said he hasn’t play with it for a while, but it looks like a perfect guitar to review in my blog. Continue reading →
Think of proving your knowledge in programming Java?
BlackBeltFactory has an interesting concept of using belt system common in martial arts to the Java (and other programming language too) certification system. Unlike other certification, the questions are created and reviewed by its members, this ensures a wide variety of question, certainly a good example of crowdsourcing.
I found the website just recently and registered to start my journey to be a black belt, and here’s my profile.
So far, here is what I think about the website:
Pros:
Taking tests are free
Exclusivity and Pride (to be a black belt one must pass a lot of exam)
Practical knowledge tests (includes Spring, Hibernate, and XML)
Constantly growing courses and exams (crowdsourcing)
Cons:
Not all courses are free (well, maybe it’s not really bad anyway if we want quality)
Anyway, go ahead and check BlackBeltFactory website and register yourself to start your journey to be a black belt in Java (literally).
