Finally a Blackberry!! I never knew this day would come, but I actually bought a Blackberry last weekend. Being a Mac addict and a iPhone user/developer, it was very weird experience.

I think there will be more people that might agree with my logic behind this purchase. It all started with iPad. Since iPhone and iPad share more than 90% of the functionality, it really doesn’t make sense carrying around both devices at the same time. Since they are on both AT&T network, it also didn’t make sense paying two data plan. So what is the logical choice if I want the iPad? Get rid of the iPhone and get another phone in another network.

UMA(Unlicensed Mobile Access) – the biggest selling point

My first choice was Nexus One, but when I heard about UMA feature on Bold 9700, I knew what I wanted. Both AT&T and Verizon has good signal when I am outside of a building, but they have terrible reception and dropped calls from inside of my house and my office(where I spend most of my time). This is when UMA comes in handy. T-mobile offer this service to some of their smart phones including Bold 9700. If you are in a wifi area(have access), the cellphone will recognize it and use the wifi data rather than cellular network to make/receive phone calls. So even if you are in the middle of a desert, if you have wifi access, you will be able to make/receive phone calls.

Touch pad and Physical keyboard

Being an iPhone user, I am used to touch screen and also knows the importance of UI and navigation. I never liked the track ball Blackberry had on their predecessor, touch pad was very easy to get used to and dead accurate. I have been using the iPhone since the first generation, so I can type about twice faster on the iPhone over Blackberry. I know with practice, I will be about the same speed typing on both interfaces. Comparing auto correction for typos, iPhone does the better job than the blackberry.

Browser and Apps

There isn’t much to talk about when comparing the browser and apps to an iPhone. Blackberry sucks. Even with wifi, it take about twice as long as an iPhone to load up the same website. Also I do really miss the pinch in and pinch out feature on the iPhone. There is apps for everything on the iPhone, but not on the blackberry. Other than google mobile apps, they are suck or lack compatibility issue among the versions.

Conclusion

Will I keep the Bold 9700? I still have couple weeks left until I can return it without the penalty but I think I will keep it due to these reasons.

• Once I get an iPad I don’t need an iPhone due to overlap of their functionality.
• If I do month to month it’s only $79.99 for unlimited everything.
• UMA!! I get perfect phone experience when I am in my home and office.
• Battery lasts twice as long over an iPhone with normal usage.

I don’t know the numbers, but I am sure people have migrated from AT&T(iPhone) and T-Mobile(Google G1) to Verizon due to the launching of Droid. Why was Droid special? It is like an Android on Steroid. Although I hated Verizon when I had them, I have to admit they are the only reliable network available in the Bay Area and probably most of the states. I was tempted to switch just because I get dropped calls on my iPhone from home.

Verizon and Motorola spent so much on the advertisement. I don’t know how much they sold, but I know it wasn’t much. Up until the announcement of the Nexus one, I am sure there were a bunch of people thinking about getting the Droid. Now? Wait for Nexus One.

During the announcement, they said the Nexus One will be available on the Verizon Wireless in this spring. Why would you not wait for the real Android phone even when they confirmed the release? Google should have waited at least 4~6 months after the release of the Droid if they wanted to give Motorola a fair chance.

I really feel bad for Motorola.

This is all Hypothetical assumption if a tablet comes out. There are couple reasons why Apple’s tablet will be using iPhone’s OS rather than Mac OS X.

Pricing

Ever since Macbook Pro 13 inch was released, the product differentiation between Macbook and Macbook Pro has been unclear. Apple knows that the tablet’s pricing is going to be a big factor. Anything priced above Macbook will lose the battle against already flooded market of netbooks. Pricing range of 600~800 seems fair value for just the product without any subsidization from cell phone companies. Will Apple make money from the device itself? No.

Just like how PS3 is priced, Apple will/need to make profit from some other places, like selling Apps. If the Tablet uses Mac OS X, selling hardware and a OS would be the only profit. If the tablet uses iPhone Apps, Apple will be able to collect commission from all the App store purchases.

App Store

App Store probably has more Apps than all the Application made for Mac OS X until now. Apple is currently domination with this new approach of centralized App repository. Why waste all the possibility when apple can make extra $$$ from App store commission revenue. I have always wished I would be able to run the iPhone Apps on my Mac. Apple won’t allow running iPhone Apps on OS X due to file access and easily abusable illegal App sharing. Only way would be making the tablet a Big brother of iPod Touch.

Battery Power

No matter how efficient a laptop battery has become, fancy new hardwares are eating up more power at the same rate. iPhone OS is much more efficient in battery life in standby compared to Macbook’s Sleep function. An iPhone in Airplane mode without any push/periodic check can last more than 3 weeks with a full charge. Assuming 10inch screen, that would be about 9 times the current screen real-estate. This means bigger battery. Getting rid of USB and display ports can definitely add more room for the battery too.

My Prediction of the Tablet

• It is going to be a big brother of iPod Touch
• It will come with 3G data plan(hopefully Verizon), this will allow Apple to subsidize the pricing.
• Online Game market will be big on this device. Think of MMORP(ex.WOW) to go.
• Interactive social networking.
• It will be the “Cloud Device” Using iWork in the Cloud, and more

My Must have features

• Bluetooth Keyboard capability(without this, game market will be crippled)
• Front facing Camera(taking a picture with 10inch tablet will be foolish but video chat would be nice)

To be exact, it should be AT&T vs. SHOW(a.k.a. KT).

I am currently in Korea, visiting my families for the holiday. At first, I rented a Samsung cell phone from the airport, but I just couldn’t be satisfied with it – ever since I switched to iPhone, I can’t touch any other cell phone. As a last resolution, I convinced my father, who is an iPhone application developer, to get me an iPhone; I told him it was a wise investment as he can use the phone for development purposes even after I depart to the States.

Until the introduction of 3G in Korea, Korean cell phone network was only using the CDMA. As such, iPhone users must use the 3G network for all calls and data, even though iPhone supports both GSM and 3G network. In short, if an iPhone user turns off the 3G option from the iPhone, h/she gets absolutely no signal in Korea.

At first, I was extremely worried about using the 3G network ONLY. In the Bay area, there are many locations where you just don’t get any 3G signals. So, if I drive with my 3G setting on, iPhone will automatically and endlessly switch between GSM and 3G network. Moreover, I have also realized that using the 3G setting minimizes the battery consumption. To my surprise, however, my iPhone experience in Korea was remarkable.

The 3G network signal in Korea is just PERFECT. Korea has small cell towers everywhere – including the supermarket, underground parking garage, subway, and etc. Therefore, I get a full bar anywhere, except when I am inside the elevator.

In summary, the battery life is much better than what I expected, even compared to my experience with the AT&T. In general, if the iPhone users is in a bad signal or dead zone, their cell phones work extra harder to receive/send signals and drain the battery as a result. It looks like having a full coverage really helps to save the battery life. Even though I had the 3G setting and the push notification simultaneously, my iPhone lasted 24 hours straight in Korea, as opposed to 8 hours in the States.

Korea is small compare to USA and Seoul, its capital, ranks the highest in population city is high density population density among the OECD countries. This makes it easy and necessary for carriers to implement newer and better technology. So far, I am extremely satisfied with the iPhone coverage in Korea.

I always look around my office and ask what would be the most efficient setup. Once I sit in front of a computer and concentrate, the surrounding doesn’t really matter. What does matter is how the monitors are setup. There were times when I was satisfied with 15 inch CRT Monitors. Those days are long gone.

I started using multi-monitor setup since my college years. I had three 19 inch lcd monitor side by side. At that time, even 19inch LCD cost around $500. It was well worth it’s price. At that time, multiple(more than 2) monitor setup was widely used in Flight Simulations and Stock Brokers. I was neither but it definitely raised my efficiency.

Single 24inch setup

As LCD price dropped and bigger screen came out, I changed to a single 24inch monitor setup. Around the same time, all the laptops ditched regular screen ratio and started going wide screen. People were noticing the benefit of the extra space on the sides. Although 24inch gave me more than enough space to do all my work/gameing, I wanted more.

Dual 24inch setup

At this time Dual 24inch monitors were supporting 3 Mac and a PC. This wasn’t truly dual monitor setup since they were hooked up to different machines. I used Synergy to move my mouse and keyboard from one computer to the other but I was never satisfied with it’s performance. Considering the distance from my eyes to the monitors, dual 24inch monitors were perfect.

Triple Monitor setup

I had dual 24inch monitor + 20inch on a side. Having a rotated 90 degrees made reading PDF and coding efficient. I used this setup for 4 months, but I realized I never used the left most screen. 24inch widescreen is wide enough, it wasn’t just my eyes moving, I had to physically move my neck around to see the screen.

5 Monitor setup

Yesterday, I decided to change my office around. Hmmm…. what if I take all my monitors and surround myself inside? That is exactly what I did. I am sure there are people out there thinking this would be their dream setup, but for me this is very inefficient. This setup won’t just make your neck move, you will have to move your chair. If you are a gamer or a stock broker, you might love the setup. This is definitely an over kill for me and probably same for most people.

Dual 24inch setup(current)

This is that I what I consider the most efficient setup for my workstation. Simple Dual 24inch monitor setup. I don’t have to move my neck nor move the chairs. I rarely use the PC on the left so I don’t have to move when I am working on my Mac.

Couple pointer when making a multi monitor setup

• Try to use same model (looks nicer and less distraction)
• Do you need more pixels or bigger screen? (not always the same)
• Can one bigger monitor replace multiple?
• Calibrate the colors on all the monitors
• Where do you want your center to be?(between the monitors or on the Primary monitor and secondary on your left/right)
• Try to look down on the monitor rather than up.
• No more than two wide screen monitors side by side

I tried setting up monitors on top of the others, but unless I have a chair and a desk that can support the comfortable viewing angles with less strains on my neck, I would pass.

It is very interesting to see a small company being swallowed by a giant. When a market leader like Google does it, it is a big news. While having a morning coffee and keeping up with the world, I just found out that google got AdMob.

As an iPhone app developer, AdMob has always been one of my option for making money. It follows my logic of Google, “make it free to the end users, get paid by people who want to take advantage.” It makes perfect sense, but I don’t think google made the right decisions. I guess buying YouTube has not taught them any lesson.

When I see a column of google ads on my 24 inch monitor, I could careless. When I see an ads pop-up on the bottom of youtube, I get annoyed. When I see an ad pop-up from tiny iPhone screen, I get pissed off. I would rather buy the apps than have random ads pop-up.

CNN recently released an app for iphone. They are charging $2 for the application and have pop-up ads in their app. I know that $2 won’t even cover the 1% of development fee they spent, but also having ads on top of that is just ridiculous. If you guys provide quality apps, people don’t mind paying monthly subscription.

We smartphone users pay extra for privileged extra features, most of us don’t mind paying couple extra. I know AdMob provides other services than ads, but looking from ads point of view, this is what I think.

Yes, I am downgrading from the ultimate Mac Pro to tiny Mac Mini. I purchased the 8 core Mac Pro more than a year ago and it has served me well. It has two graphic cards, 10GB of RAM, RAID card with 4 x 500GB as RAID10 and a SSD for boot drive. Although there can be some improvements, it is basically every audio/video/graphic designer’s dream machine. Since I am none of the above, I thought it was overkill for me. With recent Mac Mini’s revision,adding dual screen capability and performance improvements, I decided to give it a try for two weeks.

Daily Usage (dual 24 inch Monitor)

Comparing the raw power of a Mini to Pro is not a fair comparison, so I will compare them in daily usage scenario. Any given time of a day I have, these applications open on all of my Macs.

• Safari
• Quicksilver
• iStat Pro
• Skype
• Adium
• NetNewsWire
• CSSEdit
• Coda
• iTunes
• Server Admin
• Remote Desktop Connection
• iCal
• OmniFocus
• TextMate
• DropBox

It’s not much compared to some other people, but it’s not a short list. Even with the Mini, it has never used up more than 50% of RAM and 40% of the CPU with 50 degrees in celsius. When I am watching  HD video in full screen, Mini uses up 70% of Ram and 90% of CPU with 65 degrees in celsius.  It is small but it can definitely do the job.

Power

Since I operate many server and Minis in the DataCenter, I always keep my eyes on the power consumptions. On the previous post, I have added some numbers showing the power usage on different Minis. Mini scored 14 watt when idle and 34 when watching Hulu HD. Mac Pro uses more than 160 watt when idle and 200 watt when watching Hulu HD. That is lot’s of cost saving for my daily use. The only downside of using Mini is that I would need to turn on the heater to keep my room warm.
FYI. During the college days, I used to run stress tests on my desktops to keep my room warm.

Data Safety

Being a storage engineer, I keep all my data redundant with extra backup. When I used my Mac Pro, I had all my data stored and time machine targeted in RAID 10 which can handle up to two disk failures at the same time. On top of that, I have external hard drive plugged every month to make monthly backup. (Ever since my external died on me while I was reinstalling OS on my only machine, I am really paranoid about data redundancy.

Currently, my Mini is making all the frequent backup to slow performing Time Capsule. I just don’t trust my Time Capsule, so I make DVD backup every month and same to the external hard drive. I always prefer RAID 10 over any kind of storing method but I have to stick to what I got for now.

For regularly accessed documents and developing codes, I got my own Snow Leopard server with AFP access and for the non essentials, DropBox.

Defending my Decision

Mac Pro used to be my dream machine during the days I had the first generation Intel Mini and the Macbook Pro REV.A. After owning it for awhile I realized its too much for normal users. People in the Audio/Graphic/Video industry will never make the decision I made but for me, this is it. I may get 27 inch iMac because my neck hurts using dual monitors, but that is because of the screen real estate not due to the performance. I love Mac Mini.

Here are some measurements I took with Kill-A-watt on three different generations of Mac Minis.

* The measurements were taken after 5 minutes of idle/streaming.
* First Gen Intel Mac Mini with 1.5 Intel Solo Core upgraded to 2.0 Intel Core 2 Duo (T7200)

Mac Mini has been widely known for it’s ability as a good Media Center. It makes sense to have a mini-DVI to DVI adapter, but for server usage, the story is different. Anybody who handle servers or spend lots of time at a data center regularly(like me) would agree VGA is more data center friendly. For those of who doesn’t know why, Monitors in the data centers are usually all VGA, since almost all the servers use VGA.

All versions of Mac Mini comes with a Mini-DVI to DVI Adapter. But it doesn’t have extra four holes above and below the horizontal pin. From previous Mac, I have bunch of DVI to VGA adapters. Unfortunately they all have four extra pins sticking out, so they are no use. Apple should be packaging Mini-DVI to VGA with Mac Mini Server!!

Finally… Apple has done it.
Every time I went to an Apple Store, I always wondered why the sales people would use Windows based PDA as fast checkout system. There are Apps that does credit card transaction out already, why not use them? Until today, I thought I have found that perfect alternative.

Today, I was at the Apple store buying the new Mac Mini Server. At the checkout, the sales person took out an iPod Touch with ‘Mophie juice pack look alike’ device. I thought it was his personal iPod, but it had bar code scanner and also card swiper on the back. I wanted to take a picture of it but, I was too excited about the new Mac Mini Server. I don’t know if the device is developed and distributed internally by Apple or from some other company, but I can assume that there will be huge demand for that device.