Trying out SwiftKey

With so many soft keyboards out there, it can be hard to find one that works well, especially on the small screen of the Sony X10 Mini Pro.

The X10 Mini Pro's physical slide-out keyboard works well, but doesn't offer any predictive text function. Also, the native keyboard in portrait mode is a numeric T9-styled keyboard.

Tried a few QWERTY keyboards, e.g. AnySoftKeyboard, and came across SwiftKey. The predictive text is eerily accurate, even offering the next word before I typed anything.

Trying out the 2-week trial now...

p.s. 50% of this post was typed using SwiftKey.

Heroes on Both Sides

StarWars.com | The Clone Wars Episode 10
The latest episode of Clone Wars reminds me of the situation facing the US on the war in Afghanistan.

Dell Streak coming to Singapore? And with Android 2.2

Just saw the news (ST Digital Life) that the Dell Streak is coming to Singapore soon, and with Android 2.2. Wonder what the price will be like...

Explosions In The Sky

Creating new Google Docs from your mobile

Official Google Docs Blog
Yeah, google docs can now be edited on mobile phones. Just tried it out on my X10 Mini Pro (recently upgraded to Android 2.1). Creating new documents work, but editing existing google docs seems not possible...

BTW, I'm thinking about the Galaxy Tab...

Convertiblet tablet roundup

I've being waiting for a 3G convertible tablet for the longest time.

Current models (some have yet to arrive in Singapore)
- HP TM2
- Gigabyte T1125
- Acer 1825PTZ
- Fujitsu T580

The above list excludes netbook convertibles (a.k.a. netvertibles) as I find them a little too sluggish.

Dell Inspiron Duo finally official

Engadget

After hearing the bad news that the Gigabyte T1005M has only so-so battery life, this piece of news brings hope that I can find a convertible tablet with respectable battery life. Wonder what's the battery rating of the Inspiron Duo, and whether it comes with built-in 3G...

UPDATE: oh no, look what's mentioned below

The memory isn’t expandable, there’s no optical drive, and the battery isn’t removable. Dell’s Will Koch told me the battery life would be “about 4 hours, based on a range of uses”.

Ideas + Energy = Change

The Do Lectures | Ideas + Energy = Change

Came across this lecture series via one of David Allen's podcasts. Looks interesting, maybe a bit like the TED talks.

Android 2.1 on Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro

Managed to drop by the Sony Ericsson service centre at Wisma Atria recently to update my phone from Android 1.6 to 2.1.

The process was quite smooth. You hand you phone over and collect it back after an hour.

Some of the changes made

1. phone is unlocked by sliding on the screen (no longer by pressing the Menu button)
2. slight changes to native Google apps (e.g. browser, Gmail, youtube etc)
3. slight changes to layout of settings page

Besides the above, Android 2.1 also opens up the ability to install some apps which were unavailable in version 1.6. Just installed Pocket Informant, and will try it out.

One bad point. The built-in backup programme does not seem comprehensive, as some apps disappeared after restoring the backup, e.g. my paid app, Documents To Go. Will try to figure out how to get that back.

Meanwhile, the HTC Desire Z has landed in Singapore with a retail price of $780...

Taipei nightscene video - GF1

Super-cool video using the GF1...

1 jour et 1 nuit à Taipei from mr dale on Vimeo.

Panasonic GF2 - the specs look disappointing

dpreview
Maybe it's a bit too early to put down the replacement to the wildly successful GF1, but it's sad to see Panasonic move this model range downwards (to a compact-like class) instead of upwards (serious-user class).

The removal of the top dial (and drive mode lever) on the GF2 is disappointing.

Many GF1 users were hoping for a better sensor, maybe a built-in viewfinder. But it didn't materialise...

EDIT (7.22pm): video intro at this year's Salon de la Photo, looks like it has a feature that allows a photo to be taken by touching on the touchscreen. Availability is Feb 2011...

GF2 1st test, Salon de la photo, Paris, nov. 4th + GH2 + Voigtlander 25mm 0.95 from Seb Farges on Vimeo.

X100 here I come :)

Update to Android 2.1

After some painful delays, the X10 family is finally getting the update to Android 2.1. Still waiting for the magical "message in the notification bar" to appear on my X10 Mini Pro.

Quite a few apps need at least Android 2.1 to work, including the Pocket Informant beta.

Hands on: Gigabyte T1125N

Finally, an update on the T1125. The info on the 7800mAh battery is significant. Hopefully the battery life will be respectable.

EDIT (3-Nov-2010): Just saw this press release. USD$1,299, that's almost S$1,700. Ouch!

Autocar rendering of next MX-5

What beautiful lines. Even if it's not an official drawing from Mazda, I hope that the next generation MX-5 will look something like this.

The ugly duckling - Mercedes E-class

Short rant. The Mercedes E-class is super ugly. There are uglier cars, but none are in such high circulation. Also, this class has been consistently ugly ever since the first "Big-small eye" headlight design crept in.

Hopefully, Mercedes can make a sleek E-class. They have no lack of pretty cars in their stable.