joomla templates Mobile World

Acer Malaysia introduced an array of new products to bring explorers to a whole new level of touch computing.

At the front of the line is the Acer Aspire P3 which is a performance Ultrabook. With an 11.6 inch HD display with IPS technology, it can be used as a notebook, hybrid or tablet without fuss. This comes on the back of the announcement that world famous DJ Tiesto is collaborating with Acer and the latest news is that the well-known Virtual DJ software will be bundled in with the P3 for free. It weighs only 0.79g without the keyboard and the price starts from RM1799.

Acer Malaysia also showed off the Acer Aspire R7 which features a repositioned keyboard and HD 1920x1080 touch screen mounted on an Ezel Hinge which allows it to flip, reverse, lie flat or float; quad-mode in session. Priced at RM2999, this 15.6 inch notebook comes with 1TB of storage.

The V-series represents Acer’s largest notebook line-up and it has been improved to give users best in class features with Intel’s advanced technology. The V5 and V7 models were displayed in a variety of colours, screen sizes, resolutions, graphic capabilities and performance.

All of these models will be running Microsoft Windows 8 of course. Some of these models are available as of now while others will be ready sometime later in June.

Malaysian telco Yes has launched the world's first WiMax Chromebook. Made by Samsung and Google, the 1.1kg and 17.5mm Chromebook with 7 hours of battery life has a 4G chipset inside and has been designed to work with Yes IDs and connect at up to 20Mbps on Yes 4G. The Chromebook boots in seconds and is preloaded with YouTube, Gmail and Drive with 100GB free for two years. 

Available online and at Yes Stores,it is retailing at RM988 with a 24-month RM88 postpaid plan with monthly 3.5GB. 1BestariNet Yes ID holders can get the Chromebook through the FrogStore and at Bestari roadshows at RM988 with 24-month RM69 plan and 2.5GB monthly.

If you wish to purchase the device without any Yes plans, it costs RM1299.

Here are the rest of the specs:
11.6 inches (1366x768) display,0.7 inches thin, 1.1 kg, over 6.5 hours of battery, Samsung Exynos 5 Dual Processor,100 GB Google Drive Cloud Storage,16GB Solid State Drive,WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n,Yes 4G,VGA camera,USB 3.0, USB 2.0,HDMI port and  Bluetooth 3.0.

Continuing from what I wrote last month, the lack of privacy on the Internet has become a major issue. An amazing number of apps that you use on your mobile device tracks your usage, has access to your contacts, reads your messages and knows your location at any given time.

The trend of these companies knowing everything about you will only intensify. Facebook wants to take over your entire phone screen. Google has locked all users in by making sure you must be logged in to use their services.

These companies do not forget. If you made a search for something potentially embarrassing many years ago, Google remembers. That stalking you have been doing on Facebook, it knows and is probably using it to profile the real you.

We know the danger but how do we put an end to it? Our only hope is to change the way business is done on the Internet because at the end of it all, Internet companies are there to make money and unless they have a different way to  make money, they will continue to flog our privacy to the highest bidders (read: advertisers).

I made a suggestion in the previous month’s issue which is to start buying apps. For too long, consumers have expected, no, demanded for everything to be free. If only air and sunshine are free in the physical world, how can we expect to get free apps services on the Internet without incurring some damage?

Now that we know just how high a price we are paying for those free apps; don’t you think it is time to explore alternatives? I would rather pay a reasonable fee a storage service than take one up for free and allow its service provider to make money by using my data. I am even willing to pay for a search engine that is as good as Google if it promises not to track my behaviour or serve ads.

I have only one caveat and that is these companies must make sure that their fees are reasonable and structured in such a way that everyone in the world can afford to pay. It cannot be like what Google is doing with their Google Apps tools. First they were free for small business. Then they limited the number of accounts per business to ten. This year, it became a paid service. All new businesses have to pay USD5 per user per month or USD50 per year.

That amount is nothing for a US based company but even in Malaysia, it becomes painful. A company with twenty staff would have to pay RM3000 plus a year for Google Apps. The situation becomes more dire in less developed countries where USD5 could well be what a person earns in a week or even a month. On top of that, Google continues to track users and make money from that.

The right or shall I say the righteous way would be to charge a fee that is affordable in each country. Businesses registered in each country will pay those rates. So while US companies could be paying USD5 per month and EU users 5 Euro, Malaysians would  pay RM5 to RM10 per month. Someone in Africa could be paying the equivalent of just USD1.

It makes business sense and if companies promise not to spy on their users, I think a lot of people will sign for their services. They will make far more money than by just servicing a smaller number of clients in developed countries.
So which company will rise up and do that? I believe enough consumers are ready for a new Internet. Let’s reboot the Internet and kick out the old forces. Ubah!

When I first started working all I had to do was to report in the morning to work. When evening came, I left the office and work was over. The office could not contact me after that because there were no mobile phones back then.

Emails and mobile phones arrived at some point or the other. One thing led to another and every person gainfully employed had to have a mobile phone and email address. Text messaging became ubiquitous which meant there were now three ways I could be reached.

Instant messaging arrived, initially as a cute and fun way for people to communicate with one another. But no, people refused to leave it at that, and so one had to join one of or more likely all of Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger or later Google Talk networks. Skype was in the picture too. Soon enough Facebook muscled into the territory too, by which time there were at least ten ways people – both business contacts and friends – were communicating with me.

Last year, WhatsApp, Viber, WeChat and Line began knocking on the door. From messaging heaven, I have started thinking that we have reached messaging hell instead. I may not be alone in thinking that. You will find in this issue the results of a simple poll we carried out on this same subject. The results show that people are communicating in many ways simultaneously with the lines of work and play totally blurred.

It is hell because now I have to keep an eye on so many networks. I have two email addresses (three if you count the one I use for website registrations) and both are active. Somehow, though I have tried to keep work and personal life separate, both email accounts get a mixture of emails. Actually, I have more email addresses – one for each startup I am involved in but let’s not go there because they are not that active yet. Like most of you, I am also on WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook, Skype and Google Talk.

The end result of being on all these applications is that I spend a lot of time daily checking each of them for messages that may have come in. I can’t ignore any of these apps because I have received important messages over them one time or another. Even the one place I have tried not to use for work has been breached. Yes, I am looking at you, Facebook. Inevitably I have started receiving work contacts related messages on the social network Facebook. The time I spend on these applications is rising. I can’t stop or cut down as I also worry that I may end up missing some important communication.

Neither do I know any longer how to reach people. Some people reply a WhatsApp message instantly while another will not send a reply after two weeks but would respond in seconds if it is a Facebook message. You would think that all I need to do is to compartmentalise my contacts according to which app they use but surprise surprise, the same contact who does not use WhatsApp will suddenly message me on WhatsApp and ignore the Facebook messages she used to reply to within moments.

I am at my wit’s end on what to do.

At least if SMS throws in the towel and dies a natural death, I would have one less channel to check regularly. But like the fax machine that still nests in most offices these days despite email having been around for thirty years or so, the text messaging system is still being used endlessly.

Perhaps WhatsApp, Line and Viber can merge and we could have one text messaging system again but that is not likely to happen either. In fact, I would bet my last dollar that even as I write this, some technopreneur somewhere is building his version of the ‘next generation messaging application’ and that I will be downloading it later this year.
If anyone has an answer for my problem please contact me on email, SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, Line, Google Talk or Skype. Over and out.

The Mobile World Road Test team visits Kuantan.

In the last issue, the MOBILE WORLD team went all the way down to Johor to survey the mobile experiences Johoreans can expect under real life situations. As expected, that round of speed tests confirmed that overall speeds have improved since the last time we did road tests there nearly two years ago. 

However, the title of Speed King of the South did not change hands as Maxis remained the speediest mobile operator there.Our next destination was Kuantan. We chose Kuantan as it is the defacto economic gateway to the East Coast. This city has certainly grown larger since we were there last as it boasts several large malls and universities now. 

Even though Kuantan is not quite the urban centre that Johor is, it has one thing in common with it. Yes, smartphones and tablets rule here too. Just about every person we met in Kuantan had a smartphone and when we were at the cafes we saw a lot of folks using tablets and notebooks. These people need high quality mobile data connections or their  mobile experience was not going to be any good. With some anticipation, we launched our road tests. 

The Mechanics

Just in case you missed the last issue, here’s how we ran the road tests. Firstly, we tested all major telcos, including P1 and Yes. We registered for high speed plans from the telcos to make sure that the speeds we get were not throttled. We took along modems, dongles, MiFis and smartphones along with SIM cards and connection accounts and did two tests in each location; one on smartphones and the other using a dongle.  Our results are reflective of actual conditions on the ground because we did not share our plans with the telcos. 

Our speed testing tool was the Speedtest application, which is a neutral and well known application and freely available for anyone to test speeds. 

Raja Kelajuan Pantai Timur

The MOBILE WORLD team tested five locations in Kuantan. The locations we chose are areas where we expected usage to be heavy. 

Just like what we saw in the south, wireless internet speeds have improved dramatically since our last road tests two years ago. In fact, we have to stress the word ‘dramatically’. We must say that we were pleasantly surprised to discover that Kuantan folks were getting more than average wireless speeds.

The battle for the title of Raja Kelajuan Pantai Timur was more heavily contested this time around. As you can see from the test results, we tested over two categories of devices; mobile broadband and mobile internet. The winner of tests for the mobile broadband was quite easy to determine. 

Yes gave a bit of a fight but Maxis was the clear winner, delivering the fastest mobile broadband speeds in most locations. Celcom’s results, though not as speedy as Maxis’ were not too bad. DiGi did not do too well. At one location, DiGi did not even register 3G speeds. U Mobile was behind Celcom but not by that much. P1 was the slowest and its service was rather patchy in Kuantan.

But before we could go ahead and throne Maxis as the champion of the East Coast, it had to face some very tough competition in the smartphone segment. Celcom was neck to neck with Maxis in our mobile internet speed tests. In some areas, Celcom was faster while in the others, Maxis edged its rival.

On balance, after taking into account the mobile broadband speed tests results we picked Maxis as the winner of the East Coast edition of our road test. Maxis swept away the competition in the mobile broadband category and fought out a draw with Celcom in the mobile internet category.

The next round

Two locations, one winner. Maxis is proving to be the most speediest mobile operator at the halfway point of our road tests. First in Johor and now in Kuantan, Maxis stood out from the other mobile operators. Our next test area results will be interesting. Our destination is Penang,  the location of our Northern Road Tests. What was it like in the Pearl of the Orient? Find out in our next issue.

Speed is something anyone using mobile internet services would be concerned about. A fast and stable connection trumps everything else in deciding whether a mobile experience is going to be enjoyable or disappointing. You may be carrying the latest high end smartphone and running the best of mobile apps but if the connection sucks, so does your mobile experience.

Mobile World was one of the earliest publications, if not the first, to run road tests to determine real life Malaysian consumer experiences. And we are happy to inform that we have just finished our latest rounds of road tests around Malaysia.

In this issue, we present our results of the southern portion of our speed tests. The following three issues will feature the results of our tests in Kuantan, Penang and finally, the Klang Valley. Yes, all the tests have been done and dusted. Over the last one month or so, the Mobile World team covered the south, east, north and the central urban centres of Peninsula Malaysia. Since our aim was to replicate a typical mobile experience, we did not tell the telcos that we were carrying out the road tests. We’re guessing they should be equally interested in finding out how they did. 

So, who’s the fastest of them all? You will find out at the end, in our July issue, but for now, we will tell you who the speed king down south is. 

The Mechanics

The mobile landscape has moved forward quite a bit since Mobile World last carried out speed road tests. Last time around, we covered just three telcos. Our 2013 tests cover all major telcos. We took along modems, dongles, MiFis and smartphones along with SIM cards and connection accounts from Celcom, DiGi, Maxis, P1, U Mobile and Yes. 

In each location, we ran two tests. The first was to test the smartphone experience. We used a Samsung Galaxy S3 phone (or another mobile device if the operator did not support that phone) for this test. After that, we used a dongle. The same dongle was used if it could run on the network. If that was not possible, we used a modem or a device that ran on that network.

We also ensured that we registered for high speed plans from the telcos. Some plans have cheap monthly commitments but these restrict the speeds offered. We did not take up those plans. To test the speeds, we used a neutral and well known application this time around: the Speedtest application which is freely available for anyone to test speeds. 

The Southern Speed King

Overall, there have been significant improvements from 2011. The last time we went down south, we got excited anytime speeds crossed 2 Mbps. This time, we were disappointed if speeds dropped below 2 Mbps. Sadly, DiGi is the operator we have to point the finger here. Their network speeds are much lower than the other operators.

When deciphering the figures on the chart, make sure you know what to watch out for. Ping speeds reflect how long sites take to respond and are an indication of the latency of the networks. As far as Pings are concerned the LOWER the figure, the better. Download speeds are the most important thing one needs to monitor as most of our internet activity consists of websites, applications and emails coming down to our mobile devices. Upload speeds are important when we send data to the Internet and reflect how long it takes for a consumer to upload a photo to Facebook or send an email with attachments.

We recorded decent speeds from the other operators, with one caveat: only in the areas where we could get their signal. Yes had nice speeds wherever we could get signals but contrary to their claims, a signal could not be obtained in every location. P1 was slower than Yes and we also had problems getting their signals everywhere.

We got much better speeds from Celcom than the ones we got in 2011. Their upload speeds were also decent but their download speeds could be improved a bit more.

Maxis shone out from the rest in the south. At some locations, we got blazing fast speeds - even better than the speeds consumers are getting at home on fibre optic connections. When speeds were above 10 Mbps - and we got 13 Mbps and 15 Mbps at two locations - it was blissful using the Internet.The speeds we got from Maxis over the mobile phone were equally exciting. Averaging more than 4 Mbps, websites loaded super fast and there was hardly any lag in response time.

From key locations in JB down to Melaka, we got consistently higher speeds from Maxis than the rest. The number one telco has not been resting on its laurels and appears to have spent the last two years putting in significant upgrades to its network in the south.

Coming up with the winner in the South was easy. Maxis won hands down. What was it like in the East Coast? Find out in our next issue.

Some happenings that were reported in the first few months of this year have really brought home the point to me that the Internet is heading in a direction that is very worrying and which will ultimately extract a very expensive toll on all users.

Free is the big catchword on the Internet and for twenty years or so now, people have gotten used to free apps and services on the Internet. Consumers have become so enamoured with free apps and services that they hesitate to pay even if a good app charges a small and very reasonable amount.

Today, a free-loader on the Internet can get just about anything free. Search is free. Videos are free. Word processors, spreadsheets, picture editors and presentation applications are just a few of the tens of thousands of free business apps on the internet. Suffice to say that if some company launches a paid application that is successful, another start-up will emerge with a similar product that is free. The tech world calls it a ‘disruptive’ strategy and wildly cheers when these apps appear.

We, the consumers love these free apps too but the time has come to ask ourselves if we are not paying too high a price for these free apps.

Recently, in the US, a young man who is gay but had never told anyone was stunned to see ads on his Facebook page that were targeted at gay users. Facebook has become very good at what it does, which is to determine your likes, tastes and pursuits, so that it can sell ads that interest you. 
Facebook’s ads will be even more effective if it knows your true self, not your public personality. And that is how, probably, Facebook’s excellent data processing algorithms had determined that the person was gay, literally before he was prepared to publicly acknowledge his sexuality.

Also, the way Facebook works is very worrying. A friend can add you to a group without your consent. You have to go and remove yourself from the group if you don’t like it. Imagine now, if you get added to a group that is completely against your beliefs. By the time you realise it or do something about it, a lot of your friends will think differently about you.

The stark reality is that Facebook knows a lot about you and me, more than what we would be prepared to reveal to other people. That is a very scary but here’s another even scarier truth: Google knows even more about you. Your searches, the YouTube videos you watch, the maps you use all reveal a lot more than you probably want it to know. Google knows where you are anytime of the day, almost to the accuracy of a few metres. Another very scary truth is that we Asians are very relaxed about privacy issues and haven’t yet realised how dangerous the game is becoming.

Both the Google services mentioned above and Facebook are free apps, in case you have not realised the connection. Facebook in fact proudly proclaims that it will ‘always be free’. Since Google and Facebook are not charities, they have to make money. And since they don’t charge users, they make money by flogging what they know about their users. Now isn’t that a very high price to pay? Of course Google and Facebook are just the biggest such companies around. All companies that provide free apps ‘monetise’ their offerings through ads and marketing tie-ups. This extends to the phones obviously. Phone brands require you to register these days and force some of their services onto you. Their aim is not just about loyalty building, they too want to become the company that has the most complete information about you.

So how can we keep our privacy and probably, our dignity? There’s no single answer. Becoming more tech savvy and aware about how our privacy is breached online can help to some extent.

One other very good way is to start supporting paid apps. Especially the paid apps that promise never to market your personal data to others. It will cost you money but the good news is that many of such apps are not very expensive. There aren’t that many apps using the paid model these days but I am certain that if users begin to support that model, more will emerge.

It may still be a losing battle but I think that should not stop all of us from starting to push back against companies that want to know everything about us and use that information to make money. I would rather they took the money from my wallet directly. What do you think?

The Kindle Fire has been a runaway hit in the United States, mostly because it carried a cheap pricetag. Now, Amazon has not only refreshed its one variant of Kindle Fire, but added two more HD choices.

The devices that were unveiled are the second generation Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD 7’’, Kindle Fire HD 8.9’’ and Kindle Fire HD 8.9’’ 4G-LTE.

All of these devices run on a dual-core processor with 1GB worth of RAM. The most interesting detail about the Kindle Fires are that they are priced competitively.

The regular version is priced at US$159 (8GB), the HD 7’’ at US$199 (16GB), the HD 8.9’’ at US$299 (16GB) and the HD 8.9’’ 4G-LTE at US$499 (32GB).

However, do not expect these devices to come to Malaysia since we do not have all the Amazon content like music, books and movies that this device caters to available to us here.