ios 6 apple map

hi reader,
 are you excited as i am over the new ios6? i am very excited, anticipating a faster and more responsive operating system with my iphone 4s.

let me touch on a very important slide back from ios5, the map.
it seems like ditching google map and creating their own apple map is a wrong move and bad timing to launch.
with more people using the map for navigation, the new map creates a few problem. i am not too sure it is a bug or not. 2 very important things are missing:
1. wrong location
keying in postal code, for example, 609601 for imm building, will end you at a wrong place. the new apple map only recognized the '60' instead of the '609601'. and the problem is, it doesn't seems to know that it is wrong. so if you did not know the place well and click route, you will ended up wasting your trip.
 i tried another postal code, 609965 (trade hub 21) and again, apple map only recognized '60' and point me to a wrong place. my reader, you must be careful.

2. lack of public transport information
another bane, and a major one, is that the routing using public transport is no longer available. when i tried to route using 'car' mode,
it was ok, and in addition to that, a guiding map was added. it is quite cool (except that you will be going wrong places).

the navigation by apple map looks cool with the turn by turn guide. but for user like me, the removal of public transport information is really unacceptable. as you can see from the amount of information on the map is very lacking. our hdb block is totally remove and left with only the blank space.

if you click on the public transport icon, it will lead you to app store and provide you a varity of navigation map to download.

when apple update their os, i really wonder why it is always something lacking here and there. but if you need a good singapore navigation map, do download 'singapore map' from app store (http://itunes.apple.com/sg/app/singapore-maps/id388128906?mt=8)

nokia bh-505 bluetooth headset review

dear reader, this week, i am going to review the nokia bh-505 bluetooth headset. if you are reading this right now, you probably gone through alot of other sites reviewing this product.

i bought my bh-505 at vivo city nokia center for $79.

well, for me, the bh-505 is a love-hate relationship. let me go through this relationship in details now.

hate:
1. this is my 3rd replacement set!! the previous 2 became faulty after each jogging session.
2. the bh-505 is not splash resistance with a ip rating of 54 (for more information on ip rating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code).
in short, ip 54 = ingress protection 5(Dust protected, ingress of dust is not entirely prevented, but it must not enter in sufficient quantity to interfere with the satisfactory operation of the equipment; complete protection against contact) 
 4(Splashing water, Water splashing against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effect, Test duration: 5 minutes, Water volume: 10 litres per minute, Pressure: 80–100 kPa).
3. the controls at the side of the ear piece is not to be touch when your hands are sweaty. and i believe the small mic hole at the left side will allow water to enter causing the following:

a. skip songs automatically
b. the controls stop responding 
c. not able to switch off the bh-505

to hard reset the bh-505 when all controls failed:
a. leave the bh-505 to dry for at least an hour
b. even though it is charged,
connect the headset to a charger
while you press and hold the power
key till the green led flash and then blue and then red. 




please note that in singapore, nokia do not entertain a refund policy, but since the introduction of lemon law in singapore (http://www.case.org.sg/cpfta.html), i believe  that if you are able to prove that this set does not comply with the ip rating of 54, we can return the set and ask for a refund. too bad, i bought it before the lemon law. 

 the bh-505 is not design for jogging anyway, the battery and electronic component behind (the thick potion that bridge the 2 ear phones) is simply too heavy and it bounces quite a bit and cause some pain on the ear where the hook is.

and for those out there who wore spectacles, my advice is do not buy!!. though they provide 6 different earbugs, i am sure one of them will fit you fine. here comes the problem, if you are wearing specs, and then you wore the bh-505 over your ears, the handles of the specs will push out the bh-505 ear phone. even the slightest gap will cause the ear bugs to exit from your ear. i am using one of the middle size in-ear bugs, this gap is very obvious. and it will affect the sound quality very much!!

you might experience occasionally "music goes silent" moment when listening, i am not too sure why but it only last last than 2 seconds. it doesn't bother me.


love:
1. the asthetic look of the entire feel. others are either too big or does not look proportion.
2. the controls, which pair seamlessly with my iphone and later my ipod(with the i10s). the pairing is easy
3. the sound quality from bh-505 is 3/5 star, the bass is more than decent and the treble is slightly above average. i never review sound quality before so this is the best i can do. 

the bh-505 can do anything that your iphone remote earphone can, from voice control for selecting songs to making phone call. but be warn, this headset does do a decent job for making call when your environment is fairly quiet. in a noisy environment, like an mrt, the other party can hardly hear you and you don't want to shout into midair like a madman.


and oh, it pair really well with my laptop (hp pavilion dv6) too.

oops, the last bit, the music transmitting from audio device to bh-505 is slightly delayed so you might not find it suitable when you are playing games with it. 

summary:
bh-505 is good for an average every day normal usage, like listening to music at work. except for the sound quality which is above average, there is nothing spectacular about the bh-505, unless we can really use it for jogging!!!
and you would not want to use the bh-505 for working out in gym because you can't lie down on the workout bench, the bh-505 bridge compartment will obstruct. 

oh, the battery for bh-505 will last approximately 12 hours for continuous listening.

therefore, for this product i can only give it a 1.5/5 star.

divoom itour-rock mini speaker

hi reader, the comex 2012 at suntec is just over and what have you bought? i just got myself a asus ultrabook series s56cm. nope, it is not 56cm width or anything like that, but... i am not sure why they named it s56cm. 

anyway, i wanna talk about a free gift that i got from citibank for spending above $1000. the itour-rock mini speaker from divoom ( http://www.divoom.com/itour-rock.asp ). i am always sceptical about free gift. either you cast it away in your store room or you wrap it up and wait for christmas to come... (ya, cheapo..) 

this mini speaker really given me a shock the moment i plug it into my iphone. the bass is so powerful and the sound quality is really not bad. given it's small size, this speaker pack a driver of 40mm with a 3.8w power. the moment i full blast the volume on my iphone, you can actually see the speaker start to dance!! because the bass is so strong, the speaker actually bounce itself off the table with every beat of the drum. this is not a plus point though.

size and sound
itour-rock is approx 65mm x 45mm (height x diameter) and quite light (my weighing scale can't weigh properly as this speaker is too light). the connection to your audio device is via a very well kept 3.5mm audio jack, hidden in the cable slot at the bottom.  but be warn, the audio cable is only 100mm in length. therefore, your audio device got to be close by to itour-rock. there is only 1 on/off sliding switch at the bottom. simple huh? yep, and NO volume control.

                                                                charging

the charging is via a usb to 3.5mm audio jack. no adaptor is provided, therefore you have to either use your iphone adaptor (i tried, and it works, so don't worry) or you can charge using your laptop usb port. but i would advice you to use the iphone adaptor charging using laptop usb takes up double the charging time. 

while charging, a red light will lit up. and off when the charge is full. after draining itour-rock, it took me 1.5hours to fully charge it. 

oh!! nearly forget, the charging port (3.5mm audio port) also allow you to connect another itour-rock to it!! yep, you can keep adding and adding itour-rock till you drop. 

you can actually see the size of itour-rock as compared to the iphone adaptor.




overall:
3.5/5 star. please remember, this is a mini speaker therefore, you have to really consider the size factor. i am impressed. i can't seem to find the price on the net but this is the place that are holding this product:
mojito innov pte ltd.
101 geylang lor 23
#06-01 prosper house s388399
tel:6745 8093

 pro:
1. speaker is small and light to carry around
2. the sound quality (for such small speaker) is good
3. the design stands out and the built is solid

con:
1. the 3.5mm audio jack cable at 100mm is slightly too short
2. the weight is light and therefore, during heavy bass music, the speaker will bounce slightly, but don't worry, the weight of the audio device will weigh it down.

already i am planning to bring this speaker for my holiday to taiwan. it is easy and light to pack. and i also wanna use it for my next training class. 

lastly, i would like to thank citibank for this wonderful gift.