Kindle 3G Keyboard

It was really a single purpose device which is for reading books only. Not so suitable to read magazine due to the screen size. Even though it has keyboard but I seldom use it. I strictly use the navigate left right button only. Even after so many year, the battery still can hold up to read books for 2 weeks. Now I just charge the device monthly. It has 4GB storage with speaker that some books support read it aloud features. The later model only came with 2GB, which for only eBooks contents, that's still mean a lot of books that it can store.

It also has an "experimental" browser that has limited features. I didn't use it much. Since I live outside the support of Amazon Kindle store, I practically cannot purchase any books. I can only manually upload my books using cable.

The advantage of using Kindle reading books is the battery life and eye comfortable. You will not felt quick tired even after a long hours of reading. It felt like you are reading on a paper.

The weak part of the device is the loading page. At start, it will have to refresh the whole pages which take around 1 second to load a new pages. Then there is an update that have a quicker page loading that will only fully refresh the page after 4 or 5 pages of turning. This increase the speed of the page loading but the trade off is it sometimes will leave some previous pixel on the screen which a bit disturbing.

Surface Pro 3

I was once praising this device as excellent but too pricey. But fate had let me own one with free, I just need to purchase the super slim cover keyboard. I thought I was the most lucky guy in the world but....

Not long after I own the device, Windows 8 and 8.1 has a lot of issues which make the device useless. It is very not touch mode friendly. Not so much apps that support touch.

Then I upgrade to Windows 10 and nightmare start to happen. The cover keyboard die out. I have search a lot of forum for the issue and it appear that it is a common issue that Microsoft ignore. Then the highlight of the issue, the battery drain after shut down. The back of the device keep warm even you have shut down the device. There is no solution for this issue.

A lot of people report the matter but no official fix from Microsoft.

So with draining battery after shutdown, the device is technically can be certified as desktop. It lose its portability. With no keyboard and faulty battery, the device is worst than a normal traditional laptop.

I was once tried to impress my friend who own MacBook with the devices but Microsoft kill themselves with these issue.

Throughout the year, I just leave it in dust hoping that Microsoft can issue a fix for it but one can only hope. I also notice that the same issue for Surface Pro 3 also happen to the rest of future release devices.

Now, even I want to send to repair, Microsoft have ended the repair for the device. I cannot repair the device even I want to pay around RM1.3K. But luckily I didnt, as I read some reports that the same issue keep happening even the refurbished unit. Some already paid a few times end up the same issue.

For a device with 64Gb, it is a scam in current year as the update for Windows is getting larger. I once join the Windows Insider Program and each update will consume around 20Gb. It always keep a backup version that eat up your storage. And without the backup, you will lose the ability to restore your Windows if anything happen, but to be honest, when you need to restore your Windows, you might have a huge chance of unable to restore it as the restore process encounter error which end up you performance a clean reinstall of Windows.

I don't know when I will throw away the device. As comparison, if you use it to read comic, it lack the proper app to read the comic. If you use it to read Magazine, it lack the touch features to navigate the page, Edge is still weak in pdf reading. I was so shocked that it cannot restore the last page you viewed even though this should be the basic feature for any document reading apps. As usual, Microsoft tried to set it as default pdf reading apps that cannot function properly.

As media consuming device, the weak battery cannot allow you to watch in long duration. The battery is only lasted around 3 hours Maximum and you have to charge from time to time which end up kill your battery quicker.

Their strong sales for this device is the Surface Pen that luckily it still ship with the device, unlike currently you have to purchase separately. As input, it does what it does but don't expect Wacom or Apple Pencil level performance when came to drawing as not much apps can support it properly. How ironically. GIMP cannot support it properly, Krita keep getting hang. Others seem very lag and the latency is very noticeable. Drawing in quick will cause the phantom drawing.

Overall, Surface line is just a better design laptop/tablet but not in performance. 

The road is still far and with iPad OS in the horizon, the Surface line is going to have a huge impact. iPad OS is what Microsoft have envision since Surface 1.

iPhone 4s

The reason I bought the device in 2018 is due to I discover that it can be downgraded to iOS 6. iOS 9 for iPhone 4s is very very horrible until it is like iPhone 4 with iOS 7. It technically almost useless due to the serious lag. Podcast list cannot be refresh properly. File reappear even after delete it and it somethings cannot define whether the track has been played or not.

After I restore it to iOS 6, the situation is the same like iPad 2. The usability turn to very limited. Consider it as a better version of iPod 4th with a bit heavy in weight. By trade in with weight, you will get a larger storage, 16Gb, better camera, but still the same battery usage and shortage of App.

You can tried to upgrade it to iOS 8 but situation no better than iOS 9. The lag is very noticeable.

I love the design of iPhone 4 but due to the usability, I have to select iPhone 4s. At least it is much smoother in iOS 6 which iPhone 4 cannot do. Both device is identical except 4s have white variate.

Currently I keep it in dust because I am using iPod in full force hopefully it can die out faster.

iPad 2

It was suppose to be dusted since it is consider as outdated device in the current age. Not much apps can be installed to the devices as Apple mandatory all apps must be convert to 64bits. The last iOS update it can receive is 9.3 which cause the device turn to a bit slow.

It is running A5 chipset, the same chipset as iPhone 4s but weirdly enough is it run iOS 9 better than iPhone 4s. Not to say that it is smooth but just better compare to the device.

I was once give up on the device due to the lag but it appear that Apple allow iPad 2 and iPhone 4s to be downgrade to iOS 6. I reactive the device and restore it to iOS 6.

To be honest, with the version, there isn't much you can do for it.

Due to the lower resolution, reading text or comics will have pixel.

The speaker is a bit issue already.

Now it just laying in dust with its iOS 6.1.3

iPod Touch 4th Generation

Over the years, I have own several devices that still workable until today. This will be a series of though of these devices in current year.

iPod Touch 4th

This is the company devices that was pass to me after it already totally outdated and nobody want to use it anymore. It only have 8Gb which leave less to none for anything in nowadays. It stop receiving update since iOS 6.4.

I use it to listen to Podcast. Have to use iTunes to do sync as using wifi will kill the battery instantly. I use the native Music app to manage my Podcast as only it able to separate the manual insert podcast file into album. The Apple Podcast app unable to separate it.

Fortunately if using the Music app to listen, it still manage to hold up around 12 hours to 15 hours of non-stop playing. The plus advantage of this device is it is very ligtweight at 100g only.

For storage, since it is a 8Gb model, I was left with around 6 Gb with no any apps installed to it. It is still consider enough if just insert Podcast file and several frequent listen music album. Thats all it can. Any further will break the storage.

Windows 10 In ARM

After a few years of failure, Microsoft finally able to run X86 software in ARM processor. The long waited super phone finally can be archived.

But how well it can really support in real world performance is still remain in question. 

One thing can be sure, this is the next milestone for Microsoft.

Now waiting for the rumored Surface Phone...

Nexus 5X

Google has just announced the latest Nexus line of phone. One of the devices that caught my eye is the Nexus 5X by LG.
It is essentially the upgrade version of the Nexus 5 also made by LG.
Nexus 6 by Motorola is consider too large for normal usage.
It is a nice substitute for those who like LG G4.