Tuesday, September 21, 2010

iPhone 4 launched in Philippines - Globe, 26th September launch

It's official! Finally..... After waiting for months, Globe gave me a call a few days ago! They're launching the iPhone 4 here in Manila on the 26th of September for personal users. The corporate guys get it on the 24th of September if I'm right.

This offer is initially available for those who pre-registered their interest. I was one of the first guys to register my interest apparently and hence am eligible. In fact, on the Globe website , it still says "iPhone 4 coming soon" . About the available plans, they are basically giving the iPhone 4 for personal use for free with the P3799 Fully Loaded plan. This comes with unlimited data usage. They also have it with the P2499 plan but there's a cash out of around 7000 pesos if I'm right. There are more plans for 5k and above too....

So basically, they asked me to submit all the requirements - Address proof, ID, Proof of income etc. (Oh yes, the iPhone 4 is available only for those earning more than P30,000 per month apparently).... After I submitted all the documents, they had a recorded phone interview to check eligibility. I'm done with that process now.

I was told that in the next few days, I will receive an electronic stub if everything is approved and all goes well. I need to present the stub on the 26th of September (I have to collect it on that day at some event planned by Globe and Apple together) to collect the iPhone 4.

I thought that most people would know about the launch date already but was surprised to see no updates in online forums... So, just thought I would put it up on my blog for interested people.

More details at the Globe link that was sent to me - Click here

Friday, September 03, 2010

Despicable Me - Movie Review

This movie was undoubtedly one of the best surprises I've had this year. A couple of friends give me a call and ask me if I wanna join for a movie. Of course I said yes... for the popcorn. Went for this movie and found that this was such a hilarious movie. Lately, animation flicks seem to be doing much better than any other movies. I loved UP and now I really loved this movie. The characters are all so well defined and the humor is perfectly ingrained into the narrative of the movie.

The story is just about two villains trying to be a bigger villain than the other. One of them manages to steal the Pyramids and hence the other is all out to now go after the MOON! The rest of the story brings the plot together!

And they actually have a bank for evil villains to fund their wicked operations! In the movie, they show that the name of the bank was formerly Lehmann brothers! Now that was unexpected... but very funny! Many such jokes later, they show us that Gru (the primary villain), whose voice is provided by Steve Carell just wants to be accepted and loved and he begins to love the three orphans he uses as pawns in his master scheme!

I would give this movie 8 stars out of 10! Go watch it..... It made me laugh....

IMDB Review: http://imdb.to/alW5NP

iOS 4 on iPhone 3G

I plead with all the people out there looking on information as to whether you should upgrade the software on your iPhone 3G to the latest version, to take a moment to read what this post has to say!

I'm sure iTunes must be reminding you time and again that there's a new software available for your phone! Well, it did the same to me and I waited for quite some time before I did the install. What tipped me over was an iPhone 4. A friend of mine from Singapore brought it over and I totally loved it. I was so tempted to get the new OS and hence went ahead with the update.

And now.......... I almost feel the iPhone is JUNK! Coz, it has become so slow.... that at times you really want to throw the phone out of the window! Why the hell would Apple allow iPhone 3G users to do this update. They are so careful about so many freakin things.... but why did they do this to me?? Now, if I want to go back in time.... as in... Install the older OS, I see that I will land up losing a lot of my data... involves a lot of my time etc etc..... So I just dint do it... Since I'm anyways waiting for the new iPhone to land up in the Philippines.... Honestly if Globe tests my patience anymore than this, I will have to get it from Singapore or elsewhere! I think I will wait for another two weeks tops before I get myself a new iPhone!

Anyways, bottom line - people using the iPhone 3G, don't upgrade your softwares. Those who have already done the upgrade, here's something that may help:

  1. Do a hard reset of the phone, not once but twice
  2. If you don't know how to do a hard reset... here are instructions
  3. Hold the power off button and the center key together for around 5 seconds
  4. You will first see the slide to power sign (Keep holding)
  5. The phone will switch off and restart showing the apple logo on the screen
  6. You can now release the buttons
  7. Do this twice
This basically cleans up your RAM and allows it to be free for operations. The phone becomes considerably faster for the next few days. I actually do a hard reset every few days now.

It's official - I'm an APPLE Fan!

And Nine months were all it took! I am totally in love with my Macbook Pro (MBP). For those of you who do follow my blog (the trace lucky few), I had a post last December for first time Mac users . I had taken a pledge to not use Windows for as long as I could. I win people! Till date, my Macbook Pro has not seen a copy of Windows installed on it. I actually have done just fine without Windows. Well, to be honest, I have to accept that I wouldn't have been able to manage at work. I have an office laptop running Windows XP to keep my office network people happy.

Anyways, I can firmly state with a lot of conviction and confidence that anyone who begins using a Mac will not want to ever ever go back to Windows! I seriously do find it difficult navigating Windows now. Trust me... Apple has built such an intuitive and user friendly OS that is clearly in sync with the hardware inside. I hardly have any serious issues with my MBP and in all of these months, its hung on me TWICE! The only Microsoft product that I use is Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 which frankly feels much better than what they have for Windows. The themes and templates are in plenty and are so built to match Keynote (Apple's version of Powerpoint). I heard that Windows 7 addresses many of these woes, but I still haven't had the opportunity to check it out.

My journey with Apple has just begun. I had the iPod, I still have the iPhone 3G, I have the Macbook Pro.... and just recently I went and got myself one of those fancy Time Capsules. Wonderful stuff....It basically is a wireless router and a hard disk put into one piece of equipment. The Time Capsule is able to wirelessly backup all the data on my Macbook Pro. I am even able to use it as a wireless server. Apart from this, it also sends out two sets of wireless signals. One that can be used for guests to only be able to use the internet. Another for using the internet and also having access to all the computers connecting to the network. And it took me just 5 minutes to set it up! The first back up is best carried out with a LAN cable and can take well over 6 hours (assuming you have around 200GB of data on your hard disk)...  But then what do we have 1TB of storage on the Time capsule for!

I'm now waiting for the iPhone 4 to be launched in the Philippines after which I am most certainly getting myself one of those! I think I'm one of the most frequent visitors to the Globe website .  I go there everyday to check if they have any news on when they are launching the iPhone 4 in the Philippines! For now, the wait continues!