Jini Computer

Is there anyone out there like me who wishes that cutting edge gadgets from the USA should be available in Dubai, say a week later after launch?

Remember the iPhone 4? It was being sold months later in Dubai for ridiculous prices,  I first saw the 32GB model selling for AED 7,000! And then there’s the iPad, it took ages to reach Dubai’s shops, and like the iPhone 4, cost an arm and a leg.

I have a friend in Amman-Jordan, who was looking to buy a Samsung Galaxy S which is a on the expensive side even when compared to UK prices, when I told him about the Samsung Nexus S, the second generation “Pure Google” smart phone, he got excited and wanted one, but how, where from, and when?

If you where in Jordan, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, KSA, Lebanon, Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt or any other Middle Eastern country, and wanted to purchase a Nexus S, a Galaxy Tab, an AR.Drone, or even the upcoming iPad 2, would you be prepared to buy from a dedicated online store for reasonable prices?

Please let me know your comments, because this can actually be arranged!

Having owned the Samsung Galaxy S for almost 2 months now and having promised to write in more details about my experience, I have already justified why I left my iPhone 3G, now I’m thinking that I should first talk about the hardware part of the smart phone trying as best as I can not to go too much into technical details which you can always get from a spec sheet on the Samsung site itself.

I think the SGS is the thinnest smart phone (sorry Apple) if not, it certainly feels like it. It also feels much lighter than the iPhone 4 and 3GS. There’s a standard 3.5 headphone jack, volume up/down buttons and power/sleep buttons. There’s also a USB connector where you can use the cable provided to connect to a PC/Mac.

On the back there’s the 5MP/720p camera (no flash) and the loud speaker. On the front is the gorgeous Super AMOLED screen, a front facing camera, a home button, 2 touch buttons for Menu and Back functions, not to mention the speaker and the microphone.

Opening the phone from the back is easy, and you’ll have to do that to insert the SIM card, the MicroSD memory card and the battery.

Internally there is 8 GB of memory, and you can add another 32 GB any time by inserting a MicroSD card. The processor runs at a blazing 1 Ghz, and to cater for the 3D graphics and effects there’s an extra graphic processing unit on board as well.

The battery lasted 13-15 hours before dying out, I used the screen most of the time, playing games, browsing, and watching TV, using Skype, listening to MP3 music and the of course making a couple of calls. I’d like to note that after upgrading the Operating System to Android Froyo 2.2, the battery has noticeably improved.

The speaker is loud (much louder than the iPhone), and people at the other end could hear me very clearly in any situation, the screen is bright, and I had no problem using the phone outdoors.

The phone is also equipped with GPS, compass, FM radio, Bluetooth and WiFi to name a few things.

The headphones that come with the SGS are not of the best quality when it comes to listening to MP3 music, I felt that the bass is just too shallow, and the button it has doesn’t do anything to the music playing. (Update: if you install WinAmp, the button will become  a multi-function remote for pausing, starting and skipping tracks). In any case I strongly suggest replacing the headset with a good quality stereo Bluetooth headset.

The 3.5 in socket is not a normal, standard one, the SGS allows you to connect to a TV using a Stereo Audio/Video cable, though not supplied, you can just find a Nokia and it’ll work perfectly, I watch many TV channels this way, I also play some games on my 42 in TV, it’s like having a portable game console, I can even play my old Amiga games on TV. Check the video below to see how this works..

Oh yes, I finally gave up my iPhone 3G to upgrade, not to an Apple iPhone 4, but to a Samsung Galaxy S i9000 powered by Google’s Android, as far as I’m concerned, it’s an -almost- perfect smart phone beating the Apple’s offering in -almost- everything.

Notice I used the word -almost- twice, this doesn’t mean it can’t -become- perfect, the potential is definitely there.

Having an Apple MacBook Pro, an iPhone and iPod Touch, 1st Gen, 2nd Gen and  4th Gen in the household, oh and I almost forgot, an Apple iPod Shuffle as well, it would be natural to upgrade my iPhone 3G to an iPhone 4, specially after skipping the 3GS, that in itself required much patience from my side, nevertheless, I started researching, not underestimating devices running Palm WebOS, Windows Mobile 7, Blackberry, Nokia (Symbian) and of course the mighty Android.

I loved Palm, I used to have a Palm Treo 650 smart phone, so many apps available since the days of Palm Pilot in the 90s, but I think on a strategic front, Palm made too many bad decisions, now owned by HP, it remains to be seen how far WebOS will go. Nokia, Windows and Blackberry OSs though having their own app markets, I just don’t foresee that they’ll be anywhere near Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android in terms of software applications. Let’s face it, people are having much higher expectations of their smart phones.

I’ll write in more details about my choice in future articles, but before I do that, allow me to let you know where I got the best PAYG (Pay As You Go) deal for Samsung Galaxy S here in the UK. Just pop in to any 3 store and get one for less than £390.00, and as a bonus, you’ll also get a free 3 (Three) Sim card, opening the world of Skype on 3G at no extra cost for life.

Owning an iPhone 3G for the last 2 years, was fun. I got an officially unlocked unit from Hong Kong, I learned how to jailbreak it, install all sorts of software, lost all the work after an update, jailbreak again, install again, update, ..you know what happened. My iPhone is currently on iOS 4.0.1, no multitasking nor home screen backgrounds because of performance impact on the aging hardware.

I can say that I have some favorite apps that I would definitely look for if I am going for an Android phone, I would also look for good battery life, and not to mention accessories like the nice Bose speakers or the nice Logic3 valve amplifiers.

I’m in a bit of a see-saw when it comes to deciding right now, I’m leaning towards a high end Android phone rather than going for an iPhone 4, I’m shortlisting the Samsung Galaxy S or the HTC Desire, as they’re both available here in the UK. Both come with Android 2.1 Eclair, and that is an issue that should be resolved soon, the 2.2 Froyo update is a major one, for one thing it lets the phone  become 2-5 times faster, not to mention a full Flash 10.1 support on the browser, that’s something you’ll never get on an iPhone.

Another thing I like about Android phones is that they have FM radio, sounds silly right? I think it’s absolutely ridiculous to listen to Magic FM using 3G networks.

But, and there’s the ‘but’, Google is developing Android 3.0 Gingerbread, bearing in mind that 2.2 is a major update, this must be a super update, websites are already talking about dual-core phones in the pipe line that will be handled by Gingerbread, if that’s the case, then I’m not sure that I’d jump ship to the Samsung Galaxy S or the HTC Desire, as they might not be ready to receive the 3.0 update when it comes.

I have a feeling that a new generation of high-end Android phones are coming, that could take a another couple of months.

With an iPhone 4 I wouldn’t worry about updates to the OS at least for a couple of years, it’s got a decent HD video camera, a front camera, but best of all, an elegant look.