There’s been a lot going on at work and at home. So, this site has taken a backseat. I’m not abandoning this site. It’s just that I get upset when I look at the site. And that turns me off and I don’t feel like updating.

So many things that I want to do, but I just can’t find the time. And this ‘perfectionist’ streak in me isn’t helping. I like things to be ‘perfect’ — look great on the PC. And just as good on the tablet and smartphone. But this is a personal project and I dun have the $$$ to pay an expert. For the next few weeks, I think one update every 1-2 weeks is the best I can do. I’ll try to get back to doing at least one update a week by mid of this year — after I work on the looks and feel of this site.

I’m happy to report… So far so good… Things are definitely looking brighter.

Then there are the days where everything is good. And then some that just gets you so down and tired.

Saw the bag of medicine on the table — practically something for everyone in the family. Definitely need to make some real changes if we wanna see improvements.

This Chinese New Year could have been better, but I guess it could also have been a lot worse. So, I’m gonna be grateful and try to make things better. Missed out on a few gatherings and was not able to catch up with some friends like I originally wanted to. Will try to make up for it.

Well, as fine as we can be. We’ve been up and down with bouts of sore throat, cough, flu, stomach flu, viral fever, etc… One after another.

Otherwise, we’re fine… So bear with the slow update while we sort things out. Probably need to change our schedule, eating habit, etc…

To be honest, I wasn’t really paying much attention to this case till Mrs Tai told me about it.

According to Mrs Tai (who read about this in the papers), the parents had left the three kids in the car. The sister was crying so William told the sister that he will go out and look for their parents. He never came back.

This really touched me — A 6 year old boy who felt responsible enough to actually try to calm the sister down and told her that he’ll go get the parents back.

I hope he is safe and will be found soon.

Asus PadFone 2 without Hydraskins:

Asus PadFone 2 with Hydraskins:

Basically, a ‘skin’ to dress up your gadget. But it also provides very minor protection — mainly against scratches.

The skin feels ‘rubbery’. You get the option for regular skin or have ‘carbon fibre’ added — to give it a textured feel.

Applying the skin is relatively easy. You can stretch it a bit or even reapply if it didn’t go well — the adhesive on the skin seems good enough to allow me a few tries. Yup, it took me a few tries with the ‘Pad’ as it was a ‘big’ 10.1″ tablet (and I have not-so-steady hands). I had trouble with the rounded corners. But it was a breeze applying it on the ‘Fone’.

Hydraskins have got lots of designs that you can choose from. But if you have gone through their gallery and cannot find something you like, there is always the custom skins. You just provide them with a high resolution image and let them do the magic.

The people at Hydraskins are also a friendly lot! They were very helpful and answered my silly questions patiently via email as well as via the phone.

I opted for the custom skins. The process was simple. I placed an order on their website (www.hydraskins.com) and then made the payment to them. After that, I emailed them the image that I would like to have printed on the skin. 1-2 days later, Hydraskins reverted with the design template — for me to confirm that the design is acceptable. It usually takes Hydraskins another few days to get it printed.

As I was in a hurry (to show off my new gadget and skins), they accommodated and got the skin ready for me in one day, but self collect from their office at Ara Damansara.

Having used the Hydraskins on my Asus Padfone 2 for a few weeks now… I find that it gives the device a nice and personal feel. I am definitely happy with the Hydraskins and what I like even more is the fact that it is quite cheap (money wise, that is)!

I have already got an idea for another design to be used in a few months time, when I get bored of the current one. Yes, I’m definitely a happy customer and will be a returning one too!

Here are a few more photos of the Hydraskins.

The carbon fibre gives the Hydraskins some texture…

The print looks a bit washed out but I suspect is due to the carbon fibre. Still, it’s acceptable…

I’ll probably set them up and put them under archive soon, but for now, sorry, the old posts will not be accessible.

Updated on 11th January 2012:
1. Just to mention that the camera performance could very much be a software issue — if so, it can and should be improved once Asus rolls out new firmware. Let’s hope that is the case.
2. Actually, besides the camera, some of the other things that has been mentioned here may be made made obsolete once Asus rolls out new version of the firmware — Yes, these days, software can be really powerful. Good or bad change, is another thing…
3. Alarm function is actually on the weather apps rather than clock ?!

This is Asus PadFone 2…

Yes, it is a strange device. It is a 4.7″ phone. And yet, it is also a 10.1″ tablet.

The geek specs
The PadFone2 comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro Krait (Cortex-A15 class) Quad-Core 1.5GHz with Adreno 320 graphics. It has got 2GB of RAM with 16GB/32GB/64GB internal storage options (only 32GB version is available in Malaysia). No external memory slot (so sad). For connectivity, Padfone 2 has got plenty… WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth V4.0, NFC, LTE, HSPA+, AGPS, Glonass GPS. Screen wise, the phone has got a 4.7″ HD 1280×720 Super IPS+ screen with scratch resistant glass from Corning Glass. The screen on the Pad (station dock) is a 10.1″ WXGA 1280×800 IPSscreen with scratch resistant glass from Corning Glass. For camera, the phone comes with 13 Megapixel rear camera and a 1.2 Megapixel front camera. The Pad has for a 1 Megapixel front camera. Battery… 2140mAh Lithium battery for the phone and 5000mAh battery for the Pad.
Note: Specs are from Asus PadFone 2 website.

What does that all mean?
The phone is fast! Racing games like Asphalt 7 runs smoothly. The size of the phone is also about right (for those who complain about S3 and Note 2 being too big… OK, OK… and iPhones being too small). You get big screen when you want, and small screen when you don’t. Definitely a ‘WOW’ factor when you undock the phone from the station (aka the tablet) to answer an incoming call (you can also answer the call while docked).

Seriously, how is the ‘Fone’?
The phone itself is good. It feels solid. I quite like the fact that the design is simple. No curved glass or chin-like design. You have the usual power button, volume button the audio port and another for power (and misc use which I have yet to explore). There are no other physical buttons like those found on Samsung phones and iPhones. The phone itself is light (well, so far, everything that I have said… If you have not noticed, are relative, and mainly a personal preference). The sound is also good — I can hear my callers and they can hear me quite well.

The phone screen is quite good. It was visible outdoor (and I have not even enabled the outdoor mode yet!). However, if you are coming from a Super Amoled screen (like I have — having used Samsung Galaxy S2 and Samsung Galaxy Note), the screen does look a bit dull.

And the ‘Pad’?
The tablet’s screen is not as impressive as the phone. If you’re looking at the phone then you look at the tablet screen shortly after docking the phone, you’ll notice there is a huge difference. I guess this has to do with the tablet’s screen resolution and pixel density. Images and apps just don’t look as good as it does on the phone. But that is not to say that the screen is bad. But when you look at the same thing on the phone and then on the tablet, the difference is obvious.

I can’t say I’m particularly impressed by the tablet. It looks, feels and works like a regular 10″ tablet. If anything, maybe it’s because of the lack of any ports other than the one that is for charging on the tablet and also the phone. The charging port is similar to the one on the phone. It is a ‘proprietory’ port that also accepts a microUSB cable. However, just like on the phone, when you plug in the microUSB cable, it is actually quite loose and a slight bump on the cable will most likely cause a disconnection. But on the plus side, USB OTG (On The Go) cable works with the tablet. This means you can use a USB OTG cable to connect an external USB device like another harddisk. I tested with a 1TB Western Digital Essential series harddisk and it works fine! I could copy and paste files between the harddisk and the phone.

What about the camera?
The phone sports a 13MP camera. Based on a review by Engadget, it is supposed to have a Sony BSI sensor. It’s from SONY. It can’t be bad, right? Well… I have to say that I’m quite disappointed with the camera function. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves…

Resized photo from Asus PadFone 2 (L) vs Samsung Galaxy S3 (R)

Looks decent?

But at original size, you can see that the Galaxy S3 takes better photos…
Photo taken with Asus PadFone 2 at 100% size

Photo taken with Samsung Galaxy S3 at 100% size

I guess it can be good or bad, depending on how one uses the photo.

The little things…
Typical of Asus, the Android is not heavily customised. That means that the Android experience is almost as close to what Google would have served via the Nexus devices. Asus has also bundled 50GB clould storage service (free for 2 years). Local sets are also given 2 years warranty for the phone and 1 year for the tablet — Don’t ask me why only 1 year for the tablet. I’m just as puzzled. There’s also an interesting apps that has been bundled. It’s supposed to be able to backup apps and apps data. I’ve yet to try this out. Hope to try it out over the next week or so and update here.

Docking the phone to the station is quite easy. You just slide it in and the phone then locks in place. It doesn’t feel like the phone will slide out easily (from knocks, etc). Application wise, there is a settings that you can enable on the phone to allow seamless transition… Meaning you can be watching a movie or playing games and it does not end when you dock the phone. But there are some limitations to this. I hope to share more tips on the PadFone 2 in the near future.

What is not to like about the Asus PadFone 2?
As I have mentioned earlier, there are a few things that I’m not too particularly happy about with the Asus Padfone 2. They are:
* Lack of external memory slot. I used to laugh at some friends for getting phones that don’t have external memory.
* The ‘proprietory port’. Yes, I can still insert a microUSB cable into the port but the microUSB cable will come off too easily.
* The not-so-exciting screen on the tablet — How I wish Asus could have just included a 1080p screen. I am quite sure that will be for PadFone 3.
* LED notification/ indicator. Right now, if you dun have the phone docked into the station, you can’t tell if the station is fully charged.
* Phone can get a bit warm when using heavy processing or at low network coverage areas — I wonder if this is an intentional design: heat dissipation.
* The price tag — I personally feel that the Malaysia recommended retail price of RM2799 is just too high.
* The future is uncertain — Based on Asus trend, it would seem the PadFone 2 will not be compatible with PadFone 3 accessories (note: this is more a speculation). Everyone is hoping for a keyboard dock like what Asus did for PadFone 1.

In conclusion…
The Asus PadFone 2 is a mixed bag. It looks and feel good. It works well. But somehow, it doesn’t seem like it is really refined. There are still lots of areas that Asus can definitely improve on. But they are not really deal breakers (except maybe for the price tag).

I am a heavy user. I can drain a phone battery in 2-3 hours doing gaming, surfing, IM, etc… Usually, my phone will need to be plugged into the wall every 3 hours or so. But with the Asus PadFone 2, I can use the phone + station till battery is 80%. Undock and use phone. Once the phone battery reaches about 40%, I just need to dock the phone to station and I’m back in business. By the time station battery almost flat, phone should already be about 60-70%. I just have to undock and use the phone and at the same time, charge the station separately. Come evening, I go through another round of docking, drain the station (still using phone), undock, use the phone… By the time I get to bed, it should be just about the right time to dock the phone and charge both the station and the phone. This is definitely good as I don’t have to be near the wall socket. I have the freedom to move around. And my Yoobao powerbank is still useful when I need to be out.

The ‘optional’ big screen can really be useful when I need to do some serious work and also to watch movies.

Oh, did I mention I could easily play Full HD movies (usually those 4+GB in size) on this phone? Yup, works beautifully.

Additional information:
Malaysian Wireless has reported that LTE is now being rolled out in Malaysia, with the first being Maxis. And guess what, PadFone 2 should, in theory, work on Maxis LTE. Too bad I’m already tied to U Mobile.

May the new year bring even more happiness, good fortune and great health…

Background story: I’ve always liked BIG screens. I started with Samsung Galaxy SII (4.3″ screen) and felt it wasn’t big enough. Then I got myself a Samsung Galaxy Note (5.3″ screen). Many thought my next phone would be the Samsung Galaxy Note II (5.5″ screen).

A friend knows I’m looking around for a new phone.

Friend: Got yourself a new phone yet?
Me: Yup…
Friend: So, screen size ‘upgrade’ again?
Me: Errr… Yes. And No.

Well, it’s a 4.7″ phone that can dock into a 10.1″ tablet.

I’ve done the unboxing. The review will come in another week or so. Need time to adjust to the phone so I can give a fair review.