Review Samsung Chromebook Series 5 (3G).

Au trecut deja cateva zile de cand mi-am cumparat Chromebook-ul Samsung (varianta cu 3G), asa ca am avut destul timp sa ma joc cu el si sa-mi fac o parere despre el. Sigur ca nu am reusit sa “explorez” tot ceea ce stie acest laptop, dar in cele ce urmeaza va voi explica ceea ce mi-a placut si ceea ce nu mi-a placut la acest device. De-a lungul review-ului, am scris cu verde acele lucruri care au fost gandite bine de Google, si cu rosu cele care au fost gandite aiurea, sau care ofera anumite beneficii in utilizare dar cu care nu ma pot eu obisnui.

Incep cu hardware-ul mai intai. Ar trebui sa-l plasez sub o categorie, ceea ce e oarecum dificil, asa ca o sa il numesc simplu, Chromebook. Asta pentru ca nu e nici netbook (care e ceva mai mic decat acesta), nici notebook (Apple are MacBook-uri cu dimensiuni mai mari, incep de la 13”). Si cu siguranta nu e nici tableta. M-am tot intrebat de ce nu o fi scos Google o tableta cu asa ceva (Chrome OS, sistemul de operare), dar mi-am dat seama ca nu prea ar avea rost. Google are deja tablete cu gramada (cu Android pe ele), asa ca probabil au vrut sa scoata un produs usor si portabil, care nu e o tableta. Si le-a cam iesit. Samsung i-a plasat dimensiunea exact intre cele doua MacBook Air-uri, dar nu prea se apropie nici de ele (ca si categorie in care l-as putea plasa).

Ca si plusuri aici imi place dimensiunea ecranului, dar si ecranul in sine (LED de 12,1 inch, foarte luminos, Google zice ca se vede foarte bine in lumina soarelui dar eu inca nu l-am testat in aceste conditii). Deasupra ecranului are un webcam, microfon, si un senzor de lumina ambientala, dotari destul de folositoare, zic eu. Toata conectivitatea de care dispune (cea prin porturi) e reprezentata de: 2 USB-uri, mufa pentru curent, un port miniVGA (cred, am primit in cutie adaptor la VGA pentru el), un port de casti/microfon (da, unul singur, cred ca se pot schimba functiile intre ele) si cititorul de carduri. Tastatura are taste mari, cu destul spatiu intre ele (e island type, ca pe MacBook-uri). In partea superioara, butoanele cu F-uri (pe care eu foarte rar le-am folosit pe tastatura traditionala) au fost inlocuite cu back-forward, refresh, full screen, un fel de change screen (poti sa ai multiple screens pe Chromebook), cele de luminozitate si de volum. Google/Samsung merita felicitari pentru ca incearca cu adevarat sa iasa din tipar, ca si Apple cu ale sale MacBook-uri.

Trackpad-ul e foarteeeee mare si raspunde foarte bine la comenzi, cel putin la degetele mele (sunt multi care s-au plans de senzitivitate, dar eu nu am probleme). Pentru a face click, by default, trebuie sa apesi pe trackpad, nu doar sa il atingi, insa poti sa apesi doar de la jumatatea sa in jos (destul de ciudat, desi nu ma deranjaza). Stie si multitouch, insa doar two-finger scrolling si drag-n-drop (click pe ce vrei sa muti, si apoi cu celalalt deget muti unde vrei respectiva chestie). Ca si greutate, are cam 1,5 kg (cum eu am fost obisnuit cu multe alte laptopuri, pare foarte usor). E extrem de subtire, nu stiu cum e in comparatie cu MacBook Air, dar va asigur eu ca e chiar subtire. Toata carcasa e construita in intregime din plastic, care desi scoate unele sunete cand il iei in mana/il misti, pare de calitate. La trackpad am observat cateodata un scartait mecanic, datorat faptului ca touchpad-ul nu e fix (cum am zis, trebuie apasat cand vrei sa faci click pe ceva). Bateria nu am apucat sa o testez, dar conform Google, ar trebui sa tina in jur de 8 ore jumate.

Trecem la software. Prima data cand l-am deschis, am simtit ca ceva lipseste, si anume sistemul de operare. M-am obisnuit insa rapid cu Chrome OS, care practic e doar browserul Google, cu toate aplicatiile si extensiile sale, plus cateva optiuni (ca si setari). Cand l-am primit, nu a trebuit sa-mi bat prea mult capul cu el, si-a facut singur update, am dat datele contului meu de Google, si el automat mi-a adus aplicatiile si extensiile. Simplu, rapid, eficient. Conectarea s-a facut simplu si rapid la reteaua wireless, fara batai de cap (eu am varianta cu 3G, la care am si 100MB trafic de internet gratuit pe luna de la Verizon cat timp mai sunt in SUA).

Ca si viteza, e foarte rapid deoarece e cam browserul Chrone care ruleaza de unul singur pe laptop. E rapid in limita procesorului dual-core de 1,66 GHz (Intel Atom) si a celor 2 GB RAM. Adica se descurca bine la incarcat majoritatea site-urilor, la schimbat taburi, la taskurile ce tin de acele aplicatii din Web Store. Dar daca deschizi un website mai mare, cu multe elemente, incepe sa aiba un pic de lag (in acel website). Insa in momentul in care deschizi mai multe website-uri de felul acela, deja incepe sa se tarasca. Sa nu uitam totusi ca a fost conceput ca si un dispozitiv portabil, nu ca un monstru de laptop de 15” si 4-5 kg care numa portabil nu e.

Boot-ul e ft rapid (sub 8 secunde), din stand-by iese in mai putin de o secunda, deci ceea ce a promis Google s-a si intamplat. Un lucru cu care chiar nu m-am obisnuit dar nu ma derajaza e faptul ca in momentul in care ridici ecranul, Chromebook porneste automat. Functia de guest mode e una foarte interesanta. Cand vrei sa ii permiti cuiva sa-ti foloseasca laptopul, pur si simplu apesi butonul power pentru cam o secunda, indeajuns incat sa iasa din cont si sa nu se stinga (cam in inca o secunda se stinge), si intri in Guest. Din acel moment, Chromebook nu mai tine date despre navigare, dar nici “nu isi aduce aminte” nimic din datele salvate din timpul in care ai fost logat pe contul de Google.

Nu cred ca se putea ca acest Chromebook sa nu aiba si dezavantaje, si inca unul care chiar ma “supara”, si anume Flash-ul instalat pe Chrome OS-ul din el. Ideea e ca videoclipurile merg foarte bine, doar ca pur si simplu nu poti face click pe niciun fel de buton din acel player facut in Flash. De exemplu, cand deschizi un videoclip de pe YouTube, acesta porneste de unul singur, si asa continua, pentru ca nu poate fi oprit, nu poti regla volumul, nu poti sa il duci in full screen, nu poti sa faci nimic cu el. Din cate am vazut, versiunea instalata e 10.2.158.28 iar Chrome OS-ul e up-to-date, deci deocamdata problema nu poate fi rezolvata desi sunt sigur ca Google va lansa un curand un update la Chrome OS menit sa rezolve problema. Totusi, YouTube mai poate fi folosit si in HTML5, care merge destul de bine (e disponibil pentru majoritatea videoclipurilor, nu pentru toate, si poate fi activat de la http://www.youtube.com/html5 ). Deocamdata insa, un punct in minus pentru faza asta. Cu atat mai mult cu cat YouTube apartine Google. Puteau macar sa faca videoclipurile sa li se deschida celor de pe Chromebook-uri direct in HTML5, pentru a nu face problema asta chiar asa de evidenta.

Si acum un lucru care creeaza destula confuzie: HDD-ul. Asa cum probabil ca ati citit, e un SSD de 16 GB, doar ca nu poate fi folosit. Adica singurul care il foloseste e sistemul de oprerare, pentru cache-uri. Eu am salvat o poza pe el Chromebook, insa inca nu imi e clar unde a pus-o, dar sigur nu e in Picasa (care acum ofera unlimited storage pentru dimensiuni mai mici de 2500 x 2500 pixeli). Cred ca e undeva pe HDD, si stiu ca e accesibila prin butonul downloads din...Chrome (si da, poate fi deschisa out-of-the-box, fara un program third-party). Un lucru interesant pe care l-am facut astazi: am downloadat un .xls, pe care am incercat sa-l deschid direct de pe Chromebook, insa nu il stie deschide. Asa ca am mers in Docs (Google Docs, am aplicatia luata din Web Store), am uploadat fisierul, si dupa ce l-a convertit intr-un format compatibil pentru aplicatie, mi l-a deschis exact ca pe un PC cu Windows si un Office instalat. Doar ca in cazul asta am platit doar 499 de dolari pe Chromebook, si nu un pret care se apropie de acea valoare doar pe licentele pentru Windows si Office.

Ar mai fi unele chestii de zis despre acest Chromebook, dar deocamdata ajunge. Acum sigur ca multi ma vor intreba daca “merita cumparat?”. Depinde. Daca sunteti genul celui care are nevoie de un laptop puternic, cu aplicatii dedicate pentru un anumit task, raspunsul e...nu prea. Dar daca aveti nevoie de un laptop portabil cu adevarat, cu browserul Chrome pe post de sistem de operare, si sunteti dispus sa incercati ceva nou, atunci da, cu siguranta ca merita.

In cazul in care aveti orice alt fel de intrebare, nu ezitati sa ma intrebati si eu o sa va raspund cat de repede pot.

Antennagate passed, Glassgate has just started. What's up next, Apple?

The antennagate madness seems to be finished now (everybody knows now that Apple's faulty design is causing signal lose, or even call drops), and the next problem, generically named glassgate, has just started. It was believed that it was just the creation of the competitors, but it seems to be quite real now because Apple has taken measures against this problem.

It is not clear how resistant the glass from the back of the device is, as there were reports which said that after the device has been repeatedly taken out and inserted back from and in some cases, scratches occurred on that glass. It seems that dust particles can get stuck when the cases are inserted (between the case and the glass), causing serious scratches on the glass. In fact, these scratches will, eventually, create cracks on the whole glass surface from the back of the iPhone 4.

It seems that Apple is aware of this issue, because they pulled from the Apple Stores from all around the world all cases of this type (at least until this problem is clarified). So, if you don't have a case, you'll get call drops because of the way Apple designed iPhone's antenna. But if you get one (anything else except the bumper), you risk to have the glass from the back of the device even cracked.

I already see Apple telling everybody that their products doesn't have any issues, and users are the only ones responsible for that scratches/cracks (just as they did with Antennagate).

No Limera1n or GreenPois0n icon on iPhone/iPod/iPad's SpringBoard after Jailbreak? You're just doing it wrong.

For those who didn't know, SpringBoard is the home screen of the iOS, the screen where all of your apps are located. I won't tell very much about Limera1n or GreenPois0n, they are just jailbreaking applications (Limera1n works on Windows and Mac, while GreenPois0n has a version for Linux also). Basically, they are quite the same thing (they're using the same exploit), and they work with any iDevice running 4.0, 4.0.2 or 4.2 firmware.

They are both very easy to use, you just have to download, run, and click "Make it ra1n!", and you'll be told how to put your device in DFU mode in order to start jailbreaking your device. A problem experienced by some of the people who tried jailbreaking their iDevices was that there was no Limera1n/GreenPois0n icon on the SpringBoard after jailbreaking (even though the applications said that jailbreaking succeeded).

The idea is that iTunes (it doesn't matter what version it is, it just needs to recognize your device) must be kept running while jailbreaking. Don't ask me why, I also had that problem, and when I left iTunes running while I used Limera1n, my jailbreak succeeded (when you see that drop rain on your iDevice, it means that jailbreaking succeeded). Probably, there's something in iTunes which allows the device to receive data while in DFU mode.

Who would have thought that there's such an easy fix for this problem?

If you're on Android, just don't use NetTraffic Monitor (from PopSoft) to monitor your traffic. It causes only issues.

NetTraffic Monitor is an app from Android Market which claims to be capable of monitoring your data traffic. It seemed quite weird to me even from the first run, because it requested me super user access (I'm running on a rooted device), even though its only work was to view and count my traffic, and nothing more.

After I installed it, I observed that the internet over 3G/2G networks was no longer working (the device was sending data, but it wasn't able to receive back anything). Actually, I didn't realize that the problems started after I installed NetTraffic Monitor, it took me about 2 days to realize that (during that time, I spoke with my carrier, thinking that they had problems with the network).

The app indicated only about 30 kb during that two days on mobile data networks, and absolutely no traffic on WiFi, even though I probably had about 50 MB on it. So I decided to uninstall it because it was useless (I also realized then that the problems started after its installation), and after the uninstall, guess what? The internet started working normally, and I haven't got any problems since then.

The app is the first one if you search for "Traffic Monitor" in the Market, so just be careful what you install and what you don't.

Angry Birds, the popular iOS game, now available for free in the Android Market.

Angry Birds is one of the most popular games for iOS, and it was bought by over 6.5 million people running Apple's devices (without counting those who downloaded it via Installous).  A few days ago it has also been launched for Android, in the Android Market, and is now available for download, yes, for free. Of course that it includes ads, but they appear only when you are restarting a "mission" and only for a few seconds (2-3 maximum).

Just as I was expecting, it is a very addicting game, and I started liking it as soon as opened it. On my Nexus One (1GHz processor with 512 MB of RAM) the game runs smoothly, without any lag. I've first seen this game on someone's iPod Touch (3rd gen) and it really had lag. The high graphics the developers included in this game make it a must have one for any Android device.

As someone said, "Once played can't stop". Maybe only when your battery discharges completely. It has already over 250 000 downloads, and about 10 500 ratings. A paid, ad-free version is expected to become available later this year.

To download it, just search for "Angry Birds" in the Market, it should be available on Android Markets from all over the world. If you can't find it there, just request me a download link for it and you'll be able to download it directly on you Android device.

Limera1n/Greenpois0n and iPad on 3.2.2? Better...not.

If you've got an iPad and you want jailbreak on it, my recommendation is to avoid the update to 3.2.2 (if you haven't done it already). My iPad was bricked today by a an app (it was stuck at boot logo), and I decided that because there was no way of recovering the data I had on it, the best option was to update it to the latest firmware, 3.2.2. But it turned out that it was a bad idea....

Everything went fine, iTunes 10 successfully updated it to 3.2.2, but the problems started when I tried to jailbreak it. Even though it seemed that the jailbreak succeeded, I couldn't find on the home screen the icon/shortcut/logo/app/whatever of the jailbreak tool I tried. I tried both limera1n and greenpois0n, on three different computers. One was running Windows XP, one was on Windows 7, and the other was on Mac OS X. However, on none of the them I got the icon of the jailbreak solution I tried. So, I couldn't get Cydia, so the jailbreak was completely useless.

I really don't know where's the problem, some people reported that both solutions worked fine from the first try on their 3.2.2 iPad, others reported that they tried of few times and than they succeeded, and others reported that they got in the same situation as me. I think that I tried about 25 times to jailbreak that iPad. I really got tired of these iDevices. Unjailbroken, the iPad it is just a bigger iPod, even a much cheaper Android-powered device being able to do much more that an iPad can. But if you jailbreak it (it's legal in case you didn't know, read more here), you'll get a big headache with all the bugs and problems jailbreaking brings.

I ended up by restoring the iPad to 3.2.1 (I had SHSH on file for 3.2.1, so it was quite simple), and I did the jailbreak using jailbreakme.com. If you're still on 3.2.1 (or 3.2) and you want jailbreak, make sure you do it before updating the iPad to 3.2.2, because at that time you can save your iPad's SHSH blobs without any problem.Having SHSH saved on 3.2.1/3.2 (or even on 3.2.2 if you get there with a jailbroken iPad) means that you can anytime downgrade/restore to the version you have that SHSH saved.

Use them on your own responsibility:

Jailbreak by limera1n (Windows, Mac OS X): http://www.limera1n.com/
Jailbreak by greenpois0n (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux): http://www.greenpois0n.com/

Ubuntu 10.10 is live, there aren't any huge changes.

Ubuntu, the most popular Linux distribution, got today to a new version, 10.10 Maverick Meerkat. This new version brings some changes, but they are small so the experience is pretty close to Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx. The themes (Radiance and Ambiances) were slightly polished, making Ubuntu a quite good-looking alternative for Windows or Mac.

One of the most notable difference is represented by the fonts. They look now much prettier than before. Below is an example:

The Ubuntu Software Center has also been changed, bringing you new features, such as "What's new", "Where is it", the ability of handling .deb files or paid applications. Actually, there's only one paid application now, but it is just for testing purposes, more are expected to come with Ubuntu 11.04. 

The installation process has been completely redesigned. Andrew (from webupd8) shot a video of it:

Ouch, I was about to forget about it. There's also a new wallpaper into Ubuntu 10.10 by default. The old one, which has been a little redesigned compared to the one present in 10.04, created a real scandal and was changed after some users reported even a bug into it. So, it now looks something like this:

Other changes are represented only by under the hood improvements and updates to most applications, changes that are seen rarely or aren't at all for the end user. 

Ubuntu is available for download from here.