Follow Urban Patterns and Patterns with your smartphone or tablet

I made it a bit easier to follow this blog with a mobile device today. I changed to blog logo as a QR code. It can be pointed with a smartphone or tablet QR code scanner and the blog will open in a mobile device browser.

Playbook time!

Even though I work with digital design, I tend to be slow to buy the latest gadgets. For long, I disliked tablets as I thought they are too chunky to carry around i.e. not very portable which they are meant for. I still think Apple's iPad is too big. And the Android devices I do not find appealing at all. For some strange reason I have a crush on Blackberries. That is why I have been waiting RIM's Blackberry Playbook tablet with excitement.

Again, I did not rush to buy at when it first hit the stores a couple of ago but read several reviews and then decided to invest in it. My first reactions are very positive. I like the look and feel of the device, and the size. For me, it is perfect size to take with me anywhere. Unlike iPads, Playbook supports Flash and all the other important web technologies which make it a versatile companion. Playbook lacks the plethora of applications at the moment, as the Guardian put it "Welcome to the Soviet App Store". That does not bother me as I do not see the point downloading dozens of apps. I use the internet instead. Connectivity wise Playbook is superb as it can be used with WI-FI and with an existing Blackberry's 3G connection so there is no need to make different models for different uses as Apple does.

The camera is dead - long live the new camera!

My old Sigma DP-1 went out of function last week. The repair cost was high considering its age, so I decided to buy a new camera. It was quite a project to find a camera that suits my needs. Thanks to photomaniac Singaporeans and tough competition, there is a wide range of cameras available here in reasonable prices.

At first, I thought I would buy a true DSLR as they take the best pictures. But then I started to think about the size. DSLRs are huge. That is why I zoomed to semi-DSLRs, Olympus PEN series and Panasonic GF-1. They have changeable lenses and small bodies, plus stylish design that the traditional DSLRs lack.

Yesterday I went to Funan DigitaLife Mall to try the PENs and GF-1. After trying both labels with different lenses and bargaining about the price, I ended up buying the Panasonic GF-1. I got it with two lenses, with a 20mm pancake lens and a 14-45mm zoom lens. I think the GF-1 has the best hands on experience for me and I like its design a lot.

Picture from panasonic.net

Now it is time to learn how my new GF-1 works. Here is the first shot:

Picture taken with the 20mm pancake lens. I love the way the autofocus. It makes the front part clear and blurs the background giving the picture a nice feel.

iPad - a Kindle killer?

Pictures from apple.com and amazon.com

Apple introduced its long-anticipated touch screen device yesterday. It looks like a stretched iPod Touch and it is called iPad. Basically it is like iPod Touch with a huge 9.7" screen. I will not go to all the tech details, you can read about them here.

One thing that is very interesting is Apple's intentions with iPad. They have made a handy surf board for sure and easy to carry around video watching device for traveling. But is iPad also a way to catch the market from Amazon's Kindle? iPad has a big enough screen for digital book reading and with its desirable looks it makes Kindle looking like an old calculator. iPad comes also with a wide variety of functions while Kindle is more or less meant just for reading.

Amazon has been marketing its electronic book reading device for couple of years now, but it never has really gotten to the main stream and hit the big buck. Apple on the other hand, is known for its ability to make gold of almost everything it touches. Apple's strengths lie in design, usability and branding. Amazon is not first and foremost a device manufacturer, they sell books. I am just wondering will iPad catch the bubbling-under market from Kindle and make digital magazine and book reading a hit? We will see. Still, at this point I read my magazines and books as paper versions.