Review of General Elections 2011

It's been about a week after the GE. This is the first time that I'm a voter and I'm actually glad that the results was as what I had wanted. It was a close call just as with any other areas. We definitely learnt a lot from this year's elections. It's a wake up call with a big sharp whip spank to some, a great encouragement for others and definitely lots of 'boos' and cat calls for the rest. Here's a non-political review on the past few weeks that I've enjoyed sadistically.

Tin Pei Ling vs Nicole Seah
Ah, our all time favorite from the beginning of GE and which is still burning strongly now.
Take a look at Mr. Miyagi's blog post. Within a few seconds of looking at the photos of Tin Pei Ling and Nicole Seah, I came up with this:

The Appeals of Tin Pei Ling and Nicole Seah
Tin Pei Ling	Nicole Seah
In PAP	In NSP
28 years old	24 years old
In a group with very experienced seniors	I only focused her and her only
Married	Single
Possess Kate Spade	Possess great looks
Regrets not bringing her mother to USS SG	I have no idea what her regret is after all that talk
Has many facebook pages created just for her	Has many Likes in her facebook page
Ability to tai chi perfectly	Ability to speak persuasively

I'd put up a points system but it'd be too much for fans for either of them. I'm not going to judge them right now, but wouldn't it be impressive if they battled against each other again 5 years later?

Yam Ah Mee

As a certain someone had told me, Singaporeans probably were so traumatized with the results that they shifted focused to the man of the night: Yam Ah Mee. He became a phenomenon over night with people requesting to be friends with him on Facebook and tribute videos of him here and here. Here's a video of how he spoke originally:

Just perfect for auto-tuning.

Mascots and merchandises

In a bid to grab Singaporeans' attention, some parties came out with mascots and merchandises to sell to their supporters. We have:

The Sinpo Ant from SDA meant to represent the ants' qualities of "team effort, Consultative and Cohesive... and more..." The first thought I had when I saw it was "Were they shortchanged by the designer who designed this?" Apparently not. Well, for a non-artist who drew this, I'd say the Sinpo ant definitely requires a certain amount of effort to create... I think. Other than taking pictures with this mascot, people could also get a Sinpo keychain.

Then there's also :

SDP's bear mascot named Danny. I really couldn't resist thinking that it was creepy looking, especially when hoards of innocent kids ran to it happily. Well, this probably applies to people with warped minds like me. Hey, the bear is cute. Let's not think about what's in there or what it does to the kids when no one is looking.

Lastly, there's PAP's merchandises. We've seen it on TV and every year's National Day. Yes, it shouldn't be a mistake because that's what I thought when I saw it. It's a standard set of PAP flags and caps. They probably had the resources to get the right suppliers for churning out these goods. I did my best attempt to get a good picture of these goods but I couldn't find them anywhere. Well, here's a small compensation on what happens when I tried to search for it on Google. Creepy, isn't it?

The results

The most apparent news that reached my ears is the news of George Yeo and Chiam See Tong. It's impressive because I was probably one of those few who only sat down in front of a laptop, surfing through the net doing something else totally unrelated to the elections and only heard brief news feed from friends who posted their disappointment in Facebook. Well, then there's also PAP's less-than-expected victory at Marine Parade.

The leavers

Following George Yeo's indication that he would be leaving politics, this would be the most recent news as MM Lee and SM Goh announces their retirement right after the elections. Most of us would be happy because after all, these two men deserves their break after serving Singapore for so long. Apparently, SDP likes the idea too and... it'd be better if there was something more following their departure.

I'm sure we're not coming to an end to Singaporeans' heat and interest in the elections. As the saying goes, "We'll probably forget about it in one year's time and lament about it five years later. As usual. Sighs~"

Disclaimers: All pictures and sources belong to its respective owners.

PS: I couldn't help comparing Sinpo and Danny to the elephant and donkey mascots in America. They just sound... cooler

Motorola Xoom (Wi-Fi Edition without Usable Wi-Fi): First Impressions [Android]

Official Site: Motorola


Ok, I won't do a full review (because many other sites have in-depth reviews and analysis already), because I don't own a set (would love to though, are you reading this Motorola?)

I spent about an hour with the Motorola Xoom. However, it was in a commercial electronics store, I'm not a famous blogger (yet [hehe]) and I activated their security alarm like three times because it came off easily. Not telling where to protect their security and, of course more importantly, image. =)

Anyway back to the Xoom.

Hardware:
Overall, it is rather light, lighter than I had expected from a tablet that big. It also felt really sturdy. However the weight does show after a while of using it. Design I have nothing to say. Simple, black (can't go wrong with black), and maximises the screen quite well. I have seen sites complaining about the border, but think seriously, without the border your non-master hand will keep touching the screen unless it is always at the bottom, which gets tiring really quickly.

Camera is pretty decent, because it is at least 5 megapixels and not some embarrassingly-low resolution. Yes I do know resolution is not everything, but it does affect the amount of detail you can capture with a camera, and especially if you don't have steady hands and an optimum lighting environment.

Regarding the power button at the back, I actually like it. Stop complaining you left-handers, you do know most of the world's population are right handers right? Anyway I personally do not think it matters if you are left- or right-handed, it should be easy enough to reach either way.

Software:
Interface is what have been shown to the death online: Stock Honeycomb (Android 3.0). Feels really fast on that Tegra 2 chip. Everything just felt very user-friendly, and being able to view live updates and customise the home screen with Honeycomb widgets (I personally like the Bookmark, Calendar, Market and Music apps) which all look simple and function well. Having a lively desktop does make a difference to whether you want to look at it, in my opinion. Notification bar is now a popup from the bottom right, and works in any app. I actually love the new notification bar which has information as well as quick access to settings.

Camera interface is great, with features you would expect from a cheap digital camera, but it is nothing the Android Market cannot fix if you are clamouring for more. Nicely-designed interface, very suitable for taking photos without fear of shaking the Xoom too much as the shutter button is really positioned very well. As for video camera, the default one's rather decent, and since there are not many video camera replacements on the Market yet.

Movie Editor was one highlight during the conference held by Google. It has actually more functions than I thought. Thanks to the dual-core insides, the Movie Editor could handle movie editing with effects and transitions rather decently. It's not the best movie editor out there, but it does the job and for most users, it's more than enough to edit and upload a video to YouTube or any other video-sharing site.

Music Player, YouTube, Market and the Browser could not be tested in more detail in the display set I got my hairy hands on, as there was no Wi-Fi connection in the shop for me to use, and my phone's battery was in critical condition, and decided not to try to tether. The Browser looked very much like Chrome, and has syncing with Chrome. Nothing much I can say about it, unfortunately.

Games, as you might have expected, could not be tested as well, due to the Xoom I tried being a largely out-of-the-box device and not having any internet connection. Sorry dual-core processor, I could not abuse you.

However, I tried the Acer Iconia Tab sitting right beside the Xoom, and played Need For Speed: Shift with it. To nobody's surprise (he's a naive guy, he is), it runs at a high resolution, and everything was really smooth. However as I am not a fan of racing games (ok I just played very badly and decided to explore other features of it) I put it down after realizing it is pretty much like the Xoom with little customization from Acer.

Would recommend if you:
-like tablets which can multi-task, customizable, shows live updates on the home screen all together without having to access any app, has a great and non-intrusive notification system.
-like more intensive gaming, which will definitely pick up this year as more and more Tegra 2 devices roll out.
-has the spare cash to spend on it. A bit pricey, but it beats the performance of most, if not all netbooks I have seen.

Would not recommend if you:
-need applications available only on Windows/Mac (like me)
-think that everything without an Apple logo is bad.
-only want to play casual games, do simple tasks that do not require integration between apps, play music and video (after waiting patiently for iTunes to convert and transfer)
-still love Microsoft Windows and cannot live without the applications available for it.
-are not rich enough to afford this (duh).

Hackability:
Full. As a Google flagship device, it is unlockable.

I personally do not see much of a use for tablets now. I would expect tablets to pick up when mobile network becomes a must for most people. Also when laptops/desktops/netbooks become irrelevant for most people. However if you are really looking for a productive tablet (and not some oversized music/video player which I have never seen people doing productive stuff with, only Angry Birds, Bejeweled, Plants Vs. Zombies and similar games), the Xoom is definitely the way to go for now.

Creative Ziio 7": First Impressions [Android]

Official Site: Creative (Singapore)


Didn't have much time for this one, but tried it twice.

First time I tried it, it was running 2.1, and mostly stock-looking, with the Creative Apps on the homescreen (of course). Navigation was slightly fidgety (partly due to the resistive screen) and it just felt like a big and generic stock Android device.

Tried it again, and realized that it was actually running Android 2.2. Glad to see Creative putting in effort into this one and making it better. Amazingly it felt much less fidgety, and the launcher has been revamped. It looks more professional and less stock-ish now. As much as Android users emphasize that customization should be left to the users, I personally prefer to see manufacturers trying to distinguish their device with an attractive default launcher to capture people's eyes and improve first impressions.

Animations were much more snappier, and the browser speed definitely improved a lot. However, due to the resistive touch screen, multi-touch gestures were not possible (sorry folks, no zooming in and out when playing Angry Birds).

Also, as advertised on their websites, it can stream sound wirelessly to their wireless speakers.

Had no time to try out their sound, but looking at their track record and my experiences with their devices, Creative usually delivers decent sound quality for a decent enough price.

For the interested, there's a VGA camera too. Don't expect amazing photos from it. Decent for short sessions of cam-whoring, or just purely checking your hair before meeting that not-so-special-any-more someone (just bring a mirror if you want to do that, seriously).

Would recommend if you:
-prefer a good music/player with a decent screen size but still portable.

Would not recomment if you:
-are looking for a powerhouse device that can play intensive games or play back 1080p videos. However it has a HDMI cable for connecting to your giant awesome TV.
-audiophiles. You probably won't be reading this if you're one anyway.

Hackability:
Apparently no according to a search on XDA Forums. =( No Root. No custom ROMs.