Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Review

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 may well be the best-looking Android tablet in the market right now. And I'd say it possesses the best customised Android Honeycomb interface thanks to Touchwiz UX.

I was fortunate to get a review unit within a week of its launch in Singapore and so I'm here to give my review on this attractive device.

Package
The Tab includes, besides the usual charger, a pair of earphones, one of the few tablet makers to package in the box. The USB cable doubles up as charging cable, its length is rather short.

The tablet in the box is protected with separate pieces of plastic front and back. The plastic is so tightly stuck to the glossy back surface that I am happy to leave it on as a protection against the white scratchable surface.

Size
The Tab is the slimmest tablet for its screen size, a hairline thinner than iPad 2. It has a slightly bigger surface area than Motorola Xoom.

Comparing thickness between Galaxy Tab 10.1 and iPad 1.

The back is flat, not curved like iPad 1 or Asus Transformer, and that makes the Tab extremely slim and easy to slip in your bag.

Design and Specs
Running on dual core 1GHz Tegra 2 processor, the Tab has 3 hardware buttons located at the top left. The volume rocker direction is uniquely swapped: press the left to reduce volume, press the right to increase. This is in alignment with the on-screen volume indicator, but if you use the Tab in the portrait orientation, you would need to press down to increase volume.

The speakers are located at the upper area of the tablet, so you won't block the speakers when holding the Tab naturally. The glass surface is less reflective, which makes viewing more comfortable. The surface also feels smooth to the fingers when swiping, and finger prints are easily wiped off. Audio quality is pleasantly balanced for long periods of listening. 

Built quality
The exterior is entirely made of plastic which is easily dented. I have already dinged the volume buttons and I have no idea how I got the scars. It was certainly not due to drop as it looks more like scratches. See picture below to be the judge (click to enlarge).

Touchwiz UX Skinned Interface
The Tab has, in my opinion, the best Honeycomb interface customised. If you are familiar with the Galaxy S phone interface, then you will feel right at home with the Tab. All the menu icons are splashed in full colour, and the font sizes are made bigger to ease viewing. The slide-out notification pane has the usual short-cut icons allowing you to manage your Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Sounds, Flight Mode, etc. Stock apps like File Manager, Music Player are all customised with multiple columns to improve usability. The Tab even has the familiar vibration feedback as you type or when receiving incoming notifications. Samsung has its TFT LCD screen colours heavily boosted to make images look more vibrant without appearing unreal (until you do a visual comparison with the competitors).

The other customisation to the OS is the MiniApps. Select the up-arrow icon in the middle of the status bar and a row of apps slide out - Task Manager, Calendar, World Clock, Pen Memo, Calculator and Music Player. Click on any of the apps and it will appear as a floating window on top of your existing screens. You can use the floating app and navigate the main screen at any time, and the floating app will remain on top at all times. You can choose to "maximise" the app, and in doing so the MiniApp will close and the actual full-screen app will be loaded. This MiniApp implementation is Samsung's solution to multiple-window multi-tasking. For now, the list of MiniApps are not customisable.

Besides the standard Honeycomb soft-icons to the left side of the status bar, the Tab has a fourth "Screen Capture" button for ease of snapping the screen contents. The button can capture almost every screen on the Tab (even the camera preview), except when the MiniApp dock appears which hides all other status bar information.

Unfortunately, all the wonderful customisations have put a toll on the Tab. It is noticeably more laggy in between finger swipes and icon selections, so this would certainly put a dent on user expectations.

Camera
Ironically, with all the greatness of the interface, the 3mp rear and 2mp front camera quality are not to be taken seriously. It is a pity considering the camera app has many shooting modes and custom settings like metering mode, focus mode, white balance and exposure compensation.

3mp camera with LED.

Video Playback
Just like all the other Tegra2 Android tablets I have tested, the Tab fails to play my reference MP4 and MKV video files smoothly, even when using third-party software-decoding video apps. The playability is a far cry from Galaxy S2, and even my single-core Galaxy S plays the same files without missing a beat.

Battery Utilisation
Battery performance on 3G network is quite good. When I turn on auto-sync for Gmail and corporate mail, sets Tweetdeck to refresh feeds every 10 minutes, and check on the Tab regularly throughout the day for mails and social network feeds, the Tab uses up just 50% in 16 hours.

Expandability
The Tab does not come with generic connectivity ports like HDMI, memory card slots, or USB. However, there are official adapters that allows you to do all the above.


Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is light, thin, delivers striking colour display, has good battery life, is easy to operate with customised interface and apps, and 3G-enabled for data access anywhere. Almost perfect... just marred by laggy interface, uninspiring camera quality, and underwhelming video performance. Still, don't let it stop you from owning the best-looking most user-friendly Android interface in the market.

Lumix GF3, Sony NEX-C3 & Samsung NX100: Comparing ILC

Update 29 Oct 2011: Go to the Mirrorless Camera Comparison link for the latest review comparison on new cameras

For the past weeks, I have done some comparison among the 3 interchangeable lens camera (ILC) systems. If you ask me how I feel, my response is:

GF3 offers slight advantage on AF point selection using touch screen, plus some fanciful touch-shutter functions that are generally more fun to use. But I would still prefer NX menu layout. GF3 has the fastest AF and highest fps, but the screen does not look sharp. It can shoot full HD but in MTS (BD) format and not the PC-friendly MP4 format. You can shoot MP4, but only 720p, and audio quality is poorer. Being micro four-thirds system, GF3 offers lots of lens choices, and has the fastest shooting response among the three.

NEX-C3 offers the best screen display. I feel a big sense of gratification after I take the shot and seeing the images on the screens. I also like how the icons are high-res and neat. ISO quality is the best among the three. The build quality is the best among the three, and has the most unique design. With NEX, I can shoot at high ISO and I get more clear shots than the rest, because Sony is confident in its high ISO and aggressively sets high ISO for its auto shots. Sadly, its shutter sound is the loudest and most annoying.

NX100 offers the best handling and ease of making shooting adjustments. I can use the hot-shoe with legacy photographic accessories. Spec-wise, it is not as impressive because it's the oldest model among the three. The ISO noise is the highest but comparing to the compact cameras, it is still good. This is the best camera among the three for speedy manual shooting controls.

ILC or DSLR? I still don’t get the same experience from the ILCs as I do with DSLR. While I find myself struggling to try to get ILC to match the quality of DSLR, I feel so effortless shooting on a DSLR to get what I want. DSLR offers me the organic experience that no other ILC can provide.

Yet we must not forget that the ILC offers a solution of comparable DSLR image quality and handling in a very compact size. I do not foresee myself investing heavily or permanently in an ILC system, so I am happy to buy any system with a set of basic lenses to cover a wide shooting range. My purchase decision would not have to depend on the system expandability and compatibility. I would focus on shooting speed, ISO quality, ease of shooting controls.

My perfect ILC camera would consist of the user interface and shooting controls of NX, body design and ISO quality of NEX, and shooting speed of GF. In the absence of perfection, my choice of camera among the three would be Lumix GF3. And that's just me.

There is no "best" product decision. It's just understanding your needs and meeting it.

Update 29 Oct 2011: Go to the Mirrorless Camera Comparison link for the latest review comparison on new cameras

Fujifilm FinePix F550EXR: COMEX 2011 Offer

Sometimes, great offers come to you without even looking.

This morning, on the back cover page of TODAY, I saw the Fujifilm advertisement promoting their digicam offers. What caught my eye was the trade-in offer for F500EXR and F550EXR (after trade-in price of S$349 and S$399 respectively). It so happens that I have a 4-year old F31fd, still working perfectly, albeit old sensor technology.

The F31fd is a legend, its start-up, high ISO, and shot-to-shot performance are benchmarks for my digicam reviews over the past years. Alas, time has caught up, the battery isn't doing quite well, and the features, miserly.

So, I originally intended to make my way to COMEX at Suntec to buy it, but then I read a fine-print that this offer is valid at all authorised dealers. So I called MS Color to ask if they have the same offer, and they replied that instead of 16GB SD card offered at COMEX, they will give 8GB instead. Weighing the cons of traveling all the way down to Suntec and having to hustle through the crowds, I decided to just get it from MS Color.

When I arrived there, the shop staff recognised me as a regular, and so without further bargaining, he offered me at $330 with free LCD protective cover. How can I refuse! I left the shop a happy man (and farewell, F31fd!)

Here's a look at the F550EXR specs:

• 16 mega-pixel CMOS sensor
• 15x zoom covering 24-360mm f3.5-5.3
• Full HD 1920x1080 movie recording
• Fujifilm's EXR image processing algorithm, like High Resolution (HR) mode, Dynamic Range (DR) mode, promising better low-light images and dynamic range.
• 460,000-pixel LCD screen that displays sharp images
• 8 fps in 16mp, or 11fps in 8mp resolution

If you are on a budget, you can consider the F500EXR at SRP $50 cheaper. Only the following functions are absent compared to the F550EXR:

• RAW file capture
• GPS - the first Fujifilm compact camera
• Anti-blur function

The F550EXR is actually an old model announced in Jan 2011, now superceded by F600EXR announced in August 2011. However, the design is identical and the features mostly unchanged, but with some minor enhancements to keep up with the competition.

Good impression points on the F550EXR:
The design of the camera is impressive, from the rubber grip to the red lining around the lens to the placement of the mode dial, the F550EXR is just curvy all around.

Shooting Modes. Apart from the usual PASM, Scene (SP), and Auto modes, the F550EXR comes with the EXR mode and the "Adv." (advanced) mode. The EXR mode lets you shoot using the EXR features to boost image quality. The "Adv." mode has 3 shooting effects: the Motion Panorama 360, the Pro Focus and Pro Low-Light. The Motion Panorama 360 mode lets you shoot panorama by sweeping your camera in one shutter press. The Pro Focus mode processes the image to blur the background more and create a better depth of field effect. The Pro Low-Light mode captures the scene in high ISO over 4 frames and combines into one image to reduce noise.

Continuous Shooting Options. Unlike conventional continuous burst modes, the F550EXR has 2 modes to capture your desired burst shooting.

First is "Top n", where n refers to the maximum number of frames you want to burst. Once you lift off the shutter button, the camera will stop capture. You can also choose the shooting speed, between 3 to 11 fps. But note that the camera will automatically reduce the image resolution size depending on the maximum number of frames and fps in order to process all the required images.

Second type of continuous mode is "Best Frame Capture". In this mode, the camera starts to capture x images once you half-press the shutter, and y images after you press the shutter. The number of frame before and after can be configured before you shoot. Again, like the first mode, the number of frames and the fps you choose will restrict the image resolution size captured by the camera.

Video capture modes. You can capture video in various frame rates - from the standard 30fps to 80fps (640x480), 160fps (320x240) and even 320fps (320x112). Audio is recorded in stereo.

Silent Mode. By holding the "DISP" button, the camera goes into stealth mode, disabling flash, sound, and self timer lamp.

What I dislike:

• The front lens cover is huge and can be easily brushed when you do not handle with care.
• Aperture steps are too wide apart, yet shutter can be adjusted in 0.3 steps.
• Flash pops-up automatically everytime the camera is on, not on-demand. If you push it down during the operation, you will not be able to activate the flash until you switch off and on back again need to manually pop-up the flash with your fingernails (as documented in the operation manual). This is the most undesirable thing about the F550EXR, and almost made me walk away from the deal. But I decide to accept this characteristics and see where it brings me to.
• Exposure compensation is only within 2 stops.
• Movie mode unable to do manual exposure override. Focus keeps shifting during movie mode as the camera hunts for focus "randomly" - there is no option to select AF area mode.
• The "F"-mode button pulls out only a few menu items, and you have to go to the main menu to search for the rest of the functions. Interestingly, the "RAW" file option is located under "Setup" menu tab rather than "Shooting" menu tab.
• Battery size 900mAh, so it does not last very long. An extra battery is recommended for heavy full-day usage.
• Image quality is no different from most compact cameras. This camera exhibits the same kind of "muddy" look when viewed 100%. If blown-up details matter a lot to you, it's time to move on to larger sensor cameras like micro four-thirds or APS-C.

For a limited time, free hard casing with every purchase.

This is one of the moments that I write a review blog within 24 hours of experiencing the subject matter (in fact, I broke my own record of blogging this within 6 hours!). Admittedly, the F550EXR is not a camera with outstanding image quality or functions, and if price was not a factor, I would not think of purchasing it. But like I mentioned in my opening paragraph, the timing is just so right and the price-value is simply astonishing. This is a lightweight ultra-zoom camera good enough for general family use and for documenting your travels. It works for me thanks to its speedy AF and fast shot-to-shot response. Four years on since F31fd, I'm still with Fujifilm Finepix.

MemoryCardZoo.com - Micro SD Cards

Memory Card Zoo is an online shop offering wide range of memory cards, bags, batteries, headphones, and accessories. Based in Guernsey, they carry 100% genuine UK stock. Worldwide shipping is also competitive - it costs only £4-7.50 to ship to Singapore.

This week, I received a micro SD card from them. It claims to be indestructible: water proof, shock proof, and magnet proof.

Some people might choose to abuse the card to test its limits, but I think that kind of treatment is not practical in real life. So I choose to put the micro SD card through reasonable life tests, as follows:
- Washing machine test (water proof)
- Drop test (shock proof)
- Speaker proximity test (magnet proof)

Washing Machine Test
The most common accident on getting the card wet is when you forget to take the memory card out of your attire pocket. So for water proof test, I placed the memory card into my jeans pocket and put the jeans into the washine machine for a wash.

Result: Pass. In fact, I also dumped the card into a cup of water. The card still works after drying.

Drop Test
This is another common accident which could damage the card. For my test, I simply drop the micro SD card on the hard surface - many times over and over again. Here's a "dramatisation video" (shot at 160 fps).

Result: Pass. The card suffered no visible damages, since it is so small. You can't say the same if you were to drop a CompactFlash card. At the very least, the corners would be dented, no?

Speaker Proximity Test
To test for magnet proof, I decided to place the micro SD card near to my home speakers and played some music loudly so that the speaker magnets can attempt to cause an affect on the card. I cannot think of any other home devices with higher magnetism than speakers, so if you do, please let me know and I will gladly do this test again.

Result: Pass. I even did a low-level format to see if there are any damaged sectors.

I believe most of the micro SD cards sold today should be able to sustain such abuse due to its solid state nature, so such claims on being indestructible are merely marketing tactics. The real test should be whether the memory components can stand thousand of times of read-write states.


This article is supported by MemoryCardZoo.com. Check out their website for their wide range of memory card solutions.

Panasonic Lumix GF3: Review

Lumix GF3 is the latest interchangeable-lens camera from Panasonic to target the mass-market. Compared to the GF2, the GF3 has fewer buttons and loses a hotshoe (and no stereo mics for video recording too), but it has shrunk and is one of the most compact interchangeable lens cameras in the market. With a Lumix G X 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 power zoom lens (announced  26 Aug 2011), you would mistake it for a compact camera.

Here is a summary of noteworthy specs:

• 12 megapixels


• 160-6400 ISO


• 3.8 frames per second continuous shooting


• 1080p Full HD movie in AVCHD format


• Touch screen for ease of selections


• Customisable Q.Menu/Fn button


• Auto focus speed on par with DSLR


• 17 Scene Modes, much less than the other Lumix compact cameras.


• White Balance presets support fine-tuning

What I like during my review experience (and it's all about speed):

Fast Start up. I can focus and fire the shutter within a second of turning on the GF3.

AF Speed. The fast autofocus speed means I can capture the moment at the tip of my finger - literally. The easiest way to capture an image with accurate focus area is using the Touch Shutter feature. All you have to do is to activate it with an icon on the screen, then touch anywhere on the screen. Once focus is established, the camera will fire the shutter. The response is almost instant under normal lighting conditions. The slight drawback is that there is no chance to "change your mind" after touching the screen, as the shutter will fire.

Continuous Shooting. The GF3 can achieve 3.8fps using high-speed continuous shooting mode, or 3fps using medium-speed with live-view preview on screen before the next shot. Even with Continuous AF (CAF) activated, the GF3 can obtain moving focus and shoot continuously fairly accurately. In fact, the GF3 revives my confidence in using CAF on compact cameras.


Touch Screen. The major advantage of the touch screen implementation on Lumix cameras is that I can select the AF area by touching any part of the screen. All the AF modes make use of this touch advantage very well.

For instance, the Pinpoint AF mode lets you first select the AF area by touching the screen. Then the AF area is enlarged on the screen and you can fine tune the focus with the focusing ring on the lens.

As for the Multi-area AF mode (GF3 names it "23-Area AF mode"), you can still select an AF region by touching the screen. Then whenever you half-press the shutter, the AF mode will search for an AF area within that region instead of the entire frame.

The AF Tracking mode lets you select the object that you want to track, again by touching the area where the object appears on screen, and the GF3 miraculously tracks the object wherever it moves in the frame.

As for the Face Detection mode, while the camera is supposed to detect and focus the faces, the moment you select an AF area manually, the camera will override the face-focus, although the screen will still indicate the faces defected.

Apart from AF Area, I can easily change Shooting Modes (PASM, Custom, etc.) by pressing the mode icon at the top left of the screen. It will pull out the list of modes arranged in a circle, and you can either select the desired mode by touching it or use the physical wheel dial to navigate the cursor.

The GF3 touch screen does not work for all functions. It supports swipe gestures during playback, and you can touch the icons on the main menu screen. But once inside the sub-menu, touch does not work. For some items, touching merely moves the icon, and you need to press the "Menu/Set" button to select it for use.

Custom Keys. The "Q.Menu/Fn" button can be customised to either invoke one "Fn" item or invoke a list of 10 customisable "Q.Menu" items. I can customise the list of items while using it, instead of having to go into the menu mode to choose. Picking the items is also easily done by dragging icons.

GF3 makes auto mode selection easy with a dedicated "iA" button that lights up when activated. When pressed, the last-selected "iA" mode will be activated. There are 2 iA modes, the difference between the 2 is that iA+ allows you to adjust exposure (EV) and white balance. The video recording button can also be disabled via menu option, though I have no idea why anyone would want to do that.

There isn't a lot of things that I didn't like about GF3, but here are some that don't work for me:

LCD Screen Quality. The resolution is 460K, it's got wide viewing angle, but images from the monitor does not give me the "wow" feel. You can calibrate the screen brightness, contrast and colour tones, but the adjustment level is not fine enough and it may mess up your perception of white balance during photo-taking.

Menu Description. Some menu items are in short forms, and the corresponding icon selections do not have clear explanations on what they do. There is also no help menu to assist the user.

Buffer. When shooting in RAW, the GF3 can only sustain 4 continuous shots. Therefore, this camera is certainly not for the trigger-happy desktop-processing enthusiasts. Under the JPEG mode, my 8GB Class 4 SDHC card fires 18 frames before the shutter pauses for a good 3 seconds before firing another frame. Getting a very fast SD card will give you unlimited frames, as observed by some other review sites.

Summing Up
The Micro Four-thirds interchangeable lens camera system is a popular choice due to its wide variety of lenses that cater the needs of both entry-level and professionals. The Lumix GF3 offers a very compact solution to meeting your general photographic needs. I find the ISO noise level acceptable up to ISO 1600 for indoor lighting. I like the GF3 because it helps me to capture images speedily, thanks to its fast start-up, blazing AF, and a relentless continuous shutter burst.

Sony Alpha NEX-C3: Review

Sony's NEX compact camera system easily stands out among the brands of interchangeable lens systems. Unique signature design, APS-C sensor, minimal buttons. Sony took back some lessons from the first models and improved it in this latest edition, NEX-C3.

Apart from the usual improvements to further reduce the physical size and increasing the sensor size, plus software enhancements, there is nothing to shout about for this model. Fortunately, Sony does not remove any signature features, like what some manufacturers did to their new models in a bid to segment their product line.

Noteworthy specs:

• 16 megapixels APS-C sensor


• ISO range 200-12800


• 5.5 frames per second


• 720p HD movie in MP4


• Custom shortcut keys


• Articulated LCD monitor, 921K 

What I like:


Video Recording. If you shoot video regularly, the NEX-C3 will make you feel empowered. The weight distribution at the big lens means you get a more stable handling. The shortcut video recording button immediately starts recording, no matter what mode you are in - even during playback mode. During recording, you can adjust EV manually, another critical feature. Finally, you can re-focus manually during recording by half-pressing the shutter button.


Unfortunately, all the button pressing and lens zooming sounds are captured on the recording, so you might want to keep the adjustments to a minimum while the tape is rolling.

Custom Shortcut Keys. Sony NEX series have been criticised for having too few dials and buttons to allow quick changes of settings. To satisfy the advanced users, NEX-C3 allows users to customise 4 buttons: left, right, centre, and bottom. 3 of the buttons will invoke the specified functions immediately, while the centre button allows you to invoke the "custom" item which pulls out a list of 5 custom functions.

With the custom shortcut keys, I can change ISO, drive mode, white balance, AF area in fewer presses. Nevertheless, some functions are not supported and you still need to look for them in the still-confusing menu categories.

Aggressive Auto ISO. Sony is so confident with their high ISO quality that they have no qualms in auto-selecting high ISO levels like 1600. This allows me to capture less blurred shots indoors. Competitors cameras would cap shyly at ISO 800.

Photo Creativity mode under iAuto. Again another trend, iAuto is no longer just full auto. In NEX-C3, users can invoke Photo Creativity to select multiple effects like "layers" to create your unique look. If only the layers can be saved as presets.

External Flash. Sony's solution to making the NEX body small and still offers flash is to bundle a removable flash unit. When not required, you can push the flash down to its "off" position. When required, you can flip up the flash manually and it will fire. This implementation allows you to leave the flash unit always mounted. With other cameras, you would have to remove and insert the flash unit frequently in between uses.

LCD Screen. The NEX-C3 display stands out as sharp, clear and good contrast with 921K pixels. Images look cooler when compared with my computer monitor.

As for the unlikes:

Shutter Sound. Sony NEX series generate loud shutter sounds. I am certainly unable to shoot stealthily or use the continuous shooting mode for too long without provoking any irritation from people around me.

The speed-priority continuous shutter mode is also very sensitive. I had to try very hard not to fire two frames by consciously lifting my finger off promptly.

AF Area and Speed. Generally, the AF hunts quite a fair bit before locking focus, even if I was trying to re-focus the same scene. The Multi-AF Area is also picking obscure areas that I would like to shoot. Instead of selecting the "wrong" areas, the NEX-C3 would simply leave the AF Area to centre. It gives me the impression that it is not trying hard.

Buffer. When shooting in RAW, the NEX-C3 has enough buffer only for 6 continuous shots. Therefore, this camera is certainly not for the trigger-happy desktop-processing enthusiasts.



To Summarise...
The Sony NEX-C3 is a welcome improvement on the NEX series without deviating from the objective of a consumer-friendly jargon-free camera. The body and lens are well-built, and I always appreciate the InfoLithium battery that tells the remaining battery capacity by the percentage. While I did not quite like the NEX-3 which I reviewed last year, the NEX-C3 is more accommodating to my needs, thanks to customisable buttons. I continue to be impressed by its low-noise high ISO handling, though its 18-55mm lens does exhibit chromatic aberration. If you need a compact camera that handles high ISO confidently, and have little concerns about swift manual controls, NEX is it.

Thank You, Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs has resigned as Apple CEO. To many, it is the news they dread to hear. To some, it is a start of Apple's downfall.

To me, it is the chance to write and reflect upon this blog post.

I am never an Apple enthusiast, not because I dislike Apple products, because I am not the kind of guy why buys product for its brand or its style.

My first encounter with Apple was during my Junior College years in 1992. There was an old Macintosh in the school's music library. I switched on, and out came a monochrome screen. I fiddled with it, tried to find something useful to do with it. Got nothing out of it.

Years later, Apple products started going mainstream with their PowerPC. It was high-priced, which was beyond my computing budget. So I never took much notice.

Then Apple started offering consumer products like iPod. I can still recall the unique advertisements of white-silhouette dancers with colour background. But not me. I was smitten with iRiver portable players for its long list of geek-ish features.

Then, iPhone was born. That caught my interest with its innovative interface and finally I wrote my first Apple-related blog post.

Year after year, Apple broke ground on its designs and marketing concepts. The smallest portable music player, the thinnest laptop, the most responsive touch controls, the integrated computer processor with display (no wires!). The iMac, iBook, iTunes, iPhone. The i-everything.

Suddenly, the world caught wind of Apple's innovation, and started to incorporate a little of Apple style in their products, making it better for everyone. Companies want to be like Apple. Companies want to be better than Apple. Apple affects the way companies package their products, designed their media content, structured their businesses. Today, you have consumer products built of aluminium or pearl white bodies, devices with multi-touch gestures. Apple made possible thousands of business opportunities selling accessories, and even more creating iOS apps.

Eventually, I bought my first Apple product when the iPad landed in Singapore. And like an Apple fan, I queued for it on its first day. The iPad won me over because to me this is the first of its kind.

Apple changed the world of electronics and technology. Apple influenced product designs from all walks of life.

I am not an Apple fan, but I thank Apple for driving innovation.

I thank Steve Jobs.