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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

What to Expect from Apple’s iPhone 6 (or 5S?)

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(Photo credit: International Business Times)

The next generation of iPhone is likely to debut in a few months. The earliest possible date is June 10 - 14 when Apple hosts Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Its actual product sales launch could be sometime in July or even September, considering the previous launch time.

Amid worries about Apple’s slowing growth, iPhone is definitely the key to reassure investors’ confidence. iPhone sales account for more than half of the firm’s revenue and it’s the key driver for Apple’s growth over past 5 years. Every single release of iPhone has been highly anticipated. The coming one is without exception, and it could be even more interesting.

The much heated competition in smartphone space has brought a lot of pressure on Apple’s ability to stay innovative, especially after Jobs’ departure. iPhone 5 is a major redesign from iPhone 4S, however, in terms of its operating system, iOS 6, it is not that ‘surprisingly’ good, not mentioning Apple’s fall in its own developed Maps app.

Personally, I still feel that iPhone 5 is the best phone I have ever used. It does the work and it does not have too many quirks except occasional hiccups. It is difficult for Apple to improve something that is already this good, but they have to. :) Below is just some of my guess what will be appearing in the next generation of iPhone.

Hardware-wise, there should not be much radical redesign. The possible upgrade could be

  1. Faster processor and possibly larger RAM. That is something that is most likely to be going in.
  2. Camera. better lens, or larger sensor and higher resolution.
  3. NFC integrated: that’s one thing missing in iPhone 5, which eventually makes Passbook App useless. Hopefully NFC technology could enable this app again. NFC could be used for contactless payment, identification and data transmission, etc.
  4. Larger battery capacity. iPhone 5 has been blamed for its short-living power performance especially in the use of LTE(4G) network. Longer battery life is always something desired.
  5. 128GB storage option. Since the latest iPad is already offering the option of 128GB internal storage, there is no reason that iPhone would not follow the same.

Compared to hardware, I believe it could be a major revamp for iOS. The interface has not changed much since day 1. Since the departure of Scott Forstall, the ex-chief of iOS team, Jony Ive has been working closely with the interface team. I certainly think that he will have a quite different idea for iOS interface. Other features may include:

  1. Enhancement of Siri. A lot more will and need to be added to the current Siri functionality. Most people only tried Siri in the first week when they get their new iPhone. It means that there are plenty of room to improve in this feature.
  2. Major redesign of some built-in apps such as Mail, Weather, Calendar, Stocks, etc., as part of the UI revamp.
  3. Passbook could be made to support contactless payment, with the help of NFC chips.

In brief, Apple will need to remain focused on user experience and innovation at the same time to keep the iPhone popular. However, it can still give us a surprise that nothing I listed above is correct. For me, the waiting part for new iPhone launch is always the most fun part.

If you are expecting any features from the next generation of iPhone, please leave a comment below! I would love to hear yours!

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Sunday, May 12, 2013

Get Yourself A Stylish Camera Bag! ZKIN Champ Hands on

I have long been looking for a decent camera bag. There are an awful lot of options out there in the market but most of them only address the functionality, not the appearance. In a camera bag shop, it is most common to see a bunch of black nylon/canvas bags without any design element. They may be capable of carrying many cameras and lenses at once, but for sure they are not the bag that I even want to carry out. 

Then ZKIN came to my attention. It is a Hong Kong brand offering various lines of camera bags. As now I don't really use DSLRs, what I need is a camera bag that can accommodate my two cameras, Sony NEX-5 and RX1. So, I ordered this Champ bag. 

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The Champ bag is of some vintage design. It has three available colours. The one I got is Navy Grey.

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The bag top is made by genuine leather with special finish, but it is still prone to water splash as the stain could be left on the surface. The brand name is embossed at the cover. The rest of the bag is made of grey canvas, which is more durable.

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The shoulder pad is detachable, it offers a lot of cushion so that the weight does not hurt the shoulder.

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There is a zip pocket at the back of the Champ bag. Even the zip is well designed.

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Opening the cover, it is actually attached by a small piece of leather so that the cover does not completely flip over. Therefore the leather is less likely to be worn out.

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Inside the bag, it is similar to other camera bags, there is a camera insert to accommodate the cameras and lenses. It can be taken out if you want to use the bag as a normal bag. The Velcro partition can be easily adjusted as well. 

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After the insert is taken out, there is one compartment for laptop or other documents. 

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My NEX-5N and lenses can be nicely snugged into the bag, while still having some rooms for small accessories and other stuff such as wallet and notebooks. I would say it is most suitable for mirror-less cameras. If you want to use the bag for for DSLR, it may fit up to one camera body and two lenses.

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This ZKIN Champ bag in action!

In all, ZKIN Champ bag is of excellent built quality, which is not any inferior to the classic camera brand, Billingham. If you are in the market for a good-looking camera with decent functionality, ZKIN could be one of them on your list. 

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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Alibaba and Sina: Join Hands for A Better Future

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(Photo from China.org.cn)

The biggest news last week in China’s Internet industry is Alibaba’s decision to purchase 18 percent of the share from Sina Weibo, by far the largest social network platform in China.

Alibaba is the biggest e-commerce company in China, which most people know it through the much popular B2C platform Taobao.com. Alibaba's business has been growing in an incredible pace for the past few years. Owning the stake in Weibo.com definitely strengthens Alibaba’s strategy in online advertising and sales.

On the other side, Weibo, pretty much the Chinese version of Twitter, has more than 500 million registered users. This massive user base is something that every business would like to tap on.

While Weibo is still prospering, Sina’s share price has been going low for the past few months before Alibaba’s announcement. Weibo has made 66 million dollars in revenue last year, however, the expense is greater, 93 millions, which leads to a net loss of around 27 million dollars. This shows that, just like Twitter, Sina is still struggling to find a profitable business model for its microblog platform.

The alliance between Alibaba and Weibo looks promising for both parties. By leveraging on the large user population, Alibaba’s marketing and advertising could better target the audience and educate more users in online shopping experience. In turn, Weibo could boost its revenue in advertising and maintain a long-term relationship with the e-commerce giant in China. 

From another perspective, Weibo's prosperity is still very much under government's surveillance. Though it may not  be directly affecting its advertising initiative, less free participation from users could still impact the effectiveness of the marketing strategies. That's something Alibaba and Weibo should deal with.

It is a very much promising partnership and collaboration for both Alibaba and Weibo, however, the future down the road still needs both parties' careful planning and steering.

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Sunday, May 5, 2013

HTC One: BlinkFeed, User Interface, Zoe Photo and Many More!

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HTC One has created quite some hype on the Internet because it is first of its kind in HTC's smartphone history. All I want to say is, I love the design of this phone! It is as good as iPhone's hardware design, if not superior. In this post, its focus is on the user experience of HTC One. 

Upon launching the phone, the first thing you would notice is the BlinkFeed. If you have used Flipboard board before, you can imagine how it looks like. It can be customized so that the information and updates you want to see will populate on the home screen. It can be news, like straits times or ESPN, apps such as Facebook and Twitter, and even Calendar items in the phone. In short, it's a one-stop information centre on the phone screen.

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HTC Sense UI 5.0 is something I'd like to mention as well. Among all the Android UIs I have used, I like HTC's Sense the best. It is simple, clear and easy to navigate around. The settings are intuitive. In the app menu screen, instead of navigating the apps by swiping left or right, it's up and down. However, the screen can't stay at any random position, it is still displaying the apps page by page. 

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The task manager screen is a bit different from other Android phones, much like a mini 'mission control' on Mac.

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The font is sharp and layout is clear. 

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The built-in weather app is awesome.

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Even Play Store is customized to HTC style.

Thanks to 2GB RAM and Quad-core 1.7GHz CPU, it is pretty smooth navigating across the screens and very responsive when launching the apps. It supports LTE connection so download speed is not a problem. But I found the Chinese input in HTC One is not very user-friendly and even troublesome. Luckily I can download 3rd party's input from the Play Store.

The sound quality of HTC is impressive, too. With the dual frontal stereo speakers, and built-in beats amplifiers, the phone delivers much richer sound. It is perfect for playing the music or watching movies.

The biggest attraction is HTC One's camera. Unlike the usual marketing campaign, this time the focus is not on the number of megapixels. Interestingly, it's the opposite. HTC One's UltraPixel camera resolution is only 4 megapixel, but the pixel size is as three times as those 13MP phone camera. What does this mean? It means that it captures 300% more light. The largest aperture of 2.0 and built-in optical image stabalization make it more capable in low light situation. 

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From the sample images above, indeed HTC One does a decent job in low light, however, because of its relative low resolution, image quality and details are somewhat compromised.

However, that is not the best part about HTC One's camera yet. Its best feature is Zoe. It works like as if you were taking a video, but in fact it is just a continuous stream of pictures with 4 second interval. You can stop at any point to choose the best shot it has got. Also, in each event folder, there is a video highlight that puts together all the Zoe and normal photos in one clip of 30 seconds. Some sample videos are below.

It is definitely a lot of fun shooting the Zoe photo/Videos and it makes the gallery more lively! However, one thing I don't like is that the video highlights is only auto-generated based on the photos and videos under the same event. Moving the photos and videos is not so easy that I could not edit on the best videos I have. 

Battery wise, it is more power efficient than my iPhone 5, at least it could last about a day with the Power Saver mode on. However, I notice that charging the phone through USB port powered by my laptop is extremely slow, which is not the case for my iPhone 5. Charging speed seems improving when I used the socket charger, but still it is not something as fast as I'd expect. 

Verdict

HTC One is something I would recommend my family or friends to have because it has unique metallic design, very intuitive user interface, fast performance and a lot of fun elements with its BlinkFee and Zoe photos. The downside is that the built Chinese input isn't that great, the photo quality is compromised due to lower resolution and slow charging speed. If you are now looking for a new Android phone, this is definitely the one you should at least consider. 

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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Nikon Coolpix A in Action: Photos, Tips and Thoughts

After the previous post, I think everybody more or less knows how Nikon Coolpix A looks like. However, the photo quality is always the top factor to evaluate a camera's capability. In this post, I will share some of my photos taken by the camera and also my experience of using it. 

I have never used a Nikon camera before, be it compact or DSLR. It took me some time to get familiar with the controls and settings, but it isn't too long. Most of them are intuitive. I said MOST is because there are still some quirky settings I don't really appreciate. For example, the dial on the top right is set default as aperture dial. It can change ISO and exposure compensation, as well, by pressing the ISO or exposure compensation button. But I have to hold the button while adjusting the ISO or EV. This eventually makes me have to use two hands to operate the camera.

With the APS-C sensor, Coolpix A undoubtedly has superior image quality compared to a normal compact camera. Most of compact cameras nowadays are able to produce good photos under sunlight. The real challenge is the performance in low light. So noise level at high ISO is crucial. Coolpix A manages the noise pretty well, personally I feel that the maximal working ISO is 3200. 

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This photo was taken in the sunrise, outside my window. F5.6, 1/250s, ISO 110 using scene mode.

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After work, passing by Hong Lim Park. F4, 1/125s ISO 220, using scene mode.

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Boy playing with water at Bugis Junction. F4, 1/640s, ISO 200.

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Black Glutinous Rice at Ah Chew Dessert. F2.8, 1/30s, ISO 1600.

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Kids playing on the beach at Sentosa. F5.6, 1/400s, ISO 100.

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Macro shot of flower. F5.0, 1/30s, ISO 640.

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Chicken wings at Over Easy bar. The actual scene is even darker than the photo. F2.8, 1/15s, ISO 2500

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Close-up shot of apple cider. F2.8, 1/20s ISO 3200.

Verdict

Some of my thoughts on Coolpix A, good and bad.

Good:

1. Small and light, it is one of the few that I am willing to carry on a daily basis. The compact body also makes it easier to snap street photos without drawing too much attention. 

2. High ISO performance is pretty impressive, thanks to its APS-C sized sensor. 

3. 28mm focal length is suitable for various scenarios, so I don't find the fixed length that inconvenient.

4. Battery seems pretty good, around 200 photos per charge. Considering it is small in size and APS-C sensor is definitely more power consuming than the compact camera sensor.

5. Though Coolpix A does not support Wi-Fi and GPS in camera, it's worth mentioning that its accessories can enable it for that. Of course that needs to be purchased separately.

Bad:

1. F2.8 is fast, but not fast enough. In some extreme condition, F2.8 is still too small an aperture, which leads to slow shutter speed and hand-shake.

2. High ISO performance is a bonus point for Nikon Coolpix A. Since F2.8 is not sufficient, I turn to higher ISO. I find it more useful when I set the ISO to AUTO. However, the auto ISO option is not even in ISO setting. I have to go a few levels down and finally find it buried in the camera settings.

3. Image could be sharper, especially at F2.8. There is also some vignetting and loss of details at the corners.

4. Camera lacks built in HDR which may disappoint some users like me.

5. Price tag could be too high. It is even more expensive than some entry level DSLR. Even compared to the same category, such as Fujifilm's X100s, it is around the same price but seems offering more features. However, that depends on individual's needs and preferences.

In all, if you are looking for a compact, low profile camera which can produce excellent images, I would recommend you to take this camera in consideration. It is not much bigger than a smartphone so that you can literally slip it in the pocket.  28mm lens is good for most hangout or walkabout. Impressive high ISO performance makes indoor photo shooting much easier. 

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Monday, April 29, 2013

Pocket-size Camera, Professional Quality: Nikon Coolpix A Hands-On

Camera market in 2013 has been heated by many mirror-less cameras with smaller size yet professional image quality. The combination of APS-C sized sensor and fixed focal length has been popular across different brands: Sigma DP1M, Fujifilm X100s, Ricoh GR, etc. And now it's Nikon's time! Coolpix A is Nikon's latest product that brings APS-C sensor in a compact camera body. It comes with fixed length of 18.5mm (35mm equivalent: 28mm) and its largest aperture is F2.8. In this post, I will have a brief hands-on about how this camera feels.

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As the name suggests, Coolpix A is in Nikon's Coolpix series, which is designed as a very compact camera body. The black paint is somewhat similar to that on Nikon's DSLR line. It has a special finish with some visible texture. There is a slight curved, leather covered grip at the front to increase the comfort level when people hold the camera. The lens, like many point-and-shoot camera, is covered by the curtain that is controlled by the power switch. There is also an Fn1 button next to the lens.

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Compared to Sony RX1, it is shorter and narrower. With less prominent lens size, it is also smaller in depth. It is very light-weighted, 299g, around two smartphones' weight.

 

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My palm is not big, but I still manage to grab Coolpix A in one hand. It can be easily slotted in a casual outing bag without much effort. People usually will not notice that it is something different from their point-and-shoot camera by just looking at the camera size.

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On the back of Coolpix A, the control layout is very much like that on Nikon's DSLR, which is good for previous Nikon's DSLR users. However, I feel that the buttons on the left are somewhat crammed at the edge. Imagine holding the camera in one hand, it is difficult to press the button on the left side, no matter using left or right hand.

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On the top left, it's the Coolpix A print and the flash is hidden in the plate. And this may appeal to some buyers: made in Japan!

So far I feel that Coolpix A is very convenient for carrying around: it can be fit in my suitcase easily and 28mm equivalent focal length is versatile in most cases. I will share more about the shooting experience with Nikon Coolpix A in the next post.  

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Love at First Sight: HTC One First Impression

To be honest, I didn't use an HTC smartphone before, except that I played a little bit with my mum's HTC Wildfire (yea, I know..that's from ages ago). While in the Android space, Samsung is taking the lead, HTC is trying its best to stop the declining sales and yes, from this latest flagship: HTC One, I can see that they have put a big bet on it. It is something completely different from HTC's past product line.

Before I saw HTC One, My impression of HTC phones stays at this: plastic phone design, curved corners and big camera right on the back of it. It is difficult to tell what exactly the model is by judging purely on the seemingly identical design. And HTC One just changed all my stereotype. The aluminium unibody build makes the whole design much more tasteful. The white and silver grey are a perfect match and it is suitable for both business and personal.  

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The 4.7-inch screen is hidden behind the Corning Gorilla glass. Its resolution is enormous. 1080 x 1920 pixels, which sets the PPI 468. The brightness and sharpness need no further comments. It is just great.

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Below the screen, there are two touch buttons, Back and Home. That is different from Android's common design of three buttons: back, home and settings. I guess the reason that settings button is removed is that most apps now have the setting button inside the app.

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On the back of it, it is the camera and this design reminds of the old generations of HTC phones. I am a bit concerned about whether the camera glass will be scratched by the surface when it is facing down. In addition, this camera is one of the biggest selling point in HTC One and it's called Ultrapixel camera. I will have a more detailed review on the camera in the later post.

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Beats audio is still part of the HTC smartphone eco-system. The earphones that come with HTC One is beats branded as well. I have not yet try out the earphone though.

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On top of HTC One is the power button and audio jack. You can also see that the cutting at the edge is very beautiful. However, it needs to be taken good care of, otherwise it gets dented pretty easily. HTC One is a bit thicker and heavier than iPhone 5 but doesn't feel bulky at all. But the sleek design of aluminium body is somewhat slippery. It is better to put a case on it in case it slipped out of hand.

In all, I really love the design of HTC One, the aluminium unibody case is way better than any 'advanced' plastic. Yet it doesn't add too much bulk in the pocket. t haven't got much time on exploring its functions. I think I will do that over the weekend. Please check back the blog frequently so you don't miss that!

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Saturday, April 20, 2013

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Beta Released!

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The New Adobe Lightroom 5 Beta is released! You can download it from here, if you have an adobe account registered. 

I have been using Adobe Lightroom for a while. The first version I used is Lightroom 3 and I liked it very much, after that I upgraded to Lightroom 4, some new features are added such as adjusting highlights and shadows. However, I find Lightroom 4 is extremely slow when processing the photos. I was hoping they have a major update so that this could be fixed. It seems that now it's the time! 

Monday, April 15, 2013

Facebook Home First Impression

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After last week writing about Facebook's new move to release its app launcher 'Facebook Home', I was eager to have a hands-on when it's released. On 12 April, it was launched on Google Play Store. But it is bad that it is restricted to only US phone users. Thanks to the mighty Internet community, not taking too long, the Facebook Home apk file was uploaded. I got mine from this website here. If you have the compatible Android phones (HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S3 and Note 2), you can use your phone browser to download the apk from the above website. Also remember to check "Unknown Sources" under settings->application. It allows you to install 3rd party app (not from Google Play Store) on the phone.

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Once Facebook Home is launched and signed in using your Facebook ID, both the lock screen and wallpaper are replaced by the cover feed, mainly photos from your friends. The feeds will change over time just like a digital photo frame. By tapping on the screen, a button with your own profile picture will appear. Press on the button, three other shortcuts will appear around the button. Messenger directly brings you to the Facebook Messenger, Apps will display a set of selected apps. If you want to see all the apps, just tap the tiny app icon at the bottom. The right shortcut is the last application accessed. For example, I just opened Chrome, then it will be shown as Chrome.

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When you have any updates from Facebook, the notification will pop up like the screenshot above, tap and slide on it will direct you to the Facebook app and show the news accordingly. 

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By tapping the setting button on the phone, it will show settings for Facebook Home. Four most important settings are on the top, turn off the app launcher, show status bar, show home screen when screen turns on (meaning no lock screen) and data usage. Nothing magic here.

So far, I feel that Facebook Home is a good App launcher with smooth transitions and a bit of design element. However, lack of much innovative features makes the excitement fade away fairly quickly. Certainly Facebook needs better integration between its Facebook app and its app launcher.

Meanwhile, it can be somewhat worrying as all the Facebook Newsfeed is now directly display on the screen. It might be embarrassing if your friends or colleagues happen to glance at some pictures or news that you would not want them to know. How Facebook address this privacy concern will definitely have a big impact on the number of users who will use Facebook Home in long term. 

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Thursday, April 11, 2013

Live Your Life UP: Jawbone's UP Wristband Review

Since starting to work after graduation, it has been hard to maintain a good and healthy lifestyle: everyday I spent most of time sitting in front of my screen without much movement. I was so tired after work that I rewarded myself with good food (of oversized portion) and stayed in bed playing with my iPad. As expected, the weight shoots up. So I was looking for ways to get back to the right track.

Then I signed up for the gym and did some workout before work everyday. However, as many others, it is hard to keep motivated and sometimes I just doubt whether it works. I started searching for some tips to stay motivated, then I found this small piece: UP by Jawbone.

A fitness gadget isn't something new. You may have heard of Nike's FuelBand. It calculates the steps and movement you made and rewards you with Nikefuel, a score that is similar to the concept of calories but god knows what the score means and how that is derived. And that is exactly why I didn't choose Nike+ FuelBand despite its really cool look. It doesn't do much in fitness aspect.

Design

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Then UP designed by Jawbone popped out. It is a wristband with minimal design. To be honest, nobody would notice that is a piece of gadget if I don't mention it. It is just like one of the rubber bands we used to wear in high school. The package is simple as well, just the wristband itself and a charging USB adaptor.

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The wristband comes naturally in shape, with two ends overlapping. It comes with three different sizes and eight different colours. However, because it only hits Singapore market in April, I only found two colours are available at the moment: black and blue. I chose the medium size of the blue band. It is slightly bigger than my wrist but acceptable. First time I wore it, I felt a bit strange but soon it became just like a watch or bracelet, not annoying at all. 

UP is splash-proof, so you don't have to take it off when you are showering. However, Jawbone suggests taking it off when swimming. It's kind of disappointing since I was about to record how much calories I burned during swimming.

Functions

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The band itself doesn't contribute to the whole user experience. The UP app plays a critical role in the use of the wristband. The app can be downloaded from iOS App Store and its latest development has included support for Android platform. For the first time using UP, it needs to be connected to the app to set up details like gender, height, weight and birthday. It also has instructions of how to play with the band.   

UP wristband has two major functions: record number of steps you take and track the sleep. You can set a daily goal for your steps and sleeping hours. The default setting will be based on your age and other details. For me, it's 10000 steps and 8 hours of sleep. 

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Recording steps is pretty simple, as long as you are moving, it will record down that. Tracking the sleep requires switching the band into sleep mode by long pressing the button on the tip of the band. The precision motion sensor will detect whether one is deep sleep or light sleep according to the micro-motion. I find it quite accurate because I remembered I woke up a few times in the evening and they were indeed shown in the record. 

Other useful functions include smart alarm, you can set a wake-up time and the wristband will vibrate 10 minutes before that to wake you from deep sleep. It helps you get up easier. Also you can set an 'idle alarm' in the daytime. When UP notices that you haven't been moving for a period time, it will vibrate to remind you to walk around. This is really helpful when I am working in the office. It keeps me aware of how much time I have spent at my desk so that I will stand up and stretch a little bit. 

Additionally, you can log the food in the UP app to keep track of how much calories you consume everyday. You can either search, scan the barcode or take a picture of the food and add in details later. But I find it less convenient as many Asian local delights are not recorded in the database. 

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After a few days, when UP collects enough data, it starts to generate trend and help get insights in your daily activity, like whether you have enough deep sleep or how to take more steps. It is all small tricks but they do keep me motivated. (Oops, I seem to be moving less with eating more. Bad sign. :( )

UP also has its social aspect. You can share your daily result with friends on Facebook and Twitter. More importantly, you can add friends who also use UP in the section Team. So that you can see and compare the results with each other to stay motivated. 

UP's battery lasts about 10 days and you need to charge it using the USB adapter. It takes about 80 minutes to get a full charge. I am quite happy with the battery performance.

However, as you may already have noticed. the wristband doesn't come with bluetooth. The sync between UP and its app needs to be done via the audio jack. It could be tedious to take the band on and off the wrist. Jawbone also recommends to sync it twice a day. I usually do it once after getting up and the other before I go to bed. I sometimes also sync the band after lunch just to check whether I can reach my goal today.

Verdict

So far I have been really enjoying UP by Jawbone and had a very regular exercise everyday.

Good things: Simple design makes it suitable for everyone. Compared to Nike's FuelBand, sleep tracking is a huge bonus and also the smart alarm helps getting out of bed easier. The design of the app is intuitive and has lots of functions. It is really a perfect companion for the band.

Bad things (or things that I think should be improved): The band is not suitable for wearing in swimming pool, which is less helpful in tracking exercise. Moreover, it doesn't support bluetooth so you have to constantly take off the band. Also, lack of any display on the band means that you cannot access the real-time data easily. In addition, the food log could be improved by including more Asian food to make it more useful.

The UP wristband isn't cheap, but not as pricey as Nike's FuelBand. It also has more functions to keep your lifestyle healthy. So I would still recommend this to my friends who are interested in achieving their fitness goals!

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