Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011)

Thanks to Jonathan Mak from Hong Kong, this is the most befitting logo for the man who is at the core of this blog.

As Jon Stewart puts it aptly: "We won't see the likes of him for quite some time."

When will the iPhone 4S be launched in Singapore?

The iPhone 4S will be launched in Singapore on 28 Oct 2011.

Navfone Singapore by local company AGIS: A competent offline GPS voice navigation iPhone app

Against the better known products by TomTom , Sygic and Papago, comes a fairly well-made GPS voice navigation app for the iPhone. Like its bethren, Navfone is able to operate offline since its map and POI database is included in the app. Initially, I was quite sceptical of Navfone since its user-interface is very utilitarian in its design and does not have any fanciful graphics.



However, since it is a local product, one would expect it to perform better with its search engine in terms of speed and accuracy. In this area, it does not disappoint. Navfone was able to show the correct places and map positions almost immediately after I performed searches of the following: Bird Park, 46 Lor 5 Toa Payoh, Marina Bay Financial Centre, Maju Camp, Iluma.

Searching "46 Toa Payoh Lorong 5"



Searching "Maju Camp"



In terms of features, Navfone was also quite basic but I feel that it has stayed focused on the more practical toggles such as Avoid ERP/Toll, Reroute, and Audio cue intervals of 200m, 500m and 1km. Having used the Garmin 255W previously, I can appreciate this fuss-free approach.



Again, showing off its local pedigree, Navfone is able to toggle between various audio languages such as English, Chinese, Bahasa Malay or Bahasa Indonesia.

Under Planner, besides the usual choice of routing from a start point to a destination, there is also the ability to run a simulation of the route. This is useful if you need to review your route in your office or home (without GPS coverage indoors) before setting off on your journey.



Headquartered in Singapore, AGIS was founded in 2000 and now has over 50 experts in GIS across the region, with subsidiaries in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Besides the Navfone Singapore app, it has also released apps for other areas such as Malaysia, Bali, Luzon, Cebu, Java, Vietnam and, Trindad and Tobago. There is also an App that covers both Singapore and Malaysia at $14.99, whereas the Singapore app alone will cost $9.99.



The Navfone app is fairly usable for those who value an accurate and fast search engine, and it has a basic interface that is intuitive and easily usable (due to the lack of fanciful features). The maps are less colourful and detailed than its competitors but that may not be an issue for those who merely want an accurate and responsive voice navigation aid. In addition, the appsize is at a lean 54.2Mb compared to 100-400 Mb for the other better renowned navigation apps.

Note: Version 2.0.11080 was used for this review which has Mapdata dated 8 Feb 2011. The current appstore version is Mar 24, 2011.

Marco Tempest and his Magic Trick with iPods

Marco Tempest has created a wonderful video on 'Deception' using 3 iPods. It's part magic-show, part snazzy graphics woven into a pretty well-done narrative. A neat and original magic show.

Where’s My Water by Disney Mobile: Finally a worthy successor to Angry Birds and Cut the Rope

The surprise of this September (as all of us wait eagerly for the release of iPhone 5) has to be Disney Mobile’s new Puzzle Arcade “Where’s My Water” or WMW (as I’ll refer to it). Released only recently on Sep 22nd and already topping Appstore charts, this app has managed to combine a familiar premise (Bring A to B) in the puzzle arcade genre, an intuitive interface (swiping the finger), and yet it has also introduced sufficiently new elements into the game in order to stand out from the crowd.



In addition, with its rich and cutesy graphics, immersive levels, $0.99 pricing, WMW is definitely set to become one of the all-time greats, following in the footsteps of Angry Birds, Cut the Rope and World of Goo.

The main idea is to swipe and create a tunnel, usually starting from the top of the screen, leading down to the bottom in order to allow a pool of water from the top to flow correctly into a stationary bath tub where a Crocodile (with the name Swampy) is waiting. Cut The Rope fans will be instantly familiar with the game mechanics (guiding A to reach destination B), while World Of Goo fans sense déjà vu (fluid mechanics!). WMW is slightly better designed and suited for the iPhone/iPod compared to the World Of Goo – a wonderful puzzle arcade that I didn’t find playable on anything with screen-sizes smaller than an iPad.



One of the newer game elements introduced by WMW is to have a slider on the left of the screen that increases the challenge by allowing more interesting puzzles which do not necessarily have to follow linearly from top to bottom of the screen.


Slider on the left increases the challenge!

I consider WMw’s peers to be other recent well-made releases like Feed Me Oil, Tiny Wings and Drop the Chicken. However, WMW’s game design is likely to be more enduring than all of those peers, such as Tiny Wings, which has dropped out of our collective radars very quickly when it could not hold our attention. WMW will prove to be $0.99 better value in this regard. Catch the Disney video trailer for the game below, also available on Youtube here.




Disney Mobile (formerly known as Living Mobile based in Munich as reported here) has previously developed other apps that tap on various franchises like Toystory, Baby Einstein, Thor, Cars 2, and also ones that do not, such as Tap Tap Revenge, Kick Buttowski and Jelly Car.



Disney’s acquisition of Living Mobile in 2005 has paid off and they ‘ve hit pay dirt with this one. As reported by Huffington Post here, we could see more of Swampy the Crocodile paraphernalia and Disney movie tie-ups, if WMW continues to stay Number 1 on the Top Paid list at the Appstore. Link here brings you to the WMW Appstore page.

Singapore Army to equip recruits with 8,000 iPads

The Singapore Army has announced plans to purchase 8,000 iPads for new recruits into the army. According to the Defence Chief, General Neo (no relation to Neo of the Matrix-trilogy, but somehow apt…), he claims that adopting the iPad would enable the Armed forces to harness the technological abilities of the youth. With the built-in camera, servicemen are able to snap photos and video clips in the field that can then be uploaded and could come in handy to carry out post-mission debriefing.


(Photo taken from Asiaone website)

There’s more to it obviously, since I think it would be more sensible otherwise to equip all the recruits with cameras, (which would make for a very strange headline indeed). The iPads would presumably also be useful as a learning tool, replacing paper maps, note-taking during mission briefings etc. But I think the iPad would not be sufficiently rugged nor waterproofed to withstand more than a few hours in the field.

I struggled to think of a similar non-violent gadget that had widespread civilian acceptance and that was subsequently adopted by the military. Arguably, running shoes would fall into the same category – no one expects soldiers to go to war wearing running shoes, but during peacetime training, the comfort and ease provided by running shoes for keeping fit in the army camp can be justified. The second example is that using laptops and powerpoint presentations for briefings are pretty much part and parcel of classroom-based learning in many advanced militaries.

Personally, I think the iPod Touch 4G would be a better choice, given that they are more mobile and less unwieldy than iPads.

This story was reported in the local Singapore dailies here and here.

Trip to Hong Kong: survey of Chinese iPhone magazines

I recently took a vacation in Hong Kong with my family and I was pretty excited to check out the iPhone scene over there. There were several Chinese-language magazines that covered only iPhone and iPad related stuff, but what caught my eye was this magazine called ‘iPhone’. I bought the magazine and snapped a photo of the cover here:



If you were wondering, like me, how the lady sitting on the sports car could be related to the iPhone scene, I can tell you: “Plenty!”.

First of all, she introduced the readers to all the possible ways to charge an iPhone or iPad in your car – you know, for those days when you desperately needed to mount and charge your iPhone or iPad in your car, and I’m guessing it’s for that drive from Kowloon to Hong Kong island.



Then, she appeared in the centrefold to let us know the various apps she could use in Hong Kong to (going clockwise): navigate in Hong Kong or Macau, find a parking lot, locate the nearest gas station, check out traffic conditions, sell her car, and find the nearest servicing center.



I was also quite amazed how versatile the iPhone could be. IK Multimedia has managed to develop a system where you could plug in a microphone into the audio jack and karaoke to the tune that is playing on the iPhone!



The game-changer in this app-accessory package, called the iRig Mic, has to be in its ability to recognise the song on your iTunes and display the correct lyrics with the prompter. The package requires users to download the iRig Recorder app or AmpliTube. It is selling for HKD$599. Their website is over here.