One of the perks of running t-break is that I get quite a bit of hardware that isn't required to be returned back. And every once in a while, I get this upgrade urge where my entire system is refreshed. I haven't had that itch for the last couple of years because I had totally switched to the Mac platform (Home, office and Notebooks) which doesn't really offer much when it comes to upgrading. However, a combination of three things lead me to building a new PC.

Now I've been pretty vocal about my dislike for Vista in the forums and before anything, I must apologize to the Vista community as I had only used it when it was released and formed my opinion that should've refreshed over the months. So, the first of the three things was the public beta of Windows 7 and right at that time, I got an opportunity to pick up a Sony Z series notebook for 65% of the price it was selling for. What attracted me to this particular model was the form factor- its 13.1" screen with 1600x900 resolution and an excellent keyboard along with a dedicated GPU and 4GB RAM. Had Windows 7 not been released or the Sony deal not comes across, I wouldn't be writing this article now as both of them made me decide on trying Windows 7.

I played around with Windows 7 and liked it quite a bit. However, it being beta, had a few issues on a daily basis. This was expected. I thought I'd use this as my primary notebook to get accustomed to Windows once again and installed Vista on it. I realized that Vista was not at all what it was when it came out and things worked a lot more smoothly. I'm guessing that SP1 helped. It certainly took a lot of negativity I had about Vista away from me. So with Vista running decently and Windows 7 on the horizon, I could see myself getting back to Windows. And then landed the SAS drives.

SAS, or Serial Attached SCSI is basically the evolution of SCSI much like SATA was to IDE. I received a couple of Seagate 146GB drives that run at 15,000RPM and have a latency of 5ms which certainly makes them faster than Raptor on paper. I figured with a RAID0 setup, I should be able to get some pretty decent throughput from these drives and HDTach tests certainly showed that. Since 260GB isn't that much of storage space, I added a 1TB SATA drive for extra storage space as well as the SATA powered ASUS BluRay/DVDRW Optical drive.

Of course SAS requires a controller and the only component that I had lying around that could support these drives was the amazing ASUS P6T-Deluxe. This is a LGA1366 based board so the next step was getting a Core i7 CPU and DDR3. While I do have both of these in the labs- they're there to test new equipment and not for my personal pleasure. So I called Intel up and luckily they had an Engineering Sample of the 940 with them that they kindly passed over. They did not have the HSF unit but luckily we had a couple lying in the office one of which was from OCZ. While its not the best option, its certainly better than the stock heatsink that Intel provides.

I bought Corsair DDR3 from Sky Electronics- prices have certainly come down with a dual channel DDR3-1333 kit costing AED 250. So with the motherboard, CPU, RAM and Hard Drives out of the way, I looked around for a graphics card and found two Zotac GTX280s that were never picked back up. Since the X58 supports SLI, I thought it would be the right time to put them to good use. Now obviously the power requirements for such an extreme solution would be high and we had a spare 1000W PSU lying around in our labs- this was the Silverstone PSU which had the right connectors for the GTX 280 (2 x 8 pin + 2 x 6-pin). With everything in place, I had one 32-bit PCI slot free (located between the two GTX cards- ideal location to toast hardware) and one PCI-E x4 slot. I could've used either of these for a sound card but onboard video is good enough- especially on the ASUS P6T Deluxe with its ADI AD2000B 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC.

So, all this hardware needed to go into a chassis and I'm not really a big fan of big towers. I decided on a medium tower and I definitely prefer a minimalist design over a gaudy one. I found the Silverstone KL2 good for my liking and bought it for AED 510 from Sky Electronics. Its pretty modular as far as drive bays are concerned so I moved the HD cage towards the top- just below two 5.25" bays. This allowed for the GTX280 cards to easily fit it and Tareq did a great job of managing cables.

In short, here is my new system config:

Intel Core i7 940 CPU
ASUS P6-T Deluxe Motherboard
3GB Corsair DDR3-1333
2 x Zotac GTX280 Graphics Cards in SLI
2 x Seagate 146GB SAS HDs in RAID0 + 1 x 1TB Seagate HD
Silverstone KL02 chassis with 1000W Silverstone PSU

My total cost- AED 760 or US$220. Yes, I know you hate me :)

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A couple of weeks back, it was time to return the Bold I had received for reviewing. I thought that instead of going back to my Curve, I'll play with my iPhone for a couple of days and those couple of days turned into couple of weeks that made me wonder why I switched to the Blackberry in the first place.

Coming back to the iPhone felt like coming back home. Things just flow so well and the user-interface is brilliant to say the least. Switching between pictures, music and calls felt natural. Even emails looked better on the iPhone than the Blackberry Bold with its HTML mail capabilities. And browsing is still way ahead on the iPhone than the Blackberry.

Two days back, I was out an about and needed access to an older email and thats when I realized the limitation of my iPhone. Even though I've setup my iPhone with an Exchange server that synchronizes my contacts, calendar and emails, it doesn't provide a way to search the Exchange Server for older emails- something present in both Blackberry and Microsoft Windows Mobile Operating systems.

Why is it so hard to find a phone that does it all? The bigger question is, will there ever be a phone that will ever do it all? Probably not as its Human Nature to never really be totally satisfied. On top of that, my requirements are probably very different than yours and making one device to please both of us would probably be impossible.

My perfect device, for the moment, would be an iPhone with slightly faster operation (yes, I find it lags at times, especially with the SMS application) that comes with an unlimited Data package like the Blackberry and offers Exchange services like Windows Mobile handsets. Is that too much to ask?

Maybe so, until virtualization becomes popular on the mobile platform and allow simultaneous usage of Operating systems.

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If I had to pick one company that understands consumers, it would be Apple. And our topic today is none other than the iPhone. Let me start off by saying that I don’t use an iPhone. I have tried it and loved it but what makes me stick most to my Blackberry is that its the only Smartphone that comes with an unlimited roaming data package so I don’t have to worry about the monthly costs.

Now, back to the iPhone. It’s a product that has changed the industry. The top three Operating Systems in the Smartphone market have all been effected by the launch of the iPhone and are desperately trying to “catch-up” even though they had years of a head-start.

Lets start off with the current champion- Symbian. Nokia is pretty much the reason why Symbian is number one. The iPhone has forced Nokia into releasing a touch screen device (Xpress 5800) as well as their OVI platform. 

Next up we have Windows Mobile. I distinctly remember reading Steve Ballmer shrugging the iPhone off which is one of his weakest points- under-estimating the competition. Just last week, I heard Mr. Ballmer talking about an App store like functionality for the Windows Mobile platform.

And lastly, we have RIM that recently released their “Storm” – a multi-touch device very much like the iPhone, a product that Mr. co-CEO of RIM, Mike Lazaradis had dismissed because of its touch-screen keyboard. RIM is also working on an App store like platform.

Apple might have come late to the Smartphone market, but they cleverly did their homework. They knew what would click with the end-user and delivered a product that managed to out-sell any other device last quarter. They were blasted for having a closed platform with the original iPhone but they were smart to do so as this allowed them to see how they would open it up. The App store is an idea that is being copied by everyone now.

Last week, I also read about Opera not being allowed to list in the app store and again, I get it even though my first reaction was blasting Apple for their monopolistic ways. Browsing is one the best features of the iPhone and they want every iPhone user to have the same experience which is great for developers as well.

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Scenario: Our company has given Blackberrys to all employees, and we're using Etisalat's Blackberry Internet Service, BIS, as opposed to the BES, the Enterprise version, aimed at larger organizations that demand a higher degree of control over the use of the Blackberrys by the employees.

My boss bought a cracked iPhone 3G from a trip to a Far Eastern country recently, hoping we'd be able to use the iPhone as a communications tool instead of the Blackberry, and asked me if I could configure it.

After a day of research, I finally managed to get it working, with the help of the Emirates Mac forum, and figured I should share it with the rest of the readers:

Here's the breakdown of what I have currently:
Any Blackberry device purchased from Etisalat, in this case, I have the 8700G, an old, but stable model.
A GSM Sim Card, with the BIS service enabled with the Domestic Unlimited Package, which costs AED 185
A cracked Apple iPhone 3G, costing around AED 2500, works perfectly fine with an Etisalat SIM, with some limitations

After configuring a VPN connection using PPTP, which was fairly simple, I managed to get it to connect to our network, but only using WiFi, apparently, if you have a BIS package activated on your SIM, you can only use the EDGE/GPRS bit of it with a BB only, but not with an iPhone or a Nokia, etc.

I then borrowed my boss' SIM card, which had the 3G package activated (now known as 3.5G), and it worked! Next up, email configuration, which was fairly simple too, with similar options to a BB, such as number of items to be displayed, number of lines previewed, etc.

Once configured, I activated it and voila I was able to send and receive emails!

My boss was impressed, and suggested we go for the iPhone 3G once the price drops, as it'll be more cost effective than using a BB. My opinion? A BB is a corporate tool, the iPhone is not. Even though it's cheaper to go for an iPhone in the long run, with a 3.5 G package such as the 10MB package, I find the BB to be more fluid, as I prefer functionality over image.

But here, we use Vaios, BB Pearls, IP Phones and Bluetooth Plantronic headsets so I guess the iPhone blends in perfectly.

In a nutshell:



Blackberry Curve 8300 - AED 1880 (Jacky's price, as of November '08
BIS Domestic Package - AED 185 / month
GSM Sim Card

vs.



Apple iPhone 3G - AED 2500 (might drop)
3.5 G Package - AED 25 to 95 / month (AED 25 for the 2MB, 50 for the 10MB, and 95 for the 50MB)
GSM Sim Card

Coincidentally, both the Curve and the iPhone have built-in GPS, and a 2MP camera. Tough choice. I'll have the Curve please.
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I went to the movies last weekend, and decided to catch the screen adaptation of the Max Payne videogame.

I fondly remember waiting for the release of the game back in the late 90's, I remember being amazed at the graphics, being blown away by the "bullet time" sequences in the early teaser trailers, I even remember upgrading my PC just to be able to play Max Payne when it was finally released. That said, my expectations for the movie were not quite as high, I've been disappointed in the past with videogame adaptations, be it the Doom movie, or even the lacklustre SMB movie, but somewhere deep in my psyche was hope that just this one time I'd be overwhelmed.

After seeing the movie, I was in two minds about it. The general feel of the game was portrayed well, the cold, dank, and gloomy streetcorners took me right back to the game, I may even have smirked when Payne is in the subway station at Roscoe Street, knowing something was about to go down.

The cast was also on point, Mark Wahlberg fit in his role as Max, and I was equally impressed with the casting of Beau Bridges. The casting of Mila Kunis was slightly odd, since I could not shake that 70's show from my head everytime I saw her on screen, likewise I wasn't able to get rid of the Prison Break connection with Amaury Nolasco.

The special effects were also very true to form, sniper effect and bullet time were both used in the movie, which was pleasant to see, although I personally would've liked to see a little bit more of it.

Furthermore, the audio was also faithful to the game, hearing a little heart palpitation in the background when Max gets shot brought me right back into the video game frame of mind.

I'm not a movie critic, and as such I don't feel the need to give it a "rating" per se, I will concede that I was somewhat let down by the movie, it could, and to be honest, should, have been better. That said, it was being faithful to the videogame, and it was able to keep fans of the game entertained, which is what it set out to do.

After the credits rolled we were treated to an extra scene with a prelude of things to come: The Fall of Max Payne. I'm still torn as to how I feel about a sequel. But knowing me I will probably go see it. I will probably have that same glimmer of hope while watching the leaked trailers, and I will probably be let down once again.

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Although we still have a couple of months left to kick off the new year, you are now looking at the redesigned 2009 theme for t-break. If I remember correctly, this is our sixth design since we launched over nine years ago and is definitely one of the most significant change.
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