Facebook Home

Facebook addicts rejoice! Facebook just introduce Home, a group of apps that change your Android phone into a Facebook phone. Besides the overhaul of Android lock screen and home screen by Coverfeed, one notable feature is messaging, it appears everywhere, on top of the app you are using. Facebook Home would be available from 12 April, but initially on HTC One, One X, Samsung Galaxy S3, S4, and Note II. You can expect more phones to be compatible with Facebook Home as Samsung, Sony and HTC have already signed up the Facebook Home Program. Accompanying the launching of Facebook Home, the first phone optimized for Facebook Home, HTC First, is also announced.

Sounds good eh? Unfortunately, Facebook Home will not be free from ads, just not at launch.

SOURCE The Verge

Introducing Google Keep

If you are an avid user of Google service, you might want to check out Google Keep, a note-taking app released recently as an alternative to Evernote. The notes are saved in the cloud via Google Drive.

Whatsapp. Viber, Line, KakaoTalk

Here is a simple comparison among mobile instant messenger clients on Android, featuring the popular Whatsapp to the less-known KakaoTalk. The reason for their popularity is simple: Convenience. They use your mobile number as user id and automatically add your contacts if they have installed the same app. 

Please bear in mind that this comparison does not consider impact on battery life, user interface presentation, server downtime, and other factors that might be the nail in the coffin for you.

Update (20 Mar 2013): I found that Line is causing severe impact on battery life.

	Whatsapp	Viber	Line	KakaoTalk
Features
UI colour	Grey	Purple-white	Bluish Grey-white	Yellow-brown
Origin	US	Cyprus	Japan	Korea
License	Free for 1st year (USD 0.99/year, but I get free extensions twice)	Free	Free	Free
Verification	SMS	SMS	SMS	SMS
Requires user name?	✓	✗	✓	✓
Free message	✓	✓	✓	✓
Free voice call	✗	✓	✓	✓
Free video call	✗	✗	✗	✗
Popularity (based on my friends lists)	1 (Most popular)	2	3	4
Message attachment	Gallery Camera Video Audio Location Contact	Gallery Camera Location	Gallery Camera Video Audio Location Contact	Gallery Camera Audio Location Contact Schedule Vote
Emoji	Extended	Basic	Limited	Basic
Emoticons	✗	✗	✓	✗
Advanced emoticons/ stickers	✗	✓ (limited)	✓	✓
Celebrity accounts	✗	✗	✓ (Official Accounts, could select different countries)	✓ (Plus Friends, mostly K-Pop)
More on features	✗	✗	Home page Timeline Official Accounts include business entities Variety of games and tools add-on Sticker shop	Unlimited friends in group chat Schedule with reminders Custom themes Voice filters Variety of games and tools add-on Item Store

Xiaomi MI 2 review

Left: Phone image from Xiaomi website. Right: Box contents.

Finally, I got my hand on the highly sought-after Xiaomi MI 2 phone. Besides reading my personal experience with this phone, I would suggest you to also read the article from Engadget and, if you understand Chinese, the in-depth review from Zealer. The package comes with the phone itself, a battery, a back cover (white), USB data cable, and USB power adapter (standard China 2-pin). A few notable missing specifications are no 4G, no NFC, and no card slot (and the total available storage for user is only about 10 GB out of 16GB). I have nothing to complain considering the price of about RM 1000 / SGD 400. MI 2 has very similar pricing and specifications (official page) to another highly demanded phone, the Google Nexus 4 (quad-core, 2GB RAM, same chipsets, etc.) This phone is currently available only in China but there are plans to extend the market to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore.

Glitch at Microsoft Store Singapore: $5 Office 2013 Pro

SOURCE: Hardware Zone Singapore

At about 7pm today, a Hardware Zone Singapore forum poster named Bluefreak reported that Microsoft Office Professional 2013 is on sale at Singapore Microsoft Online Store for $5. Unfortunately, the relevant product page has been quickly taken down, suggesting that this is most likely a technical glitch. Nevertheless, some users manage to purchase and obtain the product keys, but it could only be activated when Office 2013 is officially released. Let us see whether Microsoft will honor the deal. This mishap also revealed the launch date, 31 May 2013.

Thanks Terence and Edwin for the tip!

Facebook new update brings the long awaited share button to Android

It is such a basic function that got neglected in the mobile app, but I am glad that the Facebook mobile app team finally added this long awaited function to Android. Well, another step in the right direction, next in my list would be the ability to post as page admin. Facebook, can you hear me? 

Update: Looks like iOS got the same update too.

Google Maps Navigation live in Singapore

Yes, you heard it right. Google Maps Navigation (beta for now) is finally available in Singapore for phones running on Android 2.2 and above. Unfortunately, Apple iOS and Windows Phone 8 users would have to wait until further notice. Okay, Google, Malaysia next please?