HTC Legend

Got this smartphone for wifey some time ago. This phone is solidly built, actually quite resemblance to my old Iphone 2g. You may not aware, the body of the HTC Legend is cut from a single piece of brushed aluminium. What a piece of engineering work. The phone also looks gorgeous. Nevertheless, I still love my Iphone, he he.

http://www.htc.com/www/product/legend/overview.html


Figure 1 - HTC Legend (front view)


Figure 2 - Iphone 2g


Figure 3 - HTC Legend (back view)


Figure 4 - Iphone 2g

Recently I installed Papago GPS Navigation software on both Iphone and HTC Legend. Papago M7 (Apple iOS) and Papago X5 (Google Android OS) to be exact. Both user interfaces (UI) are quite identical and easy to use. My wife loves it.


Figure 5 - Iphone 2g (left) and HTC Legend


Figure 6 - HTC Legend with Papago X5

GPS for Iphone 2g

Well, this is my iPhone 2g. I have been using for the last 2.5yrs and still never get bored yet. I believe this is how Apple succeed. Compare to today's iPhone 4g, nothing to ouu, ahh.... no retina display, no 3G, no GPS and so on. Yet, this old gorgeous still beats other phones in term aesthetic and usability. Just look at the solid 1-piece Al back casing.





Recently, I found a way to make my iPhone 2g to function as standalone GPS. How?
Roqy Bluetooth is the answer. This application software will enable my Holux Bluetooth GPS receiver (more info here) to communicate with my iPhone.


I am using Papago M7 Pro GPS navigation software (can be purchased via iTunes Store for US19.90) with Malfreemap (Singapore and Malaysia maps). Somehow every software designed for iPhone is so simple to use, no complicated menu.







I have been using Mapking 2007 (WM version) for few years now. I found Papago got few advantages over Mapking 2007;
a) Supports Junction View
b) Special tool to provide great estimation to make turn (i.e. those green dots on the last photo)
c) 3D landmarks
d) Very fast routing/rerouting calculation
e) Better GUI
f) Better graphic
g) Relatively easy to use

Logitech Harmony 900

New toy in the house, Logitech Harmony 900 Remote control.

More advanced features than my previous Logitech Harmony 885 (Click Here).

- Touch screen
- Higher LCD resolution
- RF control (can control your device even out of sight, up to 30m)
- Better ergonomic, to name the few.

Harmony 900 looks and performs better than my old Harmony 885 in every aspect. Hold better and secure than 885 due to the curvature and rubberize back. Touch screen is very responsive and capacitive type, won't work with finger nail but works like charm with a soft touch with finger. Elegance and sexy.

Setup is simple. Just install the software inside the CD and attach USB cable to the Harmony 900, you are ready to go. Logitech claims to have more than 225000 devices database available. No problem to update my Plasma TV, Projector, Blu Ray player, DVD player, DVD recorder, WD TV Live, Xtreamer and LG HTIB remotes into single Harmony 900. Too bad it won't work with PS3 with Bluetooth connectivity. If you serious about it, Logitech got the solution with IR-Bluetooth adapter for USD50. Setup the One-Touch Activity is simple. I got few "Activity" setup, namely "Watch WDTV", "Watch Blu Ray" and etc. What the One-Touch Activity does is to run few commands sequences, like switch on the TV, WDTV, AV Receiver, change TV to AV1 for you, instead of manually press it for multiple times. In other word, it just automate the process for you.

The only bad things I can think of now are fingerprints magnet and expensive (Amazon's price USD286.61). You pay what you get.

Unboxing Harmony 900.


Inner boxes


Remote control and docking station (for charging)


Remote on docking station


RF to IR blasters. You can hide the blasters inside TV cabinet. Now you can control your devices even with the cabinet doors closed. Nice huh.


Power adapters, USB cable and rechargeable battery for Harmony 900


Tons of manuals & Installation CD


Close look at the remote control...


Is she gorgeous?


The body curves...


Rubberize back for better holding


Sexy high resolution LCD touch screen.


Back-lit keypads, great to use under dim light environment.
Customized Channel Icons.

Calibration, calibration, calibration ...

To me, no point of owning a Ferrari if the car did not get a proper engine tuning. Same goes to HT, without a proper calibration (colour & sound) you will not able to maximize the full potential of your system. Recently I bought a colorimeter from Amazon. X-Rite i1 is a small and compact colorimeter, very affordable for a beginner like me. The setup is very simple, just attach the meter to the tripod and point the sensor to the projector or TV screen and hook up the meter's USB cable to the Notebook or PC. You need a proper software to interpret the data from the meter. I am using ColorHCFR software. More details about Greyscale and Colour Calibration can be found here.

Hardwares needed:

• Colorimeter
• Notebook or PC
• Tripod
  

Software needed:

• ColorHCFR or other calibration softwares
• Video test patterns
  

Click here on my previous sharing about sound calibration.

















Greyscale Calibration results:

• Top - after calibration
• Bottom - before calibration

My humble Home Theater/Hi Fi setup

After painstaking effort and moolah (i.e. $$$), here is my current HT and Hi Fi setup. This is where me and my family spend the good quality time together at home. My kids simply love to watch the high definition animations like Bolt, Kungfu Panda, Monster Inc. , Ice Age, Ratatouille, Up, Wall-E etc on the big screen, again and again and again. Kids just don't get bored on something that they like. The DIY acoustic panels really help to enhance the cinema and Hi Fi experience. The next DIY projects are Class A stereo amplifier and DAC. Trust me, the audiophile journey never end here ...

HT setup:

• Optoma HD-65 720p projector
• DIY 90" matte white projector screen
• DIY acoustic panels
• Marantz SR6003 receiver
• Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu Ray player
• Xtreamer HD media player with 2x1TB Dlink NAS
  
• Monitor Audio Bronze BR2 LCR speakers
• Mordaunt Short 902i surround speakers
• Velodyne CHT-12Q subwoofer with Auralex GRAMMA Isolation Riser
  

Hi Fi setup:

• Marantz CD5001 CDP
• Marantz PM4001 Integrated Amplifier
• DIY silver plated RCA interconnect
• Monitor Audio Bronze BR2 speakers
• Chord SilverPlus speaker cables
  

D-Link DIR655

Time really flies... It is time for my 5 year-old Netgear WGR614 wireless G router to make way for the tailo D-Link DIR655, wireless N gigabit router.

Unboxing DIR655, the box is about half of WGR614.
















Time to test the new beast. With my notebook next to the router, not problem to get full 300Mbps speed.




Move to 1st floor, still can get full 300Mbps with a little drop in signal strength, sui...



Next, install Cat6 patch cable for my desktop PC and NAS to the new router. I manage to get 24.4 MB/s transfer speed for a 700+ MB file from the Dlink DNS-323 NAS to my PC (both Gigabit setup) versus 10.0MB/s using Cat5e patch cable and old WGR614 100mbps router. Still Google around if further tweaks on the XP and NAS can further boost the transfer speed, pls stay tuned. Below test results are done by SmallNetBuilder on various NAS.



For the record, here is my PC configuration;

• CPU - Intel Q6600 Quadcore @ 2.40GHz, 8MB L2 Cache
• Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3 Rev2.0
• RAM - 4GB DDR2
  
• HDD -320GB WD SATA
• NIC - Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet
• O/S - XP SP2