Acer in serious trouble

As the world’s third-largest maker of laptops, it is still not understandable why things like this could happen to Acer. Its shares tumbled the most in more than 13 years in Taipei trading after the company said an audit discovered abnormalities in channel inventory stored in freight forwarders’ warehouses and in the accounts receivable from channels in Spain and other countries. The shares fell down to NT$51.90, pushing the stock as the worst performer in its place this year. The total lost would sum up to $150 million, further undermined investor confidence in the companies stability. It was a mismanagement issue just like the incidents before this. Acer dismissed its chief executive officer, Gianfranco Lanci, in March and changed its financial forecasts a few times in the past couple of months. Acer also posted its lowest profit in six years after the company lost sales to Apple‘s iPads and HTC and Samsung in the smart phone category.

Its Chairman and chief executive officer J.T. Wang said in a statement that he was taking full liability for the loss by fully relinquishing his salary from his position as a board director and his employee bonus for last year. The rest of the board of directors’ compensation will be reduced by 50 percent. Acer also plans to eliminate 300 jobs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Compensation, including severance pay, will cost the company up to $30 million. Apart from that, employee bonuses will also drop. However, the cash dividend of will remain unchanged to protect shareholders’ interests. The company will provide those channels with $150 million in sales allowance to clear inventory.

It will be a challenge to regain investors’ confidence for Acer. These are essential measures to get the company back on track and regain investors’ trust. Risks remain with Acer’s tablet inventory in the third quarter. Acer’s share price will remain under pressure. Without a strong product, its recovery could take longer than expected. To lend support to its share price, Acer announced a new share buyback plan, aiming to repurchase 27 million of the company’s shares on the open market until August 1 at between NT$55 and NT$80 per share.

Nokia planning to sit back and relax until 2012

Ask some people ‘which company created the hand phone’ and you might get Nokia as an answer. It is the wrong answer, but you can’t blame them. That was how successful Nokia was in the market. Models like the 3210 and 3310 hit the market like a bomb which made these people notice the existence of a mobile phone. No doubt, Ericsson, Motorola, Siemens, Alcatel and a few other companies already had their hands on producing great hand phones, but when Nokia entered the market with those models, it kicked them into the middle of last century. Its turnovers increased almost fivefold from 6.5 billion euros to 31 billion euros in 2001. The Nokia 1100 handset was the best-selling mobile phone of all time and also the world's top-selling consumer electronics product with over 200 million units shipped. Over the years, Nokia has kept up with the market requirements and released greater number of mobile phones compared to any other companies. It spread its hand phones over a wide range of different series. Today, there is the E, N, and X-series, and the lower-end models. Nokia was so strong that they didn’t feel the impact when the giant corporation, Microsoft entered the market with its Windows Mobile fitted into smart phones such as HTC and O2. In fact, there were many brands which had their go at trying to bring down Nokia over the years. They all failed. Its sales in more than 150 countries generated global annual revenue of over €42 billion and operating profit of €2 billion as of 2010. However, when Apple introduced, its iPhone, it redefined the way we look at mobile phones. Everyone wanted a smart phone. Nokia knew they were already in trouble at that time but they were holding to their plans to just improve the Symbian operating system they were already using on their phones to make it more like a smart phone. By this time, all the other phone makers had already started making proper smart phones with either Windows Mobile or Android, which is probably the second most successful operating system.

Android devices and iPhone were going much forward leaving Nokia and Windows Mobile devices behind. Microsoft studied the market and made a drastic decision by changing its entire OS to a new thing. It brought out the Windows Phone 7 OS which gave the same user experience as an iPhone or an Android based phone. Nokia on the other hand was stubborn. They kept on trying to do things differently. They sort of pulled it off with a few models such as the 5800 music express and the N97. Even so, it was no close to its competitors. Ovi store, the market for its applications is also far behind iTunes app store, Android market and even Windows market place. They continued their attempt by using different operating system such as the Maemo OS on the N900 and rumours also said they were going to try Meego, another operating system. They even released a new version of their symbian last year, Symbian 3 on devices such as the mighty N8 which had a 12 mega pixels camera. Frankly speaking, the hardware produced by Nokia these days are one of the best and even better than iPhones and Blackberrys, but the only set back is that Symbian OS. It’s too slow and not as cool as the others. Nokia was in big trouble by this time and had to reduce its size by cutting off workers. On February 11 2011, Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop, a former Microsoft employee, unveiled a new alliance with Microsoft, and announced it would replace Symbian with Windows Phone 7. Although it isn’t the greatest move (android would have been better in many ways), it looked like a solution. Photos of the upcoming Windows Phone 7 based devices were also released but there isn’t any device until now. They are still releasing phones that run on Symbian3 such as the new E7. I really can’t understand why they are moving slowly. I mean in 2004 Nokia's share of the Finnish GDP was 3.5% and it was the 120^th largest company in the world in 2009. In July 2010, Nokia announced that their profits had dropped 40% in the global smart phone rivalry. So what are waiting for? Haven’t they learnt their lesson the hard way? They are just sitting back and watching themselves committing suicide. Last month, Nokia announced that its Windows Phone handsets won’t be available until early 2012. If you ask me, I think they were already too late 2 years back. They have to do changes quickly. They say in the mean time their primary business strategy is to reach the 3.2 billion people who don’t currently own mobile phones, and the other nearly 3 million who can’t or don’t access the Internet on their devices. So they aren’t exactly aiming high there. What they are saying there is, “We are going to step back and let the others feast in the high-end, money-making market”. It’s simply pathetic isn’t it? Another question that bothers me is how they are going to update their Symbian3 for the new device if they’re going to kill it next year. If they do kill it, wouldn’t it be unjust for those who have just bought the E7? The right thing to do would be to update the Symbian3 or to simply update the device to the new Windows Phone7, but I just doubt they would do that.

Looking at the way things are going, I ‘m guessing the next generation won’t know what is Nokia. They’ll have their iPhones, Blackberrys and android devices. Nokia might just go down, bringing Windows Phone with it because let’s face it, without Nokia as its strong hardware partner, Windows Phone will never survive in the unforgiving market. It would be sad to watch the 100 years old Finnish company go down just like that.

-jaggy jagadis-

Spice CSL DroidPad not so spicy afterall!!!!

The CSL DroidPad was launched about errrr.....2 months back if I'm not wrong. Frankly, I couldn't be brothered. I entered Low Yat Plaza on one rainy evening and at the lower ground, I saw some models holding the CSL DroidPad. I knew about it many months before that, but I just could't care. I knew its going to be rubbish. I have to admit, the only thing that even made me walk to the booth was the model. Since I was already near the thing, I thought I might as well try it. Now, we all know these is just an IPad copy. Their only aim is to sell this thing to those desperate people who can't have an IPad. I'm not saying it is wrong to have a internet tablet which isn't an Ipad. Its just that something about the DroidPad says that CSL doesn't care about technology. They created this thing just for the money. I would have checked the specs if I wanted to, but the moment I saw the LCD, I turned away. The LCD looked like it came from the 1990s. My old HTC Touch2 with QVGA resolution looks better than that. It really looked bad. In the short while looking at it, I did notice a webcam and it is slightly thicker than the IPad.

If you're planning to fool your friends with this DroidPad, you might make a fool out of your self. In fact, I can see a lot of this DroidPad users selling off their device.

For those of you who want to get a IPad but can't afford it or if you're looking for a tablet with android, get the Samsung's tablet instead. Otherwise you can just save up and get a real IPad or the blackberry playbook.

Apple IPhone4

Yes.....finally....the IPhone 4. After a long time, I actually could get my hands on the Apple's IPhone 4. Now...I have to say, I am not a big fan of the IPhone. I never liked the IPhone as it was not really a smart phone when it first came out. At least not a smart phone for the smart phone users. U would probably understand what I'm saying if you were a smart phone user when the IPhone came out. Those who were using phones from HTC, O2 and various other smart phones felt the lack of control on the device. On an windows mobile operated phone, you could simply achieve anything by editing some codes somewhere. However, on the IPhone, you were stuck to apples ways. Things like the bluetooth functions and the lack of multitasking kept bothering me. Infact, I choose a HTC over the IPhone 2g. I was pretty happy with my choise and as years passed by, I kept choosing Windows mobile and Android operated devices over the childish IPhone.

Looking at the IPhone 4, would say...things has changed a lot over the years. I mean, the IPhone has become a proper smart phone, and better than that. It redefined the term "smart phone'.

With the new operating system, multi tasking can be achieved. The best part is, there are some people who have managed to port android into the IPhone. Now that is a proper smart phone! Well, the thought that 90% of what I'm paying is for the Apple logo and some games was always in my mind before this. Things are different though with this new grown up kid. It actually comes with technology which are beyond any other rivals reach. The Iphone 4 is still as expensive as it was when it first came out. Being a student, I'd still have to starve for a few months to come up with the cash. Oh....and theres the packages and all that plans to think about. The difference is, now I know that I am going through all this for genuine technology breakthrough.

The main attraction in the phone is the speed and its performance. This baby comes with the new 1Ghz Apple A4 process. The built in RAM is 512Mb and you can chose between the 16Gb or the 32Gb model. A 1Ghz processors puts it in the high end range...with the big boys like HD2, Nexus 1 and all the others. It certainly isn't any lesser than any of those phones and to be frank, I'm starting to think that its better.

No other phone in the market has a better display than its LED-backlit capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 640x960. Apple named this display as the Retina display. Although it is arguable, it certainly deserves it. People might say that the Samsung Super Amoled is better. Trust me though, this is better. It also comes with the accelerometer as seen on all the previous models and a three axis gyro sensor which improves the auto rotate functions on the screen for gaming.

The camera has been upgraded to a 5mp with LED flash for taking photos in low-lighting situations. Videos can be recorded in HD-720p with the LED light. Now, thats a function which is really important in the current Youtube/Facebook era.

I have to say, if you were a person who hated the IPhone before this, you would have to try this new one. It will make you change your mind. I understand your feelings when you have to face one of your tech-blind friend who owns an IPhone and brags about how it is better than any phone out there. Especially when he or she shows you one of those silly, childish games and says "can your phone do these?". I personally felt these people were irritating and so I decided to not join this clan. However, now I won't feel the same way again because I know that the phone genuinely is better than most of the phones out there.

The IPhone 4 can be bought with maxis IPhone postpaid plans, Digi IPhone postpaid plans or at any handphone shops out there. Just for your information, If you have bought an IPhone from anywhere else besides maxis and Digi, you are going to wish that you had never bought it when you need to claim for the warranty. Currently, the IPhone 4 is being sold in black color. The white one hasn't been officially launched, but I have seen it for sale on several sites. I'm not sure how this is possible, but rumors has it that Apple did make a certain number of white IPhone 4 just as a teaser. On the other hand, it could just be false and the whiet ones out there are actually black with its body changed. Don't be fooled by the boxes. Check the phone properly. If you really wan't a white IPhone 4, you can get the black one and change its body for around RM500-600.

Oh. I forgot to say this.

This post is for people who don't wish to own an IPhone . If you're already an IPhone user, you probably shouldn't read it.

Nokia N8

I should probably say that this is my first phone review. Hopefully this goes well.

The Nokia N8. Its the one of the latest phone by Nokia which comfortably sits among the higher level smart phones by Nokia. The N-series phones are made to offer a full smartphone experience. It is in some ways a combination of the current Nokia business phone, the E-series and an all rounder entertainment phone. In other terms, its a hybrid.

This flagship model was announced around April but for some reasons, it took 6 months to reach our stores. It seems like they deliberately launched it after the IPhone 4 to avoid this phone living in the older generation era ( IPhone 3gs era). Obviously, its aimed at the smart phone users who seem to prefer the IPhone and the younger Android users.

Now, lets not waste any time and get to the phone review...

Outlook and design features

Its aluminium unibody makes the phone look more stylish and thin. In-fact, the design is so nice that Nokia has decided to go with the same design for their upcoming E7. The available colors are silver, grey, orange, blue and green. The unit I tried was grey and orange. They both look great and pretty sleek. All the buttons are well-placed and easy to reach. The design itself rests nicely on the palms and surprisingly, I find it easy to operate with one hand. It doesn't feel like you're running your finger on a marathon when you reach the corners of the phone.

Hardware

The 680 MHz ARM 11 CPU does not make the N8 a super High-tech phone. Most killer smart phones these days come with a 1Ghz CPU. However, based on Nokia's claim that the Symbian 3 is light, I think its good enough. A few minutes of pressuring the phone, proved that the CPU can handle the OS smoothly. and I am sure it will do great with games as there is a dedicated graphic processor. One thing that puzzled me is the 256MB RAM. Even the latest Garmin requires at least 256MB of RAM. I wouldn't want a phone that hangs when I pay that amount of money for it. The N8 comes with a built in memory of 16GB and expendable by microSD up to 32GB

Display

The N8 spots a large 3.5" AMOLED capacitive touch screen display with a 640 x 360 pixel resolution. The scratch resistant, glass display look nice and bright. But having operated the Iphone 4 and the Samsung Galaxy S, the N8's display does not set the standards high enough. The IPhone 4 has a LED-backlit IPS TFT display with a mind blowing 640 x 960 pixel resolution and my personal favorite, the Samsung Galaxy S's Super AMOLED display. The display on the N8 looks only as good as my Bold 2's 480 x 360 display. Of course its more brighter, but it doesn't make me feel that my Bold 2 is out of the topic. The sensitivity of the touch screen is as good as the best capacitive touch screen phones out there. It feels very responsive and the vibration feels very natural.

Camera

Oh when I said Hybrid, I should have also say that its a camera. This is probably where the N8 kicks all the other smart phones out there back to a time when phone cameras were meant for emergency use. The 12 megapixel autofucus camera snaps pictures which are as good as high end point and shoot digital cameras. Its better than any phone camera out there. Its wide angle Carl Zeiss is also accompanied with a xenon flash to take stunning pictures in low-light situations. I tried snapping a few pictures and immediately could notice the much clear and vibrant pictures compared to the Sony Ericsson Satio. The N8 also records video in high definition, 720p at 25fps.. Other features include the usual face detection and geo-tagging. The only let down in the camera is the software. I expected the new symbian 3 OS to have a more user friendly camera interface.

Connectivity and internet Browser

All the smart phone features can be seen on the N8 . It has a built in GPS receiver with A-GPS support. The OVI maps is descent for a voice guided navigation software and best of all is its free for a life-time. However, personally, I'd still prefer using the Garmin software if I am going to use it as a car GPS navigator. The N8 supports HSDPA and also has WIFI connectivity which was I used to test the browser. The browser supports flash and java but using it wasn't as easy as using the browsers on android and IPhone. Even the new Blackberry Torch beats it. Other connectivity include Bluetooth 3.0 and stereo FM transmitter.

Others

One of the key features in the N8 is the microHDMI port. This means u can play your videos in HD on your TV or monitor. It also supports DivX playback which looked quite nice on the 3.5" display. The built in accelerometer allows motion based games to be played and rotating the phone to change the display orientation. The sound quality on the N8 is rather impressive as it reminded me of the stereo speakers on the Walkman series phone once upon a time. I'm not sure why, but probably because the sound just sounded right.

Conclusion

I would say the Nokia N8 is one great phone. It will sit on top with the kings. The only problem for me is Symbian. I never really liked symbian for the touch screen phones from the start. When it first came out in the 5800, it looked very basic and backwards. Sad to say, it still looks the same and I wanted it to change. I understand that its made for simplicity, but its just not my cup of tea.