Here’s the Dell’s version of Targus notebook bag.

This thing looks gorgeous from the outside..

The inside, hmm.. not so good. Looks rather plain with the grey/silver finish. The keyboard was slightly on the “bendable” side because during typing you could actually see the whole keyboard moving slightly.

Call me jakun again but it look me a minute to figure out where the power on button was! HAHA!

As usual, the Dell Studio LED screen did not fail to impress me. Colors were vibrant and text was sharp. The blacks weren’t black enough though..

At a certain angle I could see some line scanning going on, I’m not sure whether this is a problem with the screen or it is meant to be like that. Anyway it is only visible if you really stare at the screen properly. Will check it out once the setup is complete.

Again! the 90w power adaptor has been trimed down to a size thinner than my phone. Nice one. It runs pretty hot though. The notebook itself runs quite hot during idle times too.

Overall, the Dell Studio 15 is a quite a powerful machine here. Equipped with the Core i5 2.4ghz , 4gb DDR3 ram, 1GB ATi HD5740, 500GB hdd, this notebook is perfect for watching my TVB dramas!! AHHAHA.

Special thanks to Ivy and Eddy for letting me molest their very new toy. I couldn’t resist myself from snapping photos of your notebook. It was simply a natural poser.

So I’ve bought the Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB after serious consideration from various sources which includes Reng Kwan, Mr Scott Tan, Mr Google and many other sites.  Initially I was just thinking of getting a used hard disk and save some extra cash but then a used 320GB WD hard disk costs RM100 (which I do not know how well they perform) compared to this Samsung SpinPoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB, RM140. 40% more in price for a 56% increase in capacity >.<

The 750GB model costs a mere RM25 more but do not be fooled by the price. Performance wise it is not the same as the 500GB model as the 750GB model hosts 3 x 250GB platter compared to a single platter on the 500GB model. The 1TB version comes with 2 x 500GB platters and performance is supposedly on par with the 500GB model. Single platter offers an advantage in terms of read/write seek time, speed, heat and noise production. Anyway, I’m not that certain about this.

Let’s skip that part and get to the benchmarks.

I used HD Tune Pro TRIAL EDITION to get the figures. Anyway here they are. Pretty good speeds with some hiccups at times. Anyway did the test a few times and the results were around the same.  The average read speed achievable was at 131.6MB/s.

Just to compare, the Western Digital Green 500GB that I’m using now transfers at around 80MB/s. Now that’s a 50% increase in speed. Anyway all these are just benchmarks. These numbers would be useful if I kept transferring huge files. For random seeking, getting an SSD drive would do wonders.

For that price, the Samsung SpinPoint F3 is a really value for money hard disk.

It was even given the title “Samsung F3 unofficial most sought-after hard disk on LYN as of 25 June 2010.” – from forum.lowyat.net .

Now, let’s see how long it lasts before I’d confirm on that statement.

Well, does this product really live up to its ” cheap but same quality as the more expensive brands” standard? Hmm.. yes and no.

YES / PROS

1. GadgetShieldz gives an almost perfect cut on the skin letting very little of the phone surface exposed.

2. GadgetShieldz offers a more variety of skins, ( more than the BSE but rather the same or less than IS). They didn’t have the skin for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 on the BSE but they did have them on the IS site with a much much higher price.

3. GadgetShieldz comes with free worldwide shipping via courier.

4. Like the others, it does give some scratch protection.

5. It’s reasonably priced.

Here’s how the screen protector look like once it is applied on the screen. Pretty nice almost-perfect cut.

NO/CONS 

1. Some of the skins arrive with a little scratches on them already. One of the review units had a pretty long but fine scratch on it.

2. The skin magically turns black / oil-mark stain if too much pressure is applied on it after some time. I had a few cases of this happening already. Even though I was given the replacement for the skin, this phenomena repeated. Shame on you GadgetShieldz.

Anyway, I was told that this phenomena does not happen on every skin. Probably the batch that I received had some problems during manufacturing.

Left: A new piece of GadgetShieldz. Right: The “oil-stained” GadgetShieldz.

Verdict: The only reason I’m using GadgetShieldz currently is because they have the full body protection for my SE Xperia X1. Otherwise, I’ll rather spend a little more and get the BSE instead. Although that skin costs a little, yes a little only bit more, it would save the hassle of replacing the “oil-stained” skin from GadgetShieldz.  Anyway, if you’d like to get some GadgetShieldz for your devices and keep them scratch free thoughout their lifespan, I’m selling them too here. Oh yes I know that contradicts my sentence above.. but oh well.. as I said, it only happens on some skins and it can be replaced for free.

Thanks to GadgetShieldz for the skins =) .

Oh anyway, let’s get to the point. I managed to get the replacement unit for this phone at a local flea market. The phone was pretty much screwed up with its flipping parts broken into 2. LOL. The unit was from Vietnam though.. (says the firmware when it was booted up).

Ahh, the two keypads together. Look at the hinge where the other phone broke. *ouch*.

(“new” and old)(rev 3.3 and rev 3.2)

The two mainboards together. The keypad of the phone was actually soldered on the main board of the phone so it would be a little messy if the keypad was replaced. Instead, the easier way was to simply swap the main boards and plug everything back in. The “new” board was a rev 3.3 board while the original one was rev 3.2 . Didn’t notice any difference in performance though. I accidentally broke the volume button ribbon during the brain transplant. Such a waste, no more volume control for the phone but then the other functions works good. If there’s a need for the volume control in the future, I shall perform another surgery to transplant the volume control ribbon from the working unit.

Now the phone is working great. Time to get another sim card and get it back to duty.

Total cost of repair: RM2.

Heck.. for a 7 year old phone, RM80 isn’t worth the money. So lets get dirty and break it up.

The Samsung T400 was only secured by 5 screws on the lower part of the phone while only 2 screws held the screen in position. Unscrew them, un-clip the plastic holders securing them together and its open. Easy huh?
The phone consists of only 2 parts which are the screen and the main-board. LOL.

Once opened, the whole board looked like a “forest” of IC’s and pins. I’m no expert in this so I’ll just have to do it the usual NBTD way, which is to remove all removable pins/plugs and simply clean the device. The chances of getting your stuff repaired this way are close to ZERO but then what else can be done? Just trying my luck.

The phone was simply powered up to see what comes out and *pooof*
It lights up!

Before assembling back the parts together,  the keypad of the phone was slightly modified by adding some supporting pads on some of the keys. Due to wear and tear, some of the keys are no longer that sensitive and they needed more contact pressure to work.

There you have it, another device brought back to life!  My X1 would be having a good rest now while I’ll get this Samsung T400 up to a good stress test.

OpenACircle runs on the Java platform which requires a Java JRE to run . It is readily available for free at Java’s site. To my disappointment, even though this software runs on Java, it doesn’t work on Macs.  Yes you read that correctly, no Macs.

Anyway, the registration process and usage went perfectly alright with my pc loaded with Windows 7.

A quick signup brought me to this dashboard which prompts me to create my business card details and to get my contacts into this circle by email invitation.

Then it brings me to my dashboard.

A quick glance at the dashboard shows the calendar,  events, number of connections, the people currently online, number of circles.. etc and of course, a huge advertisement at the bottom right corner. Perhaps it is needed to fund their operating costs? I thought that ad was rather large and a smaller one would not be such an eyesore.

So what are the features included in OpenACircle? The name might have already gave you a hint on what it does. The publisher states that it allows people to interact with each other virtually, anywhere and of course, FREE (There is a paid plan too).

Well it does have features such as voice conferencing which allows up to 100 users at a time. Next up would be having able to share your workspace/desktop with the users you are connected with. This gives users the ease of being able to discuss on a specific matter without having to go through tedious ways.

There’s a file sharing feature implemented in OpenACircle also. Simply drag the file and share it with anyone who is in your circle. There are no limitations on the file type, so just share whatever you want in your circle.

When someone posts up a note on the circle, you’ll be immediately alerted via email and its up to you whether you want to respond to that person or not.

This online based software has pretty much everything that you need to be able to discuss and work out something with your partners. However for me currently I have yet to need such service as my basic Instant Messaging and Push Mail works perfectly alright. Nevertheless, one day if I do happen to need such service, I’ll be glad to use this software as it as almost everything (I think) that I would need.

I managed to get hold of a portion of this Tuniq TX-2 from Reng Kwan to replace my Intel E5200 processor’s stock thermal paste which I thought it was running at a rather high temperature and it was hindering its overclocking capabilities. This popular Wolfdale chip is based on the 45nm manufacturing process and has been known for its achievable overclock speed of over 4Ghz from its default clock speed of 2.5Ghz.

Let’s see how well this paste performs.

The Tuniq TX-2 Thermal Compound.

Have a greater detail on how the E5200 looks like by clicking on the image =)

I know the motherboard is quite dusty. Haha.

I did not have any thermal compound remover so I just used pieces of tissue paper to scrape the old paste off the chip and the heat sink as well.

Tried my best to remove the existing thermal paste.

And then, the Tuniq TX-2 Thermal Compound was applied on the E5200.

Thermal paste is supposed to be applied just enough to cover the processor and not more/thicker layer than that. Too much would reduce its efficiency and too little, would also do the same.  Positioned back the heat sink on the processor. Locked the unit back to its sockets and its good to go.

Booted it up and it showed 28 degrees celcius AT FIRST ( Mind you, the ambient temperature in Malaysia is rather high). But then the temperature rose up and then after stressing the E5200 to its maximum temperature, it can be concluded that the Tuniq TX-2 did reduce the temperature of the processor by an average of 3-5 degrees Celsius.

The Tuniq TX2 is quite a good thermal compound if you have a tight budget and can’t afford to replace the whole heatsink with the custom unit. It would still bring the temperature down, but just a couple of celsius.

Aesthetic wise: This little fella does look quite sleek and clean with its white glossy finish. Not too glossy that your fingerprints would get onto it but they’ve done it just right.

Physical usability: They weren’t that smart after all since the cap for this device cannot be plugged back to the device when it is slotted into the USB port of your PC. Where shall I keep the cap?
This TL-WN321G is quite strong too as I accidentally dropped this unit flat on the ground from 2m high. Nothing broke. It still works.

Usability : This device is detected once it’s plugged into Windows. Just pop in the cd and you are ready to go. There’s even a 64bit driver for this unit. Not bad. If I’m not mistaken it is supported by Machintosh also but you’ll have to source the 3rd party drivers yourself.

Hack-ability: Here is where the TP-Link TL-WN312G is in all its glory.

Having a Ralink RT2571WF heart (chipset) brings out many wonders to this adaptor. The Ralink RT2571WF or usually known as the RT73 chipset is fully supported by the Backtrack family which means packet injection and monitoring mode is here! Why spend more on a more famous brand when it uses the same chipset as this? You’re just buying the brand.

I’ve examined the circuitry of the  TP-Link TL-WN312G and it looks like we can have an antenna mod for this baby.. I’ve yet to decide whether I should get a pigtail and solder it *which i can plug in a 12dbi antenna on it* on or just use the “wajanbolic” aka chinese wok mod. Both will work. Under the metal plate is an RF shield to prevent interference to the antenna? I’m not too sure about that. Did not dig it up yet.

Backtrack testing: To check on whether this unit really can perform, I did a WEP penetration on my home wifi network. Please be warned that cracking wireless networks are strictly prohibited and this program should only be used to test your own network.

How was my network set up? 2 pcs connected to the router named “stupid” and was set to use WEP 64bit encryption.It passed all my test. airodump-ng worked, aireplay-ng worked and of course aircrack-ng worked as well. There’s only one flaw about this RT73 Chipset which it can’t display the actual signal strength properly. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. Other than that, everyting is great. I cracked it in under 3 mins. Hmm..never use WEP for wifi..

Price: Around RM45-50 depending on shop. I grabbed mine at RM30 with 9months warranty from All-IT Hypermarket. Perhaps it could get cheaper if you are able to find an older unit.

The TP-Link TL-WN321G Wireless USB Adpator is a really nice device if you intend to customize it and have a low budget.

p/s: photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

And yes, this is a repost because my old blog was brought down.

Peeling out the old Best Skins Ever Skin. As you can see, the plastic had faded and this is a must to change the skin already if not your display would be slightly yellow-er.

Hmmm, my phone still shines thanks to the Best Skins Ever that was protecting it since day one. Sadly , I could not manage to apply the skin on the keypad area as well.

Tools needed for the application. A cutter, a metal ruler, and the Best Skins Ever itself.

Steps:
1. Measure the size of the area that you intend to stick the skin on.

2. Cut it with a sharp cutter. It is important that your blade must be sharp as the skin would have some glue coming out if it is not cut properly and would not look so good.

3. Clean the surface of the target object with a lint free cloth and if possible a dust free environment. You can DIY by creating a “steam bath” at your bathroom and that would reduce the dust level

4. TURN YOUR DEVICE OFF AND ENGAGE THE HOLD SWITCH!!!!! Take out the battery if it’s removable

5. Wash your hands and clean any fingerprints from your device. Next, in a petri dish, mix about 1/4 teaspoon of mild liquid soap with about 10 oz. water to make the application solution. Allow a couple minutes for the small bubbles to settle out of the solution. Baby shampoo or liquid dish soap work best. Stay away from soaps with additives such as creamy hand soaps.

6. Identify the function pieces of the Skin and determine what parts of the device they are applied to.

Tip: Keeping your finger tips wet with solution will prevent your fingers from sticking to the adhesive and leaving finger prints on the under side of the skin.

7. Get your fingers on the solution and peel the skin from the liner. Wet the adhesive side thoroughly as you peel it from the liner. Do not lose track of which side of the Skin was stuck to the liner! This is the side that will adhere to the device.

8. Lightly shake excess water from the Skin. It doesn’t need to be dripping wet; a thin film of solution works the best.

9. Apply pressure on the skin and use a card or something you think you have to remove the bubbles.

10. Use a hairdryer to speed up the drying process.

11. Keep on pressing on the skin till it dries to about 50% (when you think it looks right and do not need any more adjustment on the Best Skins Ever)

12. You are done. The skin would have a ripple look for a few days before it settles. After it’s been settled, it would look great.

Thanks to Best Skins Ever for providing the skin to be reviewed.