On October 13, I received this text message stating that the parts needed will arrive on October 21:

It’s currently October 27, I called the service center back, and they said there was trouble with the parts expedition and they expect it to arrive on early November.

Seriously, Datascrip? How much longer should I wait for the parts to arrive? A month? A year? A decade? If you’re going to sell Canon products here, don’t you have the slightest idea that you HAVE TO HAVE SPARE PARTS READY FOR CUSTOMERS?! What kind of an idiot that sells common consumer products without the ability to service them accordingly and in a timely manner?

Update #2:
The manager called me yesterday and offered me an upgrade to a G12 for a million less than the listed price. That’s around 1.45 million, and around the same price I have to pay for the G10 spare parts. He said it is a compensation for the disappointment I have with their incompetence, and that he can’t make sure when the parts are coming in himself. However, today, this is what I got:

Now it stated that I have to pay 2.5 millions to trade to a G12. So this is apparently how Datascrip does their business? They promise you one thing, and then they screw you right on your face. What other dumbshit have you done today, Datascrip? I called this in and they said the price was already according to the memo FROM THE SAME MANAGER. I no longer know who’s the dumbass in Datascrip anymore at this point. Could be just the customer service officer (which is not really a surprise), or it could be everyone.

Update #3:
After another complaint, I got another phone call, confirming that I would only have to pay 1.458 million. According to the caller, the reason why nobody have a fucking clue on why I don’t have to pay for a full upgrade price is because they have not been informed yet by the manager. Nice, two different phone calls, two different reasons. If the decision is yet to be made, then why the hell did they texted me with the message above in the first place? This whole process is just purely idiotic.

Seriously, Datascript, you better get this thing right. Either your incompetent employees, or your workflow, whatever. This is seriously embarassing.

Back in the days, my Dad used to have this small Acer Tablet PC. I completely forgot the name or model because Acer, just like most computer manufacturers love numbers and codes instead of product names. This tablet PC is so shit that it made Dad asked me each day “what the fuck is wrong with this thing that it hangs when doing anything?” and it is so shit that it cannot level itself perfectly on a table with the battery attached.

Over the years, I have yet to see that improvement from Acer, not in quality, not in durability. They are all, in my opinion, still plasticky, and shit.

Now, recently, Acer announced that they wanted to be more like Apple, and they restructured themselves to make that happen. And seriously, who would’ve thought that in the process of being more like Apple, they decided to ape the MacBook Air and came out with this:

So do you think Acer deserves my loathe? Yes, just because I hate plagiarists. What’s next on your to-do list, Acer? An Aspire that looks like a Mac Pro? A Z5 that looks like an iMac? Or maybe an Iconia that looks like an iPhone? Or maybe, just maybe, a CEO that looks like Steve Jobs?

First things first, here’s what my current iPhone looks like, with and without the Bumper:

Now let’s just get on with the review. Just like the flat case, I find this case exciting to use. And here are the pros that I could think of:

• It feels better than the original glass back plate, and it definitely would not shatter.
• The beveled plate makes it super-flush while using the Bumper case. It’s more ergonomic and lessens the fatigue when holding it.
• It looks superb. I could never understand why Apple didn’t come up with this in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, the glass back plate is also superb, but it doesn’t give that industrial look and class.

However, despite the excellent features, nothing is perfect, and this case didn’t escape that as well:

• The markings scrape off quite easily. You may not notice them in the photos, but I already have a few scratches on the Apple logo there. In fact, if you buy this thing now, they don’t sell ones with the markings anymore. Legal issues as well maybe? I don’t know.
• The screw mounts are just plain weak. Unlike the original back plate, which has steel screw mounts, this one (as well as the other ones from the same seller) has plastic mounts. So basically, screwing it altogether breaks the mount and makes the screws loose. This is where the Bumper case comes in handy.
• Not actually a con, but you might need to know that because of the beveled plate, no aftermarket cases other the Bumper or anything with a similar design, would fit after you have this back plate installed.
• Last but not least, when you are using this back plate, there will be involuntary vignettes and flash artifacts when taking pictures as seen in the example below. Although the flash artifact would only happen when you photograph objects from a half a meter or further.

These rather unpleasant results (which could actually can be useful if you’re a hipster) when taking photos are caused by the gap the back plate creates between itself and the camera lens and flash. It’s too bad because if only they made it flush, this wouldn’t happen. But it is a minor hassle if you can live with it.

There are also a few things to note if you do decide to buy this case and install it on your iPhone:

• First, you’ll need a Phillips 00 screwdriver to open your current back plate.
• If you just bought your iPhone recently, Apple ships them with pentagram screws. A common mistake is that people thought those are regular Torx screws. It’s not and you will most likely break it if you try to open it by force using a Torx or Phillips screwdriver. You’ll need a specialized screwdriver like this one or this one. And trust me, that’s not really easy to find here.
• I do recommend replacing the screws with the regular Phillips screw, because the pentagram screws don’t really last that long after repeated use.

So there we go, my complete review of the beveled metal back plate for the iPhone 4, and I will stress again that modifying your iPhone 4 physically is not condoned by Apple and may break your warranty. Do this at your own risk.

Update:
After further inspections with a different aftermarket back plate of the same type, apparently the flash artifacts was not caused by the beveled structure of the back plate, but it is more of a manufacturing defect. I noticed that the backplate is slightly off-center and this is why the flash reflects back into the camera upon firing. The conclusion is that since this is an aftermarket accessory, we cannot expect it to be in the same quality of Apple’s craftsmanship. So if you got yourself a perfectly aligned back plate, then you’re lucky. Otherwise, well that is something you have to expect from the moment you made the purchase.

I just successfully turned my iPhone 4 into an iPhone 4 Pro. LOL!

Well, not exactly. The photo up there is a real deal iPhone 4, with its back plate replaced with a metal version, which I got from here for $14. There is a beveled version of the case as well, which supposedly will make the iPhone more ergonomic to hold, but it’s still in the shipping box and I haven’t tried it on. Of course unless if another little birdy send me another iPhone 4 for some reason.

Replacing the back cover is also surprisingly easy. Unlike the previous iPhones which basically require a brute force teardown, this time you’ll only need a Philips #00 screwdriver (Make sure it’s #00 and not #0, or you’ll potentially ruin the screws) and steady hands. Remove the two screws at the bottom of the phone, slide the back cover, replace it, put the screws back in, and voila! The “unibody” iPhone 4 is in your hands :D

For comparison, here’s my phone in its original state:

Note:
By all means, these casing replacements are not official products of Apple, so if you decide to replace yours, you will most likely void the warranty (I practically don’t care about it now since my phone is not even from here).

Some people commented that Apple made a lot of profit by manufacturing the iPhone for $188 a pop, and then selling it for several hundred bucks. These people probably never had the terms “R&D”, “marketing” or “manufacturing cost” crossing in their minds. If you idiots want Apple to sell these for $180 each then how are they (as well as other normal businesses) supposed to run their business?

Take Microsoft, for instance. How did you think they do their business so that they raked up humongous amount of money? Do you think they sell Windows for 10 cents each? Maybe you thought so because you live in Indonesia where you can buy a pirated copy for 25,000 rupiahs. They are selling Windows for at least $100 each. Now why don’t you go to them and complain that they should just charge people as much as they were copying the DVDs? I don’t know, like a buck each?

Let me put it this way. You people buy cars, right? In fact, some of you are probably lucky enough to be able to purchase European cars. Do you have the slightest idea how much they spend on manufacturing those cars? It’s probably half of what you paid for, if not less. Do you complain? No. You freaking know that Audis here cost more than they do in Europe, but you keep buying them. Do you know how much restaurants spend to make a soup that they sold for a severa thousand rupiahs? It’s probably just mere cents. Do you complain? No. Do you go barging into the kitchen demanding that they should’ve sold it as much as the production cost? No.

Apple is a premium product, and by being a premium product—despite of all its weaknesses (you dumbasses should also start to realize that nothing is perfect and even Ferraris have flaws)—They will not give a damn to those who doesn’t want to buy their products. As simple as that. It’s not fanboyism, but it is a simple fact. That is their product positioning, and it will be like that whether you like it or not.

So if you constantly whine on how Apple should do their business and that they need to lower their prices, then you can simply just ignore their products. Big deal, maybe their products were not meant for you. Now go buy an Acer or something and stop acting like a 10-year old, or you can probably try whining to Lexus that they should sell their cars as cheap as a Chery QQ. Hey, who knows? Maybe you can convince them.

No.

Because here’s what showed up in my mobile Safari:

It is probably, by far, the ugliest mobile website I’ve ever seen from a mobile provider. It is badly designed (look at those jagged rounded corners of the icons), badly developed, and it doesn’t even give you any information other than referring you to mostly outdated apps in the App Store. Not to mention that most of those apps are not good looking either.

It also doesn’t give you the option to switch to the regular website, it needs you to explicitly enter “http://www.telkomsel.com/web/home” in the browser (luckily I bookmarked that one) so that it will give you this:

By the way, that screenshot was taken on a Mac, so in the iPhone, the main feature slideshow as you see there is not available, because it’s using Flash (while it’s easier to do that with jQuery, but hey, they’re technologically advanced people, right?).

But this is not the website’s feature that I want to talk about. If you look at the lower right section of the website, you’ll see a customer login. Everything there seems to be right (despite the ugliness of the website’s design). But when you look closer, you’ll get this:

People, if you ever want to forget your Telkomsel login password for any reason at all, then worry no more! Telkomsel has that feature made for you.

PS: If someone can point me on how to signup for the electronic billing statement, it would be much appreciated. It seems that talking with their jackass customer service won’t do much good.

Dear all,

Dijual ipod android BM, 3.500.000 nett. Jika bermasalah dalam 1×24 jam, barang diganti baru

emang ada ya ipod android?
bukannya ipod apple??

Sorry salah ketik.. Maksudnya ipad android, garansi 2 bulan dari toko

Not helping at all here… And it goes on:

Merk nya apa nih.
Spek WiFi aja atau juga udah incl. 3G HSDPA?

Hmm..itu setauku yang dr cina ya? Makany bisa android..

HP & Dell juga ngeluarin yg Ipad Android juga kok.

Hmm..kalo itu kan…
HP Slate (batal)
And Dell Streak….baru yang 5″

Tapi untuk android baru yang cina setau ogut ya..

Hehe..

Maap kalo salah

Ipad jg bukannya dr apple bro?
Bingung..

Namanya aja iPad , kalo ga dr apple asli ya palsunya dr china”, kalo dgr android brarti yg china krn iPad asli pake iOS, btw HP n Dell ga ngeluarin iPad CMIIW

BTW semua apple juga dari cina, mau asli ato palsu. hehehe.

Ipad android by apple

Speck sama saja, bs browse di internet,ini barang apple , hanya black market

Warna putih

Strike two!!! And it still goes on:

Dear all,

Ipad itu by apple with OS bukan Android.

Android itu by google, and saat ini di pakai ama perusahaan China buat ebook reader. Karena open source makanya di pakai oleh cina untuk produce saingan ipad.

Mengenai Android Ipad, saya jg terima tawaran dr supplier dr cina, mereka ksh harga di bawah 2.5 jt. Jadi wajar saja murah.

Android just an OS, dia bs di pakai di Mobile or device, asal kan interactive dengan konsep touch. Tp tidak se interactive konsep touch milik apple.

Waduh ini yg jualan coba kasi info yg lengkap donk, jgn sepotong2, kalo dr apple resmi coba kasi link productnya apple yg pake android??
Kalo apple2an ya fairnya mestinya dikasi tau donk. IMHO sih

Bukan gw yg jualan.. Spek sedang ditanyakan brother, orgnya belum dijawab, namanya black market kan ga teregister . Sama spt handphone , ad yg teregister , ad yg black market, tp merk nya sama. Contoh: blackberry

Anyway, kalau sudah ada gw info lg detail speknya.

mungkin iPadnya di jailbreak kali. Jadi bs dual os. Mungkin itu kali
maksudnya.. Just guessingg

Ipad saya juga uda di jailbreak tapi ga bs dual os…???

Kayanya harus hati2 deh kalau barang spt ini
Hrs jelas dulu
Ipad – apple
Apa android tablet?
Android tablet banyak jg c d pasaran tp fungsi tdk spt ipad

Anyway biar jelas aja si..
Peace peace..

All,

Klarifikasi, barangnya Android tablet

Boleh tanya, apakah mirip dengan yang ini?

http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/android-tablet-news/67-android-ipad.html

Sorry teman teman baru dapat data lengkapnya, ada 2 tipe yang dijual, 1. Android D9 . 2. Android D3. Android D9 harganya IDR 3.500.000 , sedangkan Android D3 harganya IDR 4.000.000. Barangnya masuk dari Singapore ke Batam. Black Market. Garansi 2 bulan, Garansi Toko, Kalo mengalami masalah dalam 1×24 jam, diganti dengan produk baru. Jika ingin liat gambarnya, please japri atau kontek 083890620222

Berikut spesifikasinya Android D9:

1. 8 inch Google Android OS, Ultra
Slim, 800×480 screen, E-Book reader, 720P MP4 Video Files Decoding Ability, a
powerful MP4

2. Built in WIFI, Surfing internet
conveniently

3. CPU: VIA 800MHz

4. Software: Google Android 1.6

5. Screen: 8 inch LCD, multi-touch
display with IPS technology, 800*480px

6. EBook: Built in iReader
software, support TXT, UMD, CHM, HTML, PDB etc. Enjoy the E-book format comics
freely!

7. Language: Czech, Danish, Dutch,
English, Spanish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian,
Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese

8. Memory: 128M, 2GB internal
space, support TF card up to 16GB extended

9. Multimedia codes: Support MP3, MP4, AVI, Word, Excel, Mail, EBook,
video online

10. Network support: Ethernet
10/100M, WIFI: 802.11B/G

11.High-fidelity stereo speaker
output :

*3.5-mm stereo headphone jack

* Microphone

* Dock connector port

12. USB slot

13. YouTube: Support

14. Other functions: WIFI, Alarm, Calendar, Contacts, Documents to go,
Email, iReader, Maps, Browser, Voice recorder, Gravity Sensor

15. Size: 221*180*15mm

16. Net Weight: 593g

17. Color: White

18. Battery:
2100MAh

Package including:

1x iPad D9 Android

1x Charger

1x USB data cable

Package Size: 35cm x 25cm x 10cm
Android D3:

1. Processor : VIA-VT8505(
ARM926EJC,600Mhz)

2. OS : Android Version 1.7

3. Memory : 128MB

4. HDD : 1GB(2GB\4GB) NAND Flash ,Can use external
160GB Portable HDD &16GB SD Card

5. Wifi : Support 2.4GHZ 802.11b/g

6. Loudspeaker : 2*Built-in Speaker 8?/1W

7. Microphone : Built-in Microphone

8. Screen Size : 7″ TFT High Clear
DigitalScreen

9. Screen Resolution : 800 x 480

10. Push Button : Top side button- Power button
+Volume control keys

11. Push Button : Positive primary key

12. Touchscreen : Full mirror face, HIGH sensitive
touch screen operation, Built-in touch panel, support USB port

13. Input / Output card :

* Audio Equipment – 3.5mm Standard Headset jack

* DC-IN port – DC Charging Interface 9V 2A

* USB Interface – 1*MINI 5PIN USB PORT

* Storage deck – Standard TF expansion slots,
maximum capacity of 16GB external storage

14. Power Equipment :

* Battery -
Polymer lithium-ion battery 1500mAh/7.4V

* Adapter – DC 9V 2A

15. Fittings : Adapter, User’s manual

16. New stock comes with preloaded :

* Documents to go

* iReader

* Picture Capture

* MSN Droid

* App Store

17. Dimension : 13.5 x 20.3 x 1 cm

All I can say is… GOBLOOOOOOOGGGGGGGG! :D

PS: This could be one hell of a story for Nguping Teknologi.

• Telkomsel is the largest cellular provider in this country, and with the widest coverage.
• Telkomsel is Apple’s exclusive partner that sells bundled iPhones in this country.
• As far as I know, the iPad 3G is the only device available right now (including here, despite it’s not officially imported) that uses a micro SIM.

So given those facts, Telkomsel should be able to steal the competition by supplying micro SIMs for Indonesian iPad 3G owners, right? No. We have to cut them ourselves instead, AND, instead of them, XL is pioneering the move. Ironic? Yes. But then again, Telkomsel’s 3G coverage (or stability) is not entirely that spectacular anyway.

Now, let’s see how long would it take for them to bring the iPhone 4 here, and how long would it take for them to sell them appropriately or competitively. But the way I see it, Apple should’ve ditched the partnership from the beginning and sell factory-unlocked iPhones through Indonesian authorized resellers instead. I’m pretty sure that this would work better in terms of sales.

So maybe, by the time the iPhone 4 is here, and we ask Telkomsel on whether we can get an official micro SIM card or not, this is the reply that you would probably get: “Mohon informasikan nomor telepon dan lokasi, tim kami yang akan menindaklanjuti.”

Sorry, just had to let that out :)

Photo from Moses Kurniawan.

Here’s what happened:

1. Give an idiot a smartphone.
2. Bait him/her with a classic old trick.
3. Wait.
4. Immense hoax delivery within minutes.

So, so-called smart and sophisticated smartphone user, if you are practically dumber than the least intelligent mammal on Earth, try not to buy phones that are potentially smarter than yourself. Here’s why:

1. You will give nothing but trouble to others.
2. You will only inflict rage to a massive crowd when this thing happens. Most of them would probably just wanted to kill you or decapitate you on site.
3. For the love of God, why can’t you at least ask first if things like this are true? Or just fucking Google it, dammit.
4. You are seriously dumber than a monkey. And this reason will just confirm itself when you got mad reading this because you don’t understand the reason why I think you’re seriously dumber than a monkey.

Now, give everyone a favor, sell your BlackBerry and trade it with this:

At least you will get ONLY yourself into trouble. Capiche?

That is probably the first question in hand, because in people’s eyes, having a postpaid cellular card could lead to unwanted bills, it’s inability to be limited, and so forth, and so forth. And using a prepaid number is cheaper and easier to the wallet. Well to a certain extent, that’s probably true, but I have good reasons why I chose to stick with a postpaid number.

Reason #1: Convenience
The first and foremost reason for me is convenience. No matter what you do (unless you limit your credits, certain telcos have this feature), you will still have the ability to make a phone call when you need to. Imagine having a low credit on a prepaid phone and you’re stuck in an emergency. Believe me, you don’t want to be caught in that situation. With postpaid numbers, I can also register that to my credit card for auto billing each month. It saves my time and I don’t have to worry that I forgot to pay my bills anymore.

Reason #2: It’s Actually Cheaper
Unless things have changed I didn’t realize, I found using a postpaid number to be a lot cheaper. Back in the days when I was still using a prepaid number, I usually shell out around 200-250k each month for my phone bill. After I switched to postpaid, it’s around 150k. Now, my bill is around 250-275k already with an internet subscription that costs 125k alone. One other thing that I find interesting is how you calculate your rates. Here’s an example of a postpaid rate:

And here’s an example of a prepaid rate:

It’s clear that postpaid numbers have much simpler rate calculations. Personally, I don’t want to waste my time on constantly calculating the best rate for my phone calls. It’s just dreadful, and not to mention unnecessary. Why do we have to have different rates at different times, and at different regions? It’s just simply pointless.

Reason #3: No Fear of Deactivation
While you can also be deactivated by your service provider when using a postpaid number, you don’t have to hassle with different active periods when using different top up vouchers with different nominals. Add that to the rate calculation you already have before, and you’ll have a lifetime’s worth of mathematical problems.

So if your concern is to save money, it’s not the case of whether you should choose prepaid numbers over postpaid numbers. It is a control that you have to achieve for yourself. It’s as simple as making phone calls, texting, or browsing as you need.

Note:
Rates were taken from Indosat. I found other telcos use methods that are more or less the same.