HK Tech Phooey

Tapping the pulse of this gateway for Asia's IT

by Victor Cheung, Hong Kong SAR, PRC

My tech predictions for 2010

Nov 29, 2009 23:31

The one article/post that we tech bloggers asked most is the tech predictions for the coming year or the must-have high tech gifts for the festive season.

Last year I was interviewed by CNN, and I made such predictions for this year.

"Looking forward to the new year, Hong Kong tech industry analyst and blogger Victor Cheung has his eyes set on an "All-in-One computer that features a multi-touch screen, like that of the HP Pavilion IQ series."

According to Cheung, "2009 will see the Tablet PC finally taking off, with more name-brand manufacturers joining the ranks of HP, Fujitsu, Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba and Kohjinsha.

"Expect to see them coming in all sizes and probably with a multi-touch feature by the end of the year. Don't be surprised to see a MacTablet as well."

As for the mobile-phone market, he adds: "iPhone should continue to rule with a new version before Thanksgiving 2009, with missing features such as Bluetooth A2DP and a changeable battery. A higher-res camera with video recording might be thrown in as well. However, what makes or breaks it depends very much on how open Apple will be with other developers' apps.""

Looking back, think I got that multi-touch part right with Windows 7 and the new Apple Magic Mouse and the Bluetooth A2DP together with the higher-res camera with video recording for the iPhone.

For the coming year, my predictions still stick with the tablet function, be it tablet netbooks or smaller tablets like those from Camanji WebStation, Nokia and Archos 5 and it would be interesting in seeing how the MacTablet fend it off.

Mobile Phone OS wise, I don't see the Wondows Mobile 6.5 gaining much ground with the way Android is heading. Apps continue to be the most important piece and 2010 would be the true duel between the iPhone OS and the Android OS.

As for the mobile phone sector, the next generation of iPhone should be on next year's roadmap, towards the end of the year. Truly believe this time around Apple will introduce changeable batteries and a 5MP camera. With all the hype with touch phones, don't believe the size for hit phones will trim down anytime soon.

Let's see how I fare this year with my predictions. Got any yourself?

Leave a comment | Share

The hit-and-misses of Oxford's Word of the Year 2009

Nov 18, 2009 14:17

By now, you probably know that the word "unfriend" has been selected as Oxford's Word of the Year 2009, but what other tech buzzwords did it miss along the way? Let's take a look.

According to the Oxford University Press Blog, the other tech buzzwords that have come close include:
Read more »

Leave a comment | Share

My take--should bloggers have to reveal ties with brands?

Nov 15, 2009 17:11

1 comment | Share

I'm hooked on Happy Farm

Nov 5, 2009 00:31

Who would have thought that a Facebook application like Happy Farm would take Hong Kong, Taiwan and China by storm? I didn't, and now I'm hooked. Just last week, unofficial numbers were released on Taiwanese subscribers for the application reaching a whopping 3.08 million subscribers out of 3.85 million. Unbelievable.

Happy Farm is basically a very simple game. You start off with six pieces of land, you farm, you plow, you harvest, and you get to steal crops from your friends (who play the game as well). Yes, the essence of the game is to steal and guard your own crops by harvesting before anyone can steal them.
Read more »

3 comments | Share

My take on the international version of Kindle

Oct 27, 2009 14:17

Well, my international version of Kindle arrived last Thursday and pretty much has been with me ever since, even in bed. Since the Kindle was released in the US for quite some time, there's no point in doing a full-scale review here, but I just want to share a few things with you all.

Things I like

Lightning fast--the 3G modem is lightning fast in downloading my daily periodicals (newspaper), takes less than 60 seconds which Amazon claims in downloading a book. Timed how long it took to download Angels and Demons from Dan Brown, 65 seconds. Well, good enough. For your information, this modem works everywhere, even in the US, whereas the US version doesn't.

Thin--this thing is half as thin as my iPhone 3GS and weighs not much more than the iPhone. Been lugging the Kindle around, reading (never read that much in five days since college) turns into an enjoyment, can't feel the weight at all. Plus, with the different font sizes, it's just great for guys like me with fading eyesight.

Love the text-to-speech function, works great when listening to it while driving.

Images look great on the 16 graytone display. Some of the images from a couple of the photography books I downloaded just look outright gorgeous, some even appear better in black-and-white, LOL.

There's a built-in New Oxford American Dictionary.

There's a built-in Minesweep game they don't tell you about (press "shift", "alt" and "M" all at the same time).

The storage--1,500 books with you... nice.

That battery--it's like the Energizer bunny, just keeps going and going.

Things I don't like

At the roundtable interview with Charlie Tritschler, director of Product Management at Kindle, about two weeks ago, me and a couple of other bloggers mentioned the higher price for the international version of Kindle (US$20 more) vs. what you get in the US. In addition, it costs US$2 more for each book purchase.

Cannot access blogs with the international version. Bummer. But from what I heard, Amazon charges a subscription, so I'm not missing it.

7 comments | Share

About Victor Cheung

A true tech junkie at heart, Victor Cheung has been obsessed with all tech gadgets since his college days. His favorite gizmos span from tablet PCs to UMPC, to PMPs, gaming consoles, mobile phones and anything with WiFi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.0 on it. A newcomer to the blog scene, he started his own quasi-tech blog, The Hong Kong Phooey in October 2006.