Mobile Technology – Zack Chia

Über to pull out of Hamburg, Germany

Posted on November 1, 2015November 3, 2015 by Zack Chia

This is actually bad news for me. In Singapore, many commuters find it daunting to flag a cab during peak hours, rainy days as well as being in obscure locations where cabs simply do not wish to come. Then came a solution. Über, a transport service provider who had the idea of letting the public choose the driver of their choice, by marrying a willing driver to a happy passenger. A win win situation where people can now commute easily and efficiently without being frustrated by cab rejections or boorish driver attitudes. This change has naturally brought good commuting experience for the general public but is definitely bound to receive extreme resistance from the licensed cab drivers.

Cab drivers view this new transport service, which also features a private driver option for anyone to join its programme as a part time driver, to be a threat for their livelihood. Maybe from a rather more individualistic perspective, I do see Über as a ‘check’ for arrogant and complacent drivers to reflect why they would have lost. I am not generalising the entire cab population here, but more often than not, have I heard cases of exasperated passengers complain about cabbies for their behaviours and attitudes. Hence, Über provided a solution for most of the people.

Now, it is apparent that the company is facing a pullout in Hamburg, Germany, because of the tedious process to obtain registration for an independent rental car enterprise. However, Über is still receiving major support in areas like Berlin and Munich but is likely to pull out from Düsseldorf and Frankfurt. Über provided the ideal solution for the public, be it a passenger or an average joe looking to moonlight as a part time driver. It provided a service through the use of technology at our fingertips. Anyone can easily get a cab at any hour, without much waiting time, through the use of the Über mobile app. I do not wish to see the end of such brilliant service end here in Singapore. The amount of resistance from licensed cab companies here have also place immersive amount of strain on the company’s operations. But I believe those who truly stood for this service should hold their stand and let the company continue its operations.

Eye check

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Zack Chia

I refer to a post on digitaltrends with regards to the possibilities of Samsung coming out with a new smartphone incorporating an iris-scanning security feature. Thats what we call future technology! Obviously such feature is what we often see in the movies. As reported, a hint from a tweet published on official Exynos Twitter account gave it away. The image you see a hypothesis of such innovation coming our way. Seriously, what is Apple doing anyway? And to think im actually waiting for the new iPhone! Users are tired of the swiping action, we need something new. Of course im exhilarated by this news, though I do have my own reservations on the feasibility of such features. Remember the last time they implement new awesome features that didnt exactly work like they do on their videos? Apparently some new features from Samsung tends to less useful but technically exciting. The article speculates a possible installation of this interesting feature on the Galaxy Note 4. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

Japan within

Posted on December 24, 2013December 24, 2013 by Zack Chia

Very little has been shared about creative news in Japan. While Japan still remains a very advanced society with great influences and demands for newer innovations, a lot of their inventions have been kept within the doors of their thriving culture. The Japanese society remains adamant when it comes to sharing their inventions to the world. It is evident from how they would create amazing games but only to serve domestic markets or create interesting apps that would most likely contain within Japan itself. I guess to a certain extent, this arouses much of our curiosity over stuffs that got out of Japan. But it is the things that are kept within those walls that are worth seeking for. This year, there have been lots of amazing mobile apps from Japan. I refer to a post from thebridge.jp, where they mentioned about the app Nohana.

What the app does is it allows smartphone users to create small interesting photobooks from the pictures they took. These little photobooks will be be delivered by mail. As a fair deal, they are allowing users to order up to one free photobook a month with perhaps 90 yen for domestic shipping. Of course, with additional photobooks, the cost would just add up as accordingly. The good thing about the app is that it basically allows you to kind of “print” from your images. See, you can actually close up the chasm between the users and their families through technology. With the use of the photobook you can take a picture of your son and send it your hubby who might not be able to make it back for the festive holiday. Or one could also use the service to send a copy of the family events taken on christmas to their parents residing overseas. As much as we have seen great initiatives like this from Nohana, very little of these have seeped through the walls into our society. Lately, Nohana is reported to have released another app, Nengajo, which aims to create a New Year’s card. This again, is the company’s way of drawing revenues through the service which requires purchases for their new year cards. The company seem to be adept at leveraging on festive seasons and such festive apps are very popular amongst the Japanese community. Stay updated with more of Japan’s mobile technology trends as they seem to have a knack for grooming startups that pushes boundaries of emerging technologies.

Moto X

Posted on August 2, 2013August 2, 2013 by Zack Chia

Two tech giants tag team to bring us an awesome invention. A great deal of rumors and hearsay lead us to believe the highly anticipated invention would be revolutionary. One that would eventually replace your maid, your PC or your minimalistic designed phone(you know what I mean). The first phone Motorola co-designed with Google. As we all know, consumers these days are changing their appetite gearing towards more perceived value for their money. People are starting to ask, “What is it in for me to pony my dollars for this metal device?” It’s either going to make it or break it. The actual selling point is the versatility in the customization properties of the Moto X. Some of the coolest features includes the phone’s Touchless Controls, which taps into Google Now to answer or execute actions on your behalf. Now, thats Siri hands-free. Voice recognition and hands free features also allows the Moto X to work better than your maid. It literally means you could yell at it and it would execute an action for you immediately. No delays nor hard feelings. To level the competition, Active Display shows you the time and recent notifications every single time your phone moves. Cool feature. With the fact that Google has now taken over Motorola, the interface design is tightly knitted to the look and feel of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The phone boosts extremely awesome specs as well.

It has:
a 1280 x 720 pixel AMOLED screen.
2GB Ram
a 10 mega-pixel camera
16GB internal storage
X8 Chipset
Snapdragon S4 Pro dual-core processor
Quad-core GPU
Language Processor
“Contextual computing” processor

Totally mind-blowing hardware specs there. The ultimate user experience is boosted with the ability to customize your phone in 2,000 different combinations! I am really looking forward to seeing this phone hit the shelves in Singapore. Check out the videos as well as more of it below.

Moto X – Quick Capture