So it is really the fault of SoftBank'a crappy 3G speeds!!!

Today I went to the SoftBank shop in the ground floor of my office building to see if the extremely slow network speeds that I've been experiencing on my iPhone 4S are caused by a problem with then handset or a problem with the 3G connection. What I did was simple. 

1. Compare the performance between 3G on my handset and LTE on the iPhone 5. 

2. Next compare the performance between 3G on my handset and 3G on the iPhone 5. 

I browsed a few websites and tried to stream YouTube videos as the actual tests. I didn't try to measure the performance quantitatively. I cannot do that there. I just got a feeling to how much of a performance difference there was. 

As expected, the iPhone 5 flew with LTE. It was an awesome experience. But with 3G, it was barely faster my iPhone 4S. The difference would account  to the overall improved processing power of the iPhone 5. The 3G performance was still as crappy as on my iPhone 4S. YouTube videos still waited to be buffered all the time. That hardly happened with LTE. But it wasn't completely without any waits. Still it was a 100 times better experience.

So I concluded that the problem is not with my handset (hardware or software), but is with SoftBank's crappy 3G network. I cannot wait for the iPhone 5S or whatever that is coming out next. That is my chance to get LTE. I won't upgrade to the iPhone 5, not when the new version is right around the corner. That would be completely insane. 

But I have one worry. What if the quality of LTE drops with increase in user base? Because we all know that 3G is very fast, it's probably the congestion that is making it no better than dial-up. Let's hope not. I've not looked into the technicalities of LTE so I don't know if that can happen or of it can, how soon. I just hope that won't happen anytime soon, at least not before I leave Japan for good.

Dust busting!

So I'm finally set for cleaning up the inside of the PC chassis. I will also be reseating the HSF while I'm at it. All this was because of this post. I’m not sure if the cooler itself is the culprit, so this is to check that. If I manage to drop the max delta temps of the CPU to 50C after reseating and cleanup up, then I would keep the current cooler. Else, I might have to look for a new cooler.

But first things first. I have to start from the outside. From the things that I can see. So I decided to clean up the fan filters for the intake fans of the case. There were little dust on the first front fan filters. But there was a lot of dust on the bottom ones. A LOT!

 

The one on the left is the filter for the intake of the PSU fan. The one on the right is the filter for the two 180mm air penetrator fans.

I washed them up and fitted back and ran Prime95 for 20 minutes. Well, I didn't really see a noticeable drop in temps, but who cares? At least I feel it is running cooler now. That's what matters. What your mind feels is what matters.

I was planning to do the full clean up job today, but it got late. Maybe in the weekend. At least the PC won't suffocate during that time.

Surface Pro arriving in Japan

Microsoft (MSFT) took their sweet time with Surface Pro, even when it was first released in USA. It came 3 more than 3 months later to the market. It is finally coming to Japanese market.

If they released it 3 months ago when it first came out in USA, I would have bought one. The price would have been cheaper too because the Japanese Yen was stronger. Now it is almost unaffordable.

The price is ¥100,000 ($1000) for the 128GB model and ¥120,000 ($1200) for the 256GB model. Yes, that's right. There is a 256GB model. The 64GB model is no more. GOOD! It was a joke to begin with. Only 20 odd GB free space? Are you kidding me?

 

On top of that, MSFT is giving away Office 2013 for free. FREE! That's not bad at all. But I wonder why they are doing that. Office is their number one productivity suite. Something just does not feel right.

 

They are also bringing some type/touch covers with fancy new designs. (Note: You have to buy them separately. Duh!)

 

They can do all these cool stuff, but they are not going to win my love this time round. I'm set on my current tablet for another couple of years I guess. They think we pluck money from trees?

 

Besides, I don't see why anyone would want to buy this AT THIS TIME anyways. One would assume that the new Haswell CPU based tablets are right around the corner. IMO, people should wait for those. Surface Pro eats battery life. Haswell CPUs will probably rectify that a bit. Heck, it doesn't have to be a Surface. I'm sure few makers would bring new Haswell based tablets soon. Nobody would want the Surface Pro then.

 

I'll probably look at a Broadwell based tablet as my next tablet. But even Haswell will be few times faster than my current Clovertrail based DELL Latitude Essentials tablet. Oh well. Everyone has to live with what they've done in the past.

 

But if any of you is interested in buying this, click here.