My New HP Envy Touchsmart 15-J006TX Notebook

I bought this notebook in the Comex 2013 computer show at Singapore Expo last Saturday (07 September).

Introduction

Acer Aspire R7 Notebook

I have been wanting to get a new touchscreen computer with Windows 8 for the longest while so that I can write some Metro programs using Visual Basic. Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, have made Windows 8 a mandatory requirement for developing Metro programs (either for Windows 8 or for Windows Phone 8). I did not want to update my Windows 7 workhorse (an Asus N61J notebook) after having experience the horrors of Windows 8 on a non-touch screen computer. Unfortunately, over the past year since Windows 8 was launched, not a single Windows 8 notebook met my expectations for an acceptable technical specifications/price tradeoff. The ones which met my technical specifications were too expensive, and the ones that were within my budget (less than $2000) did not meet my technical requirements.

In fact, I have went to the previous December 2012, March 2013, and June 2013 computer shows, always walking away from each one without finding that notebook that incorporates that perfect combination of price, fit, and finish. After the June 2013 exhibition, I actually found a notebook whose design I quite liked: the Acer Aspire R7.



http://www.acer.com/aspirer7/en_SG/

I didn't mind the odd placement of the trackpad, because I am not a trackpad user. For heavy duty programming, a dedicated mouse is essential. In all the notebooks that I have used since 1995, I think I spent 99.9% of the time on them using a mouse. Trackpads are useful (they are definitely better than the trackball mouse), but they are just not as precise nor as fast as a real mouse. For productivity, a real mouse is always required.

I would have bought the Acer Aspire R7 except for one teeny weeny detail: Acer doesn't sell the model with the Core i7 CPU in Singapore. For some strange reason, Singapore has been relegated with the inferior model with the slower Core i5 CPU. I don't know Acer marketing strategy, but if I am a consumer who is going to spend top dollar for a quirky design, I will be willing to pay a little more to get the model with the top end CPU. But unfortunately, that was not to be. Singapore does not get the Core i7 version of the Aspire R7, and as such, Acer does not get me as a happy customer.

(Note: the Core i7 version of the Aspire R7 is available in countries like Netherlands. Acer does make them - but chose not to offer that version in Singapore.)

Prior to September, I learnt that although Acer was still not bringing the Core i7 version of the Aspire R7 to Singapore for Comex, they were bringing the Acer Aspire V7-582PG with a Core i7 chip and more RAM (12 GB on the V7 versus 8 GB for the R7), and retailing at the same price as the Aspire R7, SGD$1698. The V7 has the boring design as all traditional notebooks, with the non-swivelling screen and the usual placement of the trackpad before the spacebar. However, it came with a 4th generation Haswell series i7-4500 chip (which is more powerful than the R7's 3rd generation Ivy Bridge i5-3337U chip), and more RAM, and since they were both $1698, I decided that perhaps I will get the Aspire V7 notebook.

And then, I discovered the HP notebook at Comex.

The HP Advantage

Since I was getting a traditional looking notebook computer, I decided to browse through the catalogues from other manufacturers for their offerings with equivalent specs. For my notebook, I required this as the basic minimum:

- Core i7 CPU
- 1 TB hard disk
- 8 GB RAM
- 15.6" touchscreen
- less than $2000

The Acer Aspire V7 had became my baseline following my disappointment with Acer's decision not to bring in the Core i7 of the Aspire R7. The Aspire V7 was the cheapest among the competition.

And then I noticed the HP brochure for the HP Envy Touchsmart 15-J006TX retailing for $1799, just $100 more than the Acer Aspire V7, and I couldn't believe my eyes:

1. The HP comes with a true quad-core Haswell i7-4702MQ chip running at 2.2 GHz. The Acer comes with a slower dual-core i7-4500U chip running at only 1.8 GHz.

2. The HP comes with a whopping 16 GB of RAM, topping even the 12 GB RAM on the Acer.

3. The HP comes with FOUR USB 3.0 ports. In contrast, Acer is stingily offering just one USB 3.0 port, and two USB 2.0 ports.

4. One of the HP USB 3.0 port is also a USB charging port, which means that when the notebook is off, you can still use that USB port to charge your handphone/MP3 player's battery. The Acer does not come with any USB charging port.

5. Although I don't really need an optical drive, the HP provides a free USB external DVD drive. The Acer does not come with any optical drive.

6. The HP battery is user removable/replaceable. The Acer's battery is sealed inside the chassis (which means that you must send the notebook to Acer's service centre to have them change the battery for you).

And all these HP advantages for just $100 more than the Acer! I was sold.

(You can compare the specs for the HP and the Acer here:
- HP notebook specs
- Acer notebook specs

And amazingly, when I went down to Comex to physically buy the HP notebook, the salesman (from Newstead Technologies) offered me an instant $100 discount. This meant that the HP notebook price was only $1699, just $1 more than the Acer notebook's price. I was extremely pleased to be given this discount.

Things I Like

Backlit Keyboard

This is my first computer with a backlit keyboard. The backlight can be turned on or off from the [F5] function key. This is very useful for watching movies with the ceiling lights turned off, as I can now press the volume keys without fumbling for them in the dark. However, the keys caps themselves do not fully cover the hole where the key sits, so the backlight is leaking from all 4 sides of each key. It would be nice if the key cap fully covers the hole so that none of the backlight leaks through the edges of each key. I will need to pay attention to other computers with keyboard backlighting to see if they suffer from this problem. It may not really be an issue, but I find the light seeping from the key cap edges a bit jarring.

Finger Print Sensor

I have never owned a notebook with a finger print sensor before, but after using it to automatically log in to Windows, I am sold! This is really, really easy and convenient. And secure to boot. In fact, I think finger print sensors should be incorporated into devices like our handphones, so that we do not need to input a password to clear the lockscreen each and every time we need to use the phone.

If the finger print sensor technology can be used everywhere - including our own programs - we may even dispense with the need for changing our passwords every few months, as some applications force us to do. What is the purpose of a password? It is to authenticate and validate that we are who we say we are. And isn't a biometric value like my finger print the best authentication method there is? It may even dispense the need for carrying a security token as required by some applications that require 2-factor authentication. Unfortunately, all this hinges on the pervasiveness and ubiquity of finger print sensors. This is not the case at the moment.

HDMI to VGA Connector

Although the HP notebook does not contain a VGA port (it only comes with a HDMI port), which might be a problem should you need to connect the notebook to an old projector that only sports VGA ports, HP has actually supplied a "HDMI to VGA" converter in the box. The salesman who attended to me did not know this, and had told me that it was necessary to buy the converter separately (he said that such an accessory would cost about $50). I am glad that it was free.

Beats Audio

Beats Audio is one of the "selling points" of this notebook. I think the sound is very good, but frankly, I can't really tell the difference. I find the sound excellent on my Asus notebook (my Asus notebook boasts of SonicMaster sound), my previous Dell notebook with Creative Soundblaster sound, and my previous Compaq notebook with JBL sound.

I think if you pay more than $1000 for a notebook, you will get a system with pretty good sound. You really need to be a soundphile to be able to discern the differences between Beats Audio, Creative, JBL, and SonicMaster etc.

Things I Don't Like

Screen Tilt Angle is Limited

It is not possible to tilt the screen beyond 100 degrees. When the lid is opened and tilted as far back as it will go, the screen is actually blocked by the keyboard base, preventing it from tilting beyond 100 degrees.



I actually prefer to tilt the screen further back, to say about 110 to 120 degrees, but the design of the notebook prevents this. I overcame this by raising the front of the keyboard base, but it means that I will have to find stoppers to raise the front feet of the keyboard base every time I want to do this.

I think HP designed the screen this way because the screen is a touch screen. With this design, when your fingers are pressing against the touchscreen, the screen will not be pushed downwards because of the resistance against the keyboard base. The 100 degrees angle is probably the optimum angle that the HP engineers have deemed useful for a touch screen, which is why the tilt angle is restricted so. The need for a firm support at the back of the touch screen is why I much prefer the Acer Aspire R7 design, where the easel hinge will provide extremely firm support when the R7 is used in kiosk mode.

Up/Down Arrow Keys are Half Keys

As a programmer, I do a lot of editing, and I use the arrow keys a lot. I don't like the use of half keys for the Up and Down arrow keys that seems to be prevalent in all HP notebooks:



Even my old Asus notebook has full keys for the Up and Down arrows. I don't know why HP couldn't design theirs like Asus, and use full sized keys for these. With the half-sized up/down keys, I find myself constantly going in the wrong direction when I try to depress this key.

Since there is a numeric keypad, which can be toggled between numerics and arrow keys via the [Num Lock] key, I am now making myself use the [8] and [2] keys on the numeric keypad as the Up and Down arrow keys instead. However, it is not easy to learn a new keyboarding habit that has been ingrained into me from years of using keyboards with full sized Up and Down arrow keys.

Glossy Screen

I never did like glossy screens. They are too reflective, and the screen glare can make it difficult to do typing and programming.

Unfortunately, matte screens are not a standard offering nowadays. Normally, I will have to pay for and affix a matte screen protector over the LCD screen.

For this new HP notebook, I notice that the reflection is not as severe as my previous notebook. Although the display is still a glossy and reflective screen, the reflection seems a bit more diffused, and is not as bad as my Asus notebook.

I believe this could be because some newer touchscreens uses thinner glass, and the narrow glass width reduces the reflection considerably. For example, both the Apple iPad and the Microsoft Surface is supposed to use such glass, which reduces the amount of reflection and glare.

I am not sure if this is also the case with this HP notebook, although I think the iPad and the Surface are less reflective than this HP notebook. However, as the reflectiveness on this HP notebook is not as bad as the Asus, I will try to put up with it for a few more weeks before deciding whether I can live with the reflectiveness, or to shell out the money for a matte screen protector.

Changes I Made

Windows 8 Missing Start Menu

Honestly speaking, the Desktop mode of Windows 8 is severely hampered by the missing Start menu. When Microsoft deliberately removed the Start menu from the Windows 8 Desktop, they revealed themselves as caring only about their own benefit instead of their users concerns.

Is it really necessary to force everyone to abandon the Start menu? The new Metro Start screen doesn't make sense if you are running Windows 8 on a non-touchscreen computer, and you are only using the traditional keyboard and mouse for your inputs. Microsoft did not bother to consider usability for customers owning these non-touchscreen computers, and force the Metro Start screen to all and sundry.

Luckily, customers have an alternative. They simply stayed with Windows 7, and not bothered to upgrade to Windows 8. Which is really a pity because Windows 8 is actually quite a good operating system, marred by the flawed Metro Start screen for non-touchscreen users.

Most Windows users are extremely familiar with the Start menu, having been "trained" by Microsoft on this for the past 17 years (since 1995 with the introduction of the Start menu in Windows 95). Now, Microsoft is telling their customers to discard all their knowledge and experience with the Start menu for the new fangled Metro Start screen, which actually doesn't work well at all if your computer doesn't have a touchscreen! The Metro Start screen is absolutely inefficient for navigating if you can only use the mouse.

Also, the Metro Start screen forces the user to learn new ways of doing the same things. There is absolutely zero value-add.

What Microsoft should have done right from the beginning is to offer both the Metro Start screen as well as the traditional Start menu together in Windows 8, and let the users choose their preferred mode of operation. In fact, if Microsoft is user caring enough, they would have done that from the get go. Did they? Obviously not. Hence the huge hoo-hah and the negative backlash against Windows 8. If more than 90% of your customers prefer to use the Start menu on a non-touch PC, and you ignore them, then be prepared to suffer the consequences.

The backlash against Windows 8 has grown into an animosity against Microsoft in general, producing vitriol against everything Microsoft has introduced this year, such as Surface, Windows RT, XBox One, and Windows Phone. It is sad that Microsoft has single handedly harmed themselves with this self-infliction. Apple, Google etc must be laughing their way to the bank at how Microsoft has handled things.

Ok. Enough of the Windows 8 missing Start menu rant.

Luckily, some kind folks have created a life saver utility called Classic Shell:

http://classicshell.net/

Classic Shell returns the missing Start menu to the Windows 8 Desktop, restoring much required sanity to Windows 8. There are other replacement Start menu utilities on the internet, but Classic Shell is free, and is good enough for me to unreservedly recommend it for all Windows 8 installations. Trust me, once you have installed a Start menu replacement like Classic Shell, you will stop your cursing and swearing at Microsoft for ruining your Windows experience.

My Classic Shell Menu

Function Keys Behaviour

In my previous notebook, if I press the [F8] function key, I will trigger F8. If I want to increase the volume, I need to press [Func][F8].

In the HP notebook, the behaviour has been swapped. If I press the [F8] key, I now trigger the increase volume action. If I want to trigger F8, I need to press [Func][F8] to do so.

That is, actions are now the default for the function keys. If you want to activate the traditional F1 to F10 triggers, you must press the [Func] key together with [Fx] key.

I think this makes sense if you are a consumer who only use the computer for typing emails, playing games, answering instant messages. A consumer is less likely to need the F2, F5 or F8 triggers, and more likely to want to perform actions such as increasing/decreasing the brightness/volume etc. However, for a programmer like myself, it is the reverse. I have to constantly use these function keys in programs like Visual Studio or SQL Management Studio, and I prefer to simply press [F2], [F5], [F8] to trigger them instead of [Func][F2], [Func][F5] or [Func][F8].

Luckily, there is a switch to swap the behaviour of the function keys. Unfortunately, this is not a switch that can be configured from within Windows itself. Instead, you must go into the BIOS to change this setting.

For HP notebooks, you need to press the [F10] (or [Func][F10]) key repeatedly when you power up the notebook to get into the BIOS setting. This is tricky to do because the notebook runs very quickly (thanks to the speedy CPU, I guess), and it may not be easy to time the pressing of the [F10] (or [Func][F10]) key correctly.

The steps are documented at this HP support page (link).

High Resolution Screen

The notebook has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, but only a physical screen size of 15.6 inches. This means that the pixels are very small, and text in the usual 10 point font that are very readable on my previous 15.6 inch Asus notebook with a 1366 x 768 resolution is now blindingly tiny in the HP notebook.

I have an external LCD monitor that is also a 1920 x 1080 resolution screen. However, that monitor is a 22 inches screen, which means the pixels are larger than the HP's one. 10 point font is also readable on that 22 inches screen.

This problem occurs because programmers did not design text to fit physical dimension measurements like inches or millimetres. Instead, programmers design their programs based on number of pixels. This is okay if all pixels are the same dimensions. However, with the increasing sophistication of technology, manufacturers have been able to squeeze more and more pixels into the same area.

For example, back in the 1980s, a 15 inch screen may come with only 640 x 480 resolution. The pixel dots are very large.

By the 1990s, the same 15 inch screen can now hold a 1024 x 768 resolution display. To fit more pixels into the same space, each pixel dot has to be smaller.

Now, the 15 inch screen holds a 1920 x 1080 resolution display. Each pixel is incredibly tiny as compared to the first generation.

However, if you are running a program designed with pixels instead of inches or millimetres dimensioning, a full screen program of 640 x 480 dots that looks perfect on a 15 inch screen back in the 1980s will look like it is displaying inside a postage stamp sized window if you run it on the 1920 x 1080 screen today, even though the screen is still 15 inches measured diagonally.

To display the 1980s program properly on a 2013 display, it is necessary to "scale up" the display output.

Unfortunately, there isn't really a global setting that can scale up all applications neatly. Programs written in the 1980s may need a scale up factor different from that of programs designed in the 1990s, and another factor for programs designed in the early 2000s. Windows have a crude scaling factor setting that can be applied on everything, but may make the output not as nice as it could be. It would be best if the individual applications provide some way of resizing the font. This way, these applications can be fine tuned manually to display the output in a manner that you are comfortable with.

For programmers writing new programs, I think it is essential that user interfaces are designed with all these conditions in mind. For example, if you are writing a program that can run on a 5 inch phone, a 10 inch tablet, a 15 inch notebook, a 22 inch monitor, or a 42 inch TV, you may need to simply layout the user interface elements for each form factor, and ignore resolution altogether. For instance, if you design a application with the 5 inch form factor in mind, then whether a 5 inch phone has a 480 x 800 resolution, or a finer 800 x 1280 resolution, or a super-fine 1080 x 1920 resolution, your program will scale itself properly because it was laid out for a 5 inch form factor, and not to some pixel dot resolution that did not consider the size of the pixel in mind.

Virtual PC/Hyper-V

As a programmer who need to support some legacy applications that can only run in Windows XP, it was essential that I can still run these Windows XP programs on my new Windows 8 operating system notebook.

In Windows 7 Professional edition, Microsoft provided a utility called "XP Mode" which was actually running a program called Virtual PC. Virtual PC provided users the capability to create and run "virtual machines" on top of their Windows 7 Pro machine. With Virtual PC, you can create a Windows XP virtual machine to run all the legacy applications that are not compatible with Windows 7. (Note: the Virtual PC program is not provided in the Windows 7 Home Edition. Windows 7 Home Edition users need to use a free alternative, Oracle Virtual Box, to create a Windows XP virtual machine to run on top of their Windows Home PC.)

In Windows 8 (Professional), the equivalent utility to Virtual PC is called Hyper-V. I was tremendously relieved that Hyper-V can use the VHD files created by Virtual PC in Windows 7, which made the migration to Windows 8 much less fearful than I had imagined. If Hyper-V was not able to use my existing VHD files, I would have needed to create new Hyper-V virtual machines, install the Windows XP operating system in the new Hyper-V virtual machines, and then waste valuable time setting up the Windows XP environment inside the Hyper-V virtual machine. By being backward compatible with Virtual PC, my fears were allayed.

120W Power Supply Adapter

The HP notebook uses a 120W power adapter (existing notebooks typically use either a 65W or 90W power adapter).

I always like to carry a separate power adapter that I can keep in my notebook bag, so that I don't make the mistake of leaving the house without the notebook's power supply. I have committed this mistake more times than I remember, so buying a second power supply adapter for every notebook has always been on my list.

However, HP doesn't seem to sell this 120W power supply at their online store. And the 90W version that they list in their stored is priced at a whopping $171 !!! (link)

For reference, I normally pay only $40 for a 3rd-party power supply adapter for my previous notebooks. So far, the cheapest was for my old Dell Inspiron 15, which was only $30 from the Dell website.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find 3rd-party 120W power supply adapters at Challenger or CyberActive (they have outlets at Northpoint Shopping Mall). So for the moment, I still have to remember to disconnect and carry the sole power adapter with me every time I pack up the notebook. Hopefully, these 3rd-party 120W power supplies will soon be readily available in the market, and more importantly, at a reasonable price ($171 is definitely not a reasonable price!)

Conclusion

I like this machine. It may not be perfect, and it may not have everything. However, it is truly value for money. I have always associated HP with "High Priced" products. I am really surprised with this notebook that HP can actually offer competitively priced products too.

I am already very happy with the huge improvements in the technical specifications over my Asus notebook. The old Asus notebook carries a first generation i7-720QM chip, which runs very slow and extremely hot, as compared to this HP speed demon with its cool-running Haswell chip. Other touches like 16GB RAM, four USB 3.0 ports, amazing touchscreen, is just added icing on a very delicious cake. And considering that I only paid $1699 (instead of the advertised $1799 list price) for this, I am one very happy camper with my new toy.

My Shanzhai (山寨) Android Phone

I was  at the Singapore Expo for the last day of the Sitex Show last Sunday (25 Nov 2012). I was shopping for a new Windows 8 notebook to replace my existing Windows 7 Asus notebook. However, all Windows 8 notebooks with touchscreens at the show (whether from Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, or HP) were ultrabooks with a miserly 128 GB SSD. I was surprised that not a single manufacturer offered a magnetic disk storage option! If I were to buy a new notebook, it must have  at least 1 TB storage space, and the small capacity SSDs simply won't cut it.

Also, none of the touchscreens were larger than 13". If I am upgrading from my existing Windows 7 notebook, I will need a new notebook that has at least a 15.6"  touchscreen (my Asus notebook has a 16" screen). None of the notebooks met this criteria either.

After trying out all the different models at the show, I have decided that the only screen mechanism that is acceptable to me is the one used by the XPS 12 from Dell. As I already own an Asus Transformer TF300 tablet, I know that it is actually very awkward to use the touchscreen in a vertical position. When I use a Windows 8 notebook as a tablet, I want the screen to lie flat horizontally. Only the Dell XPS 12 with its rotatable screen will allow the notebook to be used as a slate (with the screen lying flat over the keyboard). Both Acer and Asus uses the Transformer Pad mechanism (screen is detached from the keyboard dock when used as a tablet), which is not what I want because I will have to carry the keyboard dock separately. The Lenovo's Yoga mechanism allows the screen to be folded 360 degrees all the way round towards the back of the keyboard when transformed to a slate. But when you carry the slate, you will be touching the keys on the keyboard, which feels rather awkward. In my opinion, only Dell's convertible screen makes sense for using the notebook as a slate.

As none of the Windows 8 notebooks meet my requirements currently, there was no point in getting a Windows 8 notebook this year. Perhaps there will be more choices next year.

The Shanzhai Phone

One of the stalls were selling an imitation Android phone that looked like a Samsung Galaxy Note. It caught my fancy because it was a dual-SIM phone, and it was dirt cheap. So instead of a Windows 8 notebook, I bought a pretty good looking shanzhai phone for just S$250. The package included:

• Dual-SIM Phone
• 5" AMOLED screen 480 x 800 resolution (with 5 point multi-touch)
• 1 GHz Cortex A7 single core CPU
• Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS - includes the Google Play store
• Front and Rear cameras including Rear LED flash
• GPS
• FM Radio - doesn't require using earpiece as antenna
• 2GB internal storage and 32GB micro-SD slot
• 512 MB RAM
• Removable battery - two Li-ion batteries (3200 mAH) included in the package
• Free hands free kit
• Free screen protector
• Free phone casing (diary type)
• Free stylus
• Samsung Galaxy Note lookalike packaging

Notice that the phone is literally called the "Android Note".

This is the front.

This is the back. Notice the "Android" brand.

The phone chassis resembles the Samsung Galaxy Note 1.

Recently, one of my friends was inquiring about the Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos - a dual SIM phone. I found that the shops were selling this phone for S$270 (without contract). However, the Galaxy Ace Duos is only running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), and the price did not include the freebies like the extra battery, free screen protector, free phone case and free stylus.

As the phone is dual-SIM, I can put my voice SIM card in slot 1, and my data SIM card in slot 2:

Note that only slot 2 supports a GSM/3G SIM card. Slot 1 supports a plain GSM SIM card only.

Apparently, you can enable both SIM cards to be active concurrently.
However, you can configure one SIM as the default for making Voice Calls (calling out).
Likewise, although both SIMs can receive SMS messages concurrently, you can configure one SIM as the default for sending them (Messaging).

General Impression

For such a low price, I was quite impressed with the package. I was okay with the low resolution screen, the low-spec CPU and low RAM  as my main intention is to use this phone primarily for voice calls, and for it to provide an internet hotspot for my Asus 10.1" tablet. I don't intend to run resource intensive programs on this phone, so the performance of the phone was quite acceptable. However, it is definitely much slower than my Asus tablet, which sports a Tegra 3 quad-core CPU at 1.4 GHz and has 1 GB of RAM.

However, there are some noticeable defects/limitations, but which I have accepted and will live with.

"Buzzing" Noise coming from the speaker

The built-in speaker has a slight defect. Whenever a sound file is played, the speaker will always output some unwanted buzzing noise. I turned off touch tones and keyboard audio feedback because I didn't like this buzzing noise. I don't know if this is a hardware problem.

No Firmware Upgradeability

There is no menu option to update the firmware from Android 4.0.3, because there is no software support. The manufacturer is unidentified, and there isn't any support web site. This phone is truly a "what you see is what you get" deal. Luckily, Android 4.0.3 is quite mature, and is way better than the Android 2.3 on my Samsung Galaxy S phone.

If I really want to update the firmware, I will probably have to install it myself using say a CynogenMod. However, I probably won't bother.

Although there is no signs anywhere on who was the manufacturer, I learnt of a useful Android app called the Android System Info by ElectricSheep that displays some useful information about the CPU. According to the Android System Info app, the manufacturer of this phone is indicated as "Alps". I think "Alps" is referring to the company Alps Electric, which appears to be some Japanese company specialising in the manufacture of all kinds of electrical and electronic components, including components for mobile phones.

No Chinese Handwriting Keyboard 

Although this phone is made in China, it doesn't come with a free Chinese handwriting keyboard app. Both my Samsung Galaxy S phone and my Asus Transformer TF300 tablet came with free Chinese handwriting software.

Can only switch between 3 Keyboards

Although I downloaded a few alternative keyboards, when I want to switch to another keyboard, the system will only show me 3 keyboards to choose from. Since the Android stock keyboard and the Android Chinese Pin Yin keyboard is always available, I have to deactivate SwiftKey 3 to enable the Swype keyboard as the 3rd and last choice.

I prefer Swype over Swiftkey 3.

Gallery app doesn't see newly added image files

On my Asus tablet (running Android 4.1.2), the Gallery app is quite responsive, and always show newly added JPG files. On the shanzhai phone, this doesn't happen. I have to unmount the SD card, and then remount the SD card, to force the phone to reindex image files on the device (including the newly added ones) so that they can be seen in the Gallery app.

I am not sure if this is due to bugs in Android 4.0.3.

Phone however can run Flipboard!

For some reason, the Flipboard app is not compatible with my Samsung Galaxy S nor my Asus Transformer TF300. As such, I have never seen how the Flipboard app is like. However, Flipboard has no compatibility issues with this shanzhai phone, and I can finally run the Flipboard app and see what this app all about.

My Shanzhai phone running a Windows Phone 7 launcher (Launcher 7).
I find it very amusing to have an imitation Samsung Galaxy Note
running an imitation Microsoft Windows Phone user interface.

Pulse 3.0 and Unnecessary Changes

I recently updated the Pulse app on my Asus Transformer Pad from version 2 to version 3, and immediately regretted my decision.

Sure, the new Pulse 3 looks nice and dandy. But the update has removed all the fantastic usability features that had made it great. There are just so many things bad about this new version, that it appears that the developers did not ask users whether they wanted these changes in the first place. This is exactly the same problem I face with Microsoft Windows 8: implementing features that no one had asked for, and removing usability in its stead.

1. Removal of navigation bar at the bottom of a story page

In version 2, as you read to the end of each story, a navigation bar will come up from the bottom of the page showing the story icons. It is very easy to swipe through this navigation bar and click on the icon of the next story that you wish to read.

This has been removed in version 3. Now, when you reach the bottom of the page, that's it. You have to click the top left corner to go back to the main menu page, which contains a screen full of story icons for all the various channels that you have subscribed to. This is very bad. It is exactly the horrible feeling I get with the new Windows 8 Start screen with all the tiles.

The problem is that the during the redraw of the main menu page, you may not remember the position of the story icon that you have just exited from. Sometimes, that icon will be in focus. But many a time, the story icon is not in focus, and I have to slide the icons on that particular channel's navigation bar to find my place. In fact, the program will sometimes reset the channel back to the left most story icon. If you have already read many stories in that channel, it is really infuriating for the channel bar to reset back to the leftmost story!

When I discovered this problem, I thought that I will simply dispense with going back to the main menu page to select the next story, and simply swipe from the right on the current story page to get to the next story. However, I discovered this wasn't possible. The program appears to cache only 4 stories, so once you swiped to the 4th story, that's it. You still have to go back to the main menu page to select the next story from the channel's navigation bar.

2. Scrolling is no longer smooth

After I had updated my Transformer Pad to Jelly Bean 4.1, navigating through Pulse 2 was extremely fluid - "buttery smooth" - to use the technical term.

Unfortunately, Pulse 3 has eliminated all the smooth scrolling, and returned the tablet's behaviour to that of Froyo 2.1!

Everything is "stuttering" now. Whether it is scrolling through the story icons in the main menu page, or scrolling up and down an article on the story page, the movements are now in fits and starts. 

In fact, I can say that in general, the speed performance in Pulse 3 is worse than Pulse 2.

3. Removal of Convenient "Open in Browser" Feature

Previously, when reading a particular story, it is possible to simply click the Settings button and click "Open in browser" to view the page in my preferred browser (Dolphin). 

This is no longer possible.

Instead, you must click Settings > Web Mode to first show the page in Pulse 3. Then, you click Settings > Open in Browser to open the story in the external browser. It now takes several more clicks to do something that was so easy to do in Pulse 2. Again, this reminds me of Windows 8, in which many activities now require more clicks or hand movements to accomplish.

This wouldn't be a problem if the Web Mode in Pulse 3 is good. But that isn't the case. There are many nice usability features in the Dolphin browser that makes reading web pages a breeze (such as opening related links in the web page on another tab). This is not provided by the Web Mode feature in Pulse 3, and thus, it's Web Mode feature is not a real contender for reading the original web pages against a bona-fide browser. 

Making it so inconvenient to open the story in my preferred browser is really a bad decision.

4. Pulse now always open to the "Home" section

Whenever I start Pulse 2, it always open in the section that I was viewing previously.

In Pulse 3, the app now always open in the "Home" section. I hate this because I now have to then select the section that I was previously reading.

Also, there seems to be no way to re-order the sections. Due to historical reasons, the first section in my Pulse configuration did not contain my preferred channels. I only added my preferred channels to subsequent sections. 

Because Pulse 3 now always open in the "Home" section, I would like to re-order my preferred section to be the first section. But re-ordering of sections does not seem to be possible.

5. Less Intuitive Interface

The font used in articles is very much smaller than the one in Pulse 2. I wanted to increase the font size, but could not find any place to change the font size! I went to the Pulse web site, but their instructions for changing the font size is for Pulse 2, and not their new fangled user interface.

I finally found it today. In Pulse 2, there was a very intuitive Settings icon where this could be changed. This icon is now masked and hidden under my name!!!

I didn't realise that I could actually click my name to display the settings page to change various settings, including the font size. Again, this is like Windows 8, where you have no idea whether something is clickable or not. In Windows 8, there is no way to tell if something is a button or a label. Pulse 3 has copied this behaviour.

Conclusion

All in all, this update has not really improved the app at all. Perhaps Alphonso Labs needed to change the interface to make it similar to its iOS or Windows 8 incarnations. Unfortunately, this new interface has simply removed all the great things about Pulse 2 that made it a must-have/must-use app for me. When you satisfy the lowest common denominator, you usually end up dissatisfying a large chunk of people.

I used to read in Pulse 2 for an hour or more a day. With the new version, I usually exit after 15 minutes. I just can't stand the slower performance, and the inconvenience of performing activities that were a breeze in the previous version.

Windows 8 Usability Issues

I recently installed Windows 8 on an old notebook that had previously been running Windows 7. I did not like it.

There are supposedly some technical improvements, like faster performance, faster boot up, less power consumption. However, none of those things registered. The only thing that stuck was my annoyance with the Metro interface. The Metro interface feels so inefficient on the notebook.

Non Obvious Interface

Unlike Windows 7 where almost everything can be accessed from the Start button, Windows 8 simply has too many features hidden. You need to know how to click on corners and/or perform left-right/up-down swipes to do many things that are so obvious in Windows 7: 

• Click bottom left corner in Legacy Desktop to show Start Screen (so as to click on a tile to run a new program)
• Click top left corner to show running Metro tasks
• Click right corners (top or bottom) to show Charms bar
• Click and pull from top edge to the bottom to close existing Metro task

Hiding all these features and making them non-obvious is just creating problems for users who are used to the existing Windows way of doing things.

The Metro interface also requires more mouse movement and clicking and dragging to accomplish the same activities in Windows 7. This isn't really an improvement.

Showing the Current Time

The fact that Live Tiles are dynamic and are constantly refreshing with new information. But there is such a great waste of space. I am surprised that although there are Live Tiles for things like weather, email notifications, calendar and calendar alerts, Microsoft did not put the time on the new Start Screen!

To see the time, it is necessary to first activate the Charms bar and hover the mouse cursor over the Settings icon. A window showing the current date and time, battery power and network connectivity will then appear on the Start Screen. 

I think this is ridiculous. If my computer is displaying the Start Screen, I shouldn't need to perform any hand activities to see the current time. The time should be displayed at all times. There is plenty of space on the Start Screen to do that. In fact, they could have just displayed the current date and time on the Weather tile.

The fact that Microsoft did not do that speaks volumes of Microsoft's re-design. This isn't a better interface than Windows 7. It is a poorer one.  

Changing the Time

The time was off by several minutes. This is a known problem with my 5 year old notebook, as the battery that powers the clock on the motherboard is probably drained and can no longer maintain the clock when the computer is powered down. However, as Windows can synchronise with internet time servers, this is not a big problem. When I restart my notebook, and upon connecting to the internet, Windows will simply update the system's time from an internet time server.

I wanted to adjust the time manually, and at first, I thought I could click the time display to configure the clock. Unfortunately, the moment I moved the mouse off the Settings icon on the Charms bar, the time display disappeared. Unlike Windows 7 where you can simply click on the time to adjust the time, this is not possible on the Metro interface.

I tried using the Settings > Change PC Settings > General, but that panel only allows me to change the Time Zone. 

There doesn't seem to be any way to change the clock's time from Metro, whether to adjust the time, or to refresh the clock from an internet time server, The only way I could accomplish this was to go to the legacy Desktop and change the time using the traditional Windows 7 way!

I wonder how people who bought a Windows RT tablet will be able to do this as Windows RT theoretically does not provide access to the Legacy Desktop.

Search Charm

The Search icon on the Charms bar allows categorised searches. The search behaviour is slightly different from that of Windows 7. In Windows 8, if you are currently highlighting the Files category, searching for "Calculator" will show zero results in the results panel because there are no files with a file name containing "Calculator". You must highlight the Apps category to display the Calculator program in the results panel. This is unlike Windows 7 search results, which will show the combined search results for apps and files together. 

I prefer Windows 7 consolidated search results, but I also see nothing wrong with the new category approach taken by the search in Windows 8. This is because in Windows 8 search, you can also search with categories like "Bing", "Store", "Mail" etc. Limiting search results to only those for the category makes sense for Windows 8 search.

I decided to do a "Bing" category search with the text "how to change the time in windows 8". However, when I clicked the magnifying glass icon to initiate the search, there was no response, and instead, I was thrown back to the Start Screen.

I repeated this a few more times. Each and every time, initiating the "Bing" search will always throw me back to the Start Screen.

Because there is a "Bing" app in the Apps list, I decided to execute the Bing app manually to see if there was any problem with it. There wasn't. (Interestingly, the Bing search results says that the only way to adjust the time in Windows 8 was to do it through the Legacy Desktop.)

However, once I have executed the Bing app manually, using the Search Charm to search the "Bing" category works properly subsequently. It appears that if the category app has not been manually launched previously, it cannot be properly invoked from the Search Charm. 

Searching is a very important utility. On Windows 7, the search box is easily invoked by either clicking the Start button, or by simply pressing the Windows key ("Win Key") on the keyboard. However, in Windows 8, moving the mouse to activate the Charms bar and click the Search icon, or to press the shortcut key Win Key + Q, is more complicated than in Windows 7. The Windows 8 methods to activate search is neither simpler nor more efficient than the Windows 7 methods. 

Full Screen Programs

Metro programs always run in full screen. This might be acceptable on tablets with smallish 10 inch screens. But on large screens, example: a 20 inch monitor, running apps in full screen just doesn't make sense.

Microsoft has specified that Windows 8 tablets should have a minimum resolution of 1024 x 768, so most developers will program Metro programs to this resolution. If you are using a 20 inch monitor with a 1920 x 1080 resolution, the Metro program will be scaled up from its designed 1024 x 768 size to fill up the entire 1920 x 1080 pixels in full screen. The effect is not pretty.

I am sure the full screen effect will be even more pronounced on 27 inch monitors with 2560 x 1440 resolution.

Microsoft could have made this better by making Metro programs run in separate 1024 x 768 windows on large screens. Indeed, by running each Metro program in its own window, a user with a large monitor will also be able to place several running Metro programs side by side. Unfortunately, this is not what Microsoft has done. Running apps in full screen just does not make sense when the screen is very big.

Showing Two Metro Programs Concurrently

Although Metro programs are always run in full-screen, Windows 8 provide a mechanism to display 2 running Metro programs side by side. However, your screen must have a minimum of 1366 pixels horizontally. Screens with any lower horizontal resolution (such as 1024 x 768 or 1280 x 800 screens) can only show 1 Metro program in full-screen at all times.

But even if you have a screen with the required 1366 pixels horizontal resolution, Windows 8 does not allow you to run the 2 Metro programs with each occupying 50% screen width. One app will always be at 75% screen width, while the secondary program will always be at 25% screen width. 

This 2 program limit seems unnecessarily restrictive. The 75% / 25% screen width ratio also feels extremely arbitrary. I feel that Microsoft should have allowed at least an additional 50% / 50% screen width ratio. I am not sure why Microsoft did not do this..

Although you can only show 2 Metro programs concurrently on the screen, other Metro programs you have opened may still be running in the background. I played an MP3 podcast using the Music app, and while I had the screen display the News app and Mail app side by side, the Music app that was not shown on screen was still playing the MP3 file in the background. 

A Lot of Scrolling

On a desktop PC using a keyboard and mouse with a non-touch screen display, scrolling sideways on the Start Screen is accomplished by rolling the centre wheel on the mouse. The mouse wheel rolls in an up-down direction, but this is translated to left-right scrolling through Start Screen tiles.

There is a slight cognitive dissonance because if the up-down direction on the mouse wheel translated to left-right scrolling, then how do you to up-down scrolling (example: when viewing a very long web page in the browser app)?

Also, if the Start Screen is very wide, there is a slight inconvenience if you need to click on program tiles that are placed on the far right of the Start Screen. This is because whenever you call up the Start Screen, the left side of the Start Screen is always shown. This means that if you need to click on another program tile on the far right, you must scroll to the far right again to click on the other tile.

Basically, Windows 8 doesn't remember the Y-axis position of the Start Screen that you were at when you clicked on a tile. So if you happen to need to click on several tiles that are on the right edge of the Start Screen, you will have to do a lot of rightwards scrolling each and every time you activate the Start Screen.  

Android doesn't have this interface problem because of its paginated home screens. In Android, if you activate a program icon that was located on home screen 2, when you click the Home button (from the program), the operating system will first return you to home screen 2 (the home screen that the last executed app was on). Only when you click the Home button a second time will the system return you to home screen 3 (the centre home screen). Android remembers the Y-axis position. 

Because Windows 8 does not have the concept of paginated or sectioned groups in its Start Screen, it always opens the Start Screen on its left edge. There will be a lot of rightwards scrolling in Windows 8.

Missing "Start" Button

In my opinion, the biggest problem with Windows 8 is the deliberate omission of the Start button in the Legacy Desktop. Users who are familiar with the Windows 7 way of doing things will suddenly find themselves lost, and have to re-learn all over again new Metro methods to accomplish the same tasks.

This is extremely disruptive, unproductive, and annoying. People who are upgrading from Windows 7 and earlier to Windows 8 should not be forced to re-learn things which really doesn't offer any new benefits. What's the harm of retaining the Start button function? If a user prefers to do things the old (and familiar) way via the Start button menu, why should Microsoft refuse to allow the user to do so?  Dropping the Start button is extreme arrogance on Microsoft's part, to force users to conform to Microsoft's way of doing things.

I liken this to Microsoft making drivers who are familiar with driving on the left side of the road to force them to now drive on the right side of the road. Sure, it can be done. But why force this on users?

If a user is going to adopt Windows Phone, or the new Xbox console, they will definitely learn how to do things the Metro way. There is no harm in leaving the Start button functionality, which is actually superior in many ways against the Start Screen interface.

Dropping the Start button simply makes the user unfamiliar and unproductive. This is a big detraction. It does not benefit end users. No one had asked for it to be taken away, so why remove it? As I said previously, this is extreme arrogance on Microsoft's part ("it is my way or the high way...").

Luckily, there are several 3rd party utilities that reinstate the missing Start button functionality. If you are using Windows 8 on a conventional PC (i.e. using mouse and keyboard and with a screen without touch capabilities), you must download and install one of these 3rd party Start button replacements. It will restore your sanity. The one that I use is called Pokki (free download from www.pokki.com). Without Pokki, using Windows 8 on a conventional PC/notebook was a dreadful and infuriating experience.  

The Windows Store Walled Garden

With Windows 8, Microsoft has introduced a new Windows Store that follows the same authoritarian controls as the Apple App Store. Software developers who write Metro programs can only distribute the Metro apps via the Windows Store. Metro programs cannot be sideloaded (unless you "jailbreak" the Windows 8 operating system). And like the Apple App Store, Microsoft will decide whether an app can be sold through the Windows Store. Microsoft is therefore at liberty to reject programs that compete against Microsoft's own offerings, or censor programs for ideological reasons.

I have never liked these walled-garden controls. If you are writing a touch-enabled Metro application for your own personal use, you can no longer distribute it to friends or acquaintances as Metro programs cannot be sideloaded (unlike in Android). Most programmers are hobbyist programmers. Forcing them to pay US$99 a year so that their Metro apps can be distributed through the Windows Store is really mercenary on Microsoft's part.

The Windows Store walled garden will discourage hobbyist programmers from developing touch-enabled Metro programs. Which is such a shame as I really like Visual Basic, and I consider Visual Basic as one of the most productive programming language in the market. Hobbyist programmers will have to switch to Android development to escape the walled-garden approach that Microsoft is fabricating for its Metro apps.

Should You Upgrade?

As the world buys more tablets and smartphones and less PCs, Microsoft's market share in computers have dwindled from their high 95% share before 2007. If you consider just traditional desktop and notebook computers, Windows (all versions) currently take up about 85% share. But if smartphones and tablets are included in your count of such computing devices, Windows share could be less than 10%.

Windows 8 is Microsoft's attempt to make itself dominant again in these new smartphones and tablets market. Hence, the emphasis throughout on the touch experience. However, instead of making Windows 8 both exciting and rewarding to use on both the old non-touch systems as well as the new touch systems, Microsoft has made it great for new touch systems, and bad for old non-touch systems.

If you are not using a touch screen, there is very little benefit to derive from upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8. I will strongly recommend you stick with Windows 7 on your existing computers.

However, because Microsoft is pricing the Windows 8 upgrade very cheaply, if you are using older systems like Windows 95, 98, or XP, this is a good time to pay just US$40 to get the Windows 8 Pro upgrade. If you are already running Windows 7, the Windows 8 Pro upgrade is only US$15. These upgrade prices are comparable to what Apple charges. Microsoft has never sold their Windows upgrades this cheaply (for example, Microsoft priced the Windows 7 Pro upgrade at US$200 when Windows 7 was launched).

Whether you run Windows 7 or Windows 8, you will still be running Windows, so Microsoft will still benefit regardless of your decision. Microsoft will only lose if you depart from the Windows eco-system and move to Apple or Linux (unfortunately, Google doesn't have a credible desktop operating system replacement for Windows). And that is not likely today, nor the near future.