Top 10 features of Samsung Galaxy S3

In my view, these are the killer features of the brand new Samsung Galaxy S3

1. Monster screen- The screen is a whopping 4.8 inch (12.2cm). At that size, you are in gaming heaven! Plus you see picture and videos much better.

2. Best photo option- An 8MP camera with Best Photo' function allows you to pick the best of four shots the camera takes in one single click. With this feature you are four times more likely to have the best shot of that rare occasion where you can only click once.

3. Smart screen- The screen knows when you are awake! A second camera (1.9MP) on the front of the device plus face recognition technology enables the device to track your eye movements and therefore ensure that the phone never goes dim or goes into lock mode as long as you are looking at it. How cool is that!

4. Wireless transfer- S-Beam feature makes it possible to transfer files, documents, videos and other content from one Galaxy S3 to another. Works best if you and your spouse or best friend have this phone.

5. Wireless projection- Allshare allows you to play and see the content of your device on a television screen etc without using wire.

6. Voice command- S Voice let’s you give voice command to the device. You can ask your phone to play songs, adjust the volume, send text messages or emails, and take photographs.

7. Missed call notification. The phone vibrates when you pick it if you have missed some calls.

8. Optimised battery- You can go 24hours before needing a recharge. Well, that’s something considering the size of the screen. With many Smartphones with much smaller screens, you’d be lucky to go a full day.

9. Call clarity- Noticeably clearer call quality than most phones on the market.

10. Wireless charging- With an optional accessory of a docking unit, you don’t need wires to recharge your phone. Just dump it on the docking unit in your office or car.

It's the stone age on the long bridge!

Brig.Gen. Iruh, killed

It’s the first time I’m hearing about this, but apparently it has been going on for a long time. If your car breaks down on the long bridge along the Lagos Ibadan Expressway, near the popular Berger Bus Stop, you are in deep trouble. Some herdsmen permanently stationed under the bridge leap up within minutes and attack you with arrows and dagger.

Latest victim is Brig. Gen. Sylvester Iruh (rtd) whose Toyota Hilux had a flat tyre on the bridge and was shot with an arrow while fixing it. The herdsmen reportedly stabbed him many times and even abandoned a dagger in him before proceeding to rob him and the occupants of his vehicle.

On the night of the attack on the gentleman and his relatives, four other victims with stab wounds were rushed to the Accident and Emergency Hospital, near 7 Up/old Toll Gate Ikeja where the Brig.Gen breathed his last. They were all reportedly attacked at the same location. They were however luckier to have survived their ordeals.

Several commentators have since then been coming out with stories of how that place has been a notorious den of primitive robbers armed with knives, bows and arrows for a very long time.

Incidentally, just nearby is a cattle market-cum-settlement of cattle-rearers/sellers. If this has been going on for this long, what are the authorities doing about it? Lagos State could claim it is out of its jurisdiction. But what is the Ogun State government doing about it? Is this not one of the challenges that the two states can collaborate to tackle, especially seeing as it affects the residents of the two states.

Must we wait until people resort to self-help and precipitate another Southerner versus Northerner blood-letting before our governors will drag their lazy backsides off their expensive chairs to do something?

Mobile phones colonise mankind

The more mobile phones become useful to us, the more they are able to get more and more of our attention, sometimes at the detriment of other things. Check out these youths turned to walking zombies by their mobile devices. Are you this besotted with your own phone?

This gentleman cried for help, but none came

Majority Leader of Plateau House of Assembly Hon. Gyang Fulani recently cried for assistance for his defenceless constituents who were being slaughtered by Fulani Herdsmen on a regular basis.

Many would have thought he was being melodramatic when he went as far as calling for protection from the international community through the United Nations during one of his submissions on the floor of the state assembly. Some would have thought that that call was a slight on our president as it more or less indicated that he had no trust in his assurance to rein in the violence, nor in the ability of constituted authorities to save his people.

Now, the gentleman is dead, killed by the self-same assailants that he had consistently cried to authorities to save his people from. He was killed together with a serving senator, representing Plateau North in Nigeria’s upper chamber, Dr Gyang Dantong and scores of other hapless Nigerians. About 100 people were reportedly killed by the herdsmen in two days of orgy of violence against defenceless people, including women, the aged and children. All these happening in a country with constituted authorities. Would it have been any worse in Thomas Hobbes’ state of nature?

WACS carries traffic in Nigeria

MTN Nigeria has rolled out a bouquet of services running on its all new ultra-high capacity submarine cable, West African Cable System (WACS). The services are being rolled out and managed by MTN Business, a division of MTN focused on business-to-business solutions. The 17,200 km submarine cable system courses from Europe through West Africa to South Africa. This Service was made commercially available in May, 2012.

“We are now in a position to offer large organisations and SMEs reliable high capacity connectivity for all their needs,” declared Mr. Babatunde Osho, Chief Enterprise Solutions Officer, MTN Nigeria, in a press statement released in Lagos. “We have capacity to provide high quality, low latency internet access to wholesalers such as ISPs, Internet Bandwidth Resellers and Carriers, as well as end-users anywhere in the country.”

Mr. Osho explained that WACS has 15 landing stations along its route, putting MTN in a vantage position to deliver International Private Leased Circuits to additional locations worldwide. He added that MTN has a unique advantage which no other cable has, of a pre-existing extensive terrestrial Internet Protocol (IP) and broadband backbone infrastructure, enabling the company to deliver high grade and highly-available Internet capacity to anywhere and everywhere in Nigeria.

Mr. Osho expressed the belief that WACS would bring the much-needed boost to the growth of many businesses whose requirements for data have continued to be on the rise in the last few years.

The West African Cable System (WACS) is a consortium of 11 network operators across 15 countries with MTN being the single biggest investor in the group. WACS connects South Africa with the United Kingdom along the West Coast of Africa, landing in South Africa, Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Cape Verde as well as the Canary Islands, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

MTN Business will continue to provide world class ICT solutions that will enable large corporations and small and medium scale enterprises, serve their customers better. The coming of WACS is yet another way of keeping our promises.” says Osho.

Samsung strengthens ties with mobile apps developers in Nigeria

Samsung Electronics West Africa has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Co-Creation Hub (Cchub) Nigeria’s foremost technology innovation centre. The agreement will allow Samsung to provide expertise, resource, capacity building, and marketing support to local mobile apps developers in addition to availing them the right platforms to create awareness for and monetize their creations.

As part of this partnership, Samsung recently sponsored the June 2012 edition of CcHUB’s ‘Developers Parapo’, where Nigerian web and mobile application developers network to share and gain knowledge required for starting and growing viable businesses..

Head, Product Marketing, Samsung Electronics West Africa, Mr. Jude Omozegie, who officially opened the event with a presentation entitled Samsung Business Content, expressed Samsung’s delight at the opportunity provided by the platform to interface with young developers whose contributions are critically needed to drive local participation in the blossoming mobile application industry..

“Learning, entertainment, social networking, health services, financial services etc are going mobile. As a result, applications have emerged as a fundamental part of this evolution, as more and more consumers want to access relevant content on the go on their mobile devices,” he said..

Omozegie added that Samsung is in tune with this dynamics, and recognises the pivotal role of mobile phones in facilitating innovation-based services, which he said, explains why Samsung is currently the topmost Smartphone manufacturer in the world..

“At Samsung, our core business is apps and technology solutions, but we still rely on different stakeholders to help provide content; hence our interest in building a strong mutually beneficial relationship with Cchub. Samsung recognises the need for partnership because fast-growing portfolios of mobile applications would be fuelled by efficient developer ecosystem”..

Also speaking at the event, the Head, Content and Services, Samsung South Africa, Mr. Thabiet Allie, urged the young developers to strive to combine marketing and business perspectives with their technology or coding background, stressing that this is key to their emerging successful entrepreneurs. “The essence of apps developing business is recognising a niche market and matching it with a solution”, said Allie..

Chief Executive Officer, Co-Creation Hub, Mr. Bosun Tijani in his remarks thanked Samsung for supporting the community, which according to him had availed local technology entrepreneurs of the opportunity to meet face to face with Samsung to explore mutually beneficial opportunities.

Samsung Galaxy S III hits Nigeria

Samsung Electronics’ latest flagship Smartphone, Galaxy S III is now available in Nigeria, only a few weeks after launch in Europe. The much expected device was formally unveiled to Nigerian phone users at Samsung Brand Shops at The Palms Shopping Mall in Lekki and Ikeja Shopping Mall, in Alausa, Ikeja, both in Lagos. The new phone is the follow up to the very popular Galaxy II, which was critical to Samsung overtaking Nokia to become the world’s best-selling mobile phone maker.

Samsung is hoping to consolidate the success it achieved with Galaxy S II by enhancing some of its most popular features in this latest device. Galaxy S III comes with a 4.8 inch (12.2cm) screen, an increase on the 4.3 inch screen of its predecessor, and much bigger than the 3.5in display on the iPhone 4S. It is one of the largest screens on smartphones ever.

The arrival of the phone on Nigerian shores put paid to speculations as to when mobile phone users in the country can have access to the Smartphone which has enjoyed rave reviews across the world.

Speaking at the consumer launch of the device at the weekend, Donald Etim, Head, Corporate Marketing, Samsung Electronics, said that the Samsung Galaxy S III is designed to respond intuitively and naturally to human use and interaction. “Once again, we are putting the ‘Next Big Thing’ in the hands of consumers. The Galaxy S III introduces a completely new way of sharing and socializing that no other mobile phone can. The device essentially balances ergonomics with intuitive use, making it an extension of the user,” he said.

It would be recalled that Samsung Electronics overtook Apple Inc. in the last quarter of last year to become the world’s largest smartphone vendor amid a widening technology and legal battle between the two companies.

During the period, Samsung shipped 27.8 million smartphones, taking 23.8 percent of the market, according to the United Kingdom- based renowned research consultancy, Strategy Analytics. Apple’s 17.1 million shipments, comprising 14.6 percent of the market, pushed Apple to second place, the firm said, adding that Nokia maintained its third position.

Asians bombard Mobile World Congress

The Asians are everywhere at the Mobile World Congress. The conferences, exhibition grounds, restaurants, everywhere. They are not just present, you can see their footprints on some of the wonderful products and services on display.

Not only are they pushing their own products, they are also holding strategic positions in key ICT companies across the world. One of the presenters of Windows Phone Series 7 today was Asian. Asian companies like Huawei, HTC, NTT Docomo etc had some of the biggest stalls at the exhibition.

Asians even have a number of restaurants at Fira de Barcelona, the event venue. In the absence of an African restaurant, Asian restaurants were the natural choices of many compatriots, who at least know what to expect, having been introduced to Asian cuisine back at home.

Interestingly, Americans, as other nationals were seen flocking into the restaurants. The Asians are winning on every front. They sure are positioning themselves to rule the world.

When will Africa join the train?

Clean up after yourself, please

There is something to be admired in the manners of Spaniards at QSRs (Quick Service Restaurants). No matter how highly placed a Spaniard is, when he eats at a QSR, he takes the pain to dump the litters in the dust bin before leaving. Their equivalent of Nigeria’s area boys are not left out. Even some funny characters with perforated body parts and scary hairdos take their trays to the dust bin to empty before going out.

At the restaurants within the Mobile World Congress complex, when you are done with your food, you take the tray to the dust bin, empty it and return it to the tray stack. Nobody is enforcing it or anything. In some cases, there are attendants waiting for you to finish so they can pack away the litters. But most of the time, the only job left is to dust the tables and chairs. The customers have taken away the litters by themselves.

Thank God I noticed this the first time I ate in at a QSR. I blended, straight.

How I wish we could take this lesson in humility and cleanliness in Nigeria.

Tech failure

The update to my blog in the morning about the tea dispenser in our hotel is that the malfunctioning machine has been fixed. I came back to find a technician working on it. Now it is as good as new. Have not seen the aggrieved brothers to find out if they got their two Euros back.

Queue you must here



Participants queuing to buy snacks

For nearly everything, from registration to visiting the toilet, you have to queue for a few minutes for your turn.

The registration queue on Day One was probably a kilometre long. But it moved very fast. It lived to its name, FastTrack. This was possible because everyone registered had been issued a letter containing their specific bar code. When anyone presented his letter, the officials just scanned it and the machine would print the delegate's badge. For those who forgot their letters at home, the badge collection point was different.

To buy food was another small headache. You have to queue. For those who opt for the open air restaurants, they have to queue in the cold, and sometimes rain.

There are numerous toilets on the event grounds. But when you have over 67,000 visiting an event, you should expect a crowd at the conveniences. At Hall One particularly, the queues are unbelievable. Most of the time, if you are doing Number One, you only wait a few seconds. But if you are doing Number Two, you join a queue of at least seven others. How embarrassing, that!

Cheating cabbies

Why do Spanish cabbies love to touch the metre ever so often? When you enter, they adjust, when you reach your destination they adjust, regardless of how much you shout at them.

It is always very obvious that the spirit of cheating is at play, but there is very little you can do. They smilingly Speak Spanish to you ostensibly to assure you that it is nothing irregular. And if you call in a police man, he does not speak a word of English. You do not speak a word of Spanish. It’s a scene from Tarzan, the ape man!
It’s only a few Euros, anyway. So you let them go.

I suspect very strongly that one at least deliberately drove me past my destination and did a merry go round before coming back to it, all in a bid to increase the metre reading by a few more Euros. I challenged him and he launched into Spanish, apparently explaining why we drove past the hotel. Till this moment I have no idea what he was blabbing about.
Upon it all he was all smiles, saying ‘Gracias’, repeatedly.

Cheats abound in all countries. Especially in the cabbie industry. One thing with these Spanish cabbies though is that they are courteous. At least so far.

Tech failure

The automatic tea/coffee dispenser in our hotel swallowed fellow conferees’ two Euros this morning. It won’t release money. It won’t dispense tea. They insist on having either of the two. Worst part is that they are black. It doesn’t take much to accuse a black man of robbery in a white-dominated environment. I was becoming more and more apprehensive for them as they continued to scratch, kick and punch the machine.

Sanity finally prevailed as one of the aggrieved men decided to take the matter to hotel authorities. “Oh, sorry, the machine is bad”, the receptionist said.

So why didn’t they put a notice there to say so? Apparently they thought people who lodge in hotels are somewhat clairvoyant!

Oh, just as I was banging out the above on my blog,the hotel manager came along to take charge of the situation. He had apparrently not been informed. He disconnected it after all his efforts to rectify the fault failed. A notice was hung to warn users.

Nice cartoon

I think I’ve discovered the secret of life..
You just hang around until you get used to it..

-Cartoon in International Herald Tribune Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Eye-controlled ear-phones are here

Sometime soon, your hi-fi stereo set will obey your eye commands.

At the ongoing Mobile World Congress, NTT Docomo is demonstrating a technology that allows a person to raise or reduce music volume, change track or stop the music altogether by just rolling his eyes.

All you need to do is to plug in regular looking ear-phones. The gentleman pictured above held exhibition visitors spell bound by rolling his eyes right twice to move the player to the next track and left twice to return to the previous track.

It seemed like pure magic, but it is science. The NTT Docomo explained there are negative and positive electrodes in between the two eyes. The ear phone may look regular. It is not. It is capable of detecting and measuring the levels of electrodes in the wearer’s head. It then transfers it to a processor which interprets them. A graph on display moved left when the gentleman looked left and right when the man turns his eyes in that direction. Each of these eye movements is preset with a stereo function: change track, reduce volume, increase volume etc.

The technology is still a prototype. But now that it is already on demo, it is closer to commercialisation than ever. The possibilities are enormous. Just imagine flicking through TV channels without lifting a finger.

The only flip side here is that women who love to roll their eyes for no reason may never be able to play a single track to its logical end!

Just say the word!

You can send a full email by speaking to your phone! That is the future of mobile phone.

You need to quickly do a mail to your friend but don’t want to lift a finger? No problem. Just put your mobile phone in front of you, and start dictating. What you are dictating is appearing on the phone in front of you. When it is done, send off.
NTT Docomo is introducing this service. They call it Voice Input Mail. They are partnering with a couple of handset manufacturers to deliver this service. It’s on demo here at Mobile World Congress 2010.

Snag right now is that it is principally in Japanese. Work is ongoing on English version of this service. The software can handle only a few English words. The NTT Docomo official did a Demo for me: “Hello, Mr Campbell,” he said, and it popped right out on the phone screen (pictured above).

The future is bright.

Cabanes, five minutes walk from notorious La Rambla

Cabanes

Another shot. Can’t get anyone to snap me yet. I’m told there are two common possibilities when you give your camera to a passerby to snap you. One, he walks away as if you are not there because he suspects you are one of the numerous pickpockets who parade this area. Two, he collects the camera and runs off.
Cameras, bags, phones are reportedly snatched routinely here. Well, seeing as it was a Sunday morning when everyone was on their ‘church mind’, I braved the odds and said hello to a seemingly innocuous gentleman who chanced by. He walked past me hurriedly without a word. I didn’t wait for a second person to show up.

The reverence of a Sunday morning

One of Barcelona’s busiest streets off the Famous La Rambla deserted this morning about 10 am. All the casinos, etc are firmly under lock. Reverence for God’s day? I’m told it’s dangerous flashing a camera around here at any other time. I may still return to give you a picture of how it looks on a normal day. But, I’ll look for armed escorts first!

Wanted: Teachers of social graces

It's appalling how some people behave in public places in this country. I have been roaming about looking for free mains to plug my laptop into and continue my blogging and what not.

I find one at last inside a snacks stall. I approach the lady there to allow me plug into one of her spare sockets. (No pun intended). She nicely urges me on. I settle down to work. And this babe comes along, walks past me without as much as saying hi. And lo and behold, she goes ahead to plug her phone to my adaptor, in the process knocking current off my laptop.

“Well, Miss, do you mind? That is mine!”
“Oh, sorry,” she says. Not that she has any intention of leaving, though. She only now takes special care to be unselfish, and allow current to be restored to my own connection too!

Rebranding MMIA

It’s been a while since I used the services of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport. It was in 2007 when my brand new wife and I went off to Ghana to ascertain the veracity of the claims that Ghana had moved well ahead of Nigeria. Okay, okay, I’ll cut out the political talk. We went on honey moon. That’s what you want to hear. And by the way, it was super. Ghana rocks.

Anyway, I’ve visited the MMIA many times since 2007, to see off or welcome people. Never really had to spend more than 30 minutes on any of those occasions.
Now, I am here; have been in the past 2 hours trying to catch a flight to Spain. This place has really gone to seed. The departure hall is so hot! How difficult can it be to fix an AC and ensure it stays fixed? I’m told by a fellow passenger that it works in fits and starts, like the airport’s conveyor belts.

“That’s the problem with Central ACs”, says my fellow passenger. Oh it is a central AC! Big deal. Others use central ACs too and they work. Is this fellow a government official?

How can we be talking about rebranding when we can’t even make our foremost International airport comfortable and presentable? So bloody annoying.