Feeling Entity

Greetings guys, I'm back. I could not stop me from the lure of World Wide Web, my bad. I was just going through my subscribed feeds in Google Reader yesterday and announcement of Safari 4 Beta caught my eyes. First screenshots and early reviews were positive and mostly based on Mac OS X version of the browser. Since I don’t have my hackintosh installation handy at that moment, I went on downloading Windows version and installed on Windows 7 Beta.

I was taken aback by the results. Seriously, how can Apple make such crap after spending so many nice years with Mac et al. Believe me or not, Safari 4 is purely a piece of nice looking shit on my Windows 7 installation. I don’t know why, but unfortunately two most revered features, ‘Top Sites’ and ‘Cover Flow’ does not work and just shows huge black screens. Adding 'Cover Flow' to almost everything is the latest Apple trend, even one of my Macboy friends says,

When Apple runs out of ideas for new features to add to an application, they add Cover Flow to it.

They tried to ‘borrow’ heavily from Google Chrome and created something that is way bad looking even from its previous version. Gone are the neat, clean and suave looks of Safari, current version is hollow form of flattery. I don’t even understand why Apple went on copying from Chrome as the end result is as bad as IE5 in Mac OS X. While Google Chrome still retains a lovely clean look and feel, Safari 4 is best left alone.

Performance is also a mixed bag, while some JavaScript based sites opened faster than Minefield 3.2Pre, there are disappointments too. CSS Animation and passing Acid 3 test are the only two things I liked about this version. On the other hand, Safari 4 beta can even put shame on Firefox’s face for being resource heavy; it’s a damned resource clogging behemoth.

At this point, I really can't afford Apple merchandises but tinkering with them seemed a great idea to me. And now, touching and feeling them in real life is also impossible for definite reasons, all that's left is those Getting Started videos from Apple website. I did not really looked into them much seriously until yesterday, when I was searching for what more to download using my BSNL Broadband connection. Incidentally I was on Apple.com for some reason and my eyes got set on those videos. Downloaded them today morning and just now after returning home I experienced them. In a single word, they are magnificent. I did not see some getting started videos they way they did it ever.

I will seriously consider Mac OS X in future and also seriously ask for macs when someone wants to gift me something. A MBP will be just great for me, off course when I get it for free.

Microsoft recently came with the announcement of Windows Mobile 6.5 in MWC yesterday and it looks good from a first sight and also feels way ahead of its previous versions. Ahem, "... way ahead of its previous versions"? Not at all folks, Win Mo is just got a new look and some tweaks here and there, that's all. I wonder what's MS is doing all the way since January 2007, when Apple announced their revolutionary iPhone for the first time. This is 2009 and there is still not support for Capacitive Touchscreens? Adding to our agony, no update Media Player, weirdly small onscreen keyboard in IE, no direct Zune integration, what the hell is this?

It's been two loooong years that I am using my old Sony Ericsson W700i. It was quite value for money on those days and I was deliciously feeding on it's walkman capabilities. Sound quality is pretty decent for it's price and bundled HPM-70 headphones are still doing a good job if not great. But with the advent of iPhone, everything changed. Almost everyone want to touch a phone now, rather than only using it. And sadly it seems that I'm also a member of the league now.

But this time, I divided my touching pleasure into two different areas. Seriously, there is no real competitor of iPhone as of now, (barring the yet-to-be-released Palm Pre) everything else sucks big time compared to that. Win Mo sucks and it would be better not to speak of Symbian's touch update (like that one on 5800 Xpressmusic). I did experience the iPhone interface and it was freaking awesome. But considering everything regarding iPhone, its bloody price actually, one should really look elsewhere except those who have got a cash cow at their back. Now, I don't want to miss the awesomeness that iPhone have, still a cheaper option is needed. Behold for the mighty iPod Touch 2G, it's got the fastest hardware ever in all of the iPhones and iPod Touches and quite spacious than that iPod 3G. I have set my mind for 32GB model (best VFM) but since the required sum is yet to set in my pocket, I'll have to wait for June/July to come.

Now, there's rumour of something all new Zune-esque Windows Mobile 6.5 in the works and it's probably going to be released Q3 this year. Then there's Palm Pre (although I don't like the phone's look and feel) who've got a great UI as well and also dark horse Android. I really liked the G1's interface and the way it manages everything on a phone, just waiting for phones with better hardware and look'n'feel to come in the market. So, it is evident that there's no alternative of waiting for the time being. But I can foresee that a real lot of fireworks is coming on recent months.