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WM6.5 with HTC Sense

The customer service representative at HTC Care Centre was very friendly when I requested for a free ROM upgrade for my HTC TP2. I have backup all my data and programs using SPB Backup Tool, before sending in my device for service. It just took the technician 30 minutes (partly because there are no other customer at the time) to flash my HTC Touch Pro2 to Windows Mobile 6.5 completed with HTC Sense™.

It took me sometimes to familiarize with the new UI, and compare to WM6.1 with TouchFLO 3D, it has a significant improvement to user-friendliness and I truly love it! A key aspect of HTC Sense™ has focused on social communication, hence the seamless integration with Facebook and Twitter.

Contacts integration with Facebook
Twitter Updates with HTC Peep

Another surprise from WM6.5 is the Lock Screen, which is similar to the iPhone slider unlock! The original slider was positioned at the top of the screen, which makes it difficult to stretch my finger to the top of the screen. I have applied a cab update to position the slider to the middle. Note you can slide it to the left or right to reveal the password unlock screen, suitable for both left or right-handed users.

Slider Unlock Screen
Passwork Unlock Screen

Weather screen deserve a shout out here, it has integrated into your home screen and calendar agenda, to allow quick glance of weather condition at your current location! Yes, the apps has smartly uses the built in GPS module to determine your current location, very impressive! Besides, your home screen can be configure to use the animated weather wallpaper, check out the video below.

Before this, for those of you who are using TouchFlo 3D on HTC TP2, the proximity sensor is a cool and useful feature that will turn off the screen to save batter life when you place the phone over your ear. Often, there was time when you want to use the virtual keypad during a phone conversation (to save a phone number or record a note for instance), the proximity sensor will turn the screen back on (when you move your phone away from your ear). However, it switches back to the home screen, which annoyingly requires you to tap a few keys back to the phone screen and virtual keypad! Fortunately HTC Sense™ has fixed this and now I can have a flexible voice call experience.

Enough of the pros, let’s see what are the cons. After using WM6.5 for few weeks, there are 2 big problems I’ve realized:

  1. I have rebooted the device more than I have done that on WM6.1, i.e. it becomes sluggish after some times!
  2. Occasionally, when my voice call is connected, the receiving party cannot hear my voice. Not really sure whether it’s the network issue or the device or the OS.

To overcome #1, try install a RAM or task management program. This will ensure your OS is always at it’s optimum performance. The odd with WM so far was the ‘X’ button at the top right screen is to minimize instead of exit a program; day-to-day operation of apps in WM will pile up a lot of programs running in the background. At least that’s my feeling about the reason of poor performance of WM; Mike Calligaro has an interesting blog post of why WM has no close feature.

Overall, it’s still a good experience with HTC Sense™. I hope I can try to get rid of the unused default programs to free up some RAM for the phone to run smoother.

My Upgraded ROM
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The Europe Itinerary Part 3

Click to Enlarge

Before I knew I will be riding on a railcar on the longest continuous strub-rack railway in the world, I actually planned to visit “The Top of Europe” 5 years ago. Jungfraujoch (pronounced as Yong-Frau-York), at an amazing 3454 metres, is Europe’s highest-altitude railway station.

Continue from Part 2, I am going to plan my Day 3 itinerary. From a glance, it should be a faily simple itinerary, as I have dedicated a full day to Jungfraujoch excursion. Again back to my favourite search engine, look for “Jungfrau Attractions” and start listing them down on a note or draft.

  • Eigergletscher – Polar Dog Colony
  • Ice Gateway – Ice Palace
  • Sphinx Observation Terrace
  • Jungfrau Plateau – Snow Walk
  • Husky-drawn Sledge Rides (Summer)
  • Ski & Snowboard Park (Summer)

What about time and location (To answer the “How to get there; at what time” questions)? Again, search for Switzerland train schedules using this site. List down all the possible routes and alternative. You might also want to check what is the time of sunrise and sunset to determine what time you need to get up and/or get back.

There are 2 rail routes which will take you up to Jungfraujoch, one is via Grindelwald and another via Lauterbrunnen. Both routes splitted at a station called Zweilütschinen (I think it’s pronounced as “Zwhy-Loo-Chi-Nen”) and join back at Kleine Scheidegg (pronounced as “Cli-Ney-Sni-Deck”), before changing to a cogwheel train up to Jungfraujoch.

Back to my plan, currently you might starts wondering about my accommodation. I planned to stays at Interlaken on Day 2. On Day 3 morning, I will starts my journey to Jungfraujoch. I can choose to stay one night at either of the stops between Interlaken and Jungfraujoch, or stay back at Interlaken. My decision is to stay at Interlaken (another night), since I do not want to carry my backpack with me to Jungfraujoch!

I’ve booked my accommodation through this site for the first day, then I booked a Jungfraujoch Excursion package (which comes with 1 night stays at preferred accommodation) through here. What’s next?

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The Europe Itinerary Part 2

Continue from Part 1, we already have the general itinerary in mind, let’s draft a more detail plan. Now we need to focus on (A) timing, as it is very important to our schedule, particularly on our flight and train schedule; (B) attractions, as this will determine how long we will spend in a particular place; (C) budget, as this will determine how much we will be spending.

Start from Day 1 again, Flight D7 2006 arrival time at London is approximately 1650. When we came out from the airport, travel to my friend’s place, unpack, dinner, etc is already late evening. I prefer to rest and prepare for next day. Hence I have no plan for Day 1. On a contrary, if you do not want to stay overnight at London, I suggest you to book the earliest arrival flight to London, then transit to Switzerland (either Geneva or Zurich). Check out my post on Malaysian Travelers to Europe via AirAsia.

Day 2 planned for flight to Zurich, we need to check which airline have flight to Zurich from London, and which London Airports (Heathrow, Stansted, Luton, Gatwick, City)? This will be tedious process if you are new to European Airlines, but I have summarized the below based on my research for your reference.

  1. British Airways, operating from London Heathrow and London City Airport. Not a budget airlines. All price inclusive. Breakfast provided in-flight.
  2. Easyjet, usually operating from London Gatwick, Luton or Stansted Airport. Budget airlines. Extra charge for check-in luggage.
  3. Swiss International, operating from London Heathrow and London City Airport. Not a budget airlines. All price inclusive.
  4. BMI Baby, operating from London Stansted. Budget airlines. Extra charge for check-in luggage.

Based on the above, I have drafted a comparison chart that shows flights departing from London to Zurich on 15th October, 2009:

Once I have a comparison chart, I will base my selection on 2 criterias, time and budget. First I need to get to Zurich as early as possible to avoid wasting too much time. Second, I need a fairly economy flight to minimize expenses. From the above chart, it seems that Easyjet is the obvious choice. However, considering the distance from London to Gatwick/Luton to catch the morning flight, which mean I have to wake up in the middle of the night, catch a cab and travel to the airport, it’s a nightmare!

Approximate Distance of London Airports to London City Center

My second choise is British Airways, although it’s double the price of Easyjet, but I save on my travel time to airport, and I have more choices on flight schedule. Since I stay in East London, the earliest flight to Zurich (ZRH) from London City Airport (LCY) is my best option. Let’s put this down in my itinerary. However, if you plan for a return trip to/from Switzerland, I would recommend Swiss International Airlines for better offer.

Booking BA Flight Online

I know I will reach Zurich by 1055 travel via BA8763, and my final destination for Day 2 is Interlaken. I need to find out how I would travel from Zurich to Interlaken. 3 choices: car rental and drive myself; take a bus/coach; take a train. Driving in Switzerland is left-handed drive on the right lane, different from Malaysia (I’ve tried that 5 years ago, it’s daunting!). Furthermore, I need an international driving license. Taking a bus or train is less hassle.

Flight BA8763 to Zurich

After searching from the Internet, I’ve decided to travel via rail. If you are staying at Switzerland for more than 5 days, I recommend you to get one of the Swiss Travel Pass for cost saving. I only planned to stay in Switzerland for 3 days, hence I will go for the single journey tickets. SBB has one of the best online services to search, book and pay for your rail travel in Switzerland. I can also search for rail schedules as well to plan my itinerary. How I did that? Search for train schedule from Zurich to Interlaken (you will either route via Berne or Lucerne (Luzern). I have been to Berne in my previous trip. Luzern is my choice this time. From Luzern to Interlaken, there is a rail service call GoldenPass Line, which offers a magnificient panoramic view from inside the coach. This rail service will brings you to the most scenic route in Switzerland.

Now I have an idea of my travel time, let’s plan some visits. Check out Zurich and Luzern attractions from the Internet, and I estimated a stay in Zurich for 2 hours, Luzern for 1 hour. Go back to the SBB website and search for schedules between Zurich – Luzern and Luzern – Interlaken. List down a few alternatives for decision later. This is very useful if you missed a train, or you decided to spend more times on a place; at least you know when is the next train schedule. Up till now, I have drafted something like the above in my itinerary, including also the travel route from where I stay (Belvedere) to London City Airport. I used this to plan for that.

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Travel to Europe via AirAsia

This post is meant to provide a guide to Malaysian travelers to Europe via AirAsia. Take note that at the time of this writing, AirAsia do not have direct flights to other European countries yet. You have to transit via London. Let’s take a look on the flight schedules* to London Stansted (STN) from Kuala Lumpur (KUL).

Outgoing Flights Schedule *As of 1st Feb 2010
D7 2008 1230 (KUL) – 1930 (STN)
  1510 (KUL) – 2210 (STN)
  0900 (KUL) – 1600 (STN)
D7 2006 2200 (KUL) – 0500 (STN)

At a glance, we knew that all 3 flights on D7 2008 will arrive at London in the evening, and it would be too late to transit to another European countries. Even if you can make it, your arrival to your destination will be midnight already. Trust me, you don’t want to ruin your holiday catching a late night train or knocking at a guest house/hostel.

On the other hand, I will recommend you to take the D7 2006 flight, which will arrive at London in the morning (next day). At this time, you would have plenty of options to transit to your destination (earlier too). Need help finding transit flights? I used eBookers to search, book and pay for my transit Europe airfares, particularly for London outbound.

When searching for transit flight, take note that London outbound flights will have several options, it might either from London Stansted, London Luton, London Gatwick, London City Airport, or London Heathrow. You must allocate time for your travel between airports, check-in, immigration and custom, etc.

Approximate Distance of London Airports to London City Center

My advise for airfare, book earlier to get cheaper price and avoid disappointment. If you can’t find any available, probably the fare has not been publish yet. This is common to budget airlines in Europe. I usually booked mine 1-2 months ahead of schedule. For non-budget airlines like British Airways, you can usually book and pay for the airfare 2-3 months ahead, if you have confirmed your itinerary.

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DPP Quick Tip: Clone versus Patch

Working with photo editing software has become a pre-requisite for most if not all digital photographers. Unlike film photography, there is little chance that you can touch up an image that has been exposed on the film. Therefore, ensuring a correct exposure and composition before you click on the shutter button, is very important. Does this matter to digital photographers? The answer is Yes!

Many photographers nowadays had the wrong impression that digital post-processing (DPP) will “fix” or “make” your photograph better. However, capturing a picture with a perfectly balanced exposure and a stunning composition, is the very first step that you need to practice as a photographer. DPP is only used to drop the final touch on my photograph to make it perfect.

There are circumstances however, that DPP was used to fix (or fake) a good photograph. The tip that I am going to show you is particularly useful when you need to work with several photographers at the same time. There are inconveniences when these photographers are using different focal-length lenses during the shooting session. Take for example the below photograph; I’m shooting with a tele-lens while my partner is shooting with a wide lens.

Before Patch

There are nothing wrong with the subject. Infact I like the natural expression of the couple. The problem is my partner was captured in the frame :) This can be resolve simply by patching. Patching here means copy a section of an image from another photograph, and paste it on top of the current photograph. To ensure the end result “looks” real, consider copy with feather mode so that the edge of the copied image blended with your current photograph.

After Patch

What I will do next is to remove distractive elements on my photograph. Two things you can do here. First is to crop your image tighter to remove “unwanted” objects at the side of your photograph. Second is to “clean” your image with a clone brush (Most photo editing software should have this function). Cloning means making identical copies of a portion (normally small area) of your current image, and paste it on “unwanted” objects.

Editing and Cloning

Feel free to comment on the final edited image above. Personally I will retain the background tree for overall balance of the image. However, removing the tree might also makes the image looks “cleaner”. What you think?