The Singtel 4G Experience (Trial)

xtramadness

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
41,675
Reaction score
15
First off, I would like to thank Singtel for this marvelous opportunity to be able to test out the network.

With the world rolling out on 4G, LTE is set to be the standard for most markets. While it was based on GSM/EDGE network technologies, the LTE wireless interface is incompatible with 2G and 3G networks, so that it must be operated on a separate wireless spectrum. However, due to the constrain of the spectrum available per country, each country’s 4G spectrum support may differ as well. For Singtel’s case, it is based on 1800/2600Mhz spectrum.


Note: For the purpose of this trial, Singtel has kindly provided with the devices used here in this tests, unless otherwise stated!

This month, we will be taking a look at the device that has been popular in the smartphone world since 2007 – the Apple
iPhone. The iPhone 5 was released by Apple in late 2012, which introduced more processing power, as
well as support for LTE.

qCQVD3z.jpg


Coming in a compact box with minimal space wastage, the iPhone 5 can be found at the top of the whole packaging.

8h4zZvl.jpg


Beneath the holder for the phone, there is a small paper file holding the much required SIM ejector and manuals. Manual provided is simple, covering just the very basic of the phone features and functions as well as the warranty details. Simple and sleek, just about what consumers will actually not mind reading.

lr0o0WH.jpg


LlRs7JN.jpg


Just as all of the previous iPhones or any other phones, the charger is included in this pack. Recently though, it has became a trend that phone company’s include a USB main wall adaptor and just a USB cable for both charging from the mains or syncing with the computer. Previously though, phone company’s tend to provide one charger (affixed head) and one usb charger. Which meant, that I could have the charger on the wall socket and without moving of cables etc, have my cable on my computer to sync and/or charge my device. Apple started the trend way back with their iPhone and is continuing this. In addition, with the introduction of iPhone 5 they also introduced the new lightning cable for the new devices. What is disappointing to see is just this. Didn’t Apple sign and agree with the EU to use micro-USB as the standard in 20091? Introducing a new cable is fine, but to comply with EU’s requirement2 for micro-USB, a consumer has to fork out us$19 or SGD$283 for it? That’s a big no man. Plus the price of a new cable is $284, what’s the incentive apart from having less clutter? For the non-authentic cable end, there is no sign that it is going to be cheap (in relativeness to microusb). Besides, from low to high-end sound systems with the 30-pin dock, unfortunately, even with the 30 pin adaptor, its no longer going to work. So all for the profit5, one lost for the consumers.

dER7W4S.jpg


rcxo29w.jpg


The iPhone 5 retain much of the characteristics of the previous generation, 4 and 4s. In this generation, the iPhone 5 is now longer by one icon row over the previous generation and is also a tad thinner. Made from plenty of metal and glass, it feels solid and nice in the hand.

qbHJkNU.jpg


Similar design meant that the iconic home button is still kept at where it is, at the center of the bottom of the screen.

Ropss6L.jpg


The brushed aluminum can be found at the back and the side of the device. The back also holds the 8-megapixel i-Sight camera with flash. The iconic Apple logo is still there in all awesomeness of the gloss.
 
Last edited:

xtramadness

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
41,675
Reaction score
15
NhhqsuX.jpg

xephTRP.jpg


On the right side of the device, we can find the small little hole for where the new nano sim goes to. On the left is where the mute and volume controls can be found. Both of which does indeed feel premium and made of solid quality, which is a big plus for the device.

oBtNltC.jpg

xcosTnO.jpg


The top of the device holds the lock button for the devices whereas as the base, we get to find the lightning port for charging as well as syncing of the device, together with the speakers, microphone and a 3.5mm audio port. This is a shift from previous models where the audio port could be found at the top of the device instead.

The device being slightly longer to accommodate an extra row of icons does prove to be useful as we get access to more of our more commonly used applications faster as more applications are available today. The big downside is the need to buy adaptors to make it work with industry standard cables or connectors, and with no promise that some even work (analogue out for audio), this is a big turn off. However, this is made up with the crisp and nice screen. In addition, the camera functions very well, auto-focus happens quickly, even allowing us to choose the point of focus on screen. Low-light performance is good but not the best I have seen from a mobile device.

First, starting out with the device, after installing/updating iTunes, it prompted an update for the device. Updating was fast and breeze once it has been downloaded. As usual, I can still sync, drag and drop my media (music) without issue. However, here came the first problem. I have some videos not from iTunes and I want it in my iPhone. Possible? Not quite. With the new iTunes coupled with iOS 6, Apple has graciously removed this function. Now, I had to rely on 3rd party software to do the job. I found this software, which didn’t even require installation called CopyTransManager which does the job perfectly.

obhWPwB.jpg

KiX3c7H.jpg

zAmROXF.jpg

04LEg34.jpg
 
Last edited:

xtramadness

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
41,675
Reaction score
15
Xf5NVFa.jpg

7qPh2MR.jpg


After I have synced my media, next on was to hook up my emails and settings, most were a breeze to do with the simple step by step on screen guides.

The App Store, however, is not as simple or straight forward though. You will need to know exactly what you are looking for before plunging into the App Store. There is very little navigation and recommendations there are not the best that you can get. This, in contrast with PlayStore or AppWorld, makes it feel like unappealing. But the fact is, there are many large forums and websites dedicated to sharing such apps to the community and Apple could just be leveraging on this.

From SingTel’s end, they provide 26 different apps though we can find 35 apps in the Appstore. Not all, however, are commissioned or made by SingTel though. As you can expect, many apps are actually complimentary to services SingTel offer such as AMPed, MobileTV, mio TV Go and Skoob. Hence, if your services are all tied to SingTel, your life or experience are greatly improved upon with these apps to help amalgamate the services that you have subscribed to, together.

CPQOuim.png

Rq05lFu.png


However, this is bitter sweet; Some apps don’t really work well. For example Remote and mio TV Go, I could not get it up running at all whilst the other only worked for the first 2 usage and after that, it did not seem to be able to launch.

That said, not all applications are bad; FoodPr!nt, Trip Tracker, deF!nd and My SingTel 3 are examples of apps that worked extraordinarily well.
For FoodPr!nt, works and loads very quickly. Whilst it gives you food recommendations, the downside of it is that it only supports the 5 districts; Sentosa, Marina Bay, Orchard, Singapore River (Clarke Quay) and Chinatown. It would have been nice to see more areas, but hey, most of the time when we go out with friends, we are in town or these hotspots, so for a starter, this isn’t a bad idea.
TripTracker on the other hand, is an app that helps you keep a log of where you have been in a map format with plots over a period of time. While it is good to show where you have been, especially to your mum or a paranoid girlfriend, on the battery side, it is a murderer.
The final application I am going to highlight is Loop & Meet. Loop & Meet is an application that is loaded with all of the latest event happenings, creating events and managing our own events. It is integrated with twitter and FaceBook which thus, allows us to invite our friends on both networks to the event or share this application – which is particularly useful. Although we are able to do this via FaceBook as well, this application goes one step further, with the “shout-out” feature where we can inform all the event participants about changes or updates to the event, whether or not they have the application!


NuQaf4z.png

Uu0aKok.png

x9d9pbz.png

rSXeym1.png
 
Last edited:

xtramadness

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
41,675
Reaction score
15
toMxmjY.png

fmjA8Na.png

ZhmQw6H.png

21t1V6J.png

DuZiekA.png

cwu5AbC.png

9JSO8yb.png


Finally, the last addition to the iPhone 5 which we have yet to cover is the addition of the 4G LTE network support to the device.
The fastest speed I have managed to achieve was near Dover MRT:
Mkt0uaQ.png


Using Speedtest.net’s application, I also tested it out at Katong Mall.
 
Last edited:

xtramadness

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
41,675
Reaction score
15
5gtJgEf.jpg

sbfZVv9.jpg


To see the stability of the network on a traveling vehicle, I took the speedtest to various servers on my way home, on PIE.

uAIT1AA.jpg


At Chinatown, people’s park complex, using various speed tests:

3aPs2hD.jpg


G7pujzx.jpg


HwKNzzW.jpg


Because of Apple’s failure to bring Flash content support to the device, I’m unable to do more dedicated tests on the network speed on the device. While most contents have moved on to html5, there are still many things on the web that relies on Adobe Flash to bring the best experience. However, that said, I have also decided to take the test to a more realistic level – loading images.

I have 3 servers that I rent privately myself. 2 are local Singapore hosted servers whilst the latter is a overseas USA server. Due to problems with my current overseas server, I am only able to test it on my local servers. I have loaded up an image of size 30.16mb and to see how fast it is able to load.

Server 1 - A Datacentre in Jurong (www.ourberries.info/speed.ourberries.sg)
Server 2 - M1 DataCentre (speed.ourberries.com)

This test was taken at Bishan Bus Interchange.
From the test, it took 20 seconds to load the image from my first server. This effectively translates to downloading at 1.508 mb per second.
From the other server, however, it took just 9 seconds to load the same image. This effectively meant it actually downloaded at 3.35 mb per second.

With my place just having 4G LTE coverage 3 days ago, I also decided to throw it into the test, using the same method as the above.
Downloading a 16.99 mb file took 14 seconds (1.21 mb per second)
Downloading a 4.26 mb file took 4 seconds (1.29 mb per second)
Downloading a 30.16 mb file took 24 seconds (1.26 mb per second)
So all in all, average speed from Server 1 was 1.25 mb per second.


Downloading a 16.99 mb file took 18 seconds (0.94 mb per second)
Downloading 4.26 mb file took 3 seconds (1.42 mb per second)
Downloading a 30.16 mb file took 13 seconds (2.32mb per second)
So in all, average speed from Server 2was 1.56 mb per second.
Finally, to really test out the speed, I have the wifi hotspot turned on and had it tested on a tablet with less processing power.

5yEKOWx.jpg


Loading the 30.16mb file from Server 1 took 24 seconds (1.26 mb per second) and from Server 2, it took 11 seconds (2.74 mb per second)

These download speeds are amazing and can easily rival that from my SingTel and M1 Fibre Optics internet speeds!

Overall, I am very pleased with the 4G coverage from SingTel thus far. SingTel is indeed doing well and rolling out the network progressively to cover much more areas. While it is a tad slower than M1 whom has full island-wide coverage7 already, the speed of the 4G network from SingTel has not failed me, neither has it differed much from the independent tests done and shown by the media. For some reason, however, I am able to see that the iPhone seems to suffer from a lower reception than other devices at the same location and time. I can have my iPhone on my computer table without a single reception whilst my BlackBerry and Samsung S3 are able to get 3G reception. In addition, the small, rectangular body of the iPhone 5 as compared to those of the HTC and Samsung S3, makes it hard to type, missing the side characters such as ‘P’ or ‘Q’ very often. Not forgetting the sub-par battery life compared to the BlackBerry Bold 9900, Samsung S3 (LTE) and HTC 8X, this could be a boon as well. As a social networking device, though ignoring the battery problem, this would have my vote. With the HTC and Samsung teething for me to bring it into the testing field, I don’t think this will end right here. Both devices bares a faster and better processing power than the iPhone, there could be an interesting result from it.

1http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10274953-94.html, Apple joins micro-USB charger agreement | bit-tech.net
2http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/03/apples-lightning-to-microusb-adapter-in-us/
3http://store.apple.com/sg/product/MD820ZM/A/lightning-to-micro-usb-adapter?fnode=3a
4http://store.apple.com/sg/product/MD818ZM/A/lightning-to-usb-cable?fnode=3a
5http://mashable.com/2012/09/13/apple-iphone-accessories-revenue/
6http://www.copytrans.net/copytransmanager.php
7https://www.m1.com.sg/4G/index.html
 
Last edited:

xtramadness

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
41,675
Reaction score
15
In this installment, we are looking at a brand that is rather new in its entry to the 4G foray, HTC. HTC recently have been producing pretty sleek devices running on Android, joining the likes of Samsung, Huawei and ZTE. However, that said, HTC too, has not neglected Microsoft, with its Windows 8 device, the HTC8X.

HTC8X, however, faces strong competition from Nokia, whose devices now run primarily on Windows 8 Mobile while HTC still has a division between Windows 8 and Android. That said, it doesn’t mean that we should rule HTC out of the game for Windows 8 devices.

zDZWKi6.jpg


Starting off with the packaging, in which HTC of late has been sticking to; White rough paper packaging. This clearly sets itself apart from the competition. Typically, packaging are done with a smooth finish but for HTC case, because it is making its packaging as eco-friendly as possible (99% recyclable, 99% biodegradable and 99% renewable), it is inevitable for them to shed the additional smooth packing. Adding further to the eco-friendliness, soy ink was used in a bid to make the paper easier to recycle.

4uugOIy.jpg


CdyvqVE.jpg


Taking off the cover, the phone could be found on the paper plate; just like any other device. Still in the paper-back packaging, we can see how thin the packaging was, it is just amazing to see how it could actually hold itself up!

qocDJkG.jpg


zaWgf2F.jpg


Beneath the plate that held the device, was a holder with all the necessary documents. From warranty information to the licenses, as well as the pin to eject the cassette for the SIM card tray. Now, unlike the iPhone5, HTC is still using the mini-SIM card, which is pretty much becoming the standard for devices these days. However, there is something frustrating about this; the Apple pins and the HTC pins are not cross compatible with each other. Again, typical of the various companies to do just that, though I await the day when the industry decide to standardize across all brands (especially Apple).

OeCa4wp.jpg


LCLMHRb.jpg


Armed with a standard USB wall adaptor, microUSB cable and a standard earpiece, the packaging is pretty standard, nothing fancy. The charger, being larger than the rest of the devices (BlackBerry, Apple and Samsung), it just does not make sense why is this so. The normal earphones are not in-ears, which are rather disappointing, and also, it is a normal HTC earphone, not the fancy Beats earphones we were expecting. The sound and performance of this earpiece, however, was just average, though we found many 3rd party earphone solutions working much better.

HgfRRtB.jpg
 
Last edited:

xtramadness

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
41,675
Reaction score
15
bM1JOjA.jpg


Ig9Yv13.jpg


The 4.3inch Super LCD screen has a pleasing 1280 x 720 resolution, packed with 342 pixels per inch, the display is crisp and nice to use. With a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 1GB RAM under its hood, it will be interesting to see how it performs.

CWeTnU0.jpg


ob0qTW1.jpg


In addition, to appeal to music lovers, it also arms itself with a custom built amp by BEATS Audio. As skeptical as I am on its actual performance; based purely on the tech specification, it does look good indeed. Finally, the device also has an impressive hardware for camera; an f2.0 ultra-wide angle lens, I expect nothing but good performance from this camera.

Finally, onto the most crucial part of the equation for myself – memory. Armed with only 16GB of built in memory and no other option for expanding the memory (via memory cards), heavy media users: watch out!

Personally, I am not really a Windows fan, but from the looks of it, it does seem like Microsoft is keeping a tight grip on its OS, so there aren't too many variations that a phone-maker can apply unlike Android based system. However, HTC at the very least, added its own signature shades to the theme colors, and also, offering up some of its own apps in a special section within the store, which includes a handy PhotoEditor as well as a flashlight app.

Beats Audio is HTC own premium offering to set itself apart from competition, and it adds an enhanced audio that you can turn on or off when you plug in your headphones. The difference is apparent, but this isn’t the best sound we have heard from a mobile device. However, for a native, out-of-the-box experience, this earns a thumb up from me, but for serious music users, this is not the best available out there.

J0yfDfW.png


The 8MP camera comes with some pretty impressive specifications. For starters, it boasts a large aperture of f/2.0 which means it should be able to do well in low light photography. Apart from the standard tweaking options, HTC hasn’t added too many custom options. When it is good, the Windows Phone 8X's backside illuminated camera is very good, hitting the sweet spot in detail, color accuracy, and sharp edges. However, there are many times it completely misses the mark, producing images that seem soft or over-exposed for no apparent reason. Did I make sure I focused? Yes. Did I hold still until the photo snapped? Yes again. It, however, focuses on the point and takes it as a metering point when you click on the screen to snap a shot, and this makes the shot lag for seconds in most instances. However, there is little consistency in the photo qualities taken which leaves us rather puzzled. On the bright side, macro shots taken on this device are a lot better as the camera is able to focus generally well on a large area. One more point to highlight, is that the HTC8X has the camera set at a default of 6MP even though it is clearly capable of 8MP.

A plus point, for photography on the Windows 8 device is that lenses can be applied straight from the native camera itself, without fiddling to find the 3rd party applications.

The HTC8X packs in a decent 1800mAh battery, which seems fine on paper. However, how does it perform in real-life usage? Connected to just Wi-Fi without a SIM card gave it less than 2 days of battery whilst with a SIM card in a spotty network area gave it less than 12 hours of lifespan. Bringing the device to an area with good network, it can last a maximum of 22 hours. Not fantastic battery life it seems.

sP1GFnD.png


So, enough with the specifications, on to the usage of the device; setting up of the emails and accounts should be a breeze, but for teenagers, or the general working adult, this could be something that is very confusing. Having my outlook account setup with genuine information (age: 20), I could proceed no further than logging in and getting my emails. Downloading of applications which were not preloaded such as FaceBook, Twitter, was a big pain. It required me to setup my Family on Microsoft servers before I could actually use the app store. Now, with my family running on android, BlackBerry or iOS, no one else uses the Microsoft based devices! Even our emails have moved from the Hotmail to Gmail. I’m stuck in this. I had to falsely declare my age to be over 40 years before this limitation was lifted. Within this process, I had wiped and re-set the device over 5 times.

For users using the android, iOS or BlackBerry application stores, the windows layout takes a totally different approach, preferring not to list a variety of themes on the main page but a dedicated theme only. The application store seems to have a larger focus on the games (XBOX) rather than applications or utilities though, and it is so easy to scroll to the end of the page of the application search page, highlighting an obvious lack of applications, even compared to the BlackBerry App World.

Next, we know that Nokia has their own Nokia Maps which gave me or well, users the impression that navigation is part of the soul of the Windows 8 device. So we do expect something the GPS or maps to work well, considering that this HTC8X has BOTH GPS and GLONASS system support built in. We took this out for navigation in town, at Bugis Junction. But to our dismal, the location on the maps application was not only wrong, but TOTALLY out of place.

zZjyz4L.png


We thought, this was due to Google Maps, so when we launched the native maps, another shock:

6pH5W0d.jpg


I rest my case where navigation is concerned for HTC8X.

From SingTel’s end, it was a much scaled down selection, compared to the one on iPhone. In this case, we have the SingTel MobileTV, MySingTel, SingTel IDEAS, SingTel Xplorer application.

SingTel MobileTV, however, would only work for those with MobileTV subscription (which I don’t), similarly, that goes the same to the Xplorer. SingTel IDEAS, unfortunately, was just a quick link to the IDEAS website (which was what we thought so too)! Finally, the MySingTel application, it was no different from other MySingTel app on other platforms, allowing us a quick access to the information on our SingTel accounts.

There was one interesting application that I found, which is SingTel’s Choppy 3G. I’m not sure if this is an official SingTel application, but a quick Google search showed that there was actually response and improvement made by the developer after users submitted feedbacks with the application.

Now, for the million dollar question: How does the network speed match up? For the initial test, I decided to go to a more tourist area: Changi Airport
 
Last edited:

xtramadness

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
41,675
Reaction score
15
H28Das5.png


IP8thsM.png


For some reason, myspeedtest application always get a timeout for download whilst upload is able to go through. Nonetheless, it achieved a well 10.5mbps upload for that app.

For speedtest.net, however, the speed was not as great, but nonetheless, still good!

Right outside the MRT, we used a web-based browser, from dslreports.com – it achieved approx. 10.55mbps speed.

xlJJLRI.png


When we ran a 100kb file test, we had a problem:
X1bRe4U.png


2t2Wj01.png


Interesting results!

Finally, in town, we achieved a rather good speed of 36.12mbps of download, 6.76mbps for upload. For such a busy area, I guess I can say the speed is rather good.

sOfwH5N.png


So conclusion from these tests, it is evident, that on this 2 greatly differing platforms, SingTel manages to prove that its network is able to hold up at a minimum of 10mbps of download speed and a 6mbps of upload speed, which is consistent with independent findings by other reviewers. This should help to give a peace of mind to many consumers. However, we found that generally, in train stations, especially at the transit between a tunnel and the non-tunnel areas, it tends to be a blindspot, for both LTE and 3G however, if we ran it at 2G, the blind spot disappears. So what is going on, we are not too sure about that either. Surprisingly, however, 4G actually still worked at extremely crowded areas, like orchard when there is a high influx of consumers in one area (eg. underground passage when it’s raining), where 3G typically fails. Could this be due to more cell towers situated in these prime areas or was it due to majority of consumers running up to 3G only then? Only time will tell.

Overall, into the second month running, I am very satisfied with the SingTel 4G services, though, with drawbacks present. Evident blind spots which occurred for both 4G and 3G are at high traffic areas such as Bishan MRT. However, that said, out of the blind spot areas, we still do get some solid performance out of the network, and I can’t wait for more coverage to be introduced.
 
Last edited:

xtramadness

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
41,675
Reaction score
15
In this last installment, the device we are going to take a look at is yet another well-known model; recently gobbled Apple’s iPhone5 throne for the best mobile device in 2012; and in my accords, has edged out Apple for the top sales in terms of quantity sold. Yes, we are talking about the Samsung S3. First released in May 2012 with the non-4G variant, re-released in Sept 2012 with 4G; the S3 is by no means a new phone. Built with similar features but different processors, both variants are churns out close-to-identical performance. Indeed, with over 50 million sets sold worldwide1, Samsung can perhaps be said to have propelled Android to such heights and popularity.

Zzyis0B.jpg


Comparing all 3 phones that I have for trial, the Samsung S3 has the largest screen size, sitting at 4.8inches, much larger over the iPhone5 and HTC8X. Comparing screens, I still prefer the HTC8X screen for the contrast that it brings. Whilst the large screen is good for games and videos, storing the device inside your pocket or actually using one hand operation on the device can be tough. In addition, exceeding 4.5 inches meant that it would not be possible to bring this to SAF camps (important for those in the Army), even if the camps have designated Green Zones.

What I had was a media review set so no packaging was provided. However, from what we understand, the standard USB head wall charger, micro-USB cable and an in-ear stereo headset is provided. From the experience I had with the Samsung S2, it should be reasonable to expect good performance from the stock earphones for the S3.

RL6iYG3.jpg


Powered with a Quad-Core processor, the Samsung S3 runs on 2GB of RAM which puts it at an advantage over the competition – at least on paper. Together with a built in 16 GB flash memory and a (to my relief) expandable microSD slot (of up to 64 GB), media memory shouldn’t be much of an issue, considering that it is hot swappable. The best part about the cards; at least for me, is the placement of the SIM card. Retaining the service of micro SIM, Samsung has taken a slightly different approach for the S3. Instead of using the SIM card tray (and pin); here we just have a simple slot. You can just slot in your micro SIM like the normal SIM cards, without the fear of requiring (or misplacing) the pin to push the tray out.

UGGSHsO.jpg


With a largest battery capacity (2100mah) and the only device with removable battery feature of the 3 devices I had, we expect the battery life to be respectable for this beast. With 4G turned on, the S3 was able to last over a day with ease initially. However, after closed to 3 months on this, the battery life is now similar to any other mobile device that we have played with; lasting less than 20 hours of usage. In fact, now, after 2 or 3 days of usage, the device tends to reboot itself out of the blue, which is very irritating. A quick check around the forums shows that I’m not the only one affected by this issue.

IKkE5ls.jpg


The 8 mega pixel camera found on the Samsung S3, has a much larger lens size when compared to the others. I am however not too sure what the reason for this increase in size is. Size aside, the camera also boasts zero-shutter lag (which works very well in fact), and of course, auto-focus. Auto-focus works generally well on non-macro objects, but when switch to macro; it really does fall short of expectation. A lot of times, even though it can focus on the object, it doesn’t focus, resulting in blurry photos. Post-editing however is relatively easy since whatever apps the iOS Camp has, the Android camp has as well, hence little differences between photos taken from both. Like the HTC8x, the camera allows us to modify and play around with plenty of settings – like any compact cameras, with the S3 edging out with the most number of ready customization installed natively. This scores additional points for the S3.

Applications wise, we found that there are much more useful features thanks to Google and the relative open-source of the platform. Coming from SingTel’s end, My SingTel (or My SingTel account) is there, which is present on almost any platform. There are also a few premium services apps such as SingTel AMPed, Xplorer, AMPed 2.0, Mobile iPN, Skoob, TrafficLive, Locator Plus and Family Board. Since these services required a subscription of sort to try, we did not have a go at it. However, that said, there are still a lot of quality free applications from SingTel available for download, that matches those found on the iOS platform namely, Loop & Meet, FoodPrint and LoopedIn.

The Samsung S3 was supposed to support Adobe Flash in its browser, however, we found that it was removed and the applications found in PlayStore were apparently malicious applications. It took me a while to find the application for this support from Adobe site directly on Google. After this fix, flash content can still ran, however, not as smooth as I would have expected it to be. Nonetheless, this gives it an edge above the competition and is on par with the BlackBerry Z10. This also allowed us to use the speedtest tools, which were dominantly coded in Flash.

For this round of speed test, I’ve decided to head back to Changi Airport, where we have done the same for the HTC8x. This time, the results were taken on an evening where there was a light crowd as planes were arriving. (Terminal 1 Arrival Hall)

u7GKZqY.png


ZiBYdtr.png


20S5vTP.png


yZj6y0b.png
 
Last edited:

xtramadness

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
41,675
Reaction score
15
Z2BdeEg.png


Running On ViewQuest server: We get a nice speed of 29.57/26.97

XQjdsQw.png


On SGIX (Singapore Internet Exchange): 53.42/26.16Mbps, a sign of healthy connection again.

hmI0XiV.png


On Telin: we get a poorer than expected speed of 17.65/23.01 Mbps

EEqY6Ky.png


On SingTel’s own server, we were surprised that the SGIX outdid it but hey, this is still a respectable speed at 45.20/29.85Mbps.

2KbND5Y.png


On NewMediaExpress, this took us by surprise, with a pretty good result this time round at 45.46Mbps/18.55Mbps

uut3zSU.png


On OpenNet in Vietnam, this time we have crossed the seas, but the speed was still good, clocking at 13.66/11.66Mbps.

fhu1kKL.png


For the fun of it, we’ve decided to try Kochi which is in India. Speeds were 17.86/4.37Mbps.

Y2nH180.png
 
Last edited:

xtramadness

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
41,675
Reaction score
15
Deciding to ditch the application and go onto the browser, here we are on Speedtest.sg, clocking in around 40.15/10.9Mbps.

p2Rcil4.png


Bring it to somewhere more realistic (normal hosts), we took it for a ‘spin’ with my Servers in Jurong and using M1. On Jurong, we clocked 26.90/13.01Mbps which is not too bad, although albeit disappointing

BL3xz1R.png


Onto M1, again, speed was not as expected – slower. Clocking in at 39.67/10.95Mbps.

dHsthq7.png


This time, for the test, we also utilized HostSG whose servers are also hosted with SingTel. We clocked a speed of 34.29/11.37Mbps.

byve1CY.png


To be honest, I am not entirely happy with the results. Could it be the browser perhaps? In a bid to find the truth, I decided to kick in Lightning Browser Pro which my friends are using on their own Android devices for this test. Running the speed test off my Jurong server, it clocked a bad speed of 26.83/3.28Mbps.

CXIr8bF.png


Running it onto M1 Datacentre, however, a cool speed of 50.74/11.29Mbps was clocked. Way faster than the results from the native web browser.

4XdTGjN.png


And not forgetting, HostSG, it clocked a speed of 30.26/12.65Mbps, similar to the native application.

lLxQYQ1.png


So, what does this conclude? It does not seem like the browser is affecting the results of the speedtests, however, the variations as seen from the tests conducted on the S3, is rather puzzling. Whilst indeed, it could be the limitation of the server considering that the other two performs rather consistently, the speed is also still consistent much above the 10Mbps benchmark we looked out for. However, with Samsung’s S4 looming round the corner, this S3 runs the risk of being pushed out in the higher end mobile computing segment. The speeds, however, provided by SingTel is more than enough to complete most daily chores at a blink of an eye – FaceBook uploads, emails and web surfing etc; and leave hardcore downloading/tethering to DSL or even fiber plans.

To end off, here’s a video on my speedtest comparison between S3 LTE and HTC8X at my place where connection is at best -> very weak. Enjoy!

 
Last edited:

xtramadness

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
41,675
Reaction score
15
kTifnlU.jpg


As a bonus, here’s my review for The BlackBerry Z10. The BlackBerry Z10 was over two years into the making, with the OS first popping up in 2011 and glimpses of leaked news/pictures in 2012. The BlackBerry Z10, unveiled officially on 30 January 2013, made its way to retail from 7 March 2013 here in Singapore. This model is the latest offering from the much battered handset maker after a long wait.

oTqSmpC.jpg


Armed with a 4.2-inch LCD, dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage (microSD support up to 64GB), 8-megapixel/2-megapixel autofocus camera, NFC support, removable 1800mAh battery etc; the specifications this time round matches that of their competition.

DVlWX67.jpg


Fresh out of the box, we have a USB cable, earphones, manuals and the removable battery. In another compartment, we have the USB charging head - similar to that of Apple’s, but with a small twist to it. Talking about the USB cable, charger and earphones, it’s interesting to note that the accessories come in the exact same colour as the device. So i.e. to say if we’ve got a Black unit, we would get accessories in Black.

AN0s0nk.jpg


a5dzeAY.jpg


With a candy bar form-factor, the BlackBerry Z10 is a beautifully constructed device with a solid build quality. Similar to the conventional design that its competitors has utilized in recent years, the Z10 closely resembles most to Apple’s iPhone 5. However, when held on hand, the Z10 wins, with the soft textured removable battery door.

MLVqWcj.jpg


0O3qfVD.jpg


Unlike its legacy devices, there is no navigation buttons this time round on the Z10, since using swipes is the new “in” thing nowadays. That said, we can still see the usual buttons such as the Power/Lock button and the media control buttons. At the top, a 3.5mm audio output jack is situated next to the power/lock. On the left side of the device, it houses a micro-HDMI and micro-USB ports while the volume controls and mute button (between the volume controls) is found on the other side.

nlvgdjQ.jpg
 

xtramadness

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
41,675
Reaction score
15
n8BSbGc.jpg


n7JgF8u.jpg


The BlackBerry Z10 introduces a new paradigm that is totally gesture based. For example, to unlock the phone, you can just swipe upwards from the base of the device, regardless of whether is it in standby or locked. There’s no need to press any button to awaken it unlike competitors’ devices. For BlackBerry’s other legacy devices, there is usually the phone shortcut together with the menu & back button. Here, we have the Dial, Search and camera icons shown on the home screen, whilst menu and back have been replaced with gestures; with menu being swiping downwards from the top of the screen and back being the opposite gesture(from bottom up). While this is certainly slower than pressing a button, it is definitely faster than having the need to press a button first before swiping like that of iOS and Android devices.

7WA58Yh.jpg


Another distinctive feature is peek. The BlackBerry Hub, being a central part of BlackBerry Z10, acts as a repository for all messages & notifications. This is where we can manage all of the conversations. We can view these notifications easily and quickly from virtually any app or task that we are doing, simply by swiping up and rightwards. If it was nothing important, we can undo this by moving back in the direction of our swipe.

V6sMCdP.jpg


In addition, BlackBerry Z10 introduces a different way for multi-tasking. With the ability to run up to 8 apps simultaneously, the apps are kept in what BlackBerry call ‘active frames’. We can set the app to run or pause when it is minimized. It is important to note, however, that if you open more than 8 apps, BB10 will automatically quit the older app(s). Tapping on the small "X" icon at the bottom right corner of each Active Frame will allow you to quit the app.

BB10's multitasking concept is quite similar to that of the Windows 8 Phones, where a maximum of 8 apps can run or remain suspended in the background. When compared to Android and iOS though, you certainly can have more than 8 apps running in the background or remain suspended, though that will take a hit on the performance.

GtGlji8.jpg


The BlackBerry Z10 introduces a different native keyboard from competition. The keyboard here is intelligent enough to predict the words that users type, and is able to adapt to the individual's writing style. The keyboard learns the words you use frequently, and then offers these words as options as you compose your message. Therefore, the keyboard becomes “smarter” in predicting your next word overtime, through the use of such ‘phraseology’. Hence, this meant that new users might struggle a little initially before getting a keyboard that adapts to them. To speed up things, these “remembered” words are shown as predicted text when user keyed in individual letter; and to choose the word, all we need is to swipe up. This requires a little practice, or getting used to, but within a short span of time, most people will get the hang of it. Even my mom who is not so tech-savvy could use the BB10. Sure, many people may not appreciate this, but take my challenge: try it for at least a week before going back to your Android, iOS or Windows Phone devices okay?

The browser war days are over. The devices, from iOS, Android to Windows Phone and now, BlackBerry are all based mainly on the Webkit browser core. Hence, performance wise, to anyone using, would be pretty minimal. Perhaps just milli-seconds difference in loading over the 4G network.

Storage wise, I am happy to see that BlackBerry has retained the hot-swappable slot for the Micro-SD card. This offers us expandable media storage which is sorely lacking in iPhone and the HTC8x which I have trialed previously. Top of it all, similar to Samsung and HTC, BlackBerry Z10 features pretty good cloud integration with Evernote, DropBox and Box to virtually expand our storage space.

Media wise, similar to the HTC8X, the BlackBerry Z10 comes with a built in Photo-editing application which offers basic photo editing such as resize, cropping. It also allows you to add basic filters (8 of them), enhancing a photo; as well as embedding 8 different styles/frames. However, they are all presets and can’t be customized at the moment unlike that of HTC8X. Fortunately, like the other platforms, there are quite a few 3rd party photo editing applications you can use to add even more customization to your photos.

BlackBerry Z10 also includes a built in montage maker called story maker. This allows one to make a montage based on a combination of photos, videos and music that you have on your device. Armed with a suite of filters, this is definitely a nifty feature. In fact, just for videos alone, you can also edit it with the crop, resize, rotate functions as well – all built into the device natively. For this aspect, BlackBerry Z10 wins the competition.

For media support, BlackBerry Z10 supports all formats which iOS, Android and HTC8x support natively. From mp3 to flac to mkv, the device does not have any compatibility issue.

While the BlackBerry Z10 does not have the largest battery capacity – 1800mAh compared with iPhone 5 (1440mAh), HTC8X (1800mAh) and Samsung S3 LTE (2100mAh), it is still the smallest amongst those devices with removable battery. That said, actual battery life is pretty good, compared to its predecessors; despite having more powerful processing ability. With a fully charged battery, the Z10 lasted just about the same as the iPhone 5. Initially the Z10’s battery life was not able to hold a candle to the Samsung S3 LTE; however with prolong usage, the S3 LTE’s mileage seemed to have taken a hit, barely lasting for a day. However, it is worthwhile to note that both the Z10 and the S3 LTE, comes with removable battery and micro USB port. This means getting a quick charge in office or from friend’s charger would be easy unless they are from the Apple ‘camp’.

Another observation would be that the BlackBerry Z10 might not charge when connected to any charger with less than 750mAh1 power output. While this should not be an issue for most (new) chargers, some older chargers might have a problem powering the beast here.

With the ability to run flash and android applications, there is no shortage of tasks that the device is not able to do. However, ecosystem wise, the BlackBerry Z10 only has a collection of ~100k official applications in the store and many popular applications have yet to be made available. Users can however easily obtain these (by searching using Google) and then subsequently installed onto their device. However, not everyone will have the expertise to try this out either since there is no guarantee that every single Android application will work on the Z10 due to the API’s used for the applications.

One gripe loyal BlackBerry users will have to make do with is the removal of the use of BlackBerry servers to “Push” information as BlackBerry z10 is now going forward with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. With that, user’s do not require a BlackBerry Plan3 for this device, however, this also meant that BlackBerry DataSmart2 is also missing. Gone are the days of data efficiency and here are the days of data hogs. This also means that users will have to ensure that their data usages are well rationed like any other platforms now. On the Brightside, Singtel users can still conveniently check on their data usage by dialing *72266. This does not use any data nor local airtime nor SMS charges but you do get a SMS notification on your current data usage.

Now, onto the topic of data, how will this device fare?

I ran these test together with the Samsung S3 LTE at the airport (Terminal 1 arrival hall) and the results are as follows;

Running it onto the first server (the one in Jurong), we got a 28.44mbps down and 13.77mbps upload speed.

0svxZvF.png


Running it onto my M1 server, I had an astonishing 63.26mbps download and 16.61mbps upload speed.

eR0nXe2.png


Running speedtest.sg, we had a pretty remarkable speed as well:

lnAOtm2.png
 
Last edited:

xtramadness

High Supremacy Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
41,675
Reaction score
15
In addition, we threw in hostSG (known to be using SingTel datacenter) as well and we got a pretty decent speed too:

SMdKuTO.png


The sole purpose of avoiding speedtest.net was due to possible rigging of the network for their channels. Testing it on the third party sites (eg my own private site), it clearly shows that SingTel is able to perform up to its standard. That still, this did not deter us from using the Android ported application and the findings as follows:

KPZUJO7.png


Somehow, the upload speed was the fastest amongst all that I have tested – a little too abnormal for me to believe.

gg2dvtL.jpg


In short, the BlackBerry Z10 has lived up to its expectations and can potentially blow away its competition if the applications keep up with the device. It is also nice to see that BlackBerry has followed the footsteps of the competition, consolidating their service center to just one place instead of multiple places for different distributors. With a central location such as The Cathay, it is pretty convenient to go to. However, BlackBerry still has much to improve on especially when their competitors have many branches around Singapore and not just one central branch to fix all local devices under warranty.

5qfr56y.jpg


Die-hard fans of the physical keyboards should really give the Z10 a shot as it offers a different experience from other phones available in the market. However, as it is, many potential buyers are still opting to wait out for the Q10 which is expected to arrive in May 2013 and this will have a physical keyboard albeit with a smaller touchscreen of course.

Most would also be elated to know that the Z10 and future BB devices will no longer require a subscription to BlackBerry's data plans. You can now use BlackBerry services like BlackBerry Messenger using the typical smartphone data plans. However, for those still clinging onto legacy BlackBerry devices, the BlackBerry Data Plan still applies.

In summary, the performance of the BlackBerry Z10 on SingTel’s 4G network has been very good and promising; having the best performance throughout as compared to the other devices that I have trialled on for this program. If this performance can be sustained, I can see a lot of people will be flocking to this device. However, with Samsung S4 looming round the corner, it would be interesting to see how the Z10 will fare when pitted against the S4.
 
Important Forum Advisory Note
This forum is moderated by volunteer moderators who will react only to members' feedback on posts. Moderators are not employees or representatives of HWZ. Forum members and moderators are responsible for their own posts.

Please refer to our Community Guidelines and Standards, Terms of Service and Member T&Cs for more information.
Top