i780

Well, last Sunday I acquired a Samsung i780 second hand from a guy who needed money to buy his college apparatus. I effectively got around a 5,000k discount for a phone that was less than a month old, complete with shop warranty at a shop just next door and in pristine condition.

I have to say it was an excellent bargain. Prior to that I had traded in my i600 Blackjack for an iMate Jasjar. My Blackjack was in mint condition but the Jasjar I got was in rather bad shape. The hinge was already soft and loose, the screen had a dead pixel and a weird smudge on the TFT film I presume, various scratches and dents on the exterior and a few missing pieces of rubber. The bottom side also seemed a bit warped. Yet I made the trade anyway because I absolutely wanted to have an HTC Universal and the Jasjar, although in bad shape, allowed me the chance to own one of my dream phones.

Well, despite being a dream phone it was pretty heavy and was better used as a micro laptop than a phone you carry around all the time. In addition it was in rather bad shape and I always feel a little less happy about a device if it is not entirely presentable. Those nagging annoyances in the back of my mind, plus the fact that my girlfriend AND her mom were looking at my Jasjar with green eyes told me that I could go ahead and get myself another phone I always wanted, there would always be a place for my Jasjar to call home.

So I got the i780 without any hesitation. Currently I have my Jasjar at home pulling double duty as mini laptop and it is great for looking up walkthroughs of Monster Hunter 2 Freedom concurrently while hunting down wyverns. Given that, it will probalby eventually find its way into my girlfriend’s possession (or her mom’s, whichever one wants it more) and I will be having fun with my new i780.

Speaking of the i780, this thing is amazing! It is unbelievably cutthroat in its pricing for what you get. I spent 18,500php on it, HTC phones usually go for about 40,000php. The phone actually retails for like 20,000-24,000php but I got mine “second hand” from a guy who used it for a few weeks so I got a little discount and basically got it dirt cheap, on top of an already dirt cheap phone.

I mean come on it has 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM, HSDPA, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR, WiFi b/g, a QWERTY, a 320×320 Touchscreen, not one but two batteries, the Marvell processor, this thing is freaking loaded.

I mean the HTC Touch (the original one) is still going for about 28,000php and it has a piddly OMAP processor, no 3G, etc. The Diamond is like 40k in php. This is half the price, with a very comparable feature set — or even better in some cases.

Let’s not even get into how slim and light it is! It’s kind of wide and tall but despite that it is very pocketable. It’s about the same size as the iPhone, except thinner and a lot lighter to boot.

I do have a few issues with it but for what I paid how can I *not* be happy? The problems are pretty minor niggles:
- Samsung proprietary USB ports * ugh I hate ‘em
- aesthetics — many people like the business look and the phone is very handsome but the designs HTC has been churning out for the past year are a lot more attractive IMO.
- Touchscreen needs a lot of pressure and is not very precise or responsive. Could be a lot better.
- telescopic stylus sucks
- QWERTY keyboard is not as good as other QWERTYs in this class like the godly Moto Q keyboards or even its predecessor the Samsung Blackjack, which I found to have a better keyboard.
- 320×320 screen is such an odd choice and causes me some problems like with spb Mobile Shell
- finger mouse is a rather stupid feature I mean you have a touchscreen! You do not need a mouse! Give me a normal 5-way d-pad please
- Bluetooth Headset issue that I always get with Samsung WiMo phones, doesn’t reconnect properly after I turn the headset off

Out of those, the only real problem is the BT headset problem. Everything else is a minor niggle and more just a preference nitpick or can be worked around.

Other than that though what’s not to like? It is a great device. I am happy.

Roger Huerta, Hiding Arrogance

Roger Huerta is one of those new UFC sensations that everyone is talking about. The buzz around him is phenomenal, people say he is the future of the lightweight division, and Zuffa is hellbent on marketing him as much as it takes to build him up as their future posterboy, in the USA and in Mexico.
Most people will agree that Huerta is a very humble man. They will say that he is all class and that he is one of the nicest guys on the planet. That is all well and good.

But I must be one of the few oddballs here, but I find that Huerta gives off an arrogant vibe. I don’t think he’s humble at all, it just seems like that from the verbiage of his interviews but if you look at him, his manner, and the way he talks about his fights I feel he’s got a too-good opinion of himself (bordering on narcissistic) and that he is actually quite arrogant.

Just because people don’t talk shit about other fighters doesn’t mean they are humble or not arrogant. Again one only needs to look at his latest MySpace blog. He is actually surprisingly arrogant here even though he sounds “all classy” and that stuff.

For starters he is calling out BJ Penn, which by itself is already intrinsically arrogant, no matter how nice the words he uses to say it. Second, he details his jam-packed training schedule and shrugs it off as if to say it’s just a piece of cake. He goes so far as to say other people would find it crazy, but to him it’s easy. Get my drift? He chooses his words well and he is a real talker, and many people who don’t read between the lines equate that to “class” and “humility” but if you look at it deeper, Huerta is a rather arrogant person. ANd of course the big kicker. “I honestly believe that I was put on this Earth for a bigger reason.” Oh wow. Messianic complex there man.

That said I don’t dislike him for being arrogant. I don’t get why people think that you should hate arrogant guys, and like humble guys. I like a lot of arrogant fighters like Aoki and I hate a lot of humble ones like Forrest Griffin.

However, I do dislike Huerta for all the hype that’s built around him (mostly by the UFC; not Huerta’s fault) and how he isn’t proven yet in the cage.
Here’s to Huerta and Florian duking it out, and hopefully we see El Matador prove he is worth his salt, or perhaps the Huerta Hype Train will be permanently derailed. Either way it sounds like a good fight.