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Moonshine March, 2012
Posted by Albert, 2:24:30 AM 3rd June 2013 in Pictures, Geek, Music


15th March 2012 was the first ever Moonshine: A Homemade Music Show at The Bee, Publika!


This is opening act Ryota Katamaya.


He has this haunting melancholic voice, which is quite different from his rock voice when singing in Seconds To Collide, and yet very authentic and enjoyable.


Here's an anachronism - Reza Salleh the organizer during the setup. This shot and Ryota's second were shot with the Sony Alpha 900 with the Sony 135mm F2.8/T4.5 Smooth Transition Focus lens, for a wonderful rendition of out-of-focus areas.


I have to say, I enjoyed the lighting at The Bee - shot with the Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8 at 1/30s ISO5000 on the Sony Alpha 77. Other than that ever-magenta-ish tinge coming from the stage LED lighting, the rest of the restaurant is in good ol' warm tungsten lighting.


Moonshine had a new format with an opening act, a featured act and a headliner act. Here's featured act, alternative rock band Mordo Blasters. A900 and the STF.


These guys are serious stuff. In comparison here's the A900 and 135mm F1.8 from this shot onwards.


I always like Ryan Lee Bhaskaran's T-shirts. He's always got a cool one on.


More cool T-shirts.


Darren Ashley was filling in for bass duties for Joe Loy. Samyang 35mm F1.4 on the A900.


A near year and a half later I see the wisdom in double-locking guitar straps. A77 with 135mm F1.8 for that extra tight close-up.


Headliner act Rendra Zawawi.


Alda Tan on bass. Rest in peace. This would be the last gig I would ever see him at!


Rendra brought his brother, Hameer, on stage. In the beautifully rendered bokeh from the STF lens is keyboardist...


Sharon Chong!


Brothers. At T4.5 1/15s ISO1600 there is just a bit of motion blur... but the best out-of-focus rendition you can ever have.


Group shot. All shots of Rendra and band with the STF except this one shot on the A77, with missing EXIF data because I used either my unchipped Opteka 85mm F1.4 or Samyang 35mm F1.4. I'm thinking it's more likely to be the 35mm because I wouldn't bring the 85mm, Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8 and STF all at the same time, all being too close in focal length.


Alda, through the beautifully rendered bokeh.


Rendra has this haunting voice and a bunch of uncommon-sounding chord progressions.


Stephanie on drums.


David and Alda. You should ask him about his Alda story.

Replies: 0

Election Math
Posted by Albert, 3:52:39 AM 28th April 2013 in Rants, Geek

Ignoring who you are voting for, what kind of situation would you like?

A) BN wins by a supermajority
B) BN wins by a simple majority
C) BN wins by a jaguh kampung majority
D) PR wins by a jaguh kampung majority
E) PR wins by a simple majority
F) PR wins by a supermajority

Supermajority = more than 2/3rds of Parliament
Simple majority = more than 50% of Parliament but less than 2/3rds of Parliament
Jaguh kampung majority = more than 50% of Parliament but less than 2/3rds of Parliament and the total votes are less than 50%

The Jaguh kampung majority happened in 1969, when the Alliance (UMNO, MCA, MIC) + SUPP won 65.67% of the seats with 49.3% of the total votes. The Opposition (PAS, Gerakan, PPP, DAP, etc.) had 50.7% of total votes but only 34.33% of seats.

If you have more than 2/3rds of Parliament, you can change the Constitution.

Now I would personally like either C) or E) to happen. 2008 results were B) and you could say that the sentiment has swayed towards PR, but there are new dubious voters and the EC has doubled the number of classrooms to vote in (meaning that you need twice as many Polling Agents and Counting Agents to make sure no cheating happens.)

As much as I am tempted to vote BN to ensure that F) does not happen, I know BN has already implemented measures to make sure that B) or C) happens.

In a fair election, the percentage of parliament seats should be equal to the total vote percentage. Every voter should have equal voting power. (In Singapore, 60.14% voted for PAP but they got 93.1% seats, not fair either!)

So how does this happen? Some seats are smaller than others, like in 2008 where Putrajaya had 6,608 voters and Kapar had 112,224 voters. A voter in Putrajaya has 16.98 times more voting power than a voter in Kapar! In 2013, Putrajaya has 15,978 voters versus Kapar with 144,369 voters, making the difference 9.035 times. It takes 72,185 voters in Kapar to ensure a winner, while a candidate in Putrajaya needs only 7,990 voters to win. (If both seats only have 2 candidates.)

Article 116 of the Federal Constitution had three clauses (3) (4) and (5) that were removed in 21st June 1962. What were they?

(3) Constituencies shall be allocated to the several States in such manner that the electoral quota of each State is as nearly equal to the electoral quota of the Federation as it can be without causing undue disparity between the population quota of that State and the population quota of the Federation.

(4) Each State shall be divided into constituencies in such manner that each constituency contains a number of electors as nearly equal to the electoral quota of the State as may be after making due allowance for the distribution of the different communities and for differences in density of population and the means of communication; but the allowance so made shall not increase or reduce the number of electors in any constituency to a number differing from the electoral quota by more than fifteen per cent.

(5) in this Article—
(a) “electoral quota” means the number obtained by dividing the number of electors in the Federation or a State by the total number of constituencies or, as the case may be, the number of constituencies in that State;
(b) “population quota” means the number obtained by dividing the population of the Federation or of a State by the total number of constituencies or, as the case may be, the number of constituencies in that State;

and for the purposes of this Article the number of electors shall be taken to be as shown on the current electoral rolls and the population as counted at the most recent census.


In short, they were removed, allowing elections to be more imbalanced. The difference between the electoral quota was supposed to be no more than 15%! Electoral quota = 13,300,000 / 222 = 59,909.9 voters per constituency. (Simpler than digging number of electors per state.) So Putrajaya has 274% difference while Kapar has 140% difference. Even in my voting area, Petaling Jaya Selatan, there are 79,699 voters, or 33% difference. If we truly stuck to the 15% formula, each seat should only have 50,923 to 68,895 voters.

It is with this imbalanced constituency division, that you can actually win more than 50% seats with only 15% of the total votes. This is the ultimate Jaguh Kampung Majority.

If B) happens, it will be the same as in 2009-2013 - election mode forever. If C) or D) happens, you can bet there will be chaos because whoever wins is considered illegitimate.

Replies: 0

Quick And Textual
Posted by Albert, 11:45:31 PM 4th December 2012 in Geek, General

I've been super busy, but here's a quick textual update on my good self:

I got myself the Sony Alpha 99 on the 23rd of October 2012, and I've been enjoying it. It's just as the specifications are, as expected, not really exceeding expectations, but the dynamic range and ISO performance exceed the previous champion of high ISO amongst the Alphas, the Sony Alpha 900 (at least, according to DxO Labs, and I agree with their ratings.) I haven't gotten around to doing a side-by-side comparison in terms of ISO and dynamic range, though. I'd be comfortable shooting at ISO6400, for sure.

I helped organize a photo exhibition on the 17th of November 2012 for the Rakan KL Day. Rakan KL is a people's movement for the heritage preservation of Kuala Lumpur. I also exhibited photos, but pictures of that will come later - I did say this was a textual blog post, didn't I?

I dropped by a pharmacist for my usual dose of topical steroid cream and she suggested that what I had was in fact topical steroid withdrawal, and tried to sell me some non-steroid alternative. I was skeptical and bought nothing from her, but I went home and looked it up - so perhaps I was having that, instead of classic atopic dermatitis! I had eczema during my childhood, which explains why I am fair and don't play sports - I could not go out in the sun much or I'd sweat, scratch, and bleed. This went away thankfully at the age of 12, only to reappear after a prescription of insecticide lotion (for bed bugs) that triggered eczema again. I had thus been a regular to the Dermatology Department of the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital, where I'd pay RM5 per visit, and the ever-changing, rotating dermatologist would prescribe steroids. Hydrocortisone for the face, and something stronger for the rest. These would run out, and I'd have clear skin within 4 days, but after 2 weeks, the flares would come back, and I'd go visit the pharmacist. I found cheaper Malaysian variations of bethamethasone-17-valerate, but at some point some pharmacist gave me Dermovate, which was the "Superhigh Potency I" clobetasol, but I did not know it then. Needless to say my body got lazy to make its own cortisol/steroids to fight inflammation, so it became dependent on steroids.

I got a bit of 'roid rage upon calculating that I'd been on steroids for 15 months and the hospital didn't bother that I'd been on it so long, so I quit steroids cold turkey one 10th of November 2012 ago. The flare is there, and it's taking its own sweet time, but I do find that getting a lot of sleep, like 12 hours, really helps reduce the inflammation. The problem then is the itching and scratching and scarring that comes with it, with the risk of infection. Some days my skin flakes like crazy, which is a good sign, as it means the skin is healing. The flare will clear eventually, and I'll have a period of clear skin before the next flare, and this flaring is expected to continue from 10-30% of the time I was on steroids, which means I should bear with it for 5 months. Doable, I guess. Also, each subsequent flare gets weaker and shorter, but the first one's not over yet.

I've been a pescetarian for 14 days, from 20th November 2012 onwards. This means I'm a half-assed vegetarian who eats fish. This was done in hopes of getting the first flare out of the way, reducing all possible histamine intake. Those 14 days did not include today, where I broke it to subside a case of gastritis and all fish options nearby would take too long. Geez I thought I was supposed to be immortal with such a diet!

Replies: 2

Sony at KLPF2012, Part One
Posted by Albert, 3:02:12 AM 10th October 2012 in Pictures, Geek


It was the 5th of October 2012, and Sony had just launched their Sony Alpha SLT-A99 at the Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival 2012!


Clockwise from top-left:
- Masahiko Ishida, Head of Digital Imaging Dept
- Gary Friedman, Minolta/Sony Alpha book author/guru, stock photographer, uber geek
- Kikuo Okura, Managing Director of Sony Malaysia
- John Shum, Head of Sony Product Workshop Department


Jeremy Teo of Red FM was the emcee.


They also launched the Sony NEX-5R, the Sony NEX-6, the Sony NEX-VG900E, and the Sony DSC-RX1!


One more with Ishida and Okura.


Estimated Retail Price:
Sony SLT-A99: RM9,299 (body only) (coming November 2012)
Sony DSC-RX1: RM9,999 (coming December 2012)
Sony NEX-VG900E: RM10,999 (coming December 2012)
Sony NEX-5RL: RM2,699 (with the Sony 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 Optical SteadyShot E-mount Retractable Power Zoom lens) (coming November 2012)
Sony NEX-5RY: RM3,499 (with the Sony 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 Optical SteadyShot E-mount Retractable Power Zoom lens and Sony 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 Optical SteadyShot E-mount lens) (coming November 2012)
Sony NEX-6RL: RM3,299 (with Sony 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 Optical SteadyShot E-mount Retractable Power Zoom lens) (coming mid-November 2012)
Sony NEX-6RY: RM4,099 (with SELP1650 and Sony 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 Optical SteadyShot E-mount lens) (coming mid-November 2012)


They also announced the Malaysia Award, under the Sony World Photography Awards.


A blown-up A99.


The Sony Alpha NEX-6.


They also had an Experience Studio, where Darren Chang, founder of Alphanatics, gave a talk.


Here's the Sony Alpha NEX-5R, now with WiFi - it lets you transfer pictures to your smartphone via PlayMemories Mobile, as well as wirelessly tether while getting a live feed. It also improves on the articulation of the NEX-F3, being able to tilt downwards (top-left picture) as well as 180 degrees upwards (like the NEX-F3.)

On it is the Sony 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 Optical SteadyShot Retractable Power Zoom E-mount lens, a very sweet, collapsible lens! Sure, it won't fit in my pocket the same way the Sony 16mm F2.8 E-mount lens did...


...but it's a fair bit shorter than the original kit lens, the Sony 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 Optical SteadyShot E-mount lens.

The Power Zoom part lets you turn the single ring to zoom in and out quickly (albeit with some minor latency, which we can forgive until we can guarantee that it is a production model.) If you push the rocker you can zoom in and out smoothly and at a slower speed. If you're in manual focus, turning the ring will manually focus instead! This works great with Direct Manual Focus enabled, where you turn the ring to zoom, half-press and lock focus, then turn the ring again to fine-tune focus.


The Sony DSC-RX1, the first full-frame digital point-and-shoot camera in the world! It has an unremovable prime lens, a Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 35mm F2.0 with the ability to focus 20cm from the sensor. Regretfully I didn't get to play with this - I was later told that this was a hollow mock model!


The Sony 10-18mm F4.0 Optical SteadyShot E-mount lens, an ultra-wide in small porportions and an impressive F4.0 throughout.


The Sony Alpha NEX-6, with the Sony 35mm F1.8 Optical SteadyShot E-mount lens, a tiny but amazing performer.


We then went out of the room where they had the launch, and guess what I saw on the table - the same setup I had, hanging around my neck! 2 Sony Alpha 900 bodies with Sony 135mm F2.8/T4.5 Smooth Transition Focus, how rare and unlikely!


I got the promoter lady to show us how the WiFi Transfer worked. You'd connect your smartphone to an ad-hoc WiFi hotspot that the NEX body creates, and then use the app to download the pictures.


Clockwise from top-left:
I like that the NEX-6 has Quick Navi, so you can change settings on-screen without diving into menus
- one picture has been downloaded
- you can then copy it and share it to any app, the proper Android way
- you can also connect to an access point and download apps for the NEX-5R and NEX-6. Unfortunately though, the market isn't available in Malaysia yet.


We also saw the new HVL-RL1 ring light. Interesting battery slot orientation!


The Sony SLT-A99 through the Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm F2.8 ZA SSM, at 24mm. Picture credits to Joseph Cheung.


Again, at 70mm. Picture credits to Joseph Cheung.


And then, for the HVL-F60M, using the new Sony Multi-interface Shoe! The A99 and NEX-6 also use this. The older one is called the Auto-lock Accessory Shoe. I was a big fan of the older auto-locking mechanism - it would lock automatically when you slide it in, and you'd just press one button to release it.

I've read unconfirmed reports that the HVL-F60M would come with the ADP-AMA, an adapter that allowed you to mount the F60M on older Alphas with the Auto-lock Accessory Shoe. Likewise unconfirmed that the A99 would come with the ADP-MAA, an adapter to allow you to mount an older Alpha flash with Auto-lock Accessory (Foot) on the A99. The NEX-6 meanwhile is rumored to not come with it.

To be scientific, the only way we'd know is when the production boxes come out.


Left to right:
- in the Release position, there is a moving plate
- in the Lock position, the moving plate clamps down
- here's the Multi-interface Shoe cover, with an interesting icon.

Thankfully, you can switch to the Lock position while the flash is not mounted, and slide it on the camera without any resistance. It will stay locked, making it very similiar in concept to the Auto-lock Accessory Shoe. So my concerns were allayed - I never liked the classic ISO518 hotshoe mount because if there was impact to the flash and camera, it would behead the flash (on the Auto-lock Accessory Shoe, the flash's little plastic foot would break but you can still mount it on, and it's faster and cheaper to replace.)


Here's the remains of a Canon Speedlight 580EX flash on a Canon EOS 5.


Clockwise from top-left
- in Speed Priority (10 FPS) the A99 crops out the center 2640x1760 region from 6000x4000 pixels, making it a 2.27x crop factor
- the pins on the F60M are cause for concern though, as they look like they could be bent out of place, instead of the spring-loaded pins on other brands
- you can now record videos at up to ISO6400 (compared to ISO1600 on the A77)
- the F60M has LED lights on the front for video, and you can control its power
- the bare LEDs
- the LEDs covered with a wide-angle diffuser

You cannot turn on the LED lights and use the flash as normal when pressing the shutter, unfortunately. Would've made for a very cool AF-assist, especially in low light!


It, as well as the top 4 buttons, glow a brilliant deep cinnabar orange. The F60M now has a rotary dial that is also a directional pad with a center button.


Head to head with the F58AM - the F60M is on the left.


Yup, it can trigger the HVL-F56AM when in CTRL/CTRL2 wireless commander mode, and the HVL-F58AM in RMT2 when in CTRL+/CTRL wireless commander mode. I don't have a picture of the former because my SD card was in the A99, I think. I also did not get to use the F20AM to trigger the F60M because my F20AM had corroded battery contacts and I could not turn it on, only knowing about it when I sent it to the service center days later.


Clockwise from top-left:
- I like the new dot-matrix display!
- it's a lot easier to enable manual power even though the camera is not in manual exposure
- not sure what this memory thing does
- pressing Test when it is set to 4 seconds makes for a great modelling light or flashlight
- CTRL+ to trigger the F42AM/F43AM/F58AM/F60M, and CTRL to trigger the F36AM/F42AM/F43AM/F56AM/F58AM/F60M
- I love how there are little power bars at the bottom so you know that 16 is more powerful than 1 - sometimes photography can be confusing when F16 is smaller than F4.


Top: Strobe mode goes down to 1/256. Bottom: The main screen when you press Mode.


The new flash stand (left) next to the old flash stand for the F43AM/F58AM (right). Also note that they can sort of clip together at the bottom!


Also, just for kicks, we tried some other flashes on the A99 - we found that the Metz Mecablitz 58 AF-1 and AF-2, for Canon, would not fire when mounted on the A99, but the Nikon versions were fine. It might have something to do with the flash hotshoe on the A99 being not as deep, to allow space for the contact pins.

More to come in a bit, regarding the A99 and other things!

Replies: 0

Padfone!
Posted by Albert, 4:15:34 AM 6th July 2012 in Pictures, Geek

My HTC Desire had just turned 2 years old. It was still going strong, with Sandvold's Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich based on CyanogenMod 9. Although I had in my possession a Samsung Galaxy Nexus for a while (in my line of work as an Android app developer) I never quite felt the need to upgrade, as the 1 Ghz Snapdragon was still very competent.

The only missing things were:
- a front-facing camera
- NFC support
- a gyroscope

That, and tiny internal storage space meant gymnastics with partitions especially with apps that would not move to SD card. Plus the few ROMs I tried didn't quite like my partitions. But anyway!

At the Computex 2011, one amazing product was showcased - the Asus Padfone!


The Internet was abuzz with this, and many were hoping that it would be able to connect to a keyboard dock, like how the Asus Eee Pad Transformer does.

Then Jonney Shih, chairman of Asus, launched it officially at the Mobile World Congress 2012:


Pleasantly, they added the keyboard, and added one more amazing surprise - a capacitive stylus that doubles as a Bluetooth headset! I cannot tell you how cool that is.

And so, here is the final ad:


When there was wind of it coming to Malaysia, I pre-ordered it. Unfortunately, I only have what was announced in 2011 - the Padfone and Padfone Station.

Wait, what is a Padfone Station?

Terminology

Padfone - the phone itself

Padfone Station - the tablet

Padfone Station Dock - the keyboard

Stylus Headset - the capacitive stylus that doubles as a Bluetooth headset


The Padfone box has earphones, a wall plug, a Micro USB cable and of course the phone.


The Padfone Station box has a pleasant surprise - when you open it, the first thing you see is a sleeve! It is not a separate item.


As you remove the sleeve and Padfone Station, you can see a pretty box.


The Padfone is on the right, sporting a 4.3" Super AMOLED screen with qHD 960x540 pixel resolution. The CPU is a Qualcomm 8260A Dual-Core 1.5Ghz and despite there being quad-core phones out there, this phone is very much responsive. It is also surprisingly light, at 129 grams, and yet it has a very premium feel. If you ever wondered what a iPhone 4s would feel like if it was lighter, this would be it! (The difference is only 8 grams, but I put it down to density and weight distribution.)

On the left is my HTC Desire, the original 3.7" 800x480 AMOLED version.

The Padfone is codenamed A66, fitting since the original Asus Garmin phones were called the A10 and A50.


Thickness and size from the back - the Padfone being on the right, the HTC Desire on the left.


The key selling point is that the Padfone fits into the back of the Padfone Station, and becomes a tablet. However, the tablet cannot operate without the phone inside - it is just a dumb screen.

By putting the phone in the tablet, all your phone's apps and data are there in the tablet!

Some people would prefer to have a separate tablet so that two people could use it at the same time. This is not for them!

Some people want to use a phone and a tablet, all to themselves. This lets you play Angry Birds on your phone while sitting in the toilet, and continue at home on your tablet. Since I had access to tablets, there are some games I would play on the tablet, but not on the phone, or vice versa, simply because my game progress would be on the other device.

Now with the Padfone, I would not have such a problem at all!


The latch then locks the phone in place. When you open the latch, you can pull down on the door to nudge the phone out slightly.


The slot from the top. From the left is a Micro HDMI Type D port, a Micro USB port, a little button (pressing it will trigger a short vibration because it thinks the Padfone is inserted), and 3 pins (I think they are for a display dock, but I don't understand why.) Also note the 2 holes for the camera and LED flash!


From the back, you can tell if the Padfone is inside - you can see the camera and LED flash!

The LED flash is blindingly bright - much brighter than my HTC Desire's. Another very cool thing is that the LED flash can be used in the tablet, making it one of the very few tablets with a LED flash!


There is a power button on the left.


The bottom. This is compatible with the Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 keyboard dock.


The volume buttons and the earphone/handsfree jack. Also note the large speaker - the Padfone Station can play music clearly, at an uncomfortably loud volume! (Apparently, the Asus engineers spent a lot of time on this.) You'd want to dial it down.

Oh yes, you can receive calls when the phone is plugged into the tablet, in many ways:

1) pull out phone and answer call
2) answer call on tablet loudspeaker (be warned that the tablet's maximum volume is surprisingly loud, more than most laptops)
3) answer call on tablet loudspeaker, then pull out phone halfway (the conversation will not be cut off!)
4) answer using the stylus headset
5) answer using any Bluetooth headset
6) answer using the handsfree kit that comes with the phone


And finally, from the back. The texture is a very luxurious, smooth metal with a bit of rubber, with a contour that is nice to hold.


The sleeve folds under a little flap to put it at an angle that is suitable for reading...


...and you can move the tablet so it goes into an angle that is suitable for typing.

Of course, with the keyboard dock, you can adjust it at any angle.


So here it is, with my office's Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 keyboard dock. It doesn't lock all the way in, though, as you can see from the latch, and if you tilt it too far back, the whole thing will fall backwards!

That is why I have also pre-ordered the Padfone Station Dock - it is very similiar to this dock, except that you cannot tilt it so far back.


Plus, it would probably match better, too!


The sleeve also has a holder for the stylus headset. Oh, I can't wait!


You can also operate the camera with the latch open - this is what you'd see.

The 8 megapixel camera is pretty good, with a F2.2 lens and autofocus.


Dynamic range test. Not bad! No EV compensation was used.


100% crop from a 6 megapixel 16:9 picture.


This is what it looks like when the latch is open. Gotta love how close it can focus!


Another close shot, this time at 4mm F2.2 1/15s ISO800. I set the ISO to 800, the highest it would go. The angle of view looks quite like a 28mm on full-frame.


The moment I turned it on at the shop, it asked to update the firmware. This is the latest over-the-air update. (Note that this is with the TF101 keyboard dock, not the Padfone Station Dock, so ignore the Padfone Station Dock version.)

I then rooted it with the instructions here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1706588

I then installed Titanium Backup, and transplanted the MicroSD card from my HTC Desire and restored my apps and app data. So I have all my 3-star scores, unlocked eggs and 100% dragons in all 4 Angry Birds games!

I have not installed any custom ROMs - Asus makes pretty decent bare-bones firmware with very few tweaks to the system. Plus they were the first (as I remember) to put out Ice Cream Sandwich on a device that was not a Google Developer Device (HTC Nexus One, Samsung Nexus S, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Asus Nexus 7, Google Nexus Q). The exact debut was on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, then the original Transformer TF101. It would occasionally randomly restart, but they put out a few firmware updates that gradually fixed the problem. They could do so, since they had very few Android products in the market - compare this to Samsung, who floods the market in every price range with Androids, and as a result, their firmware engineers haven't got time to work on updating their devices to Ice Cream Sandwich. They were eventually one of the last to update their older devices.

And let's not even get started on Jelly Bean - but knowing Asus' track record, I can expect to see it soon.

However, the Padfone does have its caveats:

The Micro HDMI Type-D port on the Padfone does not output anything to a HD screen, and the Padfone does not acknowledge that it is plugged to a screen. So for now we presume it simply cannot. This may also be due to the screen resolution of 960x540 in landscape orientation - it will not output nicely to a 720p or 1080p HD screen (unless it doubles the pixels to make 1080p!)

Alternatively they could make the output 1280x720 as other tablets do, but the Padfone screen cannot support that. The Padfone Station is a 1280x800 screen, but it has no HDMI output!

The USB cable to the Padfone Station does not allow a data connection. This is a major bummer for me as I wanted to make tablet apps - however I can get around by either plugging the Padfone via its Micro USB plug, or using ADB Wireless (requires root access.)

I also tried it with the Transformer TF101 keyboard dock, and it would not allow the data connection, either!

All apps will be closed when you go from phone to tablet or vice versa, and they don't get retained in the Task Switcher, unless it is added to the exclusion list under Settings - Asus customized setting - Dynamic display switch list. Asus' own apps are probably added in a hidden list, since those stay when you switch from phone to tablet or vice versa.

I've made a video that shows how it all clicks together:


Replies: 4

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