Sencha Demonstrates HTML 5 Can Be Faster Than Native iOS or Android Apps

You've heard that Facebook switched from HTML 5 to "native" apps on iOS and Android recently to "speed them up." That pissed off the developers from Sencha http://www.sencha.com/

So they built a Facebook app completely in HTML 5 that's even faster than the native Android and iOS apps that Facebook released.

Sencha builds HTML 5 programming tools and the video discuss the market for app developers and the choices they have to make.
 
I've high hopes for HTML 5! A little caveat though - this is a promo for Sencha. But still...

If they can make an HTML 5 web app that is/can be faster than native apps, then why can't we? Practice time! 


Native apps > HTML 5 in terms of responsiveness. Also some native functionality will not work with just HTML 5. Native apps will still have the full capability to access the phones hardware and make full use of it.

Didn't James Pierce of facebook worked on Sencha? (something doesn't make sense). Maybe he did, but if he did, there's no connection! Pierce does developer relations for Facebook, not product. He did say he did give feedback to the main engineering team when he was in Manila (maybe just a spiel I guess).

From what I could figure out, the Sencha software architect guy came up with an out of the box solution. The Facebook guys were still thinking in the box in this case At any rate Fastbook was released before the last Android build of FB - havent seen a performance comparison of Fastbook and that new FB build yet!

1. Webview vs browser performance is a different story
2. In the video, Sencha preloaded the threads vs FB loading on the fly
3. They used high end/faster phones so the delay won't be that noticeable
4. You also encounter the limitations of the functionality of Sencha platform
5. It is also important to know that Sencha is NOT a free product
6. Since it's webview/browser based, different browsers Safari, Chrome, Firefox, IE treats layouts differently.
7. Some HTML 5 frameworks use native calls like list view just to make it work faster but if you just coded it directly that wouldn't be an issue
8. HTML 5 apps have problem with memory handling which is a big issue in terms of performance
9. HTML 5 apps crashes once it gets to big ... native simply has to unload it
10. HTML 5 are have a lower chance of getting approved in the AppStore (based on experience)

Just downloaded FastBook (android) - it's really fast. As far as a proof of concept goes, it's really impressive. Handset used to test was a Galaxy Nexus.

Can anyone report if its working on windows phone ... It's not working on my Nokia Lumia 710 maybe just a glitch or its for Android and iOS platform only, maybe. But they said it's working on Windows phone but there's a little strange.

 

Asus Vivobook X202E Windows 8 Touchscreen PC Review

A review from a user who just recently purchased an Asus Vivobook X202E.
 
Initial Impressions:

1. Very responsive touchscreen, no lags, no missed touches.
2. Viewing angle is bad. You need to be looking straight on the screen.
3. Touch pad not so good. Too sensitive Asus smart gesture. I would always accidentally activate the charms bar at the right using the regular scrolling on the touch pad.
4. Start up and shutdown, a bit slow. I think an SSD drive would have been better.
5. Windows 8 is really cool. Downloaded Start8 for the start menu. What's good about this is that it has multilanguage support.

Overall, solid feel, nice brushed metal texture.

 

For those who wants to upgrade, the Wi-Fi card and hard drive are the only parts upgradeable.

I plan to use SSD, so to be sure I opened it up. You would need a 7mm thick SSD. My initial intention was to use an Intel SSD 330 but that's 9.5mm so I might just opt for a Samsung SSD 840 instead.

This is a great laptop, especially if you're just into web browsing and more on office works only.

Price ranges from 26,995 to 27,500 for credit card and 24,800 to 25,500 for cash purchase. That's for the Core i3 unit. You should really get one though the only thing that might hold you back is the screen. Its also similarly priced like the Lenovo S405 and Samsung Slimbook Series 5.

If you plan to do some Photoshop, the smaller screen might be an issue for prolonged use. 


Cons:

1. The 2-cell battery would last only between 3 to 4 hours.
2. The fan seems to be continuously running even on idle mode.
3. The HDD seems a bit noisy - that's why I switched to SSD.

Windows Experience Index

Upgrading: Replaced the HDD with an SSD. From the Read/Write speed at 85MB/s, its now a lot faster as seen below using Speed Test Pro. Read is now 430 MB/s and Write is 135 MB/s.

Below are the actual original specifications before the upgrade to SSD:

Asus Vivobook X202E specs:
11.6 inch LED display @ 1366×768 pixels
Intel Core i3 3217U Ivy Bridge 1.8GHz
Intel HD 4000 Graphics
4GB DDR3 RAM
500GB HDD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
2 x USB 2.0 ports
1 x USB 3.0 ports
30.3cm x 20.0cm x 21.7mm
2.9lbs
Li-Polymer battery
Windows 8
Php26,995 (suggested retail price)

There's a lower model also avilable for this model.
 
Asus Vivobook X202E specs:
11.6inch LED display @ 1366×768 pixels
Intel ULV Celeron 847 1.1GHz dual-core
Intel HD Graphics
2GB DDR3 RAM
500GB HDD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
2 x USB 2.0 ports
1 x USB 3.0 ports
30.3cm x 20.0cm x 21.7mm
2.9lbs
Li-Polymer battery
Windows 8
Php20,995 (suggested retail price)


Tried a stress test on the GPU using AIDA64 and I just confirmed that the GPU clock indeed goes up from 350Mhz default clock speed to 1.05Ghz on full load. It just confirms that you can really perform some light gaming on lower settings for newer games and even play on max settings with some older games on the X202E.

But I do recommend using a laptop cooler if you are planning to play some games on this little monster.

Accessories: 

Laptop cooler - My current temps using CMC3 cooler is now lower by around 6-8C.

I uninstalled Asus' Power4Gear Hybrid to enable Intel Speedstep for lower temps and better battery life. Even at Battery Saving mode P4G doesn't enable Speedstep and I suspect incompatibility issues of P4G with Windows 8. 

Use Windows 8 Built-in recovery tool to get a backup of the recovery partition. No need for any other third party tools.

1.) prepare a external HD with at least 20gb space
2.) go to Control Panel > Recovery
3.) Select Create Recovery Drive & tick the copy the recovery partition from PC to recovery drive
4.) follow the succeeding prompts & it should do the trick

*credit of content and photos to peterjommel, ccl 2003, dm1179 of TPC

DOH Erik Tayag Dances the Oppa Gangnam Style

Before, we saw him dance to the tune of Maroon 5's Moves Like Jagger, now we see him dance ala Korean rapper Psy of the hit song Oppa Gangnam Style. He even made a live telecast in an ABS-CBN morning show (Umagang Kay Ganda). He is one guy who would do anything to promote Health and specifically safety against the dangerous and deadly firecrackers (though there's a new firecracker that's called Gangnam Bomb - or something to that effect).


I really think blowing up things in celebration of any festivity is a crazy idea we just inherited from our ancestors. They have this superstition or belief that it helps drive away evil spirits - another crazy idea.

We respect the tradition but not to the extent of taking property limbs and lives in the process.