3G Iphone : My personal review

For those of you who read my blog (well few of you...) I did a post last month about getting a 3G Iphone on July, 11. First I thought that I would wait a week before going to an O2 shop to get a monthly contract for £30, but I decided to try my luck and was awake at 5:00am that day to make sure to be one of the first to get the precious gadget.
Well I wasn't really lucky to be honest, around 50 people were already at O2 by 6:00am but later I went to Carphone Warehouse and finally got my 3G Iphone.

The bad new straight away was that I needed to pay £150 deposit (which I will get back in 6 month) because according to the "salesman" my credit rating was not reliable (probably a trick to raise cash...), but because of that extra expense, I went for a 8GB model (I badly wanted the 16GB in white) on a £30/month contract.

My first impression was really positive, and believe me this is a fantastic piece of technology. Surfing the net in the bus, the tube or when doing shopping is amazing and really addictive, because I moved house a week later and have to wait for BT to set up my broadband back (typical BT) I used the Iphone to surf the net home on 3G and it’s really good and quite fast, I mean I never use 3G before on my phone (too expensive) and can’t really compare, but the speed of the 3G Iphone is quite impressive sometime, and it’s free. But nothing is better than the App. Store where you can find so many useful applications to make your Iphone an amazing computer (Google app.) or game console (Monkey Ball game), I’m always checking for news applications and can wait to have the EBay one available here in UK.

The camera is quite good, I mean who really use his mobile phone to take holidays or family pictures, well not me (got a good camera for that), I took some photos last week and must admit that the quality on the Iphone screen or on my PC one are really good.
And for me who needed most of the time on my way to work to carry my mobile and my Ipod, the 3G Iphone is just awesome.


Some bad points are obviously the battery life which is really awful for a phone of that standard, I mean you have to charge it everyday if you use Internet on 3G a lot; my advice check for Wi-Fi network in shops or office and use your Wireless Internet at home. The 3G Iphone can be slow sometime, I don’t know why but checking your contacts will take more time on an Iphone that on a Nokia N95.

But overall I just love it and use it now to write new post on my blog with the Google App., which let you have access from your Iphone to most Google Products.

Yes £30/month for 75 min of call is quite expensive to be honest but I think that owning a 3G Iphone today is just priceless…..

Take care everyone

HAPPY BIRTHDAY "MADIBA"


Last week London and the entire world were celebrating the 90th birthday of a living legend, an Icon and a role model : Nelson "Rolihlahla" Mandela.

As Richard Stengel said this month in the Times Magazine, Nelson Mandela has made enough trouble for several lifetimes. He liberated a country from a system of violent prejudice and helped unite white and black, oppressor and oppressed, in a way that had never been done before. Mandela is the closest thing the world has to a secular saint, but he would be the first to admit that he is something far more pedestrian: a politician. He overthrew apartheid and created a non-racial democratic South Africa by knowing precisely when and how to transition between his roles as warrior, martyr, diplomat and statesman. Uncomfortable with abstract philosophical concepts, he would often say that an issue "was not a question of principle; it was a question of tactics." He is a master tactician.

As we enter the main stretch of a historic presidential campaign in America, there is much that he can teach the two candidates. The Madiba's Rules (Madiba, his clan name, is what everyone close to him calls him) are mostly practical. Many of them stem directly from his personal experience. All of them are calibrated to cause the best kind of trouble: the trouble that forces us to ask how we can make the world a better place.

[Following are excerpts from the article]

1. Courage is not the absence of fear — it's inspiring others to move beyond it. Mandela was often afraid during his time underground. "Of course I was afraid!" he would tell me later. It would have been irrational, he suggested, not to be. "I can't pretend that I'm brave and that I can beat the whole world." But as a leader, you cannot let people know. "You must put up a front."

And that's precisely what he learned to do: pretend and, through the act of appearing fearless, inspire others. He knew that he was a model for others, and that gave him the strength to triumph over his own fear.

2. Lead from the front — but don't leave your base behind. Prison gave him the ability to take the long view. It had to; there was no other view possible. He was thinking in terms of not days and weeks but decades. "Things will be better in the long run," he sometimes said. He always played for the long run.

3. Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front. When he finally did speak at meetings [with his staff], he slowly and methodically summarized everyone's points of view and then unfurled his own thoughts, subtly steering the decision in the direction he wanted without imposing it. The trick of leadership is allowing yourself to be led too. "It is wise," he said, "to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea."

4. Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport. As far back as the 1960s, Mandela began studying Afrikaans, the language of the white South Africans who created apartheid. This was strategic in two senses: by speaking his opponents' language, he might understand their strengths and weaknesses and formulate tactics accordingly. But he would also be ingratiating himself with his enemy. He even brushed up on his knowledge of rugby, the Afrikaners' beloved sport, so he would be able to compare notes on teams and players.

5. Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer. Mandela would often invite into his home men he didn't fully trust. He had them to dinner; he called to consult with them; he flattered them and gave them gifts. Mandela is a man of invincible charm — and he has often used that charm to even greater effect on his rivals than on his allies.

Mandela would always include in his brain trust men he neither liked nor relied on. He would pick up the phone and call them on their birthdays. He would go to family funerals. He saw it as an opportunity."

Mandela believed that embracing his rivals was a way of controlling them: they were more dangerous on their own than within his circle of influence. He cherished loyalty, but he was never obsessed by it. After all, he used to say, "people act in their own interest." It was simply a fact of human nature, not a flaw or a defect. The flip side of being an optimist — and he is one — is trusting people too much. But Mandela recognized that the way to deal with those he didn't trust was to neutralize them with charm.

6. Appearances matter — and remember to smile. We sometimes forget the historical correlation between leadership and physicality. George Washington was the tallest and probably the strongest man in every room he entered. Size and strength have more to do with DNA than with leadership manuals, but Mandela understood how his appearance could advance his cause.

7. Nothing is black or white. Life is never either/or. Decisions are complex, and there are always competing factors. To look for simple explanations is the bias of the human brain, but it doesn't correspond to reality. Nothing is ever as straightforward as it appears.

8. Quitting is leading, too. Knowing how to abandon a failed idea, task or relationship is often the most difficult kind of decision a leader has to make.
In the history of Africa, there have been only a handful of democratically elected leaders who willingly stood down from office. Mandela was determined to set a precedent for all who followed him — not only in South Africa but across the rest of the continent. He would be the anti-Mugabe, the man who gave birth to his country and refused to hold it hostage.

Ultimately, the key to understanding Nelson Mandela is those 27 years in prison. The man who walked onto Robben Island in 1964 was emotional, headstrong, easily stung. The man who emerged was balanced and disciplined. He is not and never has been introspective.

Asked by Richard Stengel, how the man who emerged from prison differed from the young man who had entered it, he said, "I came out mature."

There is nothing so rare — or so valuable — as a mature man.

Happy birthday, MADIBA

Marathon Man III (Medical test)

Well my medical test didn't go as well as I thought it would; first as I knew before I'm overweight, and quite a lot considering my height, I'm 5'8 (1,73 cm) and over 15 stone (95 Kg) and my BMI (Body Mass Index) is 37.1 which mean that I'm seriously overweight for my height....

The funny thing about that is that I don't feel obese (If your BMI is between 30 and 39.9 you're obese),Ok I feel heavy sometime, which somewhere help me to get some respect when I play basketball the week-end or when I'm at the gym on the bench press, but with two bad knees and one bad ankle, I'm far from ready to cross the Sahara desert in 4 months.

Anyway, my goal for the next 2 months is to loose at least 10Kg and get back to a more appropriate wheight around 13 stone (83 Kg), more liner and fiter and with a better stamina. I mean the heat doesn't scare me at all, I was born in one of the hotest country in the world, what I will have to be ready for is to walk 8 to 10 hours a day and support the cold weather each night for 2 weeks if not more....

I know, I'm crazy... But if I can do it (this year or next year) and I will, raise money for a worldwide charity, give my time to help people trough this long trip, it will be worthy....

Well....2 weeks later and...

Wimbledon.... Nearly 2 weeks and Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are still on course for a third final on next Sunday, but this time you know that one of this guys will make history.
Nadal got a chance to emulate the great Bjorn Borg and become the first man in the last 28 years to do the double : Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year, something Federer can just dream about. On the other side Federer can become the first man to win 6 All England trophy since the open area and close the gap in Grand slam title to 13 compare to Pete Sampras 14 (7 Wimbledon).

Obviously since Spain won the Euro 2008 Championship, next Sunday final will be the main topic for the rest of the week and for the entire week-end, with media TV, newspapers and fans all over the world focus on who will be the next King of grass and probably (I'm on Nadal side...) regarded as the best tennis player today.

_______________________________________________________________

But take a step back and look around (media TV, newspapers....) and you will see that one thing didn't change in the past 2 weeks:

Robert Mugabe is still the President of Zimbabwe.


And the fact that most African leaders did accept his presence at the African Union summit in Egypt, and showed a soft attitude towards the criticism by observer groups of the conduct of the elections (but did not pronounce them illegitimate), tell us that Mugabe as no intention of negotiating or sharing power with whoever and under no condition.

The worst of it : The African Union made no mention of any sanctions against Mr Mugabe's government.

But the funny thing about that is that according to the BBC : "Africa's longest serving leader, Gabon President Omar Bongo, said Mr Mugabe should be accepted as the country's elected president", and most African leaders seem to agree with him.
Well no surprising from someone who is in power since 1967 (41 years) and regarded as one of the most corrupted leaders in the world, someone who rules the country like his own property and who is preparing his older son, Ali Ben Bongo, to take over one day to protect the family assets.


But when Nelson "Madiba" Mandela two weeks ago said : "We watch with sadness the continuing tragedy in Darfur. Nearer to home we have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans in our own country and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighbouring Zimbabwe", the entire Zanu-PF (Mugabe politic party) task force went out to criticise a man who symbolise Peace, Freedom, Tolerance and Respect.


What an irony, isn't it?

 

© THE PEACE BLOGGER
Revolution Elements by Blozard. Original WP theme by Jason Schuller | Distributed by Deluxe Templates