Blog jason7qs: Juni 2012

Mahalkah tarif sms di Indonesia? Jika Anda penguna celullar yang sering mengeluh karna mahalnya tarif sms dan beranggapan bahwa tarif sms di Indonesia adalah mahal, sebaiknya anda berpikir ulang. Karena ternyata ada negara lain yang tarif smsnya jauh lebih mahal dari Indonesia.

Lalu negara mana yang tarif sms-nya paling mahal di dunia? Jawabannya adalah Zimbabwe. Semenjak negara di Afrika itu mengalami inflasi yang tak terkendali, pemerintah setempat menaikkan tarif SMS menjadi 1000% dari tarif semula. Tarif baru tersebut sangat mencekik para pengguna ponsel.

Tarif sekali SMS untuk lokal Zimbabwe adalah USD 5-7 atau dengan kurs rupiah 9,665 per 1 USD tarif tersebut setara dengan Rp 48.325- Rp 67.665. Cukup untuk membeli beras beberapa kilogram di Indonesia. Untuk tarif SMS ke luar negeri, lebih gila lagi. Harga yang dipatok adalah antara USD 12-20 atau sekitar Rp 115.980,- sampai Rp 193.300,-

Oleh karena itu, beruntunglah kita yang tinggal di Indonesia. Meski sering "tertipu" dengan iklan yang serba promo dari provider cellular namun masih bisa merasakan murahnya sms jika dibandingkan dengan Zimbabwe.

Android

open platform Android
can compile custom firmwares - good for hackers and other
good framework, extended on each new firmware
supports multitasking
nice IDE - Eclipse, NetBeans
development SDK is free
easy to debug, can send logs to developers
programming language is Java but bridges from other languages exist (C# .net - Mono, etc)
Java is a high level language that appeared in 1995. Android supports Java 1.5 and translates the byte code to its own custom Dalvik byte code optimized for mobile devices.
for the hardcore programmers, Android offers the possibility of programming in C using the native dev kit NDK
can run script languages like LUA, Perl, Python, etc
can install third party applications from sdcard, random sites - not locked to a specific market
applications can hook and override everything - email interface, SMS sending, custom keyboards, etc
supports widgets
can publish applications on the Android market instantly - initial one time registration fee is 25E
user has access to the sdcard and can use it as a USB disk

Support Adobe Flash 10.1

iPhone

closed platform
no multitasking except for some Apple applications. multitasking is probably going to be introduced in the next vertion of the iPhone, the iPhone 4
development kit costs ~90E
programming language is Objective C - but bridges exist from Java, C#, etc
Objective C appeared in 1986
next version of iPhone is supposed to only allow Objective C code, this means the bridges are out and you must program in Objective C if you want to create an iPhone application
applications are not allowed to duplicate the iPhone functionality - ie no custom email interface, etc
does not support widgets - unless the phone is jail broken
user does not have access to the sdcard - user can only do synchronization via internet or LAN
third party applications can only be installed from the Apple store. For testing the applications, developers can use Ad Hoc publishing
publishing on the store is a very lengthy and tiresome process. Apple has many and bizarre rules. Many applications were rejected for strange reasons.
no Adobe Flash support

Symbian

opened Symbian and says the future will be QT and WRT - they will cut support to any other environment including J2ME
QT is a framework that adds a layer of abstraction over gui, network, gps, etc.
QT is cross platform and cross programming language - C++, C#, Java, etc. the licenses are GPL and LGPL.
QT runs on Maemo, MeeGo, BlackBerry, Symbian, Android, iPhone, Windows Mobile, desktop PC, consumer electronics, car entertainment, etc
WRT - web runtime - a cool feature that allows users to write applications in HTML, JS and CS. You build the app like a normal web page, and you interact with the phone platform/hardware using the WRT bridge.
No need to learn any other technology. Just HTML, JS and CS. Very important: JS can call native code, but also the other way around. It seems you can call WRT JS with native code.
supports widgets
supports Adobe Flash Lite

BlackBerry

as it is now, the programming environment is Java native and J2ME - not worth mentioning since they will probably be extinct pretty soon
Support Adobe Flash 10.1 support.
we expect a new OS so we will just have to sit patiently and see what's going to happen

Windows Mobile 7

closed platform
MS breaks compatibility with WM 6.5
programming environment is Silverlight and XNA
no native programming ie no hooking and overriding keyboard, etc - they removed PInvoke
nice IDE - Visual Studio 2010
does not support multitasking for third party applications
third party applications can only be installed from the MS marketplace
no Adobe Flash support

Notes

Android phones seem to be cheaper than the iPhone. Also the hardware is in some cases double than what the iPhone has.

For those coming from a Microsoft/Borland/Java background, Objective C will probably look like a very big step back - to say it as politically correct as possible.

Nokia says they will release the new phones end of this year and at a "lower price than ever". The Nokia phones are iPhone and Android clones - they can do what those two beasts can do, but nothing more. It seems they don't bring anything new to the table.

The available MS demos for WM7 are, to say the least, pathetic. It is a very non user friendly phone. Brings lots of changes (many not good) and totally breaks the look and feel the WM6.x owners were used to. Breaking software compatibility with WM6.x instantly puts many companies out of business.

The iPhone market seems to slowly but steadily go down. Some influence is the nice and cheap Android phone. Another reason for the iPhone sales dropping is that people are trying to get away from the whole iPhone = snob social stigmata.

In general, people tend to stick to their preferred phone manufacturer. Nokia fans are very excited about the new phones. Android users don't have anything better to switch to. BlackBerry users will never switch to other phones because of the great (subjectively speaking) physical keyboard.

The question is: what's going to happen to the iPhone and the WM7? I think the waters are too blurry at this time, so we'll patiently wait and see what happens.

Iphone Versus Android	Iphone	Android
Ease of Use	YES
Openness		YES
Battery Life	YES
Multitasking	YES	YES
Software Keyboard	YES
System-Wide Search	YES	YES
Notification System		YES
Voice-to-Text		YES
Syncing		YES
Non-Google Syncing	YES
Tethering		YES
Release/Update Consistency	YES
Customizable		YES
Apps	YES	YES
Web Browsing	YES	YES
Gaming	YES
Music Player	YES
Free Tum-by-Turn Navigation		YES
Google Apps Integration		YES
Google Voice		YES