Moey's | unusual observations, art, and existence

Sneak Peek: Samsung Galaxy SIII

Moey — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:24:32 +0000

Being totally surprised was my unexpected reaction to the email I got from Reem Amer from Traccs Jordan yesterday, where she asked me to pass by Samsung Levant HQ for a sneak peek of the brand-new Samsung Galaxy SIII.

Here’s a list of the pros and cons in my humble opinion:
• The screen color was impressive, 4.8″ 16M-color Super AMOLED HD capacitive touchscreen; Corning Gorilla Glass 2.
• The size of the handset is practical, not as wide as the Galaxy Note but not as small as the Galaxy SII.
• Fully-customized Android OS v4.0.4 interface.
• It says Marble Blue on the website but it is actually Purple, less plastic feeling that previous Samsung handsets.
• The multi-burst camera option is great and fast, besides being 8 MP wide-angle lens autofocus camera with LED flash, face, smile and blink detection.
• It is Super slim at only 8.6mm, yet it felt luxurious.
• I like the fact that it doesn’t have a dedicated Camera key, I sort of keep hitting it accidentally on devices that have that button.
• S Voice is as bad as Siri on my iPhone 4S, yet there’s no support for our region. But on the good side; it understood Amman with a regular accent and didn’t link me to Oman like Siri did.

It was only a sneak peek; I’ll probably have more info once I get the chance to test the device when it comes out; Suggested price for it might be between the 550 – 650 JD range (it is for 800$ on Amazon.com now)

If you’re in the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Iraq & Jordan) you can pre-order it NOW on Samsung Mobile Levant‘s Facebook page.

Facebook Killed Emails?

Moey — Sat, 19 May 2012 14:09:13 +0000

تقول بويد: كنت في لندن في الشتاء الماضي، وبينما كنت أمشي خلال محطة للقطارات، سمعت شخصان يتحدثان عن التنسيق مع صديق ثالث لهما، حين قال أحدهم للآخر “سوف أتواصل معه عبر الفيسبوك” فعندما كنت في أفغانستان في العام الماضي، في مركز من مراكز التفصيل في كل قاعدة عسكرية واحدة كان نصف إلى ثلثي القوات كانو متصلين على الفيسبوك. كان هذا فعالاً عندما يكون لديك فقط الوصول إلى أجهزة الكمبيوتر لمدة نصف ساعة في كل مرة، الفيسبوك أصبح أنجح وسيلة للتواصل مع الأهل والأصدقاء ومعرفة أخبارهم. كنت منزعجة جداً عند اكتشافي أن صديقي السابق اصبح لديه طفل ولكنه لم يرسلي هذا النبأ السعيد عبر البريد الالكتروني، أنزعجت أكثر عند معرفتي عن طريق صديق مشترك بقوله: “أعتقد أنه نشرهذا للتو على الفيسبوك”.

الفيسبوك أصبح من الطرق الرئيسية التي يتواصل بها الناس اليوم. بالتأكيد أنها لم محل البريد الإلكتروني تماما، ولكن، على الصعيد العالمي، فقد أصبح بديلاً لعدد كبير من حالات الاستخدام التي كانت تدار بواسطة البريد الإلكتروني أو الهاتف – أو ببساطة لا ترسل على الإطلاق. لدرجة أنه في انها ولدت انها صناعة جديدة تماما من الشبكات الاجتماعية لقطاع الاعمال مثل: Yammer, Chatter, Podio و Edmodo.

المزيد من المعلومات عن الفيسبوك بالعربية قريباً – تابعوها

Review: Crepaway Amman

Moey — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:27:03 +0000

A few days ago, one of my friends shared his location on Facebook and it said Crepaway Amman, I flipped out of course and was like: WHAT? IT FINALLY DID AND I DON’T KNOW?. So, I decided to visit it last night.

I went with a friend of mine at 7:00 pm, It was quiet empty, maybe due the fact that no one knows that they soft-opened. Anyways, I was so happy to see that it has the same decoration of Hamra’s Crepaway.

Picked a nice table, received the menus that were almost identical to Beirut’s. Ordered Garlic Bread Assortment Chicken Quesadillas for starters, then my friend ordered the Queen’s burger and thought it was a blast, I ordered the Whole Cajun Chicken (my favorite dish) and guess what… It tasted the same! I had low expectations and I was shocked!. This is probably one of the few places in Amman that guarantees your satisfaction! I used to be a regular in Beirut back in the days, Also their staff is very friendly and helpful. At Crepaway, I definitely got my money’s worth!

Rates: 4/5 (Because they’re not fully-operated yet, will be serving beer & wine after Ramadan as promised)

Crepaway Jordan is located at the TAJ Lifestyle terrace (R0) next to Cafe Hanin.
Check their Facebook page for more info.

Understanding Local Cultures on Social Media

Moey — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:11:27 +0000

I prepared this for the Arabian Social Media Conference in Kuwait (May 2012), basically providing info and practices of customizing/adapting social media within the local culture.

Movie Review: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Moey — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:57:59 +0000

I’ve been wanting to watch this since Gino posted his review. However, the MENA dealer chickened out and never sent it to cinemas in the region, besides Beirut.

So, I waited for the Blu-ry release and ended up ordering this from Amazon. It was a great deal, 2 Blu-rays, a DVD and an UltraViolet copy for 20$, Shipped it through Aramex’s own Shop & Shop (Sorry for boring details, it gets interesting after few), then it was forwarded to Jordan Customs, allowed entry and cleared out in a day.

Which means it wasn’t banned to begin with, thank you local dealer (you’re a chicken).

Anyways as I was really looking forward to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo ever since I learned that David Fincher had been attached to it. I usually do not like remakes but I didn’t see the Swedish verism anyway. So, I didn’t have any expectations. Fincher (who directed Fight Club, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and The Social Network) has a fantastic eye for filmmaking and has always impressed me with his movies (Se7en, hello?). In my humble opinion, this is one of the films of the year.

One thing might bother people was the moments where sexual violence appears on screen, some moments were really uncomfortable but I guess that’s the reason why these scenes succeed. They shock you and make you want to look away. And that’s good, especially when the themes of this movie as well as the source material were about this sort of thing, and the movie conveys it perfectly.

The story is really engaging and everything technical about this movie succeeds.

Overall: It was a great watch, it’s one that you should definitely check out. Out of ten, I have to be honest, I have to be honest and give it a 9/10 (didn’t enjoy the violence… much)

Get the movie from downtown for a hefty price of 1 JD/DVD or 3 JD/Blu-ray (won’t play on PS3 because of Cinavia – like my case), download the movie off torrents or invest and buy it for 20$ (good deal for 3 discs)