iPad 2

I can't wait to go to the States, mainly because I'm getting an iPad 2 when I go! My parents already agreed to half with me. HD apps and Architectural reference books in full color, here I come!

The reason to why I'm getting this aside from a Kindle is because I noticed that the Kindle is only for reading novels and the like. It's not so good for full-color, graphical books like my architctural reference books because

a) it's black and white only,

b) it's kind of slow when showing graphic photos,

c) zooming in is kind of hard and

d) its capacity is only 4GB and one architectural book is almost 500MB. So yeah, I really need an iPad for my architecture books. :)

Look at the iPad vs. the iPad 2. Super big differences:

iPad

iPad 2

Display	9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD	9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD
Resolution	1024 x 768	1024 x 768
Processor	1GHz Apple A4	1GHz dual-core Apple A5
Graphics	PowerVR SGX 535	?
Memory	256MB RAM	?
Storage	16GB / 32GB / 64GB	16GB / 32GB / 64GB
Front camera	none	VGA
Rear camera	none	720p
Cellular radio	EDGE plus triband HSPA	EDGE plus quadband HSPA or CDMA / EV-DO Rev. A
WiFi	802.11a/b/g/n	802.11a/b/g/n
Bluetooth	2.1 + EDR	2.1 + EDR
Accelerometer	3-axis	3-axis
Gyroscope	No	3-axis
Thickness	13.4mm	8.8mm
Weight	680g (WiFi), 730g (WiFi + 3G)	601g (WiFi), 607g (Verizon), 613g (AT&T)

Table c/o Http://engadget.com. :) As you can see, it's lighter, faster and has two cameras, one in the front and the back. AND another thing to look forward to is the Smart Cover!What is so impressive about this Smart Cover? First, when it's covering your iPad it automatically locks it, and when you lift the flap, it automatically wakes it up. It also doubles as a stand for your iPad, and of course protects it from all the other objects around it in your bag.
Of course I'm going to get one in pink, but I'm quite sad that the genuine leather ones are all the boring colors only! I wish the fun colors were made of leather as well and not polyurethane. :( It better last me long!
So there, hello iPad in more or less a month! :)

Kindle post

I'm on a short break from school (finally!), so now I can't believe it, I can actually choose what I read!

Hi everybody, meet my Kindle reading device! With all the talk going out and about with the iPad 2, I must say I am tempted to get one for reading my architectural reference books and HD apps, but I'm still an original Kindle girl. It's strictly for black and white text reading only. I love reading from it because it really looks like a printed page.

I received this Kindle for Christmas from my parents, and from my godfather I got its Kate Spade cover. I love my case! It's made of patent leather with canvas inside. It's plain but pretty and makes a statement every time I pull my Kindle out. :)

This is my favorite screensaver. One amazing thing about the Kindle is that its battery can last up to 30 days! Also, anywhere I go that has 3G, I can surf for free! But of course it's black and white and navigation is not so good. It works though, and is very handy especially when you need to Google something quickly for reference.

The back has speakers, in which you can use the text-to-speech function that it offers for most books downloaded from Amazon. It's pretty cool if you ask me, but audiobooks don't work for me because they put me to sleep. Haha! I chose the white over graphite because it looks more clean-cut and futuristic. :)

If you ask me, the Kindle is a great buy if you love reading novels and printed books! Imagine not worrying about messing up the cover or spines of your books, tearing or folding any pages and lugging around heavy hardbound books? Up to 4 GB worth of books can be stored in your device, and one book is just 125 KB, more or less! But don't expect much out of this device if you want to use it to surf or play games. It's really just for reading. But it's really amazing, how it looks like a printed page. The eyes don't strain at all :)

And I leave you with this photo. Spot the odd one out? :P

A Pretty Splendid gadget

Hello everybody! It's my first gadget post on Pretty Splendid, and I'm so excited to talk about it :D

So I'm finally ready to partition my Mac hard drive and adding Parallels to my system interface so that I can use AutoCAD :) Along with my nail polish, I got something else!

A new 1TB external hard drive that I am very, very happy with. I got it on Amazon.com for 117 USD, which is an amazing price, compared to my last hard drive that I bought and sold within 2 months. Though the WD My Passport Essential (the PC version) was cheaper than the WD Passport for Mac, I decided to trust my instincts and get the Mac version because after my major problems with my old hard drive, I wasn't going to take any chances with an iffy hard drive. I really researched about this guy before getting him, took a chance, and here he is!

Compared to my old hard drive, the 500GB LaCie Rugged, this one is SO TINY! The dimensions are 4.3" x 3.2" x 0.7", and placed beside the iPhone, they're roughly the same size.

It's also a little thicker than the iPhone, but still tiny! I was very impressed that for 1TB of space, it's so tiny and light! Definitely not a hassle at all to take around with me. :)

I chose silver over dark blue and red because though it's a boring color, it matches with my Macbook Pro and was cheaper than its colored siblings. Though it doesn't come with a firewire or power cord, backing up all of my files using Time Machine was no problem at all. It was easy, fast and pain-free :D It took about 4 hours to back up all 200GB of my computer.

So there, super happy me signing off! Hope you guys enjoyed this post. More to come soon!