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As you might know, I have been using various brand of mobile phones: Motorola, Apple, Samsung, BlackBerry, HTC and Asus. Part of buying a new phone is also to know what and how is their Service Center works. If your phone has problems, you ight need to face them.

Here are my Reviews on branded phone and their Service Center:

1. Motorola

I have used Motorola Milestone, the GSM version of the original Motorola Droid for international market, for about nearly 2 years. It was my first Android phone.
The phone unit is heavy for its size, being made mostly from metal. The physical keyboard added it's weight. However, I have never have any problem with this unit and never sent it to service center. Brilliant product.
However, Motorola Service Center in Indonesia can be considered rare and hard to find. I don't know whether they are confident of their products or just too expensive to open more.

2. Apple's iPad

Well, it's obviously not a phone and don't make calls. But it is a gadget using SIM card and mobile Internet, so I put it in this list.
Service Centers are spread well. Easy to find also, like in Ratu Plaza, Roxy and Mangga Dua. However, the spare parts are too expensive, the service time is too long coz they need to send it to Singapore.
Unit itself is sturdy as long as you don't drop it. If you do, you're out of luck and need to prepare for the headache of expensive replacement spare parts.

3. Samsung

My first Samsung smartphone is Samsung Galaxy Note N7000, I bought it at its launch after waiting in a long line.
Out of all the service centers, Samsung is probably has the best valued service centers. Easy to find, service is adequate, if not better than competitors, and considerably Fast. Faster than competitors. In max 4 days, you either get your phone fixed or get to know when it will be done. The spare parts, although some are expensive, are reasonably priced. You know you bought a good phone that gets the best after sales when you buy a Samsung smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy Note is famous for having charger USB connector problems. Mine was the power input board got fried. So know it and be prepared.

4. BlackBerry

Fast, but illegal. Confused? BlackBerry, like other American companies, underestimate the huge population number of Indonesia, hence they don't immediately open a Service Center. So tons of non-motorized service centers Pop out everywhere. If you want the authorized service center, your unit will be sent to Singapore.
About 5 years ago, they finally open an office in Jakarta and has several authorized services centers. Nice strategy, fast service means losing your warranty. But for customers, bad after sales services for years and years
All BlackBerry units have problems with the pointing tools, track balls or track pads.

5. HTC

Among all, I must congratulate HTC as the worst service center for international companies, even worse than the local ones.
The staffs are polite but always ask to wait. My phone was held for repaired for 2 months and was asked to wait for another month. Apparently, this happens all over the world. Better avoid HTC if you can.
HTC always have spare parts problems, whether it's the screen or the charger connector or whatever. However, they do creatively build a functional and useful smartphones among all brands.

6. Asus

Asus Padfone 2 can be considered a successful smartphone / tablet. However the unit is easily damaged. You dropped it, just cry and don't bother to repair it. The spare parts are expensive.
The service staffs are very friendly and they always do what they promised. However, Asus internal procedure is slow. It took them 1 week to diagnose the problem, 1 more week to repair it if they have the spare part.

7. Nokia

Is probably the most experienced and the most professional among all smartphone service centers. Their service centers are located in the busiest phone reseller centers and each region has at least 1.
You probably need to wait in a long line cause they have the most units of mobile phones sold, but the service is quick, polite, spare parts always ready, and reasonably priced.

I put Nokia Service Center as the best smartphone service center in Indonesia.

Other brands that I have not been able to review is Sony, Huawei, ZTE, and LG. I have never used any of their devices so it's not fair for me to review them.

So there, those are my reviews of smartphones' brands' service centers. Feel free to leave any comment and share your experience also.

When you have at tablet, switching from landscape to portrait and vise versa sometimes causes problems in the form of keyboard functionality. In my case it gets worse since my Asus Padfone 2 can switch from smartphone OS to tablet OS. The problem is that smartphone keyboard buttons are too small for tablet, while tablet's keyboard buttons are too big for smartphone. Unfortunately, not all manufacturer provides settings for this small unforeseen necessity.

Solution a small application called Quick Keyboard Switch. This app practically a link to open up local & input setting by adding home screen widget, notification widget or just direct access to the app itself. That way, when you are to tablet or to smartphone mode, all you need to download is to quickly change the keyboard you want to use in each mode, without the need to go through the settings levels.



It is useful when you need to answer your email or editing a document quickly, since you can access it from notification pull down/up menu.

Quick Keyboard Switch has 2 versions available, free (with ads support) and paid version. Try the free on and start doing your typing quicker and easier.

Sony Xperia Z is Sony's answer to Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One and iPhone 5. Is it competitive or Sony struck dead end?



Design:
- beautiful and thoughful
- sharp edge, sharpest of all
- long and tall
- tends to be slippery when wet
- thin
- nice side buttons locations, need to get use to but at the end easy to access with left hand. Right handed users expect difficulty accessing due to awkward side buttons location
- the sides are made of plastic

Screen:
- 1080p is great for watching HD movies
- not bright enough. HTC One is the brightest
- slippery screen, no need scratch proof added screen protector
- I don't get what Bravia screen means since it's similar to others

Camera:
- poor quality, when captured picture zoomed, strange prism pixelation made the picture ugly

Speakers:
- loud enough, but not too loud
- it's a Sony without the Mega Bass, use headphone for more bass
- need to follow HTC to relocate speaker location

Functionality:
- Sony hit the jackpot by utilizing the common NFC with their other products for easy connections, the easiest to connect among the competitions.
- dust and water proof means active users, so office bound users only use this for fun, but you never know when you drop your phone by accident
- the glass screen is not truly shatter proof, only protected by additional layer. Beware
- quad-core is fast and responsive
- bloat ware, not favorite
- battery saving mode, similar to HTC One and Asus Padfone 2, screen off means all connections are down until you turn the screen back on. Power users might choose Samsung Galaxy S4 instead with replaceable battery
- external memory, yeay

So there, simple and short review on Sony Xperia Z. Highly recommended for clumsy and outdoor active users.

Asus Padfone 2 has just been released and I took a big chance in buying it as a replacement of my beloved Samsung Galaxy Note N7000.  Interestingly, my main reason to purchase Asus Padfone 2 is because 3 main reasons:

1. Despite the drawback of not having replaceable battery, it combines 2 battery a 2,140 MAh and a 5,000 MAh.
2. Despite of lacking external memory expansion, it does come in 64 GB which means more than satisfactory at current needs, at least for the next 2 years.
3. It's a 4.7" phone and a 10" tablet at the same time, the dual personality that it's competitors are lacking.