What Smartphone Should We Look Forward To Launch At MWC2016

Every beginning of a new year, most tech geeks are looking forward to either
Mobile World Congress
 (MWC) or Consumer Electronic Show (CES). Now, MWC2016 is just around the corner. Many tech geek like me will be looking forward to the launch of new smartphones or gadgets. Most of the time, I always look forward to new smartphones. I don’t know why but that’s just what I’m really into.

And hence this blog post I’m writing. Now what smartphone should we look forward to launch at MWC2016 in Barcelona Spain this year? I do have a few in mind.

First off, the consumer favourite brand – Samsung.

Samsung is expected to launch their new flagship phone which is obviously the Galaxy S7. Since my title says “What smartphone should WE look forward to”, I have to put aside my dislike for Samsung phones for now. This article is for everyone to read anyway.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

Samsung Galaxy S7 is coming up with two variants, one with 5.1″ flat display and the other is 5.5″ with edge display a.k.a Galaxy S7 Edge. The screen will feature a new ‘always on display’ (AOD) functionality that enables a glancable screen for reduced power consumption.

An important addition to the previous series is the expandable memory card slot up to 200GB. It is possible that Samsung may test its new Snapdragon 820 processor in SG7. Since Samsung is already working with Qualcomm in manufacturing 820 with 3GHz Kyro CPU cores. The fingerprint sensor and heart rate monitor may roll over from S6 to S7. The device should also feature Android Marshmallow and Touch Wiz. Going by other reports, it is expected that Samsung GS7 may have a 4GB RAM, with two internal storage capacities of 32GB and 64GB, and expansion. The batteries will be non-removable 3000mAh on GS7 and even bigger 3,600mAh on GS7 Edge. On the camera front, the phone will have 12MP rear snapper and 5MP front snapper. – Source: smartcritique.com

Next we move on to LG.

LG has been one of my favourite brand for a smartphone. Yes, I do prefer LG than its South Korean counterpart, Samsung. I feel that LG made a more simpler straightforward Android phone without too much bloatwares.

I am anticipating the LG G5 to be launch at MWC2016. The G5 is a leap forward than it’s predecessor, the LG G4 but remaining the useful removable battery with a twist. It is said to come with a Magic Slot at the bottom of the phone to remove the battery without having to remove the back cover. It’s something new so I am looking forward to that.

LG G5 Dual Rear Camera

In some of the leak images of the LG G5, we can see that it comes with dual real camera. I don’t know what is the function yet but something tells me that it’s going to be something interesting.

Qualcomm has also shared that LG G5 will have Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 under the hood. LG has also announced LG Stylus2 before the upcoming MWC event. One of the launch phones, the one with the X Cam feature will have dual cameras on the rear, one 13MP and the other 5MP which is expected to deliver advanced shooting experience. The 5.2 inch handset also has an 8MP front facing camera. It will have a 2GB RAM and 16GB ROM, with full HD display and weighing only 118g. Meanwhile the the other one that features the X Screen will feature dual screens, something that Yota phones had experimented with. One of those screens, which we can refer to as secondary screen will always stay on. It will be a 1.76 inch screen that sits above the phone’s primary 4.9 inch screen. The secondary screen will always show the time, battery status and notifications on the phone. – Source: smartcritique.com

Blackberry is still in the show.

My other favourite brand for smartphones. Since the release of Blackberry Priv, I have taken a bigger interest in Android based Blackberry phones. The Priv was a smart move by Blackberry to keep the company alive. The Priv received good response from the consumer with a few hundred thousand units were sold within a week. That is great news. And now, Blackberry is rumoured to release the new Blackberry Venice at MWC2016.

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BlackBerry Venice

The Blackberry Venice will have a physical keyboard at the bottom of the phone. The Priv has a sliding panel to reveal the keyboard, but the Venice doesn’t. The Venice will come with a smaller screen size than the Priv and it will be competitively priced for medium range users.

Last on my list are the two Chinese giants, Xiaomi and Huawei.

The Mi5 is said to be the best Xiaomi has ever made. It will come with the new Snapdragon 820 processor and will sport 1920×1080 pixel screen resolution and will be a dual SIM device with NFC and 4G LTE connectivity. I had the old Mi3 which I loved. And then the Mi4 impressed me with its overall performance and now the Mi5 should be a good upgrade.

Xiaomi Mi 5

But I’m happy with my Huawei.

Speaking of which, Huawei will also be in the limelight at the upcoming MWC2016. Huawei has been continuously producing newer and better smartphones to be in their arsenal against the bigger players like Apple and Samsung. The Huawei Mate 8 was launch earlier this year and that phone has gained some respect because of it’s performance rating in Antutu Benchmark which sits just below iPhone 6S Plus. At MWC2016 Huawei is rumoured to launch their new Huawei P9, which will be their next flagship smartphone. No specifications about the phone just yet but I think it will come with Huawei’s own Kirin processor.

Huawei P9

Few other brands that I did not mention are the phones from Lenovo/Motorola, HTC, Sony and Microsoft. It’s not that I don’t like those brands but they haven’t been showing much improvements yet. For example, Lenovo has re-branded Motorola to just Moto and what are rumoured to be launched by them are just simple smartphones targeted for the lower end of the consumer market.

Sony still have a lot to improve in terms of overall hardware performance. Even with their top-of-the-line specifications, they still can’t get it to run at optimum performance. HTC might surprise us with something new hiding up their sleeves. We shall wait and see.

As for Microsoft, well…nothing to say about them here. Move on.

That is all I have for this article on what smartphone should we look forward to launch at MWC2016. Now we shall wait for the actual day of the event to find out what is in store for us this month.

So who else is looking forward to MWC2016 this year?


While Being Under The Weather

It has been a while since I last fell sick, like really sick that I was in bed most of the time. I guess it’s the hot weather we’ve been having lately. Worst thing is, I can’t taste the food I’m eating. All my sense of taste was totally gone. This flu has been a nuisance these past 3 days.

But I’m feeling better now.

While I was down and out, I only went to one restaurant for dinner. I know that the Home Made Fish Head Noodle restaurant has been around for a long time and many bloggers have blogged about it. But I haven’t. So I think it’s a good time for me to contribute my thoughts about the restaurant while being under the weather.

I was looking for something healthy and serves vegetable soup. So I was reminded about the Home Made Fish Head Noodle restaurant in SS15 Subang Jaya. Prior to this, I’ve only been there once. I liked the food that they serve. So I thought again, why not go there and have the spinach soup with other dishes.

HomeMade Restaurant, SS15 Subang Jaya

Being sick, usually my appetite won’t be as good as normal days but somehow the food selection they have made my mouth water. So without hesitation, my first choice is the spinach soup with fish paste.

Awesome spinach soup with fish paste

The soup is definitely something worth having for a sick person. It warms me up like magic. Yeah, magic. Second dish selection is the assam seafood. I know I shouldn’t be eating anything spicy but what the heck. Fight fire with fire.

Assam seafood is really good

The assam seafood is one of the best tasting assam type of dish I’ve ever tasted. Imagine me not being able to taste much because of my flu, I can taste this assam seafood dish really well. Awesomely delicious. Oh yeah, my flu was gone after I finished this dish. For a while anyway.

Kung-pao beef

Kung-pao beef is a must. Super soft beef stir fried with onions and ginger and dried chili. I had this same dish when I came and dine here the first time. No harm on having it again.

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At first I’m writing this blog post with the intention of telling my readers about healthy eating while being sick but I guess I ended up being off-topic. Yes, I’m also reviewing about the restaurant and their delicious food. So much for healthy eating. But hey, I’m 90% recovered after eating these delicious food. Guess what? I ordered the same dishes for two dinner nights in a row. My sense of taste is back and my flu is almost gone.

Those who haven’t tried the food at Home Made Fish Head Noodle restaurant, you should give it a try. The fish head noodle itself is really good. Price wise, very reasonable.

Location:

Along Jalan SS15/4B, Subang Jaya, Selangor,


Why I Started Daily Smartphone Photography

I have a few friends asking me why I upload one photo to my Facebook album everyday for the past month. I gave them a simple answer. I’m a photographer. I love handling the camera ever since I was young. So uploading one photo a day keeps me occupied on finding ideas and also to keep my eyes sharp for any photo opportunities. In this case, I’m challenging myself to take photos using my smartphone.

In my previous attempt of creating my own Project365 with my dSLR camera, I only managed to capture up to 150 daily photos for that year. Keeping up for my Project365 is not that easy especially when I have to carry my heavy dSLR with me all the time. So this year I’ve got the project rolling in my Daily Shots of 2016 since 1st January 2016.

I have to admit that the smartphone cameras are getting better. Currently I’m using the new Huawei G8 smartphone that comes with 13-megapixel main camera. That is good enough to get a good shot anywhere, any time. The main camera also has optical image stabilization (OIS) and f/2.0 aperture size for better low light photography.

So why do I choose 2016 to start my daily smartphone photography? I’ll give you 5 reasons.

I’m too lazy to carry my huge dSLR everywhere I go.

To keep my eyes sharp for any photo op as well as to keep myself focused and occupied.

Since the beginning of 2015, smartphone cameras got so much better that the photo quality can rival some of the cheaper dSLR cameras.

I can easily edit my photos straight from my smartphone without having to copy it to my PC and then directly upload the edited photo to Facebook.

Last reason, I have NOT succeeded in completing my full year of photos yet. So using a smartphone, I hope that I can finally complete a full year of photos. Then I’ll be happy and content.

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Here are some of the photos that I have taken thus far.

Passing by… (12/366)

One healthy night per week. Ok, that’s not good enough. (18/366)

Happy Chinese New Year (39/366)

The long distance call back home… (48/366)

So now I’m on the right track to getting my long and old ambition of completing a full year of photos done. Let’s take it one step at a time…one photo at a time.

More photos can be viewed at my Facebook Album –
Daily Shots of 2016
.


Affordable And Durable Alcatel OneTouch Go Play

Looking for a new Android phone that can handle a little bit of rough or watery sports and won’t tear through your wallet? Alcatel may have something for you.

Many attractive casing colours

We have all heard about Sony Xperia series that are waterproof and dust proof right? But for some, the price for that particular brand is a little steep. Why not? For its all weather proofing features it will surely cost a bomb. Now here’s the good news. Alcatel have launched their all weather proofing Android phone early this year that is not only affordable, but also highly durable.

I have known about this phone late last year with 1GB of RAM specification but I noticed in their
official website
 that they have made an upgrade on the RAM section to 2GB. So I’m not sure if this is the same one as previously advertised in some of the tech websites.

With the RAM upgrade, I’m sure this phone will receive some fans from the masses who are looking for strong durable smartphone.

Here’s a rundown on the “new” specifications:

Display: 5.0” HD (720 x 1280) 294 ppi, DragonTail Glass

Network: LTE/4G, HSDPA+

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 1.2GHz Quad-Core (some websites stated it as 1.5GHz)

Memory: 2GB RAM, 16GB internal space with MicroSD support up to 32GB

OS: Android Lollipop 5.0

Features: IP67 Water, dust & shock resistant

Battery: 2500mAh built in

Camera: Rear 8MP Auto-Focus Camera with LED flash, front 5MP, video 1080P@30fps

Waterproof!

The main feature of the Alcatel OneTouch Go Play smartphone is the water and shock resistant. With these features, taking underwater photo and video is a snap. It will definitely be a great outdoor companion when you’re in the rough. Surely you wouldn’t want to carry a more expensive non-waterproof smartphone anywhere outdoor especially during camping right? All I can say, this will be a more fun smartphone to have around the next time you visit a riverside camp site or during your trip to
Sunway Lagoon Waterpark
. Best of all, it won’t break your bank.

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You can purchase the Alcatel OneTouch Go Play at
Alcatel’s official website
 for only USD$199 (about RM810) with free shipment and also receive one free ruggedized case.


GREDAC Happening at Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre

GREDAC Malaysia

Global Real Estate Developers & Agents Conference (GREDAC) is happening soon at Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre this coming 14 and 15 April 2016. This will be the first ever conference of its kind that is going to be held locally.

The Global Real Estate Developers & Agents Conference brings together award winning real estate developers as well as top-level property agents in a common goal of building new and exciting partnership, sharing market outlooks in the current economic situation, discovering new up and coming world class projects through a dedicated programme as well as aiding in the revolution of technology in the property market.

GREDAC will be held in Malaysia for the very first time. This event will span across 2 days. GREDAC will play host to real estate developers and agents from countries including Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Australia and also South Africa.

Speakers and topics

Those who are participating in this conference, GREDAC have good news for you! All GREDAC attendees will be given a 5 CPD credit hours (Continuing Professional Development) as granted by The Board of Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents Malaysia (LPPEH) at the Global Real Estate Developers & Agents Conference.

Who and why should attend

Check out the links below to know more about this upcoming conference.

GREDAC

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/
gredac/

Website:
http://www.gredac.com/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/
gredac/

Or call directly to +6 03 93680019 or +6 03 93680020

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Love Food Photography? Foodie App Is For You

I know there are many foodies out there who love taking photos of their food before munching on. I’m sure they would have a few photo editing apps installed in their phones to enhance the photos making it more presentable. Instagram, VSCO and Snapseed are among the favourites. Now what if you have an app made especially for food photography?
Foodie
 camera app is exactly what you’re looking for.

Screenshot

I have this app installed on my phone for a few weeks now. I was testing it to see how good the app is. Well, after those few weeks all I can say is…not bad. Don’t get me wrong. When I say not bad, I don’t mean it’s not great. It does have a few advantages over using a photo editing app. All the enhancements are at your disposal on the main camera screen. All you have to do is choose your enhancement and snap away. Of course, if you find that the enhancement that you’ve selected is not suitable, you can always change it later.

Also, the Foodie app is easy to use. Most of the enhancements are beautifully done to give that extra oomph. I first found out about Foodie from Instagram sponsored ad (kinda ironic). And I went about reading it and gave it a try immediately. Not only you can take good photos of your food, you can also take great outdoor photos too. Most of the effects are similar to VSCO, another photography app that I liked.

Foodie is made by a known famous Japanese company,
LINE Corporation
. As you all know,
LINE
 is also a famous chatting app, primarily used by most Asians.

Some of the features are:

+ Over 26 filters customized for taking food photos

+ Amazing photo editing features that transform simple food photos into one-of-a-kind masterpieces

+ Camera shot angle based auto blurring effect

+ Smart guide feature that helps you photograph food from directly above it

+ Share photos to social networks

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Here are some photos that I took using the Foodie app with the built in enhancements. Unedited, straight from my phone.

Sample shot 1

Sample shot 2

Sample shot 3

Sample shot 4

So, if you’re thinking of food photography, think of Foodie app. Give it a try. Some of you may like it, some may not and some would still prefer to edit their own photos using other photo editing app. But as for me, I would totally use it to take photos of my food.

My overall ratings: 7/10

Available on both
Android
 and
IOS
.


News: U Mobile Scores A Co-Sponsorship Agreement For Malaysian Football

The 3-year deal makes U Mobile the Exclusive Telco Partner for two premier Malaysia Football Competitions, the Superbest Power Piala FA and Liga Premier Malaysia.

U Mobile, the telco with the fastest mobile network in Malaysia, announced yesterday that it has partnered with Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP) to be the Official Co-Sponsor of the Superbest Power Piala FA and Liga Premier Malaysia for three years, starting from the 2016 season.

(L – R): Football Malaysia LLP Chief Executive Officer Kevin Ramalingam and U Mobile Sdn Bhd Chief Marketing Officer Jasmine Lee at the signing ceremony marking the partnership between U Mobile and FMLLP as co-sponsors for Superbest Power Piala FA and Liga Premier Malaysia

U Mobile will be the Exclusive Telecommunications Partner for the two premier football competitions. The partnership with FMLLP will give U Mobile marketing, promotion and engagement opportunities around the two competitions, in-stadium branding, corporate hospitality and use of the club and player image rights for advertising purposes.

To mark the partnership, U Mobile has created an exclusive customer campaign called #BangsaBola which consists of on-ground activities, as well as contests where football fans may win a chance at getting up close and personal with their favourite players. A #BangsaBola microsite is also being developed for fans to view match highlights up to 1 minute per round and other football related content. It will go live next month.

(L – R): Football Malaysia LLP Chief Executive Officer Kevin Ramalingam and U Mobile Sdn Bhd Chief Marketing Officer Jasmine Lee at the signing ceremony holding up the signed jersey commemorating the partnership between U Mobile and FMLLP as co-sponsors for Superbest Power Piala FA and Liga Premier Malaysia

To further heighten the excitement around the Superbest Power Piala FA and Liga Premier Malaysia, U Mobile has even created a rallying cry, “Semangat Bola, Jiwa Juara”, for fans to show their support for the team they are rooting for.

U Mobile adds to the growing number of sponsors and brands partnering FMLLP to bolster Malaysia football leagues, which also includes the TM Piala Malaysia and Super League. The deal between U Mobile and FMLPP was brokered by leading sports media rights agency MP & Silva.

U Mobile Sdn Bhd Chief Marketing Officer, Jasmine Lee said: “We are delighted to be the official co-sponsor for the Superbest Power Piala FA and Liga Premier Malaysia. We believe this partnership is a natural fit as many of our customers are football fans. Through this collaboration, we are able to give greater value and user experience to our customers by bringing them closer to the game they love. This is especially true with the customized app that U Mobile will be developing for Malaysia’s top tier tournaments. Our customers will be able to get regular updates and watch interviews via their smartphone, another opportunity for them to enjoy our data strength and speeds.”

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Said Football Malaysia LLP Chief Executive Officer Kevin Ramalingam: “We’re very excited that U Mobile has come on board to support Malaysian Football. The increasing support from homegrown commercial enterprises towards our league and cup competitions highlights that we’re on the right track to elevating the status of local football.”

(L- R): TV 9 Host Luqman Hakim, Superbest Power Health Food & Beverages SdnBhd Chief Executive Officer-Kamal Mohd, TV9 Host Fizo Omar, Football Malaysia LLP Chief Executive Officer Kevin Ramalingam, TV9 Host Aina Suzaily and U Mobile Sdn Bhd Chief Marketing Officer Jasmine Lee, posing with youth from the National Football Development Programme (NFDP)

Said Dato Hamidin Hj Mohd Amin, General Secretary of FAM: “We are delighted with this partnership as it highlights our shared goal of taking Malaysia Football to greater heights. Having a local sponsor such as U Mobile will certainly be key to building a bright future as it will contribute towards professionalising our leagues and cup tournaments.”

Beatrice Lee, Managing Director for MP & Silva Asia Pacific, said: “We are heartened to have U Mobile as the Exclusive Telecommunication Partner for these two popular football competitions. The co-sponsorship agreement between U Mobile and Football Malaysia LLP offers a lot of synergy that will take the football experience for fans to a new level. We welcome the great response from brands and corporations coming forth to support local football, and we look forward to more announcements soon.”

The 2016 season of the Superbest Power Piala FA kicked off on the 19 February while the first game of Liga Premier Malaysia began on 12 February.

News article from:
Text100 Malaysia


Canon EOS 1D X Mark II Media Launch

Earlier today, I was at the Canon media launch event at Hilton Kuala Lumpur for the launching of their latest photography products. The main event was the launching of the brand new Canon EOS 1D X Mark II, dubbed as the King of EOS. Yes, I believe that statement.

Before we get to that point, I’ll write about the event first before drilling down to the main product.

Today’s launch was not just about the King of EOS. Canon also announced their latest compact cameras like the Ixus and PowerShot series as well as their latest compact Selphy printer. Not forgetting, the new 1300D and 80D were also introduced at the launch.

Opening note by Mr Wataru Nishioka

The event went full swing at around 10.30am starting with the welcome speech by Mr Wataru Nishioka, President and CEO of Canon Marketing Malaysia.

We at Canon have always been passionately committed to bringing innovation to our product lines. – Mr Wataru Nishioka

With that being said, Canon has achieved many milestones as a market leader in the digital imaging industry, one of them being the number one brand for 13 consecutive years in terms of volume within the interchangeable lens digital camera market.

1300D on the left, 80D on the right

Other than the beasty EOS 1D X Mark II, Canon also introduced their new mid level and entry level DSLR cameras, the 80D and 1300D. The new Canon EOS 80D empowers DSLR users to create images and movies that comes alive. Significant enhancement has been done to the auto focus, ISO and sensor technology enabling it to deliver captivating images and movies. As for the EOS 1300D, it provides an avenue to journey into photography for new DSLR users. Powered by DIGIC 4+ image processor and 18 megapixel APS-C sensor, the 1300D renders higher resolution images with lesser noise.

Canon Powershot G7 X Mark II

Now for the PowerShot series, Canon has also announced a few new models during the event. But the one that caught my attention was the PowerShot G7 X Mark II. Seem that most of the new models released by Canon has the “Mark II” name nowadays. Anyway, the PowerShot G7 X Mark II is a premium compact camera. It is capable of rendering a superb image quality even coming from a small form factor. I have loved the previous PowerShot G series and this is much more phenomenal. If I were to buy a compact premium camera, my choice will be this new PowerShot G7 X Mark II.

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Lightweight Selphy Printers

Apart from cameras, Canon also announced their new compact sized printer. The Selphy CP1200 is made as a great companion for preserving memories on-the-go with beautiful and high quality prints. The Selphy CP1200 uses dye sublimation technology, a special coating that protects each prints againts splashes, spills and fading for up to 100 years when properly stored in an album.

Now here’s the write-up for the King of EOS, Canon 1D X Mark II.

I don’t have anything much to say about this camera. Just a big WOW would be sufficient. Recommended retail price at RM25,299.00 (body only), the Canon EOS 1D X Mark II is built on a heritage of innovation and boasting major improvements across the board. The King of EOS establishes a new benchmark for speed and autofocus – perfect for high-speed precision shooting scenarios typical to journalism, sports and wildlife photography.

The new monster, EOS 1D X Mark II

I don’t want to go into the full details because it’s just too many good stuffs. This camera (and the EOS 80D) is slowly turning me into the light side. I’m a Nikon user. Hence why I’m currently on the dark side. But Canon is slowly turning my back away from my comfort gear. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I don’t have enough money to make that switch.

The event then closed off by the announcement for the mini contest winner and the lucky draw winner. I knew it very well that I will never win anything for the lucky draw that I didn’t bother to stay at my seat towards the end of the launching ceremony (but I didn’t leave the ballroom la).

Attendees were then adjourned to the dining area for some awesome lunch.

For more info, head over to
www.canon.com.my

More event photos:

[gmedia id=17]


Lazada Malaysia Welcomes Samsung’s Online Flagship Store

Electronics Market Leader to Boost Sales and Market Reach with First Ever
Official Store on e-Commerce Platform

Promotion only on Lazada

Malaysia’s leading online shopping mall welcomes Samsung Malaysia Electronics (SME) to the list of prominent brands offering customers’ official merchandise from its online flagship store. Samsung introduces its official store offering a full range of Samsung Mobiles, Tablets and Wearables.

As Lazada recently disclosed that its customer base was currently made up of 80% living out of Kuala Lumpur, the online shopping platform affirmed that its focus was skewed towards penetrating rural areas. “We are delighted that Samsung Malaysia Electronics is launching its first online store on Lazada. Together, we hope to make innovative and pioneering electronic products more accessible to more consumers, especially in the non-urban areas of Malaysia,” said Hans-Peter Ressel, Chief Executive Officer of Lazada Malaysia.

Samsung as the global market leader in technologies, is committed to fulfilling the needs and demands of its constantly evolving customer base. In enhancing its foothold again in Malaysia, the company now offers its innovative products via leading online shopping platform Lazada Malaysia.

In line with the launch of its first official store on the online shopping mall, Samsung unveils new bundles that come with exclusive gifts and extended warranty which are available solely to Lazada customers on
www.lazada.com.my/samsung-authorized-partner/
.

With a continued commitment to provide customers with an effortless and risk-free shopping experience, Lazada guarantees that all orders made will be delivered within 3-4 working days with the option for ‘Express Delivery’ that guarantees orders to be delivered at the very next day.

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Affordable LEAGOO Shark 1 Smartphone Announced

Introducing Shark 1 by LEAGOO.

LEAGOO Malaysia launched their new smartphone today called the Shark 1, which currently has the biggest battery capacity ever in any smartphone device. LEAGOO is also submitting their entry to the Guinness Book of World Records for having the largest battery capacity, in the slimmest body (as to the capacity).

I was at the launch earlier, held at Connexion Nexus Ballroom in Bangsar South. The turn up for the event was surprisingly large with easily more than 200 people attended. The highlight of the event was all about LEAGOO’s new flagship device and there was a (slim) chance of winning the new Shark 1 smartphone in their lucky draw. Yes, no wonder it was a huge turn up.

Large crowd at the LEAGOO media launch

It was then I realised that LEAGOO’s team had a little contest for their Facebook fans to get a free invitation to the launch event and a chance to meet the brand ambassador and local actor, Zul Ariffin. Naturally his fan was all over him when they get to meet him.

Let’s go more into the new Shark 1 smartphone, and not about the ambassador.

The LEAGOO Shark 1 is equipped with all the innovative features from its predecessor, while addressing the shortcomings of a basic smartphone. The main feature of this huge 6″ sized display phone is the huge battery that comes in it and also the fast fingerprint scanner at the back of the phone. While we’re on the display subject, the screen is a huge 6″ LG display with LTPS technology in full HD at 1920 x 1080p and 2.5D curve display glass. If you’re wondering what is LTPS, it means Low Temperature Poly-Silicon which has higher resolution and lower power consumption.

Brand ambassador, Zul Ariffin

On the heart of the processing unit, it is powered by
MediaTek
 1.3GHz Octa-core processor. I’m not sure which CPU model that they are using for the Shark 1 but I would assume either MT6795 or MT6752. It was mentioned by MediaTek’s Sr Manager in Sales, Mr Jeff Ng, that they are using the latest chipset in the Shark 1 smartphone. It also comes with 4G LTE network ready and also dual SIM ready.

The LEAGOO Shark 1

LEAGOO Shark 1 is a good looking phone, in my opinion. It is powered by Android 5.1 out-of-the-box and the new Android 6.0 Marshmallow is coming soon as an OTA update. Comes in 3 colours – Elegant Black, Modern Gold and Satin Silver. Storage capacity is acceptably large with 16GB of built in space and up to 128GB of external memory via MicroSD. RAM is the most important hardware in any new smartphones. The Shark 1 comes with a large 3GB of RAM, which is great. With a phone this large, it needs the large memory.

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Come with Android 5.1 but Android 6 Marshmallow coming soon

As for the camera and selfie lovers, the camera in the Shark 1 is 13-megapixel Sony BSI-2 Stack Lens at the back with dual-tone LED flash. Perfect for those who wish to get a good white balance tone when firing up the flash in dark places. Selfie lovers would love to know that the 5-megapixel front camera also comes with an LED flash. Now, you can also selfie in the dark, right before you go to sleep.

The key features for the Shark 1 are the Fast Fingerprint 3.0 scanner and the huge 6300mAh battery. Let’s talk about the fingerprint scanner first.

Fingerprint sensor and rear camera module

The Fast Fingerprint scanner sits right at the upper rear of the device. From standby, it only took about 0.39 seconds for it to respond and unlocks the phone. The reader or scanner is very touch sensitive and highly responsive. So unlocking the phone is fast and with less hassle. You can also use the fingerprint scanner to take a selfie, which is easier in my opinion.

Rear speaker

Now lets talk about the battery. The Shark 1 comes with a huge 6300mAh battery. It can stay on standby for up to 45 days! Well, that if you really put it on standby and not use the phone at all. But if you’re on normal usage, the battery can last up to 3.5 days and 2 days if you’re on heavy usage. With a battery capacity this large, you don’t need to carry your powerbank around with you anymore.

Battery is said to last 3.5 days on normal usage

On another note, charging the Shark 1 for 30 minutes can give you enough juice to power up the phone for the whole day. So just in case you’re in a rush, just give it a quick charge of 30 minutes and you’re ready to go. Full charge takes only 1 and a half hour, thanks to its Flash Charge capability.

Other feature such as the infrared remote control where you can control your TV or DVD player or even Astro is also available in the Shark 1.

Conclusion.

LEAGOO’s new flagship, the Shark 1 is an affordable with medium high specification that will attract those who are looking for a good looking large smartphone that can stay alive for more than 2 days before plugging in the charger. Performance wise, it can’t go wrong with MediaTek’s octa-core processor and 3GB of RAM. The Shark 1 can be a hit in the local consumer market with its offerings. The recommended retails price for the Shark 1 will be RM999 at LEAGOO’s flagship store in Low Yat Plaza and from all authorized resellers.

More information about the product can be found at
LEAGOO Malaysia
.

More photos from the event:

[gmedia id=21]

First Look Video


Playing With MSI Gaming Series Laptop – GS70 Stealth

I have been an avid gamer on a normal PC for quite sometime now. Started with Quake back in the 90’s and on to Counter Strike soon after (and still playing it today). My type of game is the First Person Shooter (FPS) kind and Role Playing Game (RPG). These are the kind that most gamers would play nowadays anyway. But to play those games, a normal desktop PC is my usual choice to play it on.

And that might change when I started to play around with MSI’s Gaming Series Laptop, namely the GS70 Stealth gaming laptop recently.

MSI Gaming Series emblem

I have tried some other gaming laptops by other known brands. The most known gaming laptops are made by AlienWare which usually comes with high-end hardware specifications. But to fit those hardwares, size does matter. AlienWare is just too big for me, and too thick. And it feels too plasticky to my taste.

This fits my taste.

Beautiful layout

The GS70 Stealth is, however, feels premium. It is way thinner than the other brand and I would safely say that it is more portable. It is pretty light for it’s size weighing about 2.7 kg, and comes with 17.3″ screen with a full keyboard which includes a numpad on the right side. The power button sits right in the center for easy start-up. The speakers are located above the keyboard which gives a loud and crispy sound.

Crispy audio and loud too

Numeric keypad is a bonus

The keyboard lights up as soon as you turn the laptop on. You can customize the colours on the keyboard to your liking. With a backlit keyboard, playing games or doing work in the dark is made possible.

Looking at the “engine”.

Powered by Intel Core i7

Looking under the hood, it is powered by the latest Intel Core i7-6700HQ CPU which proved to be a powerhouse in the gaming world. Starting up the GS70 from totally “off” took only about 20 seconds, probably less. All I know is that as soon as I press the power button, I looked away for a moment and then the laptop is all booted up when I turn to look at it again. Totally a “Huh?” moment for me. This is possibly due to the 16GB of RAM on board the laptop and a very fast 7200rpm 1TB SATA drive and paired with a 128GB SSD drive. I am assuming that the boot up is being done from within the SSD, that’s why it is very fast.

It comes with Windows 10 pre-installed and that made the whole start-up a lot quicker. It also comes with MSI’s utility softwares such as the Dragon Gaming Centre App allowing you to set specific games to pre-launch as well as giving you a quick snapshot of current system performance.

This is a gaming laptop, so we also need to dig in deeper and get to the GPU. For the GPU, the MSI GS70 comes with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M 6GB GPU, as well as Intel’s own HD Graphics 530 if you’re really not going to push it hard. There’s 8GB of DDR IV RAM on board, and the display is a 17.3-inch, 1920 x 1080p screen. With all that power under the hood, rendering heavy 3D games like Left4Dead 2 or Call of Duty is totally smooth.

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I didn’t have the time to try the Adobe Premier video editing tool on this laptop. I work on lots of videos lately and somehow I believe that the GS70 would handle the video processing seamlessly. If only I can find the time to tryout video editing on this baby.

What’s on the outside?

Okay. We have done with the insides on the gaming machine. Now let’s take a look at what’s on the outside.

It doesn’t come with a CD/DVD slot. Well, most of the new laptops nowadays ditched the CD/DVD ROM drive a long time ago. So, I don’t mind not having it anyway since I have my own external DVD drive.

Left side

On the left side of the laptop, we have the LAN slot, HDMI, 2 mini DisplayPort sockets, 2 USB3.0 ports and the holes for external audio and microphone socket.

Right side

And then on the right side, we have 2 USB ports, SDHC reader, power socket and a Kensington lock slot. There’s also substantial space given to the side heating vents on both sides, which is a very necessary step.

LED indicators

Finally, on the front is where the LED lights indicating what is on and what is off.

As for the battery, it comes with a 6-cell battery, which didn’t last very long at all. After a full charge, it depleted to 50% within 50 minutes of normal usage. So I imagine if I’m playing a heavy 3D game on a full battery charge, it will only give me 30 minutes of game time. Also, the laptop runs a little bit warm during a heavy run.

My verdict.

First look at it, I love it. Although it is big in size, but it’s not that heavy and I can carry it around in my laptop bag without breaking my back. It is also thin despite having all the high-end hardwares inside.

I really love the boot-up time which is pretty fast. Especially when I need to get something out from the laptop and I do not want to wait more than 5 minutes.

On the downside, battery life is below par. If only it comes with a 9-cell battery instead of only 6-cells. After a full charge, one can only watch 3/4 of a movie if fully runs on battery power alone. That is the only gripe I have for this laptop.

But if you’re looking to buy a reliable and fast gaming laptop, I would recommend this MSI GS70 Stealth Series. There are other Gaming Series by MSI but I have yet to test the others. Bottom line is, the GS70 Stealth is awesome.

Check out
MSI Malaysia
 for more products.


U Mobile Introduces Free Unlimited Video Streaming

Guess what? Today, U Mobile announced that you can now stream your favourite movies for FREE and totally unlimited any time of the day, not during weekends or after midnight anymore. The streaming won’t eat up your data as long as you stream from their 11 online video streaming partners.

From U Mobile’s Press Release

U Mobile is responding to their customers’ needs by being the first in Malaysia to offer 24 hours every day unlimited FREE video streaming. ‘Video-Onz™’ another evolutionary innovation from the telco is set to change the way their prepaid and postpaid customers enjoy online videos for they no longer have to worry about how much data they are consuming whilst streaming anywhere, any time of the day, as it will be completely free.

All the available online streaming sites

‘Video-Onz™’ service is available to customers who stream from any of the telco’s 11 partners’ content. This means, from today, customers who are streaming from YouTube, HyppTV Everywhere, Viu, iflix, Youku Tudou, Astro on the Go, tonton, Eros Now, Herotalkies, ONFM and Pocketimes will no longer be using their data. With Video-Onz™, U Mobile customers will really be spoilt for choice when deciding what entertainment to stream as the content providers offer a wide variety of popular shows in various languages including Malay, English, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tamil, Hindi and even Bengali.

U Mobile’s Video-Onz™ will offer customers who are on P70, i90 and i130 postpaid plans unlimited video streaming for free without using their data. For other postpaid and broadband customers, they will get extra 100% data for Video-Onz™.

As for Prepaid customers, they will get extra 100% data for Video-Onz™ with purchase of UMI/MB data packages. E.g. Subscribers of UMI 30 prepaid plan with 1.5GB will be allocated extra 1.5GB for Video-Onz™. On top of that, all UMI customers enjoy Free Extra 1GB until 30 June 2016.

Opening remarks by Jasmine Lee, U Mobile Chief Marketing Officer

Jasmine Lee, U Mobile’s Chief Marketing Officer explained that when the telco launched free video streaming during off peak hours for YouTube and tonton since October 2014, it proved to be very popular. U Mobile experienced fourteen times increase in data usage for video streaming since the start of the promotion. In fact, forty five percent of the telco’s data traffic may be attributed to video streaming. Based on the insights, U Mobile worked very hard to explore ways to further enhance customers’ video streaming benefit. The result is Video-Onz™.

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So what the customers think about this?

Me (and all other people) as a mobile telco customer, will always look for a better deal. I am a prepaid SIM package because I don’t make much calls and I only use my phone for data. Nowadays, we can also call one another using VOIP such as WhatsApp or WeChat. And all these while, I’ve been looking for a telco that gives the best deal on data plans.

I was from telco “M”. It was getting more expensive but the data plan and internet connectivity is really good. Then I found out about telco “C”s midnight package plan where they provide unlimited high-speed internet from 1am – 7am, that comes with an affordable monthly data plan. I then moved to telco “C”. See the reason why I moved? It was because of the free unlimited data after midnight. And that is the time I used my phone the most. Yes, I’m an owl. And then I heard an awful rumour about telco “C” abolishing their after midnight free unlimited data plan. Now I have to look for another telco that will give me a better value for my monthly commitment.

U Mobile’s launch came in just at the right time. If telco “C” really going to abolish their unlimited midnight owl plan, I’m definitely moving to U Mobile.

Bottom line is, the telco that provides the best and most value for money services to their customers, win. Right now, U Mobile is heading in the right direction.

For more information on U Mobile’s products and services, please visit
www.u.com.my
 or participate in U Mobile’s various social activities by visiting U Mobile’s
Facebook Page
.


Celcom Xpax Mobile App Launched

All I can say is…finally! I have been waiting for this. Most of the other Telcos has already made their own prepaid mobile app to manage and monitor the data usage as well as to view the remaining credits available. Thank you Celcom and Xpax. Better late than never eh?

I ported out from telco “M” a few months back and they have a damn good mobile app to monitor my usage. When I started using Celcom Xpax, they don’t have any mobile app for that. Now I’m happy.

Celcom’s Xpax App is available now.

I didn’t wait long to download the Xpax App from Google Play Store and then installed it immediately. The setting up process didn’t take long. Just a little bit buggy whereby I found that the method of signing up and verification can be made simpler.

From the comments and reviews that I read on the Play Store, there are many of those who have downloaded the app can’t login or having problems verifying the app. And some are complaining that it is too slow and laggy. Yes, I can feel that it is lagging a little bit. But it’s forgiven. This is Celcom’s first mobile app and they have a lot of brushing up to do.

When I first downloaded the app, there were only 3 comments/reviews with 5 stars rating in the Play Store. Now, there are 28 comments and reviews with 4 stars rating. Only about 50 total installs at the moment.

Here’s the app description by Celcom/Xpax:

Why should you use the Xpax App?

Because it is convenient! It tells you everything you need to know about your Xpax account.

It is also very useful as you can manage everything about your Xpax account from checking your balance, tracking all your Internet, call and SMS usages and many more!

Not only that, you can also perform any reload, send credit transfer to any of your friends and family, purchase add-on, subscribe to any of our Xpax packs all at the ease of one app.

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Celcom has also made it clear that this is an early release of the Xpax App. More updates will be added soon with more features and improvements.

You can download the
Xpax App from Google Play Store
 now. For iOS, it’s coming soon.


Food Republic – A Collection Of Local Dishes In One Place

Review at Food Republic, Pavilion KL

Food Republic, Pavilion KL

I was invited and had the honour of sampling some of the local delicacies served at Food Republic, Pavilion KL, recently. I sampled about eight types of dishes from four different food stalls at the Food Republic food court. The idea of this review is to give an idea of what you can have for your break-fast in the coming Ramadhan month or for your meal while working in the heart of KL. And here is my review.

Before we start, I would like to say that I’m giving an honest review here. So if any of the stall owners or cooks who are reading my review feel a pinch of hurt, take it as an advice to be better and improve the food quality. Also, I’m reviewing the (apparently) best four food stalls in Food Republic Pavilion KL.

Mee Jawa Stall

I sampled two dishes from the Mee Jawa stall. I had Mee Jawa and Char Kuey Teow. Let’s go with the Mee Jawa first.

Mee Jawa

At first look, I thought the soup is diluted and watery. But it’s actually not. The soup is pretty thick and taste okay. The sambal that comes with it is not that strong in taste. The look can be tantalizing to some, but looks can be deceiving. I’ve had good mee jawa before this that comes with thick and very prawny tasty soup. This one may not be diluted, but the taste can be better. Maybe need to add a little bit more of the prawn taste or make it thicker or something. The portion is big. Enough to feed my tummy. But I might not finish it because I probably will order something else.

Char Kuey Teow

Beware again. Looks can be deceiving. I can confidently say that I cook better char kuey teow than this one. Not bragging. It’s slightly tasteless, like some people would say…”no kick ah”. The kuey teow itself in my opinion is hard. Not hard that it can shatter your teeth but hard as in, you can chew it like chewing gum. I assumed the egg is fried first before adding the kuey teow. They fried the egg until it’s well cooked that it didn’t “mix” well with the kuey teow. Usually the egg would stick to the kuey teow right? This one is like…on its own. And taste bland. Sorry guys, I don’t like both of the dishes from the Mee Jawa stall.

Little Wok

I’ve had dishes from this stall before when I was working in KL. I find it as not bad. So here are the dishes from this stall.

Dry Chili Beef with Rice

They probably can’t go wrong with this one. The Chinese style would always cook the meat on high heat and stir-fry it very quickly. Malay style however, would cook the meat first and keep it aside to use when needed. Thank God it’s the Chinese style because the meat is very soft and tender. The overall taste of the dish along with the dry chili taste so good. Yes. This one I like. Like I said, they can’t go wrong with this one especially if it’s Chinese cooking style.

Crispy Black Pepper Chicken and Rice

They said that they made the black pepper sauce themselves, not using the ready made sauce or anything that comes in glass bottles. So how’s the black pepper sauce? VERY strong with the pepper. Not bad actually but I actually sneeze a few times while eating this. I do have a comment about the “crispy” chicken.

Usually when you’re running a food stall, you will have lots of customers during lunch hours. I sampled the dishes after the lunch hour. What I’m saying is that they will fry the chicken at least 1 or 2 hours before lunch hour and in bulk. And then they will set it aside to be used when someone ordered the dish. What happens then? It becomes cold, dry and the meat becomes hard. Yes, I understand that if they didn’t fry the chicken beforehand, they won’t have time to fry when someone ordered especially if there’re lots of orders. Nevertheless, what I had was the cold, dry and hard chicken meat. And the vegetable coleslaw was too darn sweet.

Sarawak Cuisine

I was actually excited to try the dishes from this stall. The owner was present during my sampling and he spoke highly of his dishes. Here’s what was served and what I think of it.

Chicken Satay

What’s so special about their satay? I can tell you that this Satay is Sarawak style and it taste slightly different than the Semenanjung style. In most part of Semenanjung, they will add lots of rempah into making the marinade and lemongrass is the main ingredient. The Sarawak style is slightly milder but the meat is so tender and juicy. I may look dry in the picture, but it’s freakin’ juicy on the inside. This is probably one of the best chicken satay I’ve tasted in a while. Boom!

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Beef Satay

Looks dry too. But this beef satay is also very tender and juicy on the inside. Also a little mild on the rempah ratus, maybe not ratus but puluh instead. The satays from the Sarawak Cuisine stall is a must-try!

I’d like to comment on the satay peanut sauce here too. It is one of the best peanut sauce that I had. The peanuts are not chunky like how we usually have it. They blended the peanuts until it’s really crushed and cooked with blended shallots too. I can taste the shallots in there and it mixed really well in the sauce. Really really good.

Kolo Mee

I’ve had the best Kolo Mee when I was in Tabuan Jaya, Kuching Sarawak a few years back. To me, that is the benchmark for the taste of Kolo Mee. Anyone who can make it as good or better, I will be their loyal patron. Looks like I found it. I got teary eyes when I put the noodle in my mouth. It brought my memories back to Tabuan Jaya and how I loved the taste. Like I said, the owner spoke highly of his dishes and I so agree with him. I love this Kolo Mee so much that if or when I’m in KL again, I’ll head over to Food Republic in Pavilion just to have this. The portion? Huge! Me likey. If only they can add more of the minced meat, then it’ll be perfect.

The owner also gave me a small bowl of their Sarawak Laksa soup/sauce for me to taste. I went like total OMG moment. Their Sarawak Laksa soup/sauce is oh so gooood. I will definitely try their Laksa too next time.

Desserts

I’ve also sampled two of their local desserts from the dessert counter. Here is the review.

Cendol

Their cendol is nothing like what you’d have by the road side in SS15 Subang Jaya. But the reason they have cendol as dessert here is so that the tourists can try a sample of our favourite cendol without having to go out eating it by the road side. It’s all because of the hygienic purpose actually. But this cendol has failed me. The taste of the gula Melaka is nonexistent, just sweet. The key taste in cendol is from the gula Melaka. So for tourist to like our cendol dessert, they may end up with false first impression. No for me.

Bubur ChaCha

There are so many types of Bubur ChaCha out there. This is the warm and thick type. And this taste excellent! The yam and sweet potatoes are cooked nicely, not too hard and not too soft. Even the sago was cooked to perfection. This is truly what I love about Malaysian desserts. The sweetness is just right and the soup is warm and thick. Loved it!

Conclusion

Obviously, there are the good ones and the not so good ones. What I would recommend is the one from the Sarawak Cuisine stall where they serve excellent Kolo Mee and juicy satay. Also their Sarawak Laksa is a must try although I only tasted the soup.

Sarawak Cuisine, highly recommended.

Another one what I would recommend are the ones from Little Wok stall. The Dry Chili Beef Rice is good while the Black Pepper “Crispy” Chicken is not bad. The black pepper sauce was a little too peppery to my taste but at least they made their own sauce from scratch.

It’s a no go for me with the ones from the Mee Jawa stall. Maybe if you wish to have Char Kuey Teow, maybe you should order from another stall that serve CKT as their specialty. As for the desserts, I only like the Bubur ChaCha and not the cendol. Perhaps they can make the cendol to have the taste of gula Melaka more prominent, then it’ll be good.

I told you that this will be my honest review of the food served by the said four stalls. I hope that the owners or cooks would take my review as something to ponder and do some improvements to the dishes that I reviewed with negative comments. And those that I praised, please maintain the quality of the food. That’s all I’m asking.

Hope you guys like my food review on the dishes served in Food Republic, Pavilion KL.


GoBear – Better Financial Decisions Made Easy

We all love to travel. Right? And we all should get ourselves protected while traveling abroad. I’m talking about insurance here. Plus, while traveling, we need to have a credit card too just in case. So how do you find out about all these details without wasting too much time? And how do you compare the services between all the merchants at once? This is where GoBear.com.my comes in handy.

From GoBear Press Release

Have you ever been in a situation where you are completely lost and have to bear the hassle of comparing various travel insurance policies and credit cards? Starting today, break free from the hair pulling confusion of trying to select the best financial products to suit your needs. GoBear, the easy-to-navigate site provides unbiased side-by-side comparison between different financial products for users.

GoBear believes in being an internet company that specialises as an information platform and not as a seller or representative of products. This allows unbiased search results that are fair, simple, and complete to match the needs and preference of any individual or family. Consider it the go-to place when you need only the bare necessities to help you pick the perfect financial product. GoBear currently lists over 1,000 financial products on its website and will be adding more in the months to come.

GoBear.com.my is now official

“GoBear originated from the idea that people today want easy access to service information, and that customers should be able to compare various financial products easily before making a decision. This is where GoBear steps in, to provide a new experience that makes searching for financial products quickly, easily and transparently,” said Iskandar Ezzahuddin, Country Director Malaysia, GoBear.

He continued, “Today’s insurance buyers are mobile-first, multi-screen and social media savvy. To reach them, insurance companies will need to employ an increasing emphasis on simplicity in search.”

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GoBear recorded a 50 percent month on month growth in usage with over 1.2 million users since it first established itself in Singapore and Thailand.

On the expansion to Malaysia, Andre Hesselink, Chief Executive Officer of GoBear explained, “GoBear is a global brand in the making and we are very focused on being local to serve customers in each of our key markets in the best way. Together with a team of Malaysian specialists, we continue to enhance the seamless user experience, with search, filter and insurance quotes.”

GoBear Malaysia currently features travel insurance and credits cards. The site will be expanding into the car insurance and personal loan category in the third quarter of this year.

With GoBear, all the crucial information you need is as ‘bear’ as it comes.

What do I think about it?

From what I know from the product launch was the way it is done and how quickly GoBear can show you the comparison between all the merchants really caught my attention. It is fast, fully detailed and complete comparison at a glance. Yes, I would recommend those who are looking for travel insurance to try and use their services. Also those who wish to sign-up for a credit card, should do a comparison in GoBear too. In future, more financial support will be implemented such as personal loans.

For more information about GoBear, please visit
www.gobear.com.my
 and follow the #gobearMY journey on their Facebook page
www.facebook.com/gobearmalaysia
.

One for the road


My Honest Review On Huawei Honor Band Z1

Fitting into smartwatches era

Smartwatches are becoming an in-thing right now. We can see most younger generations and oldies alike are looking fashionably stylish with a smart looking watch on their wrists. The first among all smartwatches, the Pebble, is what started the whole trend. I honestly think that the Pebble is still the best smartwatch out there with others from Apple and Samsung are getting into more sophisticated functions with their own OSes built in. The Pebble however, keeps everything simple and functional.

Now there’s another kid in town trying to keep it simple, but too darn simple.

Go ahead, just try it…

Huawei’s Honor Band Z1 to me is more of a fitness tracker rather than a smart watch. Yes, it has notifications for messages from WhatsApp or Facebook that I can scroll and read. But that’s about it. I can’t install any third-party app onto it. I can’t do more like checking-in to Swarm like how Pebble can. It’s just a…fitness tracker that tells time and shows notifications.

So those who are looking for a “smartwatch”, better look elsewhere. But those who are looking for a smart fitness tracker that won’t break your wallet, by all means, Honor Band Z1 is good enough.

Now the question is, who should be getting the Honor Band Z1? Anyone! Well, anyone who are trying to get in shape and track their calories should definitely get one. It may not necessary be your main watch (or smartwatch), but it can compliment your current watch to track your fitness.

Or it can be your companion when you’re heading to the gym. Obviously you don’t want to wear your iWatch to the gym right? Unless you just want to show off to your gym buddies. And without knowing it, you knock your iWatch into some dumbells (and the weights too) and break your expensive watch. Then it’s not so smart anymore.

Now let’s get into the details and functions of the Honor Band Z1.

First Impressions

First look, you will see the simple design with a round face. It is housed in stainless steel with no buttons on any side at all. So to function the Honor Band Z1, it will be all on the touchscreen. Yes, this tiny and lightweight cheap fitness tracker cum watch comes with a touchscreen. Weighs only 25g and the touchscreen is 1.06in in diameter. The rubber strap is pretty slim. It will appeal more towards the ladies or young people. Big sized
old
 man like me made the Honor Band Z1 look like a toy watch, just like the watch Tony Stark wore in Ironman 3. And I don’t feel a darn thing. Like I’m not wearing any watch at all. It’s that light!

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Feels totally like a toy watch. Doesn’t suit me that well.

If only the rubber strap is wider. Then it will definitely look good on me. But the stainless steel watch face shell is good looking.

The touchscreen is not that responsive. In the instruction, it says that I can rotate my wrist quickly to activate the screen. But I really have to rotate hard in order for it to be activated. Sometimes, it doesn’t respond. I had to tap the screen twice or three times or multiple times to activate the screen. So if I want to look at the time, I literally had to rotate my wrist as if I have a bug up my sleeve and made myself look silly in public. If only it can constantly shows the time or at least keep it dimmed rather than totally off during standby.

Back of the Honor Band Z1 and the docking charger.

The battery life is however, very good. After a full charge that took about an hour, it can last for about 5 days until the next recharge. Maybe the simplicity of the software made it power savvy. Maybe because the screen stays off during standby helps a lot too.

Huawei Wear on Android

The pedometer function keeps track of your daily steps which will then sync with your phone. You have to install the Huawei Wear on your Android or iPhone to be able to fully make use of your fitness tracking. It will show how many steps you’ve made and how many calories you’ve burnt. It can also track your sleeping time, like how many hours of sleep or deep sleep. I didn’t wear the Honor Band when I was sleeping so now I’m wondering how it can track whether you’re just sleeping or in deep sleep.

Left: It shows zero at first. Right: Tracking my steps and calories burnt.

Conclusion

I’m not saying that the Honor Band Z1 is bad. Although I had some irritating moments with it especially when trying to get it turned on. The notifications works well. You can assign which app you want to show notifications from. But it can only store 5 messages at any given time. So if you have more than 5, the earlier ones will be deleted.

Buy this if you’re looking for a simple and cheap fitness tracker to compliment your current watch. It is just a simple fitness tracker that does well in helping you keep track of your fitness. If you want to buy this as a gift, do buy it for your kids instead. They will enjoy this
smart
watch more than anyone else.

Retail price is around RM249. It is a cheap no-fuss kinda smart watch to have if you’re looking for a fitness tracker. And for that reason only.


iFlix 1 Year Birthday Bash With Maya Karin As Brand Ambassador

(L-R) Maya Karin, iflix Brand Ambassador, Azran Osman-Rani, iflix Malaysia CEO

iflix, Southeast Asia’s leading Internet TV service, offering subscribers unlimited access to thousands of TV shows, movies and more, today celebrates its very first birthday!

365 days ago, a humble team of 25 hard at work at their graffiti painted Mid Valley office, held their collective breath in nervous anticipation, as the iflix service went live across Malaysia and the Philippines. In commemoration of this very special day, the team would like to take this opportunity to share some of the amazing milestones iflix has surpassed in this first year.

Maya Karin, iflix Brand Ambassador

Moments to Remember

April 2015
 – the company announced the appointment of its advisory board, comprised of Hollywood’s most influential business and creative leaders, including the Chairman and CEO of MGM, President and CEO of Fox networks and more.

July 2015
 – Malaysia’s favourite celebrity sweetheart, Maya Karin joined iflix as an ambassador and shareholder in the business.

November 2015
 – iflix went live in Thailand, drawing over 200,000 subscribers in its initial 12-week trial phase.

March 2016
 – iflix welcomed industry heavyweights Sky Plc and Emtek Group to its impressive investor roster, joining Catcha Group, Evolution Media Capital, Philippines Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), following the successful completion the company’s huge second round of funding.

Today, iflix enjoys a record five partnerships with leading telecommunications providers in Malaysia, including Telkom Malaysia, Digi, Celcom, Maxis and UMobile, as well as PLDT Smart in the Philippines and TrueMove in Thailand. The company also recently announced collaborations with Telkom and Indosat Ooreedoo ahead of its Indonesian launch.

As iflix continues its rapid expansion, it additionally announced a succession of key appointments of proven regional business and industry leaders to further accelerate the company’s exceptional growth. Group Co-founder and CEO Mark Britt commented: “It has been an extraordinary year since we launched iflix in Malaysia and the Philippines last May. I am hugely proud of everything the team has achieved as well as the overwhelming response and demand we have received from consumers.”

Viewership Trends

iflix’s Malaysian members watch an average 115.11 minutes each day!

iflix members prefer enjoying iflix on their mobile phones

Millennials and Gen-y’s comprise 68% of members

Malaysians’ favourite genre is DRAMA!

iflix members prefer late night viewing with peak watching hours from 9pm.

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Infographic – iflix Trend Report

New Content

With over 90 studio and distributor partnerships globally, the company continues to strengthen its relationships with the world’s leading providers of high-quality entertainment content bringing more first run-exclusives, award winning TV shows and movies, and exceptionally popular Asian and local programs to iflix members across the region. Here are just a few of the extraordinary new shows and new seasons coming to iflix over the coming weeks and months:

Flash (Season 2)

Arrow (Season 4)

Mr Robot (Season 2 – EXCLUSIVE to iflix)

Hunters (Season 1 – EXCLUSIVE to iflix)

Bosch (Season 1 – EXCLUSIVE to iflix)

The Magicians (Season 1 – EXCLUSIVE to iflix)

Downton Abbey (Seasons 1-5)

The 100 (Seasons 1-2)

Pretty Little Liars (Seasons 1-6)

The Originals (Seasons 1-3)

The Last Ship (Seasons 1-2)

House (ALL Seasons)

Keeping Up with The Kardashians (Seasons 1-4)

30 Rock (ALL Seasons)

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

Gotham (Season 2)

Avatar

Titanic

X: Men – First Class

Night at the Museum

The Office (ALL Seasons)

Iflix Malaysia CEO, Azran Osman-Rani added: “We are so thankful for the overwhelming support we have received from our studio, marketing and telco partners and most especially our amazing members this past year! We can’t wait to share our exciting new content line up, including many exclusive titles which we are making available to consumers for the first time in Malaysia. Bring on Year 2!”

Now available in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, iflix will continue to roll out its world-class service to additional key Southeast Asian markets in the coming months. Each subscription provides users unlimited access to the service on up to five devices, including phones, laptops, tablets, and television sets, for viewing wherever, whenever. iflix subscribers can also download TV shows and movies from iflix’s extensive library for offline viewing. The service is priced at only RM8 per month in Malaysia for unlimited access with no ads!

For new subscribers, iflix offers a complimentary 30-day trial with full access to its world-class service, features and content, with no credit card or payment details required. Go to
www.iflix.com
 to register.


iPhone SE Available from U Mobile on Friday 13th

iPhone SE offer by U Mobile

U Mobile Sdn Bhd today announced it will offer the iPhone SE, the most powerful phone with a four-inch display, beginning Friday, May 13.

iPhone SE packs the power of an iPhone 6s in a compact aluminium design that customers love, featuring a stunning four-inch Retina display, and comes in four gorgeous metallic finishes, including rose gold. With the exceptional performance of the advanced 64-bit A9 chip, longer battery life, camera innovations including a 12-megapixel iSight camera, Live Photos, the ability to record in 4K and Touch ID, the iPhone SE is the perfect phone for everyone who wants a smaller phone.

”To celebrate the launch of the iPhone SE in Malaysia, U Mobile has come up with its most attractive U MicroCredit plan yet,” said Jasmine Lee, Chief Marketing Officer of U Mobile. “The iPhone SE will be even more desirable alongside our unbeatable U MicroCredit instalment plan which is open to all customers.”

How?

U Mobile is the first telco in Asia to offer a device financing plan called U MicroCredit.

In conjunction with the iPhone SE launch, U Mobile will be offering a special interest rate of *0.70% for customers who purchase iPhone SE 16GB through U MicroCredit. The normal interest rate is 1.5%. Customers will pay only RM58 per month over a period of 36 months to own the new smartphone. This amount is not inclusive of U Mobile plans.

No credit card is required for U MicroCredit.

U Mobile offers contract freedom for all plans; meaning there is no penalty for early termination.

Customers can also opt to purchase the iPhone SE at a subsidised rate through U Package. U Package consists of an interest free instalment plan as well as monthly rates for data and voice offered by the iPlan, all at one price and this will be over a period of 24 months.

Customers can purchase iPhone SE at U Mobile retail shops and online at
u.com.my/iphone-se
beginning Friday, May 13. For complete details on pricing and availability, please visit u.com.my/iphone-se. For more information on iPhone, please visit
www.apple.com/iphone

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Joyetech eGo AIO Vaping Starter Kit

Joyetech Starter Kit

A great vaping starter kit must have some key features: It should be small, not much bigger than an analog cigarette. It should be optimized for mouth-to-lung vaping, delivering great flavor and using e-liquid with high nicotine. Finally, new vapers want
new vape products
 that are top-filling and easy to operate.

The brand new eGo AIO from Joyetech E-Cigarettes is quickly becoming known as the best vaper starter device ever. The eGo AIO is tiny; it is pocket-sized and leak proof, but holds 2mL of e-juice and has a powerful, 1500 mAh battery that will last all day. The AIO (All-in-One) is designed for MTL vaping, with a 0.6 ohm stainless steel coil that gives new users an extremely satisfying vape on high-pg and high-nic liquid. The AIO’s adjustable airflow top cap twists off for quick filling, and children cannot open it. Like a childproof bottle cap, it will only open when turned while pushing down. The airflow on the eGo AIO is fully adjustable, so new vapers can personalize their draw for an analog experience. Finally, the AIO is available in a variety of beautiful colors and even has an LED tank lighting system with seven colors!

New vapers are falling in love with the eGo AIO, and it is easy to see why. No other vape starter kit will give a better introduction to the world of e-cigarettes than the eGo AIO, and only
MyFreedomSmokes.com
 offers fast international shipping on vape devices!

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JW Marriot Ushering Ramadhan With Malaysian Delicacies

Don’t know where to break-fast this coming Ramadhan month? Looking for a good place to have traditional Malaysian delicacies for buka puasa with your family? Well, I have a recommendation for you. Why not head over to JW Marriot Kuala Lumpur this Ramadhan month and enjoy some of the famous local delicacies, all in one place!

I had the opportunity to sample some of their dishes last week for a Ramadhan preview and I have to say, some of those local dishes are not easy to find nowadays especially when you’re living in the city.

Although the dishes that I sampled were only about 50% of what they will serve in total, it was a good spread with large varieties of kampung styled food. The kind that you can only get in kampung areas far outside the city. But some of the popular dishes are pretty common such as roti canai, asam laksa and satay. Oh, one extra bonus…the kambing golek or roast lamb. That was the main attraction for me. Overall, they will have a total of more than 130 types of dishes.

Large varieties of kampung dishes will be served.

Here’s a little info from JW Marriot

Ushering in the holy month of Ramadhan, the city’s Happening Hotel has prepared a wide variety of traditional Malaysian delicacies for guests to experience. Staying traditional with a heritage theme, the Ramadhan Buffet will feature 138 of the most popular and classic Malay dishes customarily served during Ramadhan.

Assam Tenggiri Fish

The Poolside (Level 6) and the Starhill Conference Center (Level 4) at JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur will be transformed into a Ramadhan bazaar, replicating a kampung ambience. Aside from the spectacular set up and displays to reminisce the nostalgia of breaking fast in a traditional village setting, the main highlight of the evening is the scrumptious menu. For those who yearn for the traditional kampung experience, the Gerai Makanan Tradisi dan Selera Kampung highlights unique and special Malay dishes from different states. Dishes include Tongkeng Ayam Goreng Bercili, Daging Salai Masak Lemak Bachang and Kupang Masak Rampai. The extensive spread of authentic Malay cuisine includes the ever popular Malay Ulam or salad selection such as Petai, Kacang Botol, and Ulam Raja complemented by local dressings such as Sambal Belacan, Cincaluk, Budu and Tempoyak. Local appetizers that are sure to whet the appetite are Acar Buah and Acar Jelateh. Some of the local favorites featured at the stalls are Nasi Dagang, Satay, Ikan Bakar, Ayam Tandoori, Roti Canai, Chicken Rice, Ais Kacang and many more.

As for me, I can’t get enough of the roast lamb (obviously). It was cooked to perfection and soft and tender and…ok I’ll stop. Just look at the picture below. Sedap tak? Yesss.

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Awesome Roast Lamb, yummy!

And for dessert, I had (a few) of the sago gula melaka served in a martini glass. Good thing I didn’t get high on the sweet dessert. I wasn’t the only one who had a few servings of sago gula melaka. A few of other bloggers were at it too.

But I also have to give an honest comment about one or two of their dishes.

First of all, the asam laksa. To me, it tasted a little bit salty when it should be sour. I was asking about the shrimp paste (petis udang) to add together in the asam laksa, the chef told me they already added it in the soup beforehand. Nope. I did not taste any shrimp paste in it and it tasted weird kind of salty. I don’t know whether it was deliberate or that they made a mistake in the recipe. I can assure you that I wasn’t the only one who had the same comment about the asam laksa.

Another dish that I feel off was the asam tenggiri fish. I wondered why they fried the fish. That’s it. They fried the fish before mixing it in the kuah asam. Why I said it was off? Because the fish was kinda hard to chew and the flavour of the kuah asam wasn’t absorbed in the fish entirely.

So those are my only negative comments for the dishes. Nothing bad nor nothing that they can’t fix. I’m sure they will read this and have it done better for the actual Ramadhan dinner.

Nevertheless, I can vouch for them that their Ramadhan spread will be absolutely awesome. Especially if they have the roast lamb again.

What they offer

Guests are invited to experience yet another beautiful Malaysian custom with family and friends from 7.00 pm to 10.30 pm, from June 6 to July 5, 2016.

Guests who book with full payment made before June 1, 2016 will enjoy the early bird promotion where the buffet is priced at MYR75 nett per person at the Conference Center and MYR85 nett per person at the Poolside. Bookings made from June 1, 2016 are priced at MYR88 nett per person at the Conference Center and MYR98 nett per person at the Poolside.

For reservations, please contact the hotel at +60 3 2719 8666 or email festivebuffetpromotion@ytlhotels.com.my for an authentic kampung dining experience this Ramadhan.

More photos from the Ramadhan preview dinner:

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Lenovo Unveils New Range Of Devices To Enhance User Experience

Unveiling the new products

Global technology leader Lenovo, today unveiled its latest approach in providing the full range of ultimate user experiences, via its “Empower, Engage and Experience” umbrella themes, across a new range of devices spanning its consumer, commercial and enterprise segments.

At the heart of Lenovo is the belief that life rewards those who ‘Never Stand Still’ and that smart connectivity will help people to get the most from life. The company is focused on making all areas of its customers’ lives better. Lenovo aims to make work more efficient, by delivering smart end-user devices in addition to powerful infrastructure, all with connected services and apps. With the devices and themes launched today, Lenovo continues to serve the diverse needs and interests of its key customer segments, while committing to future offerings that will similarly empower, engage and offer unprecedented experience.

The first strategic theme will Empower users by providing them with the capabilities for high performance at the core of their businesses, focusing on Security and Reliability. Businesses are being transformed by the continuing evolution in data centers – into being more efficient, flexible, and scalable as well as being able to provide customers with more personalised offerings. In this endeavour, Lenovo is primed to be the enterprise IT partner who is able to leverage its uncontested competencies in designing PCs that do more, its partnerships with software and hyperconvergence leaders, and its open ecosystem strategy, to provide the full range of enterprise with best-of-breed solutions that are easy to deploy, operate on the highest standards of security, and are moreover extremely robust.

One of the new products on display

The second strategic theme will Engage on-the-go customers of every profile, as they demand high performance combined with ultimate portability, and that their devices strike the perfect balance between leading specifications and a form factor that suits a range of situations – keeping the gateway open and firing for both personal expression and professional control. Lenovo is committed to expanding on its track record of engineering PCs that lead the innovation trail, and on its position as the world’s leading PC supplier, with a diverse offering of devices that are as mobile as they are flexible to individual demands.

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The third strategic theme concerns enabling Experience; an important part of Lenovo’s game plan, whether by enhancing work or play. Lenovo’s purpose-driven innovation certainly has, as one part of its end goals, the enrichment of contemporary human experience with seamless, powerful access to rich content and applications. This begins with pushing the boundaries of device design to offer products that are Recognisably Different: lighter, more fluid in form, and containing more customisable options. Some of these designs are eminently suited to the business professional who is a techie to the core, while some are fine-tuned for enjoyment of LENOVOMusic, LENOVOMovie and LENOVOGaming in high quality graphics, sound and integrated experience.

The awesome portable pocket projector

Engage – On The Go

Ranging from the ideapad™ MIIX 700 with its unique dual watchband and folio keyboard case, to the ThinkPad Yoga 260 as the world’s lightest 12.5-inch convertible notebook with four operating modes (Laptop, Stand, Tent and Tablet) – not to mention the powerful yet tiny Pocket Projector – there’s something here for everyone who’s often on the move.

Lenovo Tab 3 8

Experience – Recognisably Different

Designed for forward thinkers, and out-of-the-box doers, the new expanded ThinkPad X1 family includes additions such as the brilliantly adaptable ThinkPad X1 Tablet with its unique modular design; the immersive ThinkPad X1 Yoga with world’s first OLED display; and the award-winning ThinkPad X1 Carbon, now even thinner and lighter, and clearly superior in the ultrabook market.  Desktop users will be wowed by the stunning new ThinkCentre X1 all-in-one, the must-have design centerpiece for any office with outstanding performance to match.

Empower – Security and Reliability

As businesses continue to evolve, there is also demand for increased infrastructure performance. The Lenovo XClarity is a new centralized system management solution that assists in seamlessly integrating infrastructure such as the Lenovo System x3650 and System x3550 servers, with accuracy and efficiency. Both powerful and versatile server systems not only provide world-class performance, but also industry-grade reliability for business advantage.

For more information, visit Lenovo’s website at
www.lenovo.com
 or Lenovo Malaysia Facebook Page at
www.facebook.com/LenovoMY


All-Metal Flash Plus 2 Launched at Very Affordable Price

Official launch of Flash Plus 2

Flash Plus 2 – Uniquely Affordable All-Metal Device

The era of plastic body smartphones is ending. This is the era of the all-metal body devices that are lighter and more durable as well as eye catching smartphones. Earlier today, I was invited to the launch of the new very affordable all-metal Flash Plus 2 smartphone in Bandar Sunway. You won’t believe how much the Flash Plus 2 will cost.

Before we get to the price, I will tell you more about the Flash Plus 2.

The Flash Plus 2 is the newest member of the Flash series. It comes in 5.5″ screen size with OGS integrated high-definition screen that supports Miravision 2.0 smart eye-protecting mode. As for the processor, it is powered by MediaTek Helio P10 clocking the octa-core at 1.8GHz x4 and 1.0GHz x4 with ARM Mali-T860 MP2 GPU. The first batch of the Flash Plus 2 will come with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal space. The 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal space variant will be available sometime in June 2016.

Flash Plus 2 is light and durable

The OS will be pure Android 6.0 Marshmallow out-of-the-box without any third-party launchers or whatsoever (like Samsung with TouchWiz – urghh). It is simply pure Android 6.0 experience and I can say it is very fast and snappy.

The Flash Plus 2 has three (3) dedicated slots for SIM and external memory – dual 4G SIM card slots and 1 MicroSD slot expandable to 128GB. It is useful for those who has 2 separate phone numbers but still want to have an external storage. I said this because most of the phones nowadays has dual SIM support but the second SIM slot is being shared by the MicroSD slot. You can only use either one. This is the advantage that the Flash Plus 2 has over their competitors. Another feature is Turbo Download. Turbo download means you can download any file using 4G network and WiFi simultaneously. Fast has now become faster.

Triple-card slots!

As for the camera, the Flash Plus 2 adopts integration of PDAF and contrast focusing. Comes with rear dual “RealTone” LED flash and also with a front LED flash. Another key features of the Flash Plus 2 is the selfie mode. Most of the new phones will come with “Beauty Mode” for selfies. The Flash Plus 2 raised the bar a little bit when it comes to selfies. Not only it supports beauty mode for photos, it also has beauty mode for videos. Yes. Now you can look really good in self video portraits. All your pimples will magically disappear.

Another extra feature is the front fingerprint sensor located at the bottom of the phone on the “Home” button, similar to the iPhone. You can unlock your phone by using the fingerprint sensor and it only take about 0.5 seconds to unlock. It is very accurate, even though when the phone is upside-down. Supports 360 degrees fingerprint sensor, upright or terbalik also can.

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Another cool thing is that you can assign which app to open immediately with just a touch on the fingerprint sensor depending on which finger. Say you want to quickly launch WhatsApp from standby mode, you can assign your right index finger to open the app. Assign your middle finger to open Facebook, or assign your left pinky to open the camera. All up to you.

The battery comes with 3000mAh that supports fast-charging technology, from zero to 50% in just 30 minutes and guarantees 10 hours of continuous phone call. Good enough? Yes.

Comes in 2 colour options, Luna Silver and Venus Gold. In this case, I prefer the look of the Venus Gold colour instead. It simply looks more elegant and premium. The back brush metal finish really looks good, making the Flash Plus 2 feels grippy.

Lunar Silver and Venus Gold

If you’re an audiophile, the Flash Plus 2 features HiFi quality sound that is music to your ears, literally. It has a built in amplifier that will produce a volume of up to 8 times louder than any other phones. The music app is something unique as well. It can detect the BPS and seamlessly “mix” your music files so that you won’t have a gap in-between songs. You will feel like a deejay with this. Oh, if you want to mix your own music, you can do that with its own MIX editing app, then you’ll feel more like a deejay.

The first model (2GB RAM, 16GB space) will be available for pre-order from today onward exclusively in Lazada at
www.lazada.com.my/flash-plus-2
 and will officially be available on 31 May 2016. You may have to wait a little bit longer for the 3GB + 32GB variant and will also exclusively be available on Lazada. Now for the unbelievable price. The 2GB + 16GB variant will cost only
RM599
 (I was quite stunned by the price) and for the upcoming 3GB + 32GB version is
RM729
 (my jaw dropped at this point). I saw the phone, I tested it, I felt it in my hands and how premium it feels. And that’s the price? That’s freakin’ cheap!

Ok guys. If you want to get your hands on the Flash Plus 2, head over to
Lazada’s website
 to pre-order your unit or wait till 31st May also can when it’s officially available.

First Look Video:

More photos:

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Out of Printer Toner? Apple Toner is Here to Help

Hey guys! Found this one website that I thought was pretty alright. They’re a local company that sells printing ink and all things related. So here’s how the story goes… I was printing yesterday evening and my copy came out all dull and with those random uneven lines. Great…! Out of
printer ink
. I bought a decent toner cartridge froma mall in town the last time I had to replace it, but I’m in no mood to have to get through traffic, park the car and navigate through the weekend crowd just for some ink cartridges.

So with a quick search I soon discovered
Appletoner.com.my
. Looks like a simple and pretty clean looking site, referencing themselves as Malaysia’s best online
toner cartridgeshop
. Their
Shipping Info
 page is informative. They offer same day delivery if you’re in the Klang Valley (lucky me!) and order before 12pm, so I’m like “well that’s good”. There’s a 1-year warranty on anything I buy off them as well. Their pricing and shipping information is quite straightforward which is always a welcomed sight.

Have a look at a screenshot of said page.

Shipping info and stuff

It didn’t take much more to convince me so I decided to give it a try. Found what I wanted easily by simply entering my printer brand and series, then voila! Found my printer ink. Their Shopping Cart and check out was pretty easy to use and standard so no problems there!

Looking through the website

Once I was done with that, I took my time and started checking out the rest of the site. Seems like these guys are based in Bukit Tinggi, Klang. They’re quite niche and beyond selling just
ink cartridges
, they’ve got a rather decent range of toner cartridge and printing products too; such as various types and brands of printers, drum cartridges, ribbons, films and even maintenance services. Seems like they got some competitive pricing seeing as how I paid for my printer inkat a (slightly) lower price than what I’m used to. But hey! That’s always a good thing. And Apple Toner supplies to a fair amount of companies, schools and government bodies too so not too shabby.

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I did hear from some of my buddies that they’re happy with this website, not experiencing any real problems with them. My order came through though today evening so I’m as happy as a peach. Might actually try to order a couple more things from them soon to see if they’re as good as it seems.


My Quick Preview of Microsoft Lumia 650

First, My Two Cents on Windows OS Platform

Everywhere we look, we can only see Android and iOS operating system in the majority of smartphones here in Malaysia. When we mention Windows Phone, some would shrug it away like it’s a sinful subject. But they don’t mind using Windows 10 in their computers and laptops, only not in phones.

Why?

My answer is simple enough. There’s just not enough apps made for Windows Phone. But users can now get the basic social media apps such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as an official made apps in Windows Phone environment. Last year in 2015, there were no official Instagram app for Windows Phone. I had a Lumia 640 back then and I had to use 6Tag for Instagram instead. See why now?

So now Microsoft really have to step up in order to gain users for Windows Phone or Windows 10 now since they are losing ground over the mobile OS market.

Now they are making the changes, in a good way with the release of their more stable Windows 10 OS for phones and periodically updating the system to resolve any bugs. I’ll say congratulations, and it’s about time.

Microsoft Lumia 650 with Windows 10

Ever since December 2015, Microsoft has been rolling out the updates for their mobile OS to Lumia devices everywhere. At first it was a little bit buggy but with the latest updates coming in, they managed to squash the bugs and made the OS more stable and reliable. Their flagship Lumia phone, the Lumia 950, is a stunning phone. But the price does not match with the built quality of the phone because it is still made of plastic. People are still not buying the phone. Too expensive and all plastic. There’s no premium feel to it.

Introducing the new Lumia 650, a probable savior of the Microsoft phone. Why I said this? It sits in between an entry level and mid range Windows 10 phone that looks good in an all-metal aluminum body. The Lumia 650 is the lightest of the Lumia series and best looking one out there, simply because of the all-metal body. I like it. I really like it a lot.

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The Lumia 650 feels good in my hand.

I have a thing for all-metal body phones nowadays. It simply feels good and premium. Just like the ZTE Blade V7 Lite that I reviewed recently, the Lumia 650 feels great. Like I said earlier, I had the Lumia 640 and was using it till late last year. When I was using it, I love the responsiveness. The OS never lags even though with only 1GB of RAM. That’s the beauty of iOS and Windows Phone. It doesn’t use as much resources as an Android phone.

The Lumia 650 is a huge upgrade to the older Lumia 640. When I say huge, I meant huge, but not the screen size. Lumia series has been known to use the Clear Black display. And the display of the Lumia 650 is super crisp and fine and vibrant although the screen ppi is only at 297 pixel density. It is an affordable phone that has the premium finish. A good phone to have if you’re thinking of making the switch to Windows Phone platform.

Beautiful metal body of the Lumia 650. Photo from Windows Central.

It is powered by Snapdragon 212 CPU running at 1.3GHz quad-core with Adreno 304 GPU. It has 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal space, expandable to 200GB via MicroSD card. The screen is 5″ with 720 x 1280 resolution using OLED capacitive touch and Corning Gorilla 3 protection. It supports dual SIM with both supporting 4G LTE network where you can assign which SIM card you wish to use.

As for the camera, it has an 8-megapixel f/2.2, 28mm rear camera with autofocus and able to shoot 720p @ 30fps video. While the front camera is 5-megapixel f/2.2 that is also capable of shooting 720p video. The battery size is 2000mAh and it’s removable. Comes in black or white colour variations.

All I can say is that I love this phone. I wouldn’t mind having it as my secondary phone at the moment. Perhaps I should get it as an upgrade for my mum’s phone. It is so user friendly that you will be able to start using and become an expert in it within a few hours.

The Lumia 650 is already on sale at various outlets in Malaysia. It is priced at RM899 at the official Microsoft outlets.


Tantalizing Thai Buffet Awaits You This Ramadhan

My buddy and I got the invitation to attend a blogger’s food review session at Chakri Palace Royal Thai Cuisine in KLCC recently. The event starts at 7pm so we both braved the traffic jam and rush hour to make it on time traveling from Subang Jaya all the way to KL.

Welcome to Chakri Palace Royal Thai Cuisine

Chakri Palace will be serving their specialties this coming Ramadhan for buka puasa, buffet style. So what I’m going to do today is to do a review of their specialties that I had the honour of savouring. First of all, they will be having 6 sections of buffet area – appetizers, salad, main course, live station, dessert and drinks. Secondly, they will have 3 types of menu on different days. For instance, we had the Menu #1 which will be served every Monday and Tuesday, then there’s Menu #2 which will be served every Wednesday and Thursday and finally there’s Menu #3 to be served every Friday to Sunday. The biggest difference between each menus is obviously the main course dishes. So the review today will be about Menu #1.

Buffet area

Let’s go over some of the dishes that I’ve tried and what I honestly think of it.

Chicken Kapitan
 – Taste good and flavourful, fragrant aroma with the taste of lemongrass. I love this dish. Among the best in the spread.

Stir Fried Beancurd with Basil Leaves
 – Also cooked with minced chicken meat. The basil is very fragrant and the beancurd taste awesome. I think they were using local basil leaves because the Thai basil leaf has more “twang” in it. But it’s good nonetheless.

Lamb with Black Pepper Sauce
 – Probably slightly overcooked because I can taste the slight burned taste in the meat. Black pepper sauce is not bad.

Massaman Beef
 – I love this one! I couldn’t make out the taste at first but I think the sauce has peanuts in it. The thick sauce goes really well with the beef. The best of the lot.

Prawn with Butter Sauce
 – Prawn was fried perfectly. But the butter was too oily and wet, making the prawn a little bit soggy. Too salty for me.

Briyani Rice
 – I’ll skip this one. Unless they do something about it. Why? It was tasteless and dry.

Fried Mee Hoon
 – I’ll skip this one too. Taste just like the one you tapau from the makcik jual nasi lemak in the morning.

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Steam Fish with Lime and Chili
 – One of the best. It is quite spicy in terms of hotness. Need to be a little bit more sour, and how the Thais would take it.

Tomyam (Red soup)
 – Good taste and spicy. But there was a little bit bitter at the end taste, right after you swallow the soup. Not bad but can be better.

Tomyam (White soup)
 – It was fragrant, tasty and mild in hotness. But there was something off…

Glass Noodle with Seafood Salad
 – Soft and spicy. Tangy taste and would be a solid starter.

Beef Satay
 – Average taste but it’s okay. A little bit hard, maybe it’s because they grill it instead of BBQ it.

Chicken Satay
 – Better than the beef. Soft and juicy. Still average taste. On the side note, the peanut sauce was not bad.

Mango Sticky Rice
 – One of the version is green in colour because they added the pandan in. Taste good and fragrant. The normal white version taste like normal pulut. But the coconut milk was thick and good. The mango? Sweet and savoury.

Red Ruby
 – My favourite dessert with jackfruit added in. Yummy as hell. Nuff said.

That’s it. That was all that I managed to try during the food review before I got too full. To down it all, they also serve teh tarik or coffee. The above comments about the dishes are from my honest opinion. Others may not have the same opinion as I am. Some may like those that I don’t like, and some may not like what I like.

Anyhow, Chakri Palace has a special Ramadhan offer coming up. They will have an early bird discount of RM20nett when you book online at
berbuka.chakri.com.my
 from 10th May to 9th June 2016. Also for walk-ins during Ramadhan, you’re entitled for a 5+1 dining whereby you only pay for 5 person and the other one eats for free.

Prices for Ramadhan buffet are different between Chakri Palace KLCC and Chakri Palace Pavilion. Both are priced at RM91.90 (RM47.90 for senior citizen and children) and RM79.90 (RM39.90 for senior citizen and children) respectively.

For more info, head over to
www.chakri.com.my

Photos of the lovely dishes:

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