It is exactly one year since the launch of LG Viewty. At its launch, LG's marketing team banked heavily on its 5 megapixels camera and the ability to take videos at 120fps. I know it is not "the phone" at the moment but but but...  Come on! Just see what I have to say!

  • 5 MP, autofocus, secondary VGA videocall camera
  • Video @ VGA 30fps, QVGA up to 120fps, strobe flash
  • 3" TFT Touchscreen, 256K Colours
  • HSDPA
  • 103.5 x 54.4 x 14.8 mm / 112g
  • Bluetooth
  • FM Radio with RDS
  • Document Viewer

 

The Form Factor:
On the first look, Viewty might look bulky. But  it is really manageable. At the minimum it will fit your jeans' pocket. Then there is the opposite side of the display where it looks so much like a digital camera. Well, almost, as Viewty did not come with a lens cover. Fingerprint is not an issue with Viewty.

And Viewty's stylus actually look like a lipstick. The fact that it comes in pink only adds to the image of Viewty being a ladies' phone.

 

3" Touchscreen:
LG may have thought that " since we have bundled a stylus, let's make the screen less sensitive" Hence, the screen is really not very sensitive when you use your fingers to operate it. In short, you need to use a little more force than when you use a stylus.

One incident that typifies LG is when I had trouble scrolling the menu. There is a scroll-bar by the side of some menus while other menus  do not have a scroll-bar. In the end, I found out one has to hold-and-drag in order to scroll those menus without a scroll bar.      

Meanwhile, Viewty do have a few types of on screen keyboard for your usage. I would say one  would not be put off by the messaging system.

 

5MP Camera:
In comparison to other 5 megapixels camera-phone's images, Viewty would not lose the race. Neither will it win. Check out the sample photo I took with Viewty. Start-up time is pretty quick and the viewer fills up the entire display.

Autofocus is not too bad but it is still not comparable with a full-blown digital camera. Marco mode is not too disappointing. 

Viewty is outstanding when taking videos. Certainly one of the best I have seen. Seemingly smooth video. At 120fps it can even afford slow motion playback.

 

Applications:
The menus are all packed neatly. You get four tabs consisting of Multimedia, Settings etc.

There is pretty much limited stuff you can do with Viewty. It takes Java applications and that is about it. It packs standard features such as alarm, calender and a few games. Nothing too outstanding. Also, its document viewer cannot be upgraded to edit files. I think it is LG's own programme hence the limitation.

 

 

Micro SD Slot:
The Micro SD Slot deserves a special mention for being incredibly diffcult to take out the card. There is no spring to assist the whole process.

 

Conclusion:
Viewty is for the ladies. Viewty is for anyone those wants a pretty, non-fussy phone that takes excellent video. Nothing so bad that it will put off potential buyer, still a good option if you would like to own a 5 megapixels phone today if you still can find one today!

Do you know the exact model of your iPod or where is it made in? Well, its time you find out! Check out portatronix; a german website that offers to tell you information about your iPod. No worries. It comes in English as well.

Link

HTC Touch

The fact that HTC stands for High Tech Computers never fails to amaze me. So it proves that having a stylo mylo name is not the most important part of a business. The product is.

Which brings me to "The Singapore Gadget Talk Show" first hands-on gadget review. For this very first piece, I found a friend who is a first time user of the Windows Mobile operating system. His previous is a Sony Ericsson. The gadget in question now is HTC Touch.  

  • Tri-band
  • Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB
  • 2.8" Touchscreen TFT Display, 65K colours
  • Internal 256MB with MicroSD slot
  • 2 Megapixels camera
  • TouchFLO Technology
  • Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional
  • 99.9 x 58 x 13.9mm, 112g
  • Comes with Pocket Office

How does it feel to have used HTC Touch, a Windows Mobile device, for the first time?
Overall, I think there is not a lot of differences if you are not using office application such as Outlook. The biggest difference would be the navigation. Using the phone as if it is a Windows PC took me some time to get used to it.

In fact the biggest difference is a normal user (one that only expects functions such as Bluetooth and audio player) would find a Windows Mobile device much more complicated and not as straightforward as he/she would expect of a mobilephone.

HTC Touch

So what is so impressive about HTC Touch?
On the whole, it boasts style and stability as a Pocket PC. Nothing fantastic but then again these are the two most important qualities mobile phones should have.

HTC Touch

So with 2 months of usage, what are some issues that you would want to question the engineers about?
Under the sun is terrible. If you are on the street with our Singapore's glaring sun, you basically see nothing on the screen! Reading a SMS becomes a two-handed job when this happens as you would need to cover the screen to reduce the glare.

The other issue I think most would want to consider is the HTC's FLO technology which in my opinion does not speed up navigation. 

Also, there no 3G connection. What can I say? I had to make do with 2.5G and Wi-Fi.


HTC Touch

Any comments in terms of the touch interface?
Its good. No multi-touch capability is cool with me. But using the stylus is recommended. Especially for guys. Some icons or links are too small for fingers.

 HTC Touch

Right. How about the image quality?
Nothing fantastic. Its a 2 mega-pixels camera anyway. And it does not have a lens cover. Videos disappoints but I don't use and don't care!

HTC Touch 

Battery life?
I on it 24 hours. Play games each day about 20 mins. Normal talk time. Last about 2 to 3 days depending on the talk time.

HTC Touch

The large weather icon is rather eye-catching.
The weather function is very useful. The tricky part is where the preset connection is set to GPRS. Hence user may accidentally connect through the GPRS and hence, pay the cost.

HTC Touch HTC Touch

 HTC Touch

One last word on your phone?
I still think its a beauty despite its being an old model. But of course it is surpassed by Touch Cruise and more recently the Diamond. Honestly, I might be even trading it in for the iPhone!

HTC Touch

 chalkboardnl
This chalkboard is setup to note down the notebook promotions and retail channels in Singapore. It is not possible to make a complete or most informative list but I will try to update them often and it could be useful. And we need you to contribute. If you are a vendor or you know of any good deals around, drop us an email!


- Chalkboard Updated: 2th August 2008 -

ADS IN PAPERS 
Juzz1@Audio House (2 Aug 08 / TODAY)
- Details - 
Carrefour - Acer & Lenovo (28 Jul 08 / TODAY)
- Acer Aspire One -
- Lenovo Y310 Ideapad -
Axioo (25 Jul 08 / TODAY) - Promo. ends 27 Jul 08
- Details of Promotion -
- TVR052C -
- CMPC & TVR812P -
- TVS812P -
- TEN812P & TSJ816P -
- TEC0262 & TSJ2252 -

RETAILERS
- mc.2: One of bigger retailer. Ask for freebies. -
- p.a mart: Great details with images. Must see if you are still searching. -
- VR Zone: The Tech forum has the price lists of various notebooks retailers. Might be a bit messy. - 

BUY ONLINE
- Sager: An U.S brand. Reselling locally by Cube Marketing. Reown for high-performance notebooks. And it is customizable; you can choose your own parts! -    

FOR STUDENTS ONLY
If you are still confused over whether to buy in your school or the IT show, you should be reminded that most schools have subsidized prices as well as free school's IT support. And no need to squeeze in the crowds!
*Polytechnics seem to share the same prices but there are more information about the respective notebook ownership programme, so I have put up the various links.

- NUS: Includes Lenovo T400!!! -
- NTU: Only offer 3 brands? -
- SMU - 
- NP -
- TP -
- SP -
- NYP -
- RP -

- End of Chalkboard -

intel218_thumb1

Benq has been starting to make their mark too. S33 Joybook looks trendy but could prove to a workhorse as well. But for me they are facing the problem of being the late player in the local market. 

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Acer had two sets there. But I think I left out the other notebook accidentally. There is no one around for Acer as well. 

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Finally we have the HP Pavilion DV4 notebook. As usual, looks very cool and premium. Perhaps the best looking on the field. In fact its quite similar to the MiniNote.

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Fujitsu impressed me with its preparation of their latest notebook T5010 which they had the technical specifications ready together with the pricing! And it is the only tablet around on that day.

 

All in all we learnt a great deal and from now on we see how Intel Centrino 2 can improve our efficiency at work or entertainment. Moving to other matters for now!

 

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The moment we step into the conference room, we were greeted by the sight of the latest Intel Centrino 2 notebooks from the various vendors. We even managed to talk to some of the managers. And of course I had to "bring" them back in my camera.  

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First up, Lenovo. T400 and T500 on the show. Both comes with majority of the new features from the new chipset such as switchable graphics. Solid State Drive is a surprise for me. While there is a major change in the heart of the notebook, the exterior remains the rock solid feel.

intel2-25

We also managed to talk to Mr Derrick Koh (Lenovo's Communications Manager) who gave us a brief idea on the latest models out of the China notebook maker in the local market. Apparently, T400 and T500 aren't the only ones. Expect a series overhaul before the next IT show.

intel2-16

NEC S3500 is of course the brother of the S3300 that sold so well at the last PC Show. I asked the manager and he said NEC wanted to make an impact as its brand name is somewhat not as strong in Singapore despite being the number vendor in Japan.

There is an interesting fact about S3500; 4-cell battery. While it kept the weight down, it also reduces the battery to an average 2 hour 30 minutes according to Mr Tan, the regional manager for NEC. Not that most notebooks with 6-cell's are able to beat the 2.5 hours mark.

intel2-17

I was quite surprised to see Axioo there. Its a pity though as I did not see anyone responsible for the set there. Not a brochure around either. But still it does not take anything away from the fact the local brand did come up with this rather youthful notebook.

intel218_thumb1_thumb

Benq has been starting to make their mark too. S33 Joybook is a pretty standard notebook that looks trendy enough to attract the tertiary students. Its a 13.3" so 2kg is just about the weight.

ASUS, Acer, Toshiba and Fujitsu to come in the final installment.  

intel2-10

In the 3rd installment of the series, I will be looking at WiMax which Intel went a "long way" to demonstrate. In fact, we travelled about 15 mins away from the port. Qmax is the company in partnership with Intel to show us WiMax in action.


WiMax is a telecommunications technology that somehow work like a home broadband (ethernet cable) and Wi-Fi (router) combined. While there are lots of details to be discussed, I think the most important part we should know it could a solution to the last mile connectivity meaning to say we could get portable home broadband connection. In numerical terms, its known as 4G as compared to our current 3.5G with the mobile phones. Pardon me if I didn't explain this part well!

intel2-11

On the yacht, Mr Alex Tan, from Qmax showed us the WiMax connection with Creative's inPerson. It is a device allows easy and effective video conferencing. While it is on sale at the IT/PC shows before, its largely useful for businesses. And the unit in the picture actually comes with WiMax connection. Unlike the units on sale which comes with Wi-Fi. Check out inPerson.

The video conservation with the pretty Qmax staff ran very smoothly. No distortion throughout the 5 mins trial. The piped images looks brilliant as well.

intel2-12

We are actually on WISEPORT, Wireless Broadband Access for the SeaPort.

intel2-13

Next up, actual internet connection in the middle of the sea! You can also see the WiMax device plug on to the laptop which comes in Intel Centrino 2.

intel2-14

Overall, the connection speed was great and I able to blog via twitter. Youtube was delivered in time as well. However, the connection is already up by the time we were there so I would wonder if the intial connection is easy to setup. Still all-in-all a wonderful experience to be able to try it the first time.

Again, I think for the average consumer, its another sight of the technology in the near future. Probably by the time my wireless-G router would be in the bin.

And in the final post, I will post up all the latest laptops at the conference!

intel2-3

With the basic information in place, its time to look presentation done by Debjani Ghosh, Intel's Southeast Asia Director. Right at the start, we were introduced to how Intel believes their hardwares would fit into the market. And surely Intel is can't go wrong when it zero in on the social commerce, lots of digital content and Eco Awareness.

intel2-6

Ms Debjani did not give a great deal of time to talk about the processors that used in the "Montevina" platform since they were introduced some time back. Codenamed "Penryn", those processors are made of the 8000 and 9000 series based on the 45nm structure. However, she did show us the difference in performances of the various generations of Intel processors.

intel2-5

The star of the platform is none or than the chipset which is first release at the press conference. Intel claimed that the Mobile Intel 45 Express Chipset:

  • Allows a more durable battery life
  • Boast of the new Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD offer increased graphics to 533MHz and 384MB of memory.
  • Supports Dual Channel DDR3 ram

Then came the news that the "Montevina" platform allows switching of Integrated Graphics or Discrete Graphics. This feature goes a long way in saving battery life as well as being environment friendly.

intel2-7

And of course the last dish on the plate belongs to the latest Intel WiFi Link 5000 Series. More specifically, the 5350 model will have WiMax On-board which see us testing on the yacht!

intel2-8

So what does the latest "Montevina" mean for average consumers now?
As Technology always is, the latest might not be suitable for everyone in terms of the price. Laptops with this latest Centrino will surely command a slight premium. No need to rush out to get them but do know that the existing standards have been up.

On the other hand existing platform's laptops are likely to get a price cut.

Image Centrino2 100px-Centrino2_pro

All right this special post of the series goes out to Kenny! As well as those who need a background of the Centrino to understand why am I making a fuss out of the Intel Press Conference.

What is Intel Centrino?
First of all, Intel Centrino is not a processor. And you will not find a Centrino tag on a desktop, its only for laptops. Essentially, it is a "standard".

Like a student taking the GCE 'O' Level examination. Once

the student met all the passing marks of the various subjects, he/she would be given the 'O' Level certificate. Its the same kind of relationship between a laptop and Intel Centrino. If a laptop is able to be built out of the hardware certified by Intel, the laptop would get the Intel Centrino tag.

Then what makes Intel Centrino?
Basically, there are three parts of the laptops to look at when deciding if it meets the "standards" set by Intel; Processor, Chipset and Wireless Module (a.k.a wireless card).  

Wikipedia has all the requirement of the various Intel Centrino generation. 

Why Intel Centrino?
Well, it meant for consumers and businesses to better select their laptops.  According to Intel, laptops with the Centrino tag shoud deliver a better system performance, longer lasting battery life and a certain level of wireless standards.

And what is codename?
Well Intel likes to name their projects. That is it. 

Kenny! Tell me what you think in the Cbox.   
 

centrino2

We attend our very first press conference since the launch of this blog site! Thank you very much to Brian Koh from Ogilvy 360 degree Digital Influence for inviting us there. And we certainly witness a new chapter in the technology history with yet another mobile platform that simply outperform its predecessors.


intel2-1

As before, Intel Centrino 2 also consists of three sections that would make up the mobile platform. To make things clearer, let's compare see how has Intel Centrino 2, codenamed "Montevina" upgraded from the previous platform; "Santa Rosa".

(CPU) Like "Santa Rosa", "Montevina" also uses the 45nm processors with the difference of the Front-Side Bus (FSB) and clock speed. The new platform boasts of a 1066Mhz FSB while the previous is 800Mhz.

(Graphics & Chipset) "Montevina" will be using a brand new chipset on the motherboard which will include the following; GL40, GS45, GM45, GM47 or PM45. Where else, "Santa Rosa" on the GM965 or PM965. Again the difference is significant. This new version has a faster FSB, support RAM with faster speed as well as support for DisplayPort, a up coming display connection.

(Wireless Network) Besides a new wireless module which again could prove to own a wider bandwidth, "Montevina" has WiMAX combined with Wi-FI.

These are very briefly what "Montevina" is capable of. In the later parts of a "Montevina" series, I am going to report what I have learnt and experienced at the press conference including the latest notebooks that has "Montevina"-ed!


Its been soooo long since my wallet "vibrates" upon the sight of a Creative product. See my previous post.

Creative ZEN X-Fi is by all means the very best from Creative. The cool hard facts support this claim.
  • Creative banked this latest product on its X-Fi technology. It is technically a different product's market position to iPod. ZEN X-Fi is for people who is craving for superior music quality on the go.
  • Cementing their status as the best performing media player, ZEN X-Fi comes with premium earphones (as claimed by Creative and Creative earphones aren't too bad).
  • MSN/Yahoo Messenger is also installed in ZEN X-Fi. Cool.
  • ZEN X-Fi maintains Creative usual stylish design.
  • My favourite part is certaintly the built-in Wi-Fi. Really upgrades ZEN X-Fi status to a heavyweight in the portable media player market.
Its hard not be impressed by ZEN X-Fi especially when the pricing is relatively economic in my opinion.

There actually two versions of ZEN X-Fi; with and without Wi-Fi.
  • ZEN X-Fi without Wi-Fi only comes in 8GB. Creative's official web is currently without a price for this model.
  • The Wi-Fi version is available in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB. Apparently, the 8GB and 16GB is bundled with the promotion of the latest movie, Red Cilff; S$229 and S$329 respectively. The 32GB version is selling at S$399.
Right now, Creative ZEN X-Fi may not topple the iPod. But its going to put up a really good fight.

Link

Photobucket

Sorry Folks! Have not been updating regularly because its getting really busy for me at times. Working, fixing my server and of course enjoying myself during the holidays.
And my inspiration for this post is... my office. Its incredibly difficult to find any office computers without Anti-Virus protection. I kid you not. I guess my next 4D win is not too far away.

Hence I decided to get a free commercial Anti-Virus for my office computer.

AV-Comparatives.org is founded on the mission to compare the effectiveness of the different Anti-Virus softwares in the market. They offered detailed and useful results.

Head over to find out if your Norton is the best among all.

PS: Photo taken with LG KU990 and I thin Norton users will be disappointed.

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