Another embarrassing Ris Low video.

I hate to say this, but is she going to be a female version of Steven Lim??
Maybe I can still tahan Steven Lim, but Ris? OMG.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpHoHJ4DFIQ&feature=player_embedded.

Really speechless.

Sembonia Bag 'My Style' - Bag Design Competition at Zirca

I happen to be one of the er.. lucky ones to be invited by The Missus to a Sembonia Bag Design Competition at Terka Zirca this evening. Frankly speaking, my impression of this brand is at least better than the parent brand Bonia. Somehow, it doesn't look too trying as Bonia with all the boring monograms mounted on it. At least I think if I'm a woman, I'd sling a Sembonia to work!

Like how Mindee Ong (881) flaunts it. Looks Prada-ish IMHO.

I'm sure it suits her pretty well!

We were late for the Fashion Show cos all of us were busy filling our growling tummies earlier at Central. When we reached there, a band was playing various commercial hits on an accoustic note. We plunged our asses comfortably on a sofa behind a pillar that was blocking our view. No wonder it was unoccupied in the first place.

Performing Jason Mraz's I'm Yours.

The door gift was pretty thoughtful too.

One of the door gifts.

Can you make out what is it?

A 1GB Thumbie!

Pretty cool design huh? There's even a $30 voucher in the bag. I wonder if I can use it to upgrade the thumbie to 2GB.

And the ladies.

Dear, Chewling and Evelyn.

My 1st clubbing experience with her.
I think she was hoping I could dance with her, but that never materialized!

Dear, I'll give you a private lap dance tomorrow ok? Shhh ~ Keep it on the low.

Then the results for the winning bag was going to be announced. While they were anticipating which design scored points, I was more interested in looking at some other bags: that is to keep an eye on my companions' belongings.

The results were announced within moments and Dear said that the winning design is not what they expected it to be. Oh no! But I don't really bother lah, all the while I was trying to get high with just one glass of Bourbon Coke. I'd wish Dear would invite me to a Prada Bag Design competition anytime. Hehe.

The event ended literally as soon as it started. That's it? Still hungry for entertainment and having time to kill, we ended up looking for somewhere to chill and landed ourselves at this dessert shop Nectarie le Dessert Patisserie in Clarke Quay, just beside Lunar.

Tiramisu with Coffee IC.

Raad Wine Pear Strudel with crustz that go Boomz.
(Throws out both palms wide open)
Can't detect any hint of red wine in the pear either.

Overall verdict: Slightly above mediocre.
Er.. Mediocre'dit' ?

I had an additional Iced Latte that tastes like Mcdonald's. The bill amounted to $48 which I think it's still ok given that we were very full after finishing the pastries. My personal favourite is still the Tiramisu as I'm a fan of coffee. It's not too sweet nor bitter, feels just nice on my tastebuds. At least it doesn't give me the twisted-lips effect like what the others did.

Service is applaudable, with the crew captain making sure we were shifted from a smoking area to a non-smoking area, as soon as someone from the non-smoking area left. Our order was also served promptly. Well, it'll be a nice place to visit if you just want a chill-out session.

Alas! That's our Friday evening! Can't wait to blog about the launch of HTC Tattoo at ButterFactory's, if I'm invited that is.

Baby's near railway death: Hindsight in design of railway platform?

Me and the Missus caught the news report on the baby who was literally rolled over by a train. From the CCTV footage, it's clear that the pram rolled towards the edge of the railway and toppled over just moments before the train came to a screeching halt. Everyone including the mother who was interruptedly rudely from her conversation with another woman, was equally astonished and shocked while they helplessly watched the train mow over the pram with the baby still in it.

See the full shocking video here.

I was shocked too. The moth flying around the living room could've just landed in my agape mouth. But the good news was that the infant was alive and escaped the tradegy with a bruise!

How in the world is that possible? It was very clear that the pram 'emptied its contents' onto the railway after hitting the tracks upside down. And the train went directly over it. It's a pure miracle!

That leaves me with one afterthought: Why is the platform constructed in such a way that has the slope declining towards the tracks? If you have noticed, the pram moved rather fast so that suggests the slope is quite steep. But I personally feel that it's a major fault that the Melbourne authorities have overlooked. We in Singapore don't face such problems but I think more could be done to prevent such things from happening.

We've seen many cases last year, where people have committed suicide by jumping onto the tracks. Why aren't the local authorities doing anything about it? What if an accident happens? Can't there be any grilles or glass windows to seperate the tracks from the platforms, like what they did for underground MRT stations?

I hope someone can take action soon, especially for the transport authorities in Melbourne. My heart goes out to the mum whose baby has miraculously survived the incident, and to those whose Sunday shoppings on a trolley have become pancakes once too often. Allelujah!

I want to listen to Damien Rice

all over again. It's been a long while since it felt so painful.

The intensive Nokia N97 review

After contemplating for some time, I've finally decided to ditch my E90 for something smaller and lighter. My initial intention was to get the iPhone, but I was afraid that it'll explode at my ears while talking on the phone or transmit electric shocks.

Unboxing

Stylus

Saffiano inspired 'U' leather case.

Manual, warranty card, charger and charger converter,
microUSB and remote controlled earpiece.

Something that you might wanna note is the charger, which uses a microUSB port. No longer can the old one with a mini round head work on the phone. But a converter is supplied for both the big and small old charger heads. If you wish to purchase another converter, it'll be around $38.


Hardware

Sorry if I keep comparing N97 to E90. This is because I am so used to the convenience of having a mobile lappie with me albeit its bulky size. There are trade offs between these two. The former being smaller and lighter, and being a touchscreen phone will render some tasks easier like browsing the web and flicking through photos.

The E90, even though being much heavier and looks like a remote control, is more stable and has a better keyboard than most phones, at least for my pudgy fingers.

This touchphone has a sensor that will know and lock your screen when you are picking up calls, so that your ear will not accidentally touch other buttons.

What I dislike most about the QWERTY is that even though the full stop is one of the most frequently used punctuation, you'll need to press the blue arrow (function key) once and then press the comma button, where the full stop is located. Or you could press the Shift key once for the same purpose. Sometimes I get so lazy that I'll just end my sentences with a comma! If there's a need to punch in a string of numbers, you may have to press the function key twice to initiate a numlock, and then press your desired numbers.

Also missing is the ability to use any shortcuts for Copying, Cutting or Pasting. But in Messages, Notes or some other writting applications, you can select the line of text with your fingers (I'm surprised it is quite accurate) and a 'Copy' button will appear beside your selection. This is only in N97 software version 12 and later.

Of course E90's keyboard is designed to be like a conventional keyboard. I had to give up that one for N97's smaller size. If you still think that N97 is not slim enough, there's another N97 mini coming up. In fact after looking at the dummy set at AMK Hub Nokia Shop, the overall size didn't really differ much from N97. Overall, it'll take sometime for you to get used to the small-sized buttons and awkward Shift key, which I feel sometimes is too closely placed to the left directional Navigation Key.



Thanks to the 3.5mm AV connector, this phone feels less like a virgin and it greets most earphones with a warm welcome. You can see it from the way it vibrates with glee. Oh yeah.

Camera lens with sliding cover

To remove the microSD card, you'll need to remove the battery cover. Sian!

If you can slide your PSP into your left pocket, you won't have a problem with this one. Just make sure you lock the screen before doing so, because the touch sensitive screen will just throw open any programs at a slight touch, draining your battery power unnecessarily.

Touchscreen and GUI

iPhone's touchscreen works on static electricity, you can only use your fingers to touch and not the fingernails or styluses. Multitouch is only available on iPhone or LG Prada 2. And there is no Kinetic Scroll! Not until somewhere in October 09 when they release the firmware update version 2.0. I'm very much looking forward to it.

N97 works on pressure, and there is NO multitouch available. To show how much pressure is needed, please see the following illustrations.

iPhone

N97

Also in some submenu or options, you might need to double-tap to enter or select your desired option. You'll also need sometime to get used to and appreciate this function which I think is a good approach for indecisive people like me.

For SMSing in portrait and landscape mode, there'll be no virtual QWERTY keyboard, which is unlike the Nokia 5800. This is a real headache as messaging in landscape mode is sometimes a little confusing, because the keypad will be on the right side and it takes some time for you to get used to this inconsistency.

Editable Homescreen that goes Boomz!

Up to a maximum of 20 shortcuts are available on the screen. When the phone is first purchased, Some of the homescreen shortcuts are being set to the Facebook, Straits Times or Accuweather widgets. Make sure you remove them and set them to be one of the 4 applications in a row, like what I have done for the ST (Straits Times) application above. If not, these independent widgets will be running in the background and you can't exit from them even after pressing the 'Hang Up' Button. What's worse is that every now and then the phone will keep prompting you to connect to the Internet to update the widgets, which gets very frustrating after awhile.

Icons on the top right screen

For some reason, seeing an icon that resembles a satellite gives me the creeps. Everytime it appears, I had to stop acting like Michael Scofield from Prison Break.

You can also tap on the top right hand corner for quick access to
Connectivity, viewing unread SMSes and Missed Calls.

Shortcuts in Homescreen enables fast access to favourite contacts.

Applications and Multimedia

Two of my favourite built-in applications are the Straits Times and Facebook widgets. Both are intuitive, easy to use and not very data intensive. Browsing through a few articles on the ST widget only consumes around 500kb. Thus for this reason, me and the Missus both applied for a 1GB SunSurf Max plan from M1 for a promo price of $9.95 instead of $$16.05. Very the 午华 (worth it)！

Bite-sized news that also go Boomz!

And some Facebook Screenshots. The pictures tells all! It's easy to use but sometimes the response is quite slow.

Shortcut bars on the right.
Will be on the top while in Portrait mode.

Conversational styled Message Inbox

Easy to use, fullscreen Photo viewing with tags

For Videos, there is an application called Vid & TV. This application will automatically detect and lists down all your MP4s and downblouse videos, so please exercise caution not to let the Missus wander into this application.

Default 'Natural' aspect ratio

'Stretch'

'Zoom'. Notice the subtitles are hidden.
Damnit.

Controls that are available on-screen

Music Player. Pretty boring interface. I can never change the music note from pink to some other colors. And the FM tuner can only be accessed from the Music Player. Booboo to Nokia. Sound quality is good but some static noise will leak if hardcore bands like the Prodigy is rocking.

The Camera is a pretty standard Carl Zeiss Tessar 5MP that easily locks on target. Quality of photos are much better than E90s! Sharper and hue-free.

Here's a vid of me ice-skating (I'm the one that looks like an uncle who has lost his way)

Options available

Secondary Camera mode.

N97

Casio Exilim EX-Z60

Not a very bright flash N97 has, but the pictures are still quite clear.

The menu in Web Browser can easily be brought out by pressing the 2-headed arrow on the bottom right. Sadly, Nokia still hasn't add in an 'open a new window' option to its browser. But if you are badly in need of a workaround, you can drop me a message on the right and I'll show you how.

Best fit when zoomed to 80%

Another even sad thing is QuickOffice in N97 is only for viewing. To purchase the full version, you may do an update from QuickOffice and the cost is around S$27. I'm glad I purchased it because I cannot live without QuickOffice!

QuickOffice Premier 6 is compatible with MS Office 2007.

QuickOffice is good for those who wish to keep record of their daily expenses or in my case, driving records which I have to note down in a very tidy way. Of course it is not recommended to do your accountings on it. By the time you are done with your work, you'll see grids all around you.

Annoyances

Other than a fast depleting battery that lasts you at most 2 days with a normal usage, there are some parts of the phone that I totally cannot stand, like finding someone in your contact list.

Once the contact list comes up and you wish to type the person's name in the search box, a full screen, I mean really a full screen with no holes at the side like what is shown here.



You'll have to key in the letters one by one and since Symbian platform is more laggy than Apple of iPhone 3G, there is a split second between each letters. The frustrating part is that the phone tries to be smart and it will look for the next match.

For example, if I want to type Alan, after keying in 'A', a list of letters will be suggested, like 'L', 'N' or so on. After I choose L from this 2nd list, a 3rd list with jumbled letters will appear, consisting of vowels like 'A' or 'E'. Then you can choose 'A' followed by 'N'. This whole process is really confusing, but I have found a way to switch off the function.

To do so, go to Settings > Touch Input. Set Adaptive Search to 'Off'. And tada! You can key in the name from Contacts easily.

Some other bugs are that the screen will hang right after a call, and you'll have to remove the battery and put it back again. But don't worry, out of 10 calls, it only happened 8 times. Again, fear not. The Over-The-Air software update will give you the latest update which is 12.0.026 for Singapore N97s. This will reduce to 1 error in 1 day. And that day I happen to make only a single call. Sigh.

Well, so far so good. The features I'm proud of are the camera and massive 32GB storage, but on the contrary, it has only around 40MB of C drive space. Somehow after installing some applications, if the memory is being reduced to less than 20MB, you will see a drop in speed. Just be patient, ok?

Alas, I have come to an end of my review. In all, this phone has its pros and cons as summarized below:

Pros:
1. Great camera shots in the day
2. Easy to setup Wifi Access points and external email (Hotmail, Gmail or Yahoo)
3. Easy to use widgets

Cons:
1. Not very user friendly QWERTY.
2. Not very long battery life.
3. No kinetic scrolling, yet!

Chocoman slacking.

Chocoman relaxing on a sofa.

Or is that a sofa?

Erm. that's actually me sleeping. Haha.

A day at Marina Barrage

There are so many forms of entertainment springing up in Singapore, but life could be boring just watching movies, window shopping in luxurious malls or surfing the Internet.

Sometimes, it feels kind of good to indulge in nostalgia, especially kite-flying! That's why the 2 of us decided to check out the Marina Barrage last week. It's a really beautiful place stuck in the middle of nowhere.



You know, me and Dear made ourselves a kite sometime back, and the only place I knew that is popular for kite-flying is somewhere in Sengkang. I'm also paiseh to bring my kite along to the Barrage as my kite is really fugly! Who makes a kite using masking tape?? And the shape is the aubiao classic diamond one. I don't want to talk about the tail. See it for yourselves.

A Hello Kitty inspired kite.
Spot the masking tape.

If you don't wish to scour Daiso for materials to make your kite, you can in fact buy one from a shop located just below the sky terrace. It's actually tucked away in a discreet corner on the ground floor. There are various shapes and sizes to choose from. But I still love my diamond kite. Wahaha.

Taking a thirst-quenching break at the cafe

It's nice to see various types of kites in the sky, a few of which are really interesting, like squids, butterflies and eagles. On the contrary, the squid and butterfly kites soared higher than the eagle. Quite a funny sight to see a sea animal flying and an eagle that has difficulties flying.

An authentic Hello Kitty kite!

On the terrace, one can catch a glimpse of the city area, and rarely was my view of the skyline unobstructed. Lying down on the grass patch and drinking a can of Soda, one can only think of SodaGreen. Duh. You can even have a picnic there, just make sure you clean up after your party, else Mr Policeman who is standing near the staircase will throw you into the reservoir.

Ewww ~

There were also certain exhibits displaying nature friendly themes. But seriously we were not very interested in what's on display. Just trying to get away from the sweltering heat. =)

Dear likes to take photos of me. I asked her why.

She said:
"When you love someone, you'd always want to take the best picture of him"

I think,
The best picture of me is when I'm with you. =)

Next time we're gonna bring our kite along!

To go to Marina Barrage, you'll have to catch a free shuttle bus from Marina Bay MRT. Update: They added SBS bus no. 400 to the shuttle service! Check out the link here.

Hoping to go back there again with my pals!