Apple iPhone reaches Malaysia

Most Malaysian tech bloggers are currently writing about the newly launched Apple iPhone locally, which is carried by Maxis the local telco. 

It ain't cheap though, you'll need to spend thousands on it including the mothly charges. I will not go through the package details, but you can check it out here.

So far I've tested 2 iPhone units before, one from collegemate Charlotte and another one from current classmate Yong. Also tested the Ben's iPod Touch which is quite similar to iPhone except it doesn't come with phone function.

Was impress by the functionality of the unit, but I'm not so used to typing texts via touchscreen keyboard which is quite small.

Anyway, I'll see whether I can get one unit to play around with when I went over to Japan, as I heard now SoftBank (Japan's telco) is offering iPhone at 0 yen 'til May, so I might as well signup to grab one before the promo ends. Rumours spread that possible 3rd generation iPhone might be launched in the mid of the year.

I dunno whether this rumour is true or not, but anyhow I would be happy if I were to settle with a 2nd generation iPhone.

Oh and one thing I wanna add, iPhone's sound quality is quite impressive as well, tried and kinda love it.  :D

Dell Studio 15 review

The delivery came just around 12pm on 11th March 2009. Wasn't at home so mother helped to collect it.

Straight away unpack it when I got home from class.
The box is slightly smaller than Inspiron 1420.


Cables and driver discs.


First sight of Studio 15.


15.6" widescreen display. Please do not focus on the guy in the middle of the pic, instead look at the frame. :P


Booting it up.


Technical specifications:

Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.40GHz
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 32bit
Screen: 15.6" (1366 X 768)
Jet black colour
3GB RAM (1+2GB)
320GB HDD
Internal 8X DVD+/-RW combo drive
512MB ATi Mobility Radeon HD 4570
Creative Sound Blaster Xi-F MB

So far it has been running for less than 24 hours.

I must say that Windows Vista is such a slow hag. Booting up and shutting down took quite some time, but overall performance it's still OK.

The ports configurations are quite different from Inspiron 1420 so I have to adjust a little bit to suit the new laptop.

Audio jacks are placed on the left side instead of centre, a bumper. Still, luckily it comes with 3 instead of 2 so that I can do more stuff with the audio settings.


A welcoming new port, HDMI which was not found on the Inspiron 1420. No need to introduce the other 2 common ports, VGA & network port.


Another sleek stuff, slot-in combo drive instead of the normal tray-drive.


The only downside is it comes with 3 instead of 4 USB ports.

Something interesting with the keyboard....



Studio 15 do not comes with dedicated media keys like other laptops do, instead the media & misc keys are integrated together with the Functional keys (F1 - F12 keys).



Other than the media playback buttons, it can also control wireless, battery & brightness.



So if I want to press for example, the normal F4 key, I will need to press the combination of Fn + F4, or I would just decreasing the brightness only. This is especially not convenient as I frequently hits Alt + F4. Need some time to get used to it.

OK now something about the software and programs.

Desktop view.


Packed with some Windows Sidebar gadgets, and the Dell Dock on top. These stuffs ate up quite a lot of memory, even when I've disabled the AERO theme.

I'm very satisfied with the audio quality, with those built-in audio enhancement programs running, I can customize the sound quality whether I'm using headphone or the laptop speaker.



I must say that I'm pleased with the stock quality of the speaker, way better than the one from Inspiron 1420.

Of course, to pair it up with a killer headphone would be "God-like", hahah...


OK this briefly sums up my review on this Studio 15 unit. Hopefully this unit will serve me well until I graduate from university!! :D

Studio 15 debut!

Using Windows 7 Beta's wallpaper.


Currently writing this from the new laptop, real cool it is!

Screen is wider with 15.6" display, quite odd as normally 15" screens would be just 15.4". It's very long, so it doesn't fit into

Still need to customize it until it suits my usage, been spending like a month to change all the settings but it should took me lesser time to deal with this one.

Btw I absolutely love the audio enhancements, real good stuff, no bull!



OK so far 'til here, will be updating more reviews of this unit when I'm done installing all the programs. :)

Shopping Curse?

I always had bumpy rides when I went shopping (mostly by myself). Found out that most of the times I would face some problems before heading over the counter and made the payment. It's either the good is out of stock, no size, not available, I don't have enough money, or the ATM machines went down.

Recently I was on a shopping spree again, getting things that I may or may not needed it. I seldom do the shop, but when I do, I can burn quite a massive amount of cash.

Acquired this portable earphone amplifier through a deal on the forum. A little bumpy as I have to pre-order it in mid Feb and only get it last Saturday.



It does work quite well to boost up the volume when I pair my Walkman with the Mylarone Bijou earphone.



So today after class headed to the local Adidas shop which is having sale 'til later this week. Just went there to look around but set my eyes on this pair:

Adidas Truant ATS.


Checked their size, they have the UK size 10 which I'm delighted. Since I did not bring enough cash so I reserved the shoe and went to the get money from ATM machine.

Darn! Maybank's ATM machines went nuts so I have to walk further away to fetch anotehr ATM machine. Luckily the AmBank ATM machine in 7-11 is working, or else I dunno where should I be going to get the money.



I need a better pair of shoe as nowadays I spend more time walking and running rather than kicking a ball. It's sad to say but it has been more than a month or so since I last kicked football.

Used to be like this, but not now.


The one I'm still wearing now is not suitable for long distance walk, don't even mention running! It does however quite comfortable to be worn when playing football as it is the main purpose of it.

Well, anticipating tomorrow's delivery..... >:)

How's My Birthday Celebration?

The answer? A simple one, really is.

On the eve of my birthday I received a few SMSs from friends, did not reply them as I was asleep already.

The day started off brightly, no hassle commuting in LRT, playing upbeat and energetic tunes all the way to the school.

Some classmates greeted me, which feels very nice. I did not disclose it to many so some still unrealised lol.

Went to Kenny Roger's Roaster for lunch celebrate together with some close classmates and the teacher. Was rushing to finish the meal as we're short of time. Kinda surprise to see that I can finish up the whole quarter set meal in just 15 mins! Usually I would take my own sweet time eating slowly, heh.

Back to the school after lunch, classmates "launched" birthday songs on me, which I'm very thankful for the well-wishes.

I did not went anywhere else to celebrate after that, been spending much of my time in front of the computer chatting, gaming and replying Facebook wishes.



No birthday cake, but I'm cool with it. I prefer a hearty meal to a thick-creamy cake, heh. ;P

I did received a few messages from some long lost contact friends, such as those from NS camp and ex-schoolmates, thanks for all the wishes! Appreciate it!

That's just briefly what happened on the 6th of March. Once I received the Studio 15 I'll make another post on gifts that I received on my 20th birthday. :)

Kitaro at Genting

Sorry for missing in action last night, had something to talk about but I've something more important to deal with.

It was raining heavily when we head on the road at 5pm, MRR2 was moving slowly and we're a little worried that it would be jamming all the way up to Genting. The road was cleared say 15 mins on the road, to my relief.

Driving up to Genting isn't hard, it's much easier than I expected. Perhaps I've tasted the harsh terrains driving up and down Cameron Highlands, so Genting's road is just a piece of cake, heh.

Reached there around 6pm, which is just good timing. Collected the concert tickets and coupons, and headed to Coffee Terrace for dinner buffet.

The buffet dinner is a good one, lots of varieties to choose! You can get local dishes to other cuisines like West Asian, Japanese and Western. I naturally stick with Japanese as it comes with salmon and cuttlefish sashimi, yummy!

Headed to the Arena of Stars at 7:15pm. As usual I would have a peek of the CDs they're selling before the show starts. Bought this "Kojiki" album, CD + DVD, for RM 45.



The show started about 8:15pm.


Recognise this figure now?

Intro music was something usually unheard of, must be either his unreleased track or so.

Soon after some brief speech by the maestro the show went into a purely audio-visual experience, where the screens are showing images of the nature, accompanied by the celestial music performed by the band. The effect is good, I enjoyed it, so do the audiences.



However, somehow I did not felt that this concert is as good as the previous one I attended. He did plays some of his famous works like "Heaven and Earth" & "Silk Road", and the rest he plays some unfamiliar tunes and noisy ones.

I had a hard time to enjoy the overwhelming bass guitar performance. This supposed to be an instrumental concert, and yet the presence of bass guitar somewhat turn it into a rock concert, a hard rock concert.

I hated the bass guitar's noise as it covers all the treble & bass sounds, making other instruments inaudible. Worse is, this part continues for the rest of the concert 'til the every end, so I did not enjoyed it as much as I wanted to be.

"Matsuri" supposed to be a great song, but then too much influence of rock elements. The encore songs does not turn me on as well. Felt unease as I can't really accept this kind of music.



To be fair, Kitaro is no doubt a very talented musician. He plays wide range of instruments form keyboard, woodwinds, to percussions, and even guitar! The only instrument he did not touch on would be the strings.

Too bad.... this time I'm quite disappointed with the concert, it plays something that I cannot accept and ruined my experience. Luckily this doesn't ruined Kitaro's reputation on my book, so I will still be listening to his music.

Head back to the hotel soon after that, wanted to sleep early but ended up hooked in front of the TV watching All-England Badminton Open semi-final matches until 2am lol....

After breakfast headed downhill, but stop by at the temple to have a look. Some pics....

The symbolic pagoda.


Big Buddha statue.


The founder of Genting Highlands, the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong.


There're a lot of places to be explored in the temple, but we didn't go through every single of those interesting spots. Highly recommended for those going up to Genting to check up the temple, you can't miss it. It's free of charge too.

Well that pretty much summed up this time's Genting trip.