Celestial

After a long long wait, since it was announced (Samsung took a dam long time then put this on our shelf), the Galaxy S has finally arrived to our shore. Singapore is the FIRST to launch this phone in the world and I am one of the lucky 800 to get this phone. And why I know I am the first 800? Because I got a pair of complimentary tickets to the Super Junior Galaxy Show, exclusively to the first 800 Samsung Galaxy S buyers.

I ordered this phone like 2 weeks back on the thurs morning. I received the news on wed that SingTel will be selling this phone online and deliver it to our doorstep. So I woke up at the time, 7am, when the online shop starts selling but apparently, singtelshop released the sales much much earlier. But what’s worst is, after 7.10am, the server screwed up and screwed all of our orders. Until the last min before I left house for work, I managed to get past the checkout and received the confirmation page. Phew…

The phone supposed to release on the 29 May but it didn’t came. Singtel didn’t explain why but was told by SingPost that the delivery will be delayed till 2 June, Wed. Dam it… I waited dam long for the delivery tt day and some more I need to go work then in the end, no phone came.

So I waited and waited till 2 June, and the SingPost lady came knocking at my door at around 11am. Ta Da!

02-Jun-2010 10:53Canon Canon PowerShot G10, 2.8, 6.1mm, 0.3 sec, ISO 200

This phone is dam gorgeous la!!!! Because:
- It’s Android!!! (Apparently I am not a fan of the i)
- It’s brilliant Super AMOLED Screen!!! (No other phone brands currently has such a brilliant display.)
- 1 Ghz processor!!!
- 9.9mm thickness! (It’s just so sexy.)
- 4″ display!!! (It really blows your mind when you watch video on the screen.)
- It can play almost all popular video and audio codecs!

Above are just some of my own opinions and features of the phone. There’s many many other features on GSMArena review.

I would say this phone beats iPhone 3GS hands down. But it’s now up to the next iPhone whether it can win the iPhone 4G or HD, which has not official announced and released yet. But I’ll still love Galaxy S no matter what… Haha… Now I am an Android fan.

Currently, I am still testing and playing around with the functions of the phone and getting used to the phone. Handling touchscreen phones is so much different from physical keypad phone (goodbye E51 and Nokia) in terms of SMSing, calling and etc.

Every phone has pros and cons. So currently the bad things I can think of, most importantly, I think is battery life. I charged it full on midnight, the next morning 8am it shows 90% liao. By the end of the day, it drops to 30% to 40% depending on the usage. My usage that day probably 10 mins of surfing, 10 mins of facebook, 10 mins of Android market and 2 mins of voice call. But I am guessing is the auto sync of my gmail and facebook acc. So the next day, I off it, the battery managed to last me with 40+% left. The other bad thing I found is, although all Android phones can do multi tasking, it opens several unnecessary services and programs, which uses up the RAM, the moment I switch on the phone. But it can solve easily by killing them using 3rd party software from Android Market. However, I think google should improve that.

Samsung’s in-built apps some are good, some are bad. Good are the Daily Briefing, Navigation, TouchWiz UI, thinkfree office, eBook reader, Google’s built-in apps and many more. Bad are the Social Hub and Email app. In any case, pros more than cons for this phone.

Ok… Here ends my mini review of my new phone. Uploaded another 4 more photos onto my Picasa. Goodnight!

Yes, that’s right! This morning I’ve received an email ad from Singtel showing a HTC Desire!!! WOW!!! Finally is out!!! Now let’s look at the cost… At least $448 for a low priced plan. Okay lah… It’s sort of within my price range. Considering that I have been waiting and saving since b4 I ORD, that price is ok. Furthermore, I may upgrade my plan or do some add on so it should deduct abt $100 from it…$348…

So I went down to TM today, hopefully to get a taste and touch of the phone. Sadly, Singtel doesn’t have a demo set so I went to Starhub. And yes they have it. The phone is a kinda heavier than it looks but is just nice for me. At first, the phone is a little not functioning as I cannot open up the menu or change the home screen. So the staff helped to restart the phone. And then I saw Samsung Wave display phone in front of me on the display shelf! Gosh… However, there is no demo set available and is still not on sale yet. So is the phone is just for display purposes. Anyway, now the Desire is working now. No SD card or SIM card inserted. So I can’t really take photo. But the camera function looks great. No image for me to try on their image gallery. I can’t access to their Android market and calender as it requires Google account to be linked. Scrolling of the menu and the homescreen is smooth. Display is amazing compared to iPhone as it is using AMOLED screen. Physically is plasticky, like any other htc phone. After a few minutes, I returned back to the staff.

Now I am hesitating. What abt Samsung Galaxy S? Personally, I am waiting for that phone instead of HTC Desire. Hahaha… But there’s several pros and cons between these 2 phones which shakes my final decision. You can see the review of HTC Desire and just-released Samsung Galaxy S here.

In the end, after considering, looking at the pros and cons and looking at my needs, Samsung have won the battle. But when will Samsung Galaxy S arriving to Singapore? Rumored says it will be out end of May or 1 June. But no official report saying that is so. Thus, for now I guess I have to stand firm, reluctantly giving up on buying HTC Desire and wait for Galaxy S. I am hopeful that it will be release before the coming June IT show so that I can get the phone there. If not, I guess I have to succumb to HTC Desire. After all, both phones are about the same. Haha…

My section mate has this lens and I borrowed it and gave it a try. The photos look really good on this lens. Check this out:

Also, I have created a photo album over here which syncs my picasa photo album. Works great but I think I have to customise a little.

Check this out… Android 2.2!!! It was announced it over today on Google I/O conference. It has ho much great features on it!!! But it won’t be the first to be out on most phone, probably only the Google Nexus One… Sigh… My fav phone still haven’t sold here yet!!!! Yes, my fav phone tt I am looking forward to is either Samsung Galaxy S or HTC Desire. Now I am an android fan now. Not anymore Nokia E72. Hahaha… Below is the video tt explains the feature of Android 2.2.

Exactly 2 weeks from now is my final day of duty in Gombak base. Haha… Too busy till now then I can blog abt my ord.

Anyway, I am the only one in my platoon to be out from NS. It feels dam great to be out of that shit place. Wore CV out and reached camp at 8 am. Put down my stuffs and off I go the canteen to have my last bowl of delicious Yong Tau Foo and meet up with my other section mates. My direct DC junior suay suay cannot come on tt day coz he got sick on thurs and get 2 days mc. So after tt I went EMart doing my final shopping. Spent all my credits and carry back a big red plastic bag full of items. After tt, I got to watch my final GOH parade. The guest is Indonesia CDF, I think, and the host is DPM. When it is finished, I got my off pass signed and off I go down to collect my pink IC. Say goodbye to my office, to my colleagues, to my sgt, to my section mates, to the dog cage (hahaha… I will miss the dogs), to the few Audis and Merc and mindef. It was 11.30 am when I got my hands on my pink IC. MUHAHAHA!!! FREEDOM!!!

I would say I have quite a fruitful yet wasteful time in mindef. Fruitful coz I get to meet up new friends from different kinds of background, learn lots of things (classified) and achieved everything that I could achieve. Wasteful coz I think I have wasted 1 yr and 3 mths on my youth, got cut off from my learning progress from poly, everyday just do duties and do nth there and wait for things to happen. So not productive… Overall, it makes me realise a lot of things, regardless of positive and negative.

All the best to those serving… The time in NS will pass quickly. Just don’t look forward to the ORD date or counting down the days. It will make the day more slower and miserable. To the lao jiao, slice the junior. To the junior, just swallow everything. Hahahaha… SAF 9th core values: Lan Lan Suck Thumb. So suck it up!

…the Prudential financial consultant today when I was on my way home at tampines interchange for like the 5th time. Haiz… Very often I see them dressed in formal, wearing a red lanyard, holding a notepad and a pen in 1 hand, standing near mrt stations or bus interchange. You will see them normally at off work period or morning rush period. And usually, we, the green guys are normally being targeted by them. Why? Coz they trying to sell their financial plans or products to us so that we can buy. Well, the thing is most of the public rejects their “interviews” and tt includes me also. So I will normally scan the area in front of me and look out for them. And then suddenly at the corner of my eye, I sensed that 1 of them spotted me, the green guy, and started to walk towards me. Quite a few time, I tried to walk as fast as possible to avoid them but I can’t in the end. Haha… Normally (or all the time) I was approached by a mid-20s lady so I eventually stopped for them. Then I’ll listen to their questions and answered accordingly and for like 5 mins+ of chat, and they will let me off. But this time we chatted slightly different than last time.

I normally wonder why they are working on this line? I find this job is quite difficult to do since I can see quite a lot of them are working this line and so there’s competition. These pple gets their salary normally thru customers’ commissions, on how they perform in each mth or how much sales they have done. So today I got a name card from the lady and found out tt she’s holding a degree in business and I asked her why work this when she’s a degree holder? And she said she’s holding a private U degree which is a little difficult to find job compared to a local U degree holder. But I think, can’t they get a better job than this? They have to persuade pple to buy insurance, savings or life insurance or plans so that they can get commissions. And each day/month they are being pressured to hit a target. So it’s kinda weird/tough for them to work on this line for a degree holder. And sometimes I kinda pity them and so I normally stop if they managed to catch me and talk with them.

Till now, I think all these pple are working quite happily with positive thinking even after hundreds of pple rejecting them. Some just pretended not to hear them and walk away. Some just show them a palm and shake them off. While some stopped and talked to them, just like me. If I have a chance, maybe I’ll ask them more questions than they ask me questions. Probably ask them abt why they work in this line when they can get a better job than this.

Yay! Welcome to 01.01.2010!!! The first day of 2010, the new year and it’s gonna be a new life for me in the second part of the year. Muhahahaha…

Sadly, I gotta do duty on the eves of christmas day and new year day and I will also be on duty on CNY. How pathetic my duty schedule are huh? So yea, I did almost nth on christmas day or today. I stayed home all day long, surfing for more kpop. Haha… But on the other hand, I saved most of my this month’s salary. Haha…

2010 gonna be ORD year, which will be on the 7th May. And then I am gonna enter uni (which will be NTU) ard aug. So these sums up the important events for this year.

2009 is not really a boring year, although I spent my life at Gombak doing mount, dismount, standby and training and this “vicious” cycle cycles all over again and again. But I completed some of my goals and achievements which I had planned for in 2009. Such as completing my first cycling marathon of 40km, then 45km RSAF cycling marathon, Canon photo-marathon, getting my gold IPPT for my second window which was really not I wished (or even think that I can achieve) for in the past, surviving in the saf, best soldier of the month in Oct and completing my first marathon of 42.195km. 2009 is also a year when I try things which I never done b4, probably due to the influence of my section mates. Nevertheless, I’ve made more friends which comes from different backgrounds and saw all kinds of patterns in them.

In 2010, I would wish to give my very best as what I did in 2009. Hoping to get CFC, get my driving license before ORD, get a tuition job, study hard for my uni and many others.

Finally, 4 more mths to ORD. ORD LO!

Today I ran this year’s Standard Chartered Marathon. It is another achievement I wanna get in my NS time and I did it today. I would say it is the most toughest run ever. Enduring all the pain all over my body and finally ran through the 42.195km. The timing was roughly 5h 15mins. Though it is a little too long, but being my first, I think it is reasonable and I wouldn’t ask for better timing given that all the problems I faced along the run. It is truely a great experience to run with the runners today.

Let’s briefly describe what happen along the route.

Start point to 10km was ok to me. The feeling for running altogether is a different feeling than running alone like my 10km training run. It feels much more motivated and energetic. At the 4km mark, it is the first water station. I think this is the only place in Singapore that we can throw rubbish literally on to the floor without getting caught. People just grab a cup, drink it, and throw it on to the floor. It is funny that we singaporeans have nv done it b4. So I tried it, and I feel wow. Kinda good feeling. Lol…

10km to 21km is roughly from fort rd to the turning point of the ecp. I was feeling ok. Keeping my pace constant. Not much of a problem. Along the way there is 100 plus and banana station.

21km to 25km. This is the part that’s when my leg muscles start to cramp a little bit. Not too serious but I was watching my pace, preventing myself from exerting too much on my hamstring and calf muscles. Alone the way there are pple squeezing Dr. Joint Pain cream. It was pretty good but the mint effect last only for a while b4 I start to feel cramp again. There is PowerGel station. I grabbed 2 packets, I ate 1 immediately and the other for an hour later.

25km to 30km. I started to run and walk already. Feeling too cramp on my calf and hamstring muscles. Had to stop and do some little stretching to ease the cramp. My speed dropped drastically but pushing myself to jog slowly. I took a toilet break in the middle also.

30km to 40km. This part was hell to me. I think I spent 1h 30 mins here. Too much muscle pain, including my ankle pain. My back muscles start to cramp a little when I twist my back. My muscles are like screaming at me and demand me to stop running. And psychologically, I forced myself to run whenever I feel slightly better. At this point, breathing momentum is not a problem to me, but it is the endurance to the muscle pain and cramps or the physical pain.

40km to the finishing line. This is from the F1 race track to the finishing line at the padang. 2.195km seems nth but it is something and it feels like 5km. In the end, I ran slowly to the finishing line.

After collecting my finisher shirt and medal, I got my bag and rested for like 1h+, but feels like 30mins. Walking is now a chore to me. I walked with difficulty, like a duck, coz my whole leg is aching like hell. I didn’t even bother to go for the free massage given to us as it is quite a distance. Going down or climbing up the stairs is even worse. Need to hold on the handle like a old man and climb 1 step at a time.

After that, I went to eat subway. Didn’t feel hungry but still gotta eat. After the meal, I took a taxi home. Had a good shit and bath. And immediately lied on to my wonderful bed. Ouch… I feel pain almost from head to toe.

I was thinking, should I join next yr’s standard chartered marathon or sundown marathon? With this experience, I am thinking twice.

And I am not gonna go for run for at least 1 whole week.

Yes finally! Cowon S9! My new mp3 player! Yay!!! I’m so lovin’ it. Haha…

Y this mp3 player? Coz of its sound quality that comes out from it. I spent almost a month hunting for a new mp3 player and I found him! You can check this mp3 out from various electronic gadget previews and you can find lots of positive feedback from it.

At tt point of time, it’s competitor were the Sony X-series walkman and (of course) iTouch. However, Sony is $100 expensive and iTouch is not my cup of tea (all along).

Unfortunately, it’s kinda hard to get this mp3 in singapore. Probably the demands are not high here. Not many pple know this brand though. So it’s either you buy it on9, like Amazon, or through a local retailer in sg. And I found 2 shops in sim lim selling this.

So I buy this at $528 (quite a bomb) at sim lim. A bit expensive as compared to Amazon. But difference is the warranty. Amazon’s warranty is international whereas sim lim’s warranty is local. So if somehow I spoil it, at least I dun have to send it to korea thru mail for repair. And for this, it cost me roughly $80.

And ta da, on 15 Sep, I got this on my hand. Hahaha…

Below are some shots I’ve taken recently. Hopefully your jaws will drop after seeing this.

Below are some shots I’ve taken at Games Convention Asia 2009. Great cosplayer there. And kinda tempted to try cosplay also. Haha… But it needs quite a sum of money and time to make the costume. I wish to be a Jedi or Clone troopers…

I also took some photos at Super Import Night 2009. I haven’t upload the photos yet but uploading soon after I editted some of the photos.

In both events, I’ve learn pretty much about portrait photography. And I kinda like it. Hopefully, I can have more chance in doing this. Really fun taking photos of people.

I finally jumped 235 cm!!! YES!!! A pathetic improvement of 5 cm, but I still managed to achieve my target. Haha…

My result was:
SBJ – 235 cm
SU – 42
SR – 10.0s
PU – 12
2.4 – Around 9m 30s

Official result wasnt out yet though… Is either announced much later or never. (Yea, till now still not out yet) So now I gotta wait for my next month pay to see whether there’s any ippt incentive. With the results above, I have achieved GOLD though… Haha… So happy!!! :D:D:D

Also, I have registered for this yr’s standard chartered marathon, 42.195km… Another event which I wanna achieve… So gotta keep training, esp on cardio, even after ippt. This also gives me the reason and motivation to keep fit even after ippt.

So other than crazy for fitness, I also went into learning driving… Registered up early this month and recently passed my BTT, so now taking FTT. Then after that is to learn driving and finally TP. Target is to get my driving license by this yr. So yea…keeping my finger crossed.