Source: TODAY, July 30th, 2009
BIG NEWS!
Sony Vaio W Series, the Sony first and only netbook series has finally opened Pre-Order in Singapore!
Given Sony’s reputation and research and development’s muscle, it is amazing how Sony has allowed the likes of Asus to dominate the netbook market like nobody’s business. I roughly counted the number of the versions of EEE Series netbook released by Asus till date. Final score:
Asus 15 Sony 1
But all the wait is worth it, if you are a Sony Vaio fan (I really do have friends who are), Sony Vaio W Series looks pretty promising. I mean “looks” literally. That aside, one major talking point about the W Series is also the fact that it has a LCD with a resolution of 1,366 x 768. A resolution that many netbooks does not have due to restriction by Intel (Link). In short, this resolution allows the screen to look slightly bigger on a same 10” netbook.
Other than this, the rest of the specifications are roughly the similar to those of the competitors. Check out the specifications and review by one of my favourite sites, (Link) – Trusted Reviews.
To pre-order, hop down to one of the Sony Stores. I think they have trial sets there as well. Prepare to pay S$899. Not a price point that is over the top, neither is it one of a flea-market.
And oh, you can consider another range of new netbooks by a fellow latecomer, Samsung. Check out our post on them, (Link) – tsgts on Samsung’s netbooks.
My Dear iPod Nano,
You are the 1st Generation iPod Nano, the beginning of all Nanos. Before you arrived, many does not even know the word "Nano" exist. You have are the standard for the rest of the competition in the portable Audio market. You have truly been a great audio player.
It's been 3 years and you are still serving me well (except the lack of stamina though). However, your juniors are much more capable now. They have larger memory, play videos and even applications. One of them might replace you soon. Meet iPod Touch.
Currently, Singapore Apple Store has this promotion for students or faculty staff only. If I buy a Macbook, Macbook Pro, Macbook Air or iMac and a iPod Touch (2nd Generation, 8GB), I get a S$365 mail rebate (I have to submit a rebate form before 8th October 2009). A brand new iPod Touch costs me S$388. So it cost just S$23 after the rebate.
I am really thinking about it. But meanwhile, hang in there, my iPod Nano, 1st Generation.
(Link)
PS: After writing my crap, I forgot to mention that many students/staff are actually buying the bundle and try to sell the iPod Touch away at about S$300 to S$320. Go to HMZ or VR-Zone and you know what I mean.
Promotion ends September 8th, 2009.
All promotions details take from Apple Store, Singapore.
Got this SMS from a friend. Looks like a SPAM, cannot find anything about it online, so it’s a SPAM! SMS SPAM are common, but this one is quite interesting. I don’t blog for the sake of blog ok!
(Link) – Cost of spam email… SPAM is not merely SPAM la… Cannot find Cost of SPAM SMS. But of the spam SMS means profit for Telco. Hey wait… Could this be sent by a Telco staff?
Anyway, let’s read it again.
- M1, Starhub, Singtel celebrating an event together? Eh… Will MANU, Liverpool and Arsenal celebrate 60 years of wearing the same colour?
- 60 billions SMS? Why never SMS me when the 10, 20 or 50 billion SMS took place?
Which makes me curious about Singtel’s profit so far this year. Singtel’s net profit the 2nd quarter in 2009: S$799.3 million. (Link)
No wonder.
Updated 14th August 2009: This promotion is over. For now.
The all-time favourite is back! Singtel’s macbook promotion! This is something that you will see people asking in forums like HWZ from time to time.
A Singnet 10Mbps without bundle is S$46.90/mth. So you will pay S$88 - S$46.90 = S$41.10 /mth extra.
S$41.10 x 24 months = S$986.40 for a Macbook…
Singapore Apple Store is selling the Macbook at S$1,589 (Link). Indeed a good deal and you don’t even need to pay the entire S$986.40 upfront.
NO WONDER everyone likes it…
(Link) – Singtel Broadband Plans
Update: Oops.. Totally forgot to mention Acer Aspire One… LOL…
Another place to visit over the weekend.
Expo Hall 4, From today (oops) to Sunday. 11am to 9pm.
Source – TODAY, July 24th, 2009
Fujifilm W1 is no ordinary camera. Look at it again, did you see two lenses? There are two lenses because it is able to take 3D images!
Whether W1 can be a must-buy depends on the quality of the 3D images. No sample yet but there is a catch here though... A Fujifilm proprietary software is needed to view the 3D images… oh come on. you think JPEG can store 3D?
Although W1 has not retail locally yet, I am quite sure it will hit our shores eventually because Fujifilm has release most of the their models in Singapore. (TSGTS rarely talk about anything that is not sold locally, but this is one quite a breakthrough.)
Meanwhile, Fujifilm has released a new series of cameras, including… a NEW Prosumer camera to replace S100SF and a compact camera to replace F200 EXR. Big big news news for budget buyers because Fujifilm is really one of the top value for money brands around…
Buying a Fujifilm? It’s exciting times!
Eh… Mini IT Show… With other things like Food and Travel packages on show… I don’t know what is going to be there but I mean if you want a walkabout, it will be quite ideal I guess.
Check out their URL: http://www.appetitesandescapades.com.sg
Woo! I missed out on the ‘s’ twice before getting it right.
But can’t complain, http://thesingaporegadgettalkshow.blogspot.com is not short either!
I am not a PC enthusiast, but I do build my own rig and I have helped to fix up one or two more computers for friends. But yesterday is my first attempt at opening at a DELL PC – Dimension 8300 (battery is flat, so I am changing it). So I proceed to try to open up the casing. Thinking it was like this.
10 minutes later I was still struggling to open it up.
And then finally, it opened!
%@!5#$*@ !!!
DELL. What a design!
One of the most startling trends in the world of gadgets could possibly be the fact that there is an increasingly group of DSLR owners. All the major DSLR producers have been watching and produced products that are made for beginners, such as Sony Alpha A330 and the model in question here, Canon EOS 500D.
If you are like me, who has a sad, empty wallet, Canon has this contest for you to win a Canon EOS 500D! Check out the link below.
Update: I got a score of 7,356 points. I think quite lousy. But its quite fun to spend that few minutes!
New! New! New! Samsung Omnia got upgraded, after about a year since it made its debut. Prices of 2 year plans (subscription about 25 bucks):
- Singtel: S$ 398
- M1: S$ 598
- Starhub S$498
- Retail set: About S$790 to S$900
Looks like Samsung has put some good restrain on the pricing, relatively inexpensive if you consider the fact that this is one of Samsung’s flagship model. Some highlights on the new Samsung touch screen phone.
- 3.7 inches AMOLED resistive touchscreen, 65K colors
- 8/16 GB storage
- HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
- WIFI
- 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, Dual Power LED flash
- Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5
- ARM 1176 800MHz processor
- A-GPS
- Micro SD
The original Omnia is known for its sharp display and its 2nd in coming will not disappointed given that its enlarged and its AMOLED screen is capable of displaying 800 x 480 pixels (WVGA resolution), in short, BETTER display. But what is even better, Omnia now has a 3.5mm audio jack. Another key point to note, although it runs on windows 6.1 professional, you will not see the usual boring menu on windows mobile. Instead, Samsung has outlay its own interface, TouchWiz.
Sometimes, you don’t fixed it when it ain’t broken. Samsung Omnia II is a great example. Way to go!
Earlier in the week, Singapore saw the return of the Samsung notebooks and I am among the many who are surprised. One of the little known fact is that Samsung is actually in the local notebooks market as recent as 2006. They dropped out of it following some bad sales. The local notebook market has more than double since. Throughout this time, Samsung has also continue to manufacture and sell notebooks in other part of the world including the US.
In recent years, Samsung has created a outstanding brand name dozing innovative stylish design. And surely their notebook lineup will be going down the same route, is currently a strength of HP’s notebooks. The new lineup includes two 10” netbooks (N Series) and three 14.1” notebooks (X and R Series). In this post, let’s check out the two notebooks by the Korean brand.
Samsung N120: S$799
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Samsung N310: S$899
Wah lao… Gotta say they are not that cheap. Value for money or not depends on actual reviews, which I think there will be quite a few soon, but judging by the specifications alone, these are actually on a high side. N120 is cheaper of the two, by … S$100. With an additional two blue colour notes, you can actually get the following:
- Much slicker design (My personal opinion lah…)
- Sony – style keyboard (If you actually tried one before, you will loveeee it… N120’s is 4% larger than N310’s.)
- A longer battery life (Not by much, maybe 1 hour)
- A rubber-y external surface
And if you want to save that 2 notes, you will miss the above and get the following:
- Sub-woofer (nice… entertainment notebook)
- Slightly lighter
| Samsung N120 | Samsung N310 | tsgts says… | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour | Black and White | Black and Navy Blue | |
| Processors | Intel Atom N280 | Intel Atom N280 | |
| Display | 10.1” LED | 10.1” LED | LED is different from LCD and is much brighter and energy saving |
| Ram | 1GB | 1GB | RAM is cheap, no issue |
| Network | Draft-N and Bluetooth | Draft-N and Bluetooth | Wooo! Wireless-N, eh… but I only have Wireless-G router leh… |
| Hard Drive | 160GB | 160GB | |
| Battery Life | 8 hours | 9.8 hours | |
| OS | Windows XP Home | Windows XP Home | |
| Weight | 1.28 kg | 1.35 kg |
At the end of the day, these two new fellows are both strong in their respective ways and probably, just about worth their price tag. Both includes features of the new generations of notebooks, longer battery life and wirless-n. Not forgetting 90%+ keyboards. Strong return by Samsung, hell yeah… But… can sell cheaper anot…
If you are not one of the many Singaporeans who would go to great heights to find the ‘best’ notebook deal in town (such as squeezing your way through the crowd during the IT/PC shows), then DELL Swarm is simply perfect for you. From my perspective, it combines the following;
- Purchasing a brand new DELL notebook with a price that another fellow S’poreans would not laugh at
- Purchasing a DELL Studio notebook with considerably good specifications
- Purchasing the notebook in a unique way directly from DELL. No worries of warranty and all sort of retailers problems.
- Doing the above in the comfort of your home
WTH is DELL Swarm: Official Explanation - Link
WTH is DELL Swarm: My Explanation
- Every swarm has an objective (ie. To buy a particular DELL notebook @ a special price)
- If you are the first to lead the swarm towards the notebook, you get an EVEN better price.
- You can spread the news of each new swarm to others via social networking tool or SMS to gather more swarm-ers.
- Each swarm closes when there is 15 swarm-ers or when the time is up for the swarm’s mission (72 hours mission) and all will buy at the same price (apart for the swarm pioneer).
- The rule of the mission? The more swarm-ers per swarm, the more successful the swarm is (ie. Lower price for everyone in the swarm)
Not too difficult to understand eh?
My opinion? Price is the almost the single most important attraction here.
I have to say that if DELL Swarm is going to be around for long, they will need to put several REALLY POWERFUL deals and promotion… because… the business model requires widespread support and I am … not… seeing anything about DELL Swarm on TODAY… the paper that probably has DELL advertisement as part of their trademark. Not a good sign that DELL is 100% behind this…
But still, DELL Swarm is something any potential DELL customer should look at nevertheless.
