and for the umpteenth time...

2011-09-18T08:09:00.000-07:00

Guess it's about time to move to Twitter. http://www.twitter.com/xumdeo

2008-07-14T16:54:00.001-07:00

The sharp SX862 review has been published
read

2008-07-07T08:52:00.000-07:00

too much has happened recently, most of the stuff I can't write about here... may be when things are more settled.

work has been busy, the sharp sx862 review is still waiting to be published, you can see MB has a great number of reviews lined up to be published throughout the last 2 weeks

shinhwa's 9.5 album was pretty good, check out track #3 huen juk; beautifully sung, especially when hyesung and dongwan pushed their vocal range

eason chan's new album is not bad as well, track #10, I heard that on the maxicab back to my place

browneyes' 3rd album's out as well, excellent album, highly recommended, if you're into korean r&b

2008-06-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

samsung f480 touchWiz UI preview

2008-06-06T06:41:00.000-07:00

working on sharp sx862 review right now, should go live in a week at MobileBurn.com
here's a video of the phone in action, showing u the amazing screen, the full screen VGA videos as well as video calls

been extremely busy, over 50 phones were announced in Japan this week
crazy eh

tonnes of phones lining up for review as well, 2 from LG, 2 from samsung, 2 from SE and a couple more from Nokia. and Samsung is also making an important announcement in singapore in 2 weeks (same for a few other companies as well)

it's a WAR

if I have time i'd snap some videos of the 906i

2008-05-15T10:18:00.000-07:00

yes, the sh906i has touch screen
you should see how it flips, before you start hating it because you heard some "rumors"
touch cruiser is in place, but taking a much smarter form, as oppose to a lot of "rumors" you hear, it's there it's there.

sh906itv has the screen upped to 3.3", not much breakthrough

saw a lot of AU phones, candybar season it is :) Kyocera has something that I really like, Casio is disappointing.

2008-05-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

aight, some sample pics and a sample video taken by panasonic lumix fx36 (fx35)

Pics are zipped here (rapidshare)

you can download the raw video file here (rapidshare) ore preview the video below, keep in mind that youtube would have deteriorated the video quality very very massively (this looks worse than nokia N82's VGA videos, so only the raw file can do justice)

the question is, how would this match up with Samsung NV24hd?
the samsung uses Mp4, so it'll save a helluva space (the sound on NV seems to be better too), but if you want to cut stills off the video, motionJPEG might be better (as found on panasonic and Kodak cameras).
I've looked at the NV25hd pic quality, noise control seems to be better, but i felt that the color is all wrong... and there's more barrel distortion with the lens

I'll be very interested to see what Canon (and Casio) can do with 720p videos on tiny DCs

2008-05-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

Bought a Panasonic FX36 (= FX35) white, with white 4GB SDHC class6 card and white leather case (yes, all white heh, I'm sick of silver and black)

The whole reason for buying this camera was to have something pocketable on top of my EOS dSLR. Out of all the other consumer cams out there, here's why the FX36 kills

1. 720p movie recording. Not a lot of cams can do that out there, the Canon TX1 videos are really soft (so soft that it looks like 640x480), the Kodak ones do not have O.I.S during recording (not sure about the newest Z series)
2. 25mm wide lens, which would have cost ~>HKD3000 on its own. Besides, the amount of barrel distortion on the FX36 is really really really acceptable, it won't make you look fat, I promise. Useful or group photos, architectural and landscape photos... or when you have someone random to hold the camera for you.
3. having high ISO plus O.I.S reduces the need for using xenon flash; that means less blinking photos and fat photos.
4. semi-auto low light compensation, not talking about the usual EV+-, which only washes everything, but what's found on the FX36 virtually widens the dynamic range (with some extra noise and extra processing time, of course), but very useful as it gives you less dark faces when you have a bright source behind your back (and when you just hate to use the flash)
5. acceptable noise level at iso400. For this camera size, this price, this sensor size, I would not complain. iso800 is still okay for 3R print if you took it at 10MP. You can always "hide" the noise by shrinking the picture if you are lazy (3MP is still very usable), or use photoshop... I would prefer noisy-sharp photos over blurry-clean photos anytime
6. on camera stills capture from videos, you can actually cut 1280x720 pics off your videos, picking them frame by frame, no need to spend time in front of the puter

Reasons I bought the FX36 (FX35) over FX520 (FX500)
1. HKD800 cheaper
2. focus speed is faster (try for yourself at the shop)
3. smaller, since I wanted to buy a pocketable camera on top of my dSLR
4. battery lasts longer with the smaller screen
5. more colors to choose from

All in all, I'm very satisfied with this camera, minor set-backs are listed below.

Cons:
Not much options on flash comparing to Casio (e.g. soft flash)
Relatively slow focusing speed comparing to Canon Ixus
Average LCD visibility under the sun
No optical zoom during video recording

Pros:
720p movie with optical anti-shake.
25mm wide lens with well above average barrel distortion.
low light compensation for no-brainers, not talking about just the usual EV+-
acceptable noise level at iso400

Will try to post up sample pics (flickr) and videos (rapidshare & youtube) soon.

If you have any questions, just ask, I'll try to answer but can't guarantee

2008-05-01T06:21:00.000-07:00

yep, so the earlier photo i showed u on apr8
is the NEC n906iu :)

if you haven't seen the blackberry flip phone, search it up
it looks really good

2008-04-25T09:28:00.000-07:00

ladies and gentleman, the ntt docomo 906i series
spy shots, obviously
not showing u the sharp one yet ;) hehehe

fujitsu, panasonic, nec (n906i), nec (n906iu)

as for the so906i, you can search on easto ;)

2008-04-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

KF 600 review published

read

"I have to say that I am disappointed with the KF600. The lack of 3G is not my biggest concern, neither are the durability issues. What I would take more seriously is actually the user experience, because this is exactly what it is being advertised for. The potential advantages of the InteractPad have not be fully exploited, whereas many disadvantages are obvious: the delayed button response, the slow haptic feedback, and the poor coupling of pop-up menus with morphing options on the screen. The outdated interface doesn't help much either: the inflexibility of file management and the phone book are all problems that should have been addressed 2 years ago when we reviewed the P7200.

In terms of multimedia, despite the good camera and loud ringtones, LG has made a number of blunders. The lack of background music play, together with a screen that is almost illegible under the sun, are all potential deal breakers. Comparably, the picture zooming screens and video player control panel are excitements that won't last very long, but the frustrations from those fundamental design mistakes will.

The document viewer, advanced calculator and fun games are pluses but not a lot of people will actually benefit from them. Yes the interface is good looking, and the device looks flashy from afar, but compared to its sibling, the VX8800 Venus, the KF600 would be more like an embarrassing Pluto. I really wish that I could have enjoyed using this device a little more, but after 10 days I really cannot recommend it."

Link

2008-04-08T10:13:00.001-07:00

NEC N905i hands-on. 8min
my personal favorite, out of the whole 905i series

2008-04-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

NTT Docomo's 906i series is scheduled to be announced on may20, and should start selling right before June1. There should be 2 phones from SonyEricsson: an update of so905ics with bigger screen, and a lot of cool software tweaks, improved multimedia experience as well. The other one would be a candybar, very good looking IMO

The most exciting one should be sharp's sh906i, more touch-interface, very cool illumination. very wow. backlight should be in yellow :) in the next few weeks you will be hearing a lot of conflicting description concerning this device, some would even go as far as saying that there're 2 screens: one at the front and one at the back (huh?), some will make it sound like an LG KF600, some will compare that to the linkface2... but once you've had the real thing in your hands, you'll see why people were so so confused ;)

panasonic p906i would stil use the same w-open style, the horizontal interface is improved. the design also looks smoother, with a hint of p904i; less "bits and parts" falling out when opened, won't scratch your face lol

nec, fujitsu: relatively minor updates. fujitsu considering adding water-proof function, nec debating between removing neuropointer to keep everything <14mm or release 2 models like what they did with 905i.

you can guess what's the picture i'm showing you here. a flip phone that opens flat? a candbar that feels more like a DECT at the back? how bout a listed slider? ;)

2008-03-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

my NEC N905iu hands-on
again, the most detailed English hands-on you'll get for a while.

Design
GUI
T9 English
Music interface
Camera interface

I cannot and will not answer all questions

2008-03-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

a few moments with sharp 912sh
probably the last sharp phone with CCD sensor. sighs
not much to say, this thing is not new (that's why i didnt say anything in the video)
but the WVGA screen is still way ahead of nokia motorola samsung
not unlockable even with hyperSIM

got a detailed n905iu hands-on later, 2am now, will edit that tomorrow

2008-03-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

live pics of the non-japanese version of the 920SH, still unannounced. (read)

planting a smartcard onto your cellphone (read), i'm gonna try that myself later this week :)

2008-03-19T10:52:00.001-07:00

sonyericsson so905ics cybershot phone made for NTT DoCoMo, my hands-on video
been really busy, would try to take some on other 905i devices. hopefully a fujitsu f905i in the next few days if i have time, and of course my personal fav the nec n905i and n905iu

2008-03-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

this should be interesting, Toshiba+softbank sued for cloning Fujitsu's phone
(read)

2008-03-17T07:28:00.000-07:00

how easy is it to hire 2 poor kids to get on a plane, put 2 soda cans under the seat, buy some air hostesses to have them say that it smells like gasoline. how easy is it to create a horror over all the other countries' sportsmen, and point the arrow to Tibetan activists. how easy is it to get into the poorest province of Tibet using the newly built railroad directly from Beijing, and control all the people there who don't speak chinese, and don't even have money to eat.

props to beijing, the real drama queen.
why don't they use the talent to make better movies?

2008-03-11T22:48:00.000-07:00

My SonyEricsson W910i review has been published on MobileBurn
link

2008-03-07T04:41:00.001-08:00

see how rude it is if you cross out the correct parts
this is extracted from the Japanese Crown Prince's birthday press conference (yes, birthday press conference, I think I want one for my birthday as well)

問１　これまでの質問と直接関係しないことになって大変恐縮なんですが，国民の関心の大変高いことだと思いますので，あえてお聞きさせていただきます。先日，羽毛田長官が殿下の御所への参内の回数について異例の発言をなさいました。皇族にお仕えする立場である宮内庁の長官が，直接殿下に，言葉は微妙ですけれども，苦言のようなことを申し上げた。このことについては我々記者だけでなく，多くの国民も衝撃と共に多少の違和感というものを感じたと思うんですが，このことに関して殿下のご感想をお聞きしたいと，それともう一つ，これは私見になってしまうのかもしれませんが， (but I'm still acting stupid) 長官がご自分の一存だけであの発言をされたとは，私には到底思えないんですが，皇室のご家族の，ご家庭内のことをああした公式の場所で発言せざるを得ない，こういう状況が今の皇室のご家庭の中にあるというこの現状をどのように受け止めていらっしゃるのかお聞かせください。

皇太子殿下　両陛下の愛子に対するお心配りは，本当に常に有り難く感謝を申し上げております。(was I listening?) 御所に参内する頻度についてもできる限り心掛けてまいりたいと思っております。家族のプライベートな事柄ですので，これ以上立ち入ってお話しをするのは差し控えたいと思います。 (basically I took 2 minutes to say nothing at all)

問２　今の関連質問にまた関連するような質問で恐縮でございますが，長官会見の後に，皇太子様は両陛下にお会いになっていらっしゃると思うんですが，その際に，こういうお話，話題があったのかどうか(you were sure, come on)ということをお聞きしたいということと，それと殿下の今のお話なんですが，やはり国民が非常に気にしていると思うんですね，(pressure)そこのところで行かれない理由というのは，正にご家庭内の問題とか，(give you a chance to cover your butt, you can agree with me)いろいろとございましょうけれど，ただやはりそこのところをもうちょっと，なんというか抽象的でも結構なの(I'm offering you a deal)ですが，殿下のお口から直接国民の方に説明していただくと(is that a threat?)，国民は安心するんではないかなというふうに思いますんで (more pressure)，その２点をできたらお答えいただければと存じます。 (still pretending to be understanding)

皇太子殿下　そうですね。今もお話しましたように，これは本当に家族の内の事柄ですので，こういった場所での発言は差し控えたいというふうに私は思っております。

this is how you say "betsu ni" in formal language
I prefer sawajiri's way, crisp and straight forward

2008-02-29T01:10:00.000-08:00

so what's up with the sharp sx8663?

if everything goes as planned, u should have all your questions answered by the week of mar4 the earliest (at an unrelated press conf).. if not mid/late march

how does the UI look like? not too bad, not as fugly as the sx833, but don't get too excited

2008-02-08T22:54:00.000-08:00

Sharp to release highend phone outside Japan, finally. The SX862 for Smartone-vodafone (Hong Kong) and TX92 for Fareastone (Taiwan). Here are the first illustrations.
Link

keep in mind that as of today Hong Kong hasn't licensed "mobile"-digital-TV services yet. and we will not hear much before late april/early may. but most probably in DVB-H (read: government's news release)
if that is true, why won't we see any hint of european release, where the market is a lot bigger. if it runs on DMB-T/H that means the phone is only for hong kong forever because mainland china does not use WCDMA and taiwan does not have DMB-T/H. if it runs on DVB-H, then it will only happen if it gets licensed properly in hk (after may/june the earliest?), singapore would be another potential market of release, and the T92 will have to be referring to the same sx863 and not something else.

does it look like the 920SH? yes it does
what is the difference? size, battery, DMB tuner (if any)
can it be exported? yes, expensive
will the DMB work in europe/taiwan? probably not, if they're sticking with DMB-T/H, which is different from the rest of the world
will the DMB work in Japan? no for sure, different standards in all cases
will the DMB work in mainland China? yes if it sticks with DMB-T/H, no if it goes to DVB-H
how ready is it? too early to comment, remember the lag between sharp 903 appearing at FCC to its release?
how much will it be? expect some HKD5000-6000 without contract. probably 3xxx with a 18-24month contract, SIM-locked no doubt.

read

2008-01-10T07:20:00.000-08:00

breaking news: Toshiba 920T is also unlocked!
pretty much same spec as 911t except
1. better screen (same size resolution), better visibilty under the sun
2. larger battery 930mah vs 800mah on 911t
3. different design, key alignment, and finishing (less fingerprint prone)
4. slightly thicker, less than 1mm; slightly lighter as well

about 30USD more expensive than the 911T

email me if you are interested
xumdeo at yahoo dot com.hk

2008-01-10T07:01:00.000-08:00

got a lot of people inquiring about the Toshiba 911T and Sharp 904
you can email me if you have any questions, with shipment and all
xumdeo at yahoo dot com.hk

2008-01-04T05:18:00.000-08:00

the belated Sharp 904SH has been unlocked!

yes, but the story is not as straight forward as the 911T
at least you would be able to use ur 2G SIM cards as well

read

let me know if you want one ;)

2007-12-30T08:38:00.000-08:00

seriously, if you want to take Taiwan back, don't screw things up.

陸委會呼籲中國儘快落實對香港「港人治港、高度自治」的承諾

對於中國「全國人民代表大會常務委員會」今（29）日公布有關香港政制發展報告書的審議結果，否決香港在2012年普選行政長官（俗稱特首）及立法會議員，同時，雖然同意在2017年可以普選特首，以及最快在2020年可以普選立法會議員，但都還存在不確定的變數，行政院大陸委員會表示遺憾與關切。

陸委會指出，雖然香港經濟復甦，近年來每逢在7月1日香港移交週年紀念日仍有為數眾多的人上街遊行爭取全面普選，民調也顯示，長期以來，約有六成左右的香港民眾希望盡快落實普選，顯示香港民眾對於普選權的期待甚殷。但是中國卻一再以香港仍不具備條件為理由，拖延落實普世價值的民主政治，甚至以「全國人民代表大會常委會」有解釋香港基本法的最終權力，以及有權審議特區政府所提修改選舉辦法的報告書，透過釋法或決定審議報告結果的方式，斷然否決在某個年限前實現全面普選。中國政府蠻橫的舉措，已迫使部分香港民眾以絕食方式來表達爭取普選的決心，如果，中國還是漠視香港主流民意，藉口推延實現香港普選，將逼迫香港民眾採取更激烈的手段抗爭，這將是對中國領導人一再倡言要建立「和諧的社會」、「走向民主的道路」的諷刺。

陸委會指出，中國近來積極的想要在國際間尋求認同，其實，實踐對香港「高度自治」的承諾，就是中國對國際社會顯示其誠意的具體作為，陸委會呼籲中國儘快落實對香港「港人治港、高度自治」的承諾。

source

2007-12-29T06:27:00.000-08:00

almost towards the end of my well-earned christmas holiday, it came at the right time, just when I needed it the most. gonna be at a tough block in the coming 2 months, 7am every morning, imagine that.

gained back half of the lost 5 pounds, it's a lot of food of course, eating and cooking is what chinese are very good at doing after all.

coming up would be an article comparing nokia n82 and ku990, actually I also had the se k850 with me, but the results were too embarassing that I decided to remove it myself, the k850 is simply not worth mentioning.

so both the viewty and n82 were good phones, but I would defintiely fall for the n82, despite its suboptimal keypad (how bad is it? it's as bad as the k850, if not worse because it is literally quote painful unquote to use). the touchscreen on the viewty was a lot better than expected (well improved from the Prada phone). the only problem with the viewty would be it's relatively weak flash (yet overshooting in ALL macros), poor auto whitebalance indoor and unreliable autofocus. the video mode was simply amazing, and could squeeze some extra pixel comparing to the n82.

i was not particularly impressed with then GPS on n82, i doubt the practicality of the so called urban-guide which is heavily marketed. you simply cannot get a wide enough projection angle (120') in the middle of nathan road (where else do you need it? in a mall with directory? hiking? driving? you would have bought a real map because the battery is crap)

nonetheless the n82 managed to fix a lot of weaknesses of the n73. the system is indeed a lot faster and stabler, the night shot purple fog is gone, ringtones are less squeaky (but softer), video ringtone is added, 3.5mm earphone jack WiFi GPS are added, microSDHC supported... but, the event LED is still nowhere to be found. so I'm really having second thought whether to pick one up myself.

speaking of event LED, that's exactly what makes the toshiba 911T shine on top of all sliders. it does feel amazing in hand, the keypad is very comfortable to use and the screen is awesome. the menu is only scaled from wqvga cuz the system wasn't ready back in spring (my theory is that some people are withholding something to make money out of an older model, but that somebody is not me because I personally do not possess the super power to unlock such phones). anyway, i'm seriously considering getting a silver or white 911t myself, (or a super cheap white 903sh), I really don't know... ~~or should I save up for a minor-upgraded-N82 too?~~ (whoops I did not just say that)
__________________________________________________________________

I was at the gym tonight, and guess what that girl using the treadmill was playing? Namie amuro! not just the CD, but a live DVD. I still think she's amazing. ayumi, kodakumi simply cannot match up. you have to see how amuro moves, she doesn't have to dress like a slut, or change her image for every single album. she's just her, wearing the same miniskirt and long boots, something that the Japanese are stll crazy about after 17+ years, because of her.

this is her last performance before she left to get married in 1997, and the song was about getting married, so it was quite emotional for her, to put down everything that she has worked for. she was at the top of her career at that time, the whole Japan was really REALLY crazy about her, more so than Ayumi at any time. I'm not saying that she's really pretty, neither am I saying that she can sing really well (I used to think she's really crap, until she went downhill LOL), but she's a huge part of the Japanese phenomena, in between the 100% materialistic ebichan + keitai generation and the rich-but-I-can-still-cook generation; or simply, the transition between normal to hyper-rejuvenilized-super-cutie gals in japan.

ah well, I'm getting old.

2007-12-20T07:23:00.000-08:00

the softbank toshiba 911T has been unlocked

but it will only run on WCDMA networks
so it's a bad idea if the place you live doesn't have good WCDMA coverage (which is most parts of the world, except hong kong singapore taiwan japan korea, some scandinavian countries and some city centers of big cities)

yes, the 3.2MP CMOS camera is alright, with autofocus, takes VGA 30fps movies
the 3" 480x800 WVGA screen is awesome.

1. GPS will not work
2. no luck with getting online just yet
3. MMS requires tedious manual setting
4. call in call out SMS no prob
5. one-seg DMB won't work, of course
6. neither would Felica electronic money work
7. some re-provisioning issues with early firmwares, still working
8. no MP3 ringtones, but yes to 3G2 (MP4) and MMF
9. music can be dragged and dropped with a card reader (as reported by itmedia)
10. A2DP works fine

let me know if you're interested, I can get pretty good deals I think
lol

2007-11-25T01:33:00.000-08:00

SonyEricsson P3i leaked on MSN China site (read)

sorry guys, been extremely busy, didn't even have time to talk about the docomo 905/705i series. but NEC seems to be back on track with the N905iu and N705i. Sharp decided to go into CMOS whilst giving up CCD across all models for NTT and Softbank. So pick up a sh904i(s) if you're sentimental.

the LG Viewty KU990 doesn't look bad at all, easily makes a strong competitor for SE K850i. Nokia N82 pictures look good, I would have gotten any of these 3 phones if they have event-LED indicators (viz the nokia 7900/5300). The hinge on my v902T is getting old, I might i have to switch to a v903sh by xmas. Why old phones? why not samsung g800? (actually i might consider it if it has recurrent vibra for missed messages)

I just can't live without my darn LED notifier.

2007-10-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

sonyericsson's new UIQ UI leaked, apparently. screens here (link)

so the cybershot phone so905ics may get announced on nov1 afterall, 3x optical zoom baby. the n905iu looks really really good in real life, panasonic's viera phone is also inteesting (p905itv), sharp's a little boring, one aquous and one that looks like pana's first hsdpa phone.... boring

2007-10-24T09:06:00.000-07:00

more spy pics of the 905i series, to be announced on nov1
mitsubishi d905i on your left, and the fujitsu f905i in the middle and right
in case you missed the earlier post of NEC n905i and n905iu, scroll down

2007-10-22T05:22:00.000-07:00

Samsung waited for till today to announce the 5MP 3 optical zoom G800 camera phone, to co-inside with Softbank's 920SC, which is basically a better looking Japanese version of that. the difference is that this Softbank 920SC uses a 2.4" QVGA OLED, as opposed to the TFT found on the G800 outside Europe. Also the firmware and UI will be completely different.

Also announced was the followup of the ultra popular Sharp AQUOS DMB phones, both that are significantly thinner than the previous models, 18-14mm comparing to 20+mm
the upper model uses a 3.2" 16:9 WVGA (480x854 pixels) screen, with a 3.2MP AF cam (CMOS, sorry folks, we all miss that CCD, let's hope for sh905i)

as for the cheaper model, it will house a WQVGA screen and a 2mp cam. and one more 12mm thin model that is a non-cyclone screened DMB flip phone.

toshiba had their 920T, 3" WVGA screen, one-seg DMB and a 3.2MP AF camera, not too special

Panasonic showed us the 820P and 821P, one with a girlier design of pretty much the same thing. 2.8" WVGA screen, and some cool illumination effects, will show you some live pics when I get them.

yes, and a lot of people asked me about AU's announcement last week, nothing spectacular, just some new 2.8" OLED WQVGA screens sourced from samsung SDI, and most models shown were powered off (not ready)

2007-10-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

Learn chinese in 5 minutes.
(You must read them aloud) English, followed by Chinese

That's not right
Sum Ting Wong

Are you harboring a fugitive?
Hu Yu Hai Ding

See me ASAP
Kum Hia Nao

Stupid Man
Dum As

Small Horse
Tai Ni Po Ni

Did you go to the beach?
Wai Yu So Tan

I bumped into a coffee table
Ai Bang Mai Ni

I think you need a face lift
Chin Tu Fat

It's very dark in here
Wai So Dim

I thought you were on a diet
Wai Yu Mun Ching

This is a tow away zone
No Pah King

Our meeting is scheduled for next week
Wai Yu Kum Nao

Staying out of sight
Lei Ying Lo

He's cleaning his automobile
Wa Shing Ka

Your body odor is offensive
Yu Stin Ki Pu

Great
Fa Kin Su Pa

(thanks Diana)

2007-10-15T06:08:00.000-07:00

alright, more photos for the 905i series.
NEC N905i, 3" WVGA+ (480x854) swivel screen phone with 5.2MP AF camera, one-seg DMB, neuropointer and softbank706N-ish backlight design
NEC N905iu (greek letter mju really) 12.9mm thin HSDPA phone, 2MP cam
Sharp SH905i with 3.2MP cam, but pretty sleek and thin for a WVGA 3" screened phone with DMB (48mm wide 16.8mm thin). there should be DOLBY sound as well (if they manage to get the deal on time, that is)

NTT's announcement is soon.....

but we'll kick off with AU KDDI's first,
which is tomorrow

mouth sealed, they got some interesting stuff there
why bother knowing 12hrs earlier?

2007-10-13T06:47:00.001-07:00

Fresh off Fergie's new music video "Clumsy", fast forward to 3'12". Yep, that's the funny looking 8GB Motorola music phone that we've shown you awhile ago. Guess what, it's still not announced yet.

2007-10-05T08:19:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Japan mistakenly made IE7 public, yes, freely downloadable (read)

and this is a really cool USB gadget i stumbled upon this evening, it's called the availabot

and updates from sawajiri erika, apparently the company's gonna stop all her activities in 2008, that's basically the end of her career... a regular japanese idol can only top the industry in 2 years. rare exceptions would include namie amuro who managed to stay afloat after her marriage, baby and divorce... but she was way way more popular to start with than sawajiri.

2007-10-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

this is the longest Japanese sentence I've seen in many years LOL

it also shows you the characteristic of the Japanese language, the ability to add on tonnes of suffices and clauses in front of a word/phrase/statement. so it's almost like you need to do the blocks in ur head and start picturing before the sentence ends. i really cannot imagine studying economics in Japanese.

and you can watch how Sawajiri Erika acting like a butthole here at her movie's press conference, ignoring all questions. it's also really funny how the MC tried to laugh off the embarrassment by saying crap like aaah really there's not a scene that ur particularly into... perhaps ur so into the whole movie.... director? please tell us when you want to share, thank you very much (erika Glared at the MC) ah that might be too personal for you (Erika GGlared again) aaaah, i understand, i understand, YES! thank you VERY much though.

LOL

so she issued a statement of apology

and then she cired on TV, cuz everybody hated her, u know how powerful tabloids can be

so Japanese.

2007-10-02T04:18:00.000-07:00

CEATEC show in Japan, some cool products

Sharp's scanner mounted ON a display. demo here

Docomo's ego-crushing phone, hits boys and girls just as hard (read)

and also the phone with electronic-ink based alphanumeric keys that can change the display on the key when appropriate. that should have great tactile feedback, and better power-management than those dual screen touch screen phones.

just for teh record, here's mitsubishi's double touch screen phone (link)

2007-09-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

Sony to start selling OLED TV on Dec1, 200K yen for a 11" 960x540 pixels panel
the thinnest part is only 3mm!!

with built in digital TV tuners as well
HDMI input 1x, USB and ethernet plugs

remember how Samsung dissed Sony that they didn't believe it'll be possible to ship OLED TVs/monitors before 2008?
Yes it's kind of small, and it's not the 27" HD beauty we saw earlier this year, that would have costed 1M yen seriously. I can imagine those Koreans getting pretty frustrated, or who knows they might issue a statement tomorrow mocking the TV as not being a TV cuz it's 11"?

(this is what you get reading this blog, hours and hours earlier than those big gadget sites)

and in case you missed this a coupla days ago, just to prove how durable their products are, Panasonic tortured all of their laptops at a press conference, all models across all lines. I call that guts. (read)

2007-09-27T00:47:00.000-07:00

Sony Japan announced the new A910 walkman series with One-seg DMB tuner built in, so that makes it Japan-exclusive

a 2.4" QVGA screen that supports recording one-seg DMB TV programs. max capacity is 16GB (choice of 4, 8GB as well). Noise canceling is built in. 86.8x48x12.3mm 74g, reasonably sized, and the new button layout looks logical. DSEE technology to reduce encoding/decoding artifacts, bundled with a 13.5mm unit in-ear earphone, so that is not crappy at all.

all these would make the A910 possibly the DAP with the highest value (lowest profit margin) minus the Wifi. SonicStage and ATRAC are still supported, but I can tell you that the Japanese really don't mind all that much.

The whole feature list is very Japanese-market oriented (noise cancelling, one-seg, great earphones), doubt if it will be launched outside the country.

47800yen for 16Gb, out in late November. Direct competition would be Toshiba Gigabeat

2007-09-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

Holy! infobar2 concept is for real, out in November (read)

walkthrough and pics here

2007-09-25T00:17:00.000-07:00

How to find out whether your iPod classic uses Toshiba or Samsung HDD? (read)

Sony's new coffee-proof fingernail-proof drop-proof VAIO, and it doesn't look like an ugly dynabook! (read)

and the all new Vaio type L series, (22" screened model) hanging on the wall now. i think it looks goood (want a bigger screen? vaio with DMB can run on bravia)

it does look like a photoframe without the keyboard

They've also updated the Type U Vaio with a 1.2Ghz CPU now (core solo, sorry folks)

2007-09-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

My T650i review has been published on MobileBurn.

"The release of the Sony Ericsson T650 signifies two things: first, the revival of the T series, and secondly, an indication of the company's first step into the fashion world. By definition the T650 is built for anesthetic viewing pleasure, not simply for the music or the camera. It is considered to be a mid-range phone that reconciles size, function, and fashion. Today we will see if it can really make you look good, or if the user will be left feeling like a fashion victim."

Read

2007-09-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

so here's a spy pic of the Fujitsu F905i.

As I said before when I showed you the D905i pic, the F905i will house the largest screen in the whole 905i series, topping at 3.2" diagonally WVGAplus resolution (480x862pixels) at 16770K color. Camera will be a 3.2MP CMOS with autofocus.

It will make use of the swinging screen design firt found on F904i, which has proved to be popular. One of the most important updates would be the much-improved multitasking capabilities, now allowing you to watch one-seg DMB broadcast and use the full HTML browser side by side. (similar to sharp's aquos models) actually looking that the design, it pretty much resembles Sharp's 912SH... but the 912SH can swivel the screen to the middle position, it's a wayyyy more complex hinge comparing to Fujitsu and Samsung and LG's monoplanar hinges

oh, and the watching TV when browsing the internet is not a new thing, again this is dubbed from 912SH

I just need to clarify about the D905i I mentioned, it does NOT have MSN messenger, but I was only hinting that there would be something similar to MSN messenger with a really gimmicky function making use of the camera..... and the chat session (nope, video call is already out there years ago, so I'm not talking about the webcam-ish function that is not even worth mentioning, you can do that in Europe)

2007-09-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

whoops, O2 has leaked motorola Z10
nothing more than a Z8 plus 3.2MP camera really

2007-09-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

A Dutch site has confirmed that the unannounced Samsung G800 would indeed house a 3x optical zoom, xenon flash on top of a 5MP module.

If the lens optics does not mess up with the sensor, this could probably take the best pictures we have ever seen for a while (since sharp 903); because so far the G600 pics are looking better than Nokia N95 and SE K850i. The only threat left might be LG Viewty, but not very likely IMO unless LG migrates the CCD cam module on KG920.

Source

2007-09-10T04:25:00.000-07:00

sony's new ROLLY is an mp3 player with a pair of good enough speakers that can DANCE. (flip, turn, roll, spin) you can also choreograph the moves using their program, or simply treat that as an A2DP speaker for your phone.

since the announcement this morning, it has received the most cynical comments I have ever seen for a while, saying that it's retarded to completely useless.

just for the record, the rolly 1GB version will be sold at 35000Yen when it is released on sept29 in Japan.

i do think it's kind of cute, and good for branding, they're turning concepts you see in anime and sci-fi movies into reality. don't expect it this to sell any better than the Aibo, but when aibo is not around, this kind of cliche product might be essential for their image in the long run. if sandisk can come out with the useless shaker, why can't sony make their rolly?

you can watch the video here or download it here

personally the biggest problems are the Software (sonicstage CP again) and the price, if they want to target this to teenagers who have *just* grown out of pokemons

2007-09-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

aight just showing u a leaked pic of the mitsubishi d905i, part of the NTT DoCoMo winter line-up for highend 905i series.

3.1" 480x864 WVGA+ 262k color screen (no that is not the largest display in the line up, the largest would be 3.2" on fujitsu f905i) , lots of software modification with the most advanced one-seg softwares out there, and a couple of functions that might seem trivial but completely out of this world. think msn messenger on ur pc, think html emails, think the best hdd pre-recording settings out there. now stare at the pic again, it's a frigging phone afterall.

the cam module should be sourced from sharp i.e. 3.2mp ccd, not some crappy noisy cheapy toshiba cmos, but ccd that actually looks good. plus af, needless to say.

one of the sony phones under 905i will use microSD as well. u can guess which one it is, and under what condition will they allow that. (if you're familiar with japanese phones, you can think along the lines of chaku-uta I/O limitations)

2007-09-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

i think i can barely contain myself for this
but the iPod touch is a real deal (iPhone minus the phone)

the fatty ipod plays videos as well

iPod classic goes up to 160GB

OMG i might finally get my first iPod lol

2007-09-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

sonyericsson is apparently dishonest with k850i's cam performance, as the german site is posting up "sample pics" that are NOT taken by the k850i cam. story here

before reporting on that, a lot of people have warned me of the demage it would do to the company. oh yes it would, but i can tell you that the k850i is able to produce good pictures, and i dont see the reason why they had to be dishonest about it. the only thing i can imagine would be time constraint.

and really, it has not changed my plan to buy a k850i for myself. i just felt the need to reflect on and discourage dishonest marketing (or fire that frigging marketing firm, really anytime). SE has made enough mistakes this year, and this is really a bad thing to wrap up a year.

For the rest of Q4, please give us some hope in 2008, and rebuild your brand.

p.s. a friend pointed out that SE is only dishonest with the website, not the phone if they are being dishonestl keeping in mind that pre-production units can /should /hopefully/ diplomatically not reflect actual performance

2007-08-31T02:50:00.000-07:00

1. motorola's leaked a new, amazing, amazingly ugly 8GB music phone. pictures here

2. SonyEricsson's cybershot spypic shows an iPhone wannabee?

We need to stop calling devices iPhone killers, because it cannot be killed. No matter how you argue that the iPhone is not selling as well it should have been, you cannot deny the fact that it has and it will influence the design of many devices.

At the press event earlier this week, Nokia went as far as saying that they were not afraid of copying if it's good. What about SonyEricsson? We don't really know, but what we see from this so-called leaked picture of another cybershot device might suggest that they are agreeing to what Nokia said.

Take note of that K750i reflection on the device, and the factory/ warehouse-ish lights. If this is legit, this would definitely not be the rumored Japan-bound SO905i(CS) cybershot phone, but something very exciting for everybody outside Japan.

2007-08-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

after all these years of struggle, sony has finally given up on their ATRAC technology and opted to open up their Walkman. so the announced the all new A series, of uninteresting designs but very capable functions that are really honestly comparable to iPods. drag and drop, and also supports WMP (with WMA DRM). i think microsft is the biggest winner here. sony will be shutting down the CONNECT music store in 2008 as well. i feel sorry for them, but this is what happens when you ignore consumers' voices for YEARS.

i hope sonyericsson won't repeat their mistake, because their flagship phones don't have a flag this year.

here's what samsung's doing with their mp3 players. the yp-p2. 3" 428x240 touch screen. 100x52.9.2, supporting all MP3, WMV, WMA, H.264 (MPEG4 AVC), MPEG-4 (ASF). oh, it doesnt require you to use iTunes either. i will take this over a nano anytime.

you want tips sony? simply look across the sea at korea. you should be ashamed of your 1997-style UI

despite criticism to the video quality of their HD xacti video camcorders, sanyo has upgraded the series this morning, claiming the title of the world's smallest 1920x1080pixels full HD d-cam, and the design does look great imho

very ergonomic and comfortable. the black version should be featured in batman movie, seriously.

max bit rate is only 12Mbps, which is a bit worrying to be honest (panasonic's 1920x1080 at 13mbps, sony's and canon's 1440x1080 at 15mbps)
we'll have to see how the actual production model performs, i really hope it does well because this thing is quite close to the price-range of panasonic SD7

HTC Nike (the slider version of HTC Touch) came out to be HT1100 under NTT DoCoMo.
this might attract some cooperate users, (esp non-japanese ones, but how big is that market? tiny!). docomo is now making themselves look like the vodafone KK (who failed years ago), they're also announcing this fingerprinting-enabled ugly looking fujitsu slider (F1100) with a very amateur design, wm6 and wayyyy too many buttons.

without a great screen, and lack of i-mode support, this will need some killer design (what? FOMA without i-mode, how can you live without i-mode? panic panic panic). no felica? what? coperate users? but why is there a camera? cameras are not allowed in our buildings! you see? this just doesn't work.

oh one more big problem, nation-wide panic, no LED indication for missed calls/messages?? gosh, i thought the taiwanese *knew* the japanese market.

i'm not sure the japanese market will buy this to be honest, this will do VERY well in hong kong and the rest of asia pacific howver. anyway, this HT1100 is still reasonably thin at 16.5mm, no news on CPU and RAM yet as it is subject to change. my bet is 300mhz and 128mb RAM, and they're still having issues with battery (HSDPA plus wm6 in that body, go figure)

good luck, NTT docomo. i'm not too impressed with ur 705i/905i either. you need to hunt some head from AU seriously before it's too late.

and HTC please, forget about the japanese market, what are you trying to prove. the next big thing should be entry-level WM6 device for everybody. or one that packs a decent camera in a REASONABLE size.

2007-08-29T02:47:00.000-07:00

FCC has banned T650 from being sold in the US, lol (read) SOnyEricsson must be pissed

Creative's Zen (nothing), creative's zen, yes they're calling their new player ZEN and Zen only (only is not part of the name). back to basics, 2.5" QVGA screen with up to 16GB capacity and an extra SDcard slot. all wrapped up nicely in a 11mm thin credit card sized body. supports tunes bought on iTunes, also divx and xvid. I think this is well done, creative, really. not very creative, but i like it. 83x55x11.3mm 65g

japan-wise, panasonic has updated their d-snap, added bluetooth support to that (all of A2DP, AVRCP, HFP). SDHC slot as well, a very japanese design for you to hang over ur neck, a long body for your fingers to reach that d-pad-ish control. 91.3x35x12.3mm 38g

2007-08-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

5 new phones from nokia tmr, leaker press pics are here

2007-08-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

Sharp's new aquos proto: this is how it floats, a 52" LCD screen. 20mm thick only. wireless. yeah

watch how this baby gets hidden in your living room whatever-rack (video here)

also check sony's new 3.5" screen-ed cybershot T200 cam

whaaam it spans over the whole back
touch screen, oh yes

8MP CCD, 5x optical zoom, mechanical optics stabilizer
dont think it's gonna take good pictures tho, it will only make the person holding the camera look good
i'm sure this will sell. 400USD

2007-08-20T05:54:00.000-07:00

sonyericsson new optical zoom cybershot phone leaked.
pictures and story here

do you believe that this is really a careless leak? or a marketing stunt
when nokia has their n82 and samsung their G800+G500

samsung might win this time around, i've seen sample pics of those devices.
and the new samsung UI is great. i like it fancy and snappy.

2007-08-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

PLayed with the SE K770i this afternoon, nice little device
but nothing that speaks too loud of it, apart from the lights at the back that flashes when the camera starts up

and the revival of backlighted shutter key :)
the dual-column camera shortcut keys (blue) are also welcomed

Personally I prefer the funkier T650i

The MobieBurn Gallery has just gone live. (read)

2007-08-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

To Punish Thai Police, a Hello Kitty Armband
By SETH MYDANS

BANGKOK, Aug. 7 — It is the pink armband of shame for wayward police officers, as cute as can be with a Hello Kitty face and a pair of linked hearts.

No matter how many ribbons for valor a Thai officer may wear, if he parks in the wrong place, or shows up late for work, or is seen dropping a bit of litter on the sidewalk, he can be ordered to wear the insignia.

“Simple warnings no longer work,” said Pongpat Chayaphan, acting chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok, who instituted the new humiliation this week.

“This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor,” he said. “Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It’s not something macho police officers want covering their biceps.”

Ten of the armbands have been prepared, but so far none have actually been issued, according to an officer who declined to give his name while discussing this sensitive topic.

“After this policy came out, the police are scared,” the officer said. “It will be very embarrassing to walk around with Hello Kitty on your arm.” It is a step down from the Crime Suppression Division’s official motto: “When you have no one to turn to, come to us.”

Mr. Pongpat, who has trained with the American Secret Service and the Canadian police, was promoted to head the division three months ago and says he wants to modernize his force, “even though we lack the highest technology, equipment and mind-set.”

An aide, Maj. Weeraprach Wonrat, said the chief was a believer in behavioral science and in the “broken window theory,” which holds that small changes can have large effects.

Pink armbands for misdemeanors are a start. Stronger measures could be next for corruption and extrajudicial killings.

An early experiment using armbands was not encouraging. Mr. Pongpat first tried using plaid ones. But instead of feeling shame, Major Weeraprach said, the officers took them home as souvenirs. The force still has only one of the ten it originally issued.

After that misfire, police commanders met again to consider strategy, he said, and agreed that Hello Kitty might work where tartan had failed.

So far, he said, there is no fallback plan. The department has not yet decided what punishment to impose if officers make off with their pink armbands as well.

source: NY times

thanks Kai
koko suggested that all professors with poor feedbacks should wear them to class lol

my friends are so messed up

2007-08-10T02:10:00.000-07:00

have you ever seen this? the typhoon can actually come back and hit hk

2007-08-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

headlines
1. casio's exilim camera phone picture quaity disappints (W53CA). read
2. testing out PSP's new DMB tuner, and TV-out capabilities. read

2007-08-06T03:45:00.000-07:00

attention iPhone fans, Hong Kong is selling fully unlocked iPhones!! dialing/receiving calls are fine, SMS works too. they claimed that GPRS and MMS should work as well. wait till tues/weds, we'll find out. (source)

panasonic's race-car speeds at 122km/h, running on 192 AA-sized batteries. (video and news here)

2007-08-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

there's this girl in hong kong who broadcasted her suicidal attempt over 3G, but the spectator at the other side of the line stopped her. morbid but geeky story. read

hitachi's new 8cm blu-ray disk AVCHD camcorder 1080x1920. 7.5Gb per disk, 10USD@. me like.

and canon's first HDD camcorder, ACVHD 1080x1440

the company is famous for their cautious market moves
check the scroll wheel nest to the screen. me like.

panasonic's world's smallest HD camcorder
still retaining the 3CCD and optical image stablizer and full 1080x1920 (not the crappy sony/canon 1080x1440)
well done, really, well done
and the new 8GB SDHC card will be sold at 8500yen, that's a very good price: less than 9USB/GB. (due mid sept)

and few will realize that the DVD-SDHC hybrid cam can copy movies/photos between eachother within the machine

and all these new camcorders from panasonic can act as AVCHD decoder and HDMI source to a TV from a HDMI-less non-AVCHD-ready DVD player (playing off an H264-DVD disc). that's awesome!

2007-07-31T08:25:00.000-07:00

AU's new triple-screened concept phone looks really really cool. read

and here's something real useful, if ur gonna buy a new DC, a huge side-by-side review of 52 fifty-frigging-two cameras in one go. only japanese can do that seriously, you don't need to know the language, just click on the thumbnails and see for yourself. read.

2007-07-29T01:45:00.001-07:00

here're 2 videos of Samsung's G600 5MP cam, VGA movie recording HSDPA slider phone. 14.9mm thin

supposedly this will start shipping before the SonyEricsson K850i

The other G800 would be the real threat, with a xenon flash and a 3x optical zoom 5MP cam, tho that would only be ready towards the end of the year (the earliest) or Q1 08 (a safer prediction)

Nokia will be having some major announcements as early as this week as well

2007-07-17T05:22:00.000-07:00

fujitsu has done it again! this time they're selling the f704i with bikini girls, as if we're not sick of their tub girl idea yet.

story and pictures here.

2007-07-13T09:39:00.000-07:00

posting some videos of phones i took videos of when i was in japan

sharp sh904i with touch cruiser

fuitsu 904i with 3.1" WQVGA swing screen and DMB

2007-07-12T09:29:00.000-07:00

i wonder why nobody on the english blogosphere has reported the new reduced-size PSP yet

4.4mm thinner, 91g lighter, new TV out, shrunk battery but new power management to keep it about the same as the old one, faster UMD loading speed

i've been staring at that pic for 12 hrs now

2007-06-28T08:10:00.000-07:00

i got the whole 704i series with me, but im too lazy to publish the pics

the LG L704i is a chololate slider, but looking better than the original
some of them are tiny (not tiny, but smaller) DMB (one-seg) devices
panasonic migrated the softbank 910P sliding mechanism to P704i
all the 704iu look like the older models, but slightly updated design, looking curvier and more cyber now
so704i pic, i've published on esato already
sh704i, 2.6" swivel screen, pocketable one-seg device
f704i, water proof as usual

all in all, not very exciting, NTT DoCoMo is just trying to do what AU does.
+ GSM roaming for some of the phones
don't email me and ask me if they're unlockable, they're not.

2007-06-27T09:28:00.001-07:00

taipei has this toilet-themed restaurant
and everything in there look like..... crap

but that's the whole point

source

2007-06-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

My Samsung U600 review has been published

"Samsung's SGH-U600 set a world record for thinnest slider handset on the market, a record that Samsung itself had set. The new U600 is thin - thinner than many of the thinnest candy bar shaped handsets available today. The danger of miniaturization, such as we see in the U600, is often compromised ergonomics and usability. In this review we'll see if Samsung can avoid those issues with their latest and greatest slider phone."

(read)

2007-06-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

If you happened to be in Japan, one of the most eye-bogging things with hip girls would be those nails. seriously, how can they manage texting on phones? We asked Rina, a 16yo expert in nails AND texting

"ooooh, hai hai! I use stickers," she winks, "lots of them", she winks again, "check out all these kitties and doggies and hearts on the keys, they're all poking out and textured, that's how I type wa, kawaiiii ne? o hohohoho", apparently Rina is much smarter than she sounds.

source

2007-06-21T20:59:00.000-07:00

SonyEricsson Z750i to support GPS???? just found out this morning (source)

creative's new StonePLUS mp3 player
looks good actually I must say
2GB
here's how it looks like with those external speakers :)

2007-06-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

Since there is never enough space in a woman's purse, so cosmetic company Modelco has attempted to solve the problem with their new $27 lip gloss brush. With the magnifying mirror over the cap, and the LED on the brush, this 3-in-1 package can give excellent visibility for urgent powder-up anytime, anywhere... even in places where the sun does not shine.

source

2007-06-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

my LG KE970 Shine review has been published

"LG are hoping to repeat the success story of the Chocolate phone with a new line of products under the Black Label Series: the all-mirror, all-metallic new Shine label. The idea of a series of similarly styled designer handsets is nothing new, but there is yet to be a company that could turn the concept into a worldwide sensation like LG. Today we will take a look at the LG KE970 Shine slider, and try to understand why it has managed to sell over 1 million units in just 4 months after launch."

read here

2007-06-18T03:32:00.001-07:00

more videos of the new SonyEricsson K850 & W960
1. 5 min demo of K850i, close up of the M2/microSD slot. does it fit? how long does it take to start up? how are the keys like? where's the lens protector?

2. reasons why you should not take the so-called camera samples off the k850i too seriously, may be it IS meant to look crap. (some of you have pointed out that the some of the scene mode settings were on, you're probably right, but I did try turning everything back to manual and it's still on. so I might be wrong, or the phone might be buggy, or they're different versions of prototypes flying around, as somebody was able to take a macro shots of flowers)

3. accelerometer on k850i in action. is it reliable? find out.

4. W960i new walkman interface showdown. how pretty is pretty?

2007-06-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

CORRECTION: the 3 softkeys on K850i are supposed to be touch sensitive, according to the white paper. I still have to say that they are quite poorly implemented, they're less sensitive than the touch keys found on LG chocolate and Samsung E900/U600. this might have to do with the tiny size.... or it's just me being stupid, or it's just the problem of my test machine, with the camera also busted for example.

2007-06-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

alrite peeps, the live pics i took today are up on MobileBurn for your reference
K850i is here
W960i is here
W910i is here
K530i is here
Z320i is here

2007-06-15T03:01:00.000-07:00

alright, videos of w910 and k850, by xumdeo :)

showing u the accelerometer

thanks KC for holding the U600 samsung phone for me lol

2007-06-15T02:06:00.000-07:00

alrite, i finally have the time to sit down and write about my hands-on impressions of the new SE phones

K850i
clearing up the queries first:
1. QVGA 30fps video recording, confirmed, don't argue, i have a picture to prove upon request
2. the camera lens protector is actually BEHIND the piece of glass (a surface you can wipe with your cloth), so you won't be wiping dust directly onto the lens

keypad: the alphanumeric keys work fine, it's easier to type than the N73 or 6300. feels similar to the one on T650. the d-pad is a bit clumsy, but once you get used to the position, it's actually faster than using the joy stick, especially when texting.
the 3 soft keys are NOT backlighted, they are a bit tough to press on (similar to W850's d-pad, if you find that ok, then the k850 is ok as well. CORRECTION: these keys are supposed to be touch sensitive, though I still think they're poorly implemented and not too sensitive, at least on the 2 test models I played with, one green one blue. this might have to do with the tiny size of the key... or it's the models' problem, or it's my problem. anyway, sorry about the confusion.
new media screen: here's to compete with Nokia really, expect a PSP/PS3-esque browsing experience, no problem at all
music player: it's not walkman, so no megabass, minus the full screen visualizations, it's really really close to the w960, so if you don't need megabass, the k850 works just as well as a music device (yes, flight mode, of course)
camera: frame refresh rate, focus speed are all comparable to the k800i, i.e. great. a full 5MP pic takes 2-3 seconds to save, which is pretty alright for a phone. we didnt test the pic quality since it is a proto, it is unfair to do that. you can check other sites for that.
accelrometer, yes, this is especially useful for viewing pictures, if you tilt the phone, the menu (PSP esque cross menu) will also tilt. very handy

W910i
i don't understand the craze about this phone, yes, the 2.4" screen looks great, and it's a thin slider. that's about it, updated walkman screen. *shrugs*

w960i
8Gb flash without ext memory slot. it does have a stylus slot. no 3.5mm earphone jack. start up is uber slow, i hope they can improve on that. the new walkman interface resembles that found on Japanese AU devices, i.e. very very attractive (ok, may be not as attractive and flexible as the ones found on W42S etc) full screen visualizations, and bubbles that follow your selection (viz the old V800/Z800). all in all a great update from W950. 3.2MP cam with AF, QVGA 30fps video recording (i got pics to prove, again)
the interface is slightly modified to make stylus-free access easier, especially when it comes to browsing media files.

K530
not interested

Z320
moto pebl design rip off, not interested

most pics will be up on mobileburn.com in the next few hours

2007-06-14T08:40:00.000-07:00

sonyericsson is indeed driving everybody crazy with their teaser videos
as rumored, the 3 new bluetoooth watches would allow u to control ur music tracks, reject calls, check the call ID, and vibra-alert u of new SMS/calls
they're also flashing those new phones in a matter of seconds in the videos
so u can see the new cybershot phone (5MP with xenon flash) and black walkman slider up there

teaser site here

there're also a coupla great phones, with all 8xx and 9xx index
so expect the flagship cybershot as well as the flagship walkman to be launched

one more hr to go and all will be official
i'll be taking live pictures for MobileBurn.com in the coming hrs

oh and just for starter, SE gave the world a middle finger in one of the videos (read) excellent PR, excellent

2007-06-13T09:09:00.000-07:00

sanyo's new projector can work from as close as 8cm from the wall; so it's literally kissing the wall. read here

2007-06-07T06:33:00.000-07:00

apparently you can attach the following modules to the Advaneced/W-ZERO[es] Sharp WM6 device

one-seg for DMB TV junkies

GPS antenna for hikers, bikers and drivers

bluetooth for those who don't use IrSimple or WiFi

keyboard and mouse for workaholics

2007-06-07T01:54:00.000-07:00

so the Sharp WM6 device turns out to be a non-iPhone-ish design
it's from a different reference design, and microsoft' rendering might be based on hearsay. the specifications we got (on gearfuse) are all accurate though
the new model is called Advanced W-ZERO3[es]. lovely name

and putting side by side with the older model

50×135×17.9mm

sorry u mucked up the calculations of the span :P so crap with maths every since they invented calculators, oh, i could have pressed the wrong buttons

the new Xcrawl button at the middle works something like a huge huge dragpoint, it's controlled by tilting pressure. ah well, big deal.

microSD slot, miniUSB plug, IrSimple, WiFi (b and g), PHS on Willcom with W-SIM

2007-06-06T03:58:00.001-07:00

just 24hrs before the official announcement, microsoft themselves fanned out Sharp's unannounced new super slick iPhone-ish WM6 device. pictures and specs here. Willcom and Sharp must be so mad.

PDAfrance took the article without referring back to us, courtesy, boys.
"hi, this is Sam Chan from Gearfuse.com, just would like to ask you please kindly quote your original source, which is here "http://www.gearfuse.com/microsoft-jp-fanned-out-unannounced-iphone-ish-sharp-wm6-device/"
this is important because the phone specifications were taken from our private source, it is not found on ITmedia. there're also 2 items in the specifications which we intentionally with-held, and obviously your site did not possess it otherwise you would have published it. the multiple of the height and width is 5754sq.mm for example"

and I also approxmiated the weight with an error of 1g to test how people would copy without verifying themselves. the real weight is 156.975g, which should be 157.0g 1dp

2007-06-05T01:09:00.000-07:00

geek reading:
1. Video: Toshiba tortures their new notebooks in front of press read
2. edible QR code on prawn crackers(ebisenbei) read
3. ramen in coke can, served cold read

2007-05-25T13:05:00.000-07:00

Nokia N76 review published

read here

2007-05-24T00:53:00.000-07:00

Holy motorola v8 and ur favorite geek- the ultimate geek photo
u can go to the flickr album, there're a coupla more shots

2007-05-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

LG's wine phone. it IS wine color. check out the red model.
i hate it when they don't dig any further themselves, and expect that all Asians are crazy. come on. who is crazy, whose country is still under development? i say most of the english speaking world is wayyy behind in terms of phones and computers at household level

cdma evdo. korean market only.
ext screen is a 1.3" 128x160 pixel TFT
internal 2.2" QVGA TFT
camera is only QVGA 0.3MP CMOS
99x49.5x16.2mm 93g
800mAh battery good for 200hrs standby 3hrs talk time max

2007-05-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

softbanks' announcement

sharp 912sh, 3" wvga screen dmb. aquos phone

watch TV and write emails at the same time? u've got it!

u have to see the real thing to believe in the new finishing

sharp 913SH full face designed slider. 16.8mm thin DMB built in. 2mp cam

touch sensitive buttons, backlighted blue. looks better than LG chololate cuz of the shape.

toshiba 912sh. swivel 16.9mm thin 240x400 screen DMB, 3.2mp cmos AF camera. HSDPA

yes toshiba has obviously learned their lesson

panasonic's 810P, 12.9mm thin slider. check out those lights man

new flat slide mechanism that makes the jump between dpad and alphanumeric keys so small. great idea

sharp 815sh. hsdpa. VGA 2.4" screen.

with sister model 814SH

Toshiba G900 becomes X01T (in white too!!). wm6. WVGA screen

we also have w02HT from HTC. wm6

toshiba fanfun 815T. eh no comment

crap is this for real??

goodbye kittie

814T sister machine, more manly

sharp's slider proto at CES becomes 816SH

alrite, just to make some of u happy, here's the w52s with the pill like button lighted up

and w53s

the jogdial in the middle of the d-pad also serves as the YES/ENTER button

now give it a few days, see if the large sites are gonna copy the info here, cuz those graphics won't mean anything without caption

2007-05-23T09:27:00.000-07:00

i'm almost done with the Nokia N76 review, gonna dive striaght into the LG Shine this weekend. it's 10 pages so far, over 5000 words I think, and you know things are not very good when they're long, especially in the mobile phone business.
recently I wrote a really long evaluation of another product for another company, which I have to shut up for another 2-3 weeks, and man, those guys were worried, because they know there's nothing much they can change to redeem, what's gonna change would take 12+ months to realize. it's almost like the fashion world, predict what will be hot in 12 months time (sometiems 18).
so i have to be really careful with my comments, i have a feeling that what i wrote about the n76 was too negative, because it's not as clear cut as the Samsung d830, which was and still is a crap phone. and n76 is a mixed bag, and i decided to give it anohter day before i decide on the verdict.
recently i met a couple of people who actually got to know me through my reviews, and the interview work that I do... parts of it released to a very limited crowd, and the rest on mobileburn gearfuse and other publications quoting me anonymously most of the time. even the n76, which i have helped with the development process esp the ext screen UI, i also faught for a lot of the FP1 features specifically that people will start to enjoy as more products roll out... and that was 12+ months ago and then I thought that the company was too big to listen to this Hong Kong dude that pops out of nowhere but knows their whole portfolio by heart. (but, eyes on FP2, that's where the real thang is gonna happen) so I have to be really careful with my words here, even this blog is not as private as it used to be.

anyway, back to the announcement this week. boy have they been busy, almost 30 phones got announced on te same day. and here's the trend
1. thinner phones. most flip phones with uber high specs are below 18mm
2. adaptation of higher resolution screens. now almost all of them have at least WQVGA, if not WVGA screens
3. neglegence of camera. the megapixel chase is over, we're onto quality now
4. DMB all the way, we never knew everyboy like to watch and record TV on the train
5. more fashion phones, different finishing, funky colors, cute designs, and tonnes, tonnes of exchangeable facets
6. sister phones, same spec, diferent designs
7. GSM support, we're gonna see more of that in 905i series tho

but since i didnt report these anonuncements on gearfuse, a coupla sites had no source to tell them what to report (eh hem), babelfish is still not good enough eh?

casio W52CA is a waterproof DMB device

casio W53CA is a WVGA-screened 5MP exilim camera with 2.8mm lens. no xenon flash too bad

hitachi w52h with Wooo plasma TV engine. 2.9" screen DMB. not interested sorry

sanyo w53ca. weird looking waterproof dmb phone for girls. 20mm thin

sony w52s w53s skip those, been talking about them too much

panasonic w52P yeah, panasonic does what panasonic does, exchangeable facets

toshiba w53t swivel screen dmb. 18mm thin

toshiba w54t 3" wvga screen with REZGA TV engine, 28mm 3.2mp camera, dmb.

sharp w52sh, 17mm thin 240x400 2.8" screen ASV with 6color filter. DMB. looks too casio to me

3 more phones that are too boring, don't bother

2007-05-23T02:42:00.001-07:00

xtreme ping pong eh
somebody's got too much time

2007-05-21T22:22:00.000-07:00

AU KDDI announced 15phones this morning, including the W52S I showed the pics here

but, all eyes to Casio's W53CA exilim 5MP AF cam phone with 28mm wide lens
wide VGA 480x800 screen.

more pics coming up

and softbank should be announcing theirs in the afternoon

2007-05-16T07:36:00.000-07:00

Fujitsu's tiny touchscreen notebook with typeable keyboard (key width 14mm). LIFEBOOK U

71x133x26.5-32mm 580g. intel A110 800Mhz CPU. Windows vista professional (yikes, isn't that gonna be slow?). CF slot, SD slot, fingerprint sensor. wifi 802.11n
I like it.

and yes, everybody's talking about motorola's razr2 HSDPA Z9
2MP fixed focus crap camera, but great screen and great design. (2.2" QVGA+2" QVGA sub)
12mm thinner than the original razr, the beer belly is gone, memory card is added

2007-05-16T07:08:00.000-07:00

HK DAB Chariman Ma Lik denies Tiananmen Massacre, compares bodies rolled over by tanks with burgers.

Just because all his friends (and fans) were giggling in front of the TV june4 1989, just because you had colorectal cancer and you know you're gonna die sooner or later, why not prove to the world that you are one die-hard hemorrhoid kisser?

5pm: he still insisted that what happened at Tiananmen Square wasn't a massacre.

Please, I was a kid and I was watching those guts falling out on TV on that day, and decided that China was (still is) a foreign country.

2007-05-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

SonyEricsson W52S, 2 more pics
give it another week, will be announced

2007-05-05T02:04:00.000-07:00

That's right folks, that's why it's been really quiet here

I got reviews lined up for me to do right after exams, the LG Shine-HSDPA, LG Prada, Nokia 6290, 5700, moto K3, SE K810i and a couple of models that I can't talk about for another week.

I'll have no choice but to pick only 2 or 3 from the list.

as for summer, it's gonna be tricky, i'll have to work throughout the whole of June, I might visit Singapore to see some friends, do some interviews with Microsoft and Nokia (they got their regional HQ there); might also go to Japan/Korea, definitely want to interview Samsung/LG/SKT apparently they got this whole design showroom they can show me (oh, the LG twin towers too), would love to get my hands on WiBRO in the city, not in the lab not during shows... we'll see how it goes.

2007-04-23T04:12:00.000-07:00

NTT DoCoMo announced the all new 904i series this morning

read
we're right, the NEC indeed houses a WVGA-plus screen

2007-04-18T23:03:00.000-07:00

sharp SH904i, mitsubishi D904i, fujitsu F904i pics leaked
(in the pic: sharp is black, mitsubishi is the slider, fujitsu is the cyclone screened)

more pics of N904i
official sites up with teaser (1) (2)

also check out the world's first WINDOW DUMBPHONE (windows without an S) link

2007-04-18T01:10:00.000-07:00

NEC N904i, official announcement should be a week later
but they're already showing it in Milan
designed by Stefano Giovannoni

2.7" WVGA+ (480x854?) TFT screen OMG

color subdisplay, oh ur so kind to keep that.

headlines
1. the REAL Porsche cellphone (link)
2. nintendo DS game trains ur eyes (link)
3. windows vista: remnants from the design pool (link)
4. sonyericsson leaks shinobu and nicole (link)
5. SE adriana, w970??? video oriented, thin swivel walkman. you decide how legit this is (link)