Category: My Good Life

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Diary

So I Tried Out The 1-For-1 Exchange Policy

Technology hates me.  That is an open secret.  Millions of people may have no problem with a particular product or service.  But when it comes to my hand, things just go wrong.  Friends would point their fingers at me and say: It is you!  Fair enough.  How am I to dispute?  Like the two phones of the exact model I bought a year ago.  One for Cynthia and one for me.  Mine has to die first.

I always return to a particular shop to buy technology related stuffs.  Not only because they allow me to do a bit of bargaining.  But also at the bottom of the pricing sheet it says 30 Days 1:1 Exchange.

This is the first webcam of my life!

One day after work, I drove 20km shopping for two webcams.  One for my front view.  One for my side view.  Yes, that is how much I love myself.  I bought Logitech HD Webcam C525.  Two of them.  And I have bargained the price down by 10%.  That is fair, I think, since the sales assistant has no value add except telling me that most people buy Logitech webcams.

I am sure millions of people have no problem with Logitech webcams.  I did.  Cynthia and I tried out Google Hangout (you don’t think both are for me, do you?!)  One with acceptable quality.  The one was blurry.  The white balance was off.  Could it be the subtle difference in lighting condition?  I put both webcams side-by-side.  The difference in quality was vast and obvious.  Had I bought one, I guess I would accept either one as it was.  But I bought two.

I have tried re-installing driver and software, swapping the webcams from the two computers of ours.  Nothing changed.  When I held out a piece of Sudoku newspaper cutting as the yardstick, one webcam was clearly blurry.  Perhaps something to do with auto-focus.  The only thing I haven’t tried was to flash its firmware.  On a hindsight, had I done that and purposely killed the webcam by interrupting the update, I could have had a much easier job in asking for an exchange.

So I packed the sort-of-faulty webcam back into its original packaging condition.  On the next day, I drove 20km and requested for a 1-for-1 exchange.  I first approached the Filipino.  He is a friendly guy and he has assembled a few of my computers.  I explained my problem, he looked at my receipt and said, “Talk to the blue shirt guy, the one who sold you the webcam.”

I moved deeper into the shop and approached the Blue Shirt Guy who looks like one of the vampire from Twilight Saga.  The better looking one.  Blue Shirt Guy remembered me and I explained my problem.  Yada, yada, yada.  From his expression, I could almost mind-read him saying, “Hold on a sec.  Let me get you a new one.”

In reality, he said, “Let me talk to my boss”.  His boss looked scary, located at the deep end of the shop.  The most unfriendly looking guy on this floor.  Blue Shirt Guy explained my problem – yada, yada, yada – in Chinese.  Somehow his speech didn’t seem to have the punch.  Therefore I offered my help, put on my charm, trying my best to present my case on why this working webcam has to be replaced.

Then there was whispering between Blue Shirt Guy and the Boss.  Like some sort of argument.  After what appeared as an eternity, Blue Shirt Guy said, “Come, walk with me”.  He led me to his back office operation center, which is a few shops round the corridor.  New computers are assembled in there.  Faulty computers are fixed in there.  As we walked, he explained, “I told my boss we don’t have a computer to test but he insisted.”  He then let out a long sigh.  All these seemed like an extra unnecessary job for him.  I got it.  It was an extra unnecessary walk for me too.

I always bond well with back office guys.  Because I am one too.  After Blue Shirt Guy explained Boss’s request, Back Office Guy protested, “We don’t have a spare computer for testing!”  Blue Shirt Guy concurred, “That is exactly what I said to him!”  Almost too comical.  I would have laughed out loud had my fate not hung on these two’s hands.  Blue Shirt Guy left shortly after the brief introduction and returned to the shop.  What was I suppose to do again?

Casually, Back Office Guy grabbed a newly assembled computer from the ground.  One that I assumed to be delivered to a customer very shortly.  We installed the driver and software, turned on the webcam.  I almost felt sorry to the unknown customer who now has some irrelevant stuffs installed into his or her computer.  Once we started the software, lo and behold, the sort-of-faulty webcam worked almost too perfectly.  The color seemed right and the auto focus seemed fine.  I was dumbfounded.  Without a comparison, it was hard to tell if the webcam was at its finest quality.  I wished I have brought the other one along.

So I stood there, totally awestruck.  And I tried to reason with the Back Office Guy that I wouldn’t have driven 20km had this thing worked perfectly.  We stood in front of the webcam for ages, with me trying to making faces to it from near and afar.  It just worked.  But I could not bring it back because I knew this one was not as good.

What’s next?

The Back Office Guy looked at me sympathetically and said, “I tell you what to say.  You say the image is a bit blurry and I have tested it.”  I repeated the password after him, word-by-word, and he nodded.  I almost wanted to give him a hug when I bid him goodbye heading back to the shop.

The Boss looked too fearsome.  So I approached the Blue Shirt Guy and repeated my password.  He smiled, more than willing to grab a new one for me.  I was pleased and said, “Would you like to call your guy to verify?”  He waved and mouthed: no need.  While he explained this glorious and groundbreaking finding to the Boss, I chitchatted with the Filipino for a bit.  Blue Shirt Guy returned with a white piece of paper and he asked, “What shall I write?”

I suppose he needed to return this sort-of-faulty unit to Logitech with a report.  I repeated the problem – yada, yada, yada – and he said, “Is that all?”  I was unsure how to make the report more dramatic so I nodded.  He passed me a new unit and I bagged it.  Then it was my turn to ask, “Is that all?”  He nodded and I left the shop.

The replacement unit definitely works much better than the sort-of-faulty one.  The same quality level as the other one I have.  Why this inconsistency in product quality?  Now I recall.  I once imported a Logitech Squeezebox from US.  My buddy bought one too.  His remote control worked well with a headphone while mine did not at all.  Perhaps with Logitech, there is a 50-50 chance that you would end up with a faulty unit?

Categories
For the Geeks

Why Guild Wars 2 Is Promising

As someone who has sunk in thousands of played hours and thousands of dollars into a single online game World of Warcraft, since 2004, no game has managed to tempt me to look the other way.  Until now.  I have recently participated in the Guild Wars 2 final beta weekend.  Putting my hyper-optimistic hat on, the game has blown my socks away.  Even with my skeptical hat on, S$59.99 is a no-brainer for such a fine game that has no monthly subscription fees.

When considering a MMO game, money is not the major component.  Time is.  In this blog post, I am going to critically look at Guild War 2 from the eyes of a WoW veteran as well as a loyal Blizzard customer.  I am not going to clinically dissect Guild Wars 2.  That I have already done so in Google+ and  the original write-up will be shared at the end of this post, together with a link to some of my favorite screenshots taken during the beta weekend.

Aesthetically Pleasing

From character customization to the environment, the art and graphics is top notch.  I have played many video games.  None has empowered me to create a truly beautiful and unique looking character to my liking.  From the finest facial features to body shape and height, even down to costumes and make-up.  I could spend hours customizing my character, name my character with a unique family name, and create a personal story. Why is this important?  As a role-playing game, emotional attachment is a key factor.  Guild Wars 2 just have that very edge.  To get us attached to our characters, and to the virtual world that is so beautiful to look at.  I want to be inside that world.

The Freedom to Progress

A typical online game usually consists of quest givers standing or pacing around a known location, dishing out known quests for us to earn experience points and rewards.  Collect 20 dried wood pieces and 20 metal scraps.  Kill 20 boars and loot 20 snouts.  Sure, there are quest texts that tell you why these wood and metal pieces, boars and snouts are so important.  Chances are, you yawn, skip the text, and do what is asked of you.  Everything is linear.  Predictability is a key feature for the traditional MMO games.

In Guild Wars 2, while there are still quest givers (like a few in the entire zone), most quests are driven by dynamic events.  What do I mean by that?  You venture into an area.  All of a sudden, there is a call-out signaling to you that there is an event happening nearby.  The farmers need some help.  You walk into the farm while other players may have already progressed into the event.  The event scales up as more players are in the area.  Multiple objectives are shown on your screen.  You can either help to drive out the waves of bandits.  Or put out the fire on the burning crops.  Or you could do some weeding, feed the cows.  The choice is yours.  If you feel like it, you could stay throughout the event, drive out as many bandits as you can or feed as many cows as you like.  Alternatively, after a certain level of contribution, you could walk away and do something else.  Chances are, there is another event happening next door.

So, what is the point in doing dynamic events?  Depending on your level of contribution, you may earn a bronze, silver, or gold medal that has a direct impact to your in-game currency and more.  But you don’t have to get a gold medal all the time.  You don’t have to collect 20 dried wood pieces, 20 metal scraps, kill 20 boars, and loot 20 snouts if you don’t feel it.  Participation is key.  You don’t enjoy the event?  Do a bit or none, then move on.  You like what you are doing?  Stay long enough and get a gold medal.  The choice is yours.

Another thing I notice is that in Guild Wars 2, there is no quest log, which in a traditional MMO, it is essentially a list of to-dos.  Online gaming should not feel like work.  As I enter a designated quest area, a quest would suddenly show up on my screen.  As I venture out of the area perhaps distracted by a nearby dynamic event, the quest would disappear, but the progress is saved.  The next time I return, the quest reappears, together with my past progress.

A Fresh Approach to Combat System

I wouldn’t say Guild Wars 2‘s combat system is far superior than other MMO games.  It is certainly sophisticated.  In a traditional MMO like WoW, you tend to have 20 or 30 buttons lined up on your screen.  You stand still, lock a target, and you cast a spell.  You mix a few spells according to some priority or rotation systems.  You may be required to occasionally move out of danger, or switch targets, that’s about it.  And then in a dungeon setting, there is this tank-heal-DPS trinity.  Each has a role to fulfill.  There is no go till the trinity is formed.

In Guild Wars 2, every profession (i.e. class) has a self-heal spell.  There is no tank or DPS concept.  Fallen allies can be revived.  You can move while casting spells.  You have a finite number of spells (like 10) depending on your profession and the weapon type.  You may switch to another weapon in the middle of a fight to switch 5 spells and potentially change your strategy.  Casting spells generates unique profession specific resources that can be consumed for a more powerful ability.  Even when defeated, you can still fight to survive using 4 abilities.  When you win, you get back up.  Is this a better combat system?  Too early to tell.  But I welcome a fresh approach.

The Freedom to Play When I Want, However Little I Want

Traditional MMO build their business model on recurring income.  To get you paying a monthly fee and continuing to play the game, they put in place incentives that compel you to play regularly.  Most are repetitive contents that may not even be fun by the time you have done it zillions of times.  But you will do it nonetheless; keep paying while you are at it; keep paying even when you hardly log on.

Guild Wars 2 by and large frees us from the above scenario.  You pay once and you can play as much or little as you like.  There is no monthly fees.  There will be micro-transactions though.  But I wouldn’t mind paying if the game is fun, although I don’t have to.  This is a fairer deal, I think.

A Few Other Things

Honestly speaking, I have no idea what the end game is like for Guild Wars 2.  Those who enjoy PvP would indulge into World versus World battle.  The level cap for PvE is 80 so I reckon there should be enough things to do before reaching there.  Cynthia and I have already pre-purchased the game and we will have a head-start this Saturday.  The game will be launched next Tuesday.  To join us, more information can be found in my Google+ profile.

  • Click here to see the beautiful screenshots I have taken during the beta weekend.
  • Click here to read more about my first impression.

Categories
Diary

On Lora’s Birthday Bethany And I

Lora is my sister.  Bethany is my niece.  On Lora’s birthday Bethany and I built sand castles at Palawan Beach, Sentosa.  After that joyful afternoon, it took me two days to recover from my muscle strain.  Oh little Bethany.  How you have worn me out.  But that was worth it.  Because  she seems to be friendlier towards me after I have spent some quality and quantity time playing with her.  Her mom was munching under the shade most of the time.  My wife Cynthia too was munching and has elected to supervise the end-to-end process instead.  Her daddy’s job was to fetch sea water.  As for me, I was the designated photographer and the co-sand castle builder.

So the plan was to meet at 10am.  The night before we went to sleep, Cynthia asked if we needed to set the alarm clock.  I casually and confidently waved her thought away and said, “How is it possible not to wake up by nine?”  At 9.50am, Cynthia woke me up from my beauty sleep and we both screamed at the clock.

A few days ago, my sister has this sudden urge wanting to build sand castles by the beach.  Jolly well.  I love the sand and the beach.  It was a warm day.  The afternoon sun was rather punishing.  Fortunately there are shades everywhere in this resort island of Singapore.  I often think that Bethany – like my sister – is a more indoor sort of person who prefers air-conditioning to tomar el sol.  I was quite surprised that Bethany could be pretty active in the outdoor.  Her determination to build sand castles was admirable.  Except, no matter how hard we tried to show her, she used dry sand instead of wet sand.  That did not work out.  Halfway, she gave up and played with sea water instead.

I cannot fathom why she deliberately avoided the wet sand.  Maybe she prefers the lighter color to the darker one.  I do not know.  I tried to teach her to add water to the dry sand inside the cup.  But she tended to pour in too much sea water so much so that the sand turned mud got stuck inside the cup.  What should I do?  Instinctively, squatting next to her, I took the larger bucket and started to fill it up with wet sand.  Bethany followed what I did and fill it up with her personal preference: dry sand.  I mixed our sand as we worked our way and fill the bucket to its rim.  Before I flipped the bucket, I would ask Bethany where she wanted it to be placed.  She would pinpoint a precise spot and we would do the count together, looking into each other’s eyes and said …

1 – 2 – 3 … Wow!

OK.  I have to admit.  It was fun.  It went on and on and had I not stopped, the Great Wall of Sentosa would extend all the way from the tree that shaded us to the shore, which must have been fifty to a hundred meters away.

Normally I bring my 24-70mm f/2.4 lens for a general purpose photography session like this one.  That day, I brought my 70-200mm f/2.4 telephoto zoom lens instead.  I love my zoom lens.  It produces a nice bokeh.  And it collects less background distraction.  No distortion to the faces at 90mm and above.  The only drawback is that it is heavy and it requires quite a distance between my subjects and I.  In an open space like Palawan Beach, the latter is a non-issue.  It has only become an issue when Bethany got friendlier with me and started to get nearer to the camera.  That was when I had to jump backward in order to take a photograph.  All in all, no regret in bringing along my zoom lens.  My intend was to be able to take pictures of Bethany without getting too close and become intimidating.  Objective achieved.

In the past, I host my photographs within my website.  But time has changed.  I am more involved with Google+ these days.  So I am giving it a try and have uploaded the photographs there instead.  I am not sure how this will affect the non-Google+ users.  I hope it doesn’t.  Do let me know your feedback in the comments below.  I would love to hear.

  • Click here to view the photo album (29 photographs)

I am delighted to have found a new way to bond with my niece.  Sand and sun at Sentosa is very doable.  Next time, I may wish to bring my chilled picnic box and stock it up with ice cold Apple Cider.  That would be an ideal way to spend a Sunday.

Categories
Diary

Art & Craft With Children At KK Hospital

The corporate volunteering event organizer remembered me.  At KK Hospital, while we were waiting for our lift, she turned to me and said, “We haven’t seen you this year!”

It is true.  It was one year ago when I joined the weeding program at Pulau Ubin.  That was hard work.  Since then, I have been looking for something less laborious and less shocking.  In fact, another option is to spend an afternoon at a mental hospital, which I still haven’t got the courage to sign up yet.  Now that I appear to bond well with my two to six years old nieces and nephew, I thought, perhaps I could contribute my time doing art and craft with children in a hospital.

Except, I have totally forgotten that these children are residing in a hospital for a reason, and they are quite big.  I can’t possibly play hide and seek with them screaming at the top of our lungs and let them beat me up while pretending to be a big bad monster, can I?

Uh oh.  All of a sudden, I realized that I had zero experience for this particular event that I have happily signed up for.

Meet “Lisa”, my proudest creation at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital witnessed by two children whom I spent time with this afternoon.

Before meeting the children from different wards, 12 of us were briefed inside a room specially prepared for the volunteers.  The dos and don’t’s.  And we have a crash course on how to play the games brought in by our corporate event organizer.  Since I am a balloon phobic, I could not join the balloon making team.  Since I am not that good at playing children’s games, I could not man the common playground area either.  Instead, I was paired up with a female volunteer to visit the children at their beds.  Best practice says that children bond better with women.  I was happy to tug along and let my volunteering partner did the introduction.

Drawing is something I love to do.  So I was delighted for this arrangement.  The tool we have is simple, yet utterly fun.  First, we picked a template with the children.  It could be a bee, a flower, or anything that came with the deck.  Then we put a clear sheet of plastic on top of the template and traced the object with some thick ink.  As and when the ink dries up – hours or days – it can be peel off from the plastic sheet.  I told the 12 years old boy that he could stick it onto his daddy’s Apple laptop and we giggled.  OK, I am jumping ahead of my story.

The girl was 19 years old.  We chatted while we drew.  She said she could not draw.  But nothing is impossible after a few words of encouragement.  We talked about K-pop and J-pop.  We talked about seeing the world.  She liked photography and that was quite frankly my favorite topic.

At the other end of the ward, a 12 years old boy saw the three of us having fun.  He also wanted to join.  With my new found confidence, I headed over to him, alone.

Again, he told me that he could not draw.  And he seemed slightly frustrated by the mistakes he made.  I said, this is art, you don’t have to follow the template!  I showed him what I have got, which was totally abstract and random.  All of a sudden, he smiled.  We removed the template underneath so that he could draw freely.  Halfway he stopped and asked me, “What is this that I am drawing?”  Honestly I have no idea.  But it truly looked beautiful.  So I started rotating his drawing and showing him how we could interpret an art from different perspectives.  I then showed him that we did not have to see the picture from above.  Instead, we could turn flip it over and observe its mirror image.  The boy seemed enlightened and he asked if it was OK to add a sun (that later turned into a hand) onto his drawing.  I smiled and said, “Sure you can!”

He said, “I really love drawing!”

I replied, “That is great!  Now keep drawing!”

“I want to be an artist when I grew up.”

“Me too!”

“What do you do?”

“I love to paint and I love creating music.”  (OK, I did not tell him that I write emails and minutes for a living.  That would have been rather uninspiring, I reckon.)

We talked about many things.  He asked if I have a Facebook account and I said no (as briefed by the hospital staff earlier on).  He asked if my band has a video clip on YouTube and I said no (which is true).  He asked how long I would stay with him and I said till I am hungry.  So we have a few hours, he said and I nodded.  I did not stay long because the medication seemed to have zapped his energy away.  At least he has completed his drawing with me by his side.  And I left my drawing titled “Lisa” for the little boy as a souvenir.

What a fulfilling day today in getting to see another aspect of life.

I took a picture from the garden before the event started.
Categories
Diary

On My Birthday My Wife And Buddy

On my birthday my wife and buddy took me for a health check, at Universal Studios.  To see if my heart is still as strong as ever.  Oh, those mechanical rides.  I will get to that later.

My buddy TK has decided to take me for a ‘date’ at Universal Studios Singapore on my birthday as he has a pair of complimentary ticket. Cheers mate! My wife was super excited on our excursion. Photographs of this entry taken using my phone.

Rewind to late last evening.  My mother knew that I would take leave on my birthday, like I always do, and hence I would be home late the next day.  So she called wishing me an early birthday.  How sweet of her.  I love you ma.

At the stroke of midnight, Cynthia and I were battling demons in Diablo III.  Act III, Hell difficulty.  Since we did not need to work the next day, we pushed on with our public game and completed the act.  We were ecstatic on this milestone achievement.  It was tough but we did it.  We went to sleep happy.

Since last weekend, my buddy TK and my wife Cynthia have planned what we should do on my birthday – a visit to Universal Studios Singapore.  How sweet of them.  While both appeared to be more excited than I was at the time of planning, once I stepped into the theme park, I was in high spirit, as excited as they were.  Adding three of our age up well exceeds a century, but yet we were like kids and tourists seeing the attraction the first time.  It was a weekday therefore the queues to most of the rides were under 10 minutes, which was an icing on the cake.

First stop, Transformers the Ride: The Ultimate 3D Battle.  I am not really a fan of Transformers though I once held a contest here.  The ride was fantastic.  It is similar to watching a 3D movie and gets to experience the G-force as our vehicle dashed in and out of the battle between the super-sized robots.  I felt as though I was in the movie.  When will video gaming give us a forth dimension of experience, I wonder.

The Battlestar Galactica (1) Human and (2) Cylon rides are intense, especially when you experience one after another immediately.

The Battlestar Galactica themed roller coasters are no joke.  They are intense, meant for the strong hearts.  Red is the Human ride while blue is the Cylon ride.  Both rides run in parallel with each other.  The main difference is that Human ride is the traditional roller coaster that boosts the speed up to 82.8 km/h while the Cylon ride is a suspended coaster that goes up, around and upside down in a corkscrew and cobra roll style.  The pamphlet says that the roller coasters are over fourteen stories high.  That is as high as the condominium Cynthia and I are staying.  Imagining such height sends a chill down my spine.

Three of us have completely different spontaneous reactions to the ride.  TK would go wah, wah, wah.  Cynthia would scream at the top of her lung, with her eyes closed.  It scared me a little bit because I have not heard her screams with such power and intensity before.  Even as the ride came to an end, when no one was screaming, Cynthia would continue to scream, with her eyes closed.  As for me, I would go hahaha, hahaha, hahahah.  It was a fun ride and a funny ride.  I could not stop laughing out loud, literally.  You should see Cynthia’s condition after the Human ride.  Her hair was moist, flying everywhere.  Possibly the most hilarious thing we have seen that day.

At a fountain somewhere in the Far Far Away land.

After the three intensive rides, we passed by Ancient Egypt that features the Revenge of the Mummy ride.  Cynthia has decided to sit herself out on this one.  Totally understandable.  TK hesitated but was convinced by my enthusiasm.  Basically, it is an indoor roller coaster somewhat similar to the Transformers one, but much shorter, without the 3D glasses.  There were some scary moments.  But nothing two grown men who have come, seen, and conquered the Human and Cylon rides cannot handle.  We skipped the Lost World and headed straight to Far Far Away.  Yes, three of us love Shrek and welcomed a more gentle form of entertainment.  The Shrek 4D Adventure is pretty fun, especially when you are a fan.  I had to keep my mouth shut throughout the show so as not to swallow the water of suspicious origin sprayed onto us.

We hopped into a restaurant when the rain started.  By the time we were done with lunch, the rain has stopped.  We reentered Universal Studios.  Just nice for a final family oriented ride – Madagascar: A Crate Adventure.  An indoor boot ride whereby we sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed watching the animated mechanical animals having a party together.

I have this for lunch.

Then we headed out to the mall next door – Vivocity – for our Amazing Spider-Man treat.  That was my idea.  Though I dislike remakes, Emma Stone is too good to be missed.  And I love it, TK loves it, Cynthia loves it.  I wonder if there will be a sequel.  How would this story tie back to the original story whereby Peter Parker dates Mary Jane?  No idea.  And please don’t tell me.

By the time we reached home, after yet another sumptuous meal, I was shagged.  Time to watch F1 Silverstone online via ESPN Player.  mioTV did not broadcast F1 live last weekend, boo.  Thanks to ESPN posting a video thumbnail of Mark Webber opening champagne at the podium, before I watched the race, I could already guess who the winner was.  Common sense is indeed not that common.  Who would choose that as a thumbnail for the audience planning to watch the feed?  In any case, I am happy with the result.  Although I would want Alonso to win, Webber has a special place in my heart.

I seldom log onto Facebook ever since I have switched to Google+.  And I am thankful for the birthday wishes I have received from both social networks.  I am also thankful for God’s blessing in surrounding me with wonderful friends and families, and providing me with all that I need.  What a wonderful day.  That video of my 2 years old niece singing birthday song to me simply melts my heart.  Thanks Lora and Benny.

And I have this for dinner.
Categories
For the Geeks

Nokia Lumia 900 – A Reivew

Prior to writing this review on Nokia Lumia 900, I have started a discussion in Google+.  The interaction turns out to be constructive and insightful.  Some have used this model for months.  Google+ truly melts away geographic boundary and brings people of common interest in one virtual space.  This entry is dedicated to my new and old friends over in Google+.  You guys rock!

The major difference between Lumia 800 and Lumia 900, as far as I can see, is size and size only.

A little bit of background here.  I have reviewed Lumia 800 back in March this year.  Since then, my wife Cynthia has been using the phone.  I have heard some of the feedback in Google+.  Nokia has sent me a Lumia 900 review unit for me to try out, like before.

To cut a long story short, Lumia 900 is a super-sized Lumia 800.  Since there is little value in copy-and-pasting my previous content here, if you are serious in purchasing a Noka Lumia, I urge you to read that review first.  All that works and doesn’t, it is in that article.  I have verified the entry and found that as of today, it is still valid.  Except the form factor section, the entire entry is relevant to Lumia 900.

Assuming that you have caught up on Lumia 800, the rest of this article focuses on the difference between the two.

Form Factor

Nokia Lumia 900 is huge.  With a dimension of 127.8mm x 68.5mm x 11.5mm, it weights a solid 160g.  With a display size of 4.3″, the screen-to-body ratio is under 60%.  Compare to my 4.2″ Android phone’s ratio of 70%, no wonder Lumia 900 feels so much bigger although the display size is similar.  For those who have large hands or prefer a sturdy phone, this may work.  Also, due to the wider margin, it is less likely that you may accidentally touch the screen as you flip the phone from portrait to landscape and vice versa.  Like I often do with my Android.

Unlike its little brother, USB port is now exposed in Lumia 900.  No longer do you require to flip the flimsy latch opened every time you charge the phone.  Personally, I prefer a concealed USB port.  Lumia 800 looks more elegant that way.  But I can understand why others may prefer not to mess with that latch on a daily basis.

Also unlike Lumia 800, Lumia 900’s AMOLED Gorilla glass does not curve and flow through the phone’s rounded edges, which is a shame.  Gone is the scratch resistance mat color back cover found in Lumia 800.  Lumia 900 uses shiny plastic cover.  The white color review unit I have got has already collected quite a fair bit of scratches, grease, and stains.  I have no issue with shiny plastic phone cover.  Just that Lumia 800 seems so much better in terms of form factor.

Lumia 900 comes with a 1MB front-facing camera.  Lumia 800 does not.  Now, if only Google Hangouts works on a Window Phone.

What About That Bigger Display Size?

Lumia 800 has a 3.7″ display size.  Web browsing can be a pain.  As you can imagine, I have high anticipation with Lumia 900.

4.3″ is not large in today’s standard.  While iPhone still stucks in the past, Android has pushed the display size to 4.8″ in the phone category.  As you may already know, display size is only one side of the story.  Resolution is what makes a display looks good on a phone.  That is why people still don’t mind iPhone’s small display size.  And that is why web browsing is more enjoyable on my 4.2″ Android phone than the 4.3″ Lumia 900 (800mm x 480mm resolution with ~217 ppi pixel density).

I wish Lumia 900 has alternative browsers (maybe there is one, but I can’t seem to find it at Marketplace).  The double tap zooming is not consistent.  Depending on where you tap on the page, the browser may zoom in nicely for you.  Or the zooming result may still be too tiny for the naked eyes.  At times first double tap is to zoom in, second double tap is to zoom out.  Other times, there are two levels of zooming in, i.e. 2 taps to zoom right in and 2 taps to zoom right out.  I regularly visit online forums.  Putting the Lumia 900 4.3″ side-by-side with my Andoid 4.2″, the zoom feature of the Lumia browser does not seem right.  The words are still too small to see.  Fortunately, there is manual pinch zoom mode.

My friend from Google+ shared with me that his Lumia 900 has problem loading some websites, such as Mashable.com.  I too have problem using Google+ web version on photo upload (there is still no Google+ app for Windows phones) as well as other websites.  I have noticed the browser issues back in March when I reviewed Lumia 800.  Looks like the issues persist.

Web browsing aside, a larger screen size is a joy to use.  The virtual keyboard is more user friendly.  The font size is bigger.  If you feel that Lumia 800 is too straining to your eyes, Lumia 900 may be the answer.

Will Lumia 900 Get Windows Phone 8 ‘Apollo’ Upgrade?

Some of you have asked the question on Lumia’s next OS upgrade.  Here is an unofficial respond I have received from one of my contacts working with Nokia.

The Lumia 900 along with the Lumia 800, Lumia 710 and Lumia 610 will receive an update with new Windows Phone 8 features, including the new start screen.  They will also receive a pattern of updates from Nokia that will deliver new features like WiFi tethering, flip-to-silence and media content streaming.  Nokia is also introducing new applications like Camera Extras exclusively for our Lumia range, games coming from Zynga, the makers of Farmville, as well as updates to Drive and other signature experiences.

The question would be: Are these new features Nokia bringing over to Lumia series be sufficient for you?  One friend of mine at Google+ has shared with me a list items on why Windows Phone 7.5 is still lacking.  I have gone through the list and found most of the items appears to be valid.  Perhaps that is why fans are crying for Windows Phone 8?

Ecosystems Revisit

A review should be read with the current state of affair.  Early this year, all eyes were on Nokia on their maiden foray into a new operating system.  It was an exciting time.  Because time and time again, we see commercial miracles, like that year 1999 Nokia ‘banana’ phone that Neo used in The Matrix.  Half a year has passed.  Android is advancing, in an ever increased pace.  Samsung has emerged as a strong competitor in this brutal phone making business.  Some of the older Android models from different makes are getting the Ice Cream Sandwich update and the new Jelly Bean OS is just round the corner for the new models.  Apple fans are always Apple fans, holding onto whatever Apple produces.  Today, I look at Windows Marketplace.  The apps are still few and expensive.  Cynthia is still hoping for the much desired update to her Whatsapp and Evernote apps on her Lumia 800.  At times I wonder, how does Windows Marketplace plan to fight against Apple and Android?  How does Nokia plan to keep up with the pace?

I don’t know.  What I know is fans are still fans.  Nokia fans will still love the Nokia ecosystem.  There are exclusive apps like Nokia Map and Nokia Drive that provides turn-by-turn navigation as well as offline maps to more than 100 countries.  Nokia Music sells DRM free music and Mixed Radio plays music over the Internet free to Nokia Lumia users.  Nokia fans whom I interact with seems to be happy with the quality apps in the ecosystem.  In fact, it is interesting to note that all three major camps seems to be with with their respective ecosystems.  Will Windows Marketplace survive?  Only time can tell.

Conclusion

Lumia 900 is a simple to use phone.  Take my wife as an example, she still enjoys using the Lumia 800 because of its simplicity and she is probably unable to relate to most of the concerns listed here.  If you are a Nokia fan and find that Lumia 800 is too small, Lumia 900 could be the answer.  If you are undecided between Lumia 800 and Lumia 900, Lumia 800 may be a better choice due to better form factor and the fact that the improvements Lumia 900 has over 800 appears to be minimal.

The new Nokia Lumia 900 is retailing for SGD849 at Nokia retail stores and at all mobile operators in Singapore.  It is available in Black, White and Cyan.

This is a photograph taken using a Nokia Lumia 900 at a mall near my office.
Categories
For the Geeks Game Reviews

Diablo III Madness – 140 Hours And Counting

This Diablo III madness has no end.  140 hours have passed and I don’t even feel it.  It is like that one scene in Twilight whereby Bella sits by the window observing the change of seasons in one minute.  There are four levels of difficulty in this video game.  It takes me 140 hours to clear the second difficulty level – Nightmare – for all my five classes.  My next milestone is to complete the third difficulty level – Hell – and call it a day.  Inferno difficulty could well be too brutal for me.

Or maybe not.  We shall see.

Heavens burn as we cast the Prime Evil into oblivion.

I will not repeat what has already been said in my last post “Diablo III – First 80 Hours“.  What I said back then is still valid today.  Instead, I will share my experience with the game as I progress through different difficulty levels.  And a short recap on news surrounding the Diablo community from launch till now.

At launch, Diablo III smashed records, sold more than 6 millions copies excluding the 1 million World of Warcraft annual pass subscribers who got the game free.  Due to this unexpected sales record, a game that requires constant connection to the servers became unplayable as the servers were brought down time and time again by the surge in demand.  Onto then second week, when the US servers finally gained stability, reports started to come in as players’ accounts were compromised, in-game progress was lost.  The solution is to use a physical or mobile authenticator that provides an extra layer of protection like how Internet Banking tackles security.  On top of that, Blizzard gives us an option to enable SMS alert whenever account information is modified.  I do not know of any video gaming company that goes into this level of security to protect our accounts.  That could be due to the Real Money Auction House (RMAH) that I will talk about in just a bit.  Back to the first month after launch, the ride was bumpy.

Meanwhile, while the US region cried about the rumored hacks, Blizzard‘s office in Korea responsible in hosting the Asia servers was raided by the local government that sought evidence against Blizzard in their denial of refund requests.  Asia region has its own controversy.  Koreans were given more quotas in accessing the Asian game servers while other locations such as China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong needed to queue for hours just to get into the game.  In-game exploitation also ran wild in the Asian servers causing long extended maintenance that denied people from playing the game.  Players in Asia were as unhappy as the US counterparts.  I have no idea how the European players were coping.  I suspect they would have faced similar issues.

RMAH was launched in June.  Those who had high end in-game items made profits due to the initial craze.  One item could be sold for US$250 up.  While minority made money out of playing a game, the community overall appeared to view RMAH as the unnecessary evil.  Couple that with the fact that the game had been exploited by some and the economy imbalance that persists till today, RMAH has become a messy business.  However, if we are to take a step back, with or without RMAH, people trade items – items that they do not create – using real money.  While RMAH provides a safer environment for trading, it also encourages those who would not have traded trade.

To add onto this drama, Blizzard has decided that one of the gear attribute – attack speed – was too high.  Balancing the game means that all in-game items – past and future – have to be adjusted.  To compensate, Blizzard also makes Diablo III‘s inferno difficulty more manageable.  The net result was that those who have spend hundreds of dollars buying gears from RMAH suddenly woke up to the new reality that their gears were less powerful than before.  This seems to have put a brake to RMAH sales.  Are you willing to buy in-game items using real money only to find that one day, the items may be no longer what you wanted them to be?

Tricky situation.

If you read the online professional reviews, Diablo III has done pretty well.  If you crosscheck the scores with user reviews, the two do not tally.  User reviews from Metacritic to Amazon slam down the score to the lowest possible.  Some players from US demanded a full refund after beating the game and strangely, Blizzard has granted their requests.  Official forums continue to be on fire citing Diablo III as the worst game Blizzard has ever produced.  Participation in public games seems to dwindle.  The community seems to thin out.  Perhaps the end game is not quite there yet as we are still waiting for a future patch to address this issue.  Or perhaps action hack-and-slash genre is not something some would enjoy doing for hours.

What about me?

This is the secret level, “pony land”. Rainbow and all. Colorful but deadly.

I love it.  My friends seem to love it too.  Day in day out, I play with my friends online, overcoming challenges.  The contents may be the same.  It is Act One through Act Four.  The story is linear.  But different classes play differently.  Different difficulty levels play differently.  After we have cleared Nightmare difficulty (the second level), Hell plays like a whole new different game.  The challenge requires me to pay attention to mechanics I may have overlooked in the previous difficulty levels.  To me, Diablo III is like Tetris.  The framework and the pieces do not change over different levels.  But the fun stacks up as the pace increases.

How long will I stay with this game?  I am not too sure.  Maybe till the new World of Warcraft expansion Mists of Pandaria is out?

Categories
Diary

On The Same Day Three Unrelated Events

June 15, there were three unrelated events.  It was the high, the low, and the melancholy mid that filled up the in-between.

Every half an hour, horses are led to the starting point for a race that lasts a minute or so.

I was born in Hong Kong.  So naturally, horse racing or rather horse betting should be in my blood.  Indeed, as far as I can remember, it is a big thing in Hong Kong.  Newspapers run full length articles on everything they can find for each horse.  Reporting both comprehensive quantitative and qualitative information so that betters can make decisions.

I was inside a phone booth at work when one of our department managers asked via email if we wished to buy some tickets for charity.  It is in support of providing early treatments to kids in Africa so that they don’t go blind.  Being able to see nature’s beauty is one of the gifts in life.  It is sad to hear that some lose this gift at young age that could have been avoided.  So I bought a deck without thinking much about whether or not I would be one of the seven lucky winners for an evening at Singapore Turf Club.

And I won a pair of ticket.

The event was held in one of the air conditioned room that overlooks the race course.  I have not stepped into Turf Club before June 15.  In fact, I have not seen a live horse racing before that evening.  Cynthia was as excited as I.  On our way to the booth, we were escorted by a friendly staff who has worked in Turf Club for 30 years.

30 years!

He must have loved his job.  Indeed, he was passionately telling us everything about horse racing.  Level 4 of Turf Club is full off corridors with rooms that can be rented for approximately S$800 a night, or for a year at a discounted rate.  There are betting counters manned by friendly receptionists for those who place the bets and collect the wins.  Horse racing happens on Fridays.  On weekend, Turf Club provides live broadcast of horse racing in around the region.  I suppose if you like to bet on horses, Turf Club is the place to be at.

According to our friendly staff, after each race, horses have to go through the urine and blood test.  There is a ‘podium’ like Formula One for the wining horse and its rider to be photographed with their sponsors.  Riders are weighted after the race, just like F1.

If you bet, I reckon the race that happens every half an hour is an excitement to watch.  The race, it seems to me, lasts for a minute or so.  My colleagues were cheering for the horses and at the end of each race, prizes were put into a glass jar as a donation to charity.  Too bad, gambling is not my cup of tea.  To quote my mother, you are already a winner when you have decided not to bet.

I can safely say that F1 motor racing is a million time more entertaining than horse racing. Maybe because I don’t bet.

On the same day, my sole team member called it his last day in my department.  I am 80% happy that he has finally found a permanent position in our company.  He is a smart kid, fully deserves something more than a contract job.  Besides, returning to the front line probably aligns better to his aspiration.  He was put into my team more for headcount administration’s sake.  19% of me is going to miss his company.  What a great guy he is.  As for the remaining 1%, I am concern over the extra work load.  Fortunately, through last minute negotiation, I have secured an alternative arrangement to outsource his role to a foreign country not too far away from here.

At about the same time Cynthia and I arrived at the Turf Club Singapore, my father’s operation started in Hong Kong.  It was hernia.  It does not seem like a major operation so my sister and I stayed put in Singapore, praying for father.  According to my mother, the operation involved the surgeon operating on my father through small holes opened on his abdomen.  I was worried, of course.  Before the event ended in Turf Club, Cynthia and I have excused ourselves for the evening so that I could wait for mother’s phone call at 9pm.  The call came much later due to time the required for my father to wake up from anesthesia.  I am glad that my father managed to receive early treatment.  Praise the Lord.

I do not know how long I will live.  Events like this make you wonder about random things.  Regardless, I think it is important to be surrounded and to treasure those who love you.  And at the same time, reach out to those who need your love.

Since I planned to photograph horses, I have brought a 70-200mm lens to do the job. It is not a lens I often use. But I do love the effect it has on human portraits. I took this photograph of Cynthia at 7pm, outside Singapore Turf Club.
Categories
Diary

The Gemini At Home Is One Year Wiser

Traditionally, Cynthia and I take leave on our own birthdays.  This year, we take leave on each other’s birthday as well.  I mean, who would want to face the ever exciting work items and hyper friendly colleagues on our birthdays?  This year, my wife chose to spend her birthday in Sentosa, with the family.  Her mother from Indonesia happens to be in town.  As always, I am the designated transporter and photographer.  And I tugged along for the adventure.

Over the years, Sentosa has changed quite a fair bit.  There is a new casino, or rather integrated resort and there are so many more tourist attractions these days.  The Sentosa I remember of has a musical fountain, a pier, a Merlion statue, a beach, and an Underwater World.  Today, I don’t even know half of the attractions in the island.  The tram service that runs along the southern coast of the island seems to have received an upgrade too.  It now looks more like a long bus.  As an avid F1 fan, I was eager to try the gravity powered go kart.  Then I divide the ticket price with the game duration.  I think I would rather have some Chinese dumplings for lunch, which we did.

Maybe my gigantic camera appears to be intimidating.  Or maybe my mother-in-law is not used to being photographed.  Capturing her smile requires patience.  At times, patience pays off.

Categories
For the Geeks Game Reviews

Diablo III – First 80 Hours

What a blast!  20 days into Diablo III and I have clocked in 80 played hours.  On top of that, Ihave finally defeated the ultimate evil for one of my five characters.  One down.  Four more characters to go.  And then onto the next difficulty level.

Note: Did you know the Diablo III runs in both PC and Mac platform?  Once you purchase a game key, you can download and install the game to either platform as many times as you wish.  Do check minimal system requirement though.  To purchase the game, click here to create an account and head to Blizzard Store.  If you are a Android or iPhone user, don’t forget to download the free  Battle.net Mobile Authenticator app (or you can purchase a physical one online at Blizzard Store).  Also, you may wish to turn on the SMS verification feature in your account management for extra security.

“You dare to judge me?!”

Games are certainly more fun played with friends.  In general, that is true – physical and virtual world alike.  So I have played with Cynthia mostly, when she is online.  Sanctuary seems less lonely that way, and less scary for sure.  She can go head-to-head with the mobs at the frontline while I, well, I heroically shoot the enemies from a safe distance.  Now you know who wear the pants at our home.  We have played with our real life friends too.  It is mindless zerging, destroying all things that move, all things that don’t.  It is an insane fun, in a therapeutic kind of way.  Though at times I wonder if we are holding our friends up by too obsessively exploring every corner of the map and smashing every jar we see (there is an achievement for 1,000 jars destroyed for the OCD ones, like me).  At times, we join the public games just to repeat some of the memorable boss fights.  Getting a random group is super fast compares to, say, World of Warcraft.  In that online game, we could end up waiting for up to half an hour or more for a group to be assembled.  In Diablo III, it is instant.  As our party size increases (up to four), so is the strength of our foes.  When one is leaving, no problem.  Our foes will scale down accordingly.  I like this dynamic aspect.  It keeps the encounters challenging and from the social interaction point of view, the more the merrier.  Almost always.

The game in Normal setting does not require 30 hours to beat, which we eventually did.  Typically, it can be done in 20 hours, or even less.  Cynthia and I are the thorough ones.  We enjoy opening up unexplored areas to hunt for treasure and face the seemingly formidable foes.  I take one step further that drives Cynthia nuts.  I listen to all the dialog, again and again.  My only complain with the public games is that most random players would choose to skip the cut scenes and dialog.  That is totally understandable.  But as for me, I am in for the full experience.  Discovering the little stories my in-game companions have to tell, pieces of lore, trivial dialog that keeps the game alive, and more.  To that end, I solo the contents as well.

Scoundrel (my rogue companion in-game when I have no one to group with): Sometimes I wish that when we’d met, you’d taken one look at me and fallen desperately in love.  But then I think of all the gold I’ve gotten with you.

Kasumi (my demon huntress): You know that that it won’t end that way, right?

Scoundrel: Right.

Upon completion of Normal difficulty setting, characters are typically around level 30.  After which, the entire game play can be repeated in a higher difficulty setting called Nightmare.  That boosts character level from 30 to 50.  To reach the level cap of 60, Hell difficulty awaits.  Beyond that is Inferno setting that is tailored for those who demand the ultimate challenge.  If you are seeking for a deeper thrill and a sense of purpose, Diablo III offers a Hardcore mode whereby all deaths are permanent.  That is pretty hardcore.  It is like play Tetris with one life and you want to see how far you can go before getting beaten.  My goal is to reach the level cap for all my 5 characters covering all 5 different classes.  Inferno is likely not my cup of tea.  If and when I reach there, I would love to take a holiday for a well deserved break.  Hawaii would be nice.  How many times must we save Heavens and Sanctuary?  As many times as we defend Azeroth from Deathwing I suppose.

“Cartoon-ish? Perhaps. But the level of detail is astonishing.”

Some asked me if this game is any good.  It is an incredibly easy game to pick up.  In the initial stage of the game, you can simply hack and slash your way using the two mouse buttons.  As you progress, you can use the four extended skills that are mapped to the numeric keys 1 to 4.  6 buttons are all you need to master this game.  You get to choose 6 active skills from a total of 22 at any time of your game play.  Each skill can be augmented with one of the 5 different runes (6 if you count the no rune option).  That in turn changes how the skill works.  On top of that, you get to pick 3 passive skills from an array of 15.  You can do the mathematics and work out the potential number of combinations.  It is rare to see two players picking up the same configuration.  Individual build shapes one’s play style.  Coupled that with the individual’s gear stats preference, there is much depth in Diablo III.  Now, while I cannot vouch for what happens in the Inferno setting, I am pretty sure that it is Blizzard’s interest to avoid cookie-cutting builds that make everyone alike.

If you are into or open to hack-and-slash role playing games, Diablo III is the benchmark.  The game play is fluid.  The artwork and soundtrack is beautiful.  Each time you level, you feel more powerful as more skill options are available at your disposal.  Within the virtual world of Diablo III, you are always gold hungry, loot hungry.  All items’ stats are randomly generated making it unlikely that two gears are identical.  Blizzard, unlike other developers, continues to improve the game based on community feedback.  Other developers more often than not de-prioritize the fixing of their games after they have taken your money.  Instead, their first priority is to build new DLC (downloadable contents) and new expansions.  Not Blizzard.

In this new era, no man is an island.  Collaboration and trading for mutual benefits trump working on your own.  You may hate the concept of the in-game Auction House that facilitates the trading of game items using either in-game currency or real currency.  But it is a good way to help each other in order to fasten the pace and overcome challenges.  Items that you no longer need can be offloaded into the Auction House so that someone else may find a use of it.  Or you may pick up an item from the Auction House that others do not need.  If you are not the type who spends real currency to acquire virtual items, you can stick with the in-game currency.  If you do, Blizzard provides a safe environment for real money trading to occur.  Is Blizzard charging too much as a middle man?  I do not have a benchmark for comparison.  Besides, I hope Blizzard can continue to make money somewhere so that the servers can be funded – free of charge for us folks – for many months or even years to come.

Any downside?  Sure.  It is called weekly scheduled maintenance that happens during our prime evening hours.  Something some of us have been bearing since the launch of World of Warcraft.  It is worse than Error 37 if you were to ask me.

To continue reading my adventure of 140 hours with the game, click here.

“You still haunt my sleep.”