PS3 Official Bluetooth Headset

Left office @ around 5.45pm, the earliest in the past 3 mths I think. Since I had time to burn, decided to shop around and managed to hoot this slick looking PlayStation 3 Official Bluetooth Headset.

Had been thinking of buying this since it was announced that this headset would be bundled with Socom: Confrontation. I just bought the headset w/o the bundle coz Socom for the PS3 did not really interest me coz it's only mulitplayer online + read couple reviews that the server is not really that stable, only like 7 maps available and overall, the game got bad-average review.

I've paired and play around with it for a bit and honestly very satisfied with it. My initial review:
- fast & easy to pair with my PS3
- paired with my Nokia E71, no issue so far
- sound quality is suberb
- doesn't take long to charge
- doubled as a desktop mic when in cradle (also while charging)
- High-Quality (HQ) mode (which works only on PS3) offers noise cancellation. Good feature especially when having a chat in-game when ur team-mates
- Also, PS3 displays info such as connection status, battery level and speaker volume level.

I should be using this exclusively for my PS3 gaming.

Nokia E71 Leather Case

Decided to get a good quality leather case for my Nokia E71. I had enough of those casings (see below). This is my 3rd set of casing which suffered the same problem - cracks at the top hinge area. I've been using this casing for bout a month now tho' only 1 side (left) cracks. But when the right top breaks off, that was it.



A nicer fit, better quality all-round and chio chio looking leather case for my E71!

... when all else fails, there is always mobile broadband

"New" PS3

Since my PS3 is about 18 months old now, I decided to give it a brand new look to "beautify" it as well as to prevent any more haircut scratches.

The original look of my 60GB PS3 when I first got it.

Bought this skin today.

Ta-da!

Weekend Hoot

PlayStation Magazine - July 2008

The shiny foil cover caught my attention. What else but old man Solid Snake on the cover of this month's mag. Can't help it but grab me a copy of it

I have cut down my spending on all mags and only buying on an irregular basis depending on the featured content.

Heavenly Sword

Released some time back around September 07 but I haven't had to chance to play it. Got it at a discount.

Cheapo Disk Enclosure

To house my original PS3 60GB hard disk that was lying around after I upgraded my Ps3 to a whopping 250GB. After "enclosing" it and properly formatted, this would become an extra external portable hard disk.
Good for use with my new HP mini note that I will be getting next month.

iPhone 3G

Apparently, SingTel is taking reservation for the upcoming iPhone 3G to be available soon here in Singapore. Didn't know this until I stumbled upon the SingTel page. I was a loyal SingTel customer since secondary school until last year. It's actually a big woo-ha considering we don't pre-order or reserve phone here.

Should I?? Did some reading off the net and realised that iPhone 3G is merely iPhone 2.0 with the inclusion of GPS, ability to support 3rd party apps (legally) and a slightly improved battery life. The lack of basic stuffs like MMS and voice recording is still a bumper.

I will get 1 eventually but right now? nah... not in such as hurry as to reserve 1 via SingTel. It's a matter of time before it will be available for the other Telco. Right now I still prefer my 5 mega pixel LG Viewty :)

It's on Starhub. My cable and broadband are on Starhub as well coz greater cost savings overall as a Hub club member plus its easier to manage by consolidating all the 3 services under 1 telco.

How to upsize PS3 hard disk

My Ps3 was running low on harddisk space will all the games data, demos, HD videos, etc. Fortunately, Sony had designed in such a way that we can DIY without voiding the warranty. So b4 any last minute panic, I have to upgrade my HDD first with the 250GB HDD I've bought couple of days ago at the IT Show.

1. Backup all necessary data (game saves, etc) to an external storage drive, which has to be in FAT32 file structure else the PS3 cannot recognise the external drive. Use the backup facility under PS3's XMB to backup.

2. Turn off the PS3 (front n power switch at the back) and unplug all other cables prior to the actual hard disk swap.

3. Remove the plastic HDD side panel. Use a flat tip screwdriver and the small space on the right side of the panel to pop it off. Careful not to apply too much pressure to scratch ur shiny machine.

4. Use a phillip screwdriver to remove the blue screw which secures the hard disk tray.

5. Raise the small metal handle and slide the whole thing to the right to remove it.

6. PS3 OEM hard disk (pictured left) is in the metal tray. Remove the 4 screws (2 on each sides) to remove the hard disk. Swap the new drive (pictured right) into the metal tray and install those 4 screws.

Note : These 4 screws are very tight and be very careful not to strip the screws. Use a fitting phillip screwdriver to remove and tighten after the swap. Do not over tighten the screws.

Sony is using the OEM Seagate Momentus 60GB 5400rpm. I'm swapping with my newly purchased Samsung HM250JI 250GB 5400rpm. Don't go wasting ur $$ to buy a more expensive 7200rpm hard disk because the speed increase is negligible. (I did my reading up)

7. Put back the hard disk and slide back to its left. Then put the blue screw back on to lock the drive. Put the HDD side panel back on, attach all ur cables and start the PS3.

8. Follow on screen instructions to format and set up the new drive.

9. There you go -> whooping 200+GB of free space. Don't worry bout the "loss" of disk space coz the PS3 reserves that for other stuffs.

10. Finally, restore ur data that u backup prior to this and u're done!

All I need to get now is an enclosure to use the PS3's OEM 60GB as another external hard disk!

IT Show 2008

Went to the IT Show this afternoon at Suntec and this time, I would say the range of products and exhibits this time round is one of the widest and anyone would be spoilt for choices. Typical stuffs like laptops, PMPs, cameras, HDTV,etc. Level 3 was all SONY (well, the other smaller side-Starhub).

PlayStation 3 booth

I was browsing the selection of Blu-ray titles at the booth and at $118 for 3 titles, its a rather good deal. I was also playing with Sony's Alpha range of DSLR cameras they had on display particularly the A350 and A700. I'm not thinking of getting myself a DSLR anytime soon but if I were to choose, I would prefer the Canon EOS 40D.

Being the 1st day of the exhibition, crowds not as crazy thus I could navigate through the crowd easily and take my time to look around for interesting gadgets and stuffs, and of course, the booth promoters. Too bad I did not took any pics of them.

Hard disk prices were getting cheaper over the years even those smaller laptop hard disk. Managed to buy a Samsung 250GB SATA 2.5-inch laptop size hard disk for $170. That's 68cents per GB! Since my 60GB PS3 is 'eating' up the space with all my media and game data, I decided to upgrade my PS3 with this new hard disk.

<- Samsung Spinpoint M series HM250JI 250GB 5400RPM 8MB Cache SATA laptop hard drive

Format war is over

Blu-ray vs HD DVD finally comes to an end with Blu-ray the victor.

Yeah this was always going to happen. Might sound like a fanboy here but when people argued that PS3 is crap compared to 360 (without reasons to) they always seem to leave out the RRODs failure rate and of course, the HD formats. BluRay's obviously miles better as seen by actions of those major players in the industry. Toshiba's official announcement to stop HD DVD production brings an end to this format war.

Freedom!

ORD Farewell Dinner

I finally got my FREEDOM (and pink IC) back today after working in the airforce as a regular for 5 years! It's damn tough to have to work and study for ACCA at the same time. Only started my part-time ACCA studies like 2+ years ago but it was very difficult phase of my life having to rush to classes after work, weekend burned to attend classes and revision, etc. Damn! I can't really explain or described the feeling of a regular like me to ORD. It's finally my turn after seeing so many batches of my NSFs ORD-ing. Will miss some of my mates there.

First thing I did after my official clearance from the airbase, I came back for a good shower and head off to a salon to dye my hair brown! Next, get a good camera phone. These 2 to-dos are strictly prohibited in the armed force ha ha.

Bought the above LG Viewty KU990 from Jacky at his shop right after spotting a new hair colour.

Ended a phase of life, need a well deserved break to enjoy n embrace life before the next major change to my life.

Cam sold. Waiting for COMEX 2006

Met the ebay buyer this afternoon at Orchard and sold my Sony Cybershot DSC-T5. Now I've no suitable camera to use except the 2MP cam from my Eten M6oo Pocket PC phone. Can't wait for COMEX 2006 which is from 31st Aug to 3rd Sept. I'm gonna upgrade to Sony Cybershot DSC-T30. Maybe getting a digital SLR in the near future to fuel my photography needs.

this has been on my board for sometime. Come COMEX 2006 & I'm gonna lay my hands on this baby.

Selling on ebay

I'm selling a Sony DSC-T5 5.1MP digital camera on ebay.

Full specs and details at (ebay) http://tinyurl.com/ltfv5 and (yahoo auctions) http://pageuser.auctions.yahoo.com/sg/auction/103079335

very busy ah....

Weekends!! Its the only time for me to get busy for my own stuffs........ I've lots of video clips and they are gonna eat up my com n portable disk space very soon if I don't do anything bout it. Yeah... I'm gonna take some time to do some DVD authoring, data burning and such.

so my plans this weekend :
- DVD authoring / burning
- study n prepare for exams
- guitar practise

IT Show 2006!

Went IT show 06 today. Have been anticipating this event ever since i saw the article n advertisement last month on Straits Times and digitial life. This time, my main focus was to get a PDA-phone (Pocket PC) and was glad that I got one - Eten M600! Prior to this fair, I did rather detailed 'research' on it n my comparision was mainly on O2 Atom, Dopod 818 Pro and Eten M600. Not very interested in HP and Palm ones.

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My take after all those review n readings :

it seems the battle to be the mini's successor is among these 3 PDAs: Eten M600, O2 Atom and Dopod 818Pro.

The Eten M600 is the clear winner for all my needs as it is the speediest (processor) among the 3 and in fact even speedier than any Pocket PC out there at the moment (fact : the benchmark test comparision) which is pretty amazing.

O2 Atom just doesn't cut it for me... the camera (thought 2MP) and fm function ain't that useful and its processor speed is a slow (though not that slow when compared to Dopod 818 Pro's ti omap) at 416Mhz. Also, just browse thru' those forums and u can see tons of complaints from current O2 Atom users in Spore!

Dopod 818 Pro? Its only saving grace is the G Wi-Fi, better photo taking quality and longer battery life. Other than that, i can't imagine running applications on its damn slow processor.

I intend to use my Pocket PC mainly for VoIP calls besides the usual organizer so i would need a relatively fast Pocket PC. While Dopod 818 Pro's high speed Wi-Fi is a plus point for this task, everything else just doesn't sums up. Thus the eten M600 seems to be the clear winner. (Afternote - Eten M600 has pre-installed Skype application. Hooray!)

Support wise, Eten has been known to be on the ball with constant updates while O2 is on the other extreme thus this is also an influencial consideration when purchasing the device As for Dopod, its services have yet to be tried.

After-purchase support is a very important factor. Trust this vendor : Trends Mobile Pte Ltd (http://www.trendsmobile.com)

Also, storage fuctions was also another important consideration. Eten n Dopod using SDIO slots while O2 Atom uses mini SD card which is pricely n currently market only have till 512MB. I've lots of SD cards (2x 256MBs, 1X 512MB n 1x 1GB) which is less pricely; so to spend extra getting those mini SD cards - no brainer for me!

however, getter fancyful accessories might be a problem for Eten M600 as compared to O2 Atom - but lets give it some time since Eten M600 was only recently launched.

the booth @ level 6

Eten M600

I got the Eten M600 for S$1138. But I sold my Sony Ericsson k750i to Jacky for $400 and convert some investment gain to cash, so come to think of it, I only forked out $250 for it! Worth it!!
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ok off to other areas....

another highlight is the Olympus 7.1 MP digital camera which is water n shock proof and not forgetting those beatiful n hot promotors. Chio lah, but I already have my Sony T-5.

Other notable purchases during the show :
- iPod leather pouch --> sleek n chio
- Golla PDA Pouch Cover --> cool looking
- A4 Glossy photo paper (5 sets of 20) --> for only 30 bucks!
- 2 years subscription to Photo.Video Magazine --> for only 99 bucks w free gifts.... wah ha ha

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Oh yah, the Xbox 360 at level 3. Damn choi and n sexy! Too bad the official launch is 16 March 06. I think they are very clever. They have so much live sets to let people play n try so as to tempt n seduce game lovers. What will happen when Xbox 360 officially launch on 16th !?

took this pic with my new Eten M600
(quality not bad lah)

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Conincidently, I saw lots of familiar faces...
Saw my long lost BMT-mate Weiming (who is currently studying @ NTU) at the show too. It was so damn crowded that I lost my friends... went out of the exhibition hall for a breather n saw another bunch of friends : Kenny, Cherry, Kelvin, Shen Wei and Eng Jie who came after Kang Ling's wedding. Too bad I did not went for her wedding. Joined them for dinner at Bukit Timah after calling my friends to abandon/'pang seay' them. At dinner, saw Aunty Shirley n family and we dine together. After dinner, 2 more friendly faces appear - Ivy and WenJun. Never met so many friends conincidently in a day!

Fast & Efficient Deal!

Close a deal today! I was sleeping late today when a phone call woke me up. Some guy called asking if my Creative mp3 player was still available and of course I replied yes and freshen up immediately! Finally someone wanted to buy my mp3 player. Was rather worried that I can't sell it off after I bought my iPod. Anyway, this guy sounds rather sincere and interested so after explaining some details to him, he arranged to meet up at City Hall at around 3pm.

Sold for S$350

The quality of the pic i posted on Yahoo auction did me much favour! So we met up at City Hall Starbucks and the deal was settled in less than 10 minutes! He played around for a while and paid me cash as he was very satisfied with what he saw. (coz honestly speaking, my player was in a very good condition!) Now I'm gonna close the bid on my Yahoo Auction account...

another new toy > the new iPod video 60GB

ok i admit i bought a quite a lot of tech gadgets this year - 1st, the Sharp 26" LCD TV, then Sony PSP, then Sony Cybershot T-5 and lastly the iPod (which I'm very proud of) that i bought today!

I suddenly have this crazy urge to get the new iPod video 60GB after my vacation and have been checking the net for details of it and bam! I bought 1 today! Actually, my big boss gave us an incentive half day off from work this afternoon around 1pm and the the 1st thing I did after I got home was to check the net for the features of the new iPod video. That's when I made up my mind and rush down to Sim Lim Square to purchase the iPod Video 60GB (Black). Oh I also bought and installed the screen protector film to protect my new toy and those rubber-like skin for my iPod.

What a way to start year 2006 with all my tech toys! I always believe you gotta work hard, study hard and play(+ enjoy) hard!

Even the packing is so slim & sexy!

oooh...

Now, I'm going to sell/auction off my Creative Zen 20GB. Anyone interested?

New Toy > Sony Cyber Shot DSC-T5

Got another new toy today - the slim Sony Digital Camera DSC-T5 (Black). I always wanted a good digital camera to replace my current obsolete one. Got this cool, slim cam @ Sitex 2005 for $649 with additional free gifts : a carrying case, a 512MB Memory Stick and a 256MB Memory Stick and also a Sony voucher. I did my 'research' previously on 5 MP Cams and I remember this was one of my choice apart from the Panasonic one. What I like bout this cam is that it is sleek, sexy design, easy to use; large and clear 2.5" LCD, solid snapshot n high-quality movie mode and a long battery life. Totally Worthwhile!