Frankly I’m surprised that Celcom, being a “valued partner” of Apple, wasn’t notified in advance of the new iPad’s impending release. So today’s fullpage ad in the Star, costing at least RM30k to run, was a complete waste of money and made Celcom a laughing stock, which probably is not unexpected haha…
Asus eee Pad Memo for RM1,499
Not a bad price, I say, given the competition, which is essentially the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Plus which currently sells for RM1,399. Of course if you’re in the market for a 7″ tablet there’s also the Samsung Galaxy 7.7 to consider, selling for RM1,899. Honestly, if you ask me, I honestly don’t fucking know the difference between all these Samsung models; I hope Samsung themselves know :P
So, the eee Pad Memo’s claim to fame is an additional small handset like device, called the MeMic, which communicates via Bluetooth to the eee Pad Memo. The MeMic’s got a small display which can show some basic information, and you can use it to answer/make phone calls and not look like a total fucking idiot holding up a 7″ monstrosity to your ears like the Samsung model. I’m seriously tempted to get one.
Plus – additional device to answer/make phone calls; does not make you look like an idiot, some pen/handwriting app shit
Minus – an additional device to charge, comes with Honeycomb, although it’s upgradeable to Ice Cream Sandwich (hopefully within your lifetime).
There’s a roadshow happening here.
Don’t be stupid
Otherwise known as “don’t buy a new Samsung Android smartphone if it’s not running Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS)” aka Android v4.
The Galaxy line just keeps growing with the newly released Galaxy S Advance, selling for RM1,299. Trouble is, it still runs Android Gingerbread, aka v2.3. And that’s a big no-no in today’s world. When other manufacturers are already selling Android smartphones pre-loaded with ICS, it is beyond me why Samsung still insists on selling theirs with a really old version of Android.
And yes, we all know they can be upgraded to ICS, eventually. The big question is, when? As a good example of how long one has to wait, look no further than the flagship Galaxy Note, launched sometime ago. It’s still stuck at Android Gingerbread. Yep. And no news on when an upgrade is coming.
So, I wanna tell Samsung – we not stupid. Let’s say it together.Tweet
Some cheap Android shit this weekend
Dunno why but i-Mobile seems to like dumping their shit in Tesco. Today we have 2 cheap devices from them – an Android smartphone at RM169, and a dual SIM Android tabletphone at RM699. I’m not sure how stable these devices are, whether you have to reboot them 1,384,438 times daily but they’re cheap. Promo runs till 3rd May, apparently.
What is it people say about cheap things again? 
Best value Android tablet?
Advertised for sale by Harvey Norman. Built-in 3G, runs Android 3.2, advertised by Harveys as “Gingerbread”. Fuck me, I thought version 2 was Gingerbread and 3 was Honeycomb. Shows you how much effort people put into proofreading ads nowadays. ”Diu”, as they like to say in Cantonese…
Attractive offer for the Star’s e-paper
If you’ve not signed up for the Star’s e-paper free trial, which ends in a week, you should do so now as it allows you to read the entire edition of the Star, that is, the “soft copy” is identical to the printed copy, including all advertisements, on your smartphone or tablet. You’ll get a much more pleasurable experience on your tablet of course as the screen is much bigger; I won’t even try it on my smartphone, not even my Galaxy Note with its 5.3 inch screen as it just involves too much zooming and scrolling around.
So, the offer is this – RM260 for a year’s edition of the printed plus tablet/smartphone version, if you sign up between May to July of this year. I presume the offer will begin when the free trial ends at the end of April. RM260 divided by approximately 360 days of newspaper deliveries will cost RM0.72 sen per copy, much cheaper than the printed version alone, and you still get the tablet version for free. You’ll still get your printed/hardcopy of the Star delivered by your favourite newspaper vendor, apparently the Star will arrange this; although how they do it is beyond me.
Check out today’s edition of the Star, “billings & advertising” section, page 29 for more details. I’d say it’s a fucking good offer and I’m 90% certain of signing up, if the process is *painless*.
Sony Smartwatch, a cool shit device
Recently launched in the US, at a price of US$149.99, this seems to be a gadget which is very difficult to get here. My good buddy @chiewata managed to snag one at the recent KL PC Fair and it’s apparently an authorised Sony Malaysia set and not a parallel import. Groupon is now running a group buy where you can buy one for its recommended retail price (RRP) of RM399, but delivery only begins on 7th May. If you’re like me and only can sustain a gadget erection for a few days, that’s just too late.
So, I pre-ordered one from a Lowyat forum member. It’s apparently due to arrive next Monday but I’m not holding my breath, what with the things salesmen say nowadays like “don’t worry sir, that new Android phone will get you free sex with the hottest girl in the nightclub“. And the price is lower than the RRP at RM320. Well, like I said, you put as much trust in salesmen as you do in a snake. But if you’re desperate enough like me, getting bitten by a snake is worth it if you get your hands on a hot gadget early…hahahaha…I think…Tweet
Flogging a dead horse: Windows 7 Tablet for RM1,350
I guess if this tablet was from someone reputable it may be worth considering, but a name like “EGO N200” doesn’t exactly engender a lot of confidence in people eh? Anyway, if you’ve too much money floating around doing nothing useful, get one. It’s “only” RM1,350. Sadly its specs are just so yesterday. Intel Atom processor. 16GB of storage. Yep, you read right – only 16GB which will probably leave you with less than 8GB after you’ve booted up for the first time. Tragic really.
Click here to waste your money. Errr…I mean buy :P
Again, Ultrabooks = overpriced shit
And here comes Lenovo with their offering. If I’m not mistaken, the third major player in the Malaysian market to do so, after Acer and Asus. It’s called the Ideapad Ultrabook. No big fucking surprise there eh?
The U300s comes in 2 configurations. The cheapest goes for RM3,399, and the premium model goes for RM4,699. Too fucking expensive for its specifications. At this kind of prices, you’d be smart to just buy a MacBook Air, and whack Windows 7 onto it. It’s what the clever people do, the sorts of people who read this sorry excuse for a tech blog :P And you’re smart, right? ;-)
Pity Steve’s not around anymore. He would have called this class of products “dead before arrival”. Which is even worse than “dead on arrival”.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 Plus = RM1,699
So here it is. The successor to the rather successful Galaxy Tab 7 inches, one of which I still own. Has a phone function to boot. Now upgraded to Honeycomb and equipped with a 1.2GHz dual core processor, the same that powers the Galaxy Note, if I recall correctly.
Sells for RM1,699. Considering this is a huge phoneblet, I think it’s fucking good value for money compared to the Galaxy Note.
Oh, and the Galaxy Tab 8.9 sells for RM1,699 as well, although I think that this one doesn’t have a phone function. Looks like Sammy is making every fucking size imaginable under the sun to capture the entire market that hasn’t already have an iPad :P
