My Very Own iPhone 3G!! - [Random Ramblings]

Yay!! Finally got my very own iPhone 3G!!

What you see when you open the box.

I know I'm a little slow, most people already bought their iPhone 3G a long long time ago. I wanted it a long time ago but unfortunately iPhone 3G (and the older generation) was not "officially" brought into Malaysia until about 1 or 2 months ago, and the "non-official" set was insanely expensive! I asked around before the official launch of iPhone 3G in Malaysia, and some are selling the iPhone 3G at RM4,000+ (about USD1,100). Since I heard so much about it's limitations, which I'll go into it in a bit, and with that crazy pricing, I immediately threw the idea of owning an iPhone 3G out of my mind. In fact, even when it was officially launched in Malaysia, I wasn't keen because all the limitations are still there.

The back of the iPhone 3G.

I was actually eyeing the HTC Touch Pro2 that was rumoured to be avaibable in the Asian region during summer (sometime in June) 2009. One of my friend was trying to talk some sense into me, saying the HTC Touch Pro2 will most likely going to cost about RM3,000 (about USD800) in Malaysia, I should consider getting an iPhone 3G, with contract, and will only cost about half that price. He also added that with the Version 3.0 OS, most of the limitations in the current version will be addressed and improved upon. I was a little skeptical so I did a little research on my own.

Clear iPhone 3G, blur box.

Blur iPhone 3G, clear box. But why did I put the box upside down?? Sigh.

The biggest problem doing research was the more I looked at the iPhone 3G, the more I wanted to get it! And when I looked at some of the things the OS 3.0 can do, it's very hard not to get excited. Cut the long story short, it didn't take very long for me to purchase my very first Apple product (next in line will be the Macbook Pro, LOL! Dream on!).

Some of the limitations of the current iPhone 3G that originally puts me off were:-

1. Can't forward SMS. Can be a major pain in the @$$ during festive seasons LOL! (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

2. No MMS. (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

3. Can't do video call since it doesn't have a front mounted camera.

4. The QWERTY keyboard is painstakingly small making it really hard to SMS and chat (Thank God for Auto-correction!). It does get better after some practice. You can however use the landscape QWERTY keyboard when surfing the net with the Safari browser. (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

5. Can't change the battery yourself and can't buy extra batteries. Which brings me to the next problem that really bugs me,

6. Very short battery life. With moderate mix usage, the battery can probably last for around 5 hours.

7. Bluetooth can only connect to handsfree headset. You can't listen to music through wireless stereo headphones (no A2DP), can't transfer files and can't transfer contacts. (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

8. Camera is not the best, only 2MP and cannot record video.

9. Can't copy and paste. (Will be fixed with OS 3.0)

That's about all I can think off at the moment. Most of these limitations will no longer be an issue once the OS 3.0 is launched. It's rumoured to be launch sometime in the beginning or middle of June 2009 so it won't be long. In fact after using it for a few days, most of these limitations are actually quite bearable.

I'm sure by now you should realise that the pictures doesn't really have much to do with the article I'm writing, except, of course, that they are pictures of iPhone 3G.

Some of the features I really like are :-

1. The touch screen is just a bliss to use. Responsive and intuitive.

2. The 3G is quite fast, and wifi connectivity just gives us more options.

3. Some really great a useful 3rd party applications which I will cover in a while.

4. Beautiful and vibrant display.

5. Superb video and audio quality. Not surprising since it's an iPod.

6. Maps, Stocks, and Weather applications can be very useful.

Other accessories that came with the box.

Some 3rd party applications that one shoud have are :-

1. Facebook (Free) - this is useful if you use facebook to msg and keep in touch. If you want the access the full facebook and it's applications, you have to use the web browser.

2. Fring (Free) - A messenger type app allowing you to access your contacts from various sources such as MSN, Yahoo, Skype, ICQ, Google Talk etc. You can access them all with just one application. Very useful

3. Skype (Free) - You can also use Fring. Basically if you have Wifi, you can call your friends who have Skype on their phone or computer for free.

4. SnatchTest (Free) / Snatch (Pay) - Converts your iPhone into a mouse pad which allows you to control your laptop/computer's cursor by using your iPhone. It uses Wifi to connect and you can also use IP address to connect. Very useful for those who do a lot of presentations.

5. Dictionary.com (Free) - Pretty much self explainatory. Good thing is you don't even need to be connected to the internet.

These are only but a few useful applications. There are plenty more you can get from iTunes.

Well, that's about all I have to say about my iPhone 3G for now. I'll say more once I used the OS 3.0. All in all, I'm quite happy with the experience and have no regrets getting this little baby despite of all it's limitations.

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Jason Mraz is Maximum Awsomeness - [Random Ramblings]

Just came back from Jason Mraz - Live In Malaysia 2009! And my oh my, what a night!!

It was simply one of the best concert I've ever attended. Mr. A-Z is definitely one of the most talented, versatile, flexible, entertaining singer, and boy can he really sing, and dance too. This Mr. Feel Good is definitely the Real Deal! This is the type of concert which I personally really enjoy, as oppose to concerts that rely more on props and countless costumes. I feel that I could really connect and enjoy the raw talent of the artiste rather than getting distracted by dry ice and sequins.

The concert started pretty much on time, which is great, though I can't exactly remember what time it was. It was sometime between 8pm to 8:30pm. Like most concert, the sellout crowd was cheering at every Tom, Dick and Harry that walked onto the stage LOL!

When Jason Mraz finally appeared, he opened, predictably, with "Wake up everyone, how can you sleep at a time like this...". Yes, the first song was "Make it mine".

While I remember all the songs he sang, I can't really recall the order so I apologise before hand if my info is a little inconsistent with the actual event :P

After the opening song, he followed-up with "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)" and somewhere nearing the end of the song, he mixed it up with Oasis's "Wonderwall". For those who are familiar with Jason Mraz's live performances, this will come as no surprise, but it was still really good to experience it firsthand.

Some of Mraz's greatest assets are his spontaneity and cheekiness and we definitely got a lot of that tonight. At one point he was asking the crowd:
"Who's here with your best friend tonight?" - to which the crowd cheered
He then asked: "Who's here with your best friend tonight because you're madly in love with that person?" LOL!
Of course the song that came after that was "If It Kills Me".

Being a seasoned entertainer, Jason Mraz has topnotch showmanship and can really engage the crowd, asking us to do some fun, silly stuff with him from time to time such as making funny sound and funny dance moves, he even slipped in an inspiring line or two. For example, he was teaching the crowd to do the silly cool moves of high five, low five, back five and high ten in preparation for his next song "The Dynamo Of Volition", before the song he said "If there's anyone of you out there who's too cool to do this dance moves, or maybe this is not your style, or you have an IMAGE to upkeep, well, DON'T LET YOUR MIND STOP YOU FROM HAVING A GOOD TIME." Simply priceless :)

All in all, the concert was simply awesome. The theme of the night is all about love and feeling good. We have a guest artiste Penny Tai (戴佩妮) (I'm pretty sure it's her) who did a duet for the song "Lucky" with Jason Mraz. If I have any complaints is that the sound system was a little on the soft side. It could definitely be better. And of course, I wished it was longer. The concert ended at 9:55pm, a total duration of roughly 1 1/2 hours, and he didn't sing 2 of my favourite songs: "Curbside Prophet" and "Wordplay". Time flies when you're watching Jason Mraz.

For 1 1/2 hours, on the night of 4th March 2009, Jason Mraz sang, dance and stole our hearts (I know, it sounds gay), and he left us with the best quote of the night:

"This is my first time in Malaysia, but DEFINITELY NOT MY LAST!" So I'm expecting more of live Mr A-Z awesomeness hopefully not too far into the future.

Here's the list of songs he sang in no particular order:-

1. Make It Mine
2. The Remedy (I Won't Worry)
3. Life Is Wonderful
4. You And I Both
5. If It Kills Me
6. Geek In The Pink
7. A Beautiful Mess
8. Live High
9. The Dynamo Of Volition
10. I'm Yours
11. Lucky
12. No Stopping Us
13. Butterfly

Other interesting / related read:-

1. A review by Mr. DX (Blog: A New Chapter In My Life)

2. A review by Joyce Lyn (Blog: purple bananas & red shoes)

3. A review by Neil (Blog: Ahem!)

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Mr. A-Z, Here I Come!! - [Random Ramblings]

Finally got my Jason Mraz Live in Kuala Lumpur from my friend! Can't wait for the 4th of March hehe. Here's a proof of me going to the concert LOL! (Really got nothing better to do huh?!)

Front

Back

If you looked closely at the ticket, you'll see that the ticket I have is an early bird ticket. All thanks to my good and sacrificial friend who sacrificed his saturday morning to get the tickets for 7 of us.

I was however a little unhappy because apparently each person are only entitled to 4 early bird tickets (and he has to buy 7) and that was not mentioned on the website, so I decided to email them a letter of complaint LOL! A couple of days later, they replied apologizing and saying that they were only informed by the organiser about that "terms and condition" on that ticket launched day itself.

While I acknowledged that it's not really their fault, I do hope that they will pester organisers to give them the terms and conditions BEFORE the launched date in the future LOL! Oh well, some things are out of our control I guess. Click the pictures below to see the email conversation. (I've blocked out some stuff that is erm, unnecessary)

From me

From Axcess

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Jason Mraz coming to KL!!!! - [Random Ramblings]

Oh my goodness!!

One of my favourite artist is coming to KL on the 4th of March, 2009!!

Taken from Axcess website:

Jason Mraz Tours KL!

Following the release of his highly anticipated new album “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.”, Marctensia, the concert organizer is pleased to announce that the multi-talented Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Jason Mraz will be touring Kuala Lumpur. Jason Mraz’s concert will kick off on the 4th of March 2009, Stadium Negara at 8:00p.m.

Ticket prices are categorized into RM68 & RM88 (free seating), RM168 & RM208 (number seated) and RM138 (Rock Zone standing and RM258 (The Pitt standing – limited tickets only) and there will be an exclusive early-bird sale event coming this Saturday, 17 January at Sungei Wang Plaza Concourse from 12pm – 3pm; offering one-off early-bird 15% discount tickets to Jason Mraz Live in Malaysia 2009.

To read the full article, concert, and ticketing details, go and visit Axcess.

Having bought all 3 of his studio releases, namely "Waiting for my rocket to come" (2002), "Mr. A-Z" (2005) and the newest album "We sing, we dance, we steal things", I have to say my favorite is still the first album, "Waiting for my rocket to come". I like ALL the songs in there. Apart from the obvious favorites like "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)" and "You and I Both", I really like "Curbside Prophet". All the other songs are very easy to the ear as they are lively and catchy. I do hope he'll play quite a few from this album.

There are only 3 songs which I really like from the album "Mr. A-Z", they are "Wordplay", "Geek In The Pink" and "Life Is Wonderful", and 4 songs from the latest album, namely "I'm Yours", "Lucky", "Love For A Child" and "A Beautiful Mess". The rest of the songs are not too bad as well. Btw, the reason I'm linking those songs to their lyrics is because I love to sing, and online lyrics (especially Jason Mraz's songs since you can't get the lyrics from the album) are God sent LOL!! Also check out the videos of the above songs (mostly Live performance) at the end of this post. You MUST MUST MUST listen to Curbside Prophet Acapella!!

See! Now you can listen, watch and sing Jason Mraz's best songs here at this blog. A great service I'm providing you with wouldn't you say LOL!

All I'm saying is, I CAN'T WAIT TO GO TO THE CONCERT!! The only question I have right now is, with the limited budget that I have, which seating category should I go for, hmm......

The Remedy (I Won't Worry)


You and I Both


Curbside Prophet Acapella! Check it out!!


Wordplay


Geek In The Pink


Life Is Wonderful


I'm Yours


Lucky (with Colbie Caillat)


A Beautiful Mess


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