Yoo minna. It’s been a long 3 weeks hiatus. Life has been busy for me, although I have to stress that getting caught up with real life issues is definitely not fun at all, so I’m sorry for the lack of updates. Rest assured that there will be some slow but steady updates coming right back soon within the next few days, as I have finally found the time to blog again. Got myself hooked up with some freelance projs recently, and also currently struggling with my on-going japanese classes, which explained why I was missing from this space for pretty awhile.

Anyway, I got myself a new phone earlier on this month again (sigh what to do, a gadget freak I am) and it’s another one of those Vodafone models again. May I introduce you guys to the limelight of today’s blog entry, the Toshiba 803T by Vodafone Japan (now officially known as Softbank Mobile Corp).

View Full Specifications: here.

View Product Features: here.

Now we shall move on to the pictures. : )

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Ohayo minna-san! Woke up early as usual today to study even though I reached home pretty late close to 4am last night due to the KTV session I had with my clique. Yesterday was also Timothy’s farewell dinner, we had zi char at somewhere near Boon Keng, it was pretty oishii man. So after dinner, we headed to Boat Quay’s Partyworld for KTV with the guys, had a pretty good singing session with them. Really enjoyed myself, and I think Timothy enjoyed himself too. Oh and he’s finally an owner of a Pink Nintendo DS, thanks to Deli and Jac as well as the rest of them who chipped in for his present. As for me and the rest of the guys, we will be presenting our present (still a secret lol) to him on the 27th which will also be the day when he’s flying off to Perth, to re-unite with his family and also part of his migration and study plans. (sob sob) Anyway good things will always come to an end, so let’s cherish the memories we all had together all these while, and may our friendship last forever. Here’s to our friendship; May it be reckoned long as a lifetime, close as a second.

Anyway, I had some spare time to do up the review for my new phone this morning, so I decided to get on with it and present to you guys some pictures of my new toy as well as a mini-review of the phone. First and foremost, may I present to you the official press release and full specifications of the Sharp 903SH, by Vodafone Japan (now officially known as Softbank Mobile Corp).

Official Press Release on 11th of August, 2005.
Vodafone K.K. today announced that, as part of its new 3G lineup, from mid August 2005 it will offer the Vodafone 903SH handset by Sharp, it features the industry’s first 3.2 megapixel auto focus mobile camera with 2X optical zoom.

The 903SH’s best-in-class*1 3.20 megapixel mobile CCD camera can bring both the foreground and background clearly into focus with its 5 high-performance aspheric glass lenses. The camera also uses the Frame Interline Transfer process, the same type used in professional-quality broadcast video cameras, to prevent the “smear”*2 phenomenon. Vodafone 903SH customers can also enjoy advanced photography with picture sizes of up to QXGA sizes (1,536 x 2,048 pixel).

*1: As of 28 July 2005 in the Japanese market (according to Vodafone K.K.).

*2: Smear phenomenon: phenomenon typical of CCDs, for example, when headlights or light from the sun causes vertical streaks of light to appear on the image.

3D Surround Stereo Side Speakers for realistic sound enjoyment
The Vodafone 903SH comes equipped with 3D Surround Stereo Side Speakers on the left and right of the handset display panel so customers can experience unprecedented audio realism. The 903SH has pre-installed ringtones and games that support 3D sound.

2.4-inch Mobile ASV LCD for superior display and wide-angle viewing
The Vodafone 903SH’s 180 degree reversible Swivel Style 2.4-inch giant LCD display uses Mobile ASV, which is based on ASV (Advanced Super View) liquid crystal display technology found in Sharp’s AQUOS line of LCD TVs. The handset offers remarkably clear viewing in bright locations outside and in dark spots indoors, as well as wide views of 160 degrees* from all angles without any colour distortion. As a result customers can freely enjoy photography or image viewing at a variety of angles.
*In conformance with JEITA standards (5:1 contrast ratio)

Fully supports Vodafone K.K. 3G services
The Vodafone 903SH fully supports Vodafone K.K. 3G services such as Vodafone live! BB, which lets customers enjoy rich music and video content by downloading large files via their PCs, video calls, international roaming and Chaku-Uta Full® full track music downloads.

View Full Specifications: here.

View Product Features: here.

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The Walkman history has certainly come a long way. I could still vividly remember those nostalgic days back when I was still a young playful kid, during my primary school days, I kept playing with the tape recorder back at home, recording my own various stuffs, which they called it audioblogging or ‘podcasting’ in these days. The first Walkman stereo was originally invented by Sony and officially unveiled on June 22th, 1979. Since then the cassette stereo format has been generally replaced in favor of the digital technologies of CD, MiniDisc as well as flash or harddisk-based MP3 players, due to the technology obsolescence as the format slowly fades away.

Still, these days the word ‘Walkman’ has been widely used and associated with Sony’s own line of MD and Network HDD-DAPs. And in a few days time, I would be getting my first Sony DAP (read: digital audio player) with the recent release of the Sony HW-HD5 locally here. It was actually just launched in Japan last month and ever since I saw the pictures and info unveiled on various websites online, I have been waiting impatiently for its release here. I dropped by Sony Square at Funan yesterday when I was out with Jimmy, to check the availability for it and was told by the salesperson there that it has been officially launched as advertised on its website, but official stocks will only been in by next week. So I guess I would have to wait till next week to purchase it, will make sure I make a call before I go down first this time. The official SRP for it is S$499 with some sort of free speakers promotion. Well luckily it’s still within my budget, as I was estimating the launch price to be between $500 to $600 at least. And I have gotten word from Adam yesterday that he might be able to help me get staff discount for my purchase with his brother’s help (think his brother is working at Sony) though I wouldn’t bet on it but it’s quite nice of him actually. Here are some pictures I had found on some review sites of this cool and stylish portable HDD-DAP, do check it out.

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I discovered this beautiful site over here yesterday evening, and somehow it reaffirms my conclusion that Sony is indeed marketing the Playstation Portable not only as a console handheld, but also as a fashion icon, a kind of lifestyle akin to Apple’s iPod franchise. Frankly speaking in my opinion, the Sony PSP is actually the second gizmo created out of this world that’s made so perfectly, in terms of looks and design. The first one been Apple’s very own iPod, of course. For portable gadgets, this two sleek devices stays on top of my most-cool looking gadgets list. And to further prove my statement, here are some pictures for you guys and gals to ogle and enjoy, before you buy your Sony PSP that is. *grins*

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Remember I did an article about portable gadgets and stuff (Sony PSP etc) sometime back? Well this time it’s something similiar again, it’s about my spanky new toy, the Nintendo DS. I bought the recently launched pure white color edition via Play-asia, instead of the normal and oh-so-common platinium silver color. I could rave on and on and have a super long-winded article about this, but I guess this time I would just let the pictures do the talking. Did some cool wi-fi picto-chatting and multi-play with the usual GS peeps about two weeks ago, outside Gamescore. Totally hilarious and fun experience I say. Well enough of the talk, may I present you guys and girls the pictures now.

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Sex really sells isn’t it? Even SPH found such a hot female model to do a photoshoot just for the article on the Sony PSP. Below is an attached scan of the ST’s article comparison chart of the current 3 hottest and latest portable handheld gadgets. Click on it for a larger version.

In my opinion, if I were Steve Jobs of Apple Inc, I would really start to panick right now and try to do something about my iPod franchise. Lately having seen the media and several online sites publishing news and doing comparisons btw Sony’s very own PSP and Apple’s popular iPod franchise, has definitely steamed up the whole tech-gadget scene, with industry analysts speculating that even before Mr Sim’s very own Creative starts to fight another round with Apple on the current portable music scene, Sony will emerge to be the sole winner for this round instead. Of course it’s just speculation, but it’s not biased without facts and reasons. One is a portable game handheld as well as an A/V player, while the other is solely just a dedicated portable music player, which makes them really on different league of their own. No doubt that Apple’s iPod franchise is really that popular and hot, that even they had managed to have garnered quite a whole dedicated music industry to support them as well, (the widely popular irish-band U2 did some marketing for them too) so it’s really hard to disregard and diss their capability in this particular market share. But it’s notable to mention that when such a new comer such as Sony enters a market and industry that they are new to, they can actually strike such a success with the public and media just based on the Playstation franchise. Honestly Sony’s Playstation franchise ain’t weak too, but I just didn’t expect them to do so well for the first time they are trying for the portable market. CNET did a review article on the Sony vs Apple issue as well, you can read up more about it here.

Ok enough of all this gadget talk, off to watch the latest episode of The O.C. before I retire for the night. Good night everyone.

Hey minna, I’m back for more updates before I head to bed. I promised to blog about some happier stuffs didn’t I? Anyway at such a sophisticated age like this, I’m sure many of you definitely have either a portable music player or gaming handheld, or maybe even a portable digital assistant aka PDA. Anyway I’m proud to announce, I finally bought my first portable gaming/video/music handheld which is the Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) (my Nokia Taco doesn’t count btw, it’s more like a phone than gaming handheld to me), got it sometime after CNY was over, about 2 weeks ago. Pretty much splurged my whole ang baos on it, costs me $688 for the whole bundle consisting of the PSP Value pack, Martins Field Screen Overlay Plus and one PSP game (I got Lumines). And that is not all, cos practically Sony only included a 32MB Memstick Pro in the original package that can’t save shit other than serving for those game saves purpose. So I also got myself a brand new Sandisk 512MB Memstick Duo Pro for storing music and videos for another $130. *rolls-eyes* So all in all I actually spent about $818 for all these, zzz how’s that for a new year start, talk about spending recklessly heh.

Though it was an expensive investment, honestly I had to say it was quite a worthwhile purchase. Firstly, I was actually looking for a dedicated MP3-player, and secondly, PSP not only serves as a portable gaming handheld console but also functions as a portable PDE that plays music and videos. So while I was contemplating whether to get an Apple iPod Mini or Creative Zen Micro for that matter, it suddenly struck me that I could actually buy the Sony PSP to kill two birds with one stone. Afterall my Taco (Read: Nokia N-gage) was giving me some irritating problems with its music function; sometimes it simply refuses to skip to the next track after a track has played finished, or sometimes the player will just hang after looping a few songs, which is utterly irritating while listening to music on-the-go outside. So after I got my Sony PSP, I got rid of my Taco soon by selling it off for $250, so you could say I recuperated abit of my money that went into the PSP. Anyway Willie from Mega Multimedia was nice enough to give me a discount for e whole package, cos during that week the Value Pack would cost you $699 without e Martins Field Protector, with just one game bundled. So I actually got myself quite a good bargain, thanks to him. And also thanks to my Sony PSP, now I finally don’t have to endure boring moments while commuting via MRT or bus rides. *elated*

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