Good day readers, how are you? I'm glad to share two nice phones in the market, thanks to Ninetology Malaysia. This review is part of Tech Kaijiu Arena, Ninetology's Bloggers' Review Program :)
Before I dwell on my review, I have a message to share about Responsible Blogging. Being responsible means being accountable to all things we've done, and that includes everything we share on the Internet. Have you done your research before you post about anything? If you've taken the extra mile to ensure all information is correct, you're doing everybody a favour! Together we can make the Internet a better place.
Ninetology U9X1 i9480
I'm so excited to head towards
Singapore! Aside from visiting the city, I'm stopping by at two of the nation's flagship universities:
National University of Singapore and
Nanyang Technological University for an appointment with professors. They're offering worthy postgraduate research projects worthy of consideration. Since it's hard to communicate by email, the professors ask me to drop by in Singapore to meet them at their respective labs!
I have sorted out my ticket, but what's missing?
While a transit ticket is enough for me to land in Singapore, I'll still need a few more things to get around the city-state smoothly and comfortably. Three essential items to get around Singapore are:
Singapore dollars.
A prepaid 3G SIM card, either
SingTel or
StarHub will do.
Ezlink smart card. You'll need this to pay for bus and MRT fares without having to wait in long queues.
Why can't I just keep my Malaysian SIM card and set my phone on roaming while I'm in Singapore? It can be one of the most unwise choice to make. Let me tell you why.
Although it's true that I can have my phone set to roaming in Singapore, it's actually not economical. While roaming overseas, you are charged exorbitantly for calls you made and
receive on your phone. In my case my prepaid credit will dry up by just talking on my phone for a few minutes. For postpaid users it's a nightmare when the bill arrives.
If you use 3G data, I advise you to be careful of the
data roaming feature in your smartphone. There're news report of users getting astronomical bills just by checking on Facebook or reading a few emails while overseas; getting a bill shock back home is the last thing anybody wants.
Before setting off overseas, make sure you disable data roaming in your smartphone. After you've obtained immigration clearance, buy a local SIM card and insert it into your phone. In this way, you won't accidentally burn up your wallet :)
If your phone is using micro-SIM, I strongly advise you to keep the remaining plastic just in case you need it.
As a very much Malaysian at heart having activities in Singapore, a dual SIM phone comes in handy. Whenever I cross the border, it saves me the trouble of changing SIM cards.
Thanks to Ninetology, I had a chance to experience a dual SIM device. This is how you insert SIM cards into the phone:
The first SIM card, inserted into the bottom slot, designated as Slot 1.
The second SIM card goes into Slot 2.
After powering on your phone, simply follow the instruction booklet that comes with your SIM to sign up for a 3G data plan. Now I can Tweet, Facebook, browse web pages, check-in Foursquare and view Google Maps when I'm lost, without worrying about cut throat data charges!
What is the most important feature of a dual SIM phone? I may sound a bit
cheong hei, but I'm here to fulfil your curiosity before getting one! You can
switch ON/OFF SIM card, turn on 3G data (separately for each SIM), turn ON/OFF roaming (separately), turn ON/OFF data roaming (separately) and setting the default SIM card for outgoing calls/SMS/video calls. All of these can be accessed from Settings > SIM management.
As far as the battery for U9X1 is concerned, it is equipped with a
2200 mAh Li-ion battery. mAh stands for miliAmpere-hour, a unit used for measuring electrical charges, it's SI derived unit being Ampere-second (Coulomb). Since 1 mAh equals 3.6 Coulomb, that equals to 2200*3.6 = 7920 Coulombs of electrical charges (when the battery is fully charged).
When it comes to multilinguality, Ninetology U9X1 supports display in Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa Indonesia, English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese. Typing in English and Malay is supported in its native Android keyboard whereas Chinese typing is supported through a built-in Google Pinyin.
The Ninetology U9X1 enabled me to keep in touch with friends in Singapore without paying through my nose. It came in handy when a professor called me to give me directions to his lab & university (I'm so touched!).
In conclusion, if you're looking for a usable touchscreen, dual SIM smartphone without a hefty price tag (RM 1099), then the quad-core Ninetology U9X1 is for you. In terms of craftmanship, Ninetology still has a great room for improvement.
Samsung Galaxy Mega GT-i9205
Would you please come in?
Presenting you... the
Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3"! It's so wonderfully made...
In my eyes...
It's the best thing in the world!
Just call up and order the phone already!
What a cuteness overdose! The photos above are
A Pink's
U You music video screencaps, all taken with Samsung Galaxy Mega!. Now let's go to the important stuff.
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This version of Galaxy Mega I received comes with support for 4G LTE. When you buy a Samsung Galaxy Mega, make sure you state your preference for 4G or non-4G models. There are four versions of Galaxy Mega in the market: GT-19150, GT-i9152, GT-i9200 and GT-i9205 but only
GT-i9205 comes with 4G.
I currently own a
Samsung Galaxy S3 GT-i9300, that makes Samsung Galaxy Mega is essentially its big brother. But its bigger screen makes it a phablet.
The Galaxy Mega has more juice: 3200 mAh on a full charge. That's 11,520 Coulombs.
This phablet accepts a single micro-SIM.
Having a larger screen size, typing on the Galaxy Mega is much more comfortable. There is no need to switch keyboard layout whenever I need to type a number, as the number keys lie on top of the QWERTY keyboard.
Rotation of home screen is possible with the Screen Rotation feature turned ON, a cool feature I've noticed. This saves the hassle of turning the screen up whenever I finished using an app in landscape mode.
It's high quality speaker, big screen and ability to support High Definition coupled with landscape mode creates an unparalleled experience on viewing
Youtube.
This device supports display in major languages of the world. When Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia are concerned, their input is supported via the native Android keyboard (without needing Google keyboards). All of these can be changed in Settings > Language and Inputs.
For satellite navigation, the phone specification lists
GPS and
GLONASS. I'm sure veryone is familiar with GPS. If you're wondering, GLONASS is just like GPS, operated by Russia. To date, both systems have full global coverage. You can also say that the phone makes use of both US and Russian satellites to determine its position on Earth. For driving navigation, you can make use of
Waze or
Google Maps, available from Google Play store. Not forgetting that its loud speaker makes navigation easy too!
Despite its sheer size, the Samsung Galaxy Mega is light and fits nicely into my palm.
Samsung Galaxy Mega is for you if you value craftmanship and solid tactile experience, provided that you're willing to afford its RM 1900 price tag.
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That's all for Ninetology's Tech Kaijiu Arena, please show me lots of love
manhi manhi saranghae juseyo! Goodbye and have a nice day
Annyeong!
