Singapore views...

Complete Guide to the Mobile Phone Series

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 14:51:00 +0000

Confuse with the Phone model?

Are you confused by the variety of the phones in the market? Do you know the market segmentation of the various phone companies? If you are not sure, read on.

Every phone has a different market positioning. Generally, there are 3 basic categories: Entry, Mid-end and Premium. There are other categories such as value, niche (big battery etc) and foldable phones for specific target segments with strong demand.

Market Segmentation

Entry level (<S$300) showcases the cheapest phones in the market and most of these phones are OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer): Factories are authorised to manufacture cheap phones and branded with recognised brand. Factories profit from such high volume sales and enjoy low margin while the branded company takes a cut in commission of the sales. As expected, these phones have high defective rates and seldom work beyond the warranty period. So blame not the phone but you, the consumers who want cheap phone with branded logo.

Value phones (S$300 to S$500) are the best buy in the market as they are the delicate balance between price and quality producing good performance while not squeezing too much out of the wallet. Usually, there is a weakness in such phones such as poor quality camera to justify the low production costs.

Mid-end phones (S$500 to $1000) are not cheap. They are one step better than value phones and they are all-rounders per se. They command good price and are the cash cows of the phone companies.

Premium, Business and Foldable phones (>S$1000) are the rip off for early adaptors who are willing to fork out ten fold the price just to enjoy the top notch technologies offered in the latest technology world. They depreciate by up to 20% the moment they reach the customers, who opened the box rendering them second hand in the carousel market.

Phone Model Chart

Look no further, below is the chart for easy comparison.

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G
1	Brand	Entry	Value	Mid End	Premium	Business	Foldable
2	Apple		SE	Plus Mini	Pro	Pro Max
3	Honor	Play	X	Number	Magic
4	Huawei	Nova Y	Enjoy	Nova	P	Mate
5	iQoo	U	Z	Neo	Number
6	Meizu	Number+X		Number+S	Number
7	Motorola	G	Edge	S	X		Razer
8	Nubia			Red Magic	Z
9	OnePlus	Nord N Nord CE	Ace	Nord	Number
10	Oppo	A	K	Reno	Find X	Find N
11	Poco	C M		X	F
12	Realme	C V Q	Number	GT Number GT Neo	GT Master
13	Redmi	Number		Note	K
14	Samsung	J F M		A	W	S Note	Z
15	Vivo	Y	T	S V	X
16	Xiaomi	Y	Max	Civi	Number	Mixed	Mixed Fold
17	ZTE	Blade		Axon	Nubia

2023 Mobile Phone Buying Guide

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Sun, 12 Nov 2023 03:05:00 +0000

BACKGROUND

Normally, it is a good time to buy a mobile phone on 11 Nov when phone prices are at their rock bottom. However, this year was exceptional when the next generation CPU, the Snapdragon 8 Gen3, was recently launched on 24 Oct 2023. The early launch disrupted the sales of the old flagship products and therefore, there will not be any urgent urge for manufacturers to clear their old stocks.

Since the price of the new 8Gen3 phones is rigid with zero discount, the price will remain at bay in the next 2 months. Looking at iPhone 15, it has had a series of price cuts since launch due to its poor sales and lack of innovations.

If you spend S$600 to buy a 8Gen2 phone, you are likely to get a 8Gen3 phone in the next 3 months when 8Gen3 moves into a cash cow state. So a S$500 8Gen1 phone will likely get you a 8Gen2 phone in Feb 2024. You definitely do not wish to suffer a sudden 25% depreciation of your new phone in the next 3 months despite the additional 1% GST increase in 2024.

For example on 9 Nov 2023, Redmi SG official store is selling Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G (8+256) at S$499 but China is selling the identical at RMB1,899 (or S$354), a significant price difference of S$145.

So the question is not to buy WHICH phone but WHEN to buy the next phone.

If you are in no hurry, wait till Feb/Mar 2024. If you are having issues like the battery cannot last long, the phone screen is cracked and cannot swipe or the phone is unbearable to use, you should buy a phone immediately. Else you should just wait till the next wave of price cut in early 2024.

So it is not worthwhile to buy phones which are on the premium (>S$400) and also phones which are too cheap (<$200). So the basic features must be defined.

DEFAULT FEATURES

Below are the features you should consider when getting a new phone:

CPU: Avoid SD888, SD888+ and SD 8Gen1 with overheating issues and those old and slow models;
RAM: >=8GB. 4GB has limited opened apps.
Storage: >=256GB. 128GB is just <S$10 difference.
Battery: >=4700mAh. 5000mAh will be ideal.
Charging speed: Preferably >60W.
Android OS: 12 or above. Preferably 13.
Global or SG version: DO NOT buy China version.
Compatibility: For those who are using SIMBA, you must ensure the phone supports certain 4G frequencies and VOLTE is available. Simba offers the compatibility list as reference.

OPTIONAL FEATURES

Display: IPS is eye friendly while OLED is viewable under sunlight. OLED commands a premium over IPS.
NFC: It is good to have NFC. India ROM has no NFC by default.
Bluetooth: Minimum is 5.0
Network: 4G only is cheaper than those with 5G support
Camera: Sony IMX is always better than the rest.
IP rating: Good to have

LOW END PHONES (<S$200)

Avoid these phones as they have no value.

BUDGET PHONES (S$200 to S$250)

This segment is very competitive and there are many low price traps:

RAM is 4GB; or
CPU is outdated; or
Android OS is 9 (outdated); or
4G only (no 5G); or
Charging speed is only 20W.

Still, there is a compromise of certain features to enjoy the low price range of S$200 to S$250.

There is only one recommendation:

Redmi Note 12 4G (8+256) ~S$220: Value for money but charging only at 33W.

VALUED PHONES (S$250 to S$400)

There are varied discounts on various platforms.

iQoo Z7 (12+256): SD782G CPU and 120W charging but IPS display;
Redmi Note 11T Pro (12+256): 5080mAh battery but IPS display and OS 12;
Redmi Note 12T Pro (12+256): 5080mAh battery but IPS display;
Redmi Note 12 Turbo (12+256): Only 181g;
Redmi Note 12 Pro 4G (8+256): SD732G CPU with 66W charging;
Redmi Note 13 Pro+ (12+256): IP68 rating;
Oppo K11 (12+256): Good IMX890 camera; and
Realme 11 Pro+ (12+256): 100W charging.

NOTE:

If you can wait, WAIT till Feb/Mar 2024 to buy a new phone; and
You may consider 8+256 for a lower price but if the gap is less than S$30, it is advisable to buy the 12+256 version.
Redmi Note 12 series has the following models (from weak to strong CPU power):

12 S (Helio G96)
12 4G (SD685)
12 Pro 4G (SD732G)
12 5G (4Gen1 with AMOLED)
12 Global (4Gen1 with Super AMOLED)
12 R Pro (4Gen1 with 12GB RAM and OLED)
12 R (4Gen2)
12 Pro 5G (Dimensity 1080 with 5000mAh battery/67W charging)
12 Pro+ (Dimensity 1080 with 5000mAh battery/120W charging)
12 Explorer (Dimensity 1080 with 4300mAh battery/210W charging)
12 Pro Extreme Edition (SD778G)
12 T Pro (Dimensity 8200)
12 Turbo (7+Gen2)

Redmi Note 12 and Redmi 12 are 2 different categories.

FAKED OR REFURBISHED OR UNBRANDED PHONES

Beware of fake phones with no brand or refurbished phones. The S$120 Note 12 4G may not be from Redmi so buying from a trustworthy store is critical. Read the fine prints for details in the description page and read the after sales reviews before buying.

ONLINE PURCHASE

Aliexpress
Lazada
Amazon
Shopee
Respective brand online SG website
Telco websites
Carousell (Used or Refurbished)

Should I sign up for TPG S$10 for 50GB data?

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Thu, 21 May 2020 07:38:00 +0000

TPG's Offer

After 1.5 years of offering free mobile service, TPG has decided to charge for its mobile service and throw in a whopping 50GB of mobile data with 300 call out minutes and 10 SMS.

The financial industry is skeptical about the offer. If all 400,000 subscribers signed up, it will only contribute $48m yearly revenue if everyone sign up. The setup cost of 4G infrastructure is estimated at $160m with a running yearly cost of $1.6m. TPG is likely to charge more to capture more market shares and boost its revenue.

Is $10 for 50GB worth it?

The picture below depicts what are the choices that current consumers have.

The X-axis is the GB of Mobile Data (The bigger the better)

The Y-axis is the Cost of the Plan (The smaller the better)

The size of the circle depicts the call out minutes (The bigger the better)

So, plans located at the bottom right are the BEST plans. And there is only 1.

It is the TPG plan which offers 50GB at $10.

At the same cost, the closest competitor is MyRepublic with 6GB of mobile data.

At the same GB, the closest competitor is Gomo's offer at $30.

TPG sets a new standard for value of market in Singapore for postpaid services.

What are the shortcomings of signing up?

4G Phones: TPG provides ONLY 4G network so customer needs a 4G phone to use the service. In fact, the 4G phone must be LTE FDD supporting either 900MHz or 2300MHz.
Call out: For calling out, only certain phones with VOLTE+ are supported. Else, customers must download TPG app for call out. Well, you can use whatsapp to leave voice message or voice out since you have 50GB.
Support: There is only one office in Orchard and the alternative avenue of support is by email.
Network coverage: The biggest drawback is network limitation as TPG is a new network provider and they must lay out 4G network from scratch. Underground carpark and MRT tunnels are blind spots with no network. Sometimes, those staying or working at high floors (>30 floors) may not receive any network coverage. These are not the target segments TPG is going after.

The BEST plan in the market and not for long...

From the chart above, this is the BEST plan in Singapore postpaid sim-only market. None of the competitors (including MVNOs) can match this offer. So, it is safe to guess that TPG will likely increase the costs of the plan after 31 May 2020 to boost its revenue for profits. This is the same as the free 30 minutes plan offered by Circles.Life to boost its customer base. Upon reaching its target, Circles.Life terminated the free plan. We can expect the same execution from TPG.

So what are you waiting for? Go and grab the plan now from TPG online or visit their office:

Address: Orchard Central (181 Orchard Road, #04-28 Orchard Central, Singapore 238896)

Operating Hours: 11.00 am to 9.00 pm

And before I forgot, there is a bonus 1GB of roaming data in Indonesia, India and Philippines. Sign up early before the offer is gone. I seriously doubt there will be another Telco coming into Singapore in the next 5 years.

When to take a plane from Johor Senai Airport?

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 12:24:00 +0000

The Era of Budget Flying

With the introduction of budget airlines, Singapore is blessed with being the airport hub for the region and the transit point for ASEAN. Flying is indeed cheaper compared to 20 years ago. Malaysia and Thailand are also playing a catch up game but AirAsia, HQ in Malaysia Langkai, provides a superior customer experience and won the top Asia budget airline 10 years in a row since 2009.

Some are abandoning Changi Airport and go Johor's Senai Airport due to the high airport charges. For a small group of 6-7 travellers, they may drive 50km to Senai Airport and fly for a short vocation and bear the jam in customs. Is it worth it? Where are the destinations that may cost cheaper?

Limitations of Discussion

We shall spell out the constraints presented before we move on to the data. We shall look at the 6 months outlook of the cheapest flight tickets in both Singapore's Changi and Johor's Senai airports. The data presented is a cross section dated today because we know airlines have a complicated system of determining fluctuating airfare prices. Different airline companies also have different promotions at various periods. Therefore, the key words are Cheapest, Changi or Senai, 6 month period and Date of Departure. We cannot guarantee you may get the same pricing tomorrow or in the week/month in future.

Flying ASEAN

South East Asia consists of 11 countries with 650.5 million people in 2017 (Source: Statista). Many budget airlines are introduced to get a slice of the market shares and this market is booming since 2010. So how is Changi compared to Senai if we are taking a flight to the captial city of each country?

Capital Cities of Asean

Note 1: Myanmar's and East Timor's capital have no direct flight so they are omitted in this chart.

We noticed that the average prices is cheaper for Singapore ($148) despite the higher airport taxes than Johor ($236). But Senai has a cost saving $39 from Johor to KL due to intercity flight as compared to International flight.

Popular ASEAN destinations

The next question is whether there is any cost saving for other popular Asean destinations.

Popular Asean Destinations (Exclude Capital Cities)

The above chart revealed that Senai offers the best deal to fly Alor Setar (RED) while Changi is the better option to fly to Da Nang and Phuket (GREEN). It makes sense as the chart has many Malaysia destinations. But the cost savings may not be sufficient to attract passengers to brave the custom jams and the 50km to Senai except for longer destination such as Ipoh and Alor Setar.

Asia Destinations

We are adventurous and Asean is not the limit. Destinations below 7 hrs flight time is achievable by budget airlines.

Asia Destinations

Singapore, being the airline hub, begins to shine as we reach out to other Asia destinations. There is huge cost savings flying to Port Moresby, Sapporo, Tokyo and New Delhi as highlighted in GREEN. Surprisingly, we noticed that Senai offers cheaper flight prices to GuangZhou ($58 savings), Macau, Kochi, Moscow and Seoul. For group/family travelling to these destinations, Senai may be a good alternative to save costs.

Worldwide Destinations

Let's venture into international airlines.

Worldwide Destinations

Except a small margin to Washington DC, Singapore Changi offers the best price to all other destinations. The average cost widens from $725 to $1352 so Changi is the default choice for distant destinations. For Wellington NZ, the saving is nearly $3k!!!

Date of Departure

After an overview of the cheapest airtickets in the coming 6 months, we cannot ignore other details. Take for instance, the Wellington NZ case:

For Senai, it involves both NZ and Malaysia Airlines with 2 stops on both ways.

It departs on 9 Feb 7:15pm (17h20m with transits at KLIA, KUL and Auckland Airport, AKL) and returns on 15 Feb 7:45pm (21h25m with transits at AKL and KLIA).

For Changi, it involves Qantas Airlines with 1 stop on both ways:

It departs on 25 Mar 7:40pm (14h10m with transits in Sydney Airport, SYD) and returns on 1 Apr 6:45am (15h5m with transits in Sydney Airport, SYD).

Not only Changi offers a saving of nearly $3k, it is also has less hours of travel and less transit points. Those who are staying in Johor may find it cheaper to come to Singapore and travel to Wellington instead.

*Note that the dates of departure are different because we are only considering lowest pricing in the next 6 months over date of departure.

Conclusions

We are lucky that Changi provides cheaper tickets to worldwide destinations. However, Senai is able to fly cheaper to some cities within Malaysia. For non-Malaysia cities, Senai may not be a good option considering the time travel and the potential jam at customs. In the worst scenario, early morning flight may require a stay in the nearby Senai hotels which will erode the savings in airfares. Well, it is also a horrible idea to carry 20kg of luggage on the return trip. What say you?

Register for TPG Telecom now!

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 17:23:00 +0000

Good news

After the last posting on advicing NOT to sign up for new plans, TPG has announced on 21 Dec that they will start its registration process for its new subscriber base. The first 20k subscribers are expected to use its mobile service for 1-year FREE.

Who is TPG Telecom?

TPG Telecom is the 4th mobile operator in Singapore. Founded in 1986 and started mobile operation in 2008, it is the 2nd largest Australia fixed Telco with 400k subscribers. Unlike Zero, Zero1 and CircleLife, TPG has its own fixed network infrastructure so it has full control over its network.

U-Turn on 24 months Senior Plan

They also claimed they are commited and look forward to contribute to the community. In Mar 2018, they mentioned about 24 months plan for seniors above 65 years old but made an U-Turn on that decision. Further details will be available.

What the plan offers?

20,0000 successful applicants will be expected to get the following plan:

20 minutes of outgoing calls;
20 SMS; and
Unlimited mobile data but above usage of 2GB will be throttled to 1Gbps.

Note: To watch a youtube video with powerpoint effect, a 2Gbps speed is needed. Therefore, after 2GB, online high resolutions video will be expected to lag.

Target Segments

Based on the free plan, the target segments they are aiming are:

People with low calling and low sms needs;
Users with IoT or GPS devices;
Seniors or teenagers; and
Adults with a secondary line.

Conclusions

Looking at all plans offered by all competitors, there is no plan to match at such low price point unless you are paying S$9.90 with Zero1. So, successful applicants stand to gain $120 for the free 1 year access. Why wait? Register now to avoid disappointment. Good luck to your application!

Read this before signing up SimOnly Plan

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Wed, 19 Dec 2018 07:44:00 +0000

UPDATE: TPG Telecom has started the registration for 20,000 subscribers. Please register your interests HERE. Read more about the plan HERE.

Why SimOnly Plans?

SimOnly plans were introduced because most handphones can last for more than 2 years and subscribers are smart enough NOT to sign up for outdated basic mobile phones to commit for 24 months now.

Such plans empower subscribers to focus on their needs for calling out minutes, sms and more importantly SUITABLE data plan to suit their personalised lifestyles.

In Dec 2018, all 3 Telcos gave out big bonuses data plan if subscribers renew their SimOnly plans. Mobile data is the biggest profit for Telcos and why are they suddenly transforming to Santa Clauses in Dec 2018? Read on to know the catch...

Too Good to be True?

Starhub surprised everyone by topping up free 10GB of data for SimOnly in early Dec for renewal and new sign ups. M1 responded by offering 12 different plans to capture all market segments. Singtel, being the slowest elephant, reluctantly responded with 10GB but offer NO free Caller ID.

To put simply, all 3 Telcos suddenly throw in 10GB as Christmas gifts in Dec. Starhub and M1 even throw in FREE Caller ID which normally ripped subscribers for S$5.25 (inclusive of GST). Too good to be true? There are 3 compelling reasons why they are Santa Clauses.

Reason 1: Virtual Telco unlimited plan

Zero and Zero1 are currently selling plans with unlimited data use. The catch is once you exceed your allocated mobile plan size, your speed will be "trimmed" or slow and steady.

Reason 2: 5G is coming

Singapore has all the 5G infrasture ready due to its tiny size and the willingness to invest to become a smart nation. With 5G promising 100 times faster than 4G, it will completely wipe out the need for wifi and easily download a movie in under 4 seconds. By ramping up its users for 5G and cost sharing, it is cheaper to use 5G in the near future.

Reason 3: New Telco is coming

TPG Telecom will be launching in mid 2019 and they promise to give elderly (>65 yo) free 3G mobile services for 2 years. This will remove the senior segment from the cake.

Cast the net with 10GB as bait

To lock and trap subscribers, they must give them a reason to sign another 12 or 24 months to prevent them from jumping to their competitors especially the new TPG Telecom. Giving 10GB is peanut in the new 5G era and it is the best time to trap elephants and monkeys who are greedy.

Suggestions

If your contract is expiring soon, note that you can ONLY renew in end Dec 2019. By mid Jun 2019, there will be a major shake up when TPG Telecom is onboard when good buffet are awaiting.

If you choose to sign up now, avoid Singtel and consider M1/Starhub no-contract plans only. Restricting yourself now is foolish when you have more choices in mid 2019. Let's look forward for a better 2019.

Reference sites:

Select the right running shoe

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 17:47:00 +0000

Introduction

Unless you are crippled, everyone can run and it is one of the cheapest form of sports to pursue a healthy lifestyle. We choose a running shoe based on recommendation and somehow trusted the recommendation of the salesman. Else, we reply on personal experiences from experienced runners or choose the most colourful or most expensive shoes or shoes with the most wanted feature.

Somehow, some shoes fit well but some do not. The most expensive shoe may still not fit our feets and only you know best. In the worst case, we are injured during running wearing the new shoes. So what went wrong?

The Science Behind

Believe it or not, there are only a few shoes that we can choose among the brands. If you defy the science behind, you are fighting against your own fate. Your body, fitness, running form and feets decide which brand and model best suit you. Let's discover the science behind...

Shoe Last vs foot shape

There are 3 types of foot:

Picture from rightshoesblog.com

The shoe last represents the anatomical information of the foot, at the same time giving the finished shoe a pleasing and fashionable appearance. Failing to choose the right shoe last based on your foot shape, many blisters will be developed.

Many European manufacturers such as Salomon built shoes meant for Greece foot. Asics, being an Asia manufacturer, focuses on Egyptian foot while New Balance, an American company, offers all shoes to fit all foot shapes with B, 2E and 4E options.

Now you know why the premium Asics shoes you bought don't fit you? Because your foot is Greek style! Asics and the salesman never tell you that because they are only interested in selling you shoes.

Knowing the brands who made the right shoe last decide if your feets are comfortable in your shoes.

Your Body Weight vs Cushion Support

The second important factor is about your weight. If you are heavy, you need more support. The cut-off point is normally at 75kg. If you exceed 75kg, you need more support for more protection. With more cushion, the time on ground is longer and you will run "longer". Therefore, choosing the right cushion is important because you do not need so much cushion when you want speed.

The top 4 manufacturers (Asic, Saucony, New Balance and Brooks) and other companies designed high tech shoes for "slow" runners with many cushion support. These shoes are meant for beginners who have not developed essential leg muscles for running.

Experienced runners will select fast shoes with better grip in the front while slow runners love thick heavy cushion at the back.

Uneven Foot Size and Arch

For many with varying degree of arch, cushion support at different shoes can help in correcting the natural defects. However, stability and support from the shoes cannot solve the root of the problem. Runners must train up their leg muscles and adopt the right running posture to tackle the root of the problem.

Your Capability vs Shoe Selection

Now, with the above considerations, you can select the right pair of shoes and start running. If you focus on the right posture during running and train consistently, you will develop the right muscles and eventually outgrow your shoe. Yes, this current shoe will only fit your current form. When your running capability grow, you will need another pair of shoes to match your new capability. That's why every pair of shoes have a lifetime, just like we humans.

Happy running with a right pair of shoes.

The 3 new mobile plans from MyRepublic

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 17:59:00 +0000

New MyRepublic mobile plans

On 21 Jun 2018, MyRepublic has launched 3 new mobile plans. They come with the following benefits:

1000 outgoing mins;
1000 outgoing sms;
Boundless data (slower speed after limit is reached);
Free caller ID;
Free local delivery;
Free SIM activation;
Free incoming calls; and
Free incoming sms.

There are 3 plans: Smart (7GB), Mega (12GB) and Xtra (25GB) priced at $35, $55 and $85 respectively.

Smart with Smart 35?

Smart 35 is comparable to most plans offered by other telcos. At S$35 price point, it is attractive provided you are a phone or sms addict. For 1000 outgoing calls and 1000 outgoing sms, you pay peanuts to get 10 times of call out time for a small fee of less than $7 compared to Circles Life $28 plan.

Mega 55 is not that big

Mega is the mid-range offering and it has 5GB more for $20. This is not attractive as Circles life offers only $20 for 20GB. Therefore, Mega is no big deal.

Xtra 85 has no Extra

Xtra 85 mirrors the older Ultimate plan which was launched earlier for broadband customers. But for the same features, Ultimate ($80 for 80GB) is an obvious choice compared to Xtra 85 ($85 for 25GB). It remains a mystery why MyRepublic is launching an inferior plan Xtra 85 creating a cannibalise situation for the same target segment. So sign up for Ultimate if you can.

Uno is the BEST

Uno is still the best plan offered by MyRepublic with 1GB data but priced only at $8/month. It enjoys all the features of the 3 new plans but costs only a fraction to enjoy the same benefits. Sign up for Uno if you are a phone addict.

Sign up for Circles Life Flex Plan now

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 03:28:00 +0000

DISCLAIMER

Let me start with a disclaimer below:

I do not work for and not related to Circles Life except as a newly signed customer. I do not receive any direct monetary or indirect rewards from Circles Life. I am promoting this plan because I strongly believe it will benefit you and me.

THE FLEXI PLAN

Allow me to continue...There are many postpaid mobile plan in Singapore and finally, Circles Life has launched the $0/month Flexi Plan in Singapore in 22 May 2018 (Straits Times). So what is the big deal?

On the first look, it has nothing fantastic: 1GB of mobile data, 30 minutes of call time, 10 SMS and free caller ID. Right, that's all for a month. When the quota is reached, you are blocked from the service and you have to wait for the replenishment in the next month. Miserable for many but wait, it is $0 or FREE and with NO stupid contract. Top up options are available if you have used up the freebies for the month. Note: This 30 minutes of calling time INCLUDES incoming calls.

This is attractive because Singaporeans always like free door gifts. But is this designed for you? Maybe yes, maybe not.

VALUE OF FLEXI PLAN

It is good to breakdown what are you signing up for:

1GB of mobile data = S$10.70
30 minutes of calling = S$8.025
10 sms = S$1.605

The total value of Flexi Plan is S$20.33/month w/GST. Current rumour include $8 top up is needed for every 90 days. This is untrue and purely a myth to discredit Circles Life.

TOP UP OPTIONS

You may question if the top up are relatively higher in costs. The top up options are:

1GB for S$8;
2GB for S$12 or S$6/GB; and
40 mins for S$5 or S$0.08/min.

They are neither the most premium or the best value so I consider them average. The beauty is if you have exhausted the data, calling minutes or sms, they will not bite into your wallet so this limit prevents from overspending. Caution spending is thus exercised which is healthy for shaping the spending behavior of kids or teenagers.

TARGET CUSTOMERS

The target segment is broad:

Folks (especially seniors or kids) who are still relying on prepaid card at the moment;
2nd sim card if your phone (exclude Apple users) supports;
Spare phone with a spare sim for 2FA or other needs; and
Folks (especially students or foreign workers) who just need an emergency phone line.

What do you need to provide?

NRIC
Employment Pass
11B
S-Pass
Student Pass
Work Permit
Dependant Pass
PEP

Clearly, travellers and foreigners are not suitable for this Flexi Plan. One thing for sure, it is meant to cannibalise the current prepaid market. For those on prepaid, it is good to know that you cannot port over your number directly. You need to convert to postpaid before you can do so.

This sim card is superb for local use (not for roaming) but will cut off its service if you exceed the quota. Yes, the conversation will stop abruptly if your 30 mins limit is reached. Nonetheless, it is still a good card to own.

HOW TO SIGN UP?

The steps are simple:

Visit http://shop.circles.life/zero/plan;
Furnish your particulars with photos of your ID;
Pay S$6 delivery charges online;
Ensure you choose an available date/time for delivery;
Activate the sim card;
Enjoy!

CONCLUSION

$0 Flexi Plan is the best card to get in the market for local uses and the only suggestion to improve is the use of * to check on the credit balances which is not available. Stop procrastinating, get your card now.

Get your free 20GB Unifi prepaid simcard

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Sun, 11 Feb 2018 03:08:00 +0000

The headache for Malaysia prepaid simcard

Whenever you wish to use your sim card when you are in Malaysia, the first problem you encounter is TOP UP. Yes, before you use it, you must top up the sim card...if it is still valid within 50 days since your last use. If you never top up for more than 50 days, the simcard is dead and all its credit, data, call and sms credits are confiscated.

So if it is still within 50 days since its last top up, you will probably first top up with RM10 in 7-11 store in Malaysia and then consider buying some data for use. You have to utilise your credits and purchase RM10 for 10 days of validity. That's right. Your RM10 can use for another 10 days and you cannot make outgoing calls on the 11th day but you can receive calls or sms in the next 50 days.

The cycle and the frustration repeats itself every 50 days. This nightmare will not longer haunt you if you get the new TM unifi prepaid simcard. Read on for more details.

Introducing Telecom Malaysia (TM) Mobile@Unifi

TM is the national carrier for all landlines and it monopolises East of West Malaysia. It owes Webe post paid mobile so its network is undoubtedly the best, comparable to Celcom. The joining of TM into the telecom red-sea market will possibly stirs waves of changes in the already competitive market.

TM is well established with many outlets all over Malaysia. The plan they introduces make subscribers more convenient and create values over the current big 3 (Celcom, Maxis and Digi). So, what is the big deal? It has no EXPIRY DATE!

Advantages of Mobile@Unifi

With no expiry date, you don't have to worry about the 50-day expiry condition. You don't have to worry about hunting for the 7-11 store for the mandatory top up before you start using the card. The call, sms and data credits remain unchanged and if they are not enough, you just need to top up.

Is this important? Yes, it solves the key concerns of current subscribers who are being inconvenience by the current big 3. Once you bought the card, it should be rightfully yours for you to use the simcard as and when you need it. Another possible benefit is you can download wifi@unifi app and use the country network of 8000+ wifi hotspots which are offered free till further notice.

The simcard has roaming so you can use in other countries outside of Malaysia. And there is bonuses to join as early birds

Bonus for Early birds

TM offers a limited 1 million simcard for early birds and you must join before 31 Mar 2018 (or while stocks last). For early birds, you enjoy 10 mins call, 10 sms, 50MB of 3G data and 20GB of 4G LTE data. Note that they have no expiry dates as long as the card is active. For any individual, you can get up to 5 cards so effectively you can get 5x20GB or 100GB of data for free. The best part is you can subscribe for a GOLDEN number or number with your name for easy remembering.

Is there any catch?

Yes. First and foremost, you must collect the simcard personally at one of the designated TM outlet in Malaysia. Secondly, there is limitation on the phone for 4G LTE. Your phone must be supporting 850MHz or LTE Band B5 else you will only be able to use 3G data. Next, you can only top up online or via local credit cards with VISA/Mastercard. The critial constraint is you must keep your line(s) active which must meet either of the following requirements within 90-day:

Make 1 outgoing phone call;
Send 1 outgoing sms;
Browse for 1MB of data;
Reload any amount between RM10, 30, 50 or 100; or
Buy any of the data or voice or sms passes.

These requirements are simple to meet if you frequent Malaysia once every 3 months. If you are using data for navigation, you can easily hit 1MB of data within a day. In the beginning, it is likely you get more 3G network over 4G LTE so we must be patient. OK, interested to sign up for one?

What are the processes?

The process is simple.

Download Mobile@Unifi from Google PlayStore or Apple store;
Register to get 1 to 5 new SIMs (Hint: Use any hotel address and telephone);
Suggest to use passport to register for non-Malaysians;
Ensure the email address (required for verification) is correct;
Select the nearest TM outlet for collection (nearest to Singapore is Komtar JBCC (next to City Square @2nd floor lot 136 operating from 10am to 10pm);
Take note of the earliest date of collection;
Bring your passport to collect the sim on or after the date of collection;
Jolly well do the above asap or way before 31 Mar 2018;
Activate and enjoy your new simcard(s) with your golden number(s);
Throw away your current simcard after you have exhausted its value (hopefully, if 4G LTE network is working wonderfully)!

If you have any query, post your comment below for discussion.

How to make old iPhone run fast again?

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Fri, 22 Dec 2017 13:54:00 +0000

How to make old iPhone run fast again?

Background

Scenario: If you are using an old iPhone, you will notice your iPhone is becoming slower after every upgrade. Should you buy the new iPhone as you are two generations behind? Of course, you can sell or trade in your old iPhone to buy the latest model. A Hobson's choice?

Recently, Geekbench has done a comparison on iPhone 6S and found out that there is spikes in the current performance after OS upgrade which uncovers a can of worms.

Apple's Reply

You have fallen into the Apple's trap of upgrading. Recently, Apple has acknowledged that old iPhones will hit a performance bump after upgrade to the latest OS. The running frequency is cut from 1400 MHz to 600 MHz resulting in a significant slowdown which can be felt instantly.

Apple claimed that the throttle, which started in 2016, is to limit random shutdown issues in order to offer the best experience to its users, especially at freezing temperature. As the capacity of the old batteries deteriorates, it cannot hit the necessary current requirements for the desired frequency. To meet the shortfall, reducing the frequency will demand lesser current from the old battery.

Conspiracy Theory

Some disagree arguing that this is an Apple's plot for users to upgrade their old iPhones, thereby bringing in more sales for the latest iPhone X. Being a closed Operating System (OS), Apple did not openly disclose its "kind" intention but secretly hide the entire plot inside its upgrade. The factors of iPhone upgrade is not transparent to its users and therefore impede the decision of the iPhone owners. As consumers of the product, Apple has failed to revealed what the choices consumers have thus making wise decision.

What can you do?

There are few things you should do now:

Determine the battery life of your iPhone
The average lifetime of an iPhone battery is 400-500 cycles. One cycle is clocked when the battery goes to ZERO (0%). So it is unwise to let your iPhone becomes dead. Download Battery Life from iTune and note the remaining battery life.
Change the battery if the life is below 80%
Changing a new battery will revitalise the new iPhone to its peak performance of maximum frequency. There is no need to sell your old iPhone or upgrade to the newest set. Your iPhone will serve you well for another 3 years, which is the defacto years an iPhone's life cycle. Enjoy!

BlueSG vs CarShare

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 19:09:00 +0000

BlueSG vs CarShare

Since 12 Dec 2017, the first electric car rental has started business in Singapore and there is no need to pay for petrol anymore. BlueSG has launched 80 cars and 30 charging stations all around Singapore with overwhelming responses of more than 2000 users.

BONUS: If you are a first time user of BlueSG, you may wish to click HERE for the unofficial user guide of BlueSG.

HOW TO CHOOSE?

So which provider should you choose? Let's compare the differences.

COLLECTION AND RETURN

The unique part is the option to return the car in other location apart from the collection point. The locations of the BlueSG seems more convenient as compared to other car share. Conventionally, cars from CarShare are parked on the high storey and it waste time with longer distance just to drive up to the 5th or 6th floor of Multi Storey Car Park (MSCP). BlueSG seems to be located at level 1 of MSCP or along the road.

ELECTRIC VS PETROL

This is obvious as BlueSG needs no petrol to run its fleet. However, electric car needs longer time to charge so turn around time for electric car is not immediate. When the battery of the electric car is 30%, the user will be prompted to return the car to its charging station bearing in mind the maximum distance the car can run is 200 km for a full charge. Since Singapore is burning coal to generate electricity, electric car may not be environmentally friendly but this is beside the point.

SUBSCRIPTION FEES

The subscription model is as follows:
Annual plan - S$15/month - S$0.33/min for a minimum of 15 minutes
Weekly plan - S$0/month - S$0.50/min for a minimum of 15 minutes

FEATURES OF ELECTRIC CARS

There are few distinct impressions after driving an electric car. The first being speed pickup is great but the speed can decrease rapidly when the accelerator is not stepped. The second impression is you must use handbrake on a slope else you will slip backward. The surprising fact is the full electric car is not as silent as expected without the engine as compared to a hybrid car. Due to the drag, the car feels heavy and solid. Perhaps this is the intention of the car manufacturer as it is capped at a speed limit of 90kmph. Although it is a four seater car, it is tight to sit behind as the 3rd and 4th passengers due to the small confined space and the lack of the hind doors.

AVAILABILITY

It is interesting to note that it is nearly impossible to book BlueSG near the city after dark (and vice versa). Apparently, many, living far from city, drive the cars back to home.

Only 1 car to book near city at 3am

Therefore, during office hours on weekdays, it may be challenging to get a BlueSG car from Woodlands, Punggol or Jurong as all the cars are in the city areas.

There are parking issues at few locations after dark.

The other booking issue is the accessibility of BlueSG cars as most of the locations are not situated near MRTs or LRTs. They are well hidden inside HDB car parks and it may take 15 minutes to locate the charging station as the locations of BlueSG are somehow misleading (for example: Blk 73 Redhill Road is marked at Blk 74 Redhill road).

The location of Blk 73 is wrongly indicated.
The correct location is indicated by the RED CROSS CIRCLE.

Due to the geographical limitation and the number of parking spaces, it will be foolish to just book and ignore the parking consideration. You may reserve a car easily but when you intend to return the car, you find that there is no space in the vicinity of 10km radius. By parking at a distance, you may need to take a taxi back and it defeats the purpose of renting a car altogether.

USAGE CHARGES

At first glance, BlueSG is more expensive than any other car share services offered since it is charged by the minutes. If you are driving for more than 1 hour, it is better to select car share over BlueSG to save costs. Car share services also offered special promotions (business hours on weekday or owl special) which are superior over BlueSG plan which is charged by minutes.

DURATION

BlueSG offers shorter duration as compared to Carshare. Since BlueSG charges by the minute, it is increasingly expensive to keep using their service as they do not offer promotions like Owl special or Business Promo in weekdays. Their focus and strength lies in below 1 hour of driving from Point A to Point B. This begs the question why should user choose BlueSG over Taxi, Grab or Uber?

CONCLUSION

BlueSG may not have the absolute advantages over other Car Share services, it must offer competitive pricing to attract users to stay with the service. In the end, the winners will be the consumers who have another choice when the MRT breaks down again.

The myths of China mobile phones

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 10:55:00 +0000

The popularity of China Smartphones

iPhone 8 and Samsung are taking a beating in China as China Smartphones are gaining a strong foothold in the China market. Many of these manufacturers are adopting Android as the OS for their smartphone with heavy investment into making smartphone more responsive, nice looking and most importantly, bringing values to the market.

Huawei is defining the 5G smartphones, Vivo is focusing on selfie, Xiaomi is packaging as a system provider, Oppo is capturing the hearts of overseas marketing with its fluid experiences, Gionee is positioning to capture the hearts of the businessmen and Meizu is penetrating the value segment. Other companies like Lenovo, Coolpad, 360, ZTE are also fighting to gain a footage in the competitive market. Smaller companies are also struggling to survive rolling out phones with features such as weatherproof, bezeless, high battery capacity, 6GB or 8GB ram and dual camera.

In the midst of the competition, there are "traps" for consumers to fall into for a bitter experience.

Myth 1: More memory = Better performance

In the early days, iPhone is known to be lag free as compared to Android. This is no longer true when Android OS is revamped and improved with 80% of smartphones sold in the market.

The simplest way to sell smartphone is to tout of its high memory as it is a well known fact that more memory (ram) is equivalent to less lag, therefore better performance. Premium smartphones are now sold with 6GB or 8GB ram built in to remove the doubts that there is no memory to run applications.

Ask yourself this: We know that the more rice we eat, the more energy we get. How many bowls of rice produce more energy: 4 bowls or 40? Definitely, the answer is 40 bowls. But can our body digest 40 bowls of rice in one shot? The diminishing marginal rate of return as our body is saturated after gaining enough energy. Similarly, the phones cannot utilise the extra memory when there are limited apps. To make matter worst, the apps cannot fully utilise the bandwidth of the memory thus making it run inefficiently.

So how many is enough? The magic number is 4GB when 6GB costs a bomb now.

High benchmark does not mean better performance

Antutu is one of the popular benchmarking software and a high benchmark score implies the smartphone is better. Manufacturers tend to place a premium price tag for high benchmark to justify the high performance. The truth is high benchmark is achieved at the expense of power consumption and producing more heat.

Real life experience is more important than benchmark

Many are fooled by the promise of fastest cpu and ignore real life experiences. Some premium phones with more memory and storage can run slower than those with less memory and storage due to different operation system and environment. For example, Huawei's EUI is much fluid than many China OS who are not optimised.

More cores does not mean better performance

MTK 10 core processor has a fantastic benchmark but when executing instructions on single core, the other 9 processors cannot assist to expedite the process.

So what is the purpose of high benchmark and fastest cpu when most of the applications cannot fully utilize all the cores of the processor. The processor can also run inefficiently with much heat thereby draining the battery life.

Bigger battery does not mean more standby time

Many China's smaller companies produced many phones with big battery capacity like 4,000 to 10,000 mAh. However, raw battery life does not guarantee a good battery life. In some cases, inferior batteries are used with poor setting which resulted in sudden drop of battery life from 30% to instant shutdown. Effectively, the battery of a 4,000mAh is only operating at 70% or 2,800mAh. This is disappointing as the promise of a high capacity battery is a fallacy.

Dual camera does not mean better quality. Fake camera

Do you know some dual-camera are fake? You can try out by taking a picture with or without the second back len by blocking one of the lens completely. Both photos produce identical image! Be mindful when you are promised with a dual camera in your next purchase.

Higher resolution camera does not mean better pictures

The pursuit of higher resolutions is common in those who are ignorant of the technicalities of a good smartphone camera. Sensor and focal are more critical when considering a good camera. High resolutions only produce big photo file size which consume more of the your limited storage space in your phone.

Full screen is not really full screen

The latest craze is the bezel-less phone which promises full screen effect. Just like the fad and hype of 2.5D screen which not only serves as a beautiful vase but has no tangible feature in real life. A true full screen has many compromises which tests greatly on the designer on antenna and circuit routing and bypasses. You can only choose 2 out of the following 3 options - real full screen, good signal/GPS strength and good price.

Conclusions

There are many cracks in the selection of good China smartphones which has no standard by itself. Some manufacturers even has spywares pre-installed to collect the surfing profile and information of the end-users. The only consolation is consumers are getting smarter and by collective intelligence, inferior manufacturers will be eliminated by boycotting their new products. We believe tomorrow will always be better than today.

How to choose your postpaid Singtel Combo Plan?

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 18:58:00 +0000

Singtel Postpaid Combo Plan

Singtel Postpaid Combo Plan is the traditional and standard plan in every telco with a catchy 24 months plan to lock in customers. It is the prime and main plan offered by Singtel to attract customers since day 1 so it should be the first thing potential customers will see. Over the years, it is the cash cow of Singtel so it should offer the best plans to fight against competition. So are you getting the best deal if you are currently in this plan?

What is the current Combo Plan?

Ref: https://www.singtelshop.com/shop/plans-add-ons.jsf#/tab-combo

This table is wordy and appears confusing. A better table can be found below.

From the table, it is obvious that the last 3 plans are for those who wanted unlimited minutes and sms. Combo 12 plan is designed for frequent travellers who wanted to change phone every year (IMO, a silly act to choose flagship phones). Combo 6 is targeting those who are simply frequent travellers while Combo 3 are those who are not frequent travellers.

So where is the catch? or should I say the "trap"?

First Trap: Buying flagship phones with the most expensive plan

I consider it silly to buy flagship products as discussed in my previous blog. There are thousands of phones in the market and by sticking to the latest model of a specific company, you are restricting your choice to only 1 model. This is an ideal scenario of paying diamonds to buy water in a dessert. Singtel capitalised on your hunger and setup the perfect trap to lock you up for 24 months with a heavy penalty if you break the bond.

Combo 6 and Combo 12 are the perfect trap with free throw-ins such as roaming vouchers (which you may never use) and high value vouchers (S$500) for your next model to trap you for another 24 months. It is a nice trick to let you voluntarily fall into the same trap every 2 years.

Second Trap: Never consider add-ons

Many customers select their plans based on their monthly consuming minutes, sms and data. This strategy works in the past but it no longer valid now due to the increasing use of data and the declining use of sms. With social apps like whatsapp, wechat and skype, we have options to choose data calls instead of conventional calls thereby reducing the needs for calling minutes and sms. One can dramatically choose a better plan than just based his/her choice on minutes and sms now.

Singtel offers add-on plans (Data X 2, Data X 3 and Data X Infinity) to boost more or unlimited data plan for higher end plans. With this add-on, it is a game changer after stripping off the gimmicks such as S$20 or S$35 roaming charges and the S$500 yearly voucher.

Net 24 is the total costs of the plan (with or without add-on) after deducting the full roaming charges and the S$500 yearly voucher. Now, let's discover the "traps".

Plans to consider:

Unlimited Minutes Plan - Combo 3
Unlimited SMS Plan - Combo 3
Unlimited Data Plan - Combo 3 + Data X Infinity

Plans to avoid:

Combo 6 (Choose Combo 3 + Data X2 instead)
Combo 6 + Data X Infinity
Combo 12
Combo 12 + Data X2
Combo 12 + Data X3
Combo 12 + Data X Infinity

Third Trap: Stick to combo plan for data plan

If you are a high data user, Combo 3 + Data X Infinity is the Singtel plan for you. But you have neglected the trend of more and more people signing up SIM-ONLY plan because they already have a working mobile phone and do not need a new one.

This exposed the weakness of the lower segment of COMBO plan as they are totally unattractive as compared to the SIM-ONLY plan as shown in table below.

Clearly, there are 8 plans better than Combo 1. Even the cheapest SimOnly (5G + 12 mths) cost lower than Combo 1 and offer 50 more calling minutes, 2.9GB more data and unlimited Singtel Wifi. The S$100+ difference is the subsidy for a new mobile phone. Why should you pay S$100 for a limited selection of 10 instead of buying from the market of thousands?

Similarly, Combo 2 is also a joke when you compare with SimOnly plan. If you are interested to have more comparison of Sim-Only vs Combo plan, leave a comment below on what is your range of monthly budget and I will forward the range to your valid email address. Note: Your budget range difference should not exceed S$50 (example: from S$40 to S$90).

Conclusion

Is Combo plan obsoleted in the data dominant era? If you ask me, it is a definite YES. Postpaid plan is only good for people with no mobile phone. Are you one of them?

Top 10 reasons why you should not buy flagship phone in Singapore

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 07:50:00 +0000

Why chasing after flagship phones?

Many are chasing the latest iPhone X or Pixel 2 XL which will be launching soon in end 2017. The local telcos are also rushing to come out with phone plans using the old models to lock their loyal customers for another 1-2 years. Little do the customers know that this old business model is silly and no longer apply to this new world of technology.

Reason 1: Warranty of Phone is only 12 months but contract is 24 months

The warranty of most of the phones are 12 months but the contract is 24 months. This implies that the high-end phone has no warranty on the 13th month onwards. Most of the electronic parts seldom break down in the first 12 months and that's why manufacturer are committed to service their phone within the first 12 months. Why should you sign a 24-month contract to buy a 12-month warranty phone?

Reason 2: Premium phone is sold at a premium during launch

All phones are sold at the highest point to capture the trend setters who buy the story of the manufacturer. After 3-6 months, discounts will be available for the phone and prices will gradually decrease over time. Why should you buy the phone at the highest point? To support the manufacturer and show off to your friends?

Reason 3: There is no room for discount for a low monthly plan

If you are paying below S$45/month for your phone bill, there is no benefit of getting a high-end phone. The maximum subsidy you enjoy is only S$200 but you must fork out over S$1000 up front. The lowest tier does not enjoy any benefits and are always the last group of customers that the telco serviced.

Reason 4: Use up monthly data in less than 2 seconds!

For high-end phone, they are capable of delivery bullet speed data. Pixel 2 XL is a CAT 11 4G LTE beast capable of transferring 500Mbps across Singapore. Given 100MB of data per month under Singtel COMBO 1 plan, you can use up your monthly allocated data in 1.6 seconds. Even if you are having the COMBO 12 plan (S$239.90/month), you only take up 192 seconds or 3.2 minutes to consume your 12GB monthly quota. This sucks!

Reason 5: Features you seldom use

New phones come with many features like NFC, 4k video recording, Face ID, iBeacon micro location, 2.5D, iWatch app and many others which you seldom use. Why pay so much more for something you use once in a while?

Reason 6: Small battery size

The irony of small form factor (<3000mah 2="" a="" about="" after="" and="" bank="" battery="" big="" bigger="" buy="" continue="" day="" div="" for="" forget="" get="" half="" has="" hours.="" hrs="" in="" is="" just="" last="" nbsp="" need="" not="" of="" or="" order="" phone="" power="" recharge="" remaining="" sell="" small="" sufficient="" the="" to="" when="" which="" why="" work="" working="" you="" your="">

Reason 7: High repair costs

Many of the new phones have double sided glass for premium aesthetic look and feel. They are easily contaminated with fingerprints and once it is cracked, the costs of repair can cost up to S$500 since you need to replace glasses on both sides of the phone.

Reason 8: Electronic parts have lifetime

Smartphones are electronic products which are made up with active and passive components. Active and passive products have a lifetime and once their lifetime is up, they will no longer function as required. The design of the phone is also important in determining its product lifetime. It is a miracle for these designs to last more than 10 years. So it is unwise to buy a high end phone.

Reason 9: Battery cannot last more than 5 years

Most batteries depreciate after extensive use and the lifetime of battery cannot last more than 5 years. If the design of the battery compartment is small with no allowance for expansion due to heat or pressure, explosion incidents may happen similar to Samsung Note 7.

Reason 10: The next flagship product will be launched tomorrow

There is no end in chasing flagship product. The moment you buy the current flagship, it will depreciate 10% to 20% on the same day and the next flagship product will be launched tomorrow. Remember: Technology travels fast.

Features of a BAD smartphone

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 14:03:00 +0000

List of smartphones to avoid

Chanced upon a few articles that warned that these phones should be avoided. The models and the respective reasons are:

Huawei P9: Leica certified lens but not made by Leica and premium priced
Oppo R9: Simple look and feel
iPhone SE: "Yellow screen" symptoms
LG G5: Premium priced
HTC A9: Mid end chipset selling at premium price
Meizu Pro 6: No new features when compared to Pro 5
Samsung S7: Price keeps dropping every week
Sony Z5: Premium priced

Let's explore further hoping to determine the real reasons behind those bad comments.

Features and Capabilities

Let's review the various specifications of the phones.

Brand Model	Launch Date	Chipset	Weight (g)	RAM (GB)	Storage (GB)	Battery (mAh)	RMB	Retail Price (US$)
Huawei P9	Apr-2016	Kirin 955	144	3	32	3000	3188	480
Oppo R9	Mar-2016	MT6755	145	4	64	2850	2799	422
iPhone SE	Mar-2016	APL0898	113	2	16	1642	3088	465
LG G5	Feb-2016	MSM8996	159	4	32	2800	4186	630
HTC One A9	Sep-2015	MSM8974AB	160	2	16	2600	1888	285
Meizu Pro 6	Apr-2016	MT6797T	160	4	32	2560	2500	377
Samsung S7	Feb-2016	Exynos 8 Octa 8990	152	4	32	3000	4950	745
Sony Xperia Z5	Sep-2015	MSM8994	154	3	32	2900	4500	678

Even if we provide colours to the table, it is hard to compare. Let's rank them instead.

Brand Model\Rank	Weight (g)	RAM (GB)	Storage (GB)	Battery (mAh)	RMB	Retail Price (US$)	Points	Rank
Huawei P9	7	3	3	7	4	4	28	2
Oppo R9	6	5	8	5	6	6	36	1
iPhone SE	8	1	1	1	5	5	21	6
LG G5	3	5	3	4	3	3	21	6
HTC One A9	1	1	1	3	8	8	22	4
Meizu Pro 6	1	5	3	2	7	7	25	3
Samsung S7	5	5	3	7	1	1	22	4
Sony Xperia Z5	4	3	3	6	2	2	20	8

Purely based on these specifications, Oppo R9 comes out top as the best phone while Sony Xperia Z5 is intending to rip customers off.

You may argue that some features are more important than the rest such as the battery capacity. If you give 5 times the points to features which you value the most. In this instance, let's give x5, x3 and x2 to Price, Battery and Storage respectively.

Brand Model\Rank	Weight (g)	RAM (GB)	Storage (GB)	Battery (mAh)	RMB	Retail Price (US$)	Points	Rank
Huawei P9	7	3	6	21	4	20	61	2
Oppo R9	6	5	16	15	4	30	76	1
iPhone SE	8	1	2	3	4	25	43	8
LG G5	3	5	6	12	4	15	45	6
HTC One A9	1	1	2	9	4	40	57	3
Meizu Pro 6	1	5	6	6	4	35	57	3
Samsung S7	5	5	6	21	4	5	46	5
Sony Xperia Z5	4	3	6	18	4	10	45	6

With different values in the eyes of different consumers, your choice of a phone becomes clear. Oppo R9 is still the best and iPhone SE is the worst phone to get.

Conclusions

Although Oppo R9 is listed as the phone to avoid, it still can be an option when you are getting a new phone. After all, it becomes a benchmark to avoid.

If you have other ways to compare different phones, share and give your comments too.

Why smartphones are stupid?

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 17:52:00 +0000

Why smartphones are stupid?

The Achilles' heel of smartphone

We have moved quite far since Apple introduced the first iPhone on 29 June 2007. Our world has become different and we have access to knowledge and information faster. We feel smarter because we have devices that support our search when we are in doubts.

Our total reliance on smartphone to remember the phone numbers, email address, taking notes, calendar schedules and information searches made our brain lazy. When our smartphone is dead, we are also brain dead and panicked.

What happen to the battery?

Let's review the generations of iPhone. We use a simple equation: Battery Index = Standby Time / Capacity of the battery. The higher the index, the better is the battery as it can last longer with the same amount of capacity.

iPhone	Capacity (mAh)	Standby (hrs)	Battery Index
1G	1400	250	0.18
3G	1150	300	0.26
3GS	1219	300	0.25
4	1420	300	0.21
4S	1432	200	0.14
5	1440	225	0.16
5C	1510	250	0.17
5S	1560	250	0.16
6	1810	250	0.14
6S	1715	240	0.14
6 Plus	2915	384	0.13
6S Plus	2750	384	0.14
SE	1642	240	0.15

From the chart above, we noticed that iPhone 3G has the best efficiency among all the iPhones while iPhone 6 Plus has the worst Battery Index.

Why don't Apple make bigger battery to ensure longer standby time? Well, newer iPhone are more power efficient with smaller CPU and better components. Bigger battery means more weight and thicker phones which are undesirable. To maintain its aesthetic, battery capacity is compromised to keep its weight and thickness down to its minimum.

For Android, manufacturers introduced Fast charge, Pump Express and other speed charging technology to compensate for the small battery capacity. They assume that you always have a stable power point for charging and force you to carry a charging cable and its charger.

The hidden culprits

Applications grow at an exponential rate with many different angles. For simple route navigation, we may install different applications and we keep all of them because each has their unique advantages. We install more applications into smartphone and it runs more applications than yesterday.

If we chose not to install any applications, it defeats the purpose of getting a smartphone (You might as well buy a Nokia 105). Therefore, we install applications to make us smarter and by installing more applications, we are taxing the battery and further reducing its standby time.

Power banks and chargers become our daily must have accessories and we spent more money on top of the expensive smartphone. The vicious cycle repeats for a new iPhone with a different charging cable. Instead of charging the smartphone, you are now forced to charge the battery banks. We are cornered and act so foolishly with a small capacity battery.

Conclusions

Getting a small capacity smartphone is silly. Instead of charging a smartphone, you have to charge the power bank as well. You are forced to bring chargers, cables and power bank wherever you go. If you fail to comply, you become stupid because the smart element (smartphone) of you is power dead.

Be wise: Get a smartphone with a BIG battery capacity. The same applies to Android phone.

The logic of traffic lights in Singapore

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 12:56:00 +0000

Background and facts

In 2 Jun 2011 at around 10pm, 21 year-old National Serviceman Li Jianlin was knocked down by taxi driver, Mdm Asnah, 59 at a pedestrian crossing in Bukit Batok West Avenue 5. He suffered serious head and hip injuries and was hospitalised for 3 months.

The cab's insurer appealed with lawyer Anthony Wee arguing that Mr Li should be 35% to blame for failing to check for approaching traffic as he crossed the second half of the dual carriageway which had a centre divider. Mr Wee citied rule 20 of Highway Code: "Where a pedestrian crossing has a central refuge, each half is a separate crossing and you should treat it as such."

Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin and Justice Quentin Loh pointed to rule 22. It requires pedestrians at a light controlled crossing to wait on the footway until the traffic in front has come to a standstill. This means those on foot should keep a lookout for errant motorists regardless of how long the lights have turned in favour of the pedestrian, wrote Justice Chao.

Chief Justice dissented and the Court of Appeal decision is 2-1. The judgement means that when the case is returned to the High Court in September, the sum will be discounted by 15%.

In short, pedestrians who failed to check for incoming traffic at the traffic light junction has a 15% responsibility for any accident. (Ref: Straits Times news article)

Maths perspective from the pedestrian

Pedestrian	Watch out for traffic	Responsibility	Chances of being knocked down
Traffic Light	No	15%	>0%
Traffic Light	Yes	15%	0%
No Traffic light	Yes	>15%	0%

From the perspective of the pedestrian, pedestrians have 0% or no chance of being knocked down if we watch out for all incoming traffic before we cross at traffic light junction. But if we fail to watch out of traffic and was knocked down by any vehicle who is speeding and beating red lights, pedestrians are accountable for 15% at traffic light junctions.

Maths perspective from the driver

Driver	Beat Traffic Light	Responsibility	Chances of knocking down someone
Traffic Light	No	85%	0%
Traffic Light	Yes	85%	>0%
No Traffic Light	No	<85 td="">	>0%

From the perspective of the driver, there is no chance to knock down someone if they do not beat red light. Even if they beat red lights and knock someone down, they are only 85% responsible for the accident. As such, it is logical to deduce that when accidents occur at non-traffic light junctions, the responsibility of the drivers should be less than 85% because pedestrians fail to cross at traffic light junctions or they may be jay-walking.

Conclusions

Understanding the perspectives of both parties, it is apparent the following questions remain:

From the pedestrian's argument, why do we need to install traffic lights if it is safer to cross the road at non-traffic light junctions since the key to safe crossing is watch out for incoming traffic?
From the driver's argument, it is okay to beat traffic lights as the pedestrian bear 15% responsibility if accident occurs. In most cases, the driver is 100% responsible for knocking down someone in non-traffic light junctions. Again, why do we need to build traffic light?

The decision of the Court of Appeal will set precedence for future accident claims and if pedestrians cannot cross traffic light safely when they see the green man, they should try to cross the road when they see red man. They just need to watch left, watch right and watch left again, to make sure no policeman or vehicle is coming for them!

What you need to know about TV boxes

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 10:06:00 +0000

Watch TV channels or movies online

Internet has changed our lifestyle and watching TV channels and movies are some of the benefits offered by high speed internet. You can no longer stick to the schedule offered by the broadcasting station and you can access to other channels in other countries. A whole array of products offer to keep you entertained but it is tough to select the best product based on your needs. This page aims to simply and demystify the haze.

Conventional methods of watching TV

Broadcasting stations in your country wanted you to buy their cable and charge your monthly or per movie. This is one of the most convenient and also the highly expensive way of watching movies or TV programs. In Singapore, Starhub offers 65 channels for a monthly fee of S$26.75 while Singtel offers 90 channels for a monthly fee of S$34.90. You can watch clear and lossless frame via your huge LED TV. Why this is expensive? The reason is blatantly clear. You cannot watch more than 2 stations simultaneously so why are you paying for 60 over channels. Most of these program are recycled many times in the month so effectively, you cannot watch what you want and may watch more than you wanted. Next come our alternative....Mobile Apps.

TV Applications

You can download and watch TV channels via your mobile phone. The drawbacks are the apps may not be trustworthy (or worst infested with virus/spyware) and the application is not be updated. If the application can work successfully, you are bound to watch the show through the small 5.5" screen of your mobile device (worst for iPhone users). The permanent damage to your eyes far outweighs the benefits of catching your favourite TV shows or movies.

TV Box

The best and least expensive way is to watch it via your LED TV with a dedicated TV box. In short, there are 2 types of different TV boxes. TV boxes that costs S$50 to S$150 come with no server in the backend and TV boxes that comes with server will cost S$250 or more. Why servers are important? They are the guaranteed sources of programs and movies offered by the TV box manufacturers so you do not have to find different sources to install. If the server is shut down due to local policy, you may lose all the rights to access the server and your TV box will cess to work. It happened to some TV boxes and consumers are fooled into thinking it is a one-time investment. When the market is saturated, the manufacturer will convert the TV box into a monthly or yearly subscriptions basis and expect consumers to foot the bill. This caused many unnecessary stress and unhappiness for consumers.

Conclusions

In short, there is no free lunch in this world and manufacturers are motivated to provide movies and programs based on profit. Do not be fooled into believing the server will last forever as government policy will change due to the pressure of the film makers as most of these movies are pirated versions from the cinemas. As long as you do not download these movies, it is legal (at least for the moment) for you to watch what is online just like you watch youtube. Afterall, the internet does not belong to any country or any organisation.

2016 - The year of cheap Virtual Reality

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 16:43:00 +0000

2016 - The year of cheap Virtual Reality

VR Technology

Virtual Reality is an interesting concept of immersing oneself into another simulated world. It is bigger than 3D, which is about creating another dimension beyond the 2D space. Since the foretelling of its theory before 1950, we have many consumer products like the Sega VR headset and Virtual Boy which transport us into another gaming reality. VR is not bounded by games and has extensive applications in training and real-life applications.

The main obstacle for the popularity of VR is the hardware cost. To create an environment for VR, the traditional approach is to invent an expensive headset for people to wear. The premium price deters many potential customers and VR never reach the mass market.

The era of cheap VR

With the introduction of the Google Cardboard priced at S$3 to S$5, VR becomes a reality for many. In fact, one may make the cardboard and buy the lens from the market. The missing piece is the smartphone we have now.

The requirements for smartphone are:

Chrome v44.0 and above;
Android 4.1/iOS 8.0 or above;
Screen size must fit the cardboard;
Display resolution preferably 1080;
OpenGL ES2.0; and
Gyroscope sensor present.

Just follow these simple steps and you have a cheap VR headset in 10 minutes. If you DIY, you may have to configure customised profile via Google Profile Generator.

Fun with VR

One can view VR videos via YouTube and enjoy the thrills especially for those 360 degrees videos. Some of my favourites are:

You can also download Google Street View and virtually tour famous places around the world. There are some games available online which requires more movement and actions. You can also enjoy a VR movie and enjoy the stunning 3D effects and see your surrounding. However, it is advisable to take more short breaks for a long movie due to the straining on the eyes.

With powerful hardware inside our smartphone, VR is no longer a distant target but an immediate reality. If you are free this weekend, make a VR headset or order a Google Cardboard online now to have some fun with your loved ones. I am sure the kids will love it.

How smart people choose smartphone?

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 15:02:00 +0000

How smart people choose smartphone?

The problem you face everyday

Smartphone makes you smart because it has many apps to help in your daily life, keep you entertained and provides social networking with your family, friends, classmates and co-workers. Amex's motto of "Never leave home without it" has found a new meaning. It should be a smartphone company punchline because we sleep with it too.

In Singapore, you are unlikely to encounter no network data connection. More likely, its achilles heel is the battery power. Once your smartphone has no battery power, you become stupid. You cannot recall the mobile number of your coworker or your friend. You are literally cut off from this digital social world. The world is doomed unless you bring a charger or there is a power point nearby.

Have you ever wondered why your smartphone run out of juice within a day?

History of smartphone and its battery capacity

To understand this better, we have to see the evolution of smartphone batteries.

The 3 charts tell us that, over the years, smartphone manufacturers are increasing the capacity of the battery to meet the demand of the power hungry applications. Despite we have the most power saving processor, memory and optimised board designs, the smartphone cannot cope with the power demand because there is little breakthrough in battery capacity.

When consumers want small, light and cute design, manufacturers provide better graphics, nice curves and 2.5D to meet requests. However, a small form factor means the smartphone can only house a small battery. People are impulsive creatures who are tempted to buy on emotion. They come, they saw, they buy...satisfying their short term lust. Manufacturers believe they can pacify the consumers by providing them with quick charge or fast charge technology. The latest Samsung S6, Xiaomi Mi 5 and iPhone 6S Plus are stellar examples of compromising battery capacity for a smaller smartphone. Apple iOS has a more efficient power design and therefore they never bother to provide more than 3000mAh to the market. Samsung's and Xiaomi's battery capacity are hovering between 2600mAh and 3000mAh respectively. Why should they give you more capacity if you are buying more power banks to further boost their sales?

The current culture

A dead smartphone is a dumb smartphone. If you are so much into design, features and beauty of the smartphones, be wise to choose a smartphone with enough juices to last you for a day, no matter whether you are switching on GPS, bluetooth, mobile data, NFC or Wifi. These top manufacturers are unlikely to give you more because customers are supposed to suck it up and live by their rules with no questions ask.

Two new China players (Oppo and Vivo) have record sales by selling attractive smartphones beating Lenovo and Huawei in mobile sales in 2015. Together, these manufacturers are promoting a culture of carrying usb cable, chargers and power banks. Popular tips are shared on how to save more juice by switching off apps and background widget when they are not in use. Some even suggested you to root the phones and rid of pre-installed apps thereby voiding their warranty... another win to the manufacturers because they do not need to service their warranty.

The obvious solution

The solution lies in the 3 charts. While waiting for the battery technology to catch up, buy a smartphone with 4000 to 10000 mAh (depending on your lifestyle) to tide over these 2 years if you are not brand conscious or dying for a new feature (such as the useless 2.5D or double touch technology). These phones cost S$350 top (without contract) and keep you smart the whole day. Say goodbye to the power bank and rid yourself the trouble to look for power sockets.

Get FREE 2GB Google Drive in 30 seconds

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 03:35:00 +0000

Free 2GB Google Drive

Christmas was gone but Google is giving away free 2GB now to mark Safer Internet Day 2016 starting from 11 Feb 2016 and ending on 17 Feb 2016. The whole process only takes 30 seconds of your time if your security setting is up to speed.

How to get 2GB?

Follow the following steps:

Visit Google: https://security.google.com/settings/security/secureaccount
Login
Check your security information. Take your time to beef up the internet security of your google account. Get free 2FA if possible.
Upon completion, you will get 2GB FREE immediately.

If you are not sure, comment below so we can help you.

How much is 2GB? You have 15GB for free and 2GB will be a good bonus to keep all your data and files and google drive.

Enjoy the 2GB!

Test Your Brain

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 21:29:00 +0000

Why brain test?

Human always pride themselves as smart and intelligent creatures because we are equipped with a brain to think, analyse and make decisions.

Unfortunately, life's monotonous routine has killed our creativity and you may need a strong injection to stimulate your thinking and creativity process. Hopefully this simple test of 30 questions can bring back the zest in your life.

Be warned! This test ventures beyond the boundary of IQ. Every individual has only one try. Treasure it.

The Future of Smartphones

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 03:54:00 +0000

Current Technologies

We have seen the emergence of iPhone in 2007 till the current smartphones we have in our wallet. These mobile devices have transformed our lifestyle and habits and it is hard to imagine how we can communicate without them.

Some predicted smartphones will be gone in 5 years from now as Internet of Things (IoTs) are replacing how things are talking to each other smartly. Who will chart the future of smartphones? Before these visions become reality, what are the things you wish to have in the immediate tomorrow?

Immediate Promises

Charging Issues
During the era of Nokia, this single company itself cannot make a consistent charging port. Apple shows the same sign when it introduced an upgraded charging port for iPhone 6. Android has embraced USB3.1 Type C as the next standard to phrase out the older USB 2.0 charging port. Physical contact promises fast or quick charge which is badly needed by heavy duty smartphones as more and consistent current is delivered. Contactless charging is emerging but acceptance is slow due to the long charge duration.
Longer Battery Life
Many have come out innovative ideas of how to make battery last longer. One Oppo phone cheated by placing two batteries inside a phone and claimed "5 minutes charging to talk for 2 hours". The constraint is a special charger which can only use for this phone. On a daily basis, applications are main causes for battery draining and the battery itself are purposely made small so it is presented light to the user. If you uninstall Facebook App, study has found that you can extend battery life by 20%. If you like your Facebook so much, you should look into higher capacity battery (6000 mAh and above) instead of fanciful features (curve?) of your next smartphone. Unfortunately, battery technology is stagnant unless we can move beyond Li-on or Li-Polymer without any adverse dangers of explosion and heat.
Contactless Payment
Near Field Communication, HotKnox and Bluetooth are the common transfer techniques used. They demonstrated the ease of data exchange with reasonable speed. However, moving forward to financial payment are dragged down by the security concerns. In fact, having these features on will make stealing of data possible.
Fingerprint Recognition
It is the defacto requirements for 2016 as we are anticipating the loss of our phones via theft or robbery. Protection of personal data and information become an essential instead of a desired feature. Swiping and password are too simple means to lock the phone and using biological identity makes unlocking harder. Premium of S$100 is required from users who are dying for such protection.
Ear Piece
Frankly, connecting a ear piece makes the phone less smart. With wireless bluetooth, ear piece should be obsoleted long ago. It will make the phone more resistant to water and weather by hiding the 3.5" audio port.

Future Promises

Display Technology
After you have your 5.5" screen, it is hard to imagine going back to your 3.5". For the current generation of users, they will have serious health issues with their neck, eyes and fingers due to overtaxing their joints for long hours. Display technology can improve how we see and use the device ergonomically. Prototype of projection and paper thin displays are available pending the reduction of mass production costs. But the essence lies in the time spent in using the phone instead of how we use it. It is the duration that kill.
Connecting to IoTs
IoT is no longer a futuristic term as many are having smart homes as the ultimate goals. We are using bracelets, rings and watches to monitor our health and movement. Governments are integrating essential services with IoTs to bring forward the concept of smarter nation. Beside of challenge of good software, the challenge is to lower the cost of IoTs so that it can be incorporated into daily accessories and devices with wireless security in check. In fact, some predicted that IoTs will completely replace smartphone as the communication elements in smartphone can be integrated with IoTs to provide a hands-free experience.

The Essential

It is nice to have the latest technologies for future proof. At the same time, you have to know what do you need most. More often than not, consumers are blindly following the masses and bought phones which have tons of feature with a limited battery capacity (Remember iPhone 5?). Will you pay for a $800 wireless charging phone (5 hours charging time) over a budget $200 basic phone (2 hours charging time)? "Never!", you shouted. The next day, you fall into the same trap when your friends are all carrying the same flagship product.

Best Postpaid Plan in Singapore (Without Contract)

noreply@blogger.com (SingaporeViews) — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 10:53:00 +0000

Best Postpaid Plan in Singapore (Without Contract)

The Era of No-Contract Mobile Postpaid Plan

The initial sunk cost (or investment) of setting up telecom infrastructure is high. In the early days, to promote mass market of mobile phone, telecom operators adopted free phone for a 2-year contract. In today's context, the strategy of giving free phone is no longer practiced. Instead, telecom operators twisted to "subsidise" the phone for your 2-year contract. If you are silly enough to sign up for a free phone, then you are one of those good customers who are "stupid" to pay more for an inferior phone (or $0 phone) at a premium price.

You may challenge: What inferior phone? My answer is simply you are paying extra (minimum $10/month) for 24 months. Telecom company has collected $240 over 2 years for the lowest plan. They have successfully lock you in for 24 months else you will be penalised for breaking the contract. As long as manufacturers are willing to sell the mobile phone for less than $200, they can sell the phone at cost but their objective to tie you down for 2 years is achieved. To make higher margins, some phones cost only $50 so they can make high margin if you select an outdated smartphone. Well, with such high margin, they can afford to throw you some free gifts to sweeten the deal.

If you have a high-end or reasonably solid smartphone, it can last you for 4 to 5 years and there is no need to change a new one after 2 years. Why should you be paying for another 2 years contract and the penalty of $240? So telecom companies will give you voucher as high as $500 because you have already paid them $1000 in the last 2 years. By sacrificing some profits, they are able to secure and lock you in for another 2 years. More good years!

When M1 started offering postpaid plan without contract, others follow reluctantly as many abandoned the postpaid contract after maturity. It is a wise thing to do because you can choose what you need. For example, if you only wish to call out, just pay $36.05 for unlimited minutes instead of over $200. Imagine how much you can save or how much telecom company was earning! The best part is you have the freedom to jump ship anytime since there is no contract to bind you for 24 months. Besides choosing a phone which you like that can last for more than 2 years, you must decide which plan is suitable for you?

Look no further, just participate in the survey below and we will send you the best plan to suit your lifestyle with the minimum cost. Do not trap yourself with the current mindset of 2 years contract and get a new phone. You should free yourself from the standard S$36 for a 100-min/mth plan and look beyond the free phone and contract. Communication should be bond free to be enjoyable.