Samsung Galaxy Note II has been a pretty hit in stores around the world and definitely it is an impressive phone from Samsung. With such a great phone, it became even greater as it is now available not only in standard colours but with Amber Brown as well. For those who seeks for a serious, organized yet strong and elegant looking phone, the Samsung Galaxy Note II Amber Brown might be the phone you’re looking for.

In conjunction with the new colour, I also made a short video about a guy (Vincent) and a girl (Careen) who had been childhood friends since primary school. The guy’s favourite colour is brown and he likes everything brown. The girl prefers white but instead of despising the guy’s choice of colour, they maintained really good friends (or rather best friends forever if you would call it) even as time goes by from young to teenage and then working adult. Nothing beats a love like friendship.

While the Samsung Galaxy S4 is quite impressive in its looks, shape and lighter weight, it packs an even better camera than the S3 with a 13-megapixel camera on the S4. The great HD screen on the Galaxy S4 fully compliments the camera output from the phone. It also packs with many different features within the stock camera on the Galaxy S4 as well. One of the many features is called Dual Shot where now you are able to photos from the back camera AND front camera at the same time. This helps when you’re taking a group photo but you also want to be inside. Apart from that, it’s also a useful tool for Youtube Vloggers where they vlog on-the-go, showing places they’re visiting while having a small column with his/her face talking to the front camera.

So, imagine that I was actually taking a photo on my computer screen, but I’m also taking a photo of myself using the front camera.

There are many more camera features such as Drama, Sound & Shot, Best Face, Best Photo, Beauty Face, Animated Photo and so on. They are all pretty nifty features I’d say, and I’ll show you some example pictures below.

If you don’t already know, it’s actually quite difficult capturing a photo of a dog running around / hyperactive. My dog is one of them. I took this shot of my dog with Best Photo and it turned out pretty well la. Out of the other shots that were taken, this was the one that was decent and my dog was looking at the camera. Mind you, he actually jumped up to me after the shot was finished (phew).

Now this… was a pretty interesting one. You can actually shoot GIF animated photos with the Animated Photo feature on your Galaxy S4. This was a random test shot that my friend played with during one of my friend’s birthday party. It was pretty dark at the place so the photo didn’t turn out that well but I guess I just wanted to show you that those GIF images you see on Tumblr site is now possible with S4

The Galaxy S4 camera is great and images are pretty sharp during the day or with sufficient light source, but frankly speaking the low light performance on the Galaxy S4 camera is still somewhat below par though.

This was a random self-shot at a well-litted area full of sunlight. The image came out pretty sharp.

This was taken during one of the shoots for Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Amber Brown video, you can check it out HERE. With decent-ish lighting in the restaurant, it looks decent as well.

However… with a low light environment, it suffers quite a bit. This picture below was taken when I was helping Hannah Tan with some video stuff up in Genting One World Hotel. We took a photo along the hotel room corridor and it turned out like this.

Bottomline is… the camera on Samsung Galaxy S4 is pretty decent if you’re lazy to bring out your DSLR everywhere. It’s pretty decent during daylight or with sufficient amount of lightsource. It’s been treating me well so far, I got the pictures that I needed. I guess it didn’t really matter since these days people are so used to putting on filters and edit in photo editing app before posting online haha. Oh did I mention, the Galaxy S4 camera also has a built-in filters while taking photos as well. Many didn’t notice that but you just have to click on the bottom arrow during camera mode (there you go, S4 tips 101 haha).

One of my favourite feature in ChatOn is the Animation Message ; it allows us to express ourselves in a way which other messaging platforms don’t allow. It would be much convenient if you’re using a Samsung Galaxy Note then you can write or draw your animation with the S Pen (though using a finger works quite well too). It also offer a large array of colors, pen types and nib-sizes for us to play with. Imagine if you’re an art student then you can instantly draw your friends’ portraits on your smartphone to impress them! Ahh, how I wish I had talent in drawing…

Another thing is that ChatOn allows us to record voice messages to share with your friends, location sharing as well as calendar appointments sharing with each other. Voice messages feature is a fun tool, acting as a walkie-talkie talking to your friends. The location sharing feature also definitely comes in handy for me as I always have friends who had trouble locating my house and location sharing would come in handy. ChatOn makes it easier for me to share calendar appointments with my colleagues and friends too.

ChatOn also has this feature called Buddy Interaction. It shows us which friends we chat with most frequently and makes a ‘game leaderboard’ out of our interactions with our buddies. This is one of the feature that is not present in any of the existing mobile messaging platform out there right now. However, personally I am not a fan of this as I can’t see why this feature is needed. It might be to encourage us to use the service more and get competitive for interacting with our buddies, but surely all this sort of thing can do is increase narcissism? Hahaha but yeah it’s a fun feature to have anyway. Probably some people did like this feature and might be constantly monitoring it, right?

Basically ChatOn has everything we need in a mobile messaging application + a few new features which aren’t provided by the current most used Whatsapp Messenger. A few other features that I like from ChatOn is the ability to hide my number, adding friends by ID instead of just contact number (it works both ways), enhanced privacy options such as Password Lock (so that our friends don’t simply read your messages) and the extra cute Anicons.

So what do you think of ChatOn? Will you move on to ChatOn? Let’s ChatOn lah

They started off the morning by stopping at Sunway Pyramid. There was a whole entourage of circus clowns, dance performers, cheerleaders, etc during the launch, it’s as if there was a Samsung Fun Fair Festival kinda thing going around.

Next on, the whole troupes adjourned to The Gardens, Times Square, as well as Low Yat Plaza as the final destination.

Love the colorful Samsung official phone covers too! Which is your favourite color?

Samsung will make available the Galaxy S4 via all leading operators in the country namely Celcom, Digi, Maxis and U Mobile, as well as Samsung Mobile Brand Shops. The retail price for the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be RM2,199 in stores.

Personally, I can’t wait to get my hands on the Samsung Galaxy S4 to try out all the new features that my current phone doesn’t have.

S Health seems pretty interesting as I kinda need to bulk up and keep track of my calories intake daily as well as exercising.

Eraser shot on S4 camera is also one of the things that’s missing from my current Note2. I’m sure it comes pretty handy when I can just photoshop off an unwanted person/object in the background straight from the phone and post it on Instagram!

Dual camera capture is also one of the feature that’s quite convenient for ‘behind the scenes’ people like me. I’m always behind the camera, thus I can now be IN the shot with Samsung’s new dual camera recording feature!

Apart from that, Smart Scroll / Smart Pause also comes in handy when reading my favourite blogs/e-books as well as watching Youtube video.

Will Samsung Malaysia provide me a unit to try? Maybe, hopefully soon?

The local newspapers started giving some ‘pre-teaser’ of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 already. And last weekend I managed to bump into a few troupes of talented musician choir playing in front of malls, attracting various public into pre-teasing them The Next Galaxy.

They were going around town last Friday and Saturday showcasing their spectacular choir performances and it caught many attention from the public passerby.

Enough of the pre-teaser, I personally can’t wait to get my hands on the Samsung Galaxy S4.

The Next Big Thing will be launched this week and as a existing Samsung mobile user, I’m looking forward to see how it compares to my Samsung Galaxy Note II. Probably… I might just do another video review on Samsung Galaxy S4? Wait, if you’ve not checked out my previous Samsung Galaxy S3 video, watch it here:

Will bring in more updates to you soon! Stay tuned

Started using ChatOn application out of curiosity because I’m having the Samsung Galaxy Note II and ChatOn has been pre-installed ever since I bought the phone back then but never got the chance to properly use it. So recently I fiddled with it and introduced it to some friends who are not using Samsung phones. Most of them were an avid user of other existing mobile messaging platforms but they were pleased with the features of ChatOn after fiddling with it for the first time.

Some were extremely excited at how cute the ChatOn Anicons were.

Did you know that they have a large library of ChatOn Anicons for you to download? Many different types too, up to you whichever you’d like to download. I downloaded all the Tuzki Bunny ones because that’s like my favourite cartoon character to annoy people hahaha.

Did you know that you could also change the font & background colour as well as speech bubble? I maintained mine as original because it’s already nice that way, but in case you fancy more of a different style, there’s the feature for you.

Apart from that, sharing files is one of the regular stuff I do with my Samsung Galaxy Note II. File sharing feature is pretty handy in ChatOn, makes it easier for my workflow.

I guess ChatOn will be one of my staple apps on my phone now. If you’re not on ChatOn, probably you should give it a chance and try it out? Don’t forget to add me as buddy if you don’t have my number

Careen invited me to the WeChat Party 2013 @ Club Neverland KL few days ago and got the chance to meet all my fellow blogger / social media friends there (oh it’s been awhile). So great to see all of them as I heard there were more than 150 bloggers (not including other guests) who attended the event that night!

What else can you ask for when you have…

Pretty usherettes to usher & serve you throughout the night, making sure you’re all well enjoying the event

Great performances by various artistes that blew the audiences away with their spectacular voices

Huge supportive crowd that made the atmosphere much more fun and happening, cheering and clapping to make everyone else happy

Awesome friends & acquaintances with you all night, making sure you don’t ‘selfishly’ enjoy the night alone lol

Delicious cupcakes that will make you salivate and ask for more (tapao home!)

Overall it was a great event. Again, it’s been awhile since I’ve last attended these kinda events and was good to see all the familiar faces that I’ve not been seeing for a long time. All thanks to WeChat for organizing a successful one. If you don’t know what was the event about (I’m assuming you already know what is WeChat, right?), it’s the launching of their Malaysian WeChat TV Commercial. Finally, WeChat has been officially launched in Malaysia (in a formal way, though most of us had already been using it for the past year).

WeChat is basically a mobile phone text & voice messaging communication service developed by Tencent in China. Few of the highlight features of WeChat that I like include ‘Shake’, ‘Look Around’ and ‘Drift Bottle’ which is a pretty interactive way of discovering new friends from anywhere. And recently, WeChat has reached quite a high number of downloads and became #1 in Malaysia – #1 in overall Free apps in the iOS App Store and #1 in Communications on Google Play. Quite impressive for an app that has JUST been officially launched in Malaysia!

Anyway, check out their latest local commercial here:

http://www.facebook.com/wechatmalaysia

Do you WeChat? Add me up!

adidas launched its adiPure 360 training shoe last month. The adiPure 360 is a multi-directional and multi-purpose training shoe and they made it available for both men’s and women’s version.

The adiPure 360 is designed to let your feet move as nature intended, while helping you get the most out of your workout. adidas makes claims that the shoes help strengthen, sounding a bit like the shaping fitness shoes. A description of the adiPure 360 training shoe says it builds natural strength, agility and balance. The shoes are designed to make muscles work harder during exercise.

This pair of trainers is made for the gym. The shoes are constructed using super light and flexible materials and supports multidirectional movement. An anatomically designed shoe provides comfort and support. Its minimalism and flexibility makes it a very adequate running shoe though.

The shoes look great too, and comes in different colour combinations as well. Definitely one to buy if you’re a gym goer, very comfortable as it wraps around your leg with the cushion but still leaves space for comfort to prevent tightness.

You can check out the adiPure 360 for both men and women at the adidas Sports Performance Concept Stores in Pavilion, KLCC, Empire Subang, and The Gardens. Retail price of the shoes is only RM350, check it out for yourselves at participating outlets!

Y’know Justin Bieber IS the main highlight when you see him opening for the concert and once he finishes, large amount of fans (Beliebers) flocking out of the venue (no respect for other acts? or just plain, don’t care?). But anyway, this year’s MTV World Stage 2012 Live in Malaysia was a record-breaking one because it smashes all attendance records as over 16,000 people were at Sunway Lagoon Surf Beach on Saturday. Thanks to? Mainly Justin Bieber’s fans (Beliebers) I’m guessing? But not forgetting, all the Jay Park, KARA & Mizz Nina’s fans did contributed to the attendance record as well.

The show was good, although I hoped it would be longer. Spectacular performances, breathtaking choreography and fans interaction by the artists placed music fans center stage of the star-studded evening.

Justin Bieber opened for the concert and had put on quite a show at the MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia. Although Justin Bieber admitted before he begin his performance that he prefers acoustic and intimate shows, he managed to put on an energetic performance which included his signature dance moves. Good to hear my favourite song from his latest Believe album – ‘As Long As You Love Me’ LIVE, just without the rap part! Good one

Next up, KARA! Eye-candy girls with catchy songs & sexy dance moves, what a great combo and it works all the time. The girls performed 6 songs and you can see all their fans (Kamelias) shouting & cheering on them, especially when they did their signature butt dance move during Mister haha. Great performance by them, I’m a fan of them now (or rather, Goo Hara) lol.

Just when Mizz Nina started coming out, I was in the crowd and heard many people booing while expecting Jay Park to be performing next instead. That is… bad. But luckily Mizz Nina managed to turned the situation upside down and gave her best for the show. Due to her catchy tunes and backup dancers, they managed to hype up the crowd and got them jumping along throughout the show. It was all good by then.

Finally, the last act of the night was Jay Park. He’s a #swagger, truly. The Korean-American singer/dancer was a hell of a crowd tweezer too as he swoon all his fans (females especially) throughout the night with his moves (and abs lol)! Multi-talented guy who can dance, sing, rap, act, etc.. and for some reason, don’t you think he looks like our national badminton player, Lee Chong Wei?! (or rather, LCW looks like him haha)

The concert ended around 10pm, which is quite early I’d say (it’s a good thing, start on time, finish on time; Malaysians hardly ever implement that policy, luckily MTV Asia are from Singapore lol)

If you missed the concert, don’t worry. The event was actually captured and will be produced into a 2-hour TV show premiering on MTV SEA channel on Saturday 28 July 2012 (2:30pm). An hour long version will also be broadcasted later in the year via MTV’s global network of more than 60 channels in over 150 territories. Who knows, you might be able to spot yourself jumping among the crowd? So be sure to catch it, remember 28 JULY 2012 (SATURDAY)!!

The new avast! 7 gives users faster information from the “cloud” on new and emerging threats. On top of that, helping family and friends solve their IT issues has never been easier thanks to the new Remote Assistance and Account features.The new FileRep feature knows if it’s naughty or nice, by enabling faster threat identification by sorting new, potentially dangerous files from known safe files. The improved WebRep browser plugin can now detect counterfeit sites.

Other improvements on avast! version 7 include compatibility with Windows 8, speed and memory usage optimizations, export/import of product settings, enhanced GUI, sandbox privacy protection, improved repair functions, and stronger self-defense. It currently supportsEnglish, Traditional/Simplified Chinese, Indonesian, Portuguese, Thai, andVietnamese on iOS, Android, Symbian, and Windows.

In conjunction with the launch, APAC Venture Sdn Bhd had also announced its collaboration with Tencent for the launch of its social app called WeChat.

WeChat app works similarly like Whatsapp, but the obvious difference that WeChat offered is the ‘Shake’ function. You’ll be able to ‘Shake’ your device and connect with other WeChat users locally and internationally. I do think it’s similar to going on a blind date where you don’t know who is the guy/girl you are going to be meeting up with. You’ll have the option to add them into your friend list after viewing the person’s profile by using the ‘Shake’ function.