Experience Experia X1 .....

I've swooned and gone on and one about the Apple iPhone in previous posts on my blog and I even have it here on my wish list. I mean honestly, who really doesn't want one?

Since the iPhone was announced, it was only a matter of time before the other handset manufacturers come up with their own versions of the touch-screen mobile phone. I hadn't really been paying attention until I read this article on InTech the other day.

Sony Ericsson's iPhone Killer (?), the Experia X1.

The only complaint I have is that its triangular buttons arranged in a square for the softkeys - "answer", "reject" buttons etc. Other than that, I think the phone looks pretty good. Plus it doesn't seem very bulky either. The screen does seem a little small though.

I've been a SE user for over a year now and I'll have to say, no complaints. This will be on my radar. Wish List updated!

The specifications for the phone:

* 3” touch display 800x480 pixels
* QWERTY keyboard
* GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 + HSDPA (3G)
* WiFi, Bluetooth
* Windows Mobile
* Touch screen
* 3.2 megapixel camera with Auto-focus
* Joystick navigation
* Assisted GPS
* Bluetooth, WiFi
* 110 x 53 x 16.7 mm, 145g
* The Sony Ericsson XPERIA™ X1 will be available in “selected markets” from the second half of 2008.

Some of you (who are interested) might have been keeping up with the latest news about the format war between HD DVD as well as Blu-ray.

I've been reading about it and there's a summary here. It looks like it might be the end for HD-DVD. Guess I can strike off that HD-DVD add-on for my XBOX360 from my wish list.

In case you weren't aware, the Playstation 3 has a built-in Blu-ray player capabilities, making it the cheapest Blu-ray player in the market now. A standalone SONY or SAMSUNG Blu-ray player goes for about RM 2999 - RM 3999 while the PS3 costs about RM 1800.

Time to get a SONY Playstation 3 then!

I've been watching movies all weekend:

Hitman



Resident Evil: Extinction



Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem

Equilibrium

Was searching the net looking for news and came across some interesting tidbits.

300: Limited Edition DVD - love that miniature scaled Spartan helmet that comes with it.

I've never really been a fan of Marvel comics other than Spider-Man. As for the movies, I've only seen all the trilogies for "Spider-Man", "X-Men" and "Blade".

Now, we have a few upcoming Marvel superhero movies coming. I've given the last 2 a miss, "Ghost Rider" and "Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer". However, I might check out "Iron Man".

This is the first official picture of the upcoming "X-Men" movie spin-off: "Wolverine". Apparently, its called "X-Men Origins: Wolverine".

I'm looking forward to Hugh Jackman as Wolverine again. I think this was the best part about the whole X-Men movie trilogy.

There are also some pictures released previously, Edward Norton playing Bruce Banner in the next "Incredible Hulk" movie.

And now, there are some photos of the scale model of the Hulk (which is supposed to be CG, as he was in the last movie).

Not a real big fan of the Hulk, but I did watch the last movie starring Eric Bana. I might just check this one out of curiousity. Eventually, I might watch "Ghost Rider" and "Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer" too.

Already its the end of the weekend - I'm really not looking forward to work. But I guess, it'll pass and I'll get used to taking those damned calls.

Don't like the feeling but I guess I just have to deal with it.

2008 - Year Of The Rat....

Gong Hei Fatt Choy! It's not too late as the festival is supposed to last all 15 days until Chap Goh Mei.

Things have been crazy of late - first started off with the 5-day intensive training conducted by a couple of trainers from the US of A from a company called CBS. Interesting training, friendly trainers.

Right after that, I've started with the process training to prepare for my new role. Ughh. Because of this last minute notification about my process training, I had to cancel 3 out of the 5 days of leave that I applied for.

The trainer says that the first 60 days will be the hardest. And this is only for the GSEs, mine will be even harder with the training I need to provide to my replacement, the new things and routines that I will learn, the old routines and habits I have to break.

Chinese New Year is one of the few rare ocassions where the clan gathers for a reunion. Managed to meet up with some cousins whom I haven't seen in awhile.

Matthew has gotten himself an Apple iPhone and it is so damn cool. DAMN COOL. I want one now more than ever. He got it in Hong Kong and it seems so much cheaper there. With the currency exchange rate, he told me it was only about RM 2000. You can get one for about RM 2250 on eBay Malaysia.

I managed to fiddle around with it abit and everything functions exactly the way you see it in the videos found online on the Apple site or YouTube videos.

No trickery involved. The silky smooth scrolling of contacts and photos, the screen orientation for viewing photos from portrait-view to landscape-view. The only thing I forgot to test was the function to zoom-in and out while viewing the photos.

The screen was huge and crystal clear. The touchscreen was sensitive and I did make some typos while testing out the SMS function but that could be due to me having big fingers and the screen had small virtual "buttons". Maybe it was also because it was my first time typing something out which I was not used to.

The phone was small and compact, but a tad heavy. But it feels solid and doesn't feel cheap. Of course as mentioned numerous times by myself and other sites, its basically an iPod with phone functions. The camera is nothing to shout about being only 2 megapixels and no flash.

But goddamn, it's just one of those things that you just got to have!

I've read that Apple was planning to release an iPhone with bigger capacity, 3G support etc. Apple has recently announced of a newer, improved version of the iPhone. The only thing I've seen so far is the 16GB capacity upgrade. I guess it's just a matter of time.

Took the siblings out for dinner on the 2nd day of CNY. It was the 2nd time I've been to Italiannies. We had the Stuffed Mushrooms with 3 cheese sauce for starters, Chicken Paramagiana, Fettucine Cabonara, Chicken Lagsane and Seafood Rissotto. And finally for dessert, the Cappucino Pie. Unfortunately, we finished everything else before we managed to take pictures.

Many moons ago, I blogged about how people said that Hershey's Peanutbutter Cups are the best chocolate ever. And at that time, these were a rare thing. But look what I found at Giant 1Utama the other day?

Rm 2.29 for a 2 is alot cheaper than the 6-pack my sisters got from the Duty Free Shops at the airport.

It looks like there's an update on the cause of Heath Ledger's death - a quote from bbc.com.uk

On Wednesday, the New York City medical examiner ruled that Ledger died from the combined effect of six different prescription drugs.

They included painkiller Oxycontin and anti-anxiety drugs Valium and Xanax.

Traces of painkiller Ibuprofen and the sleeping pills Restoril and Unisom were also found in Ledger's blood.

It's a great loss - I cannot wait to see him as The Joker in "The Dark Knight". Even some people have said that they now want to watch the movie based on his performance as seen in the 2 1/2 minute trailer itself. Now, how's that for good acting?

The next Bond movie has an official name - "The Quantum Of Solace" and its expected to be released in November 2008. Here's the poster.

I enjoyed "Casino Royale" so I'll probably catch this one as well.

Because its the new year, and its the Year Of The Rat, just for the heck of it:

Not that I'm a big fan of Disney characters, especially Mickey/Minnie Mouse (I am a fan of Hot Toys though!) - but those are impressive.

Finally, here's a quote that I'm stealing from WY ( if you're reading this sorry man, but I think this is good!) -

Should I smile because you're my friend, or cry because that's all we'll ever be