Olympus E-M5

Been a long time since I bought a new camera. So I have to sell my old 4/3 DSLR + lenses to get a new one, but I am going the mirrorless 4/3 camera this time. And E-M5 has caught my attention when it was first released with its splash and dust proof body and kit lens. It has the same durability with the E-series. It also earned a gold award from dpreview. 

Fast forward and it has been a year now and the retail price drop for this model is around 20% since there are new models going to be released soon. So I think it is a good time to get it.

I got a reasonably good deal I guess since there a ongoing PC show promotion going on which includes a leather neck strap, PEN leather bag and a extra battery. Below is the unboxing video and some pictures of the package.  

Unboxing video

 Free PEN leather bag 1

  Leather bag with strap

 Overall package view 1

 Overall package view 2

Lumia 920

My mobile contract has expired for quite a while. And my current Xperia S is a non contract phone. The reason for changing it is due to the camera pictures quality (grainy quality) as well as the widely availability of 4G network. I heard and read of the camera capabilities of Lumia 920 and I am tempted. The camera picture quality seems to be better than my Xperia S. And the best low light phone camera out there.

It is not a bad phone but once in a while will have hanging software issue (I have upgraded to official ICS firmware not long ago). So I decided to change to another mobile OS since I have been having Android OS phones since its early days. I still remember is HTC magic.

And this month there is IT show going on. Usually, these big shows will have better offers on mobile renewal plans. And Lumia 920 came with a good offer which is not bad, it comes with a Purity HD headset with a new line or re-contract subscription during the show. And the trade in value of my Xperia S is pretty high too. In the end, I paid about 100+ in total for a re-contract + trade in deal. Everything is done online.

And I got the 3rd party casing and screen protector online early since the delivery will not be so early. Below is the pictures (taken by Xperia S before it is traded away). The casing material is TPU material.

 Casing + Screen protector

 Back view

 Front view

Finally the day arrived for the delivery, I took a unboxing video for the phone as well as the Purity headset. Since I have no phone to record it, my old trusty FZ35 is used to record it (only 720p).

Video:

Unboxing video

In the box 1

In the box 2

Unboxing video of Purity headset:

Unboxing video

 In the package

Mini review of the phone: Took a bit of time to get used to the interface. After playing with it for a couple of days, certain things can be improved like auto updating of apps etc.

I guess Win 8 mobile OS is not that matured yet but it is pretty user friendly in a way once you are used to it. However, the battery life is poor and once in a while it might auto reboot. I suspect certain apps might have caused it. I had uninstalled some of the ones which I think may be the culprit. So far, it has not auto reboot yet (I hope never).

As all the other reviews has said, the low light photo taking is very good. Maybe in the weeks to come, I will post pictures as it goes along since I am using my mobile phone to take pictures more than my compact camera/DSLR. So a good camera phone will come in handy. By the way, I have thrown away the screen protector since I think the phone Gorilla glass is doing a great job. 

Mini review of the headphone: After trying it with the phone, I would prefer the sound after customizing the equalizer of the phone. Otherwise, the sound seems to be a bit soft on my ears. Different people different requirements I guess. But it is doing a reasonably good job.

Bought some misc stuff

Recently, I bought couple of items from Qoo10. 2 pcs microSD card + the cute Android reader. Pretty neat I guess for the reader, it is tiny. And the price on the market is pretty good. Below is the pics.

2x pcs of microSD card.

Cute stuff

I also gotten a protective leather case for my phone. It took about 2 weeks to arrive. Casing is pretty good. Although I ordered a black casing, it looks dark brown to me lol. Below is the pics:

 Nice packaging

 Contents

 Screen protector included, I keep it for spare

 Back view

Front view

My Xperia S aka Nozomi

Less than 6 months since I got my Galaxy tab 7.0+ and I had got a new mobile phone. Guess I can't resist temptation of Xperia S. I bought a no contract phone since the price has gone down due to the upcoming new phones from the Xperia line. The price range seems to be reasonable for me.

Also, it is on a promotion with the upcoming new Spiderman movie. Free gifts consists of a sling bag, notepad and 2 tickets for the sneak preview of the movie. It is pretty neat I guess.

Accessories that comes with the phone is pretty generous, it comes with 2x smart tags, screen protector and a mini HDMI to HDMI cable. That is great! I like freebies!

Below is the unboxing video:

First impression:

It is a well bulit phone and has a beautiful screen. HD resolution packed in a 4.3 inch screen is really sharp. One of the highest pixel density currently in the market. The phone is well built.

But the downside seems to be the weak battery life as reported with most of the phone reviews. It last me for almost a day with my moderate usage.

I hope the ICS update will help with the battery mileage. Otherwise, I might need to get a portable charging pack.

The full package

The smart tag

Maybe I will write a short review after I had used the phone for a couple of weeks to have a better picture. Below is the pic of the package and one of the smart tag.

My new handphone for 2012

One of my older post mentioned that I wanted to get a tablet sometime in the future. So I guess the time has come. I am using one of phone contracts from my wife to upgrade. I mentioned before I like the first generation galaxy tab 7.

But since the specs is only slightly better than my HTC Desire which is serving me well although the phone storage is pretty limited. Additional factor is the big screen for phone. My eyes will not be so stressful focusing on a smaller screen lol.

I decided to wait to see if there any replacement model since the old tab has been in the market for quite a while, I believe it is EOL now and I was happy when they announced a replacement model for called galaxy tab plus 7. It has the upgraded hardware which is more in line with the current technology although the resolution remains the same. Finally, the ability to answer phone calls privately rather than using only the speaker phone on the previous tab 7.

And it was available locally somewhere in early Jan 2012. Before that, they had a Galaxy Note which is pretty good. Nice and pretty big screen and all but it seems to be more expensive than the new Galaxy tab plus 7 locally. Maybe the reason is due to the better hardware like the "super AMOLED" screen. But still, I prefer a bigger screen of the tab 7 although the screen is not super AMOLED.


It is pretty unique to have a android "honeycomb" OS but it can make phone calls too. From what I know, "honeycomb" OS do not have phone call function (correct me if I am wrong). Maybe they are using other hardware to work with to it to have a phone call function. So I decided to get one without second thought since it is a 2 in 1 device (tablet or as a phone), although it might look strange answering a call with a pretty big device on your ear. But I can accept that lol. 

For more info on its specs, you can check out at their website under tablet section. Here is the unboxing video and some pictures.

Unboxing video

 Whole package

Power and volume button

MicroSD and SIM card slot

3.5mm Jack

Charging port and speakers

Back view

Mini review: Been using the phone for a couple of days before this posting, overall is positive for me although it might be a bit inconvenient to bring such a "big" phone out. The new design looks less "plastic" due to the silver frame on the phone. It seems to be aluminum to me

The phone reception is pretty good and I like the big screen, so much easier to read my stuffs. Battery life is not bad, last me around 2 days before charging on casual usage. Playing games is pretty positive for me. 

But the upper left portion while holding in portrait mode can get warm during gaming. I believe the processor or the GPU is located somewhere near there.

I guess this phone is going to be with me for a while till something better comes along.

My new soundcard

I had been deciding whether I needed a sound card for my HTPC since onboard audio sounds "ok" for me. But I given in to my temptation and decided to get one since have a discrete sound card do make a difference to me.

So my hunting for a new soundcard begins, since I listen to music and do some gaming at home. I needed a sound card that can performed for both applications. And I narrowed it down to Asus Xonar STX and Creative Soundblaster Titanium HD. Both are so called audiophile grade sound card but I am not really a "audiophile".But I am a person who likes details and clarity in the music.

Some recommend Asus and some recommend Creative after reading from the forums and reviews. In the end, I got the Creative card since I felt that it can performs both roles decently since X-Fi is known for gaming. But the card was "tuned" for music too I believed, since it is catered to the audiophile market too.

As for STX, it seems to be catered more for audiophile market where the music sounds really great (I have no doubt about with all the great review on it). The pricing for both cards is pretty close in my area. Do take note that STX card is not a native PCIx card. It has a conversion chip from PCI to PCIx and it needed a extra power to it comparing to Titanium HD where it is a native PCIx solution and no extra power needed.   

So there it is my not so good unboxing video as it is done in a rush. Pardon me for that. Comparing with the Xonar STX package, Creative seems to be more generous in the accessories department. 

Unboxing video:

All the contents with the card

Mini review: The X-Fi software suite seems interesting, you can choose between three modes (Entertainment, Audio Creation, Game). Normal usage will be Entertainment, it will be used for movie and music and for the other two modes. It will be used as the name implies.I am using T40 Series 2 but I hope it can maximise the potential of the card.

Listening from my T40 Series 2 speakers. And comparing to my onboard ALC892 sound. I feel that the audio coming from Titanium HD seems to sound more refined and detailed. Although I must say onboard audio performs decently.

Now for gaming (playing FPS games most of the time), I tested it by comparing the 2 modes (Entertainment / Game). Entertainment sounds pretty good but I feel it lack some "oomph" factor in gaming. So switching to Game mode, it seems to have a more punchy sound where I can "sense" the surroundings better. I am not using headphone by the way. But I think Game mode is optimized to be used with headphone

Lastly, the software suite provided enables to fine tune quite a number of things in each individual mode. So you can tune it up to your own preferences. In conclusion, it is a good buy to me although I feel that my speakers can't maximise the potential of this card. A pair of studio monitor speakers should be able to do a better job. But overall, I am satisfied with the pairing of the card and my speakers for now.