HTC Hero hands on at Starhub

Yesterday afternoon, I went to the Starhub Plaza Singapura roadshow to have a look and hands on for HTC Hero. The handset on the booth seems not working, you have to get it from the promoter. While you are playing, the promoter would also explain the features and answer the query.

First impression, it looks snappy. Although the promoter said he got the handset few weeks ago, but I suspect it is with the updated ROM already. The scrolling and menu selection looks fast and without lag.

The important part, it is all about the Sense UI. Yes, really. You buy the HTC Hero because of the customisation they put, that is Sense. You have have up to seven pages in each Sense, where you add all the widgets. In different Sense, for example - work, play etc, you can configure the widget that suit the purpose. Other than this, it got all the rest of android handset features.

On screen keyboard, it would take sometime to get used to it, if you are coming from the normal handphone user. Very often, you would touch the other key wrongly and need to backspace. I suppose after a while, your eyes and hand would be more coordinated.

The chin, yes it got a unique look. But in my opinion, the chin actually adds to the usability. It make the phone easier to hold on hand. So, this "feature" actually serve some purpose.

Other areas, camera function look so so. The image quality is respectable, but I don't think it is really that fantastic. The touch is close to iPhone, you don't have to press hard in order for it to recognise.

Bottom line is you need to try it out for a while to decide whether it is for you. I guess the sms won't be faster, but the tight integration to online service make it easier to use.

HTC Hero out with Singtel, M1 and Starhub

HTC Hero is out in Singapore right now, with all the three telco - Singtel, M1 and Starhub

This should be a eagerly awaited handset of the year. I have compiled the price plan as follow.

Singtel
Phone price: $298(depends on price plan you select)
Phone plan: iOne Plus $25.68 (free caller id 3mths)
Data plan: BroadBand on Mobile Plus $19.90 for 1GB (12mth contract $13.93, capped at $94.16)

3G Flexi Lite $39 for 500MB data, 100min outgoing call
3G Flexi $56 for 1GB data, 200min outgoing call

M1
Phone price: $598(w/o data plan), $498(w data plan)
Phone plan: SunSaver $25.68
Data plan: SunSurf Max $16.05 for 1GB (capped at $36.38)

Starhub
Phone price: $498
Phone plan: 3G PowerValue 100 $25.68
Data plan: MaxMobile Premium $9.95(offer) for 1GB (capped at $36.38)
*$100 off for new signup *$100 off for PS roadshow

It looks like Starhub got the best price overall. Singtel handset price itself is cheap, but the model is out of stock now on the website. This shows the popularity of the phone. Check the price with telco again before deciding. The advertisement is confusing with many fine prints.

Finally, a phone maker is coming out with an attractive handset full of feature and hype.

TWG tea - Kwai Flower Superior

I came across the TWG tea brand from blog and newspaper. They are opening the flagship store in Ion Orchard. I decided to give it a try.


TWG tea Kwai Flower Superior (Osmanthus) from Takashimaya counter. 50g tea leaves.

The fragrance is great. It is a kind of Oolong tea infused with Osmanthus flower. The taste is light, without the usual oolong woody taste, full of fragrance. You pay for the quality.

Wanton mee at Restoran Selayang

This afternoon, went to Tampines 1 food court to eat at the KL roasted stall - Restoran Selayang. The wanton picture looks good, so decided to order the wanton mee. But the wanton itself is disappointing, too small and doesn't match the picture.

The char siew is ok as usual. But I find their char siew quality is not always consistent. It depends on which part of the meat you got. Some tender, some rather hard, despite the fact they are using meat with fat.

The surprise is actually the noodle and sauce. They claim to use Pontian noodle, somehow the " "Pontian noodle" has made a name in Singapore scene. Ignore the name, the noodle is curly, springy and chewy. The sauce is good, I can't figure out how they made the sauce. But it goes very well with the noodle.

You can try it as Plaza Singapura or Tampines 1 food court.

ezLink Giro auto top up comes with a fee

Like it or not. After end of Sep, the Giro auto top up facility of ezLink no longer comes free. It has already cause some discontent, when people trying to take away free facility to become charging service.

1. The application would take 21 days, instead of almost instant application previously
2. It only works with DBS and POSB
3. The most important part is there is a convenience fee of 0.25 per top up, like the credit card

Of course, people can come up with reason to justify the fee. But, as a consumer, that is no good. Again, like it or not, it is a fact now and we have to do away with the auto top up.

我说 笨珍云吞面

有些事真的是不吐不快。这一期的优1周介绍了在新加坡开了十多档的笨珍云吞面，档口的名字是祖传六十年笨珍云吞面。我去吃过，根本就不好吃，但是讽刺的是居然还开了十多档。人生真是充满矛盾啊。

笨珍版：
面条以茄汁入味，通常都加上辣椒酱。辣椒与普通云吞面在用的不同，类似美极辣椒酱，这是好吃的关键。面与叉烧，菜心一起上桌。汤里有云吞及鱼丸，云吞皮滑馅薄，美味可口。最出名的店家是‘兴兴’。

新加坡版：
面条类似 笨珍版，有茄汁的做法，但是味道有差别。叉烧是新加坡版本的，忘了有没有菜心。云吞的味道根本就不像，居然还是炸的。我只能说根本就是垃圾，只有面条有点像罢了。但是话又说回来，去掉笨珍的名号，它应该还是有可取之处，不然不会有这么多人捧场。

一句话，纯正的笨珍云吞面是比冒牌的好吃多了。去笨珍吃吧！

蔡艾珈 星光5PK 二战

继一战成名之后，蔡艾珈又到了星光5PK 。在这第二战，演唱的曲目是 - 我该得到。依旧人小，声音大，得到了25分。她的演唱与她的年龄非常不搭，却依然受落。

蔡艾珈 - 我该得到：


那集竟然出现了3个满分PK。接下来看看。

倪安东 - K歌之王：


孙自佑 - 当我想起你：

Fish, Fishball, Prata, Pasta

This is a mixed post. Still have a few pictures haven't posted.


135 Fishball noodle at Tampines. The fishball is really good, very Q and tasty. The sauce also mixed very well.


Roti Prata at Ang Mo Kio Ave 2/3. Place near my friend's new house. The prata is crispy.


Fish and Co offer, 9.90 per dish. This is the Thai Sauce Fish. The curry sauce is spicy yet complement the fish well.


Pasta at Pizza hut. Going for under $10, cheap yet tasty. The tomato sauce is good.

Blogger posting page problem with Singtel solved

I was having the blogger posting page screwed up problem for few weeks already. Only today, after I went through quite a few post in the blogger support forum, then I realise the problem is with Singtel.

Somehow, it just screw up the page. So, I followed someone suggestion to press the Ctrl + F5 in the screwed up page. You guess what, it works again. This shortcut force the browser to ignore all cache content and re-fetch all the things from the web server again. I hope this problem would go away forever.

Itacho Sushi at Ion Orchard

On the same day I went Ion Orchard, I also tasted the first outlet of Itacho Sushi. It has many stores in HK and first time open shop in Singapore.

I came during lunch time, so it is less crowded. They were having the lunch set at 9.90 only. I ordered the Matsu lunch set with 10 sushi, plus two a la carte sushi. You have choice to order sushi in one piece only.

Let's talk about the 10 piece Matsu sushi set. The sushi were being displayed on a long plate, layout in a straight line. This make it looks nice. By the way, your sushi is being made only after you order. This guarantee the freshness and I was satisfied with the quality.

The other two that I ordered were Lobster and Mango salad roll and Cod Liver Scallop Sushi. The lobster mango roll is nice, but the sweet mango overpower the lobster taste. I can only tell it is a mango roll.


Next is the cod liver scallop sushi. Looks tempting right. This is very nicely done that it melts in the mouth.

My verdict: it is worth your dollars. Visit them next time.

First time at Ion Orchard

I went to Ion Orchard yesterday to take a look at the new mall. Ion is made up of four storey above ground and four storey under ground. It looks like the 4 basement level is cater for the mass and the other 4 for luxury shop. There are also a couple of new brand to excite the crowd.

I noticed there are many foreigners, I am not sure why. Maybe there are more free to shop on Monday? At the basement 4, there is a food hall, where they divided the space into many smaller shops. This is becoming a common features in all the new mall. Especially this mall is operated by Capital Land. There are many interesting option like the Japanese Ginza pork chop, the long queue in front of the takoyaki stall etc. Your familiar brand old chang kee is also there.

Breadtalk opened the Food opera food court. It is like a more upmarket food court. Price is more expansive than the food republic. The typical breadtalk strategy when operating the food court is to invite many famour hawker stall to join their food court. So, every stall is a quality choice. Except the price is more expensive. I even see the Fu Lin Yuan from Siglap selling Yong Tau Fu there. The Balastier Ba Ku Teh is selling a bowl of soup at $9.

I tried the R Burger in the food hall. They are selling beef burger in white chinese steamed bun. Although the burger looks nice, the taste is rather disappointing.

Avocado Cheese Burger at R Burger. The bun is too lightweight, hardly filling. I can taste the sauce but not the meat. I am not sure the meat is tasteless or the sauce is too over powering.

After this, I walked to Orchard Central to take a look. The mall is tall but at every level the space is limited. The floor design is also kind of weird, not very easy to follow.

Tully Coffee brewed of the day. Not much difference than Starbucks or Coffee Bean.