It wasn’t as easy as I thought. Nonetheless, interesting subject. Picture is posted as it is.

It was only after two days later when I finally got to sit down and have a closer look at the phone. No thanks to the Sunday’s assignment at A Famosa Golf Resort and assignment due on the following Monday.

This is Samsung SGH-i550.

Samsumg Mobile has targeted the phone for design seekers, efficiency seekers, fun seekers and also price seekers. I only agree with three out of the four, as the recommended retail price of the phone is currently at RM1,599. With such hefty price tag, that’s definitely not a phone for a budget user, if you ask me.

The phone, albeit is for both male and female city dwellers, it is the males who might be interested with the phone due to the its shape and colour. Unlike the usual designs of most Samsung phone, the SGH-i550 doesn’t have the sexy curves or shinny silver coating. Instead, it is generally black in colour with brown on the sides and keypads. It is simple yet has a sophisticated look and at the same time, oozing out charisma and class of its own.

At 53mm wide, 13.8mm thick and 115mm long, the phone is reasonably sized and would fit most palms without much problem. Most importantly, it doesn’t weigh a tonne. In fact, it might be even lighter than my current phone as it is only 109g. Looking at the size of the phone, it is quite impressive that they managed to pack in a 2.6″ TFT display for maximum viewing pleasure.

At the back is the 3.0 mega pixel camera with auto focus feature. There’s a little shinny plate to see your reflection for your own cam-whoring convenience. It has a built in flash, definitely not a Xenon flash, but I assume it should be powerful enough (than a conventional LED light) to light up dim lit areas for picture takings. I shall explore the camera feature at a later time.

On the left side, you have the micro SD slot, which is expandable up to 4GB. For your information, it also has 150MB internal memory. You also have the volume bottom, sligthly above the micro SD slot. The camera shortcut key and the charger / USB port are both on the right hand side of the phone. For those who demands better sound quality for their earphones, you have a 3.5mm jack on the top of the phone, next to the power button as well. That’s definitely a bonus!

A 3G video call mini camera resides on the front panel, right next to the speaker. The keypad, thin rectangular shaped, is very responsive and doesn’t require much force to press. The shape makes text messaging a breeze as you punch away the alphanumeric quickly.

Right in the middle of the keypad / phone is a track ball, emitting a really cool looking blue light, as if its the heart of the phone (like IronMan’s). When it’s charging, it’s red in colour.

Instead of the ever problematic joy stick and the flat surfaced joy pad, Samsumg Mobile has decided to put in track ball for easier navigation and scrolling. Rather than pressing or pushing, all you have to do is glide your fingers across the track ball and your cursor would move accordingly. Like our computer’s mouse, you can set the sensitivity of the track ball.

Outlook wise, I would say its pretty safe. Nothing too funky, nothing too old school, nothing too drastic, nothing too boring, it has struck a balance between all the elements to appeal potential users from all range. Moreover, the fact that I dislike the idea of flipping, twisting, rotating, shaking or whatever-ing the phone just to reach the key pad and other functions, this phone has stood out in terms of design. It looks plain and simple, but for a guy, it is definitely appealing.

The Samsung SGH-i550 series :
The Kick Off

P/S : To get amazing deals on cheap cell phone plans, the Internet can be a valuable resource. A cell phone company often has a lot of various plans and phones to choose from, so read very carefully before you sign up for prepaid cell phones or contacts!

It was late evening when I came back from class and received an email from the editor, Kashminder Singh of Mobile World, informing that I was one of the 16 bloggers invited by Mobile World and Samsung Mobile to take part in their phone program.

I should have taken the picture when I first got the bag. Now, the picture looks so crumpled up. My bad.

The 16 bloggers are Jazlin Ernida, Muhammad Norizwan, David Cheong, Abner Lim, John Ling, Ng Jun Yan, Praveen, Visithra, Amy Lai, Kugan, Muzaffar Mustapa, Vincent Chow, Ellie Chee, Jolene, Lydia Teh and myself.

Group photo contributed by Jolene.

Looking at the names, I only know Jolene personally, saw the name Lydia Teh somewhere before, realized Muzaffar Mustapa is Nuffnang’s August Featured Blogger and read a few David’s (Royal Shortness) pings at Project Petaling Street. As for the rest, I didn’t know their existence until the event. Shame of myself, really.

Correct me if I am wrong, most of the bloggers in the list don’t ping PPS and probably are not that active in the blogging community / scene. It wouldn’t be very offensive if I assume that we are the lesser known bloggers (except for a few ones, of course) compared to the mainstream celebrity bloggers in Malaysia, right? Some of the bloggers are even just a few months old, I mean, their blogs.

Now, that being said, I am truly grateful that Mobile World and Samsung Mobile actually dared to be bold and had the courage to select us instead of the more well known and established bloggers. Seriously, all these while, it was the already famous one gets even more famous and the less popular ones continue to envy them. Hence, kudos to the organizers for taking the road less taken and hopefully, with this bold move, others would follow suit and give all bloggers in the community a chance to experience something out of the blue.

We would be loaned either a Samsung SGH-i450 or Samsung SGH-i550 for a month to abuse use and blog about it, with no strings attached. To top it off, negative comments about the phone are allowed (Probably, not recommended, I think.). Obviously, I got the SGH-i550.

The kick off event was held at Izzi Kuala Lumpur, where we would meet the teams from both Mobile World and Samsung Mobile and also the other bloggers. Of course, there are the usual speeches by the management people of Mobile World and Samsung Mobile before proceeding with a briefing session about the phone. On going are three competitions, best post, highest traffic and most people the phone was showed to. I doubt I would win any, so, I shall not elaborate on it. Looking at the pictures, I think its time for me to seriously consider to get an external flash for my camera. Bad pictures.

We were given a goodies bag as well. Two magazines, a round shaped (Yes, round!) playing cards, a DVD and some funky items.

I didn’t pay attention to the CD case at first, thinking it would be some promotion CDs with less useful informations inside. However, upon taking a closer look, its freaking Beyonce’s B’Day Deluxe Edition DVD!

Now, I am a rather huge Beyonce fan and I have always wanted to buy this DVD but was reluctant to do so because of the price. Man, this is just so OMG! Well, not surprising as Beyonce was the ambassador for one of their mobile phones. Now, for the people at Samsung Mobile, I wonder you guys can give me her posters. Oh please? Haha!

Well, that was it, about the kick off event. There will be multiple posts about the phone itself in the upcoming weeks. Of course, there will be my usual food / life posts, if I have any which currently, I don’t. So, stay tune!

P/S : To get awesome prices on prepaid cell phones, the net can be a good source of information. A cell phone company usually has a lot of various phones and plans to pick from, so read very carefully before you sign up for wireless plans or contacts!

I read this from Kai Hong’s blog and it really got me laughing out loud. It was a conversation between him and a Singaporean friend but I am leeching out the main points only.

Singaporeans have 5 Ks - Kiasi, Kiasu, Kia Bor, Kia Boh and Kia Zheng Hu, which translate to afraid to lose, afraid to die, afraid to lose, afraid of wife and afraid of the government / 怕输， 怕死， 怕没有， 怕老婆， 怕政府！

Malaysians have 4 Ps - Pang Sai, Pang Jio, Pang Pui and Pang Pui Ki, which translate to (simply / loves to) shit, pee, fart and fly kite / 大便， 小便， 乱放屁，还放飞机!

Haha!

P/S : I have ran out of things to blog already, hence, slow updates probably for the next few weeks.

Out.

Out of here.

I really need to get out from my room and current situation for a while, to recharge myself and give myself a break.

My last holiday trip was my June 2007 Bali trip and just when I had enough money to do another round of traveling, I was robbed and ended up in a rather big debt. On top of that, seeing my two buddies traveling to Vietnam, Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Phuket makes me more jealous; and Cuti-Cuti Malaysia doesn’t sound enticing to them.

Sighs.