It has been residing in my notebook for quite sometime actually. While some of you would recognize who she is, some won’t. She’s JiNz / Jinlan. Do download the PDF file if you want to see a series of pictures of her, in full glamour.

I am not even 1/3 as popular as most celebrity bloggers out there.
My traffic barely touches the 1,000 visits per day mark.
10,000 unique visitors per month always seem to be a dream for my blog and me.

Like it or not, I don’t see myself as a celebrity blogger like Kenny Sia, Ringo Tan, Timothy Tiah, Shaolin Tiger, Kimberlycun, Fireangel, Suanie and the many more heavy weight bloggers in Malaysia blogsphere.

However, I think I am blessed with a lot of loyal and nice readers who never stop reading my blog over the years, treating me as good friends, buying me meals, baking me cookies and muffins, writing me snail mail and cards and even buying me gifts or souvenirs.

I woke up feeling drowsy due to insomnia during the previous night and saw a package sitting on top of my notebook. It was from Chong, a relatively new reader of mine who happens to use the same camera as me, Canon EOS 40D. We never meet up before.

Looking at the fragile sticker behind, I carefully opened the parcel and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the writings on the box.

B+W Circular Polarizer Filter for 67mm. This piece of glass, I estimated it to be somewhere around RM250 +- RM50.

The function of a CPL filter, an illustration I grabbed from Wikipedia would explain it clearly.

For the uninitiated, B+W is probably the best filter manufacturer around since the early age of cameras. It is considered a branded item and very well known among photographers. It is made in Germany and using brass. Hence, the excellent built quality and weight.

Inside the box, was a short note that reads, “Souvenir and be-late-d birthday gift from Singapore. Cheers, Chong.”.

Friend, while I truly appreciate the gift you got for me, isn’t the gift a little too expensive? I even feel guilty about it. I was merely joking about getting one for me as a souvenir while you were in Singapore. Honestly and seriously, thank you very much. It could probably be the best birthday gift I ever received so far. I owe you one, big time.

As most photography freaks would know, getting yourself a dSLR (In my case, it’s a Canon EOS 40D.) is only the beginning of more splurging.

After six months, I finally saved enough to get myself the Canon Speedlite 580 EX II. Yes, the flash gun that could fire up to 13m, according to the technical specification.

It adds extra (a lot of) weight to my already heavy camera but with a flash gun attached, night shots would be much easier. It’s going to take some time to learn how to use it effectively though.

Chong, does my camera still looked small? LOL. Honestly, I still feel it’s small but the weight, is quite a bit.

Three test shot of my Chevrolet 2008 Concept Camaro cum Bumblebee.

Robin introduced to me the Hoya close up filter +4 some time back and I was tempted to get one. With my kit lens minimum focusing distance fixed at 45cm, a close up filter could really close the gap and allow me to focus even closer than before. As I don’t have the budget for a macro lens, a close up filter would be good for the mean time. However, I noticed the sharpness and picture quality have dropped a little. For RM84, I am not complaining.

Focused at 85mm (136mm on full frame) without close up filter.

Focused at 85mm (136mm on full frame) with close up filter.

That aside, again, million thanks to Bryan for allowing me to defer his debt payment and buy my flash gun first.

Yes, that is about it for my camera gadgets, for now. I want to travel, really.

Today is the last day before I return the Samsung SGH-i550 to Samsung Mobile and BlogMob tomorrow. While I didn’t write my reviews as many as Phone Lover Ng Jun Yan or as many pictures as possible like Jolene Lai,

I have at pretty much cover the basics / selected features of the phone, mainly the GPS, 3.0 mega pixel camera, Symbian Series 60 operating system and design. I didn’t want to blog about every single feature as I still have my stuffs to be posted and the users are able to explore the phone on its own.

I like,

1) Trackball. (No joy sticks / joy pads)
2) GPS.
3) Wifi.
4) Symbian Series 60.
5) Appealing design. (To me, at least)
6) 3.0 mega pixel camera.
7) Rotate-able screen when internet surfing.
8) 2.6″ TFT LCD display.

I dislike,

1) Trackball. (Take ages to move across the screen in GPS)
2) No option to switch off wifi. (Wifi is always on)
3) Slow GPS. (Very slow in pin pointing the exact / current location)
4) Relatively slow auto focusing speed.
5) Absence of Xenon flash.
6) Battery life could be better.

That pretty much sum up my experience with the Samsung SGH-i550. Generally, I am quite satisfied with the phone, considering I was juggling between my Sony Ericsson P1i and the Samsung SGH-i550. For those who are seeking for something different (Read : Other brands.) and wants to power of Symbian Series 60 and GPS, this is the phone you should look out for. For the price, you sure get a lot of features and power punched into this hand held device. In fact, I have already found someone to buy the phone.

I would like to say a million thanks to BlogMob and Samsung Mobile for giving me the first and probably the last chance to review a phone for a period of time at no strings attached. Thanks guys!

The Samsung SGH-i550 series :
The Kick Off
The Outlook
The Specifications & Symbian Series 60
The 3.0 Mega Pixel Camera
The Summary

The Samsung SGH-i550 is equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System) as well, which is starting to be a very popular feature among the higher end mobile phones. Of course, it is a phone based GPS and not a true GPS system / device, hence, the reliability is somewhat questionable. While that may not be true, I have yet to see one that is able to function as good as a GPS device.

NAVFone is pre-installed inside the phone. I don’t know how many GPS software out there and since I never use any before, I can’t make comparison. For that, I shall comment on the software based on what are the features that I would want when I get a GPS device.

The interface is pretty simple, but getting it to work is a little tricky. The map basically showed the main roads and some smaller roads, but definitely not a complete map. For the historical city, most of the major roads are labeled and displayed as it is. In fact, the map of Malacca itself is pretty complete itself. Well, am not going to do a whole print screen of the map.

Upon entering the keyword in the search box, you will have a list of results (including roads, buildings, landmarks, points and etc.) that are nearby, at or within the searched location.

For this post, it would be easier to demonstrate on the function of GPS and how to use it. For starters, I have selected my house, which isn’t not too far away from the red box and then set it as my starting point.

In this software, I can’t seem to pin point my location even though I have a “Where am I?” option. Upon clicking the “Where am I?” option, it would prompt me to connect GPS and / or enable GSM, which neither able to pin point my location except staying idle. Is it working, that function? would take up to 10 minutes to locate your location.

Dataran Pahlawan, a landmark that one would never miss in Malacca, would be our destination. Dataran Pahlawan is currently Malacca’s biggest mall, built right on the field where our first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman first proclaimed independence during 1957. Yes, the first place was in Malacca, not KL’s Dataran Merdeka. Today, its a shopping mall.

Starting point, set! Destination, set! Play the route and the software will guide you to your destination on its own. However, if you are connected to the GPS, you won’t have the “play route” option. Instead of constantly referring to the screen, there’s a voice that would “speak” to you, telling you when to turn, where to turn, which lane to keep to and etc.. You can switch the voice off, if you want some quiet moments in the car.

You can toggle the screen with three different views.

If you don’t like the NAVFone software, you can also use Google Maps. Yes, pre-installed as well. I am pretty sure everyone is familiar with Google Maps and how powerful it can be. It requires an internet connection to function, so, if you are on the move, GPRS / EDGE / 3G is your only option. Because of that, be prepared to pay for your hefty usage of data transfer.

Weirdly, I can’t seem to get the phone to detect any GPS satellite and hence, not able to use the GPS function to its fullest.

Well, while the phone is equipped with GPS function, it takes a really long time to pin point your location. I mean really long and you definitely need to be in open space / outdoors for the phone to track down the GPS satellite. While I welcome the GPS feature in phones, I do hope it could detect my location in, say, less than a minute?

The Samsung SGH-i550 series :
The Kick Off
The Outlook
The Specifications & Symbian Series 60
The 3.0 Mega Pixel Camera