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!