VOCA

The WeChat Party 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 06:13:00 +0000

Please note that this is a sponsored post from Nuffnang.

Feels like it’s been too long since I’ve blogged and I’m going to make a comeback hopefully. Few days back, I got invited to the WeChat Party 2013 at Neverland, KL; that’s right behind The Butter Factory in case anyone is wondering. I couldn’t get my head around it that I would be invited to a party like this and got a different experience to parties as a whole.

The entrance to the club was filled with white and green balloons

There’s even a machine that takes and instantly prints photos for guests by the entrance

Food for the hungry!

There was a welcome speech by Mr. Poshu Yeung, the vice president of Tencent International Business during dinner and it was interesting to know all these facts from his short speech. WeChat is a mobile phone text and voice messaging communication service developed by Tencent in China and was initially known as Weixin in China in January 2011. It was only in October 2011 when they rolled out an international language support and rebranded themselves as WeChat in April 2012 to appeal to the worldwide market.

Shortly after Mr.Poshu Yeung’s speech, we got to watch the TV commercial that they have yet to appeal to the public; featuring the Malaysian ambassadors Lisa Surihani and Shaheizy Sam. Got a preview of the commercial for you too!

Interested? Simple enough, just click here!

Performances by Vivian Chua, Henley Hii and Awi Rafael followed through the commercial release with a game session in between for lucky participants who walked away with a 500GB HDD each!

The night ended with yet another game session whereby an iPad was up for grabs and a lucky draw session unfolded to some lucky people who attended the party! It was pretty fun for me to attend the WeChat Party 2013 in the end all thanks to Nuffnang who extended me the invite.

WeChat is an application available on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and even on Windows Phone devices; making it the only social messaging application available on all major mobile platforms. For more information, check out www.wechat.com and get your WeChat application for free!

3 Musketeers, A different game.

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:24:00 +0000

Imagine their mission failed all because of a woman.

Cheers...

Chivalry Is Not Dead

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:48:00 +0000

At first look, Chivalry Is (NOT) Dead can simply be put as a child’s play. Fitted with simple graphics, catchy names and a funny tune, it features as an easy gaming pick for those who are into strategic games. As a foreword warning to those who are looking into no-brainer games, Chivalry Is (NOT) Dead will not be the game for you. That’s right, looks can be deceiving in this case because it really isn’t a simple game albeit all the simplicity in design. It is a good time killer, but it’s not for the weak of mind. In the beginning, you would expect an adventurous game full of action and a whole lot of mind boggling puzzles but just hold up a second; this isn’t all that.

So what’s the game all about? After all, it does feature quite a cheesy name. To get straight to the point, it’s a lot of clicking around, searching for tips, talking to people and simply picking the choices offered to answer the questions or statements that comes from the other party. It sounds simple, but it’s really not all it seems. Every answer leads to a different reply and another question and every answer after that could bring the player to a different ending. With that being said, it is good enough to say that it’s a game that requires a lot of strategy and forward thinking to anticipate the ending or the next question that would be asked. Different items used could also lead to different outcomes and eventually this could be a good capturing point for the players to just interact a little and fiddle around with the possibilities of getting a satisfying end to the game.

While the upside of the game is that it is interactive and interesting for the player, there are also the down sides to it. First off, there are absolutely no clear instructions whatsoever. All that you would find on the tab that says instructions is that you will need to click around, get tips and talk to people. And that’s it. What could have been a helping point would be if the creators of the game included a little walkthrough such as how to pull out the inventory list instead of leaving the players to explore around, slowly lose their patience, become frustrated and give up altogether. Another bad thing about the game would that it was too short especially for those who had expected a long and adventurous gameplay. Also, there appeared to be too much talking and this immediately became quite a turn off for those who are just looking to relax and do less work. Reading through a game is like reading a book; only they are doing more than flipping. The conversations should have been placed at the bottom of the window instead of flashing above the character because this just made the game a lot more irritating.

Overall, Chivalry Is (NOT) Dead could be said as a game that requires a lot of thinking skills and a whole lot of imagination. The graphics also could have been improved and possibly been made into a more interesting character as opposed to just being an assassin wearing a brown bag over his head and being ordered by a dark lord to kill a queen. It’s a game with a cliché storyline, but it conveys the message well enough and people buy it. One last point though…do expect a fusion of modernized sentences mixed with a little bit of old terms throughout the game. It’s oddly irritating at a point, but bearable with the tiny bit of jokes the creators try to fit in.

Social Media : What's What Anyway?

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:36:00 +0000

First question that comes in mind…what’s a social media? Well, it’s almost everything you find on the internet. I guess that’s a good way to put it. For one, nearly everyone uses it anyway. From an 8 year old kid to a 72 year old uncle, you’d find them logged onto Facebook, Twitter, Friendster or even the old school Myspace. In fact, some babies even have an account created by their parents just for show. But some people may be asking about some other sites that they have no idea about…so why not just take a 5 minute breather and check out what’s what?

LinkedIn; a website made for a quick resume sharing without the hassle of sending out word documents anyway. What’s good about LinkedIn is that people can search for you, connect to you and check out your work experiences, qualifications and all the past things you’ve done as well as review through your personal details easily without having to bother you anyway. Being a job search and head hunter friendly website, it completely replaces the need to send out CVs to bosses and potential clients because they would have seen everything anyway. However, not everything is just the good, better and best. LinkedIn does NOT do auto updates and requires constant updating from a person if he or she does a lo of freelance and side jobs. How else would the head hunters see how good the person is, right? Also, not a lot of people are connected on LinkedIn because they still believe in the good old sending of CVs along with a cover letter whether by e-mail or snail mail. The details entered are also not filtered and could sometimes be fake just so their profile looks impressive enough to cheat through and get a job. Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures!

What’s cool about LinkedIn is that it’s simple enough to use and that it’s quite easy to access for people who are interested. Plus, the URL can be personalized to the person’s own name, making it even easier to send links to the recipient and also for the recipient to remember anyway. It could be a very good medium for companies abroad to head hunt and search for talents across the seas but they would definitely have to look twice and know the person better. It’s also free for companies to post job openings so that people can search through it and apply for the job and direct some attention to them. After all, who doesn’t like free stuff?

Recently, Google launched their very own social networking site called Google+ and started advertising for it and asked people to “join the fun”. Of course, Google+ is powered by…Google and the good thing is that it even ties the person to Youtube whenever the person starts searching for videos. That way, the user doesn’t even have to apply for a Youtube account just to like, dislike or comment on videos. It’s impressive and quite convenient actually. One good thing about Google+ is just that they suggest you only add people you know into your “list” so that you won’t be facing stalkers and get into trouble. There are more than enough psychos online anyway. Then again, Google+ is somehow not all that famous and there are very little users because they are overshadowed by Facebook. Unlike Facebook, there aren’t a lot of games on Google+ and naturally does not attract people who are into social media sites just to kill time.

Clearly, Google+ is a social networking site that allows you to click on the “add” button just like how Facebook does and shares whatever information you allow to those you have on your list or “circles” as they call it. Of course, it’s free to subscribe…because people would probably just forget about it all together if they had to squeeze some money out of their pocket and pay for it. A nice feature on Google+ though; is that they provide an internal photo editing software. Something like Instagram on iPhones and iPods or Picnik on the desktop. So yeah, people who are extra vain or wants some “special” effects would really like it. It also automatically groups friends according to the subsets such as friends, family, colleagues and probably ex-girlfriends / boyfriends into one. That’ll be good when you want to hide certain things from certain people.

Lastly, there’s Blogger. Needless to say, Blogger is a blogging site. It’s enough for people to use it as a business portal, entertainment site, information sharing area or just a web journal. Yeah, it’s actually okay to write your deepest, darkest secrets on Blogger because you have the liberty to do it anyway. Blogger is actually a very simple website and very easy to use…in fact probably a 7 year old student will know how to operate it. It’s a good site to kill some free time and a lot of people treat blogging as a hobby anyway. Some people even find fame with just blogging such as XiaXue; the Singaporean lady or even the all famous Raja Petra Kamarudin who got into trouble with the Malaysian government with his posts. Then again, it’s sometimes not all too safe and it can be used to taunt and tarnish a person’s reputation. Sometimes, things that are posted may not be verified and taken from reliable sources so it’s really up to you to believe whatever is being said. There isn’t much control on what is being shared online…and your pictures can be taken and used by other bloggers or even stalkers.

On the other hand, Blogger actually allows the author to choose who can access the blog by sending out invites and then it’s up to the readers to decide if they want to read whatever is being written anyway. Also, they allow the users to personalize their blog to however they want it as long as they know how to play around with HTML codes and have a whole load of plug-ins for those who are interested. Of course, it is free and it practically never expires. So we’ll take for example someone who has a blog but leaves it stagnant for 2, 3 or even 4 years but the blog and everything written will just stay there. It’s pretty awesome, but at the same time embarrassing. People grow up, and flicking through the history can sometimes be weird. Blogger even provides unlimited posting space so even if someone was to post up to 5 posts a day, no one would stop them. He or she can have more than 10,000 posts in their blog and still there will be no control to that. Blogger even works in hand with Picasa Web Hosting for pictures storage but all users are only limited to a maximum of 1 GB worth of free storage and any extra would require…money. Not everything comes free, but 1 GB is quite a lot anyway.

Underwater Diving Experience, DSD( Discover Scuba Diving), Sabah, Malaysia

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Tue, 04 May 2010 10:16:00 +0000

Discover Scuba Diving (DSD)

Duration :	Half Day Tour
Location :	Diving will be done in the beautiful waters of Tunku Abdul Rahman Park (TARP) and its surrounding islands off the coast of Kota Kinabalu city.

Simply try diving with basic diving knowledge session & skills in a short time. For anyone who want to discover underwater scuba diving or want to try diving prior to join a course.

7:30am	Meet at jetty ~ waiting area
7:50am	Registration
8:30am	Arrive at TARP Island
	Briefing Sign and agree all liability release form Complete medical questionnaires Adjust Equipment Underwater Hand Signals Basic Diving Knowledge
9:30am	Practice basic diving skills (20min) + Dive One
11:15am	Dive Two (30-40min underwater tour)
12:00pm	Lunch
1:30pm	Dive Three
3:00pm	Depart TARP Island
3:30pm	Arrival at KK Jetty

Qualification:

Min. 12yrs old
Under 18yrs requires parent or guardian to sign all liability release form
Approve all liability release form and complete medical questionnaires

Basic diving skills:

BDC inflation & deflation
Regulator recovery at surface
Introduction to breathing underwater
Eqr and mask equalization
Regulator & mask clearing
Air gauge location and use
Alternative air source use
Descent & ascent

Included

Instruction by professional qualified Instructor
Use off all Dive Equipment
Return transfer to TARP Island
Return hotel transfer
Lunch at TARPIsland

Excluded :	Dive Permit RM50/Pax and Jetty Fee RM6/pax/Day
Price :	RM 20 nett per Adult
Child Price :	-
Minimum :	2 Adult per order
Surcharge :	RM 30.00 per pax for pick up from hotel outside Kota Kinabalu area

We also provide other diving course such as Open Water Diver Course, Rescue Diver, Divemaster, Advanced Open Water Diver Course, etc...

For further inquiries , please contact

Y-Kin Ng (Tour Agent)

H/P: +6017-3687207
E-mail: wystanng@gmail.com

Sapi Island, Sabah, Malaysia.

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Tue, 04 May 2010 10:06:00 +0000

SAPI Island At Leisure

Tour Code:	EK03
Duration:	9am – 3.15pm

Tunku Abdul Rahman Park: Pulau Sapi

This island has a distinct advantage of having some of the nicest beaches with white sand, sparkling crystal clear water and a coastline fringed with beautiful coral reefs. It is the ideal place for snorkeling, diving and swimming. If you can do neither of this but do not want to be left out from discovering underwater treasures, take a glass boat rental service instead. Hiking trails through the interior provide an excellent opportunity for nature appreciation.

There are no accommodation facilities but picnic shelters, barbeque pits, tables, changing rooms and toilets are provided for day use. Camping is allowed with the permission of the Park Warden.

Itinerary

After breakfast, 8:30am meet at hotel lobby process to jetty. Depart from jetty for a boat ride to one of the island wish locater in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. (SAPI Island )Free at own leisure. Enjoy trekking, swimming, snorkeling, sunbathing or just simply relaxing under the shady palm trees as the breezy wind and the muscular waves are singing. Enjoy BBQ lunch. Optional activities such as snorkeling and various water sports are available. 3.15pm transfer back to mainland.

Tunku Abdul Rahman Park: General Guidelines for Visitors

The park was created for the protection of the natural environment, including the coral reefs, marine life, and the flora and fauna. Certain guidelines have been created to ensure the conservation of these natural treasures. Visitors are advised to observe the regulations that are prominently displayed all over the islands.

Visitors are strictly prohibited to engage in any of the following activities

Hunt or carry firearms, poison, spear guns, and dangerous weapons within the park
Harm or disturb any plant, animal or other living things
Pick, cut, or collect plants, insects, corals, shells, and any other materials, dead or alive
Write names on rocks, trees, or shelters
Bring pets into the park Taking away any plant, animal or other living or non-living things are strictly forbidden without prior written permission from the Director of Sabah Parks. Fishing, however, is permitted with the use of hook and line only.

Includes :	Return hotel transfer, Return boat transfer , Entrance Fee, Set BBQ Lunch, Snorkeling Set.
Excludes :	All others items not stated in above.
Adult Price :	RM 175.00 Per Person
Child Price :	RM 90.00 Per Person
Minimum:	2 Adults Per Order
Surcharge:	RM30 per person for pick up from outside city area hotel

For further inquiries , please contact

Y-Kin Ng (Tour Agent)

H/P: +6017-3687207
E-mail: wystanng@gmail.com

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Tue, 04 May 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Kiulu Water Rafting

Tour Code:	EK09
Duration:	Half Day

KIULU RIVER

The perfect introduction for first times rafter and children. REFRESH your soul, RELAX your mind, WONDER at the scenery and later … FEAST your appetite.

From Kota Kinabalu, you will be transferred to Kiulu Village. The journey takes around one hour and passed by traditional villages and luscious green rice fields. On clear days you may get a glimpse of the majestic Mt. Kinabalu among the distance hills. At the starting point, you will have some light refreshment, sign liability form and briefing. After the exhilarating fun, you may relax by the river at the ending point and enjoy a local buffet lunch.

Rafting duration: 1 ½ - 2hrs

Grade I-II rapids

Itinerary

TIME	SCHEDULE
0900hrs	Depart from hotel in Kota Kinabalu.
1030hrs	Arrive Kiulu at Starting point – light refreshment.
1045hrs	Rafting on Kiulu River.
1230hrs	Ending point at Kiulu village – Buffet Lunch
1330hrs	Return to Kota Kinabalu

Note:

Remove jewelry: leave your jewelry at home.
Contact lenses are not advisable.
Don’t bring and sharp object on raft.
Participant must sign Liability Release Form before the tour commences.

More Information

What to bring:	Lace-up shoes, Swimming costume, Change of dry clothes, towel & waterproof sunscreen.
Includes:	Transportation, rafting equipment, lunch.
Excludes:	All others items not stated in above.
Adult Price:	RM 180.00 Per Person
Child Price :	RM 130.00 Per Person
Surcharge :	RM30 per pax pick up from outside city area hotel

For further inquiries , please contact

Y-Kin Ng (Tour Agent)

H/P: +6017-3687207
E-mail: wystanng@gmail.com

Express Mt.Kinabalu Summit

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Tue, 04 May 2010 09:21:00 +0000

Express Mt. Kinabalu Summit

Tour Code:	EK21
Duration:	2D1N

Mount Kinabalu

The name "Kinabalu" originated from the local dusun word "Aki Nabalu", meaning "The revered place of the dead." In the past, the locals believe that Mount Kinabalu was the place where the spirits of the dead rested, so they treated the mountain as a sacred place. According to historical documentation, Sir Hugh Low was the first person who reached the summit in 1851; hence the highest peak, Low's Peak, was named after him. The plantations are reduced to barren rocks as you reach higher to the mountain top. The temperature is near freezing point on top, so bring along some warm clothing. It is rare to see snow but rain and mists are common phenomena in the mountain so raincoat is a must-bring item.

Itinerary

Day 01 Mt. Kinabalu Climb

0730hours.: Pick up from hotel and take a 2-hour transfer to Kinabalu National Park Headquarter. Upon arrival you will go to reception office for registration. Sabah Park Authorities will provide you with a mountain guide and a porter to help with your bags. You will be given a nametag and briefing before transferred by bus provided by the park to Timpohon Gate where you will start your climb.
1000hours.: Along with a guide, you will have your own experience climbing up the highest climber-friendly mountain in South East Asia. Take as many photographs as you like. It takes around 4-6 hours to reach the rest house at Laban Rata. 1400hours. Arrive in Laban Rata and check in to your hostel. Take a rest and have lunch. Rest of the time is free at leisure. You may get to watch a nice sunset if the weather is clear. If you have headache and nausea, pop in some medicine.
2000hours.: After dinner, make preparation for the next ascend which will occur very early next morning. Go to sleep at 2100hours at most.

Day 02 Mt. Kinabalu Summit

0230hours.: Start the second phase of the climb, which is the most adventurous and exciting part of the climb! As it is still dark, you will need a torch light. Hold onto the rope tightly and follow the trail up the summit.
0530hours.: Arrive at the summit, 4095m above sea level. Again, take as many photographs as possible, especially the amazing sunrise. Seeing a perfect sunrise from above the cloud is a breathtaking experience!
0700hours.: Descend to Laban Rata. The daylight makes your view clearer and you will be able to the peaks of Mount Kinabalu.
0900hours.: After arriving at Laban Rata, check out from the hostel and start your descend slowly with your guide. This would be the most difficult part of the climb. You can feel your knees wobble or even ‘numb’ due to the strenuous climb.
1300hours.: Arrive at Kinabalu Park HQ, have some lunch and receive a certificate for the climb before transfer back to Kota Kinabalu.

Includes :	Transportation, park entrance fee, return Timpohon Gate transfer, climbing permit, Mountain Guide, Certificate , Insurance, accommodation & meals as stated.
Excludes :	Porter fee & all others items not stated in above.
Things to bring :	Gloves, good walking shoes, insect repellent, sun block, raincoat/ windbreaker/warm clothing, energy bars/sweets for extra energy, water bottle, flashlight.
Adult Price :	RM 870.00 Per Person (*Good Discounts available for more than 1 pax)
Child Price :	-
Minimum :	2 Adults Per Order
Surcharge :	RM30 per person for pick up from outside city area hotel
Remark :	Please book this tour in advance (at least 3 months) to avoid disappointment as there is limited vacancy at Laban Rata and the waiting list is long!
Options :	Visit Poring Hot Spring after the climb is especially soothing to the sore and aches of muscles. RM 180 per pax Extra nights before or after the climb from RM 120 per pax

For further inquiries , please contact

Y-Kin Ng (Tour Agent)

H/P: +6017-3687207
E-mail: wystanng@gmail.com

Worship

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:21:00 +0000

“Worship” is simply the action of offering adoration, affection and love to our God. There are many ways to worship and music has always been an effective and passionate way for individuals to express their pain, needs, and love. In our weekly meetings, we seek to select songs that offer words and expressions that most people can understand with little or no “church” or religious experience. These songs, melodies and instruments are all simply tools given by our God to us, and we receive the pleasure of using the wonderful gift of music to show our love to God and our wonder at His creation.

Innovated Touch Pattern By Apple.

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:29:00 +0000

Patently Apple has the news that Apple has filed for another touchscreen display patent, but here's the catch: this one's probably not for a tablet! Or at least, not for the tablet we're expecting. The patent, which covers the idea of a thinner and brighter touchscreen display by combining the touch and pixel display elements (basically including the capacitive and pixel elements in the same hardware), could actually be used in any of Apple's devices, from the iPhone and iPod touch, to future versions of their laptops. And yes, it could be used in a potential tablet, but really, this is more of a way to create touchscreens anywhere rather than specifically a tablet-only function.

Note that this is also different from the dynamic tactile display Apple patented a little while ago. Personally, I'd rather see the much more inventive tactile display used in the hopefully soon-to-be-unveiled tablet -- I'd love to finally get some touchable feedback from touchscreens. But of course Apple will use what they think is best. Having a quicker and brighter display to go along with a multitouch screen wouldn't be a bad thing, either.

Have you ever wonder that you can remote control your car?

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:28:00 +0000

Yes.. exactly.. In this new era, with the modern technology, with the coolest device, now you can control your car without sitting inside driving it. This project basically is in-conjunction with Apple's iPhone/iPod touch. Check this video out and see for yourself.

iPhone VS iStone

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:26:00 +0000

Planning to get an iPhone? Think again.. XD

The effect of technology that can harm the society’s behaviour

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:14:00 +0000

In these modern days, technology has been an essential in our modern life. No matter in work or in school, technology has been widely used in many different ways. For example to transfer information, organize management, and also education.

Technology has become an essential to human. Big companies that involve in major business had been reliable to technology. Without technology, their work performance will never be efficient to compete with other competitors in order to success. Furthermore, in human’s basic life, it has played an important role. Technology that involves in our daily lives such as laptop/notebook, mobile phone, microwave, digital camera and etc, are individually essential in daily life.

The society had relied on technology until the stage they forgotten their values. For example, human became less tolerant. In fact, expectations of human became high when something is not done in an efficient way. The other major problem is the social effect of technology. For example, portable music player has been push to the market vigorously. Many people are able to afford a music player. Therefore, as you can see in public places, many people place headphone in their ears. By doing this, human has become so selfish that they ignore everything that happens around them. Even if someone for example a nanny falls on her feet, nobody will care to even help her up. Such example has proves it all.

On the other hand, society has become less motivated due to the existent of technology. In this new era, task is always done with the advance technology. Low supervision or sometimes none at all, takes place in this kind of process. People had become extremely dependent on productivity. Technology made life much easier that we had taken full advantage of it. Being more efficient doesn’t define to the term laziness, but laziness is usually the motivator behind productivity. Human just want to get their job done fast so that they have more time to rest.

In the olden days, when the young people were bored and wanted to do something during their leisure time, they would do outdoor activities. In this generation, when teenagers claim that they are done with their homework and have nothing to do, they spend most of their time with technology devices, such as listening to songs with their portable music player, calling friends with mobile phone and gaming with video console. These have affected their daily life style and characteristic that some are suppose to be inside the classroom yet they are in cafeteria chatting, online gaming. Some are doing research but at the end they’re watching pornography and others are in Arcade. This thing have been known and seen by older, educator, parents and government as well, but yet still neglected or we can say also unseen.

In conclusion, technology has its advantages and disadvantages. But mankind had misused and had taken full advantage on it. For an instance, it has become a treat to all mankind such as workers got retrenched because they had been replaced by machines in order to increase productivity. Therefore, a deep study upon the use of technology has to be done in order to balance the relationship between technology and mankind. So that technology can be fully utilize without bringing chaos.

How people got infected with swine flue.

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:39:00 +0000

The actual reason of people getting swine flu. XD

Media pad and iPhonelite

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:35:00 +0000

Come summer, and world of smartphones seem to keep a watchful eye on every move of Apple Inc. While the world patiently awaits the launch of iPhone OS 3.0 this summer, news is rife about the launch of two iPhone devices – Mediapad and iPhonelite. It has almost become like a ritual now for Apple to launch an upgraded version of the iPhone ever summer, since the launch of the first iPhone in summer 2007.

Information sources reveal that Apple and Verizon (which supports CDMA technology) are in talks about launching a new device – one a light tablet-like device called iPhonelite; and another one is supposed to be heavy duty called the Media pad. While the iPhone lite version is said to be smaller and cheaper; the media pad version allows users to watch HD video, listen to music, and have fun with the help of touch screen.

Even though the news about this new iPhone device launch makes headlines, courtesy some leaked information passed on to BusinessWeek from Apple insiders; the authenticity of the devices launching this summer is yet to be ascertained.

There has been news about Apple’s meeting with Verizon about half a year ago about a Verizon CDMA iPhone in 2010. Many believe iPhonelite to be possibly the CDMA iPhone version in its initial stage. The other device Media pad allows users to view photos; users listen to music, and watch high-definition videos. The media pad is apparently smaller than Amazon's Kindle, although with a larger touchscreen.

Until now, AT&T was iPhone’s exclusive carrier and Verizon has always been the second option, primarily due to its CDMA background. Business analysts believe switching to CDMA would be expensive proposition for Apple iPhone. It would not only restrict Apple with a product exclusively suited to the North American market, but also curtail its business prospects.

The art of listening.

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:37:00 +0000

Listening is an art. It requires practice and it is not science. The mind is very important in the process of listening. But yet, the mind can go reckless if there is no time out. According to studies, a mind can only maintain 15 minutes of continuous concentration. This is where practice comes in. Research shows that human cannot concentrate for long hours. That’s is why during the process of learning, break is needed to rest our mind.

Listening is an unique art. If you capture this skill, you may receive messages in the form of verbal through one person which we call the “transmitter”. In this case, whoever listens we call it as the “receiver”. In a learning process, it is like making a call between two cell phones. There is so many cell phones along the street. But there is only one frequencies allow the phone to receive calls. When the right frequency is tuned, data transmitted from the 1^st phone is successful reaches the second party. So before you start to absorb new knowledge, make sure you are tuned to the right frequency.

To listen a verbal message better, paying attention is important. When your mind is away from the “transmitter”, while your eye is on him/her, concentration is not there. Do not assumes as there are many assumption to be made.

In a learning process, interruption is always there, and it cannot be avoid. But try to refrain from it.

Service for unlocking iPhone and iPod touch for RM40

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:22:00 +0000

I'm offering my service to those that in need.

Service for iPhone/iPod touch will be:

-Upgrade iPhone/iPod touch from 1st generation to 2nd generation.

-Unlock iPhone

Contact me whenever u need assistant.

waikin1991@gmail.com

Jail Breaking The iPod touch. (Modding)

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:02:00 +0000

In this section, I will teach you how to mod or so called jail break your iTouch. This is only for those with Expired warranty iPod touch owner. When you do this, your iPod touch is able to install and upgrade awsome applications and also its no longer an Apple unit, but your own unit.

To jailbreak or not to jailbreak

Jailbreaking is the techno-speak term for unauthorizing a device. Unauthorizing a device allows you to tinker with the source code, add code or completely start over with a device and install your own operating system. By jailbreaking the iTouch, this allows you to install third party applications or completely change how the device functions. Depending on how advanced you are with modding devices, you could completely change how the iTouch functions so it no longer is an Apple unit but your own.

Jailbreaking comes with a price. If you mess up or change too much, you could render your iTouch useless. Since once you mod the iTouch, you void the warranty and cannot get any help restoring it, it is essential you understand the risks before taking part in any sort of jailbreaking with the device. If you succeed in jailbreaking, however, you can take advantage of third party applications to your heart's content and can make your device to new levels of use.

How to jailbreak

Manual Jail Breaking

Automatic Jail Breaking

(This is a basic guide for jailbreaking the iTouch. Depending on the type of jailbreak you download, these instructions may vary or change, refer to the instructions that came with the download. When in doubt, follow those instructions over this tutorial. If you try and follow this one when instructions may have been included, you may ruin your iTouch.)

First, you need to identify what version iTouch you have. This tutorial will show you have to jailbreak the 1.1.2 version. If you have the 1.1.2, the first thing you have to do is downgrade to version 1.1.1. This can be done by downloading a patch at any given number of web sites. Once downgraded, you can begin jailbreaking your iTouch.

Open up Safari and navigate to jailbreakme.com. Scroll down the page, find the Install Appsnapp link and click on it. Give it time to download, and once finished, run the installer on the main screen. When the main screen refreshes, go to Tweaks followed by OktoPrep and finish that installation. Once that finishes, it will gear the iTouch up for a re-updated to version 1.1.2 firmware.

At this point, you can plug your iTouch into your computer and update it to 1.1.2 via iTunes. It should update like you normally would finish a firmware update. Once it completes, let the iTouch refresh itself and then exit iTunes. Open up the Task Manager and close all processes utilizing the Apple application.

From there, you have several options. You need to install a jailbreak version for 1.1.2. You can find this by doing a search in your favorite engine, tracking down the files and downloading them to your desktop. From there, run the Windows-based application for your iTouch. Before you go into the jailbreaking, make sure any settings you need to check are applied and then go on with it. Depending on what type of applications you may be installing, you may need to tweak the settings before you jailbreak.

Once the jailbreak finishes, it can take up to 10 minutes, your iTouch will restart itself, and you will be ready to install third party applications. You will find an installer icon on the iTouch desktop and from there; you can install what you will on the device. Now that your iTouch is jail broken, the possibilities of what you can do with the unit are endless.

After Modding

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1308094/ipod_touch_trick_amazing/?cd=40fdc57a64478c08d675985172f24dba00500001017869basic

I'm Gonna Miss Sudan, Africa.

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 21:17:00 +0000

As days goes by, its time for me to say bye bye. What I suppose to do has been done. Life here is not as easy as people think. People are just in their slumbers. This country-Africa, its seems like its been curse. Political issues rise everyday. Its not the same as in Malaysia. People here fight for their needs and shelter. Children are being left alone beside the streets like stray dogs without family. We always bring out the issue that states people in Africa are always hunger for food. Well, thats because not many people know the real life in here. Yes, not to deny that people here are hunger for food. But in Africa, people here are kind enough to offer u a loaf of bread. I wouldn't what life is outside Sudan, but I hope to explore that in the future. Even though life is tough here, yet people are still friendly. People around the streets are very friendly till a stage that you can make friends in just a seconds. Not like in Malaysia, people just walk their individual ways, heading to their own destination. Its totally different from Malaysia. Here, we can preach the gospel openly. We can just preach the gospel to the crowd, like what Jesus did. People will start asking question, and expect to get answers. In Malaysia, we cant do that. Therefore, I would like to say that middle east is a strategic place to preach the gospel and to do evangelism. But yet, everything there's a price to pay. Living a Christianity life in a muslim country is not easy. You would never know one day, people will just come up to you with a gun on your head.

Sudan would be a challenging place for me. Its a good experience in terms of physical and spiritual. I would like to share about my experience and stories if I had sufficient time. People shared testimony with me that would probably change my mindset.

So long Sudan. I will be back. If its mean to be, its meant to be. XD

E71 vs iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:20:00 +0000

First and formost i'm doing this post out of boredom. And it seems that one of my friend is trying to decide whether to buy an E71 or iPhone.

Voice quality
E71, by far. This is the iPhone's primary achilles heel, the voice quality is brittle and irritating, to the point that I cannot listen to it for any length of time. Worse, people frequently have a hard time understanding me. The phone simply needs EQ and a mic sensitivity adjustment, preferably exposed to the user (in some idiot-proof way). In contrast, the E71 has probably the best voice quality of any mobile I've used (and I've used quite a few). At least on par with the best. I have no problem listening to the other party for significant lengths of time, and I have yet to encounter irritating sound, even from an iPhone on the other end.
Responsiveness
E71. iPhone 2.0 came with a lot of new features, but also what comes across as a fair bit of heft. Everything is slower, ranging from just a little in many instances to quite a lot in a few (the keyboard is VERY slow now, almost without exception). Even the "just a little slower" instances are significant, though, because of the nature of the UI. If you touch a button and can't feel a response, the way you know it worked is because it does what you told it immediately. Apple has broken that in iPhone 2.0 and thus the gorgeous UI feels sluggish and buggy. Again, the E71 is a marked contrast, being one of the most responsive phones I've used and by far the most responsive S60 Nokia I've ever seen.
Web
iPhone. The iPhone browser is beautiful, very easy to use, and its understanding of column layouts and zooming is excellent. Touch dragging, rubber banding, etc. all contribute to a fabulous user experience. The E71 browser is based around the same engine (though probably a little older), but without the touch UI it just isn't the same thing. Having to "fly" the cursor around just sucks.
Email
iPhone, by a little. iPhone's email UI is far superior to the E71 native or Mail for Exchange UIs. However, typing an email on the iPhone is less of a win, and I probably prefer the E71 there (tough choice). The E71's responsiveness is a win here, so iPhone wins by only a little.
Wi-Fi
iPhone. It just works. E71 has the bass-ackwards Access Point system which sucked five years ago and is now totally unacceptable. S60 should be ashamed. Having said that, the 3/3.5G connectivity on E71 is so good, I basically don't use Wi-Fi at all. One ubiquitous data pipe FTW!
Cellular/3G data
E71. 3/3.5G data is fast and responsive on the E71, and the general responsiveness of the device adds to that impression. I have the original iPhone, so I haven't spent a lot of time using the 3G version, but enough to say that I don't find it as reliable and responsive as the E71. Plus the sluggish iPhone UI detracts from the whole experience. Another thing I notice: I always have data on E71, when I may not even have signal on iPhone. Both are on AT&T.
Maps
E71, by far. Strange, huh? I love the iPhone Google Maps app, don't get me wrong, Touching and pinching and all. And Nokia Maps is a suck-fest to put it kindly. But, much to my surprise, Google Maps on the E71 is fantastic! The phone's GPS is extremely responsive and accurate and the Google Maps app ties into it perfectly. Zooming in and out is very fast (just hit 1 or 3) and much more usable while driving (did I say that?) than iPhone's. Perhaps because of the speedy 3G data, the search function seems blazing fast, and very accurate.
Home Screen
E71. It's customizable, with fast access to common features, email summary, broken out "recents" like voicemail, SMS, and missed calls, etc. iPhone is nice, but I get to things I need more quickly on E71.
Contacts
A tossup. iPhone's UI is prettier and easier to manage, by far. Adding contact info is very obvious. E71's UI is more bare-bones and editing contacts is somewhat painful. However, contact search is SO MUCH BETTER on E71. iPhone's search is dreadfully slow, mostly because it takes 5-10 seconds for the keyboard to function. E71's is immediate, and search is available full-time, you don't have to do anything for it to come up. MobileMe syncing is nice on iPhone, though. I have E71 syncing to my MacBook Pro and to Ovi (ovi.com), and it works fine, but it's not as "invisible" as MobileMe, for better or worse.
Calendar
E71, by a little. iPhone is prettier and easier to look at, but otherwise is somewhat sucky. I can create/find/edit meetings and reminders on E71 much more quickly. Defaults are better on E71 too. Again, MobileMe is nice on iPhone.
Typing
A tossup. I type faster on the iPhone, even though its keyboard isn't real. However, sometimes it takes so long for the keyboard to function that I would have been done already on the E71. E71 is fast and consistent, and then there is that thing of having real keys. So it's hard to pick a winner here. If iPhone was as responsive as the E71, it would win hands down.
Local connectivity
E71, by far. Bluetooth 2.0 w/ EDR and a pile of profiles. iPhone supports mono Bluetooth headsets and that's it (um, Apple?).
Tethering
E71, by far. iPhone doesn't tether. Thanks, Apple. E71's excellent 3/3.5G data speed makes this very attractive.
SMS
iPhone's chat-style SMS interface is truly brilliant. It's SO much better than the traditional one-message-at-a-time interface. MUCH better. Nokia, please copy this, right now. :)
Form factor
A tossup. iPhone is a great fit-in-your-pocket size, has a gorgeous screen, feels good to hold, etc. E71 fits even better, feels equally good to me (except for touching the screen of course, since you don't do that), but has a much smaller screen.
In-call features (e.g. mute)
iPhone. Nokia loves to bury these, grrrrr. iPhone wins here. iPhone conferencing works well (if you can stand the voice quality to begin with). In-call keypad is nice, Nokia still keeps the in-call keypress backlog in a dial bubble, which is annoying.
Camera
E71. 3.2MP gives you a lot more blurry pixels than iPhone's 2.0. But the real win here is video, on both sides of the phone! iPhone 3G should've had video. Bleh. E71 wins. Video also means apps like Qik which is very cool IMO.
UPDATED
turns out you have to autofocus the camera manually! Press the '2' button and it will focus, THEN take your pic! Much less blurry!
Media
iPhone, by far. Ummm, ok the Nokia sucks at media. Really, really sucks. iPhone is the best iPod ever (really, not just b/c Steve says so). E71 is pathetic in this category, sorry. iPhone's screen and touch UI just make the difference even more glaring. No contest. iPhone also excels at displaying photos, even if it can't take a decent one on its own.
Applications
iPhone. The iPhone SDK is a joy, lots of good applications exist, they blow away the equivalents on S60 in most cases (Twitter client, for example). Some S60/E71 apps are outstanding (Google Maps), but most are not. The Apple/iTunes ecosystem is very good for applications.
Games
iPhone, by far. Yeah... the iPhone is a standout game platform. Accelerometers plus beautiful 2D plus beautiful 3D plus great SDK => lots of fun games, for cheap. Great game device.
VoIP
E71. iPhone doesn't have it, and won't have it, given the current SDK restrictions. No background apps => no listening for incoming SIP calls. E71 VoIP works well, once configured, but configuring it does suck quite a bit.
Conclusion
Weh.. pilih satu jer la.. Review also do for u already lor. You not my dai gar jeh also wont do for u ler. So hard to talk about it on MSN k. XD well.. Good luck to u..

Footprints In The Sand

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:32:00 +0000

There was a night, I felt into deep sleep. I dreamed walking with Jesus on the beach. My life experience just went through the blue skies. There will be two pairs of footprints every sight on the beach. One belongs to me, and one belongs to Jesus. And so, recently I found that the beach had only left one pair of foot print. When I saw that happened, I eventually recalls the time when I am facing difficulties. The vision of only a pair of footprint will always flashed in my mind.

I was greatly troubled and asked Jesus:

When I agreed to accept You and followed You, You will always be by my side walking the path way of life together with me. Why, whenever I'm facing difficulties or had obstacles in my life, You will leave me. Why when the time I need You, You will leave me behind?

Jesus answered:

My Dear child, I love You, I will never forsake you. I will never leave you. When you are in difficult times, you will only see a pair of footprints. That is because.............

I'm carrying you behind my back.

Doing God's work in Sudan, Africa

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 11:20:00 +0000

Where should i start? Anyways, it's already been a week in Sudan. Living a life in Sudan is challenging. That was what Paul said. To me, its a good experience to me. I would say that its a good investment for this trip. I wouldn't be in this kinda place if it wasn't shooting a documentary video. But God had call me to do His work to show others what had he done in such a place so called "2nd most unstable country in the world"

To shoot a documentary video in Sudan is a tough thing to do. Why would i say so? For your information, in this place, you cant shoot video and take photo's freely like in other country. When me and my partner was doing our work, a group of people came up to us and tried to threaten us. But anyways, God had truly protect us.

We stayed in one of a missionary's place. Accommodation and food were provided. We didn't know much about the culture in Sudan. For example, anytime u step out of the house, u have to wear a long pants and etc, etc.

But the good thing is, they have WiFi here. XD I will be uploading some of the pictures in Sudan. As many complain that I'm always writing essays. Well, here you are.

The toilet.

College compound in Sudan.

Classes are being held.

A small church to share God's word in college.

Reviews on iPhone (Disadvantages)

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:25:00 +0000

Much rumored Apple iPhone was finally unveiled by Steve Jobs at MacWorld yesterday. It impressed lot of people and Wall street too. But slowly the buzz is fading out and people(including me) are talking about the disadvantages of it. Since their announcement, I have been talking to my friend Paul Koh on the pros and cons of the iPhone. Here are the excerpts from our conversation:

Disadvantages of Iphone 3g.

- No video calls over the 3G network

- The handset wobbles on hard even surfaces

- There are a number of messaging downers

- Camera has no auto focus, nor video recording… nor any settings at all

- Safari browser doesn't support Flash and Java, doesn't have a download manager

- Bluetooth support limited to headset use only (no A2DP or file transfers)

- No office document editor

- No copy/paste functionality

- You cannot sync Notes and TO-DOs

- No memory card slot (but knowing Apple there will never be one)

* No removable battery. If the battery is broken, you send the phone to Apple instead of they sending you the battery. So no problem. Its definitely a disadvantage for the people who use a phone lot and rely on the extra battery. But how many people are using extra batteries for their mobile phones? Its very small amount. So I don’t think its a big deal.

What do you think? I know most of you disagree with me. If you are, please prove me that I am wrong. I am more happy to hear that I am wrong, cause I love this phone.

Review on Nokia E66

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 06:51:00 +0000

The Nokia E66 is a fine business phone, and a great, small alternative for users who want a slick design inside and out, paired with loads of great features. The phone has great options for business users, including Exchange server support and a robust Office suite, though not everything is as easy to use as it might be on a carrier-supported phone, and we found ourselves frequently searching for server settings, additional apps and instructions, all to get the phone working on this country's most popular carrier. Once all the settings were in place, we were continually surprised by how feature-rich and powerful this device can be.

Pros: Solid, classy design. Great keys. Live, while-you-type searching for contacts. Great Web browser.
Cons: Many features cost extra, like navigation and Quickoffice. Networking seemed slow in our tests. Could have more multimedia features, like the Nseries.

Philip Berne takes a classy slider with business e-mail capabilities and AT&T 3G network support for a spin, in our in-depth Nokia E66 review.

Review summary of the Nokia E66:
Scoreboard » Features » Side-by-side » Gallery »
Nokia E66 The Nokia E66 is a fine business phone, and a great, small alternative for users who want a slick design inside and out, paired with loads of great features. The phone has great options for business users, including Exchange server support and a robust Office suite, though not everything is as easy to use as it might be on a carrier-supported phone, and we found ourselves frequently searching for server settings, additional apps and instructions, all to get the phone working on this country's most popular carrier. Once all the settings were in place, we were continually surprised by how feature-rich and powerful this device can be. A little smoothing for U.S. buyers and a great unlocked price would make this a very compelling phone indeed. Release: July 2008. Price: $500.
Pros: Solid, classy design. Great keys. Live, while-you-type searching for contacts. Great Web browser.
Cons: Many features cost extra, like navigation and Quickoffice. Networking seemed slow in our tests. Could have more multimedia features, like the Nseries.
Poor

Mediocre

72%
GOOD

Very good

Excellent
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Full review of the Nokia E66:
Design - Very good

The Nokia E66 is a very classy business slider. It has a tight feel to its shell, and it slides open with a smooth click. It doesn't have the seamlessness of a Samsung slider like the Helio Mysto, or even the Motorola Z6, and it isn't a small phone, but we liked the usability that the extra width added, and even the extra weight only served to make it feel solid. Besides the fantastic, brightly colored screen, the phone also features a very nice, comfortable keypad that was easy for typing, though it was only a numeric 12-key affair.

The interface is a re-skinned Symbian S60 design, so be prepared to dig through folders and enigmatic icons. The phone features a couple new design tricks, including an accelerometer that redraws the screen in portrait or landscape mode, depending on how the device is held. We didn't find this feature to be very useful, as it seemed like more of a parity update to compete with the Apple iPhone and Windows Mobile devices. More helpful was the fresh assortment of dedicated keys around the four-way button. Instead of the standard Symbian nonsense (check out the Nokia E65's keys for example), Nokia has wisely stuck with easily-recognized icons, including a Home key for the main menu, e-mail, address book and calendar.

Calling - Very good

Calls on the Nokia E66 sounded good, though we had some trouble with background noise on the busy streets outside our New York office. Indoors, however, the phone sounded fairly clean, and callers had no trouble understanding us. The phone has some nice address book features. We used the Nokia PC suite to synchronize with our Outlook Contacts, though the phone can also handle Exchange servers for e-mail, contacts and calendar entries. We especially liked being able to type a name from the home screen, from which the phone started narrowing a list of possible matches live, as we typed. This is our favorite way to handle contacts.

For calling features, Nokia once again stumbles on voice recognition. Though the Nokia E66 has a dedicated voice dialing button on the side, the speaker-independent voice dialing never once recognized our requests, a problem we've had with other Nokia devices in the past. Otherwise, conference calling worked well, and we had no trouble creating a four-way call from the phone. Bluetooth paired quickly with our headsets. The phone also features a speakerphone that is nice and clear, but not as pleasingly loud as the one we saw recently on the Nokia N78.

Messaging - Very good

The "E" in Nokia's Eseries stands for business (huh?), so the key selling point for the Nokia E66 might be the business-class e-mail apps. We had some trouble getting the Nokia Mail for Exchange program to work on our early-release unit, but we had no problems with the other e-mail features. The phone loaded our Gmail account automatically, and even defaulted to IMAP for Gmail, which we prefer. We even liked typing on the Nokia E66's soft touch keys. The keypad has a grippy surface that made tapping a breeze, and the keys were wide and nicely spaced for longer messaging sessions.

Unfortunately, like most Nokia unlocked phones we've seen, the E66 doesn't come with any pre-loaded instant messaging clients. Business users might not be as inclined towards IM, but at least an MSN client would have been nice. Even the useful Yahoo!Go program lacks access to Yahoo's IM service.

Scheduling and productivity - Very good

With Exchange ActiveSync support and some good synchronization software, the Nokia E66 is a real scheduling powerhouse. The calendar app is clean and attractive, with appointments that are easy to read quickly on the go. It can't do everything that Windows Mobile can, like inviting attendees to appointments (a feature we use often), but it looks better than most other scheduling apps on business smartphones today. For productivity, the Nokia E66 ships with Quickoffice for reading and creating office documents, including simple presentations, on the road. Unfortunately, our copy came unlicensed, so it seems like Nokia might want business users to fork over $70 or so for licensing fees, which is a shame.

Multimedia - Good

The Nokia E66 doesn't get the full multimedia treatment we saw on the Nokia N78, and we wonder why not? The changes would be simple. We would like to see a 3.5mm headphone jack instead of the E66's 2.5mm port. Stereo speakers would give the speakerphone a boost, as well as the music playback. Also, a more focused multimedia menu would mean quick access to the music player and other useful multimedia apps. The phone still packs an impressive music player, with customizable EQ settings and playlists that were easy to create. But these features seem too hidden, which is a shame because certainly the Apple iPhone has proven that business users want good music and video on their portable, as well. Still, the phone has support for stereo Bluetooth and comes packaged with a 2GB microSD card, so for a phone with business on the mind, it's still humming a tune.

Web Browsing - Very good

The Symbian S60 browser that Nokia uses with their high-end phone is one of the best on the market. We weren't blown away by the page loading speeds, even over the HSDPA network, but pages still loaded much faster than they would have over an EDGE connection. Once pages were loaded, the browser handled them with aplomb. Layout was nearly flawless in every page we checked, and the browser scrolled through long pages quickly, using the app's mini map as a guide. Going back and forth through the browser history was also a cinch with the slick-looking page snapshots that the browser keeps in memory.

Camera - Mediocre

The Nokia E66 uses a 3.2-megapixel sensor on its camera, with an auto focus lens, but images were still pretty lousy. Portraits lacked detail, especially around the edges. Lighting was problematic as well, and the camera couldn't manage a well-lit photograph even in our studio light box. There was a nice selection of options for sending and printing images, but we can't imagine wanting to pass these pictures along.

Navigation - Very good

The GPS sensor on the Nokia E66 was very sensitive, and found us in only a minute or so on the streets of Manhattan. Unfortunately, navigation and voice guidance cost extra on Nokia's unlocked devices, but Nokia Maps 2.0 is still a nice-looking piece of software. Browsing the point of interest database, we realized that someone should tell Nokia that the 2nd Avenue Deli hasn't been on 2nd avenue for years, but we're nitpicky New Yorkers, so this is more of a local grudge. In any case, Nokia Maps is still one of the smoothest, best looking navigation programs currently shipping on cell phones.

Laptop sidekick - Very good

It was difficult to find the correct settings for logging onto AT&T's network with the Nokia E66 as a tethered modem, but with some proper digging, we managed to get the feature working properly. Once our settings were customized, logging on was very easy with Nokia's One Touch Access software. Download speeds weren't so impressive. Even though the phone was surfing AT&T's 3G HSDPA network, we never managed to surpass 500Kbps downloads, and our speeds were usually about half that in our tests. This is still faster than EDGE and dial-up, and we're not ready to blame the phone over AT&T's network. Still, we've seen much faster.

Modding and Debranding Sony Ericsson Phone

noreply@blogger.com (Wystan) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:37:00 +0000

People is always asking how to modd their phones. Improve sound and/or camera, better menus, sounds etc. There are pages specialized in this stuff, but most of them are filled with information and you get lost easily.

I will try to help doing this mini-tuto. We will use a software called "Far Manager ver. 1.07"
Far Manager has a DOS-like GUI, so it's very familiar to most of us.

FM has two windows. Left for mobile files, Right for PC files. You select PC files and copy them to mobile. Pretty simple.

Let's start:
-Do a full battery charge.
-Do your files and/or contacts backup.
-Removing SIM and/or memory stick is not necessary, but it you want to feel safe, do it.

1. You need to install USB flash drivers. There are two ways:
First, go to sonyericsson homepage, then Support/Update service and download its software (SEUS). Once installed, you will have USB flash drivers.
Second, follow this from The Griffin tutorial http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1267845 :

Go into the directory in which you extract the file "setool2lite", and go into the "drivers" folder, there you will find another folder called "usb_flash_driver". Go into that and launch the installer that is contained in it, proceed as you read, nothing major will happen this is just a SE USB Flash driver for your phone.

Once the installation is done proceed to the next step

Go back to the directory in which you extracted "setool2lite" and launch the application "setool2lt.exe"

2. Now we will need to know what CID and DB is our phone. With SETool opened, select your model, then click on "Identify". It will ask to connect the phone while pressing "C" button.
Turn off your phone, remove battery for two seconds, put it again, connect your USB cable to PC, then to your phone while pressing "C" button.

Check the line: FLASH CID detected:
That's your CID.
To know DB, check the next list:

Code:

DB1000: T610, T630, T300, T310, T306, T316, P800, P900, P910 DB2000 [Marita full]: K608, K600, M600, P990, V600, V800, W900 W950, Z800, Z1010 DB2010* [Marita compact]: D750, J300, K300, K310, K500, K510, K700, K750, S700, W300, W550, W600, W700, W800, W810, Z520, Z525, Z530, Z550 DB2011: K300 DB2012: K320, W200, W300, Z550, W810, K310, K510 DB2020: K610, K790, K800, V630, W830, W850, W710, W880, Z610, Z710, K810 PNX5230: Z310 DB3150: K850, Z750, W910, W960

We will work with DB2020 phones. You will notice these are the kinda new ones.
(Note: PNX5230 and DB3150 are not customizable at this time with any method)

3. Open Far Manager. You will see the first image in this post. Do Alt+F1 and a new menu will appear. If your phone is DB2020, select SEFP.
Another menu will appear. Select DCU-60, 921600 and your phone CID as it shows. In this case, as my K790 is CID52, I selected db2020 cid52.

4. Click "Enter the Matrix". It will ask you to connect it while pressing "C" button, like SETool lite. Do it. Do not forget to remove battery and reinsert it before doing this.

5. After this, you will see next screen, so you're ready to get into your phone system. Press FS and wait.

6. Next screen may take a while, so don't worry.

7. Now we are into system. At your right you'll see the directories. What is for each one? I post the routes where is located most stuff we use:

Quote:

Change menu icons:
tpa/preset/system/menu
Copy the icons with their menu.ml (overwrite original menu.ml)

Change Walkman skin:
tpa/system/multimedia/mp

Change Acoustics:
ifs\settings\acoustic
Improve phone sound.

Add clipart:
tpa/preset/system/multimedia/pe/fun layer
Add some new images to your photos.

Replace Cam Drivers:
ifs\settings\camera
Improve quality of photos and/or video.

Change layout:
tpa/system/layout/
Remove operator logo, bars, change hour and date ubication.

Change SMS Sounds:
tpa\preset\system\sound
messagealert1.mp3
messagealert2.mp3
messagealert3.mp3
messagealert4.mp3
messagealert5.mp3
messagealert6.mp3
messageclick.mid

Change Shutdown Sound:
tpa\preset\system\settings
SHUTDOWN_SOUND_SEMC.mp3

Add Extra Flash Menus:
tpa\preset\system\desktop\flash

If your flash menus are blocked:
tpa/preset/custom/
Copy customize_upgrade.xml on this route.

Remove Locked Java Files:
tpa\preset\system\ams
tpa\preset\default\java

Remove Locked Music/Pictures:
tpa\user\audio
tpa\user\audio\Ringtones
tpa\user\image

Replace Audio Drivers:
ifs\settings\acoustic

Replace Cam Drivers:
ifs\settings\camera

Splash
tpa/preset/system/settings
Splash file is the one that appears right after turning on your phone (SE logo)
If you want to change it, your image must be .png and named SPLASH with no extension.

tpa/preset/system/settings/SHUTDOWN_IMAGE_SEMC
Image that appear on Shutdown. It's a GIF, so upload it but without extension and with same name as shown

tpa/preset/system/settings/STARTUP_IMAGE_SEMC
Same, but in Startup.

a) To expand SMS capacity:

1. Go to /ifs/settings/messaging/
2. Select pref_store.txt and press F4 (edit)
3. Change "/smsdata" for "/tpa"
4. Save changes
5. Exit Far pressing " .. " until "Do you wish to shutdown CSFSloader". Then click Yes
6. Remove battery, reinsert it and turn on your phone

b) Remove camera sound::
Go to tpa/preset/system/sound and delete camerashutter.3gp file
and to delete autofocus sound delete camerafocus.3gp file.

c) Chaneg default SMS sounds:
tpa/preset/system/sound
Delete files and upload the new ones in same format and name. (messagealert1,messagealert2....)

d) Delete low battery sound:
Go to tpa/preset/system/sound/lowbattery.mid y substitute the file with same name, but with no size (empty, 0 kb).

e) Change shutdown sound:
Go to tpa/preset/system/settings
Copy any mp3 as SHUTDOWN_SOUND_SEMC.mp3

f) Increase MMS size:
This size is regulated by carrier.
Edit this file: tpa/preset/custom/customize.xml
Add this on it

4000

Then copy it again in same route and do a Master Reset.

g) Change message sent sound:
Name a .mid of your choice as notification.mid and copy it to: tpa/preset/system/sound

To copy your files you must find them on right side, then select with right-click (yellow) and transfer them to left side on the ubication you choose.

You can't backup files to your PC in DB2020, so you will need to find them while you look for modds.
There are many of them, so I won't post because everyone has their needs.
You can look in Topsony, Se-nse, Esato, Clubsonyericsson, just to name a few ones.

All of this is for DB2020 phones. If your model is another db, or if it fails to connect, choose "just da flasher" instead SEFP (right after Alt+F1). It's similar to connect, so you won't find any problems. If so, we are here to help.

Remember:
After every unplug, remove battery two seconds then reinsert it. If not, you phone won't start or won't be recognized by PC.

I don't like to provide direct links, so I will show you where are located and what files to download.
Go to 4shared.com
Install this:
keyword: Far Manager
file: Far Manager - db2020 supported.rar

With this file, open it, extract "jdflasher" folder, and copy it to Plugins folder in the first Far Manager you installed above.
keyword: JDflasher
file: far_manager_v1.7_jdflasher.rar

Any question or comment is well received.
Just read carefully first.

Any question please e-mail me at waikin1991@gmail.com

Good luck!