I’ve been using my new Samsung Galaxy S4 for quite awhile now and it’s time for me to just write down on some of my verdicts on the phone. So for this post, I’ll just start off with the Galaxy S4 camera. A feature which almost ALL of the smartphone users will play with once they got their brand new phones haha.

While the Samsung Galaxy S4 is quite impressive in its looks, shape and lighter weight, it packs an even better camera than the S3 with a 13-megapixel camera on the S4. The great HD screen on the Galaxy S4 fully compliments the camera output from the phone. It also packs with many different features within the stock camera on the Galaxy S4 as well. One of the many features is called Dual Shot where now you are able to photos from the back camera AND front camera at the same time. This helps when you’re taking a group photo but you also want to be inside. Apart from that, it’s also a useful tool for Youtube Vloggers where they vlog on-the-go, showing places they’re visiting while having a small column with his/her face talking to the front camera.

So, imagine that I was actually taking a photo on my computer screen, but I’m also taking a photo of myself using the front camera.

There are many more camera features such as Drama, Sound & Shot, Best Face, Best Photo, Beauty Face, Animated Photo and so on. They are all pretty nifty features I’d say, and I’ll show you some example pictures below.

If you don’t already know, it’s actually quite difficult capturing a photo of a dog running around / hyperactive. My dog is one of them. I took this shot of my dog with Best Photo and it turned out pretty well la. Out of the other shots that were taken, this was the one that was decent and my dog was looking at the camera. Mind you, he actually jumped up to me after the shot was finished (phew).

Now this… was a pretty interesting one. You can actually shoot GIF animated photos with the Animated Photo feature on your Galaxy S4. This was a random test shot that my friend played with during one of my friend’s birthday party. It was pretty dark at the place so the photo didn’t turn out that well but I guess I just wanted to show you that those GIF images you see on Tumblr site is now possible with S4

The Galaxy S4 camera is great and images are pretty sharp during the day or with sufficient light source, but frankly speaking the low light performance on the Galaxy S4 camera is still somewhat below par though.

This was a random self-shot at a well-litted area full of sunlight. The image came out pretty sharp.

This was taken during one of the shoots for Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Amber Brown video, you can check it out HERE. With decent-ish lighting in the restaurant, it looks decent as well.

However… with a low light environment, it suffers quite a bit. This picture below was taken when I was helping Hannah Tan with some video stuff up in Genting One World Hotel. We took a photo along the hotel room corridor and it turned out like this.

Bottomline is… the camera on Samsung Galaxy S4 is pretty decent if you’re lazy to bring out your DSLR everywhere. It’s pretty decent during daylight or with sufficient amount of lightsource. It’s been treating me well so far, I got the pictures that I needed. I guess it didn’t really matter since these days people are so used to putting on filters and edit in photo editing app before posting online haha. Oh did I mention, the Galaxy S4 camera also has a built-in filters while taking photos as well. Many didn’t notice that but you just have to click on the bottom arrow during camera mode (there you go, S4 tips 101 haha).

adidas launched its adiPure 360 training shoe last month. The adiPure 360 is a multi-directional and multi-purpose training shoe and they made it available for both men’s and women’s version.

The adiPure 360 is designed to let your feet move as nature intended, while helping you get the most out of your workout. adidas makes claims that the shoes help strengthen, sounding a bit like the shaping fitness shoes. A description of the adiPure 360 training shoe says it builds natural strength, agility and balance. The shoes are designed to make muscles work harder during exercise.

This pair of trainers is made for the gym. The shoes are constructed using super light and flexible materials and supports multidirectional movement. An anatomically designed shoe provides comfort and support. Its minimalism and flexibility makes it a very adequate running shoe though.

The shoes look great too, and comes in different colour combinations as well. Definitely one to buy if you’re a gym goer, very comfortable as it wraps around your leg with the cushion but still leaves space for comfort to prevent tightness.

You can check out the adiPure 360 for both men and women at the adidas Sports Performance Concept Stores in Pavilion, KLCC, Empire Subang, and The Gardens. Retail price of the shoes is only RM350, check it out for yourselves at participating outlets!

Samsung made a bold attempt here to distinguish itself from the numerous slabs of black, brick-like and boring smartphones in the market. The Galaxy S3 features a curved display for easy navigation while keeping the front very minimalistic, with only a home button flanked with a Menu and Back button. Samsung marketed this phone as “designed for humans” (you don’t say?!). The Samsung Galaxy S3 features a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED 1280 X 720 display which is pretty good! And all the other new features such as Smart Stay, S Voice, S Beam, and many more… it just makes the Samsung Galaxy S3 a strong contender against the other high end smartphones.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is definitely a great phone, and will win the hearts of previous Galaxy S owners, but I would suggest that you take your time, read more reviews, and decide for yourself.

I’m not much of a writer, so can you spare 2-3 minutes of your time to watch the video below to see what have I gotta say and love about the phone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSfPq_Uq4Tg

Cheers mate!

Amazing Everyday.

The Nokia Lumia 800 is the first child of the marriage of Nokia & Microsoft – the first true Windows Phone. Nokia Malaysia was kind enough to pass me a unit to try it out and what have I gotta say?

Simply Amazing.

Nokia Lumia 800 is a stylish and sleek smartphone with an easy-to-use & attractive user interface. It utilises ClearBlack display whose super bright display makes it perfect for people on the move. The AMOLED screen on the Lumia 800 is very nice to look at. It may not go as bright as S-LCD equivalents, but the colours are deep and lustrous and blacks are truly black.

It’s an amazing smartphone for social media addicts especially as it comes pre-loaded with Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms where you can integrate your phonebook contacts with their social media profiles and check their updates right from it. GPS is also available out of the box as its Nokia Maps is perfectly made for people who often gets lost in their way to a certain destination haha. It also has an extensive app library in the name of Windows Marketplace. Although not as extensive as Apple Store or Android Marketplace, they’re surely on their way there. Microsoft Office is also pre-installed in every Nokia Lumia 800 and it makes it convenient for people to check their documents/presentation slides/excel sheets/etc.

I’ve found the battery life to be no more than adequate. Even with no usage at all during the day, apart from being left on standby, I’ve seen the battery charge drop from 100% in the morning to 30% before the night ends. Some phone calls, web surfing and a few texts in the course of a day plus use of email account and social media updates have seen it drop down to 15% by early evening. But fret not, as I heard that Nokia came out with new firmware to help extend the battery life of the Lumia 800 (which I haven’t updated yet).

The Lumia has a well specified camera with 8 megapixel resolution via a Carl Zeiss lens and dual LED flash. It is also capable of shooting 720p videos. In common with other Windows Phone devices, the Lumia has a ‘touch to focus and shoot’ facility- tapping the subject on the screen can cause the focus to centre and then expose the shot automatically. Alternatively a half press on the camera button sets the focus and a full press takes the shot. My verdict for the camera? It shoots good daylight photos with natural colours (which is awesome), but in low light and macro shots, it definitely need more improvements as the camera from other major flagship phones out there definitely beat down the camera quality output from this Lumia 800.

Overall, the experience from the Nokia Lumia 800 is something worth holding onto. The Windows operating system itself is so engaging and enabling. This phone does pretty much everything you’d expect from a smartphone and more and it isn’t overly expensive either. It isn’t the lightest handset out there but its smooth curves make it a joy to hold. Yes, the phone has bearable imperfections but that’s how technology works anyway because you can’t have the perfect device otherwise there won’t be any upcoming better devices in future. That’s why Nokia is constantly providing support and pushing out fixes and updates.

Of course you may be too comfortable with your current iOS / Android platform, and I know that a change is sometimes too difficult to be made due to various factors. However if you don’t try to step out of your comfort zone, what would be your compasses towards future growth?

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Here are some of my peers’ feedback regarding the Nokia Lumia 800: