T3 Singapore August Ebook

August 2008 S$5.90 (with GST)

SINGAPORE

AUGUST 2008

The Gadget Magazine

New-gen camphones The gadget magazine

5 megapixel mobiles shoot to thrill

W IN 3 Lexm !

issue 33

a X4650rk Printers

COLOUR IMPRESS WITH

A PUBLICATION

Toshiba’s new Centrino 2 Core Duo notebooks do a lot more with style!

Real-life Gran Turismo Melissa Faith Yeo BMW 130i

ISSUE 33 WWW.T3MAG.COM.SG MICA (P) 101/10/2007

contents august 2008

www.t3mag.com.sg

ON THE COVER 10

80 30 92

20 Speak & Bespoken to

Have your phone just the way you like it

90 Jet-Skiing Antics

72

Get wet, get wild, get a jet-ski, we tell you how!

Sassy Toshy Toshiba polishes up the shine with their newest notebooks Pixel-packing mega-mobiles Real-life Gran Turismo Four cars; one road; no joypads Melissa Faith Yeo Ex-T3 coverbabe talks about tech and getting her hands on a Wii Booming baby Bimmer BMW’s littlest hatch packs 3 litres of torquey power Lexmark printer giveaway There’s 3 Wi-Fi printing wonders to be won

SELECT 10 16 18 21 22

Berry nice Ten reasons to get your hands on the Blackberry Bold McGregor on a bike!

Exclusive: Ewan McG on his motorcycle design for Triumph Lightest Trainers Ever It’s Nike Lighter-than-Air! Watch the Blackbirdy Plane to see why this watch rocks Chocks away!

Gravity-defying RC gizmos

The essentials 50 Spend

Your latest injection of pleasureboosting spendorphins

FEATURES

70 The great outdoors

You a hiker? This, you like-a!

90 Making a Splash

Go for a wet n wild ride with T3

The guide

95 Simply the best of everything

REGULARS 6� 88� 72� 108�

Ed’s Letter Felicitations Subscriptions Solicitations Competitions Tribulations Standby Terminations

64 the future: coming soon

2008’s hottest incoming tech. PLUS! the wii 2 and more kit so new, it doesn’t exist yet AUGUST 2008 T3.COM

contents august 2008

www.t3mag.com.sg

reviews

52 Asus P320 54 Audio-Technica ATH-ES7 51 DViCO TViX M-700A 55 HTC Touch Diamond 52 LG KF700 48 LG Scarlet 42LG60FR 55 Samsung OMNIA 54 Samsung SyncMaster T220 50 Sonic Gear Sonic Space DA-700E

68 The PSP reborn

Sony’s handheld comes out of its shell

22 Aces high

remote control units out!

Group Tests (A-Z)

Big Test: Camera phones 58 LG Secret KF750 66 Motorola MOTOZINE ZN5 64 Nokia 6220 Classic 60 Samsung SGH-G810 62 Sony Ericsson C902i Living with…

68 Sony PSP Slim and Lite

Test Drive 92 BMW 130 i This month’s big games 73 Alone In The Dark; Dracula: Origin; Get Cookin’; Racing Driver: Grid; Super Smash Bros Brawl 77 Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures 75 Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot 76 Race Driver: GRID 74 Wii Fit

56 Cam-phone big night out

The cream of the New camera-phone crop gets the Big Test treatment

118 Hit the the road

supercars of gt5 compared to the real thing

73 fight, fight, fight

Cover Credits Photography: Kenneth Choo / www. kennethchoo.com Stylist: Kovit Ang / Xerofive concept Hair & Makeup: Cherlynn Koh using colours from RMK Model: Lucie V/iModels International Exclusive wardrobe from Jayson Brunsdon

nintendo’s finest pummel each other!

AUGUST 2008 T3.COM

team www.t3mag.com.sg

After our outdoor misadventures during last issue’s photoshoot, it was time to enjoy some cooling a/c comfort back in photographer Kenneth’s studio, and it also let us conceptualize a photoshoot that’s a little more, erm, revealing. This month we’ve once again chosen two models to photograph - Lucie V for the cover and the lanky Sara K for our editorial feature on the latest 5 megapixel camera phones. In fact, as we felt that Lucie was very photogenic, we’ve scheduled her to appear in the September issue of T3 - this time for an editorial spread. (and we hope it’ll be sizzling) From these candid photos, you can tell that: 1. Sara is very tall, at least 1.8 metres tall in heels.

2. To quote ZZ Top “She’s got legs, she knows how to use them” 3. Kovit our stylist developed a sudden obsession with mouse ears.

4. Kovit tried to feature those ears on our cover, but we shot him down (I had a vision of a horde of Disney lawyers coming after me ~ the Ed) 5. Much tomfoolery occurred during the photography session.

6. No mice were harmed at any time.

What you don’t see in these images was a ChannelNewsAsia cameraman videotaping our photoshoot for a segment of That’s IT on our little gadget magazine, which will be aired by the time you read this!

PLAYWORKS PTE LTD 11 STAMFORD ROAD #02-04 CAPITOL BUILDING SINGAPORE 178884 Tel: +65 6339 3083 Fax: +65 6339 3079 EDITORIAL Editor-in-chief Shawn Chung editor@t3mag.com.sg Deputy editor Mariel Wong mariel@t3mag.com.sg Contributing editors Adam Tun-Aung adam@t3mag.com.sg ART Creative designer Marcus Greiert marcus@t3mag.com.sg Creative designer Chua Wei Min weimin@t3mag.com.sg Contributing designers Chen Guimin guimin@t3mag.com.sg Elaine Hu elaine@t3mag.com.sg CONTRIBUTORS Michael Brook, Luke Peters, Duncan Bell,Clare Sartin, Hannah Bouckley, Joe Svetlik, Rod Temple, Adam Bunker, Sam Kieldsen, Honest Lucien, Duncan Madden, Niall Magennis, Jonathan Parkyn, Warren Rossiter, Roy Sharpe, Peter Travers, Neubronner Eugene, Marcus Soh, Mohd Nizam, Kevin Tan, Matthew Yap, Aaron Khoo, Angie Wong, Carlos Coloma ART CONTRIBUTORS Stuart James, Jo Dovey, Matt Biggs, Martin Fewell, Nick Flexman, Jason Hudson, Sam Scott-Hunter, image.net, Michelle Kelly, Matthew Kendall, KateM@selectmodel.com, Kate McDonnell, Rupert Nightingale, Alastair Parr, PSC, Rex Features, Peter Thiedeke, Louis Trentham, Twelve-ten, Joe Windsor-Williams, Wyndeham Graphics ADVERTISING SALES AND MARKETING Email: sales@t3mag.com.sg Product Marketing/PR Manager Candice Cheong candice@t3mag.com.sg Senior Account Manager Yusli Yusoff yusli@t3mag.com.sg Media executive Johanna Kuan johanna@t3mag.com.sg PUBLISHING Publisher/CEO Jacky Choo Human resource manager Lynn Oh Senior accounts executive Alice Ho Community & promotions manager Mohd Nizam PRINTING & DISTRIBUTION Printer KHL Printing Co Pte Ltd 57 Loyang Drive, Singapore 508968 Distributor Singapore Press Holdings Ltd 82 Genting Lane, News Centre, Singapore 349567 SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES Email subscription@t3mag.com.sg

T3 Singapore Edition is a monthly publication of Playworks Pte Ltd, 11 Stamford Road #02-04 Capitol Building S(178884), and published under license of Future Publishing Ltd 2007, a Future Network plc group company.’

Articles in this issue translated or reproduced from T3 are copyright or licensed by Future Publishing Ltd, a Future Network plc group company, UK 2007. All rights reserved. T3 is the trademark of Future Publishing Ltd, a Future Network plc group company, used under license.

All submissions to T3 magazine are made on the basis of a licence to publish the submission in T3 magazine and its licensed editions worldwide.

Any material submitted is sent at the owner’s risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future Publishing Limited, Playworks Pte Ltd nor their agents shall be liable for loss or damage

All contents © Playworks Pte Ltd and Future Publishing Ltd 2008.

While we make every effort possible to ensure that everything we print in T3 is factually correct, we cannot be held responsible if factual errors occur.

Please check any quoted hardware specifications and prices with your supplier before purchase. All prices are stated without GST. Unless otherwise indicated, all mobile phone prices are Recommended Retail Prices without service contract. All car prices are On-Road prices inclusive of COE, and correct at the time of publication.

For more information about this and other magazines published by the Future Network plc group, contact http:/www.thefuturenetwork.plc.uk.

T3 WORLDWIDE

Head of international Tim Hudson tim.hudson@futurenet.co.uk International editors AUSTRALIA Nick Broughall +61 2 8305 6900 BEIRUT Helen Assaf +96 1138 3888 CHINA Huang Guogui +86 1065 8861 61 CROATIA Daniel Berkovic +38 5133 5722 1 CZECH REPUBLIC Jaroslav Jarolím +42 0283 8716 40 DENMARK Jeppe Christensen +45 3391 2833 DUBAI Ghassan Khayyat +96 1138 3888 GREECE Stefanos Karagos +30 2106 8005 30 INDONESIA Gino Febrisa +62 2163 3562 728 ITALY Roberto Medaglia +39 0225 2916 1 LEBANON Ghassan Khayyat +96 1138 3888 MALAYSIA Arthur Chen +03 5621 1911 PHILIPPINES Vince Sales +63 2631 7739 PORTUGAL Fernando Mendes +35 1218 6215 30 RUSSIA Oleg Mazur +7 495 510 1525 SAUDI ARABIA Robert Saykali +96 1138 3888 SERBIA Nemanja Nikolic +38 1112 6455 30 SINGAPORE Shawn Chung +65 6339 3083 SOUTH AFRICA Jon Gericke +27 11 643 1543 THAILAND Kris Svadibuna +66 2587 7046 TURKEY Deran Ozer +90 2122 2493 30 UKRAINE Stas Mikhnovsky +38 0444 5844 04 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Mahmoud Boksmati +97 1506 5469 83

A rather inquisitive and adventurous Czech, Lucie V our cover girl, struts her stuff within the comfort of our photo studio. We tempted her with a pair of mickeymouse ears, which was followed by a sporadic burst of giggles (not from her…) and the rest is cover history.

Did we mention she speaks Mandarin and can recognise 500 Chinese characters?

From a rather tall perspective, we took a look at the towering 1.78m Sara K and decided her skyscraper legs and tonedphysique was exactly what we needed to spice up our little monthly read. Complete with the same set of ears we offered Lucie, Sarah bubbly crowned herself with the novelty gear before proceeding to frolick on the floor in incredible heels.

The last time you saw her in T3 was on our September 2007 cover, but since then, you’ve probably seen Melissa Faith Yeo on a double-decker bus ad, in various print ads and and even a couple of television commercials. We’ve actually known Melissa for years, and decided that it’d be great to have her back in the mag for our Celebrity Tech interview, which you can find on page 30.

The T3 Ed has known Angie Wong, who in blogger circles is quite well known as ‘Shanewei’, for a couple of years. Since Angie is quiet a gadget freak (she calls him frequently... to talk about handphones, the loser - the Deputy Ed) the Ed persuaded her to spin a little Opinion article for us, which you can read on page 47

Based on the well documented fact that the average T3 reader would rather see a pretty girl than the T3 editor’s fat arse in a pair of bermudas, we managed to talk yet another T3 cover gal, Vanessa Lim, (February 2008) to appear in this issue. Van was very game to try a spot of Jet-skiing, and she had a blast, as you’ll see when you turn to page 89

The Monthly Crunch Aloha!

July saw a torrentous flood of great movies and fantabulous games for us, where we’ve exhausted ourselves from the sheer fun of it. For the otaku fans, there was also the Cosplay Fest and Toy Convention! What we really like was finding rare-treasures that weren’t exactly gadgety, but definitely collectors’-item material; like this Full-Metal Alchemist Doll we found!

Having to return to our somber task of photoshoots and articlechurning, we decided to take the literal meaning out of our love for anime and decked the models with matching Mickey and Minnie headbands (Ed: actually, it’s all the fault of Kovit the stylist). All we can say was that the photoshoot turned out just about right, especially when Sara sportingly donned the muffle-like headgear to pose with our five, very delectable camera phones (Big Test, P56).

Our main spread for the month involved some Ultra-New Tech (p32) that’s is out of this world, as well as our T3 most-wanted Toshy laptop (Most Wanted, p10). As a round-up, we grabbed a quick interview with our ‘Miss Smiley’ (Interview, P30) and Angie Wong, a social blogger (Interview, P47), and headed out in bathers for the beach. Jet-ski, anyone?

For the latest event coverage of the T3 Ed with his babes, do head on down to www.t3mag.com.sg, and add us on Facebook!

Mariel Wong, Deputy-Editor mariel@playworksonline.com Oh Dear!

In last month’s Rated, the picture used for the GE E1035(10MP camera) was actually the E840s. Also, in June, the i.Tech BluePointer does not possess an A2DP function.

Our apologies for that!

select NEWS This month’s hottest gear

T3’s tech guide to skiving.

Work is rubbish. bring five o’clock closer. with these classic time wasters….

Make your own 1992style ’ardcore choon

MakE R2D2 cuss your colleagues’ mums

Improve your handeye coordination

Access your home computer from work

remobo.com

Beat your company’s web policy and get on Facebook

Send a man on a sledge to his death

Play board games on your PSP

Boss an obedient chicken about

Shoot the boss with the MSN webcam Missile Launcher

boardgamecollection. com

Play retro-shooter Warblade

warblade.as

24 T3 AUGUST 2008

r2d2translator.com

anonymouse.org

subservientchicken. com

Watch cheese mature

cheddarvision.tv

mousebreaker.com

linerider.com

firebox.com

See how you’d look with plastic surgery

liftmagic.com

Photography rex features

ravegenerator.com

select This month’s hottest gear

SLEEKER! FASTER!.

Toshiba adds a splash of colour Intel’s newest processors to their line-up

We’ve seen plenty of notebooks with glossy exteriors and fancy colours, but Toshiba’s latest additions to their Fusion Finish range of consumer notebooks are totally scrumptious. Using a manufacturing process that involves fusing molten resin into molds, the new Crimson Red 14-inch Satellite M300 appears absolutely smoldering, while Candy Pink 13-inch PORTEGE M800 looks good enough to eat. And before you fob them off as lightweights in the processor department, Toshy have also upgraded both laptop models to take advantage of the brand new Intel Centrino 2 processor technology (the processor formerly code-named ‘Montevina’), so they not only look the goods, but also have better processor performance, battery life and even the ability to switch between integrated and discrete graphics on demand.

Crimson Red Satellite M300 from S$1999, Out Now Candy Pink PORTEGE M800 from S$1999, Out Now www.domoreinstyle.com

10 T3 AUGUST 2008

Intel’s Centrino 2 has a host of new features, including integrated 902.11 draft-N support for up to 450 Mbps data rates, native support for Blu-ray decoding and are more energy efficient than previous processors.

AUGUST 2008 T3 11

10 reasons to buy....

A blackberry bold

Want the latest crackberry hit, but. afraid to take the plunge? read on….

1/The 480x320 screen is the best ever on a BlackBerry. It’s fused to the under-surface of a lens, making colours pop from the screen and video smooth as spreading butter on a bald man’s pate. Splendid

2/It’s the first ’Berry to support HSDPA, for fasterthan-ever downloading of skydiving nun footage.

Also aboard: integrated GPS and Wi-Fi. Magnificent

3/The Bold remains the Don Gorgon of emailing, connecting up to ten work and personal email accounts.

Push email means you’re as up-to-date as you’d be in the office. Awesome

4/This “ultra-button” connects you to Wi-Fi networks in a trice. Peachy

6/You can sync it with your iTunes library using the sexily named BlackBerry Media Sync.

Now a BlackBerry isn’t just for spods. Marvellous

8/It’s so powerful you can chat on the phone while sending emails – possibly even to the same person you’re talking to.

Multi-task-mungous

5/Surfing is better than ever. The trackball mimics a mouse, and emulation settings let you choose betwixt full desktop HTML view and mobile view, for accuracy or concision. Textbook

7/1GB of built-in memory holds about 250 songs, a smattering of videos and PowerPoint presentations and more important Word documents than you could shake your PA at. Skillage

9/Aah, the luxurious feel of a full QWERTY. You could bash out a novel on one of these. Glorious

10/Once you’re done emailing and novelwriting, there’s a two-meg camera with flash, dual speakers for playing music or possibly speakerphone chats in stereo. Phenomenal

TBC, www.blackberrybold.com, Q3 2008

AUGUST 2008 T3 13

>>>rated

this month’s big review

LG’s signature Scarlet LCD TV

LG Scarlet 42LG60FR S$3,299 sg.lge.com

If you’ve watched just 5 minutes of TV in Singapore since

May, you’ll have caught LG’s rather ingenious and pervasive Scarlett promotion campaign. But if you didn’t get the subtle point of LG’s ads, yes, Scarlett isn’t a new TV program, it’s actually their new style-centric range of LCD TVs.

Scarlet by name There’s actually a bit of confusion about that LG named this LCD series the ‘Scarlet’ due to the red casing. The overall colour of this flat panel is actually two toned - a glossy black face matched to a deep red back panel. ‘Scarlet ‘actually refers to the rather the unique circular clear plastic ‘cut-out’ at the base of the LCD screen that acts as a touch sensitive power switch. A simple finger’s carress, and with a musical flourish the Scarlet will power on, with a warm soft scarlet LED light illuminating the circle.

Overall, the Scarlet’s design is quite interesting, a smooth curvy flowing design with ‘invisible’ speakers tuned by Mark Levinson. It’s easy on the eye and definitely an attractive design.

Not a Scarlet letter LG’s aggressive advertisement campaign for the Scarlet is matched by how aggressively they’ve priced this TV. The 42inch Full HD Scarlet LCD TV Rated here has a RRP of S$3,299, which makes it a highly competitive proposition to other flat panels, such as the similarly priced Panasonic Viera 42-inch Plasma panel that we Rated in July.

The Scarlet delivers a pretty good on-screen performance, with 50,000:1 dynamic contrast, and a response time of 4ms.

Connected to LG’s BH200 hybrid Blu-ray/HD-DVD player, we ran a Blu-ray disc of Open Season, and Boog the bear came out looking slightly dull on factory setting, lacking a little bit of vibrancy, so you’ll need to spend some time fiddling with the settings to sharpen the images a bit.

The Scarlet’s audio performance, on the other hand, was excellent for a pair of 10 Watt speakers, with good overall quality considering their ‘hidden’ position, and matching similar TVs with forward facing speaker units.. SC

Love Innovative design, good sound. hate Image quality is a touch lacking in performance.

We say As a total package, there’s much to be appreciated about the Scarlet. It looks great, is priced right, has good audio qualities and decent image performance

★★★★★ Screen 42-inch 1920c1080 Full-HD LCD Dynamic Contrast Ratio 50,000:1 Connectivity 3x HDMI, 2x Component, 2x Composite, 1x USB 2.0 Dimensions/Weight 1038x747x81mm/24.1kg

48 T3 AUGUST 2008

Accessories

Jabra BT3030

www.jabra.com Avoid the cable getting in the way with this great value Bluetooth stereo headset.

We’re not sure about that dog tag control, though

Plantronics Voyager 855

www.plantronics.com Swap between music and calls at the touch of a button with this easilypaired Bluetooth headset

Pick o’ the games

FIFA 08 About as much fun as tea with Mark Lawrenson, this has controls that ideally require you to have two thumbs on each hand. The graphics aren’t bad, but they are pretty jerky

Asphalt 3 – Street Rules One is quite the rude fellow, isn’t it? It’s easy to master drifting round corners, but Asphalt 3 ’s arcade mode offers a lengthy challenge.

Night-time tracks can be hard to see, though

Brain Challenge

Fancy giving your head a shot in the arm? This is an addictive, by-no-meansunoriginal game in the DS Brain Training mould, designed to slow your deevolution back to apehood

Creatures of the Deep Serves up hour upon interminable hour of fishing “action” as you bid to pick the right spot, cast off, and make the big catch. We say: graphically adequate moist malarkey

Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-503

www.nokia.com.sg If you prefer over-ear Bluetooth phones, these are for you. Dedicated keys zip you between calls and tunes at frightening speed

AUGUST 2008 T3 49

Windows Mobile Touchsceen phones For mobile phones, see The Guide p96

>>>rated

Touch Wars

The ultimate Windows Mobile touchphones duke it out Launched within a month of each other, priced exactly the same and both aimed at dominating the touchscreen device markets, the HTC Touch Diamond and the Samsung OMNIA are two feature packed, Windows Mobile 6.1 devices that’s on everyone’s lips at this moment.

Samsung OMNIA(16GB) www.samsung.com.sg

S$1,098

The OMNIA uses Samsung’s Touchwiz interface with haptics feedback

that runs on top of Windows Mobile, but go a couple of layers down, and you run into the not so finger friendly Windows OS interface, which was designed for stylus use. The OMNIA does have a stylus – which slides into a slot on the OMNIA’s bundled leather case, and for a third input option, there’s an optical joystick that will let you scroll menus like, well, and optical mouse.

Features Samsung calls the OMNIA the ‘One for All Multimedia’ phone, and it does have plenty of firepower in this regard. The integrated 5MP camera has plenty of photography features, and snaps quite sharp images in good light conditions, while the 3.2-inch touchscreen is sized for 16:9 letter-box formatted video content. There’s also 16GB of RAM and Enhanced-GPS navigation.

Performance The OMNIA has a pretty powerful 624MHz processor that’s backed with 128MB of RAM, and there’s plenty of power to run multiple mobile applications simultaneously. Add in the latest 7.2mbps HSDPA capabilities as well as WiFi, and you have quite a useful little device for all your on-the-go mobile office needs. SC

Love State of the art features, great overall performance Hate The Touchwiz UI is not as intuitive to use as it could be

★★★★★

We say The OMNIA ticks all the right boxes when it comes to power, performance and features at a reasonable price.

Screen 3.2-inch, 256k colours Connectivity 7.2mbps HSPDA, Quadband, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, TV-out Camera 5 megapixels Storage 16GB internal, MicroSD Battery 6 hrs talk/ 500 hrs standby Dimensions/Weight 112x57x13mm/ 127g

HTC Touch Diamond S$1,098 www.htc.com/sea

Since HTC launched their first Touch series device last year, they’ve

been refining their TouchFLO interface to the current TouchFLO 3D that’s featured on the Diamond. This second generation UI overlay is more comprehensive and easier to use than its predecessor, and for average day-today use, there’s little need to access Windows Mobile or pull out the stylus.

Features The Diamond is a smaller device than the OMNIA, and that shows in its features, for while it boasts the same 7.2 mbps HSDPA connectivity speed, AGPS and WiFi features , plus a truly excellent Opera based web browser; it lags behind with a mediocre 3.2 megapixel camera and 12GB less onboard RAM, for the same price.

Performance The Diamond uses a 528MHz Qualcomm processor, and has a graphics processor with dedicated 64MB RAM to handle its rather graphics intensive UI. That said, the Diamond does lag on occasion, and once in a while a simple menu shift may take a few seconds to execute. SC

Love Sexy little form factor, TouchFLO 3D a big improvement Hate A bit laggy and doesn’t match the OMNIA in the bang-for-your-buck stakes

★★★★★

We say Overall If you’re looking for a chic looking little PDA mobile to fit into the breast pocket of you Hugo Boss suit, this is it.

Screen 2.8inch, 65k colours Connectivity 7.2mbps HSPDA, Quadband, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 Camera 3.2 megapixels Storage 4GB internal, MicroSD Battery 5.5 hrs talk/ 285 hrs standby Dimensions/Weight 102x51x12mm/110g

AUGUST 2008 T3 55

>>>rated

5 Megapixel Camera phones

Phones that have cams in. You see?

Cam-phone big night out The cream of the camera-phone crop get their glad rags on and prepare to be snapped coming out of the loos with amy winehouse See IT TO BELIEVE IT! Check out our Flick site:

www.flickr.com/photos/ t3singapore for our test images

56 T3 AUGUST 2008

LG samsung sony ericsson Nokia Motorola

styling kovit ang / xerofive concept Model photographer Kenneth Choo / www.kennethchoo.com Hair & makeup Cherylyn Koh using colors from RMK Model Sara K/Upfront Models Exclusive wardrobe : Jayson Brunsdon

Words Mariel wong & Hannah bouckley

>>>rated 5 Megapixel Camera phones Phones that have cams in. You see?

LG KF750 Secret S$838 sg.lge.com

The touch-sensing Secret is the thinnest

touch controls are as sluggish as a slug farm on a five-meg camera-phone ever. That’s no secret and moist day, requiring multiple jabs before they nor, sadly, is the fact that the said camera is no perform. Nevertheless, for all it. better than passable. It’s fine when you’re In other areas that the Secret shines – it looks gambolling about in brightly-lit fields, but indoors gorg and the TouchMedia menu is superb. But as a or in twilight, pics become soft and lacking in camera, it’s not much cop – and that’s no secret! detail.

Man, we got a lot of mileage out of that gag.

You’ll often end up misfiring while trying to semi-depress the shutter to focus, and the screen suffers from blurring if you have the temerity to We say Innovative of feature and lissome of appearance move. There are adjustable scene modes, the Secret may be, but its camera is not going to win any sensitivity and white balance, but no xenon flash. prizes for its superbulousness Another non-secret about the Secret is that the

★★★★★

58 T3 AUGUST 2008

Stable-mates LG Viewty

sg.lge.com We’re massive fans of the so-so touchscreen and plastic build. Shame the Viewty is let down by an excellent five-meg camera

LG KF700

sg.lge.com Thanks to a touchscreen that’s infinitely superior to the Viewty’s, we can forgive the KF700’s camera for only “having three megapixels in it”

>>>rated

5 Megapixel Camera phones

Phones that have cams in. You see?

samsung SGH-G810 S$790 www.samsung.com.sg

Enter the newest incarnation of the G800

and you’ll see this gob-stopping hardcore snapper, the G810, pack not just a 3x optical zoom but both 3.5G and WiFi-capabilities, making this the all-rounder multimedia mobile in this test.

Built as a tanker (we jest), this grayish metallic camera phone unfortunately loses points for aesthetic letdowns. We thought this rather retro nostalgia-inducing device, complete with its slighty natty lens cover could have made a better impression by downsizing its overall look at feel.

The G810 does make for a great shoot with its detailed pics - complete with white balance, exposure compensation and sensitivity that a mobile device can offer – at least once you’ve scoured through the rather dank depths of its menus to find em’.

With an assorted array of scene modes to

60 T3 AUGUST 2008

choose from (similar to that of the ZN5), this camera phone shoots also in panorama and multi-shot mode; although it does seem to have a slight downtime when compared to the ZN5’s faster auto-focus and shuttle-speed.

Still, the G810 did receive an overwhelming amount of ‘woah’ and ‘ahs’ with its rather fantabulous 6x zoom, out of which 3x are optical. Not a bad show for the camera enthusiast who doesn’t mind having a slightly meaty but great snapper on the go, tuck in the depths of his trouser pockets.

★★★★★ We say Not your typical shooter, but still a five-meg camera with auto-focusing skills so leet, it’ll make you wonder ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘how’.

Stable-mates Samsung G600

www.samsung.com.sg Samsung’s given the G600 a paint job. Touting a five-meg camera it’s good for close-ups, but there’s no 3G and the flash is LED

Samsung F480

www.samsung.com.sg Get your hands on this slick touch-screen number. The five-meg cam with autofocus takes mighty fine photos, we reckon

>>>rated

5 Megapixel Camera phones

Phones that have cams in. You see?

Sony Ericsson C902 Cyber-Shot S$788 www.sonyericsson.com.sg

Stable-mates Sony Ericsson W890i

www.sonyericsson.com.sg Boarding the music tractor, this hooks you up with TrackID, MegaBass and PlayNow. There’s also a passable, 3.2-meg snapper

62 T3 AUGUST 2008

A candybar mobile that saw the C902

weigh more firmly within the palm of our hand than our current slim-winner, the Secret; had us pondering where its weightiness came from.

Perhaps during the tussle for conceptualizing the ‘next-big-hit’, the C902 designers decided to replace the rather chunky Xenon flash for an LED; effectively reducing its physical size to a mere minimal.

Sporting an unbelievably thin 10.5mm waistline, this Cyber-Shot shoves the Secret aside to claim the title of ‘anorexia’ and proves to be a rather diminutive device.

We noted that with this mobile, photos are best taken in daylight where there’s minimal noise captured within the shots and images appear vivid and bright. Yet, when snaps are taken in

low-level lighting, some image detailing is lost and its AF (auto-focus) function seem unsure of its distance calibration, resulting in more frequent loss of image detailing and blurred pictures.

Still, the C902 is a promising camera phone that needs a little more tweaking, where we’re hoping that involves shrinking the Xenon flash and reintroducing it to the Cyber-Shot family.

Soon, that is.

★★★★★ We say Music that lasts over decades has seen this Walkman pick up its pace and stride, where with its Bluetooth connectivity, staying out is an easy-breezy task.

>>>rated

5 Megapixel Camera phones

Phones that have cams in. You see?

Nokia 6220 Classic S$728 www.nokia.com.sg

Not to be mistaken with its namesake, the

new Nokia 6220 classic has nothing classic about it. Definitely not the sexiest beast in this outfit where it pales in contrast to the Secret and C902, the 6220c does come across as a rather mild, mid-range mobile that just seem to only want to remain low-key, or even anonymous.

Wrong.

What we discovered upon closer examination was a camera phone that had tucked away all the delectable features within its rather petite 108x47mm chassis. Not only does it include a Carl Zeiss Lens, it also packs the usual Xenon flash that has since been incorporated into many a camera phone.

We noted that the photos snapped by the 6220c were quite similar to that of the N82 in terms of sharpness and quality, which earned this mobile, extra brownie points. In fact, this

64 T3 AUGUST 2008

camera phone’s selling point lies in its A-GPS ‘geo-tagging’ functionality that makes this a rather delectable phone to own, alongside the ranks of the N95 8GB and N82. Its one flaw lay in its rather fluffy battery lifespan, which lasted a mere 4hours before requiring a full-recharge.

Nevertheless, if you’re big on traveling, it might be a noteworthy point that Nokia has maps for 150 countries at no extra cost, which also means that if you’re going to run around the world snapping photos of monuments and candid moments, you just might want to fire off a quick “wish you were here” MMS.

★★★★★ We say An affordable camera phone that’s worth its price in gold, that’s if you’re the highly-forgiving sort.

Stable-mates Nokia 8800 Arte

www.nokia.com.sg From its beautiful glass and metal body to its illuminated keypad, this phone is pure class, with a decent, three-meg camera

Nokia N95 8GB

www.nokia.com.sg This multimedia-stuffed oojamaflip packs a fivemeg camera with Carl Zeiss lens. It takes snaps that are tarted up like Tony Leung’s wedding

>>>rated

5 Megapixel Camera phones

Phones that have cams in. You see?

IS IT A PHONE? IS IT A CAMERA? ER... YES. PHOTOGRAPHIC EXCELLENCE WITH A TELEPHONIC BONUS

Motorola ZN5 www.motorola.com.sg

Approx

Futuristic designs and and assortment of

features have become the next bag-trick in Motorola’s portfolio. Having to first admit that we weren’t too impress by many of their past designs, beside the Motorola Z10 that is (think, Ba-na-na), this was a mobile that had us do a double take.

The ZN5, which will be available in Singapore by mid-September, sports a beautifully rounded design that is encased in a sleek metallic coat, complete with a rubberized bottom for the sweaty palmed individuals (yes, us).

Within this cameraphone lies plenty of surprises that injects the fun back into snapping pictures. It has an actual mechanical shutter, for one thing, so there’s none of that ‘press-the-button, wait-for-thesnap’ nonsense, and there’s also the ability to choose between scene modes; our favourite mode was its image-stitching feature, where users can

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S$700

snap continuous panoramic shots of anything and everything. Did we mention its WiFi-connectivity and optional expandable memory of up to 4GB? With its radical combination of Motorola’s ModeShift- a keypad morphing ability, when switching between modes - and Kodak’s Imaging Technology that retouches images in-device using ‘Perfect Touch’; we thought this camera phone made a delectable carry-on piece to own. Although, we must add that we were taken with the idea of being able to shoot RAW photos, (the capability is already in the phone, but disabled by Moto), maybe photo enthusiasts might be able to convince Motorola to add that to a firmware upgrade ?

★★★★★

We say The ZN5 makes for more than a ‘magician-thathas-bunnies’ act, where its rather novel offerings made it right in our books.

Stable-mates Motorola V8

www.motorola.com.sg The next-generation Razr, is tough, sexy, solid and contains a two-meg camera.

It’s hardly ground-breaking stuff, but we like it for nostalgic reasons

select INTERVIEW celebrities and their tech

MELISSA FAITH YEO

A rather modest individual has seen Melissa Faith Yeo grace the pages of local magazines; Shape and Maxim, where with her infallibly warm smile, we believe she’s melted more than just a few hearts.

Having snapped a quick moment with Melissa whilst she was undergoing ‘makeup therapy’ for our photoshoot, we managed to get her to answer a few of our rather vaguely-constructed questions, where her answers were nothing short of sweet and succinct.

Interview by: Mariel Wong Hi there again, Mel! We’ve just got wind that you’ve recently snapped yourself the crown for a local pageant!

Congrats, and how does it feel to be eternalized as a beauty queen?

Personally, it wasn’t a big feat or anything but I did feel proud to hold such a title. It was a pageant organized by LFI (Long Far International), a MLM company that was looking for an ambassador to represent their Wellness Sanctuary and health products.

We also heard that you’ve just returned from a long shoot in Africa. Was the weather as hot and dry as we might have been led to imagine (Dep Ed: long live, National Geographic)?

It was actually relatively cold, which was a surprise, where the weather was a mere 15 degrees. The shoot was held mostly in Capetown, for an Emirates advertisement. Definitely an experience that’s unlike the usual indoor shoots we get locally. =) We see. So besides African safaris and leading a wholesome modeling career as a beauty queen, what have you been up to in recent days?

I’m currently taking a break from modeling to concentrate on my studies. Maybe, a holiday when my family members are able to leave…perhaps a quick trip to Bali? Haven’t decided but it’s a great feeling to have time to yourself after a busy stretch.

That’s great to hear. We’re dying to go on a break too.

Turning to tech, we heard you’re currently quite a collector of consoles and games.

It’s more of a passing phase hopefully, but yes! I’ve been playing quite a bit of Nintendo Wii, especially having fun tackling Mario Kart Wii. The stages and steering wheel feature, just like that in the arcade, brings back such a nostalgia and memories when we used to play Nintendo as kids… The animated graphics that are bright and cartoonish can keep you glued on the game for a very long time. Otherwise, I prefer playing PS2, and hopefully PS3 in the near future. Old games like Crash Team Racing and Nitro Cars just bring my inner speedster out (laughs)!

Beside gaming consoles and finger-bashing controllers, what other gadgets do you own?

I don’t really consider myself as a gadget girl, but I do have a LG Viewty which died on me recently due to system error. In place, I’m using an old school basic Nokia N-series phone that I use

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mainly for its calendar function, calls and nothing else.

For my other needs, I have my 30GB Ipod Video for quick music entertainment on the go, and a FujiFilm Z20 camera for quick snaps…where it comes in my favourite colour – Fusia Pink! I also have my Sony Vaio, which is probably a good 3 years old by now, but it still looks and feels brand new.

So, you are quite the tech-babe. If we were to ask you to quickly describe in as many words as possible, what technology is to you…your answer would be?

Technology to me is ever-changing and always improving, although we are getting a little too reliant, which isn’t a bad thing really. So why don’t we just enjoy whatever device we can lay our hands on, for that bit of time?

Nice. Are there any other gadgets you’re looking forward to owning, or are you contented at the moment with your rather large gadget trove?

Personally, I like my gadgets slim and light…features should be kept to a minimal and on individual gadgets. I know of this day and age, people tend to like their devices as an ‘all-in-one’, but that kind of takes the fun out of them?

I am kind of looking forward to owning the LG Prada, although since the iPhone is almost out, maybe I’ll just wait for that. If not, maybe the Sony Ericsson camera phone that I’ve heard is almost equivalent to a normal camera (Dep.Ed: SE C905 w/ 8MegaPixels) which is quite cool. A phone that should be of much help in our daily life, and without much fanciful functions that only serve to confuse. nd we’ve come to a close for our interview, any last words you would like to leave our readers?

Yes! You’ve got me sold. Where’s my Playstation 3??! Wait, that didn’t come out right. I’m going out now to get myself a Playstation 3!

Melissa Faith Yeo, our cover model (Dep-Ed: Co-model) for T3 September 2007, has since taken some time off from modeling to fulfill her ‘dreams to the maximum’. Having just turned 22 and on her way to completing her BA in English Communication@ Uni SIM, we thought she might have the better end of this bargain, although we did wonder if posing with books in a busy library was anywhere near daunting, when facing two noisy Tech journos, who yabble on and on and on… For a quick update on Melissa’s most-recent escapades, do log on to www.melissafaithyeo.blogspot.com.

‘Te ev al alt ge re

‘Technology to me is ever-changing and always improving, although we are getting a little too reliant...‘

Photography Kenneth Choo/www.kennethchoo.com Styling Candice Cheong Make-up and hair Cherlynn Koh Clothes by Benno at Benno la mode Venue Sushi Tei at Big Splash

MELISSAFAITHYEO celebrities and their tech

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adventure

Who said that only through years of honed sea-navigating skills and the ability to foretell tidal patterns was the way to ensure a safe sea voyage? We bring to our readers, the experience of a lifetime, where splashing out doesn’t simply mean all wet and no fun! Put on your beachwear for our:

Jet-Out Glamour!

Words Mariel wong & Cheryl Tay Additional Pictures Shawn chung

WORDS MARIEL WONG PICTURES SHAWN CHUNG WITH THANKS TO VANESSA LIM

AUGUST 2008 T3 89

adventure For the uninitiated, Jet-skiing might be a sport that you’ve heard more than seen...not because it hasn’t been around much, but rather, you’ve got to get yourself a license to ride one of these beauties. Think Angelina Jolie cruising down in Laura Croft: Tomb Raider and eat your little hearts out.

Making the waves: With our victim, er, model for the day, Vanessa, we headed down to Pasir Ris Beach to meet up with members of the Singapore jet-skiing community. As you’ll need a boating license to drive on of these babies, after a brief safety lecture and donning a life-raft, Vanessa rode pillion with an experienced Jet-Skiier, who showed her the capabilities of a jet-ski, including their tight turning circles and hitting speed up to 70kmh!

The origins: For starters, the term “Jet Ski” was coined when people started referring to personal water crafts as Jet-skis. This came from Kawasaki’s (a reknown brand) branding of its water craft range which isn’t that bad a deal as beginners could relate what Jet-skiing might entail, simply from its namesake.

What makes a Jet-Ski? In a nutshell, these personal water crafts aren’t powered by the likes of a propeller engine or screw, but rather, driven by a jet of water routed through and and out the craft’s rear. There’s many variations as to how you might choose to ride such a vehicle, but in short, there’s two stance: either to sit or stand on the jet-ski itself. Most jet skis in general, are designed for easy ferrying of 2-3 passengers although some carriers are built for the family-oriented individuals.

Starting the Ride: As a general guide, water jet-skiing is about 99% accident-free, that is you’re the radical 1% that could result in an accident. Of course, as Jet skis are classified as boats, as a means of ensuring one’s safety, each rider has to be insured and in possession of a Powered Pleasure Craft License. Although this might sound a tad bit strange but, becoming registered as an official user might be a first step for each person to understand certain technical rules that could eventually determine one’s life and death.

The lowdown on the Jetters: For water enthusiasts who have never tried this sport but would love to get in on the action within getting wet, the WaterFest 2008 (31st Aug - 12th Oct) might just be the avenue! A pre-registered event that’s grown its roots locally has an expected turn-out of at least 40 competitive race participants.

From the likes of Quarter-Mile Drag Races, Match Racing, Closed-course Individual Time-Trial, and even Round Ubin Dash; these water sporting events might be just the thing you need before delving into Jet-skiing. Try it yourself and you just might become another Justin Lee! Check these sites for further details: www.Singaporesports.sg, www. watercrossasia.com, and www.beachculture.com.sg.

Justin Lee Justin Lee runs Water Cross, the water sports centre at Pasir Ris Park, and he’s also a committee member with the Singapore Powerboat Association, so just the man to speak to about watercraft!

For more information on how to jet-ski, head on down to the upcoming WaterFest 2008 and have a splashing good time!

Hi there Justin! We’ve heard a lot about the upcoming WaterFest 2008 event and thank you for the opportunity to try out jet-skiing firsthand! You look more than a veteran in this sports, how long have you actually been jet-skiing?

I’ve probably been Jet-skiing since 1981, more than 20 years...which is quite a long time if you think of it.

Is it a difficult sport to administer especially in Singapore, unlike the US which allow anyone and anybody to purchase jet-ski equipment, we have set-rules for new jet-ski riders?

That has always been the issue here. We just had a few guys come down to the bay to enquire whether they could rent one of our jet-skis. Of course, I’ve to go through the whole process of having to explain to them why they can’t just hop and ride on one, without the accompanying license. At the end of the day, you leave them with the question of whether they are willing to go through the trouble of obtaining a license for that one hour of fun…

From your own personal experience, is obtaining such a license a tough task to complete?

If you have the interest and passion to gain the knowledge (theory) then it could be as simple as reading a book 5 times before a test, of course depending on whether you can absorb the theory easily. A lot of people might find this PPCL test (short for Powered Pleasure-Craft License) a bit harder than they imagine.

For this craft license, it entails only 25 multiple choice question, and you can’t make more than 5 mistakes.

Definitely not a hard to take, but sometimes you might get surprised by questions that pertain to some commercial ruling, which will get you stumped. For instance; questions like “What do these set of lights mean”, or “where this island is located”, are technical questions that require some background maritime knowledge, and can make this test a tad bit more tricky than it really is.

Alright, trickiness aside…you’ve been doing this sports since 1981, there must be something that keeps you going. What exactly do you enjoy about jet-skiing?

Hm, I would have to say that jet-skiing is another form of boating for me, and it is a simple sport that allows you to drag your personal craft straight into the water for a quick getaway!

What I also love about jet-skis is how quickly you can hose your craft down at the end of the day, in a mere twenty minutes, where in boating which could have you spending more time cleaning it than riding (apparently, two hours for a good scrub). Maybe, a better way of describing jet-skiing would be something along the lines of grabbing your bicycle and simply having a go at it.

From what we’ve gathered (out of sheer curiosity), there are only certain designated areas that allow enthusiasts to jet-ski within Singapore?

Not really, in fact you can ride virtually anywhere, although of course there are areas that disallow jet-skis due to its speed limitations and potential to cause water collisions…otherwise, anywhere that has water is a possibility. In Singapore we don’t have the culture of keeping our jet-skis in our backyard, especially since towing a trailer is illegal, let alone the possibility of having public-rams built locally. Jet-skis have to be stowed away in storage facilities, located in marina areas. We have around 6 marinas located around Singapore, which could be areas where a jet-ski enthusiasts could look at.

During our conversation, we noted that you mentioned two different types of jet-skis - the Sea-Doo which are the ‘sit-downs’ motorcycle types, and your ‘stand-ups’ that are like the classic Kawasaki - as you’ve pointed out to us. Do they perform different functions or are they basically one and the same?

The Sea-Doo is a brand that makes various jet-skis; from two-seaters, three-seaters, and even family-oriented jetboats. The Kawasaki on the other hand is known as the ski-class, which are popular for their maneuverbility. It depends on personal preference, whether you’re the all out kind, or simply enjoy jetting around for the fun of it.

From water-stunts like performing donuts, to the likes of enjoying the scenery on a speedy craft…these crafts help facilitate whatever your needs and wants are.

Would the cost of purchasing and maintaining jet-skis be an expensive hobby to upkeep?

Initially, it would definitely be pricey, where a proper jet-ski starts from $8-14k, where hi-end models are around $20k. After that, it would just be maintenance and other negligible costs…depending on what you define as expensive, really.

AUGUST 2008 T3 91

>>>Test drive

BMW 130i Singaporean’s have waited a long time for BMW 1 Series to finally get to our tiny island, but they’re finally here, and in four different flavours - the 118i Five-door hatchback, 120i Cabriolet, 125i Coupe and 130i three-door hatchback. And since BMW Asia gave us a choice of which model to test drive, we of course went for the performer of the family, the 130i.

BMW’s ‘sheer driving pleasure’ motto seems ingrained from birth into their engineers, and they literally cannot produce a car series without at least one model that’s more focused on driving ability than anything else.

With a 3-litre straight 6 developing 265 hp (195kW), the rear-wheel drive 130i is BMW’s answer to the Audi S3 and the Volkswagen Golf R32 in the premium hot hatch market.

Head turner The metallic blue BMW 130i that we took for our test drive garnered quite a few glances, not only for the attractive bright colour, but looks and rarity as well. Since the 1 Series has only been available since May, there’s probably only a few 130is on the road. Compared to most other 3 door hatches, the bonnet is a little bit longer in proportion to the overall length of the car, but it works to add a sense of ‘machismo’ to the car, and definitely a more balanced and less disjointed design than the BMW Z3 coupe was.

For a more sporty appeal, BMW Asia have included a little bit of ‘M’ to the car with a factory M-sports package that includes a sports suspension, front and rear aerodynamic tweaks and 17-inch BMW M light alloy rims. On the inside, there’s a BMW M leather steering wheel and interior badging to accent the leather upholstery. The front sport seats lacked power adjustment, but once properly set up, are quite comfortable and provide good gripe during cornering, while you can just about squeeze a pair of largish blokes into the back seats.

92 T3 AUGUST 2008

Power everywhere Tooling around town under normal driving conditions, we initially didn’t find the 130i too impressive. The big 3-litre inline-6 powerplant sounds suitably throaty, but there didn’t seem to be any real mambo in the acceleration. But when you pop the six-speed automatic gearbox into Sports mode it sort of transmorgifies from sedate to ‘“Phawwor!” The ECU’s suddenly more rev happy, the exhaust note goes up in pitch and there’s more power in every gear – to the point where we found it hard to accelerate sedately in first gear without kangaroo-hopping the car! With the paddle shifters engaged, changing gears is slick and sweet, and this baby Bimmer will launch you to a hundred kay in just 6.2 seconds!

As we’re far more familiar with front-wheel drive hot hatches (like the Mini Cooper S that we fanged around during the most recent MINI Heatwave event) it did take us a while to get used to the rear-wheel drive layout. There’s a thing to be said about a car that uses its front wheels specifically for direction, and rear only for power - a good driver will find the 130i easy to balance between turning and power. BMW did caution us that the 130i’s sports tuned steering is stiffer than on the other 1 series models, but it’s feedback was precise during cornering.

Compared to the European hot hatches that we’ve test-driven in the past, like the Mini Cooper S and the Volkswagen Golf GTI, the 130i, priced at almost S$150k and with a 3-litre engine, seems heavier and not as agile in a tight turn. But it is a typical sports-centric BMW car, with plenty of power to tap, consummate road handling and supreme in high-speed corners. We haven’t test driven the 130i’s closest rivals, the S$167k Audi S3 and the S$157k VW Golf R33 (which we hope to test drive soon), so we can’t directly compare them to this baby Bimmer, but the BMW 130i is a rising star and a definite player in the premium hot hatch stakes. T3

Words shawn chung Photography bmw

BMW 130i S$149,800 (On-road, inclusive of COE) www.bmw1series.com.sg 3.0 litre inline 6 petrol engine. 195 kW/265 hp @ 6,650 rpm, 315 Nm@2,750 rpm torque. 6-speed automatic transmission with Steptronic and paddle shift. 0-100 kmh in 6.2 seconds, 250 kmh top speed. 9.2 litres/100km combined fuel consumption. 17-inch M-Sports lightweight alloy rims.

AUGUST 2008 T3 93