10 Years of Mobile Phones

Today mobile phone is not only a tool to make phone calls, text but has already diversified into many other functions like camera, MP3 player, organiser etc.. and to some people it's something to show off their status.

Can you imagine how it has developed from 10 years ago? It has been more than 10 years for myself as a mobile phone user.

My first mobile phone was an ancient Motorola 8200, it was when my sister switched to the once popular Startac and gave it to me as a gift, when I was still a student in uni.

Don't play play, it was considered one of the most slim phone during that time but it was really a basic phone, text messaging wasn't even common back then.

Students are often spending without thinking much as they don't realise how hard it is to earn money. Soon I changed to an used Nokia 6110, lighter, younger, although it has a big thick antenna which nobody will wants it today. It was a very user friendly phone that made me think I won't go back to Motorola again.

However, the once beloved 6110 broke down not long after, forcing me to buy my first new phone Nokia 3210, bought it in Singapore, finally no more antenna, it's solid and heavy and is an extremely useful weapon if you get into fights.

[edited 20/4/07] how could I left out the Nokia 6510?? The once perfect phone which followed me for almost 3 years until it was really really really outdated, when everybody starts using phones with colour screens and polyphonic ringtone... Quite an embarrassment when exchanging numbers with chicks.. Esther had laughed on it for a long time.. and Steph text me after a few dates asking me to send it to museum..

After being a Nokia user for many years and many months of survey, I finally decided to switch camp and bought my first colour screen phone, Panasonic VS6, not a popular model but I really like it. It still has the best 16 millions display in the market, very good quality and the interface is as easy as Nokia. That was when I start playing with picture MMS to flirt with Steph.

It's very different for the mobile phone market in UK where you get a new phone with a mobile contract. I got my first phone in London, a Sony Ericsson W810i, the best that I ever had, love the music quality and everything with it! Guess I will keep it for a very long time.

I got the Motorola RAZR V3i for the 1,000 minutes off peak contract and it is basically free if I don't use beyond the limit. It's a very nice slim flip phone but I still don't like Motorola, struggling with the user interface even after months using it. Sold it on Ebay last week for GBP65, before it becomes a piece of junk. Back with my VS6 which I feel more handy with.

I certainly won't get a Blackberry like most other working class do in UK, checking emails everywhere. It's a tool which is designed to save your time but ends up locks up your freedom.

So what will the mobile phone industry becoming like, for the next 10 years?

Dyxum Outing 2007-03-25

First group outing with Dyxum forum members, weather wasn't brilliant but it was a great day for me as an amateur photographer to meet the pros for their valuable sharing.

From left to right: Rob (Roby), Chris (dCap), Anthony (Arpictures), Ian (IanMiddy), me, Bob (BobJanesSE2), Mark (mtiller) and Craig (cjc181166)

We met at wobbly bridge and as usual I was the last to arrive, a bad habit that I must correct. I was shy to open my camera bag when I saw what they brought for the outing, especially Mark, look at the Lowe Pro trolley bag that he carried, that's thousands pounds of equipment in it.

Dyxum is the forum I feel more comfortable with. It's the home for the 'minority' Minolta/Sony group, as else where the C&N often ignore the minority. These guys are really great and are generous enough to open my eye sight, letting me touching and try out some precious lenses.

We walked by the north bank of River Thames, although it was a bloody cold day but I was really excited, didn't take a lot of pictures (I visit River Thames very often so I don't really care), all I did was talking to them and finding info on which is the next lens for me to add.

Photo courtesy from Craig, using dCap's 16mm fish eye, can't imagine how it performs on a full frame camera.

HMS Belfast & Tower Bridge on a cloudy day.

Knight at Southwark Cathedral.

Thanks to Anthony for lending me his Minolta 5600HS flash and be my model for this shot. That helps me to set my mind to go for Sony HVL-F56-AM flash, hopefully before end of the year. He also lend me his Sigma 28-70/2.8 to play for a while.

It wasn't a great idea to bring Mark out, poisoning us with his bag of goods. He has done some shooting for Sony UK and Sony gave him a 70-200/2.8 SSM and a 100/2.8D macro as reward! Damn the RRP for the SSM in KL was RM10,888. He lend it to me and it was amazingly sharp and smooth in focusing. I will not think about it until I start taking better pictures with my current lenses.

Incredibly sharp lens - if you think the picture taken was not nice, it wasn't the lens fault, it was mine.

My first encounter with the G lens - the dream for every KM/Sony users

It's a beauty attached to the Sony Alpha.

It was really a delightful day and hope there will be more outing in near future.

Mobile Phone GPS Tracking System

Ever suspect where your partner has gone? Wanna know where is his exact location anywhere in the world? Whether is he cheating or not? The latest mobile phone GPS tracking technology will help hunting down disloyal partner. It can be fun to track your friends location too.

A very cool site. Check this out.

Moving, again

I am moving, again, and I hate it, especially when I don't have a car, guess I will have to make at least 5 trips if alone. This will be the third time since I came to London last year. When I think about my free HP Laserjet printer which weighted near to 20kg, I feel dizzy already. That's a very kind 'farewell' gift from the unforgettable Madam SLT. I carried it back from Newman St to Wapping, stopped every 10-20 meter to bring it home. That was the last torture thanks to that woman.

After experiencing flatshare with strangers, I finally decided to rent a flat myself, at least I get to control of who I live with. Rent this 3 bedrooms + 1 living (which I will convert to a 4th bedroom) at South East London zone 1, just less than 10 mins walking distance to Tower Bridge by River Thames. Plenty of sight seeing spots around the area.



It's big decision to myself, the rental per month here plus council tax (that is GBP120 per month! !@#!&%$!!) is almost installments I am paying for my apartment in KL, for a year.

Hope everything will go smooth, get 3 tenants to share the flat and settle down soon.

Spring is coming

Went out for photo shooting on a lovely sunny weekend at Trafagar Square and Buckingham Palace. I can sense that spring is coming! I hate winter not just because of the weather but the darkness! You feel the days are so short as it turns dark at around 4pm.

I always hang out around Trafagar Square as it's near Chinatown and also Charing Cross Library, where I always borrow photography and travel related books (I hardly read other materials) and free magazines of course. DVDs are available at one pound per week, it's cheap but you can buy a DVD for less than that in Malaysia! That's my love and hate for my home country - love the cheap stuff but hate the low income.

I personally like this picture a lot, the circular polarizer made the sky bluer.

Trafagar Square is the pigeon's paradise as the tourist loves to feed them.. and spoil them.. they are not afraid of human at all. I don't like the pigeons btw, they are flying all over the place and if you get unlucky you'll get some bird shit on you.

Buckingham Palace is just next to Trafagar Square, surrounded by the Green Park, St James's Park and the Buckingham Palace Garden, with birds, swans and squirrels around. A lover place to hang out on a sunny day.

Admiralty Arch heading to the palace.

I don't know the name of this tiny flower but it's all over the ground, size of a 5 cents - I laid on the ground to take many shots but the results were not really satisfying. I used the +4 close-up filter to shorten the focus distance but I think a true 1:1 macro lens will do the job better.

Cute little squirrel eating peanut.

It's a real big bird!

First 'Live' in UK

It has been very long since I came to UK that I want to go for a live football match. Football club in London are namely Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Westham, Fulham and some others not in Premiership. However the tickets are really difficult to get even you have the money, first you have to be a member of the fan club then only you are eligible to purchase the match tickets and the tickets to general public are always limited to grab.


Finally today I am going to Stamford Bridge Stadium to watch FA Cup 6th round - Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspurs. Bought pair of tickets from here, seats at east stand upper cost me GBP50 each double of the face value of the tickets. Find me there in case I do some silly stuff to attract the cameraman.

I will be wearing Chelsea jersey sponsored by my Samsung boss, sit at Chelsea end but I'll be supporting the prolific striker of Tottenham - Bulgarian Berbatov, an intelligent and sharp goal scorer which I wish he'll score against Chelsea. I don't care who wins at the end, MU will bring the cup home eventually anyway.

My ultimate aim is to travel to Old Trafford this year to watch MU live.

My only concern is.... I hope the pairs of tickets are real and I won't get arrested for faking the tickets......

A Gift

A gift for a friend, sorry that didn't get a proper birthday card, just grabbed a postcard from cafe last minute.


'the eye massager' - hope it'll helps to destress her effectively.

Choosing a 10MP DSLR

Like what I encountered when I decided to move to the digital world of SLR, a lot of factors have been considered before I finally made my decision to go for Sony Alpha.

Unless you are a die hard fan for particular brand of Canon or Nikon which are always against each others, it's worth to have a look on this group test of the 3 entry level 10MP DSLR in the market launched last year - Canon 400D, Nikon D80 and Sony Alpha A100



I have no regret so far :)