After last night’s Let’s Talk iPhone event, I’m open to trying out new mobile phones again! Ever since I got my 3GS, I’ve been rather stubborn that no other phone can replace the iPhone, but having used iPhone for two years now, I’m beginning to get bored of it. Not that I’ll not consider buying the 4GS, just that I think I should give other brands a chance.

My lifestyle for the next one year, in wait for iPhone 5, I’ll need the following features in my phone:

• great camera (8mp and above) to capture shots of kids in action with good lens, light sensitivity and macro shots
• email access
• good UI for access to Facebook, twitter, instagram, flickr, wordpress, google apps, dropbox and whatsapp
• good photo editing apps equivalent to camera+, photoshake and pictureshow on iOS
• at least 16GB storage
• good speakers

Anyone has got a better alternative than the iPhone 4S for my needs? If not I’ll have to join the queue on 28 Oct! -_-”

A while back I did a quick sharing on why I think the INQ Mini 3G is cool. After I got a little more acquainted with the review unit, I discovered some more things, both good and not so good, about the phone. Here’s a little more about the INQ Mini 3G from Claud talks Gadgets.

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Will be away from 22 May to 26 May 2009 in Bangkok. I may be far away from Singapore, but I’ll still be virtually here. And you really don’t want to miss what’s coming up. You’ve been warned!!

Having attended and got first hand try on so many mobile phones, I’m soooo stuck! Its NEVER going to be easy for me to get a new phone ever! So I’ve decided to create my own mobile phone!

This is what my phone will look like…

Can you recognised which parts come from which model? Yes, its a mashed up! Let me explain more about my ideal mobile phone…

Currently I’m owning the Samsung Innov8, which I’m loving for its camera and audio experience. But the flash on the Innov8 would have been better if it was Xeon flash. So I’d edited it with the Sony Ericsson C905 flash. However, its not optimised enough for content consumption. Having tried the HTC Touch HD for a month now, I’m really loving how big the screen is and the clarity of it. Than there’s the Nokia E63 which I just tried, the QWERTY keyboard is one that I love. And the email features too. But the screen is just not optimised for web browsing. Than!! The iphone interface! This I don’t need to elaborate I guess.

So in short, my ideal phone will look something like the above. I wonder if anyone would really have something like that soon? I think not.

So what’s YOUR ideal phone? Do a mashup and share it! Leave a link so I can go check it out!

P/s: Why am I calling it my ideal phone for April 09? Cos there’s always better features and better phones coming out! Since its my ideal phone, I get to decide how it looks or works anytime I like right? =P

Right… alighting from the train now.

The HTC Touch HD changed my perception of Windows Mobile phones, from the extreme hate (and i-so-don’t-want-to-use-it) to the other extreme and now I’m saying “oh-i-can-really-live-with-this!”

The first look

The phone fits nicely into my palm and I’ve a good grip of the phone too. Screen size is bigger than the iPhone and takes up most of the surface as there wasn’t a big button like the one on the iPhone. Instead, there are the call, home, back and hang-up button that takes up only a small portion at the bottom of the phone surface. The wide screen is also great for catching up on all the funny youtube videos on the move. With a earphone of course. Cause the sound isn’t loud enough when you’re commuting. Specs: 3.8-inch wide, WVGA (480 X 800 pixel) display offering a cinema experience on the go

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If you’re a frequent traveler that’s holding two mobile phones and have not been told about phones with dual sim card feature, than this is for you.

As a Samsung customer, I’m eligible to be part of Samsung Touch program. And through this program, Samsung customers get to be selected for various of their initiatives. One of which is to try out some of their products. And this round, I got to play with the Samsung D980 for two weeks.

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This phone review is way overdue. But I shall just touch on briefly how I felt about the Motorola Zn5 as compared to my own Samsung Innov8. But than again, perhaps I shouldn’t be comparing the two in the first place! You see, the Motorola Zn5 aka the ‘Zine’ is a 5mp camera with a 350MB inbuilt memory while the Samsung Innov8 is a 8mp camera phone with HSDPA connection and a 8GB inbuilt memory. How to fight? But Cnet did a “Prizefight” between the two and Zn5 won! Hmmm…

If you would like to know my thoughts, here they are…

The Zn5 design is quite sleek and slim. It feels good in the hands and the many texture of the phone makes the feel special and unique. I would have preferred a flat behind, but with the 5mp camera, a slight bulge for the lens is acceptable. In fact, this bulge gives a better support when holding the phone in one hand.

The camera feature on the Zn5 is a collaboration with Kodak. (A brand which I’ve not been using or seeing for a long while since I last used a film camera about a decade ago? Yap, the only Kodak product I’d used in my life are their film!) Honestly, because of my ignorance of the brand’s product, I don’t know how good or not good is the camera in the phone as compared to the other Kodak cameras. But with the shots I took of the same object under the same condition with the Zn5 and Innov8, I’ve to say I still prefer the quality and control of the camera on the Innov8.

Here are two different shots taken with the Motorola Zn5 and Samsung Innov8… you tell me which is better. (Click on image for bigger and closer view at 1024×768)

The above is from the Moto Zn5

The above is from the Samsung Innov8

In lowlight condition with the Moto Zn5

In lowlight condition with the Samsung Innov8

From the above, I would say, the Innov8 still has a better camera than the Moto Zn5. However, I prefer the flash on the Zn5 better. It gives a more powerful yet evenly spread lighting when you try taking photos in a dark room.

Here’s a shot of Pooh Bear in total darkness with Moto Zn5 w/flash on…

And the two below also with flash on… the cow in daylight condition and the other shot in a KTV room…

(No! I didn’t drink those beer!)

Moving on to the other factors of the phone…

On the side of the phone, there are minimum control, with just the usual volume up/down, camera shutter and a phone keypad lock switch. And on the other side, there’s just the 35mm earphone jack and the USB cable slot.

Lastly, the keypad on the Moto Zn5 is not something I enjoy punching in SMS with. Besides the small screen, the not-so-browsing friendly window also deters me from using it on the go to surf the net or to check my mail.

Overall my verdict for the Moto Zn5 are as follows:

1. Good enough camera with photo quality suitable for web viewing and small prints.
2. Slim and clean lines makes the phone sleek and easy to carry around.
3. Keypad a tad too small and not so friendly on the thumb.
4. 35 mm jack on the side (like the Innov8) is a not-good.
5. Clever use of in between keys for camera function buttons. But it almost caused me to drop the phone while trying to fiddle with just one hand.
6. I would recommend this to those who need the keypad and a relatively good camera.
7. And if you’re looking for a non-sliding phone with the camera feature, get this.

Still prefers my Samsung Innov8. ^_-