Today seems to be a good day for releasing new tech product in Singapore. The highly anticipated Playstation-based smartphone Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY, is available in Singapore exclusively with SingTel from 22 April 2011.

The Xperia PLAY will also be available at Sony Ericsson concept stores at a Recommended Retail Price of S$888 in the colours Black and White.

Key highlights of the Xperia PLAY include:

• Combines a PlayStation-quality gaming experience with the latest Android version 2.3 (Gingerbread)
• First PlayStation-certified device, giving gamers access to PlayStation game content including Sony PlayStation 1 game titles
• Provides an immersive mobile gaming experience with super fast graphics and dedicated game controls on a slide out game pad
• Six preloaded games, including FIFA 10 and SIMS 3 by EA Games

There will be more than 50 titles available, including top franchises such as GLU/Activision’s Guitar Hero and Gameloft’s Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell, which are optimised for game play on Xperia PLAY.

Purchase now at www.singtelshop.com/play and get a FREE wireless stereo headset! While stocks last!

FREE Angry Bird plush toys daily for the 1st 200 purchases of any Android phone on any Flexi Plans! Visit SingTel Red Hot Sale 2011 at Suntec Convention Level 2 Ballroom 1, from 10 Mar 2001 till 13 Mar 2011!

[Photo Credit: SingTel]

Alternatively, you can stand a chance to catch one of the Mini Androids or Angry Birds plushie from the Catcher machine if you have “liked” the SingTel Facebook page!

This Angry Bird is no ordinary Angry Bird, it squeaks like classic angry bird when you hit it!

Did you know that SingTel AMPed has just expanded its music library to more than two million tracks through their new agreement with Warner Music and EMI in Singapore? SingTel AMPed customers will now be able to download music by popular artistes such as Bruno Mars, Linkin Park, Katy Perry, Madonna, Derrick Hoh, Jolin Tsai and Jam Hsiao.

This new agreement came really timely as I was just about to see if I could get a copy of 何维健 aka Derrick Hoh’s new album after hearing so much about his rendition of Aaron Kwok’s classic hit “当我知道你们相爱”! As I am a SingTel 3G iFlexi plan customer, SingTel AMPed is available at no cost to me and the downloads do not incurring any data charges! I can also download up to 15 Digital Rights Management (DRM)-free music everyone!

If you are a SingTel customer, do check out the SingTel AMPed website for more information!

Mr Yuen Kuan Moon from SingTel, Mr Sung-Hyun Moon from Samsung, Super Junior and the Galaxy S!

Super Junior was in Singapore on 6 Jun 2010 for the SingTel Samsung Galaxy S Media Launch and performed LIVE at the Showcase held at Marina Bay Sands!

Samsung Galaxy S

The short 3 min rendezous with the Samsung Galaxy S got me fall in love with it! Running on Android 2.1 OS, it is designed to allow users around the world to experience the “Smart Life”, which will change the way people view smartphones and how they interact with them to enhance their daily lives.

I love the Super AMOLED display and its ability to turn into a Mobile Access Point – i.e. making your Samsung Galaxy S as a portable WIFI HOTSPOT! The screen and Android 2.1 OS were pretty responsive too!

At the moment, the Samsung Galaxy S is carried exclusively by SingTel until further notice. The Samsung Galaxy S is available from $0 to $398, depending on the type of Galaxy 3G Plans that subscribe to with a 2 year contract.

Super Junior LIVE in Singapore

According to CNA, about 1,600 fans turned up for the Super Junior Showcase! While I did not take any video, I did take some decent pictures at the Media Launch as well as at the Showcase! Check out my facebook album to view them!

XinMSN was also there! Check out the media interviews and some highlights from the showcase!

<br/><a href="http://video.xin.msn.com/?mkt=en-sg&from=&vid=64e39299-c833-4c58-b207-3ce8ea94d751&fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="Super Junior is in Singapore! Super Junior 在新加坡待了一天！">Video: Super Junior is in Singapore! Super Junior 在新加坡待了一天！</a>

Ok, I think this is the video of them disguising as women, as per the interview! OMG to the max!

I would like to thank DK, SingTel and Samsung for the invite to the media launch of Samsung Galaxy S! It will be great if SingTel or Samsung can extend me a Samsung Galaxy S review set to give it a more in-depth review!

Just got your iPhone 3GS recently? Here are some essential free applications which will enhance your iPhone experience!

Location Based Utilities

1. TranSGuide – Locate the nearest bus stops around you and provides you with the ETA of the SBS Transit buses!
2. Locacity SG – Locate DBS/POSB ATM machines, 7-Eleven and other Point of Interest near you in Singapore!
3. iCash SG – Locate POSB and OCBC ATM machines near you. DBS and Citibank will be included soon!
4. Carpark@SG – Locate the carpark and parking fee around your destination before making the decision on where to park your car!
5. iHealth SG – Locate Healthcare institutions and clinics around you! Pandemic Preparedness Clinics are also being highlighted!

Social Networking / Communications

1. Facebook – Upload photos and tag your friends on the go!
2. Plurk – I love the “Mark all as read” function!
3. Twitterrific – You can twitpic with this app and it retweets using standard conventions – RT username:
4. eBuddy – Get connected to Windows Live Messenger and other popular instant messaging networks on the go!
5. Ping! Lite – iPhone to iPhone messaging. Though I prefer Whatsapp Messenger, which is a paid application.
6. WordPress 2 – Blog on the go!
7. PicPosterous – Upload a picture to your posterous account instead of emailing!

Photography and Image Editing

1. Polarize – Create Polaroid like photos!
2. Photoshop.com Mobile – Scaled-down version of Photoshop on iPhone!
3. Flickr – Upload your photos to your flickr account!

Foodie’s Favourites!

1. buUuk – Locate makan places around you! It even highlight those which offer “Healthier Choice”! Can call and make reservations!
2. Hungry Go Where – iPhone version of Singapore’s No 1 Food Resource Website. Can call and make reservations too!

Music

1. Laylio – Listen to MediaCorp Internet Radio on the go! Currently offers Class 95, YES 933, Lush 99.5 and 987FM!
2. MediaCorp Radio Stations – Currently offers 93.8 LIVE and Capital Radio 95.8.

Other Utilities

1. 1-Click Wireless@SG – The name says it all! Just key-in your username and password once, and every time you launch the app, it will log on to Wireless@SG automatically!
2. iCab SG – You never need to remember the numbers of the respective Taxi Companies in Singapore!
3. TraffiCam SG – Check the traffic conditions “live” at key traffic hotspots in Singapore, including the two checkpoints!
4. DropBox – Access your files on the go! You can get a free account at Dropbox.com.

Yesterday, we did a speed test with our iPhone 3GS at Health Promotion Board. We used the Speedtest.net iPhone app to perform this test. At a count of 3, we pressed “Begin Test” simultaneously on our respective iPhone 3GS.

Speedtest.net performs three key measurements used to determine the overall quality and performance of the Internet connection.

• Download Speed – The speed at which data is sent from the Internet to your computer
• Upload Speed – The speed at which data is sent from your computer to the Internet
• Ping (Latency) – The time it takes in milliseconds for a small piece of data to be sent from your computer to the Internet and back

Results? *Drumroll*

We had a confusion earlier as the settings for the results for my iPhone was set to mbps, while the others are using kbps.

Starhub is clearly the fastest like it’s mascot Sparky, followed by SingTel the Red Brolly, and of course, M1 the scorching hot sun.

“Fast download & streaming”? How ironic!

I still remember how I tried to get myself online during my last trip to Kuala Lumpur in June 2009 and did not manage to find this pre-paid 3G Broadband package by Celcom.

The only stop-gap solution was to get connected at the free wifi spots, including standing in the middle of nowhere at Mid Valley Megamall just to leech on an internet access point. The convenience stores do not carry this pre-paid package and I only saw the Celcom shop at Sungei Wang on the last day of my previous trip to Kuala Lumpur.

This time round, I headed to Sungei Wang on the first evening of my working trip and got this Pre-paid 3G Broadband Package at RM25, for a weak week access. Little did I know that the connection is this weak! I could only get connected to 1 website at a time when I was in my hotel room at Hotel Capitol and it crawled like GPRS! My colleague who stayed in Concorde Hotel could not even get connected!

This was when I started to miss my 3G broadband connections in Singapore by SingTel and Starhub.

We were lucky that the conference venue at Shangri-la Hotel offered free wifi coverage in their ballrooms. All of us were busy checking our emails during break times.

I did switch the Celcom 3G sim card into my iPhone 3G from the third day onwards. While it still crawled, the applications that I used on iPhone 3G consumed less data and hence loaded faster (not fast).

If you really need to get connected in Kuala Lumpur, Celcom 3G Broadband is only good enough for your mobile phone, but not using it on a computer with a 3G Modem. Leeching on free wifi will be a better choice, seriously.

@VictorTan and @iamdawnyeoh

Yesterday I was at the SingTel INQ event at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza again to take pictures of SingTel INQ Mini 3G and was lucky enough to meet one of the remaining 7 Princesses from the Big M, @iamDawnYeoh in person!

@iamDawnYeoh was very frank when she was being interviewed by @RandallTan – She shared that she only created her Facebook profile 2 days back, specially for the launch of SingTel INQ Mini 3G! Guess what? I’ve just found 6 profiles on Facebook with her name and picture! *face palm*

The lady from SingTel giving @iamdawnyeoh a quick run through of the phone

The lady from SingTel gave @iamDawnYeoh a quick run through of the phone to prepare her for the interview on stage. We could see that she was quite attentive

@iamdawnyeoh being interviewed on stage

@iamDawnYeoh shared that she find it very troublesome to switch on her computer at home after a long day work. Having the SingTel INQ Mini 3G will allow her to be connected with her friends and fans on the go! @iamDawnYeoh‘s fans REJOICE!

@RandallTan setting up the Twitter account for @iamdawnyeoh

@iamDawnYeoh was quite fascinated when she saw TwitterFall in action and wanted to know more about Twitter. @RandallTan shared about how Twitter works with her briefly. And the next thing we realised, @RandallTan was setting up the Twitter account for @iamDawnYeoh!

Welcome to the Twitterverse, @iamDawnYeoh!

Before she left, she asked us how to super poke on Twitter. There was a moment of awkward silence before we start telling her that super poke is a feature on facebook, not twitter. Guess she should be having fun super poking and tweeting now with the SingTel INQ Mini 3G on hand!

To view a few more photos of @iamdawnyeoh, you can find them on my Flickr set.

I had a brief encounter the SingTel INQ Mini 3G at the launch event yesterday by the invitation of 24seven. Prior to the event, there were some discussion on twitter that SingTel INQ Mini 3G is overhyped, which I beg to differ. The tweeps were comparing SingTel INQ Mini 3G with Smartphones like HTC Hero and iPhone!

Hello? You can’t really compare a budget car like Chery QQ, with a luxury car like Mercedes right?

Picture taken during my second appearance at SingTel INQ Mini 3G event

My iPhone was running low on batt when I reached the event location yesterday after a morning of tweeting at SMBSG7. The peeps from 24Seven were kind enough to allow me to charge my iPhone! The best thing was, they loaned me a SingTel INQ Mini 3G to relieve my twitter withdrawal.

My short rendezvous with SingTel INQ Mini 3G was a pretty good one! While it felt a little sluggish at times, it managed to serve my needs! There are a few features that I liked about this phone:

1. It does “RT UserID” when you retweet. Most twitter apps on iPhone don’t retweet this way, you know!
2. It downloads your Facebook phone contacts into your phone!
3. It connects to Windows Live Messenger!
4. You get notifications in the phone inbox when you receive a message on Facebook.

Of course we do not expect phone that is ZERO DOLLARS (2 years 3G Flexi Lite AMPed plan or the iOne Plus Youth plan) to be perfect, right? Here are some limitations of this phone:

1. It doesn’t show mentions and replies on twitter.
2. The Facebook application is linked to the Mobile Web version for most of the time.
3. You can’t upload photo taken using the built in camera to facebook or twitpic it. (Correction: Photos can be uploaded to Facebook from the Picture Album app, not from the Facebook app.)

Would you like to have a try of the SingTel INQ Mini 3G phone? Be at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza on 21 Sep 09 to try it out for yourself! Jesseca Liu will also be making her appearances between 2 to 6pm.

Bloggers Photo Challenge

If you are lucky enough, you may stand to win the phone by taking part in the daily lucky draw or a pair of F1 Tickets when you take a photo with one of the featured bloggers between 4 – 6pm!

I must say that we had a lot of fun camwhoring and playing with the phone at the event! A big thank you to SingTel and 24Seven for having us there!

P.S. Just a note to the peeps from INQ mobile: You may wish to produce non-camera versions of your social media phones to meet the needs of the Military guys!