LG Secret: A Review

Last month, I attended the LG press conference held at CommunicAsia 2008 where they launched their latest Black Label Series phone, the LG Secret. I received my LG Secret at CommunicAsia and I've been putting it through its paces to find out for myself how good the phone really is. Here's a review.



The LG Secret is a slim phone, measuring only 11.8 mm in thickness - not bad for a mobile phone power packed with features. It fits nicely in the palm of my hand and on first impression, it looks like it's a beautifully crafted phone. LG has gone all out to dress up the LG Secret. Tempered glass, faux leather, shiny metal parts and even carbon fibre have been used to make the phone into the beauty that it is.

The phone's LCD screen is made of tempered glass which is great because it prevents scratches and it won't crack if you drop the phone. I haven't tested that out but er, I believe them! Slide the screen upwards and the phone reveals its keypad. The LG Secret's touch pad located just below the screen uses Neon Touch Navigation buttons which sensitively respond to commands with a luminous blue light.



The LG Secret uses the same battery that its predecessor the LG Shine uses. The battery performance is surprisingly pretty good for the LG Secret considering that the phone has more power draining features than the LG Shine. If you are an average phone user, the LG Secret's battery can last you around 2 days. Remove the phone's battery cover and you'll find the battery sitting together with the slots for the SIM card and a memory card. LG Secret supports up to 4GB Micro SD memory card. It has 100 MB of internal memory.

The phone reception of the LG Secret is pretty good. I've read several reports online saying that some users have problems with the phone's signal strength but I have experienced no such problems so far. The LG Secret's antennae area is at the bottom of the handset so if you want to have the best signal, make sure that your palm or fingers do not cover the antennae area.

The LG Secret has a 5MP autofocus camera which according to my test shots are as good as Sony's 5MP Cybershot phones. In fact, the photos from the LG Secret has a truer colour as compared to the Cybershots. You can choose from 5 different options: Normal Shot, Continuous Shot which allow you to shoot up to 9 shots automatically in quick succession, Frame Shot, Panorama Shot and Music Video Shot which allows you to take a shot with a music or your voice. The camera also comes with a lot of advanced settings such as ISO change, scene modes, effects, etc. You can also take very good close-up shots thanks to the camera's macro lens. Besides taking photos, the camera also does a good job on videos. You can shoot a video at 120 frames per second and with DivX certified recording!

One of the most talked about feature of the LG Secret is its Touch Media which allows you to use the phone's LCD screen as a full function touchpad! But too bad LG decided that the Touch Media function is only for accessing photos and documents, listening to the radio and playing music and games.

Talking about games, I never had so much fun playing games on a mobile phone before. The LG Secret has several motion sensor games. What's so cool about these games is that you just have to swing, shift, tilt or flick the phone to play the games. My favourites are the Dart and the Fishing games. These games are really so much fun to play.



The LG Secret is also loaded with popular Google apps like Google Search, Gmail, Google Map, YouTube and Blogger! Other features of the phone include the Mp3 player, office document reader, Internet Browser, FM radio, Auto Luminance Control, Auto Rotating Display, Bluetooth and Voice Clarity.

Overall, the LG Secret is a great phone that has the good looks and cool features but I can't help thinking that it could have been a greater phone if it comes with Wifi. Come on LG, what's so hard about putting Wifi into this phone? Argh!


Previously:

Live @ CommunicAsia 2008: LG Press Conference
CommunicAsia 2008: LG Secret Launch Videos
Live @ CommunicAsia 2008: First pics of LG Secret!
Unboxing the new LG Secret mobile phone

Unboxing the new LG Secret mobile phone

I received LG's hot new phone, the LG Secret aka the KF750 last week. The LG Secret is the third LG Black Label Series following the success of LG Chocolate and LG Shine. Yesterday, I decided to give the LG Secret an official unboxing. Here are the pics. You can click on the thumbnails below.



And of course, no unboxing will be complete without a video aye, so here's one.



Also, do check out my coverage of the LG Secret launch at CommunicAsia here.

Live @ CommunicAsia 2008: LG Press Conference

LG officially announced the Asia-Pacific launch of the LG Secret at Hall 1, Singapore Expo to a packed audience. LG Secret is the third LG Black Label Series following the success of LG Chocolate and LG Shine.

LG is hoping that the launch of LG Secret will elevate LG even further in its quest to become a top-tier mobile brand in the region.

LG Secret boasts a slim 11.8 mm thick frame with a 5.0 megapixel camera. It is the first mobile phone in the world to be made from carbon fiber. It also uses tempered glass which further enhances the phone's sturdiness.

The phone's Neon Touch Navigation appeals to users on an emotional level and visual feedback. When browsing its five Touch Media feature, the main display becomes touch sensitive for an easy and intuitive experience.

LG Secret also boasts 120 fps video recording, DivX certified video playback, Auto Luminance Control, Bluetooth Auto-Sync features and it is loaded with a Google Package that enables you to surf the internet, log into Gmail, use Google Maps and watch YouTube videos. You can also open Word, Excel and Powerpoint files, listen to music while flicking through your photos on the screen and play motion games that have a gyroscope-like effect enabled by the accelerometer sensor.

Pricing for the LG Secret is currently unavailable but I've heard that the sets will be shipped to Singapore for sale sometime next week.





More photos and videos of the LG Secret later.

Update: LG Secret will be on sale in Singapore on June 21 and will retail at S$838.

Update: View more photos here and watch the videos here.

The LG KS20 Smartphone: A Review

I've been using the LG KS20 regularly ever since I received one during the LG KS20 launch party held last month. The KS20 is LG's first Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone in the region. I'm a big fan of LG. In fact, my all time favourite mobile phone is the LG Shine which I'm currently using. And like the LG Shine, the LG KS20 is built for style and elegance.



The LG KS20 is powered by Windows Mobile 6 and integrates the latest in connectivity and productivity technologies in a compact and slim device. The one obvious thing that you will notice about the LG KS20 is that it looks similar to the beautiful LG Prada phone. I understand that the chassis of the KS20 is modeled after the Prada. Ah good choice LG! So lookswise, the LG KS20 is a stunner. I love its black and silver surface and its slim and sleek body. At only 12.8mm thin, it is definitely the thinnest Windows Smartphone I've used.



The LG KS20 has a 2.8” LCD flat touch screen with an intuitive touch system that users can navigate and input instructions with a stylus as well as with their fingers. The touch screen responded well even when used with my fingers.



One of the best thing about the LG KS20 is its tool bar at the bottom of the display which is pretty handy. The icons are big enough for anyone to use their fingers to launch some of the LG KS20's basic operations like internet, email and phone.

The LG KS20 features a full complement of multimessaging and multimedia functionality that you would expect from a Windows Smartphone. You'll find push email, instant messaging, video calling, an inbuilt FM radio and a full complement of office productivity applications from Microsoft, such as Outlook, Office, and Windows Live for Windows Mobile. You can also sync with Microsoft Exchange out-of-the-box, create and edit Word and Excel documents, as well as view PowerPoint presentations. I like!

When it comes to internet surfing, the LG KS20 is a joy to use thanks to its unsurpassed flexibilities in wireless connectivity options with its built-in WiFi and support for HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) wireless broadband at speeds of up to 3.2Mbps. I've tried logging into my Wifi network at home and other hotspots outside and I encountered not much problems when surfing my favourite blogs and other websites.

The LG KS20 also comes with a 2 mega pixel camera with flash. Its Schneider Kreuznach autofocus lens is a gem. I reckon it is the same lens that is used in the LG Shine. 2 mega pixel may not be a lot to most people but I think the LG KS20 like the LG Shine, takes very good photos and it especially excels when it comes to close up photography as you can see from these shots I took.





The video quality of the LG KS20 is also pretty acceptable. Here's a clip I took of the LG Shine using the LG KS20.

Full feature list of the LG KS20:

* Video Telephony: 2.0 Mega Pixel + VGA videoconferencing Camera
* 3.6Mbps HSDPA Capability
* Full-Touchscreen and 2.8” Wide Flat LCD Screen
* Natural Handwriting Recognition
* Internet Environment: Windows Mobile 6/Windows Live/Windows Media DRM Playback
* MMS/Push E-mail/Java/WAP2.0
* Bluetooth 2.0 / MP3 Player
* MicroSD External Memory
* 128MB Internal Memory
* FM Radio

And specs:

* Radio Bands: HSDPA (3.6Mbps), WCDMA, Tri-band (GSM/GPRS/EDGE)
* Display: 240 x 320(QVGA), 2.8”, 262K TFT-LCD
* Dimensions: 99.5mm x 58mm x 12.8mm
* Talk Time/Standby Time: 4hr/400hr
* Battery: 1050mAh
* Weight: 92.5g

Overall, I think the LG KS20 is a good attempt by LG to create a new line of stylish Windows smartphones. I love the sleek beauty and the reliability of the phone. The battery life is also excellent. I'm not a heavy user so therefore I did not have to charge the phone daily. But there are some complains. The startup time could have been faster. I timed it at around 25 secs. I would also prefer if there's a touch keypad to input text that is more finger friendly. The default one by Windows is best used with a stylus. Also, I find that getting out my sim card from the phone really takes some finger acrobatics and the stylus is also difficult to pull out at times.

Previously:
Bloggers at the LG KS20 Launch
LG KS20: The Unboxing Pics

The Amazing Race Asia 2 Finale Party: Pics and Videos!

Last night, the beautiful IndoChine at The Forbidden City at Clarke Quay hosted the AXN Amazing Race Asia 2 Finale Party. More than 400 invited guests including me, attended the party and watched the season finale of the Amazing Race Asia which was shown to us one hour before the actual broadcast. Cool!



Watching the Amazing Race with 400 others was totally a new and exhilarating experience for me. Everyone in the crowd was cheering for their favourite contestants. There were 3 teams left challenging to be the Amazing Race Asia champion - from Singapore, Colin and Adrian, Pamela and Vanessa from Malaysia and the Philippines team of Marc and Rovilson. The loudest cheers of course went out to both Colin and Adrian when they were crowned the champions. Check out the video below. The crowd was ecstatic! It's like watching the World Cup when your favourite team just scored a goal.



Here's host Allan Wu taking the stage at the end of the special screening.



And soon the final three teams were up there with him for the prize giving ceremony.



More videos here, here and here.



And here's me looking so happy after my favourite team won (and after my drinks).

Everyone at the party went home with a goody bag from AXN.



Inside the goody bag, I found these...



Love the Amazing Race Asia T-shirt and Passport! Many thanks to the AXN folks for organising a great party and also thanks to the lovely WH for bringing me along and Lawrence from AXN for hosting us and lastly congrats to both Colin and Adrian - you guys did Singapore proud!

(All pics and videos taken with the LG Shine)

My new baby has arrived!

On Thursday night, the lovely people from LG delivered to me their new 42 inch LCD HD TV as part of their Blogger Review Program. This is my second time doing a blogging assignment for LG. The first was for the beautiful LG Shine mobile phone. That's my new baby (pic above) in its box. I expected it to be big but never thought it would be this big. It's a giant alright. Yesterday evening, one of their guys finally showed up to set it up and briefed me about its features, etc. My first impression: WOW! Will post more pics, videos and reviews later.

Also read:
The LG Shine review
Enter the Dragon: First pics of the new HP Dragon
HP Dragon Video
HP Dragon: Setting up its integrated HDTV tuner
More iPaq porn!
Using the iPaq rw6828: Photo taking and Printing

LG Shine clone?

This China made mobile phone looks just like the LG Shine, don't you think? Man, those Chinese are amazing at keeping it real fake.

Related:
The LG Shine Blog
The LG Shine Review
More LG Shine Pics!
LG Shine Pics

YOU C1000 Vitamin Lemon Drink

I've been suffering from the irritating flu for sometime now. My nose has been running non stop. At times, it is worse than a tap of running water.

Thankfully it is definitely getting better after a trip to the doc who told me that I should be taking more Vitamin C. I have not been eating fruits that much lately maybe that's why my immune system has been weak.

Anyway, I was at my neighbourhood 7 Eleven store yesterday to buy some stuff and I came across this small bottled drink called YOU C1000.





It has 1000mg of Vit C! I decided to give it a try. It tasted really good - kinda like a lemonade soda. But more importantly, after drinking it, I felt much better already. I swear!

(All pics taken with the LG Shine mobile phone. Review of the LG Shine here and more related posts here.)

At Little Guilin

I think Little Guilin has got to be one of the most beautiful places you can find in Singapore. Little Guilin is a granite hill sitting within a lake. Located near Bukit Batok East Avenue 5, it is named after China's Guilin, a place famous for its heavenly landscapes.



(Photos and video taken with the beautiful LG Shine)

Kevin's Farewell Party @ Oosh

I don't usually attend blogger gatherings (too shy) but when my man Kevin organised a farewell party at the beautiful Oosh on Saturday night, I just had to go. I think more than 15 people showed up - mostly bloggers. I did not get a chance to talk to everyone there (sorry) but I had a jolly good time and I'm sure everyone else did too. Here are some pics from Kevin's camera.


The man of the night - Kevin! Have a safe trip back mate and all the best in what ever you do.


Here's Brennan (with that sexy pose of his) and me. Brennan is a long time reader of this blog, way back during its Tripod days. It was really nice meeting him. The boy is going to enter the army soon so wish him good luck as he makes Singapore safer for all of us.


Also met and talked quite a bit with Preetam. This pic was taken just after he was explaining to me how he mobilized several hundred students in China to beat me in a blog award some time ago. Damn it. Other than that, he is a very nice bloke with a fun job- he teaches lecturers how to waste their time blogging.


Finally, the LG Shine bloggers - the very hot Veron, me and our lovely LG Shine mobile phones. Read her LG shine review here.

There are more photos over at Kevin's Flickr set.

The LG Shine Blog

I'm one of the selected bloggers in Singapore to be involved in LG's blogger relations programme for their new LG Shine phone. Recently, I found out that they have a blog that contains posts written by all the Singapore LG Shine bloggers. Go check out The LG Shine Blog and don't forget to check out the LG Shine phone too at your nearest handphone shop aye - it's a beauty!

Autobots, transform and roll out!

I mentioned about my new Optimus Prime message tone in an earlier post. Some of you have requested that I share the sound file. I'm nice (hehe) so here it is... oh, but I decided to give you peeps a much better version than the one I had in my LG Shine. Last night, I took a couple of minutes to mix the Optimus Prime voice file with the "transforming" sound effect. Listen to it.



Download the file (mp3) here.

And here's just the "transforming" sound effect.



Download the file (mp3) here.

Cool aye. Enjoy. Autobots, transform and roll out!

Also read:
This is how the Transformer movie theme should sound
Hunting for Bumblebee
Singapore Gala Premiere of Transformers

I am Optimus Prime...

I'm so happy with the new message tone in my LG Shine mobile phone. Now everytime someone sends me a SMS, the voice of Autobot leader Optimus Prime will be heard saying: "I am Optimus Prime. Autobots, transform and roll out!" So cool! Ok now, those of you who know my number are welcomed to keep smsing me again and again and again and again...

(Thanks Chelse)

Also read: Singapore Gala Premiere of Transformers

Donut Factory @ Suntec City

Donut Factory has opened another outlet at Suntec City just beside Carrefour. If you haven't heard, Donut Factory is famous for its delicious donuts and ultra long queues. I visited its new Suntec City outlet on Monday. Some pics here...



I was there at 11.15am and to my surprise there were only 30 people in the queue. The one at Raffles City would have been 4 times more! If you don't want to queue for 3 hours or more for the Donut Factory donuts, then I would recommend a visit to its Suntec City outlet. It took me only slightly more than an hour to buy my donuts.



There are even tables and seats for people to dine in. Did not see many people doing that though.



And there's also a line for those who prefer to buy a maximum of 2 donuts. I call it the express line.



A lady who works there informed me that they be taking advance orders soon. That means you can call them 24 hours a day to order your donuts. Yay! But no word if they will accept online orders.

And what do you when you have Donut Factory opening an outlet beside you?



Well, if you are Carrefour, you take out all your donuts to the entrance and sell them for 90 cents each! Now that's what I call a donut war. I did not try out the Carrefour donuts, therefore I'm not sure if they are any good. Guess I'm too happy with my donuts from Donut Factory.



I'm officially addicted!

(Pictures taken with the LG Shine mobile phone)

Previously: Donut Factory @ Raffles City

Lingerie Handphone Strap

These Japanese lingerie handphone straps are so cute and sexy. They are actually miniature bra and panty. You can buy the bra or the panty or both as a set. There are various designs to choose from. Supposedly makes your handphone a whole lot sexier. I don't mind getting one for my LG Shine.

Photoblog: Together at the beach

Today on my photoblog Katoomba Syndrome: Together at the beach

Sunset, moonrise, the beach, two babes, my pair of Filas - perfect!

I've talked about the camera that comes with the LG Shine phone on my blog before and I decided I should do a photoblog entry using the cam. So here it is (the link above). It's really not a bad camera for a 2 mega pix! And the phone is lovely. Here's the review and all my LG Shine related posts.

Donut Factory @ Raffles City

I've always wanted to try out the donuts from Donut Factory located at Raffles City. Since its opening, the shop has become famous for its delicious donuts and extremely long queues.



I decided to head down to Donut Factory few days ago. I reached there at 10am. I thought I could try to beat the queue by going there real early but to my surprise, there was already a handful of people queuing and the shop wasn't even opened! Only later, some found out that the shop would only start selling donuts at 12.30pm. Argh! But people continue to queue up nonetheless.





I had no choice but to do the same because the queue was getting longer. By 11am, I counted at least 40 people in the queue and it was growing... fast!



When the shop finally opened, there was still the wait for your turn to place your orders. It was still agonizing. The line wasn't moving as fast as I thought it would. I only managed to buy my donuts at around 12.50pm. I bought a set of 6 which includes 1 Peanut Dark Chocolate, 1 Hazelnut Milk Chocolate, 1 Orange White Chocolate, 2 White Strawberry Heart and 1 Apple Cinnamon.



So is it worth the wait? I hate to queue especially for food and I can't believe that I actually queued for more than 2 hours for a bunch of donuts. But yes, it's worth it. The donuts at Donut Factory are definitely not Krispy Kreme but they are probably the best you can find in Singapore.

The White Strawberry Heart is definitely my favourite among the donuts that I bought. I wanted to get the Double Chocolate (dark chocolate filling) but they ran out of stock since it's the most popular of the donuts there. I was told that I had to wait another 10 minutes for it. I couldn't because I had to rush for a meeting. What a waste. Oh well, maybe next time.



Here are some tips for those of you who would like to brave the wait for these delicious donuts:

1) Go there early. 11 am should be fine.
2) Best if you have a friend along so that you can waste time chit-chatting away.
3) Bring along your iPod or PSP.
4) Read a book or newspaper.
5) Make sure you are wearing comfortable shoes.
6) And lastly, don't be shy to sit down on the floor. I did. Tired duh!

(Photos taken with the beautiful LG Shine mobile phone. Read all my posts about it here.)

Kit Kat from Japan

Look at what I received all the way from Japan - Kit Kat!!!

Here are two pics taken with my new LG Shine phone. It has a damn good camera you know! Anyway, back to the Kit Kat.

These two have different cocoa content.



And my favourite...



Kit Kat Brandy & Orange!

That's 1% alcohol. Not enough for me (it's never enough!) but what the heck, I love Kit Kat!

(Thanks a lot Yoko)

Mini Jenga phone charm

This mobile phone strap/charm is a playable miniature Jenga. So cute aye. Comes with a Jenga stick for picking those tiny blocks. I want it for my new LG Shine. Jenga! Jenga! Jenga!

(Thanks troy)

On a lazy Sunday afternoon

Just what I need on a lazy Sunday afternoon...



Wine, cheese, crackers, strawberries!





Burp! Yum.

And for those who are wondering, I used the new LG Shine mobile phone to take these pictures. These are unedited, straight from the phone shots! Very nice aye. Read about it by clicking the links below:

The LG Shine Review
More LG Shine pics!
LG Shine pics!
Come Shine with Me!