I think I found the phone I am finally looking for, the O2 XDA Zinc (aka Asus Mars II). Not a far cry as a downgrade from my current Dell Axim with a VGA (640×480 screen, 624Mhz Processor & 16MB Dedicated 3D accelerator). This one has all the stuffs I currently need without having to carry around 2-3 devices everyday, seemingly having to have them banded in rubber bands to keep them in place and preventing from misplacing them.

Whats more, it’s made by Asus and surprisingly not HTC. It will be rebranded as usual by your local telecom carriers (launch prices for UTMS based phones ~ $1300 w/o Contract). As it’s recently FCC approved, we can see this baby coming around Q4 2006 to Q1 2007 in Asia Pacific as the O2 XDA Zinc, which is kinda cheesy for a name, now if only this were named the “XDA Stealth” instead. And now behold pics of the Dopod 838Pro Killer:

Slide Out Keyboard	Front w/Stylus	Removed showing Keyboard Connector

O2 XDA Zinc, aka Asus Mars II Specs:

• Intel PXA270 520Mhz Processor
• Windows 5.0 OS Phone Edition
• 64MB RAM, 128MB ROM
• Volume 109 x 58 x 22.6mm
• 165g with Battery
• 2.8″ 65K 240×320 TFT LCD Screen
• GSM (900/1800/1900Mhz) WCDMA2100, UTMS version avaliable (No HSDPA 3.5G)
• 3G Video Calling (Depending on carrier)
• Slide out QWERTY keyboard
• 1300mah Battery
• Mini-SD format (Hotswap) (+Point)
• 3 banded 2.5mm Audio & Mic Port (+Point)
• 2MP Autofocus Camera w/1x-2.5x DZoom w/o Marco
• Camera Resolutions (80×60, 160×120, 320×240, 640×480, 1280×960, 1600×1200)
• Video Resolutions (80×60, 160×120, 320×240)
• Video capture framerate at Framerate unspecified ATM (Shoud be around 15-20fps MAX, based off current 2MP generation phones of equal specs)
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Infrared: SIR
• Wireless-g/a/b Networks
• USB, IrDA, Bluetooth Sync
• USB Charging
• USB Client function

From what I see, besides the all already standard functions like USB client (Sadly no USB Host though), USB sync and charging form the same port, what really sets this device from the current HTC Hermes (aka Dopod 838Pro) is not only the beefier 520Mhz Intel Xscale processor, but the very conventional 3 banded 2.5mm Audio jack, which can be easily converted to a standard (3 banded w/mic or 2 banded only stereo sound) 3.5mm jack output by means of a simple small wired adaptor you can purchase from your local audio/hi-fi/handphone store. This means you can use all your current headphones on this device right out of the box without the need of any specialised device-specific plug/adaptor or so.

1300Mah Battery	Layout Specs 1/2	Layout Specs 1/2

Item 8 on the diagram will be the seondary 3G video call camera which is missed from the layout mapping. The 1300mah battery is of decent capacity. Moreover, MircoSD costs a simply a fraction of that of MicroSDs, not to mention being a more preferred mainstream media like full sized SDs, contrary to the irritating MircoSD format. At least Asus practises some form of standard here, unlike HTC.

Depending on your mobile carrier/shop, the following are standard and are included in the Box:

Package Contents

• Asus Mars II Unit x 1
• Battery x 1
• AC – Mini USB Adapter x 1
• Mini USB Cable x 1
• Stylus x 1
• Protection Case x 1
• Headset x1 (Wired 2.5mm stereo with PTT MIC)
• Companion CD x 1, Bonus CD x 1
• User Manual x 1
• Quick Start Guide x 1

If you are looking for an upgrade without having to go through a culture shock the Dopod 838Pro offers by having to junk all your current wired headphones & MiniSD cards as they don’t seem to fit anywhere, this is for you. Both sensible and practical… so as Asus seemingly came to realise.

School
On a recap, PDDII presentation was on last week, did a blast again, good for both the team and morale as a whole. Engineering Maths III tests will be on coming Wednesday, haven’t studied for it, should be focusing on it the coming days. A slip on an MST costed me a non-perfect score last Semester even after reportedly scoring 100% for the final Exam, won’t be making that same mistake again.

Work
Workwise, cleared a few deals and would be expecting a good pay cheque in by next month after a long break. Now to bug one more client in Australia for payment and I can see things set in place for this year’s New Year’s Resolution Personal Revenue Target. Mum came with updates on my land banking reservation – disappointingly, it seems that the latest dirt plots in Canada are selling like pancakes with none left, demand is far surpassing supply now. Should be vigilant for another investment opportunity.

Training
Runs were abit short last few weeks, top it up with some good ol’ mileage last tuesday and today, bringing the weekly total to 52km, not the most I’ve ever run, but I can see this becoming quite a norm now in preps for SCM.

Millege for the week (23th-28th Oct 7 day period)
20 rounds Tiong Bahru park, Tuesday (Public Holi) – 20km
SP Gym 2+1 Sets Weight Training – Wednesday
SP Track & Field Training, Endurance – Tuesday – 12km
20 rounds Tiong Bahru park, Sunday – 20km
Total Millege for week = 52km (173.3% of 30km/week target met)

YouTube
Initial when YouTube was up, I told myself it was utter rubbish, people now are all about voyeurism and exhibition and thats whats YouTube is for – to share your crap to the world. May I be infact, wrong…

Maybe becuase I am currently too busy to even switch on my TV to BBC for one of my favourite BBC PrimeTime programs Topgear, let be Monster Garage on Discovery. Or maybe it was the recent “gobbling” of YouTube for some billions which apparently made it more worthy to visit.

And so interestingly, despite the current deletion of over 30,000 videos, YouTube seems to have quite a healthy archive of shows I particularly like watching – both new and old. So it’s all not just Pirated Anime, “hardgay” and “tammy” stuffs which realistically speaking, most people use it for…

This definately beats having a TV schedule, it’s almost like TIVO haha. Moreover, this make sharing videos with my viewers easier… So there was a nice Top Gear episode, a simple search, code and a ctrl-v and it’s goodie videos for all… So… with in hand here are some Top Gear Videos worth sharing and watching. Namely the baby Lambo Gallardo and the Merc S-class.

I never really liked Ferraris or Benz, but I always have a soft spot for Lambos. Now if only my family car has the voice recognition capabilities of the S-class. Now if I were to make $30,000 a month I can choose to buy a new car every month, or save up for about 1 year and get one of these…
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Mmm, good thing an Air Terrorist plot had been foiled recently, but the air-travel industry did kinda shaken up over the past few days with increased security & inspections. Basic items like scissors, jackknifes all not allowed on board planes, even combustable laptop batteries are not permitted (thanks dell and sony) not sparing any macs either.

At this rate even pressured items not not allowed? It’s stated currently that we can’t bring sodas & soft drinks aboard planes (so much for coke and mentos duh!). What can simply just add to the list of forbidden hand carry items? What if one day terrorists discover a method of using their clothing to burn to whole plane down, then we can wear clothes on planes too?

Just a random thought…

Just when you couldn’t get enough of surveys for teachers, this clip just redefines it and definately reminds me the some funny lecturers you can encounter in campus with funny accents – you just simply can’t fall asleep in them. Well with the exception of some rather loving students, babe…

Thanks to Andre for Sharing this.

Top Gear/BF2 Parody
Remember the Top gear episode of the Range Rover Sport vs Challenger 2 tank? A famous sketch from the popular BBC series is depicted in this homage project called the Top Gear/BF2 Parody, made in its entirety by XaliaS Designs. The video is also to be screened at the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences festival in New York. You can view the videos by click on the “show more” link.
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School feels very slow on my side, but in the number of weeks of passed school terms, 4 terms had already passed with week 5 starting next. Been very caught up juggling with some webjobs, projects and datelines of my own, on top of fast breezing schoolwork, to the extent I have not actually got into the real study mood yet.

Tests are on on the Week 6 and Week 8, namely Engineering design and Engineering maths tests, so I guess I did better start putting work into that, not that I do not want to. Furthermore ironically, I am the project leader for all my modules, from Product design, Business planning for new ventures, to even my GEMS. So thats alot of management and overlooking on my site with 5-6 people per group. But not really much of a feat having led many teams before on my previous semesters.

Interestingly for the personal record, the minimum grades in my team are always a B+/A, with one exception of a dual DIST, very rewarding when they will come next semester thanking you for the job well done. I guess even without knowing until when you come to think about it, I always have the team’s interests at heart and strive for the best over the rest. Maybe thats why everyone wants to be in my team now…

I always recall one motivation message I remember in the SP library, you can see it in the reference section stair-well level 2 (a poster with a puppy overlooking a horde of identical puppies) which reads:

As the same saying goes respect is earned, not demanded, either from seniority or rank. Ultimately it’s your job as a team leader to know, recognize and employ all of your teammate’s advantages points to the best of possible.

Come to think about leadership so as to say, heck even if you are older than me – even none the wiser, let be morals. I learnt alot in the army and a typical example I can relate to is particularly meeting officers who simply “cannot make it” and just make their way to OCS/command school just because of attractions of high pay, the percieved “name & labelling” (which I amazingly expected alot of my friends in poly are blinded by and true enough…) without know their consequences and responsiblity involved. And of course they just make themselves so incompetent in service. And the most shockingly there are not one but many such cases I encountered while in service.

In a war it’s lives we are talking about and definately I wouldn’t be putting my troopers on the line from such officers. You can tell I am very against the SAF way of officer selection – either by wayanging or being the platoon pet during BMT and poof you get to go to command school. Unlike what our commandos Spec-Officer selection do or that in the US Army, now those I salute – from the dirt to the top, through the proper channels of leadership. That is where you really earn the trust & respect from the peers, rising from your own peers from your own achievements and actions, through thick and thin. Not from Private – 2nd LT.

Army is all about wayang, if you been through it you know it, from the Open Houses to the Public shows, to the Ads on TV and Buses, I seen that, put those up seen the workings behind it, it’s all an protrayed image thing and red tape inevident in all big organisations. One of the big reasons why I didn’t consider signing-up, there are better things to do outside. Just some random thought.

I guess I did better get off the project highway and start preparing for mid semester tests and presentations, thank goodness for Tuesday being a public holiday, hope can clear all by then.

Millege for the last week (18th-24th Sept 7 day period)
SP Track & Field Training, Games – Tuesday
SP Gym 2 Sets Weight Training + 5km Threadmill – Wednesday
NIE Director’s Relay > 10 rounds (Rounding off approx 2.4×10 ~ 24km) – Friday- Saturday
Total Millege for week = 29km(96.7% of 30km/week target met)

Millege for the week (18th-24th Sept 7 day period)
SP Gym 3 Sets Target Chest and Bicep Weight Training – Tuesday
Wild On Wheels – Run Approx 2km – Friday
20 rounds Tiong Bahru park, Saturday – 20km
Total Millege for week = 22km(73.3% of 30km/week target met)

Dinner will be at Golden Mile Steamboat later…

Got this referral from Alec, it had been quite the talk of the town too… lol. As usual just signed up from all the pestering haha.

This program is based in Singapore and is managed by a company situated in Kallang by the name of EastTech Pte Ltd. I was paranoid at first, but it seems legitimate and they do pay within Singapore with CHEQUES! As reported by a current member (see above blog image, though with a dinky $11 UOB cheque) . At least it beats getting long airmail payments from Google, Impression Banner ads, etc and whats more it’s completely free to sign up for now. Wahhaha so as I thought… why not just for the fun of it… Haha maybe this can pay for my regular drink in the food court or my weekend bus fares lol. Heres a scoop from their site:

Source: EmailCashPro website (you can sign up from there)

My calves area had been quite sore over the last few days, but definately much better today. Nevertheless still walking around with a slight limp, regretted forgetting not to stretch after the NIE run, now it’s like too sore to do so.

Upcoming event will be Wild on Wheels organised by the Singapore Youth for Christ (SYFC). It will be some short 5hour islandwide treasure hunt or sort where we get to communte around on Buses, MRTs and Car, sounds like fun, but at the expense of our own EZlink cards. Well till Capt-Manager-Darius actually knows anything about the organisation of the race, theres nothing much I can share at the moment. Till then it will be held this friday, during training so most prob the trio Puss, Addison, Darius and me might give it a miss.

Last Saturday’s steamboat dinner at GoldenMile was cancelled as dad had to spearhead some matters at his workplace, working till like 11.30pm so had dinner at a nearby HongKong Street Coffee Shop. The dinner was then postponed to next Saturday, not till mum got an appointment of her own that very Saturday too, postpone again? wahhaha.

The Haze is bad today man, can’t even see the distant skyline from my house, now it’s all like opaque white and distant white buildings looks blended without outlines. Bad bad… even on my way to school today see alot of pedestrians walking along roads with their hands covering their mouths, young & old alike. The sky looks kinda dark now and the weatherman promises thundery showers at night, hope the rain will clear the smog by tomorrow, otherwise it will be most training indoor at the gym.