Jan Leow's Blog Page

Maxis 100MB data plan

Just checked my recent Maxis bill and found out the internet data usage was rather exorbitant. Apparently Maxis has changed the billing block to RM0.10 per 10kb block rather than the 1¢ per 1kb. That means even this simple blog post of about 1kb will count as a 10kb block and Maxis will bill it as 10¢ rather than 1¢. No fair.
Maxis LogoSo now they have a new simple data plan which allows for 100MB of data per month for RM18/month. Doesn't sounds like much but should be adequate to cover the simple data usage.
I'm basically using my mobile for email and blogging. Not so much for surfing. The small screen of the PDA is just too teensy-weenie to do any serious browsing.
Also to note that this Maxis 100MB data plan is added in addition to any value plan that you have. But I believe I can get cost savings. So going to give this Maxis 100MB data plan a try!

[update 27/12/2012]
Wow! It's been so long since I signed up for data plan for my maxis mobile number. Initially I started with this 100MB plan at RM18/month. It was enough as a starter for my Sony Ericsson X10 mini pro figuring that I would switch it on when needed and swap over to WIFI when in office or at home.
Using this plan is also good if you have a cranky old Sony Ericsson phone which would connect to internet for no reason and there was no way to turn off the data access. Better to pay RM18 than saddled with a RM250 bill! Fortunately nowadays Maxis cap the data usage bill to RM250 max otherwise you may end up paying thousands!
Anyway since I started using data, I have changed mobile phone from Sony to HTC and now to my Nokia Lumia. My data usage was also increasing as I have decided to leave my data connection always on.
For just emails with occasional Whatsapp, Facebooking and Twittering, 500MB at RM38/month would be just enough. But my recent Nokia Lumia Windows Phone, I decided to use more apps as well as Internet sharing to another second spare mobile phone and thus more data was required. Thus I have now up it to 1GB data at RM48 per month. In addition, Maxis has decided not to charge for the extra data usage if one were to exceed the 1GB data plan, (this was not applicable to the lower data usage plan) so it was good to upgrade to this 1GB plan. If data usage were to be exceeded, Maxis would just throttle your speed under the FUP (fair use policy), so I figure this would be the best option for an always on data connection.
Of course the difference between the 100MB vs 1GB at RM18 vs RM48 is quite a lot, but it takes less work to ensure you don't exceed the data usage allotment and being charged on a per kilobyte basis.

HTC Wildfire hangs

HTC Wildfire
The HTC Wildfire hangs! Waitaminute! Android PDA shouldn't be like that. In fact it is one of the stabler platform in comparison with Windows Mobile and Symbian.

My wife was in a hurry to silent the HTC Wildfire for her presentation to her customers. Don't know what she pressed which caused the HTC Wildfire to freeze up like that. She didn't noticed it and the phone flatlined from battery drain.

Now she have to recharge the battery and just to reset the HTC, I instructed her to take out the battery for ten seconds before reinserting it again.

Hmmm... Will have to look see what in the world that she did to make the HTC Wildfire to hang.

Plantar Fascitis acting up again

Ouch! That's how it feels when my plantar fascitis acts up, pulling on my foot sole ligament. The pain was sharp but not a super pain but enough to disable my running and made me walk in a limp. The pain shoots in when I bend my foot. And it came at a time when I was planning for my weekly exercise.

Tried to warm up with stretches but it was still bothering me until I place a metatarsal support into my shoe did the pain goes away.

That meant my foot insole is rather worn out. But I think I can still salvage it. Mind you the foot insole wasn't cheap eventhough it was off the shelf range. With a bit of ingenuity I think I can continue using my foot insole and still prevent any pain from my plantar fascitis condition.

That's the problem with flatfoot people like me. Took me a lont time to recover from plantar fascitis condition and now it just bugs me every now and then.

HTC Wildfire

I guest this HTC Wildfire lower cost Android enabled phone means cutting out on extras. For one, the display is not so sharp with a slight blur from lack of fineness. In fact is less sharp than my Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini.

But as far as thier function goes, the HTC Wildfire still runs pretty smooth with its lower spec and lesser onboard memory.

running on Android version 2.1 it has a very good contacts integration between the onboard contacts (which HTC calls it as People), your Gmail contacts, Facebook, Twitter and a few more other social websites. Might be good if they could have included LinkedIn too.

The HTC Wildfire 5MP camera photo resolution was rather poor too and not able to handle macro shots at all with very noticeable pixelation on the colour graduation.

Hmmm... if you are on a budget or not willing to spend on mobile devices it would be a wise entry level choice to a PDA mobile phone. After all mobile do breakdown in a year or two of usage. They are not meant to last. But if you are loaded, you be better off buying a better pricier model than HTC Wildfire.

Phew! Busy weekend

Phew! Such a busy weekend! Before you know it, it's over and next day it is back to the grind.

now it is off to a chinese restaurant for the weekly family dinner.

HTC Wildfire

So now is Lena's turn to go for Android enabled mobile phone. So I went and got her the HTC Wildfire which seems to be rather popular. At a nice price of RM1100 I should think so to given that it was sold out at the PDA gadget shop even at a higher price of RM1199.

HTC WildfireIt's bigger screen than my Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini meant that the display is easier to read and of course easier to type. Plus it has a bigger battery capacity at 1300mAh but I doubt it will much more longer due to a bigger display screen. Will have give a spin after charging it up and see.

It's about time her pink coloured Nokia phone was replaced as the Nokia phone was dying plus her HP iPaq was getting rather dated. I'm sure she extracted more than its full lifespan!

Now just waiting for the HTC Wildfire to be fully charged before exploring it further!

Stuck in office again coz of rain

schucks! looks like I will have to wait itn out coz of heavy rain. but these ramadhan stall sure are working hard come rain or shine!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.1

Funny Boss Day Saying You Should...

Funny boss day saying you should do this, you should do that, and of course you should comply even if it is just plain inane. And of course at the end of day share it with your colleague, or better yet to the world and have a good laugh at it. Sure fire way to let off steam and reduce your stress!

McDonald VIP car sticker

Just the other day, I sent my boss to the airport and he notice that I have a McDonald VIP drive through car sticker that give some monthly special if I spend more than $15 at the drive through counter. It wasn't very useful for me for I seldom use that service and was planning to remove the car sticker anyway. But to my chagrin, funny boss says that this is company car and I should not place McDonald car sticker for private eating purposes and will check when he returns from his business trip.

Huh?! Duh...

Place your car sticker here, or rather in this case DON'T place your car sticker here!I didn't know eating a meal in company car was such a big issue or is it just the car sticker was the issue or was he just trying to separate business is for business and personal is for personal and that company car is strictly for business and you can't mix and match, oh whatever... If this was the case there were many times when personal private time and equipment was used for company purposes and with no compensation whatsoever. If boss thought I was taking advantage of company, maybe he should also consider about company taking advantage of staff.

Although I'm allowed to bring the car back home for daily commute as this was the precedent for the many years and all the other branches practices this. After all I don't own any car having worked for so many years and the purpose of company was like a benefit and you should be able to use it within limit to simple things like buying groceries, going to church, going to shopping malls, go out for dinner otherwise I am without a transport. But I do find such directive on such small little thing like this car sticker thingy rather like a headmaster telling his students not to do this and that. Oh, well, shared it with my colleagues and have a good laugh. After that comply and peel off the car sticker.

Oh, here's a funny boss day saying that I found online:

If you think your boss is stupid, remember: you wouldn’t have a job if he was any smarter – Albert A. Grant.

Ramadhan buka puasa

ramadhan buka puasa is well underway and as usual behind my office are rows of food stalls with yummy Malaysian food. ummm can smell it from my office here. time to make a move and grab some grub!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.1

Blogger droid test post

just testing out the blogger droid app on my sony ericcson xperia x10. I have been testing a bunch of android application trying to find some good nifty software app to make full use of my android enabled xperia x10 mini pro. shifting over from my palm centro I have to find a better way to post my blogs on the go including posting mobile photos along the way. let's see how this post fares!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.1

Kuala Lumpur Properties Skyrocketing!

The sudden boom of Kuala Lumpur properties is rather alarming. Although as homeowner you will be glad that the value has gone up, but as long as you live there, there is not much of a difference since you do need a place to stay and thus you do no make anything out of it. But if you are looking for somewhere to stay, the booming skyrocketing prices sure makes it very difficult for any first time home owner. Given the lousy starting pay offer by most company to graduates who has no working experience, good location area is beyond the reach of many urbanites.

And what of the rest of us who are looking to make some retirement income from property rental? Yep, it also a burden to us who are looking for someway to make our little nest egg to feed us in our retirement period. Given the poor bank interest rate which is almost negligible, and not even covering the basic official CPI let alone the true CPI which is much higher than the government given CPI, we need to find a way to hedge and protect our savings! Putting money in the bank although safe is not good strategy. Yet plonking money in bad investment choice is just as risky.

And now I have a tenant who seems to be such a bad paymaster I'm wondering how to ask him to leave and get another tenant who has better cash flow. With so many properties booming away it is a wonder whether there is an oversupply situation or whether the people have no more faith in keeping money in banks and looking for the alternate way of hedging their hard earned savings. Not withstanding the poor governance of our current ruling coalition party has also squandered our wealth away making our currency purchasing power to become smaller, thus hedging it on property asset seems to be the logical way to go about it.

Alas, the skyrocketing prices of Kuala Lumpur properties does make it all the more harder to invest wisely...

Baby Day Out

Baby day out again. This makes it about 3rd time and 2nd time to church. Evrybody dote on him in church and he was so happy. He just loves to reply with coo and ahhh and other baby languange. And his big fat smile just brightens everybody's day!

After that is off for lunch with baby tagging along. Everybody was eating hungarily and baby wants to be carried. Poor dear but he just have to mind himself. Can't spoil him too much otherwise we will have no peace!