INSIGHT CRIZ

THE FIRST DUAL SIM ANDROID IN MALAYSIA – CSL MI 350

Written by crizlai on Aug 10th, 2011 | Filed under: accessories, announcement, mobile, product, technology

I have written late last month on the soft launch of the Spice CSL MI 350, also nicknamed as SWITCH Dual. With the physical mobile phone in hand now, I would be able to describe more on its user friendliness. It’s running on Android 2.2.2 platform, with 5MP camera and came with WiFi functionality. Mobile users can simultaneously utilize 2 SIM cards, meaning one line can be use for incoming, outgoing calls and SMS/MMS while the other can be used strictly for internet browsing. Each CSL MI 350 would come in a small hard box with the mobile phone, AC adapter, mini USB data cable, Li-ion 1500 mAH battery, headset with extra ear plugs, quick start guide booklet and warranty card.

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Other than the specification given below, what else would expect from this promotional priced RM699 SWITCH Dual?

• Size
114.8 x 62.8 x 14.7mm
• CPU
Qualcomm MSM7227-1 with DSDS BSP
• Network
GSM Quad bands: 850/900/1800/1900
• Data
SMS, MMS, Email
• Display
3.5“ HVGA(480 x 320)
• Memory
512MB NAND Flash/512MB DDR
• Camera
CMOS 5MP
• Battery
Li-ion 1500 mAH
• Expansion Slot
Micro SD
• Features
GPS/AGPS
Bluetooth, FM

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The Pros:

The built is rather solid with a metallic feel and the size is just right to be fitted into my palm. It has just the right weight compared to the heavier CSL MI 300. It came with a 4GB MicroSD and a 512MB RAM. Touch screen sensitivity is real good. You can barely feel any lags at all. In fact, you might need to slow down a bit on the over sensitivity. Streaming and searching of YouTube videos was quite smooth. The device is preloaded with a number of social apps such as Blueberry Messenger, Blueberry Store, Facebook, Google Talk, etc. You can easily download more free apps at the Android Market. Browsing the internet would not be a problem even without inserting any SIM card as the unit has a built in WiFi 802.11n. It worked well in my home based WiFi without any problem at all.

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The Cons:

Although the built in camera is in 5MP with autofocus, the end result lacked the sharpness as would any other 5MP digital cameras and the colors differed a lot. This shot was taken within Dave’s Deli in Queensbay Mall with auto setting. The photo appeared in 36” x 27” in 72dpi. (Please click on the photo below for the actual size)

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The battery life span is rather short even if put on hold without much internet browsing or Facebooking. A fully (100%) charged battery would last approximately 10 hours. Thus, it would be quite inconvenient to carry around the charger plus date cable. Moreover, a car charger was not provided in the package which made matters even worst if you are always traveling around in your vehicle. With a wider touch screen of 3.5” HVGA, visual is quite good but then the virtual keyboard is still a bit of problem for big fingers people like me. Keying in alpha numerical characters would surely need lots of patience. Tilting of the screen was limited to a few angles and apps but that was not much a major problem. I had JAVA installed as well as shockwave player installed from the market but it still won’t load any flash based website. I’m sure there should be a way as playing FLV files from YouTube was not a problem.

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The Verdict:

The MI 350 might not be the best smart phone in the market, but it certainly has a great responsive touch screen with great preloaded apps. At RM699, it’s definitely cheap and would just fulfill the basic needs of a new Android smart phone user.

For more information and future developments, you can check out CSL Malaysia’s official website for more updates.

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SPICE CSL HAS PROVEN ITSELF TO BE THE TOP AGAIN WITH THE RELEASE OF THE CSL MI 350 – THE FIRST DUAL SIM ANDROID IN MALAYSIA

Written by crizlai on Jul 25th, 2011 | Filed under: accessories, announcement, awareness, mobile, product, review, technology

Spice CSL has once again proved itself in the telecommunication sector by establishing its brand name with yet another first product in Malaysia. With the release of the CSL MI 350, nicknamed as SWITCH Dual, the slim and executive looking mobile phone, would become the first Android phone of its kind in Malaysia with a switchable dual SIM card mode. One thing for sure, this model would also be available at an affordable price as always for everyone. Currently, they are planning to launch the product very soon on the market with a recommended retail price (RRP) of RM699. That would be a reasonable price too hard to resist for Android users compared to the other competing brands around.

CSL SWITCH Dual would simply the best Android phone available in town – Innovative, Prestigious & Affordable. Now you can switch between networks and browse the internet with ease by just a finger touch.

CSLMI350

Here is the information that you would want to know about the CSL MI 350:

Compared to the previous model of CSL MI 300, this new model would be almost the same size, except that it would be thicker by about 2mm. With a wider touch screen now at 3.5” HVGA, I’m sure it would have a less cramped virtual keyboard for big fingers people like me. 😛 Well, I can’t comment much such as which version of the Android OS they will be having until I have the physical phone in my hands. I’ll write more on the user-friendliness of the model when I get my hand on one soon. At the mean time, you can check out CSL Malaysia’s official website for more updates.

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THE FIRST OF ITS KIND TRANSFORMERS MOBILE PHONE IN THE WORLD BY SPICE CSL

Written by crizlai on Jul 10th, 2011 | Filed under: announcement, event, gathering, product, review

In conjunction with the release of the blockbuster Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Spice CSL with close association with Hasbro has released the world’s first Transformers mobile phone – the CSL Transformers DS700, a dual SIM, full touch and bar type transformable mobile phone that would be great for dual SIM cardholders as well as collector’s items. It has multi functions that would be affordable to everyone. The mobile phone would come in 3 unique tin boxes, fully equipped with accessories and relevant preloaded wallpapers plus sounds (except for the Megatron mobile phone) – Red Optimus Prime, Yellow Bumblebee and Grey Megatron. Presently, each design of the mobile phone is selling at a promotional price of RM299 with 1-year warranty, instead of its recommended retail price (RRP) of RM499. I got the opportunity to review the product at the recent road show held at 1st Floor Concourse, Queensbay Mall, Penang yesterday together with 19 other Penang bloggers. You can still catch the road show as today (10 July 2011) is the last day. Just in case you missed out, you can also check out their Transformers Phone Everyday SMS Contest which would be held until 31 July 2011. Other than the daily giveaway, the grand prize is interesting as it’s a limited edition Bumblebee Coin Bank with speech.

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Each model can be dismantled into 3 parts. Either you want it to be a PDA or you can have it as a candy bar phone. The 3 daring colors of red (Optimus Prime), yellow (Bumblebee) and grey (Megatron) models would come in brushed aluminum casing with relevant Autobot or Decepticon logo imprinted behind. Powered by MediaTek’s MT6253 chipset, a highly integrated chip in the market for mobile communication, this 13mm thick mobile phone has the strong support for features such as camera, high speed USB and Class D audio AMP.

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Let’s me just summarize the specifications and features to ease your reading as below. Click to view a larger picture.

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We were then led to Austin Chase at Ground Floor, Queensbay Mall, for some coffee and light snacks while being allowed to have a more in depth study of each individual unit’s unique features and specifications. Five beverages were served, namely Hazelnut Latte (RM12.50), Signature Black Chocolate (RM13.00), Strawberry Cream Frappe (RM14.00), Mocha Frappe (RM12.50), Long Black (RM7.00) and Brew Coffee (RM7.00). The Smoked Salmon Sandwich (RM11.90 – it’s 1/3 of the original size in photo) on the other hand was slightly steamed and filled with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and some salmon slices. It was quite delicious.

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Well, I was quite a naughty boy that day as I did not heed my mother’s advice as not to play with my food. LOL! How could I resist the temptation of not playing with my food when there were these cute little Optimus Prime and Bumblebee mobile phone holders to play with? A mobile phone holder would be given away with each purchase of any model of the CSL Transformers DS700, while stocks last. Don’t you think they looked real cute with food? 😛

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You can check out CSL Malaysia’s official website for more updates.

Here’s the video on the launch

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ARE YOUR DOCUMENTS SYSTEMATICALLY FILED UP?

Written by crizlai on May 13th, 2011 | Filed under: accessories, internet, life, lifestyle, rant

FILECABINET

After working for so long in the blue collar sectors, you tend to go through the many different processes of filing your documents. Some companies have very organized and systematic ways of filing the documents whereas some could be so chaotic that it would take hours just to retrieve a past document. Whether it is a physical filing or a paperless filing, each minute saved hunting for so called lost documents could save up hours of your valuable time.

No matter what mode of filing system you have, improving your set up would be a good investment as it would bring about great effectiveness and efficiencies in your organization. With the advancement in information technology and go green ideology, more and more companies are going into the trend of paperless systems. Not only would this help to save the trees, it indeed saved more storage space and messes you would have if you were still on paper based systems.

Majority of these companies are now on a document management software where an electronic document can be shared with clients, colleagues, friends and family with certain restricted access. All these accesses such as deleting, printing, emailing, and many more could easily be set up based on the personalized authorization accessible only to the admin, may it be client or web versions. Isn’t it great to have all your documents secured and as the same easily retrieve even when you have decided to work remotely?

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HAVING THE GADGET OF YOUR DREAM

Written by crizlai on May 13th, 2011 | Filed under: accessories, lifestyle, product, rant, technology

SMARTPHONE

Motorola has finally made a significant move by launching the Motorola Xoom, an android tablet that would be the first real competitor to the iPad and iPad 2 as it is the first and only android device that is running on the real android for tablet, the Android 3.0 Honeycomb. The Motorola Xoom made its first appearance in the CES 2011 was launched not long ago together with 3 other devices such as the Motorola Atrix, Motorola Droid Bionic and Motorola Cliq 2.

The key features of the tablet include support up to 1080p Video Playback, 2MP front-facing camera (video chat with gTalk) and 5MP camera that records 720p video, screen resolution of 1280×800 widescreen, 10.1 inch display, 1GHz dual core processor & 3D graphic acceleration with Nvidia Tegra 2, HDMI output and 1GB DDR2 SDRam. It came with 2 versions such as the GSM & CDMA 3G (4G LTE Upgradable) and Wifi only, just like the iPads.

As Motorola has already made that great leap by using Android 3.0, which of course would support any future software updates, I would definitely be on a look out for some unlocked cell phones soon. Who won’t want to own such cool gadgets right?

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