This is my second month with the iPhone 3G. For the most part, I love using it and it has been a worthwhile purchase. Before I get to how it’s changed my daily commute and other things, I’ll list the things that I wish could have been done better or that took a while to get used to.

The not-so-good includes:

1. It can’t recognise numbers stored on the SIM card, and therefore cannot transfer them from the SIM to the phone. To get all my contacts onto the phone, I had to use my colleague’s Mac and its bluetooth connection to first transfer the numbers off my Nokia 6280 onto the address book in his Mac, and then use iTunes to transfer the numbers to my iPhone. If I didn’t have access to a Mac, well I probably would have had to do it manually.
2. You can’t easily save numbers from calls missed, received, and dialed, or in text messages. There’s just no function to do so. You have to manually key the number in by flipping back and forth between the call log and the virtual keypad, which thankfully retains what you type as you flip between screens. Otherwise, this would have been an even bigger pain.
3. I’m ok with camera being 2 Megapixel but the focus is slow and it’s kinda fiddly to use because the shutter button is virtual. This makes it hard to take self-potraits or reverse shots. And you can’t do MMS which is a glaring deficiency in such a multimedia capable phone. Oh yeah, no video either but that’s not that big a deal.
4. I’ve mentioned this before and that is: the virtual keyboard takes a little while getting used to. And even after that, you can’t do single-hand texting easily like you can with a phone with a more tactile feel. So you can forget about texting coherently if you are holding a drink in your other hand.
5. You can do your own custom ring tones but it’s not as straight forward as copying a sound or a song onto the phone. And you can’t do custom message tones, even if you buy them from the iTunes store. Because the phone just doesn’t have that capability. And that sucks. I miss my Yoda message tone that says, “Mmm, message from the dark side you have.”
6. The phone software updates can potentially fail and you will have to restore your phone from the automatic backups (now I know why iTunes do it!). Which is not so bad if it didn’t mean having to sync up my songs to the phone again. Depending on how many songs you had on the phone, this can take a while. Because yeah, when the updates fail? It wipes the hard disk clean. Oh you’d also have to re-download any apps which you have downloaded from the iTunes Apps store previously. This area of the phone should have been done much better than this.

Ok so those are my major complaints. But I still enjoy using the phone a lot. The big sell for me? 3G Internet surfing and the iPod touch functionalities. Thanks to both of these, my daily commute feels shorter and is much more enjoyable.

Despite reports of 3G reception problems, on my daily route to and from work the signals are strong enough for me to have a good surfing experience. I use Google Reader, and news sites like News.com.au and NYTimes.com - all of which have iPhone versions so they are light on the multimedia and loads up fairly quickly. The amount of information on screen is just right, and text is easy to read and scrolling is smooth. Try and read a full size site though and that’s when you really notice the inadequacy of the screen, so I don’t.

Checking my Gmail is also simple and easy to set up. I don’t compose or reply to messages though because that would take too much effort. Other useful internet applets includes Yahoo! Weather and Google Maps, both of which I use quite often.

There are also other apps, free or paid ones, available from the iTunes Apps store. So far, I’ve got the Facebook one and the New York Times one.

And finally, the iPod touch. I love it, I don’t know how I lived without it. I’m now listening to more music than I did before. I’ve been ripping a lot of CDs, and in addition to what I normally download (shhh), I’ve been purchasing more music as well in CD form and from the iTunes store. The iTunes store is quite well done because if I find one song that I like, it recommends 5 more to me. This can get addictive and it’s very easy to just click and purchase more than you want to.

To really enjoy the iPod, I’d highly recommend getting a pair of 3rd party headphones. I got a pair of Seinheiser in-ear ones from the Apple store. And these are great. Like how you’d press normal earphones into your ear to hear better, except you don’t have to because these block out outside noise. You don’t have to turn it up so it’s good for your hearing and you don’t disturb others. Only downside is that it can get quite mucky because you are pushing them into your ears, so you will have to clean them after every use.

And lastly, because you are constantly touching the phone it will require daily cleaning if you want it to look its best all the time. Oh yeah I almost forgot - the phone itself? Call reception and quality is nothing fantastic, but nothing shoddy either. It’s adequate.

As a package though, you are getting so much more than a phone. Because of the way it looks, the touch screen, and how it feels in your hand, the whole thing just rocks.

Watching the Chinese Olympics during the past 2 weeks, and especially the opening and closing ceremonies where Chinese art and culture were represented so impressively, I can’t help but feel a tinge of pride of being Chinese. Even though I’m two generations removed from my Chinese roots (born in Malaysia, transplated to Australia), culturally I’m Chinese even though by nationality, I’m Australian.

Like I’m sure how an Irish, Greek or Italian Australian would feel when something special happens in their motherlands, so it was that I felt pride by association. But of course, lest we forget there are still many problems within and outside of China. The issue of Tibet, the enormous gap between the rich and sophisticated urbanites and the poor and disenfranchised in the city slums and rural areas; cultural suppression of ethic minorities; indirect Chinese sponsorship of African dictatorships in exchange for steady supplies of raw materials and fuel.

So yeah, China has put on a great show for us during the past 16 days. But when the factories open tomorrow, and the roads clogged with vehicles and the air becomes murky with pollution again, let’s hope that China can create a clean and harmonious environment in and around itself, metaphorically and literally, without having to resort to a show to distract us from the reality.

phre3a @ stock.xchng

Being the good neutral friend takes effort. Picture these dilemmas:

• There’s a gathering, a dinner or a house party, clubbing, going out. Everyone knows each other except some of the people in the group aren’t told about it. Over the week, you strive to not talk about the gathering to those who aren’t going. But they ask you what you are doing on the weekend. Do you lie or tell the truth?

  Me: Lying would just make a bigger mess of things, so I’d just tell the truth but I’d employ some tact and try not to sound too excited about it.

• You know friend A for a long time. Then you meet friend B, a long time friend of friend A. Friend B and you click very well and you end up seeing each other more than friend A. Do you feel guilty about it, and do you try to split your time between the two equally, or try to involve both friend A and friend B in whatever plans you might have?

  Me: if I know friend B no longer enjoys friend A’s company then I’d try to split my time equally. Forced company is not good company. And if you are fair about it, then the problem between friend A and friend B isn’t really yours to worry about.

• You hear friend A make a small complain about friend B. It’s something really petty and it’s probably nothing. Do you tell friend B anyway? And do you care that friend A will know that you were the one who told friend B?

  Me: I’d shut up about it. I won’t even add my two cents into it. I’ll just listen and let them vent. If friend B is also bitching about friend A, then I’d subtly ask them individually this question, “why are you still friends?”

Although it takes effort, being the good neutral friend is a good long term strategy I think. When one doesn’t lie, is fair and is discreet, then I think one would earn other people’s trust. And trust is a very good foundation to build a long lasting friendship on.

Last night, my friends had prior engagements earlier in the night and will only be going to the clubs late at around 2am, and I wasn’t sure I’d be in the mood to wait till then. Yet I was antsy and bored at home. I thought I’d popped a caffeine pill, listen to some dance music and have a party by myself in my room and not go out at all.

So, there I was tweaking on a caffeine high, listening to the music blaring through my headphones and surfing the net looking at anything and everything. Pretty soon, in a span of about an hour I had bought stuff off Amazon, Think Geek, the Apple store and the iTunes store. Yeah, on this night boredom plus caffeine made me buy stuff.

All of a sudden at around 11:30pm I felt this intense urge to just get out of the house and be around people. I had changed my mind and it didn’t matter that I’d be alone. I know I will know at least one person at The Deen, Sam the bartender so I quickly changed and hopped into my car. Half an hour later, I was amidst the loud music and party-goers.

I saw Sam, chatted with her for a while and quickly bought two drinks from her. I downed the Jager bomb and nursed my Jack and Coke for the next half hour. I was buzzing, smiling and people watching. Seeing pretty girls was invigorating.

Although, there’s something about being alone in a sea of people that can make one depressed. I saw a couple making out in the queue earlier and that made me wished I was there with someone. Then out on the dance floor, I saw this girl with tears in her eyes lose it completely and was yelling at her boyfriend without caring who was looking at them. And I thought, “Ok, sometimes being with someone is not necessarily better than being alone.”

I was there for close to 2 hours by myself being entertained by the house music and the spectacle of other people. 2am came along quickly to my delight. I had managed to kill time in a most pleasurable way and I was elated.

The Deen was closing so I hopped to The Rise where I was suppose to meet up with Simon, Lydia and Kayo. And my night continued and began anew. I didn’t get home till about 5am. I was so glad that I didn’t stay home after all.

TV ad for Mother, v1.0

I first tried Mother, the energy drink by Coca-Cola Amatil for the Australian market at Two Tribes Music Festival 2006. I had liked it but it appears that I was in the minority. A lot of people thought it tasted too medicinal and it was pulled from the market after a year or so.

It was recently relaunched with the tag line, “New - Tastes Nothing Like The Old One!” and with the ad below parodying how serious and how sorry they are for botching it up in the first place.

TV ad for Mother, v2.0

My colleagues Phil and Sam, who is now in Melbourne have this tradition called “3 o’clock Red Bull” which is exactly what it means. Like Wednesday is the hump of the working week, 3 o’clock is the hump of the working day. Sometimes you just need that little push to get over it.

Today Phil had wanted to try the new Mother, and that prompted me to get one too because I didn’t sleep well last night. Off to the supermarket I went - $3 for a 500mL can! Bargain!

After my first few gulps of the new fruity flavoured Mother (apple and lemon FTW!), I felt the buzz slowly built up. There was a warm tingling sensation in my limbs. Had I been in a dark nightclub with loud music playing I would have been jumping up and down. As it was, I just sat in my desk arms and fingers fidgeting, and legs shaking away. Good for energy!

I said to Phil, “This is good buzz.” He agreed. I was physically trying to talk slower and I think I succeeded but my fingers were typing at a crazy speed, but with no errors though. Good for concentration!

I felt the buzz and tingles for a good two hours as I gulped the drink away. This was expected as I was drinking the equivalent of two cans of Redbull. Sweet! I could feel my heart racing so this is probably not a good drink to be drinking a lot of on a daily basis. But still … sweet! If they sell this in the clubs, it’d definitely do well. It’s now my new favourite party drink. Yay!

p.s. Any Coke reps out there reading this? Send me a case of this stuff!

Yesterday, less than 2 weeks after I had placed a raincheck on an iPhone 3G at Optus World in West Perth, I received a call from them telling me that my phone has arrived in the shop. I was very pleasantly surprised because I had anticipated a 3-week wait.

When I got to the shop, I told them about that. And the woman serving me said, “Yeah we just had a big shipment.” Then she corrected herself, “Ok when I said ‘big’, I meant 4.” Heheh.

On the train ride home, I soon realised the one big benefit that I had wanted from the phone. Whilst surfing the net, my stop had arrived quicker than it has felt in the past. Killed time? Hell yeah.

When I got home, I played with the iPod side of things. No complains here, it’s an iPod touch. Sweet!

Pretty soon I was dragging and dropping songs from my computer onto the phone. And then I started ripping CDs too. I ripped CDs that I thought would be enjoyable for my daily commute. Before long, I was digging out dusty old CDs that had been lying in my stacks, neglected in the past but ready to be enjoyed once more.

I can see my hard disk space been eaten up very quickly if I keep up with the ripping. It’s got a little bit too addictive at one point that I had to pull myself away from the computer. It felt like I had wanted to cram in as much stuff as I could.

The touch screen is awesome to use but I still have to get used to the virtual keyboard. Typing in a text message is kinda awkward. It made me feel like I have fat fingers when my hands are tiny. And I can see it being a problem whilst being intoxicated in a bar or club. So I’m thinking that I will probably use my Nokia 6280 on the weekends and the iPhone during the working week. Best of both worlds!

Woo! The last time I was so happy with a gadget was when I got my Xbox 360.

Cliched vanity shot for any blogger who has an iPhone

Hed Kandi came back to Capitol last night with DJs Jack McCord and Steve Divine, who were supported by locals Rob Sharp and Damir. The night built up slowly starting from progressive and then moving to a fantastic back and forth switching of hard house and hard trance. Woo, now that’s what I’m talking about! I had a great workout. Yay!

The night was almost marred by a very brutal brawl which saw all eight bouncers of the venue in the fray and someone’s face being cut open by broken glass. There was blood and scores of terrified party-goers running away from the epicentre. It’s a bit bad but the first thing that I thought was:

Fuck, the cops are gonna come and stop the party!

Luckily, that didn’t happen. Heh. Well, geesus I really don’t understand all these macho aggressive types who start trouble in nightclubs. I really don’t. They pay good money to come see an event and they hurt themselves and others and get kicked out in the process. Is that value for money? Is that fun? I think not. And if it was over a girl, it’s even more stupid.

Anyways, thankfully it was a short interlude and my overall experience of the night was still excellent. Most people were friendly and smiling, and the pretty ladies were out in force. So yeah the night? It be awesome.

Two random thoughts occured to me during the night:

• If more people were on ecstasy, I think there’d be less ugly incidences like what happened. Anyone on ecstasy would be too lovey dovey and euphoric to care about anything else but the music and dancing. Alcohol makes some people terribly aggressive and violent and it’s scary. And yet one substance is legal, and the other isn’t. Hmm.
• When one needs to cross a crowded night club, it is best to walk behind the smoking hot blonde in the tight little black dress and heels who parts the crowd like Moses parted the Red Sea.