Android-Powered HTC Wildfire

Recently I got myself an Android-powered HTC Wildfire smartphone. Why Android? It's just my preference over the others such as Blackberry or iPhone. Well, some people prefer chicken and some others prefer beef. Why HTC? I just like the way it feels in my hand. As solid as my old Nokia E71. Not to mention that it is good looking as well. Why Wildfire? I would love to get my hands on the Desire but as much as I have the desire to have it, the cost is way too much for me to spend on a phone. Wildfire is the most affordable HTC that runs Android and its specifications are sufficient for my needs. I don't need a shotgun to kill a mosquito, do I?

Running on Android 2.1 Enclair, the Wildfire has been with me for about a month now and I am quite satisfied with its performance and stability. The best feature for me is the integrated address book or People. It links my contacts to their Facebook, Twitter and Flickr, that is if they are using any of those apps. Now I can have their phone numbers, email addresses, birthdays and some other infos without me having to key them in manually.

Here are my top 10 Android apps that I am currently using on the phone. If you have any suggestion on any other apps, please leave your comment.

1. Foursquare - Now I can check in with ease!
2. Facebook - Update my status or just see what's the latest postings from my friends.
3. Adhan Alarm - Alert on prayer times and a compass to show the direction of the Kiblat.
4. CIMB Clicks - Check my bank account balance and get the latest currency exchange.
5. ColorNote - An easy and simple way to take and keep notes.
6. Maps - Google maps. Too bad the Google Navigation is not available for Malaysia yet...
7. Waze - Turn by turn navigation. An alternative to Google Navigation and Garmin XT that I have on my E71.
8. Desk Clock - Something to wake me up in the morning.
9. Angry Bird - The most addictive game at the moment!
10. Market - Where the apps above came from. Paid apps not available yet for Malaysia.

There you go! Did I miss any good ones up there? Do let me know okay!

Maxis In and P1 Out

My last post was on September 29 during the last Aidil Fitri. Now even Aidil Adha is already over... I wonder if any of my blogging friends are over there in Mekah at this moment...
Anyway, I always have some good excuses for not actively posting over here. Yup, there will always be something or someone  to blame for my lack of enthusiasm... To begin with, there will always be work and Facebook games. These two contributed to about 20% of my absence in the blogosphere... Work is work and it will not be going away for at least another decade or so and as for Facebook, there will always be something new that comes up and drag me away from blogging. However, as I said, they are only the 20% factors... So, what's the big thing then?

That's what the title of this entry is all about. For those who have been following this blog during its active days might remember the entry about the P1 Wimax that I posted on 24th August 2010. Everything was well and despite the abundance of negative comments on the net, I still gave them the benefit of the doubt.
In early November 2010, the nightmares began. The connection was simply horrible and we could not even open our Google Mail even though the modem was showing full signal received from the base station. Upon contacting the customer services for a few times, we were told that the base station was congested and upgrade would only be carried out in the next two months time. Two months with marginal or no connection! Would you accept that? They told me that they would waive th charges but I told them that the waiver would not be able to compensate our losses and they just went quite and close the case! Personally, I think P1 is not that bad but the people who are running it, are a different story altogether...
So, to cut the story short and to make sure that P1 fans would not get overly upset and leave this blog for good, last Friday, 19th November 2010, Maxis installed their Wired Broadband at our place. If you are Facebook friends, you might have read about my status on how many Maxis staffs did it take to get this Wired Broadband installed. I really had a field day of scolding people that day... Oh well... Once I got myself connected, all the anger flew away...
For those who are not familiar with Maxis Broadband, this is NOT the wireless broadband that have not been getting favorable comments from many subscribers who live further away from the KL city center but this is the WIRED broadband provided to selected areas by Maxis.
The verdict so far. The line is fast and stable. However, I would not say that this is the best that we have so far since we want to see how this service would perform 6 months from now. Too early to throw praises at Maxis at this time. Stay tuned for our updates on this!
Next battle: To return the P1 modem without incurring contract penalty! Wish me luck friends!

Pasha's 1st time Riding a bike

from Bear's Kitchen Sept 2010

Aidil Fitri 2010 - Jakarta - Solat Raya

It's time to perform the solat and this year we were back to the same place where we perform our solat last two years. Unlike in Malaysia where we usually do our prayer at mosques, in Jakarta, it's done not only in mosques but other places where many people can fit in and do prayers together. As for us, it was the car park of one of the government agencies there.

On the way to the solat area. Papa Bear, Pasha and Akung. On the next pic, Mama Pasha, Aunty Sita and Aunty Ruri.

Pasha and her aunties and Pasha watching as everyone getting ready to pray.

The view of the praying area and Pasha with his 3-finger peace sign.

Upin, Ipin and Hello Kitty and a family pose on the way back from the prayer.

This was the second time that we took Pasha for the Solat Raya. The first time was last year in Kuala Lipis but he was still too small and it did not end up well. This year, at 3 years old, he was able to enjoy it.

Update from KLIA

It's the last day of Ramadhan and I am writing this at Terminal 2, KLIA waiting for our flight to Jakarta. I have not been actively blogging for the past few weeks. Why? Here is the excuse. It is due to momentum. What momentum? Well, due to the failure of our Jaring broadband and the few days waiting to get the P1, I lost the mood... At the same time, my Ramadhan timing was totally out of synch... I would fall asleep around 10pm and wake up around 12 midnight. Then I would be up until sahur... As a result, most fo the day time, especially at work was spent yawning and yawning and yawning.... including some dozing off while driving... In short, blogging was somewhat too difficult to perform... especially after having lots of delicious food for iftar...

There you go.

From Bear's Kitchen 0810

didominasi warna merah kuweh2 pesenan bulan agustus ini.. mudah2an tambah semangat berbaking lagi.. amien..

Surprise!

One afternoon when I was about to have lunch in Kampung Baru, I received a call from Isabelle. It was about planning a surprise birthday dinner for her hubby, Syam and for Mama Pasha. Both of their birthdays were only 5 days apart. Mama Pasha's was on August 12 and Syam's was on August 18. To make things less obvious, we finally decided to do it on August 17 at TGIF Subang Jaya...

The outcome. 100% success to surprise Mama Pasha but not a full surprise for Syam. The reason was due to spoilers provided by none other than the little Adam..

By the way, we chose TGIF since we knew that they would always do "stuffs" to those who celebrated their birthdays there... In this case Mama Pasha and Syam had to sing a song each... Only is you could hear what Syam sang... LOL!

Here are some photos of that night. Pictures ambil tanpa kebenaran dari blog Isabelle... Jangan marah! Nice shots and free "promotion" from us :) If you need a cameraman, you know where to find one. <-- advertisement.

Pasha after a scolding for misbehaving at the table and Mama Pasha who got a big "Got You!" by Papa Bear.

Excitement on receiving a new, much needed gadget and a little card from Isabelle and family. Pasha helped in unwrapping...

Pasha and Mama laughing about something.

Adam chasing Pasha all over TGIF.

Syam opening a present while Adam trying on a black hat that we got for Syam and Isabelle tempting Pasha with some cheese tarts.

The Accomplice and The Mastermind and The Bear family.

Isabelle, Adam making faces and Syam and all of us!

It was a great dinner and time for all and for both Isabelle and Papa Bear, we know where NOT to have our birthday dinner at...

Surprise!

secubit rasa..

kemarin pagi saat bear bersiap2 berangkat bekerja pasha terbangun dr tidurnya.. melihat papa dan bertanya...
pasha: "papa.. kemana??"
papa: " mau kerja nak.. "
pasha: "kenapa kerja..??"
sejenak kami berdua terpaku pada pertanyaan kritis pertamanya..
papa: "supaya papa dapat uang jadi bisa belikan milo untuk pasha.."
pasha:"ooo.."
dlm hati tak tau mesti merasa takjub apa girang.. anakku sudah besar.. sdh mulai mempertanyakan perbuatan yg diambil oleh ayah dan ibunya..

kalau sudah begini.. terbersit sebuah pertanyaan dalam hati kecil.. sanggupkah aku meninggalkan anak kesayangan ku dalam asuhan orang lain?? sanggupkah diriku untuk tidak lagi mendapatkan "privillages" yg pertama melihat kemajuan dalam perkembangannya..
aku jd bimbang... pertanyaan2 itu kembali menggugah niat awal ku yg sudah bulat sebulan yg lalu untuk kembali bekerja setelah lebaran nanti..
seandainya aku tetap dirumah mengasuh anakku dengan tangan ku sendiri mampukah aku menunaikan kewajiban finansialku pada sebuah instansi yg bernama bank??

Berikan aku petunjukmu ya Allah.. sungguh aku tak mampu memilih...

Now online with P1 WiMAX

My last post was about 10 days ago. By the way, the last post in Bahasa Indonesia was written by Mama Pasha and not Papa Bear. Some of you thought that Papa Bear wrote an entry in Bahasa Indonesia. No No No... That's Mama Pasha. Look carefully at the author ya.

Anyway, I have not been blogging and blog walking since my last entry. The reason was due to the fact that our router that connected us to the SOMA Port broadband modem from Jaring got hit by lightning. It went cuckoo. LAN was OK but Internet kaput-ted... So, instead on investing on another router and face the uncertainty of compatibility with the SOMA Port, I signed up for P1. But, no need to potong since the Jaring broadband was wireless as well...

This is not the first time I tried P1. You can read about my first P1 experience here. They told me that they would be upgrading my area and they did keep their words. MAXIS told me that they are going to upgrade my area by July 2010 and they failed. UniFi is the worst of all. They went silence...

DX-230 replacing DV-230

So, now, this entry was posted via P1. Just finished setting up the Wi-Fi security and things look good so far for a 1.2Mbps connection. Why ditched Jaring? The main reason is that the SOMA Port is a single user modem. You need a router to share the connection but Jaring does not support this. We have 3 computers at home that need the internet... If you hit a problem when connecting via a router, they simply refused to provide any support. They would ask you to remove the router first. Well, now I removed them... Too bad...

Hope that this P1 would remain as good as it is now. My neighbor at the back said that she has no issue so far. My friend somewhere at the end of the world around Rawang said he is a satisfied customer. Let' see...