Nokia Announces Comes With Music range of devices for Singapore Launch

Revolutionary digital music offer will be available on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia 5320 XpressMusic and Nokia 5220 XpressMusic devices, as well as the Nokia N96, Nokia N85 and Nokia N79 multimedia computers.

Singapore – Nokia will deliver music loud and clear to local music lovers with its revolutionary Comes With Music service when it is launched in Singapore in the coming weeks, making it the first market in Asia where it will be available.

The service will be delivered on its newest and highly anticipated Nokia 5800 XpressMusic device – which will begin shipping in Singapore very soon – as well as on Comes With Music editions of the Nokia N96, Nokia N85 and Nokia N79, as well as the Nokia 5320 XpressMusic and 5220 XpressMusic devices.

Consumers in Singapore will be the first in the world to get their hands on a Comes With Music-enabled Nokia 5800 XpressMusic when it hits the stores.

Nokia’s pioneering Comes With Music service offers consumers a new and revolutionary way to discover and download music, revamping their entire digital music experience. Consumers can buy a Nokia Comes With Music-enabled device and be able to download millions of free tracks from the Nokia Music Store catalogue over the course of a year*. What’s more, they get to keep ALL their downloaded music from the diverse catalog of music from international and local artists – even when the service period is over.

“Comes With Music sets a truly industry-leading precedent in consumer value and convenience that others are already following. Especially in these trying economic times, music lovers can stay connected to the music they like, yet no longer worry about the cost of purchasing music by single tracks or album. The freedom and simplicity of the service is unparalleled. Comes With Music is revolutionary simply because all your downloaded music is yours to keep”, said Vlasta Berka, General Manager, Nokia Singapore, Malaysia & Brunei.

“Nokia Comes With Music is also coming to Singapore through a wide and popular device range across different consumer segments covering various price points, because at Nokia, our vision is to connect people to the music they want, anytime and anywhere”, he said.

Nokia Comes With Music is already live in the United Kingdom and on the Nokia N96, Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia 5310 XpressMusic and will be available on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic later this year.

Source: My Email

I was invited to a one hour session on Nokia Comes With Music at Nokia Singapore Office. The Nokia Comes With Music service will arrive on our shores soon while the much anticipated Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will arrive on our shores before the end of this month.

What is Nokia Comes With Music?
Taken from the press release:

“Comes With Music sets a precedent for consumer value and convenience that the rest of the digital entertainment industry is already copying,” said Andrew Connell, Head of Entertainment & Communities Category Management, Nokia. “The freedom and simplicity of the service is unparalleled. Comes With Music gives you unlimited access to the millions of tracks in the Nokia Music Store and the music is all yours to keep – because its not a revolution unless you get to keep your music.”

Nokia plans to roll out the commercial Comes With Music service in Singapore and Australia in Q1 2009. These markets follow after the United Kingdom which will be the first Comes With Music market with sales starting this month.

EMI Group has joined as the latest major label to support Comes With Music, in addition to Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. In Singapore, Comes With Music will be supported by prominent Asian independent labels, Ocean Butterflies Music and Rock Records Singapore. “We are very pleased to also have leading Asian labels as part of our Comes With Music offering for Singapore consumers. This will allow our consumers to enjoy even more localized music as long as they want, anytime anywhere”, said Grant McBeath, General Manager for Singapore.

Comes With Music offers one year of unlimited access to the entire Nokia Music Store catalogue and customers can keep all the music that they have downloaded at the end of the year to continue enjoying their music collection. Comes with Music will be available across a range of Nokia devices, including the new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N95 8GB and Nokia 5310 XpressMusic.

Summary, taken and updated from previous blog post:

• It is a pre-paid service that is bundled to Nokia mobile phones. Currently available on the 5310 XpressMusic, N95 8GB and 5800 XpressMusic
• You need to pay a little bit more for the bundled phones
• Prices for Singapore is still unknown at the moment
• You get 1 year of unlimited music downloads through Nokia Music Store
• The music you downloaded, you get to keep it after the 1 year
• It is DRMed and hence the format is in WMA
• Music is sync between your computer and mobile phone and hence only one registered computer AND one registered mobile phone is allowed
• Deactivation of laptops/mobile phones is allowed to a maximum of 4 times per year
• Currently they have 5 million tracks
• Over the air downloading of music tracks is allowed on your mobile phone using WiFi or 3G network

Recap Blog Posts

• Nokia XpressMusic 5800 “Tube” (Exclusive)
• Nokia Remix 2008 Singapore Party
• Nokia Remix 2008 Singapore

Press Release: Nokia Amps Up Music Offering with the debut of Comes With Music and the New Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

Facebook Gallery: Nokia Singapore Office

Singtel will be bringing in the first Google Android powered mobiles phones to Asia (Singapore included), the HTC Dream.

Singapore, 5 February 2009 – Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) and HTC Corporation, a global leader in mobile phone innovation and design, today unveiled the first Android powered mobile phone released in Asia – the HTC Dream. Customers of SingTel and its wholly-owned subsidiary in Australia, Optus, will soon be the first in Asia to enjoy this highly anticipated device.

The HTC Dream combines full touch-screen functionality and a QWERTY keyboard with a mobile Web experience that includes popular Google applications and products that millions have enjoyed on the desktop. With a fun and intuitive user interface and one-touch access to Google Search, the HTC Dream provides access to Android Market, so customers can find and download unique applications to expand and personalise their phone to fit their lifestyle.

“We are delighted to work with Google and HTC to be the first operator in Asia to bring the HTC Dream to our customers. This demonstrates our commitment to deliver a unique experience to our customers and meeting their demand for quality communications and multimedia products and services,” said Yuen Kuan Moon, SingTel’s Chief of Consumer and CEO of SingTel Mobile. “This Android-powered mobile device and its range of popular Google applications and other multimedia-rich software will redefine our customers’ mobile phone experience. Coupled with SingTel’s unrivalled 3G mobile network, our customers can enjoy the full potential of the Internet with just a Dream phone in their hands.”

Press Release: SingTel and HTC Introduce the HTC Dream – the First Android-Powered phone released in Singapore

Last Wednesday, Apple Store (Singapore) had a special one-day shopping event and are offering discounts in their online store. The discounts for Apple products is quite pathetic, imagine only SGD$20 off for iPod Nano only. If you are intending to buy it long ago, SGD$20 is definitely better than nothing but it will not attract you to buy. However the discounts for 3rd party products/software are quite good. I bought the Belkin Auto Charger For iPod And iPhone for SGD$30 (including delivery). The usual price is SGD$37. It is about 19% discount. Bought it on Wednesday and it got delivered to me on Friday.

Outer Box

Outer Box – Opened

Belkin Auto Charger – Box

Belkin Auto Charger – Contents

Belkin Auto Charger – Car Charger Head

And yes, IT WORKS on iPhone 3G.

Sugih’s Wedding

Went to Jakarta, Indonesia over the weekend to attend a Sugih’s wedding, 1 day to be precise. My Valuair flight is on the 9th January 2009 at 1:35pm and the returning flight is on the 10th January 2009 at 3:20pm.

His wedding took place on the 9th February at 7pm at Hotel Mulia Senayan and it was a 5 stars diamond hotel which translate to 6 stars in Singapore. It was grand. We stayed at Somerset Service Apartment with 3 room which is around the area as there are 3 groups of us. Pei Jun & boyfriend, Meiyi and myself.

I kinda like weddings in Indonesia, they start on time at 7pm and end by 9.30pm, chop chop!

The next day Sugih brought us around town and show us the biggest shopping center, Grand Indonesia, in Southeast Asia. It takes about 30 minutes to cover 1 level without going into any shops! Unfortunately, due to our rush flight, we just briefly walked around.

Seems to me that Sugih is doing very well, driving a Mercedes CL55 AMG at the age of 24 while I am still studying!

• Sugih Wedding Party – Part 1
• Sugih Wedding Party – Part 2
• Sugih Wedding Party – Part 3

Creative EP-630i Stereo Headset

On the way back, I got myself a Creative EP-630i Stereo Headset for my iPhone 3G at the duty free shop for SGD$73. The retail price is SGD$79. I was always skeptical about 3rd party headset on iPhone as I am afraid that the controls will not work on the music playback, but after checking it out in Hardware Zone’s forums, the control does works. Press the answer button 1 time to stop the song and 2 times to skip to the next track.

Let me repeat, Creative EP-630i Stereo Headset controls DOES WORKS on Music Playback as well.

Creative EP-630i Stereo Headset – Box

Creative EP-630i Stereo Headset – Contents

Creative EP-630i Stereo Headset – Closeup

Official Site: Creative EP-630i Stereo Headset