The first day of MWC begins at 6am as the bus will be coming to pick us up at 7am from the hotel.

The Nokia booth is located in Hall 7 which is about 8 minutes walk from the main entrance. The press conference begins at 8.30am. We reached the MWC venue at 8am but the main press conference hall is already full! So they placed us in an “overflowing” hall which is just beside it. This also means we can’t see the press conference live and everything is projected out for us to see in the hall.

Nokia Banner Outside Hall 7

Overflowing Hall

Steven Elop Being Projected

Nokia announced 6 phones during the press conference:

• Nokia Asha 202
• Nokia Asha 203
• Nokia Asha 302
• Nokia Lumia 610
• Nokia Lumia 900 (Non LTE)
• Nokia 808 PureView

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Thanks to Nokia & Nokia Connects, I had the privilege to attend Mobile World Congress 2012 (MWC 2012) (27th February 2012 – 1st March 2012) which is held in Barcelona, Spain.

Took Lufthansa flight for the first time. There is no direct flight to Barcelona for Lufthansa and hence I took a flight (LH779) to Frankfurt, Germany and another flight (LH1124) from Frankfurt to Barcelona, Spain.

It is about 13 hours flight to Frankfurt and with a layover time of about an hour and another 2 hours flight to Barcelona.

While I was entering the gate, they told me that my seat has been changed, I was like WTF? I asked them is it still an aisle seat, and the told me no, they upgraded me to business class! I was so happy as it was my first time seating in a business class and the flight is 13 hours long!

Here are my flight details just for archiving purposes:

• Flight No.: LH779
• Flight Hours: 13 hours
• Departure: 23:55 on Saturday, 25th February 2012 (Terminal 2, Changi Airport, Singapore)
• Arrival: 05:55 on Sunday, 26th February 2012 (Terminal 1, Frankfurt Airport, Germany)
• Layover Hours: 1 hour 20 minutes
• Flight No.: LH1124
• Flight Hours: 2 hours
• Departure: 07:15 on Sunday, 26th February 2012 (Terminal 1, Frankfurt Airport, Germany)
• Arrival: 09:15 on Sunday, 26th February 2012 (Terminal 1, Barcelona Airport, Barcelona)

I reached Barcelona at about 9am on Sunday, 26th February 2012. Barcelona is 7 hours behind Singapore (GMT+1). This time round, I don’t have any jetlag compared to my first trip to Europe which is to London for Nokia World 2011.

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IT Show 2012 starts today, 8th March 2012 till Sunday, 11th March 2012 at Level 1, 2, 3, 4 & 6 at Suntec Singapore. Opening hours are from 12pm to 9pm.

As I gotten quite a few emails regarding IT Show 2012 promotions, thought I would just like to share it in this blog post. It will not be as comprehensive as websites like IT Fair (Singapore) or Hardware Zone: Tech Show Portal.

Going forward, I might do this for every IT fair in Singapore. There are 4 major IT Fair in Singapore every year. IT Show (March), PC Show (June), Comex (September), Sitex (November).

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Bought the Galaxy Nexus (White) from SingTel Shop at ComCenter on the 18th February 2012. Initally, the white color is only available online via SingTelShop.com. Since I am already at the physical store, so I thought no harm trying my luck to ask the Customer Service Officer (CSO) and to my surprise they have it in store at ComCenter! So those who wants white, take note of this!

I ported Li Xiang over from M1 to SingTel and she signed a 2-year 3G Flexi Lite contract which cost SGD$39 per month. After telecom subsidy, the phone cost SGD$488.

After playing with it for about a week, I kinda like the Galaxy Nexus which is powered by Android OS 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The interface is nice, smooth and quite consistent throughout the OS. Love the NFC feature which I use the app FareBot to check my EZ-Link card balance! Not forgetting I love the huge screen which makes my iPhone 4S screen looks small!

With regards to apps, Android Market is still not too bad, coming from an iOS guy, the only app (right now) that I wish they have it on Android (and Windows Phone 7) is Instagram!

Since Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012 is around the corner, and Samsung Galaxy S3 is expected to be announced during that period, you might ask why not wait for Galaxy S3?

The reason why I decided not to wait for it, is because I hate to wait for OS upgrade (Google’s phone is always the fastest) and hate to have an additional UI on top of Android (I never like TouchWiz, Sense UI or whatever crap UI that the manufacturer installed). Rooting is an option but I would like to avoid it.

Overall I am pretty satisfied with this phone. The previous Android phone that I used was HTC Desire.

Galaxy Nexus Specifications

• Network: HSPA＋ 21Mbps/HSUPA 5.76Mbps 850/900/1900/1700/2100 EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
• Processor: 1.2 GHz Dual Core Processor (OMAP 4460)
• Display: 4.65″ 1280×720 HD Super AMOLED
• OS: Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich
• Main (Rear) Camera: 5 MP AF with LED Flash with zero shutter lag and fast shot2shot
• Sub (Front) Camera: 1.3MP for Video Call
• Connectivity: Bluetooth technology v 3.0, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz/ 5GHz), NFC
• Sensor: Accelerometer, Compass, Gyro, Light, Proximity, Barometer
• Memory: 1GB(RAM) ＋ 16GB Internal memory
• Size: 135.5,, x 67.94,, x 8.94mm, 135g
• Battery: Standard battery, Li-on 1,750 mAh

Galaxy Nexus – Box

Galaxy Nexus – Box Open

Galaxy Nexus – Box Contents

Galaxy Nexus – Front

Galaxy Nexus – Back

The Innergie USB Charger – Duo USB Charging Kit (Home) is selling at Challenger for SGD$50 (after 10% member’s discount is SGD$45). I got it from VivoCity’s Challenger.

There are 2 versions of the Duo USB Charging Kit, one is for home and the other is for car. The car’s version is selling for SGD$45 (after 10% member’s discount is SGD$40.5).

If you are looking for the home and car together in 1 package, it is called the Duo USB Travel Charging Kit and it is selling for SGD$70 (after 10% member’s discount is SGD$63).

The Duo USB Charging Kit (Home) package consist of 1x 15W Dual USB Adapter and 1x Magic Cable Duo – Charge & Sync 2-in-1 USB Cable. The Magic Cable Duo is already retailing for SGD$29 by itself.

The USB charger features 2x USB ports capable of outputting 3A in total which is enough to charge an iPad (2A recommended) and an iPhone (500mAh required) at the same time.

It should be able to charge 2 iPads at the same time, but the charging speed will be slightly slower since each iPad will only be drawing 1.5A instead of the recommended 2A.

This USB charger will also be useful for travelling as it can charge two mobile phones at the same time and hence requiring just 1 power outlet rather than 2.

Specifications

• AC Input: 100-240 Vac / 0.6A
• USB Output: 5V / 3A
• Output Power: 15W
• Dimension (LxWxH): 90 x 42.3 x 23mm (3.5 x 1.6 x 0.9 inches)
• Weight: 52g (1.8 ounces)
• Built-in Protections: OCP, OVP, OPP, SCP

Innergie USB Charger – Duo USB Charging Kit (Home) – Packaging Front

Innergie USB Charger – Duo USB Charging Kit (Home) – Packaging Contents

Magic Cable Duo

15W Dual USB Adapter

2 USB Charging Ports