Life and tech in Singapore, from local launches and pricing to events and everyday finds.
Uber has arrived in Singapore. It's a service connecting passengers with drivers of luxury vehicles for hire. You book the car, see an estimated wait, get driven to your destination, and hop off, with payment charged to your card.
From today, with Indoor Google Maps for Android in Singapore, you can pinpoint where you are, which floor you're on, and where shops sit relative to you inside a mall. Detailed floor plans appear as you zoom into a building.
Yesterday, Samsung launched its first Samsung Mobile PIN in Singapore, also the first in Asia, at Ngee Ann City's Civic Plaza, known to many as Takashimaya. First introduced at the 2012 London Olympics, the Mobile PIN is a pop-up store.
Alienware has opened its second Alienware Arena in Singapore, on Level 3 of Lucky Chinatown, conceptualised by Alienware from the ground up. The first Arena sits at Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station, having been bought over from JCube Cybercafe and rebranded.
Google has released its annual Zeitgeist, a look at 2012 through the world's collective searches, offering a window into the year's biggest events and trends in Singapore. Top trending searches included Olympics 2012, Gangnam Style, SOPA, Legoland Malaysia, Zerg Rush.
If you're visiting Singapore as a tourist or on business and plan to buy mobile phones, gadgets, computers, or components, this post is for you. Hopefully you'll find it via Google beforehand. First, do not buy anything from Lucky Plaza.
The Nokia Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 arrive in Singapore from 8th December 2012 at Nokia retail stores and telco shops, having first been announced on 6th September. The Lumia 820 costs S$699 without contract, available in Black or White.
The Asus PadFone 2, successor to the original PadFone, goes on sale in Singapore from 22nd November 2012 at authorised Asus retailers and StarHub Shops, seemingly a StarHub exclusive. The 32GB PadFone 2 with Station costs S$1,099, or S$848.
I'm proud that Singapore made the tech news last week with the world's thinnest 2.5-inch hybrid hard drive. Just 5mm thick, it stores 1TB of regular HDD plus 32GB of SSD. The challenge was shrinking the 7mm drive by 30%.
Microsoft launches Windows 8 today. Until 31st January 2013, Windows XP, Vista, and 7 users can download Windows 8 Pro for S$49.99. Those who bought a Windows 7 PC between 2nd June 2012 and 31st January 2013 also qualify.
The Samsung Galaxy Note II, announced about two months ago at IFA 2012, is now available in Singapore. As of 20th October 2012, the Galaxy Note II LTE retails for a recommended S$998 without contract, including 7% GST.
Lytro is now available in Singapore, with Qool Labs as the official distributor here and in Hong Kong. The 8GB model retails for S$648, in Electric Blue or Graphite, while the 16GB costs S$778, only in Red Hot.
BlackBerry JamHack 2012 in Singapore runs from Friday, 12th October to Sunday, 14th October 2012. The hackathon is scheduled across ten APAC cities over two consecutive weekends, with five cities running simultaneously each weekend. You can register online.
I've been waiting for this. Right now, the NFC on my Galaxy Nexus is useless, only reading EZ-Link cards. But soon we'll be able to take public transport and pay with our phones, thanks to a Gemalto-led consortium going live.
I saw on @lupcheong's tweet that In-N-Out Burger might be coming to Singapore. The advertised event could be a tasting session or a trial of local response, and I'm hoping they make it. I had my first In-N-Out in California.
Just a heads up: starting August 2012, I'll be giving away a Logitech gaming product via a monthly Twitter contest over the next three months, totalling S$620. The contests are open to my Singapore-based readers only.
The day has finally come, Apple has launched the iTunes Store in Singapore, alongside Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and several other countries. iTunes Match is available at S$31.98 a year. It's live on my Mac, though not yet on iPhone.
Finally, prices in both the iOS App Store and Mac App Store in Singapore now display in Singapore Dollars rather than US Dollars. That means app prices won't fluctuate with the poor exchange rates banks apply.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) 3G arrives in Singapore from 16th June 2012 for S$798, without contract and including 7% GST. It features a 10.1-inch WXGA 1280x800 display, HSDPA 21Mbps connectivity, a 1GHz dual-core processor, and weighs 587g.
The HTC One S arrives in Singapore from Saturday, 16th June 2012, for S$948, in a single Gradient Metal finish and bundled with a free Beats Solo Headset. It runs Android 4.0 with HTC Sense on a 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon.
The Nokia 808 PureView is now available in Singapore at a recommended S$839, without contract and including 7% GST. Black and white are available at launch, with no word on red. The price feels steep for a Nokia Belle phone.
From 1st July 2012, SingTel's new Flexi plans affect new and re-contracting customers. The data bundle drops from 12GB to 2GB on Flexi Lite, where most of us sit, while the SMS quota rises from 550 to 800. Disappointing.