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Before the summary, here are some videos filmed during Mobile World Congress 2012 by Nokia Connects, featuring a skateboarder, a free runner, and a BMX rider using the social features of the Nokia Lumia 900, all shot around Barcelona.
Here are some sample photos taken with the Nokia 808 PureView, the standout camera phone of Mobile World Congress 2012. None of them have been edited; they're straight from the 808 PureView and uploaded to Flickr.
The Nokia Lumia 900 was announced at CES 2012 with LTE, exclusive to AT&T. At Mobile World Congress 2012, Nokia revealed a HSDPA+ Dual Carrier variant for high-speed data, up to 42Mbps download, in countries without LTE, like Singapore.
The Nokia Lumia 610 was the only new Lumia announced at MWC 2012, the 900 having debuted at CES. It arrives alongside Microsoft's strategy of lowering Windows Phone's minimum hardware requirements, and thus cost, by supporting cheaper chips.
The first three phones announced at Mobile World Congress 2012 were the Nokia Asha 202, 203, and 302. The Asha family is affordable and aimed at emerging markets, first introduced at Nokia World 2011. All run Nokia's Series 40 OS.
I'd won the Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-221, while my friend Trent won the Nokia Purity HD Stereo Headset. Since his came in Fuchsia pink, which he disliked, we swapped, and I gave the Purity HD to my wife.
At the Nokia press conference during MWC 2012, every attendee received the Nokia Purity In-Ear Headset, though not in retail boxes, to discourage reselling. In Nokia stores it comes in four colours, Black, White, Cyan, and Fuchsia, at S$148.
The HTC One X and HTC One V are available in Singapore from today, 2nd April 2012, at S$898 and S$398 respectively. The One X features a striking polycarbonate unibody, just 8.9mm thick yet lightweight and sturdy.
I bought Crumpler's The Fug in Black, a slim neoprene sleeve for my 13-inch MacBook Air, from the Paragon Crumpler store for S$55, or S$49.50 with a 10% CitiBank discount. I'd weighed against SwitchEasy's Thins but went with the Fug.
The Twelve South BookArc, at S$65, was my second birthday present from Li Xiang. It holds the MacBook Air upright, freeing desk space when you're not using its screen as a secondary monitor, with a gap for the power cable.
When I joined mig33 on 1st February 2010, I received a MacBook Pro 15-inch (Mid 2009) with a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo and 4GB RAM. Over the years it slowed as apps and the OS grew more demanding.
SingTel is bringing the 3G/WiFi PlayStation Vita to Singapore, on sale from 14th April 2012 at a recommended S$469, or subsidised through SingTel's price plans. You can pre-order online at singtel.com/PSVita from today, 28th March 2012.
Li Xiang gave me two presents this year, plus a short birthday trip to Malaysia. The Twelve South MagicWand, at S$45, was the first, and the BookArc, at S$65, the second. The MagicWand holds the Apple Wireless Keyboard.
I spent the weekend in Kuala Lumpur, from Friday, 23rd March to Sunday, 25th March 2012, to celebrate my birthday. We stayed at the Piccolo Hotel in Bukit Bintang, a fantastic location between Lot 10 and Fahrenheit 88, near Pavilion.
I got my first SSD, the Kingston HyperX 120GB, from Newegg thanks to Benjamin's cousin in the US. It usually cost US$205, but a US$50 mail-in rebate brought it to US$155. I paid an extra S$25 for shipping.
I ordered the Multifunction 3-in-1 Retractable Charging Adapter in Black from Deal Extreme on 4th February 2012, and it reached my mailbox on 5th March, exactly a month later. It cost US$5, with Deal Extreme's usual free shipping.
Diablo III arrives on 15th May 2012. You can pre-purchase digitally on Battle.net for S$90, while the retail box costs S$89 in Singapore and RM218 in Malaysia. If you prefer the Collector's Edition box, Amazon sells it for about US$100.
Not much happened on the fourth and final day of MWC, and I skipped the conference, as I was flying back to Singapore. I woke around 9am, had breakfast, then packed my things, requesting transport at 2pm.
Day three began like day two, with a breakfast Q&A with the Nokia Maps team, Pino Bonetti and Mark Thomas. A Nokia Maps update is coming soon to Lumia devices, offering zoomed-in detail and letting you create and share places.
Day two was a touch more relaxed, opening with a breakfast Q&A with Dean Patrick of Nokia Entertainment at our hotel cafe. He demoed the new Nokia Reading, which lets you read and buy e-books and audiobooks on Lumia devices.
The first day began at 6am, with the bus collecting us from the hotel at 7am. The Nokia booth sat in Hall 7, an eight-minute walk from the entrance. We reached the venue by 8am, but it was already packed.
Thanks to Nokia and Nokia Connects, I had the privilege of attending Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain, from 27th February to 1st March. I flew Lufthansa for the first time, with no direct route, routing via Frankfurt.