Android Handset : Samsung Galaxy S3 Review & Hands-On

You should had been aware of the launching and announcement of the new Samsung Galaxy S3 a few months ago or simply you get to know it through 9gag where the promotional quote of this Galaxy S3, "Designed for Humans.", has been a joke over the internet lately. This new Samsung Galaxy S3 Android handset comes with numerous features that are truly designed for consumers like any of us. The hardware comes with a quad-core processor, 8MP rear camera & 1.9MP front camera, HD super amoled display, smart stay censor, LTE, and so on.

The design of this phone is a little bit curved and bigger comparing to the Samsung Galaxy S2 which is rectangular in its design. The screen has 4.8 inches HD super amoled while the succeeder features only 4.3 inches super amoled screen. The locations of the buttons are maintained and the home button of Galaxy S3 is slightly narrower and longer.

The front and the back view of the Apple iPhone competitor ultimate device. Unlike the Galaxy S2, Samsung offers a range of colors on the Galaxy S3 which the colors include marble white, pebble blue, amber brown, garnet red, sapphire black, and titanium grey. Well, the back of Samsung Galaxy S3 will all be glossy surface rather than a rough surface like the succeeder.

This ultimate device is bigger than my palm. Regardless of the size of Galaxy S3, the user experiences especially the web browsing experience does satisfy the user together with the solid colors being displayed through the HD super amoled display which is fantastic and unique in its own definition.

Smart Stay, another feature that may amaze most of the electronics consumers in the market that automatically disables the screen timeout if it detects your face is facing the screen. This feature is great but provided if and only if you enabled it in the device's settings. Personally, it does not make any differences to me because my thumb will be on the screen randomly all the time (disabling timeout manually)

Smart Alert in Galaxy S3 does make a difference in user experience among any other smartphones available in the market today. It notifies you intelligently that you have a missed call, text messages or so with a gentle vibration when you are back reaching your phone. Will you miss a missed call or text messages? I think probably not. Besides, reviewing the intelligence of this device, there is one feature that brings in the convenience to the users called the Direct Call. This feature automatically calls a person when you place the device towards your ear. How does it works? It works with messages applications for example when a person texted you "Where are you?", instead of tapping on the menu or contact info to call that specific person, you just place your Galaxy S3 towards your ear to call.

The keyboard in my experience is way too big for typing with only one hand. The accuracy if typing will be a 100% and no typo tolerance without the autocorrect of course. Last but not least, S Beam feature that allows sharing of multimedia files with only one tap is definitely awesome feature ever designed. Even Olympic hotels accept Samsung Galaxy S3 as hotel keycards because of this feature! Unfortunately, this feature can only be connected and shared among the Galaxy S3 devices at the moment.

With the quad-core processor, taking continuous photos with zero lag is absolutely possible. In my experience, taking continuous photos where you keep on tapping the shooting button works flawlessly and you will not even realizing how many shots you had taken. The shutter speed is as great as the DSLRs, capturing every single moments of an activity. The camera features the abilities to take not only burst shots but also panorama photos and HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos. The quality of the photos taken with front camera does satisfies me instead of a VGA quality photos. For your interest, the samples of photos can be view here.

Penang Food Paradise #31 : Penang Road Laksa

Penang road itself has numerous famous hawkers selling awesome Penang foods during the day, that makes Penang as a food paradise for not only tourists but also localists. Besides the famous Penang Cendol and Penang Hainanese Chicken Rice, there is another stall selling its famous laksa in a corner coffee shop just next to the Penang Famous Cendol named Joo Hooi Cafe.

A bowl of Penang Road Laksa.

Every stall in Penang selling the same dish, Penang Laksa, has their unique tastes. Unlike any other stalls, this Penang Road Laksa is famous of its own reason, the tastes. This bowl of laksa I had is unique in the mixture of both saltiness and sourness in the tastes which it differs itself from other famous laksa stalls in Penang if you are taking them into a comparison.

Detailed Information:
Joo Hooi Cafe (Corner)

Penang Road

11:30AM - 5:00PM 

View Penang Road Laksa in a larger map

Related posts you may be interested : 
• Famous Balik Pulau Laksa
• Famous Penang Air Itam Assam Laksa
• Famous Penang Cendol/Chendol
• Famous Penang Road Hainanese Chicken Rice

Cycling In Penang Heritage City, Georgetown

A day to remember as an AUPian when we cycled all around the city of heritage covering most of the mural arts drawn by Ernest, some heritage sites with a mini food tour. The adventure had started right after our meet ups and briefings and ended our awesome adventure in the afternoon after having O-Kio located beside the main road along Weld Quay. We were all very lucky to be able to cycle under the perfect weather, who will enjoy cycling and visiting those mural arts under a heavy downpour? We, a group of 30 over cyclists, had conquer the streets in Georgetown and had left our bicycles' tracks together with the continuous bell ringings which would had brought up the happening atmosphere and spread our love to our hometown, Penang, to the tourists!

The "Reaching Up" mural in Cannon Street.

  "Boy On A Bike" mural in Ah Quee Street.

  Godess of Mercy Temple (Kuan Yin Temple) in Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling.

  St. George's Anglican Church in Lebuh Farquhar.

  "The Awaiting Trishaw Paddler" mural in Penang Road.

  Chew Jetty (Clan Jetty) in Weld Quay.

  The shop from where we rented our bikes.

Let this Saturday be our most adventurous yet unforgettable day in our college life! The moments when all of us bonding with each other, the spirit of unity was not only be seen with our eyes rather it was felt deep inside in everyone's heart. Besides, getting a sunburn and a sore butt are worth it for such a unforgettable memories we all had as an AUPians, don't you agree so? Anyway, the photos can be downloaded with a click on each of them in high resolution.

You might be interested : Cycling In Penang Georgetown, City of Heritage

Penang Food Paradise #30 : Penang Bak Kut Teh

In this cold weather and a rainy season, are you searching for something to warm your body and the bodies of your love ones or craving for the taste of Bak Kut Teh? Well, if you are a heavy taster you would definitely rate this Bak Kut Teh stall with a highest ranking. Bak Kut Teh was introduced to Malaya in the 19th century by Chinese coolies and workers of Hokkien origin with the cause to boost their health until today. This non-halal stall offers variety ingredients provided for your bowl of Bak Kut Teh which they include pork intestines, pork stomaches, mushrooms, small corn, small maize, pork meats, and so on.

Perak Road Bak Kut Teh.

The taste of the Bak Kut Teh is very unique as the soup of this Bak Kut Teh has a sweeter and stronger flavor because of the herbal stews that is boiled heavily before the serving. In this stall, the Bak Kut Teh is eaten together with either white rice or yam rice. Personally, I love having the yam rice with Bak Kut Teh. Besides, the bowls are usually served with a plate of You Tiao (oil strip) and an optional of You Chai (Vegetables). So having which ingredients or not, you will decide yourself when you are ordering at the stall.

Detailed Information:
Classic Coffee Shop (Corner)

Jalan Perak ( Opposite Padang Brown Hawker Center )

Nighttimes 

View Penang Bak Kut Teh in a larger map

Cycling In Penang Georgetown, City of Heritage

There is one activity which you should not missed when you visit Penang, Malaysia. This activity is adventurously eco-friendly where you cycle around the city of heritage, Penang's Georgetown in the meanwhile it is also cycling for your health too! We started our cycling adventure late in the afternoon after meeting up each other in an antique reseller's shop who also offered bicycle rentals at the price of only RM10/day. All of us enjoyed our cycling adventure despite the sunny weather.

A group of 5. Nicholas, Charles, Shi Jie, and Chien Chern including me with our gears ready!

We first had our cycling around Armenian Street under the hot and searing sun until we arrived at one destination where there is a stall that serves the awesome yet famous dessert beside the road of Pangkalan Weld known as O-Kio ( 爱玉冰 ). Oh well! It felt so great having something cold in the meantime quenched our thirst before we continued on.

O-Kio, also known as ai yu bing in Mandarin.

As we continued, we headed north towards Penang Esplanade where Fort Cornwallis is located at. I recalled of the delicious Mee Sotong being introduced by my friend where its stall is situated in the food court next to Fort Cornwallis so we gave it a hit since we were already there. The Mee Sotong tastes a little bit spicy but as a whole, it does tastes great because of the sauce.

The plate of Mee Sotong in Penang Esplanade.

What was next after hitting our try on the Mee Sotong? We went into a private carpark where we took our glance of the entire Port of Swettenham. We had a crazy idea of cycling towards the Four Pillars in Sungai Pinang area which the pillars were built just next to the sea. But before that, we cycled into Chew Jetty, another tourism hotspot of Penang. Yes, we cycled in into the village with our bicycles. Inside the village was peacefully beautiful that has its very own unique culture and structures.

The glance of Penang Port Swettenham.

One of the art murals drawn by a talented artist, Ernest Zacharevic has been spotted on a wall in Chew Jetty as we went deeper inside. There were a few luxury boats docked nearby to the village by foreign tourists which is simply amazing for such a rare sighting. We cycled around the Four Pillars in Sungai Pinang area through the Jelutong Expressway's motorcycle lane after we visited the Chew Jetty. The distance starting from the highway towards the Four Pillars were so scary as we were cycling in the motorcycle's express lane, the rev up sounds from the motorbikes deters us from taking our glance back at each other even to the sideways. We all had our dinner in Chulia Street for the Famous Wan Tan Mee and ended our cycling adventure at night. The photo collections of some of the art murals I got for that day as follow:

We called it our cycling adventure for the day, what about yours? Let's share your experiences and cherishable memories!