This is one of the most impromptu gatherings I had ever seen. It was actually organized one day before the actual day itself. Imagine that. If I didn't go online the day before on February 19, 2010, I would actually missed the actual gathering yesterday that is on February 20, 2010!
I was bubbling with excitement when I know about this gathering. Finally! A chance to get my hands on the keitai itself instead of looking enviously at the pictures online!
I wasted no time in contacting Jaslyn to see if she was interested. After all, she was the one who fell in love with SH-05A which was unfortunately, a 3G only keitai that at this moment, could not be unlocked for usage locally. Not to be deterred, her heart went for SH-06A. However, with the release of the latest Winter 2009/Spring 2010, SH-01B caught her attention as well. I can tell that she is having second thoughts about getting a keitai or just save up for her trip Korea. This keitai gathering would be a good chance for her clear her thoughts, get hands on, as well as getting advice from the experienced keitai users. Plus, after the interaction with the other keitai users, if she decides to get a keitai, she can also take this opportunity to choose between SH-06A and SH-01B.
In my opinion, getting SH-01B would be more worth the money since SH-01B is the successor of SH-06A. The quote below shows the write up on SH-01B and why SH-01B is better than SH-06A. This is written by Aaron.
NTT Docomo SH-01B Specs/Function summary (also including improvements when compared against previous predecessor SH-06A)
* 110 x 50 x 14.7mm (weighs 126 grams)
* Slimmer at 14.7mm depth vs 16mm depth on the SH-06A (both still share same thickness point at @19.9mm maximum <- usually referring to the camera-portion area)
* Lighter Weight at 126grams vs 135grams on the SH-06A
* Larger 3.4" 480 x 854 pixels main display (New-Mobile ASV 16.7 million colors LCD) as compared to 3.3" on the SH-06A
* Larger 1.4" 192 x 64 pixels external OEL display (Organic Electro-Luminescent) as compared to 0.8" on the SH-06A (also able to display more details such as Calendar and Mail Message Preview this time round)
* Internal Phone memory stands at 140MB vs 128MB on the SH-06A
* Comes with 430K-pixels resolution CMOS
Inner-camera (for making video-calls or self-shot, similar as SH-06A)
* 12.1MP CCD sensor vs 10MP CCD sensor on the SH-06A (both still shares the same 1/2.3" CCD sensor/lens focal length, actual specs taken from Sharp Corp's white paper specs as seen in the picture link)
* 6-Axis Handshake Correction and High ISO-sensitivity Image Stabilizer (as compared to SH-06A which only comes with a normal 6-Axis Handshake Correction Image Stabilizer)
* Background Picture-Saving Mode (Softbank Sharp had it since 930SH last year? Those who have used before Softbank Sharp recent CCD models will recognise this feature)
* Under Camera mode, when Smile Facial-recognition is enabled your subject names can be previewed live on the LCD viewfinder as long as you have the subject's facial data saved in the phone before-hand (can be tagged to create albums up to 10 individual face profiles each)
* Pretty Arrangement function under Camera mode allows user to beautify/change the subject's face w/o resorting to doing post-processing on a PC with software like Adobe Photoshop (*additional note: this feature will make use of Hand-writing support in the SH-01B, just like F-01B to enable user to do fun stuffs to your taken pictures)
* Hand-writing Support for Text Memo input only (slightly inferior in comparison to Fujitsu's implementation for the F-01B/F-04B models, which supports Hand-writing for Mail Message input as well)
* New Illumination Style Design (LED lights up in variation of colors when flip is opened, closed, or when there are incoming calls or mail msg arrival. Some examples can be seen here and here.
* Pedometer/Accelerometer Function built-in (Can be used for camera operation and sub-display, additionally Sharp has implemented an i-Appli software making use of the Pedometer known as Karada Tune to track and manage your burnt calories everyday, records can be previewed and kept up to 3mths before old data is over-written)
* Touch-Cruiser function has been changed to capacitive electrostatic-sensor type, was mentioned by Sharp to improve slimness of the handset dimension since the sensor is smaller (previous SH models were based on optical sensors such as SH906i/SH-03A/SH-06A)
* Time/Date large display option is no longer automatically shown on every text message preview/compose screen, this is minimised to small display instead (displayed on the top-right hand corner of the screen usually, example shown on SH-01B, as compared to SH-06A previously for compose screen)
* Battery life doesn't seem to be increased much, only comes with a 770mAh battery pack this time round (a slight improvement increased from the 700mAh battery pack found in SH-06A/07A previously)
* Colors options will be available in Black, White & Gold
I was wondering why Jaslyn didn't express much interest in this gathering initially but it turns up that she thought that I was not going. DUH. How could I miss such a good chance to get some hands on and opinions? I had wanted to ask Kristy and Samantha along too but both of them were busy. What a pity. Especially for Samantha since I didn't have the chance to expose her to the little keitai knowledge I had like I had done with Jaslyn.
I made plans with Jaslyn to meet her at the City Hall MRT Station since the gathering was at the Starbucks of Marina Square.
I was lucky that I wasn't late as I had managed to catch the train. In fact, I was early by couple minutes. I was waiting for Jaslyn while Umme, who was on her way to her religious class, spotted me. Too bad Jaslyn arrived a little later or we could have a mini gathering. Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ
Jaslyn and I arrived at the location but didn't spotted anyone there yet. Turns up the two organizers were late. I was hungry so I had gotten a Blueberry Muffin and shared a Dark Mocca Coffee with Jaslyn. It was really interesting and cool to see so many keitai in one location. A plus that I get to use it! Keitai keypads in my opinion, are definitely much better than my Sony Ericsson W595. They are kinder on fingers and less stiff. The bigger keypad size helps too. When asked about the durability about keitai, all the users vouched that it is definitely much more durable than local phones. In fact, some had used it for 5 years plus with several drops on the floor and it is still going strong. One of the user must be really rich for he owned at least 8 sets of keitai and who knows? He might have more at home.
The pictures below are taken by ipwnj00. All the keitai in their glory!
I went to eat dinner with Jaslyn at KFC and went home after that. What a day. It was worth the time going down for I managed to pop a few questions which Jaslyn was afraid to ask. Jaslyn stayed true to her word of going there to get hands on only and will not stay anything. It was as if she didn't understand English/Japanese and I was her translator between them. Hoho! However, it was interesting to be with them as I had learned a couple more things about keitai. I will definitely go to the next gathering and hopefully, I will have my own keitai by then!
