My new toy - ASUS Fonepad 7 16GB (White) hands on review

TWO and a half years ago, I bought my first smart phone - HTC Incredible S (bundled with Digi Smart Plan) from PC fair 2011 at the cost of RM1394. During that time, the smart phone industry still at its infancy. The cost of ownership was also very high. 

Time has passed so quickly and in just 2 years almost everyone now carrying a smartphone in their pocket, some even carry two or more smartphones, plus a tablet in their hand carry bag.

I follow the tremendous growth of smart phone sale since early days. HTC was a more popular brand during that time while Samsung was rapidly catching up by introducing a series of smart phone line-ups before dominating the smartphones industry not long ago.

Back to basic - Certified in ITIL® Foundation

I am computer science graduate with 13 years of experience in IT field, and 8 years in IT management. I gained a lot of skill as my pursuing my career in IT line. Now I am in IT management position, taking on a comprehensive IT team, assuming my duty as a true leader.

For all my work life, I have never thought I need any written qualifications to move forward. For me nothing beats work experiences. I since learn a lot of hard skills (programming, networking, server administration) and soft skills (ie: communication skill, leadership skill) during work. Besides, I build good relationship with peers, suppliers and friends as they are very important for your career.

Therefore I have never been certified on the paper except my Degree. I have no professional certificate of any kind, until recently I started to figure out how important it is to get certified. I searched in various job seeking web sites and found out that plenty of hirings now requires some kind of certifications, especially for IT positions.

Exora as a workhorse, anyone?

Many of the Exora owners wonder, whether is it suitable to take Exora to work?

My experience for past 2 weeks driving Exora to work showed the answer is a big - YES!


Why?

After owning the Exora for almost a year (I bought December, 2012), I was reluctant to take Exora to work due to its size and weight. I drive my old Iswara 1.3 manual to work for its light clutch and agility. It is until recently when it got a bad lower arm bush and bearing problem and I have no time to fix it.

Same as many people, the biggest reason of not taking the monster to work is, I afraid of its maneuverability in the drastic morning traffic and its capability to keep up with cars. Still, I have not much choice.

The next day, I took my 7-seater to work and I continue to take it to a ride for 2 consecutive weeks.

And... time proves me wrong. YES indeed this car is a bit heavy, but when you are taking it to work, its slow pace acceleration actually calms you in the stressful traffic. The good thing about the Exora is that, it has great sound proof and nice stereo system. Its has great suspensions thus making sure you sit comfortably in the cabin while enjoying your favorite music. It gives a sense of calm to start your work day. And, surprising it is no slouch either, at least not as bad as others complaining about its power.

Looking at the cars from the mirror, the Exora has no problem throwing cars behind. Its accelerates steadily and linear, and able to achieve your desire speed fast. This is especially true when there's only driver in the car. It feels lively (perhaps manual transmission) and mature.

The serenity offered by the Exora immediately injects anti-stress hormones into your bloodstream. It will make sure you stay calm and relax to start your day of work, and to go home with smile in your face.

So guys, why not start driving your Exora to work, and confirm what I say is true.

Best bet to counter fuel price - Switching to two wheeler?

Fuel price for RON95 has been increased from RM1.90 to RM2.10 from 3rd Sept 2013 onward, that's sad news, but that's the fact and we can't do more to revert it.

Yet what we can do is to switch our thinking, and to change our lifestyle to cope with the burden.

There are many ways to do it. But what makes a direct impact is that we should stop using fuel wherever possible, or minimize its usage all the time. But for workers like us, we cannot save beyond the traveling distance to workplace because we have to travel. So bring down traveling expenses within the working distance is the key to save fuel money.

Malaysia's most popular bike - Honda EX-5 Kapchai

We use highways, we use tolls and we caught in jam all the time. This had caused us fatigue, stressful and costs us a lot of money to pay toll and petrol. Imagine travelling all the way from Kajang to Damansara workplace in a box with a 30km route will cost you about RM6 in fuel and RM1.80 toll fare per trip. Added up with the same return route will cost you RM15.6 in total, for just to go and back from work!

Morib-Tanjung Sepat trip with Exora

Yesterday and a day before, we just had a 2-day stress-releasing fun time at Gold Coast Water Theme Park Resort, Morib, Selangor.

We booked the ticket through LivingSocial at the price of RM198/2pax. We purchased 2 tickets that includes one night 2 rooms with breakfast and dinner for 2. We went 7 persons in total with 4 adults and 3 kids under 12 years of age, so the kids need to buy their meal voucher, with the exception of Louis because he's not more than 90cm, he he he! All of us made ourselves comfy in one big heavy monster.

Lemon - The best weight loss super fruit

If you are suffering weight problem and don't have idea to get rid of the GERD, stomach upset, and stubborn belly fat, today I am going to introduce you a proven, highly effective and a natural way that I have tried and tested - the lemon water.

GERD stands for "Gastroesophageal reflux disease". This disease is a result of poor diet and damaged stomach lining, where too much of gas got produced in the stomach. Stomach upsets are mainly indigestion. This is a common illness in Malaysian society due to our spicy, oily and sour food nature, where it causes our stomach unable to digest the food efficiently, leaving the food behind in the stomach and produces discomfort.

Welcome My New Property @ Semenyih Parklands

Last Sunday, on 22nd Sept 2013, I have made a booking for my new house at Semenyih Parklands. Priced at RM418,500 compared to the launching price of RM388,800 back on 7th Sept 2013. Which means, in merely 10 days, they increased the price up to a whooping RM30,000!

This is new phase 2B with new layout. The 20'x65' double story terrace house's layout is actually small compared to the current popular size of 20'x70'. Although the measurement is small, built-up is unexpectedly huge, at 1,943sqft. This project is developed by Amalan Setar.

This property will complete in about 2 years from now, hence expected to complete around Sept, 2015 but I was told it can be a few months earlier.

To book, simply place a RM1,000 booking fee and bring the booking documents to bank to apply for a loan. No hectic queue, no stressful balloting.

UPDATE: This property selling price has been increased to RM438,800 as of middle of Oct, 2013.

UPDATE (28/11/13): Semenyih Parklands will do second launching for phase 2B, Clover on 30th Nov 2013. Price is said to be another increase to estimated RM446,800 but offers discount on the downpayment. So for anyone who interested to take advantage before price hike please visit their show room before the relaunch. Their address can be found at http://www.amalansetar.com.my/contact_us.asp

Proton Saga SV, FLX SE and Proton Persona Standard Test Drive & Comparo

Sometime early this month I have had a chance to test drive the Proton Saga SV, FLX SE and Proton Persona latest edition. These 3 cars are Proton's current most sellable cars due to their attractive price tags.

THE SAGA SV

For the Saga SV the unit I tested came with 1332cc total displacement Campro IAFM, that churns out 94 horses and 120nm of torque at 4000rpm. A pretty basic car came without sport rims (only steel wheels), coil mats, has an unpainted signal lamps and rear boot garnish and a removed tailpipe. It also has no fordable wing mirrors. Please refer to paultan.org for more feature explained.

The Drive

Sits on the car I immediate felt "tall" because this car's seats has been made higher for better viewing angles. The roof room is also aplenty for a 165cm tall guy like me. The cabin room felt airy and the usable space directly matches Myvi's. The seats are well padded and stepping into and alighting off the car is effortless.

Hari Raya Port Dickson trip with Exora

During this Hari Raya holiday season, we have spent 2 days and a night at Port Dickson and Melaka. As usual, it is time for my Exora to show what it capables of.

2 cars are involved. One is Perodua Alza Premium, and another one is my Exora. Since mine is marginally bigger than Alza my car was fitted with 5 adults, plus whole bunch of travel luggage and utensils for BBQ purpose. Whereas Alza carried 4 adults plus a 2-month old baby and of course, the required baby's necessities.

Since it is first day of Hari Raya we decided of not taking the Seremban highway route due to known heavy traffic at the KL-Seremban highway all the way to Melaka. We instead selected Sepang-Port Dickson trunks and pathways to avoid jams despite of the longer distance and slightly curvy routes.

2013 CNY Balik Kampung Trip

This year's Chinese New Year balik kampung trip has been a bit different with the addition of my new ride the Proton Exora. I had a wonderful trip with my Exora. It serves my family well with strong, tough and practical characteristics.

It was a very relaxing and comfortable trip with the Exora, mainly because of it's ride and handling and space of cause, which it outclassed my Vios, the test-driven Avanza and my sister-in-law's Alza in every expect minus only its speed. Speed mentioned here is its acceleration, NOT the top-speed compared to the Toyota Vios because the Toyota is unrivaled in this category being a small normal aspirated engine.

I started the trip on early Saturday at around 5 a.m. morning while my kid still in his dreamland. I've packed everything in the car the day before departure and everything went smooth. Then I got stuck in the jam after Sg. Buloh toll because of an accident. Car was moving slowly and I am constantly doing up-shifts and down-shifts...

Exora's rattling sound under the seat

After just 600kms drive on my Exora, now I found it started to gave some rattling sound under the front seats. It happens when I brake the car. Although it isn't a big deal as it happens only there's a force on the seat, i.e when gliding through bumps, however, if it is due to poor workmanship I must say it is really unbearable because Proton has over 25 years of experience in automotive industry and this problem should not happen at all, at least not at this stage.

I googled on this topic and found it indeed is a common problem and the issue is unable to be resolved. Some owners had bring over to service center but frustrated because they offer no solution on this.

Since this is the case I decided to give it a DIY by applying some gel at the join and observe it for a few days. I hope this will resolve the problem so let's wait and see.

UPDATE: I've tried to adjust the seat adjuster to its optimum level it seems to silent for now. Will monitor again.

Exora weekend getaway trip: Bukit Tinggi detour

I just back from Bukit Tinggi, Pahang trip with my new Exora last Saturday. I consider this is a light trip because only in the car I have only 2 adults (My wife & I) and my baby on board.

It was in the afternoon when we start our journey and the day was dark. I got my tank filled up with RM50 petrol (Ron95) at the Caltrex station and got my donuts inflated at 35psi (this is preset psi when I first got my car) to offer better handling.

Initially I thought Bukit Tinggi is a alpine but it proofs me wrong when it returned with just some hilly twists and bumps. In fact Bukit Tinggi is not really a sloppy hill because I can proof it with my Exora because those sloppy bends be tackled in just 3rd gear, although some occasional overtaking might need a more powerful 2nd gear but most of the time I don't need it.

Proton Exora In-car ICE Review

More news on my Exora.

Yesterday, I sorted out some CDs, CDRs, DVDs and VCDs for testing them with my new car stereo system (Clarion HU/Head Unit) and roof-mounted DVD player. And the result is, PROMISING...

Clarion Head Unit
The Clarion is 2-DINN head unit. It has Tuner, CD/MP3, Bluetooth, AUX functions. To switch to any of these modes simply press and hold the master volume control.

Roof-Mounted DVD player
I tested with various disk types such as original audio CDs, recorded video CD-Rs, DVDs, Video-CDs, almost of all of them can be digested without problem except some CD-Rs. There's not lagging in the video and sound is transmitted without delay too.

There's one complain though. I found there's a slight disappointment with the DVD player's sound though because there's a loss of signal and background noise is high partly because it transmits the signals via its built-in FM transmitter hence signal loss.

My new ride

Happy new year 2013! My this new year bring more health and wealth to all!

Here are some updates on my new ride...

I finally got my car on 31st Dec 2012, the last day with the last running number.

It was a thrilling wait because I promised to bring my family out for dinner after picking up my new car. If the car number failed to register on the same day, I will definitely felt despaired because I suppose to get it on last Friday, and I went through an excruciating wait...

The wait is over when I was finally called at about 6pm on 31st Dec and was excited to hear my car plate number & registration card was finally out, and I am the last registrant!

I quickly pack myself up and went to the showroom in no time. While I was at the showroom I saw my car already parked outside, fully tinted and waiting for me. I whispered: "Gosh, this is prettiest car in the world! ^^".

H

I was briefed about the cars basic operations by the SA, plus the ICE, roof-mount DVD player, alarm, immobilizer and some cool BCM (body control module) features. It suppose to be quick process but I "accidentally" asked too many questions which delayed the whole pickup process.

I drove home with my new ride around 8pm. Nothing special about the feature explained except roof-mount DVD, BCM, Remote honk, and some car safety feature such as immobilizer and ABS/EBD, which I will explain in my following posts. For now, more concern is on how the outlook, NVH, rides and handling and fuel consumption right?

The Cosmetic

The immediate feeling I notice when I sat on the driver seat was how huge the cabin is. Its headroom and laproom (between my laps and steering) is so much that even I toe my foot and yet still not touching the steering (My height is around 165cm). Headroom is airy too as I can feel the air gliding through my hair.

A grasp on the steering offers me a solid, non-slip feel, nice enough to hold and touch although it is made of plastic, it is definitely a higher quality soft-touch plastic.

Plastics goes all-round throughout the cabin. For somebody this might be a bad contrast to luxury, but for me it intimately fine.

Seats are well padded to the firm side yet very supportive and it's wrapped with fabric. I like fabric more than leather because it will not easily get hot under the sun.

Outlook wise, the car has a same BOLD look like CFE except 3 points:

1. Without spoiler
2. Without fog lamps
3. 15" rims only (Not 16" in BOLD premium)

The Start-up

Cranking the engine give sparking sound followed by a roar of the CPS engine (this isn't normal roar found in my wife's Vios, but is way louder!). Have to mention here the CFE has a different sound (but I couldn't remember its sound). However these sounds didn't intrude much as the door shuts up. As a result, a serene cabin plus some new car smells :).

Switching on the ICE sound system offers a clear sound, better than Alza as I remember, matching my wife's Vios default ICE. The ICE is a higher end version, which comes with AUX and Bluetooth.

There's also a roof-mounted DVD player on the second row's roof-top. It has a SD card slot & audio output jack. To get the sound into the car's ICE system you need to match the preset frequency as explained in the manual.

The Power

As I step on the gas pedal, the car pull strongly, definitely no Drive-by-wire lagging as found on my Vios. It is surprisingly responsive, especially when it climbs up to 2,500RPM. The powerful booster feeling suddenly felt, when revving up to 2,500RPM, same feeling goes to every gear. The car suddenly got all its power to accelerate. Bare in mind this is Proton Exora Bold Execute Manual sitting on 1.6 campro CPS heart, with 125 horsepower and 150nm of tourque but with a heavy 1.4 tonne weight. So this is the beauty of the manual, where you can drag those gears up to the desired power band before up-shifting. Don't expect it to beat those nasty small cars on the road though such as Myvi and Viva, because they are built for maneuverability and pickup. But trailing them, or even "potong" them is no problem when given slightly more gas.

During the dinner outing, we have 6 adults on board with 1 baby. I start driving from Sg. Chua to Boston at Bandar Putra Permai for dinner. The road conditions consists somewhat 50% of town-drive (Seri Kembangan town) and 50% highway (SILK highway on the way back). If anyone of you has been to Seri Kembangan / Serdang you know how bad the road conditions is. Proudly, my Exora swallows them without breaking a sweat, while maintaining the firmness of the car and everyone's smiling faces.

On highway, its power shines once again when the RPM reaches its power band. It accelerate like a turbo (may be VTEC) car so if you want to overtake cars then this is the RPM ranges you are looking at (2,500 ~ 3,000 RPMs) at any gear. So for those who doubt about Exora's performance, seriously look the the manual version or the CFE-CVT version. Way better that the ordinary auto.

PROTON (or LOTUS) ride & handling

The steering feel is also one of its best. I appreciate PROTON for keeping his hydraulic steering because it steers so precisely, especially when I tackled one Lebuh silicon and SILK (heading Kajang) corner, the body-role is minimal (compared to my sister-in-law's Alza and my own 9 years Iswara 1.3 LMSS).

The ride all the way is also smooth operator. On uneven Seri Kembangan roads, potholes and bumps can be cleared with flying colors even driving fast. The R&H is better than all my rides & cars that I test drove before including my Iswara 1.3 manual (This is also Lotus-tuned), my wife's Vios J 2010 1.5 auto, my sister-in-law's Alza 2011 1.5 auto, test drives models such as Myvi lagi best, Viva, Nissan Almera, Livina and Livina x-Gear while matching Kia Forte, Honda Civic 2012, Nissan Teana and Toyota Camry 2012 in terms of ride (not handling, because Lotus handling is still the best).

Noise, vibration and hardness is well contained. The only complain is its engine (roar sound, like after adding CAI) and radiator fan sound (WOOooo sound, like an aeroplane engine LOL!).

Fuel consumption

This is sometime hard to catch at the moment. I was given a full tank of gas by my SA so I will update you guys again when the tank depletes.

Quality & after service

Yes, this is the Malaysian's most worried part - PROTON's quality. This area is left blank for further input. So stay tuned to my blog.

For service center wise I have consulted the SA. She recommended World Car Care Service at Pusat Industrial area Bukit Serdang because according to her this SC has long operated and it more equipped. World Car Care also have a loyalty program (member card). Let me find out more and update you guys again.

So here you go my quick update on the second day of ownership. I didn't drive my new car to work coz sayang the car. I still use my workhorse Iswara which still serves well. My Exora will be a weekend car as of now.