I have not published a personal entry in my blog for a long time. When I started the blog back in 2006, I wrote more personal stuff. Nowadays, I have a lot more products to review. But once a while, I feel like writing some personal insights to share with my readers and for my remembrance. So here is what happened in my first 10 days of April in 2016.
April 1 Friday
D-Link Marketing emailed me on 31 Mar to ask if I was interested to review the DIR-895L. After a few exchange of emails, they would arrange for the unit to be delivered to me for review. One year ago, I reviewed the DIR-890L and it was quite an amazing router.
I received an email from PR agency of GP (the popular battery company) that they are arranging for a media kit for my keeps. Such gestures do not come often because my site popularity cannot compete with the other tech and lifestyle sites.
April 2 Saturday
I finally sent my daughter’s annual photobook for printing via online. I have been using Photobook Worldwide for printing all my photobooks since 2006, and I love the quality and the price.
April 3 Sunday
Shopback has a promotion with additional cashback for members who pay using VISA, so I ordered a watch strap from AliExpress costing US$9.99. A day later, Shopback informed me that I have earned S$3.16 from the transaction. How cool is that! I’ve blogged about Shopback a while back, so you can read my post here.
April 4 Monday
Received email from ASUS that they would be collecting back the Zenfone Zoom. I spent the evening transferring the data to Zenfone Max, which I received for their seeding program.
Lomography contacted me to express interest in collaborating with my site. We spent the next few days discussing about some ideas and identifying some products that I can review and share. I was apprehensive because I do not do experimental photography. I do not just accept collaborations for the sake of getting new gadgets to play with. These products must resonate with my interests and my lifestyle.
April 5 Tuesday
I published the ZenPad 8.0 review. I received it on 29 Mar and posted the review within 7 days. Sometimes, I find it easy to pen my thoughts on some products because I could quickly identify the key characteristics to talk about.
A previous contact from another product company now works in AverTek and he emailed me about a new AverMedia product which he would like me to review.
GearBest Marketing emailed me to inform me that they are processing the shipping of a smartwatch review unit, and would like me to promote the Mi Fan Carnival Sale. Since they have been supportive of my site by sending me multiple review products, I felt I should do a simple shoutout. So, I worked on the draft in the evening. At the same time, I checked the Mi Singapore website and found that they are finally selling the new 20000mAh power bank with Quick Charge, as well as the Mi Band with heart rate monitor, which was launched in China since late last year and available on GearBest. Believing that the products would be sold out within minutes, I asked someone for the contact to Xiaomi and emailed him for an opportunity to collaborate in covering some Xiaomi products.
Received the Moto 360 Gen 2 smartwatch for review.
April 6 Wednesday
I published the Mi Fan Festival article.
LRT (Leader Radio Technologies) Marketing contacted me for future collaborations. I shared with them that their PR agency has already been providing review units over the past months. LRT distributes Pebble Time, Jaybird X2, LG Tone Headset, Earin Earbuds, to name a few.
In the evening, I attended the LG Singapore TV and Audio launch. It was a cosy event attended by a handful of guests (an earlier session was packed). During the event, LG introduced the super-slim OLED TV that is 4 credit cards thin. I saw for myself the advantage of using OLED as TV, where the individual pixels are lighted instead of a separate backlit panel. This means that black areas will remain completely black because they are not lit up at all. In addition, these newest LG models come with Dolby Vision, which delivers high dynamic range and wide colour gamut. Movies will appear with better contrast and tonality, the bright and dark areas will have gradient details. They played a few demo clips and showed the difference. I won’t bore you with the technical details, but here are the models that you might want to watch out when you buy your next perfect TV: LG OLED G6, OLED E6, OLED C6, UH950T, UH850T, UH770T, UH650T.
April 7 Thursday
I received the photobook I ordered on Saturday. Their 7-day delivery promise is fulfilled yet again. I created a video collage of the photobook using ASUS MiniMovie app and uploaded on Instagram. On hindsight, I should have created video footage, but I still prefer to create photographic content than video. This is because for photos, I can shoot first and storyboard later, while for video I have to storyboard first then decide on how to shoot.
I also received the GP media kit, as well as the AverMedia Ballista Trinity Gaming Speaker review unit.
And ASUS informed me that I could keep the Zenfone Zoom! How did that happen? Apparently, they loved the content I have been creating on my social channels with the ZOOM and so they decided that the phone would be better off with me. I spent the evening re-transferring the data from the MAX to the ZOOM, which is now my permanent smartphone.
April 8 Friday
I published a blog about the new GP products. Started to draft the review of Moto 360. Posted photos I took of the ZOOM on Instagram, focusing on how optical zoom makes a difference in images. This has always been my focus when advocating Zenfone Zoom. Other features are arguable.
April 9 Saturday
One year ago, Volvo’s PR agency offered me the Volvo S60 T5 Drive-E a 3-day test drive, which I blogged about it. That drive gave my family such a positive experience that we went back again, this time as normal consumers, and tested the V40 T2 and the S60 T2. While I really like the car, it is still over my psychological budget. Let’s see if the car price drop some more, else I will hold off the purchase for another year. Besides, the earlier I change the car, the earlier I start draining my bank account.
In the evening, I opened up the AverMedia product and plugged to my PC. My thoughts? I’ll let you know in my proper review post.
April 10 Sunday
Busy with family routine. Created this post in 3 hours.
And there you have it, my first 10 days of April. This week is unusually eventful.