Comments on Samsung F480

Ok, this is not an economics topic, or anything related to my 'original posts'. I test drive a Samsung HP F480 and part of the condition attached is I have to do a review of the HP in my blog. So here it goes:

Pros:

• Aesthetically appealing (I love the leather cover & the half metal casing looks cool)
• Small and Light (although Ultra edition still trumps.)
• Alternative to Samsung Omnia (which I am currently using)
• 5MP Camera, no more bringing out of digital camera
• Interface considered quite intuitive
  

Cons:

• Screen not very responsive sometimes.
  
• Does not run on Windows mobile = limited applications.
  
• The camera function of Samsung still lose out to Sony Ericsson and Nokia. This applies to the Omnia too. The flash is simply a LED, far inferior to Sony Ericsson's Cyber-shot Xenon flash. The shots becomes very pixeated when using the zoom for photos/ videos recordings. (the digital camera market is still very safe!) This also implies night shots are lousy.
  
• Touch screen is a killer for people with thick fingers. And there is no stylus! I tried to use my Omnia stylus and strangely, it doesn't work! Apparently the screen only works with fingers (some heat detecting technology?).
  
• The small screen of F480 means people will only buy it for the better aesthetic appeal (though it's subjective) and a pain to use especially when sms-ing. Omnia will almost definitely cannibalize the product. LG's Soul looks almost exactly the same as F480 minus the leather design (which gives F480 the edge).
• It's obviously a phone for women. Guys will go for Omnia, since it's more masculine and functional.
  

For some videos on Youtube.

A Personal Comment:
I think the Ultra edition is wonderful. I used the U600 before it spoils (just a couple of months after warranty ends...I hope the same thing don't happen for my Omnia or else I'll suspect Samsung is deliberately causing their products to fail) and out of novelty, I bought the so called 'i-Phone killer' Samsung Omnia. From what I know, Samsung has stopped producing the Ultra edition which to me is a pity. Samsung seems to be rolling out touchscreen phones as the main focus with the Omnia, Innov8 and then this F480 (it's newer than Omnia apparently).

In short, I'll prefer Omnia over F480 any time.

Welcome to Recession

Finally the dreaded word was confirmed. Singapore is technically in recession, although that is jolly well anticipated given the market turmoil happening over at the States. The weakness of an export-driven economy flares up again. So how bad is the economy now? To give a perspective, the US stock market falls 7 days consecutively with the DJIA falling below 9000 points since 2003, the Japanese yen reaching a new high, a slowing economy in the U.S. showing up in the USD-SGD exchange rate now at 1.46 (it was 1.36 when i went China 4 months ago), the quick fire interest rate cut showing up in AUD-SGD E/R at below 1 (bid is 0.98 last check), and the stock of Citigroup is now traded at US$12.93 versus a high of US$48.95 for the last 52 weeks with the news of Wells Fargo trumping Citi's bid for Wachovia wreaking further havoc to the stock.

Why was I so concern? Coz I bought Citi heavily for my portfolio with a bet that Citi will win (damn it!). Luckily it's virtual. Haha. I admit it's pure speculation. But then, given the irrationality in the market, investment analysis no longer makes much sense. Prices just keep going down and down and down. Even with strong fundamentals, most stock prices are still going south. Probably the only consulation is dropping oil price. No amount of measures, be it massive amount of money pumped into the money market or coordinated interest rate cuts seemed to stem the market downturn with everyone adopting a wait and see attitude and the component of trust and confidence in the government and central banks dissipating.

Can the recession in Singapore be entirely blamed on U.S.? Probably, given our export driven economy. One interesting contrast is the low unemployment rate in Singapore although there might be some changes in the near future. Companies are now nervous about spending and banks are not lending to one another. One leads to another and you have a credit crunch that keeps getting worse. I remembered just a year ago the authorities are heaping on the strong economic growth in the country therefore justifying the wage raise for our dear government. Now, I must admit that they are indeed far sighted, to increase their wages at the peak of the economy.

So how will the Singapore authorities pull off this problem? For most countries, the most direct method would be to cut interest rate. But that was not the tool for MAS. Being a small country, we are basically price takers. And the MAS chooses to play around with the SGD exchange rate against a basket of currencies instead. To help propel growth, the variable bandwidth would be lossened to help export and also against inflation. We may also see the government increase public spending to expand the economy at least in the short term. How long the recession is going to last is everyone's guess. Economists put it at 12-15 months. Technically, the U.S. is not in recession yet, although all of us knows it is. The bottoming may not be ending any time soon.

So what's you gonna do now? Stop spending and eat more at home.