Gadgets Review: Ninetology Z1+ // Samsung Galaxy SIII

Recently, I participated in Tech Kaiju Arena Program, a blogger review program initiated by Ninetology Malaysia to promote transparent blogging as part of Ninetology’s yearlong ethical blogging initiative that will go hand in hand with sharing the latest gadget information, both Ninetology and other competitor brands. I was given a loan of two phones for a week. The two phones I was assigned to review was NINETOLOGY Z1+ and SAMSUNG GALAXY SIII.

NINETOLOGY Z1+

Quick Specs

• Operating System: Android 4.2
• Memory: Internal 16GB ROM/1GB RAM ; External: Micro SD, up to 32GB

• Platform: CPU: Quad Core 1.2GHz; GPU: PowerVR SGX544

• Display: Size: 5.0 inch; Resolution: 1280 x 720 HD

• Camera: Rear Camera: 13.0MP Front Camera: 5.0MP

• Power & Battery: Capacity: Li-Ion 2000 mAh; Talk Time: Up to 10Hrs; Stand-by Time: Up to 400 hrs

• RRP: RM1299

Samsung Galaxy SIII

• Operating System: Android 4.04 (upgradeable to 4.3)
• Memory: Internal 16/32/64GB ROM/1GB RAM ; External: Micro SD, up to 64GB

• Platform: CPU: Quad Core 1.4GHz; GPU: Mali-400MP

• Display: Size: 4.8 inch; Resolution: 1280 x 720 HD

• Camera: Rear Camera: 8.0MP Front Camera: 1.3MP

• Power & Battery: Capacity: Li-Ion 2100 mAh; Talk Time: Up to 21 h 40 min (2G) / Up to 11 h 40 min (3G); Stand-by Time: Up to 590 h (2G) / Up to 790 h (3G)

• RRP: RM1299

I'm not really a gadget wizard so I'll just be doing a rough comparison on points which I think are important in a phone. :)

The Packaging

Winner: Ninetology Z1+

Ninetology Z1+ comes with a premium gift box which seems much cooler

I am more attracted to Ninetology's packaging with the sleek white bag imprinted with red logos.

Samsung SIII comes with a simple black box which is actually quite similar to SII's.. 

The Accessories.

Winner: Ninetology Z1+

Ninetology Z1+ phone comes with a pair of Earphones, 2 USB Cables , 1 Universal Adapter, a Screen Protector, 2 Pouch and a Power Bank.

With the addition of so many accessories, I do not need to spend extra on all these add-ons. 

The power bank was a pretty cool addition. Compact in size & handy whenever my phone's battery is dying.

The universal adapter is useful when you are travelling overseas. It can be used in 150 countries all over the world. Just last week when I was in Taiwan, I had to fight with my family to charge my electronic devices because we only have 2 universal adapter -.- The addition of an universal adapter would be pretty useful

Samsung SIII only comes with a USB cable, a and a pair of earphones. Basic Stuff.

The Weight & Size

Winner: Samsung Galaxy SIII

Samsung SIII (Left) VS Ninetology Z1+ (Right)

The current trend now is a lighter & portable phone, no? For guys, it'll be easier to slip the phones into their jeans/trousers pocket and for girls, you don't need to bring such a big handbag when you're going out or worry about your bulky hand phone not being able to fit into your teeny clutch when you're out on a formal dinner.

Ninetology Z1+

Weight: 133g
Dimnsion (L x W x H): (13.66 x 7.06 x 0.86) cm

SIII- Yay for slimmer phone! 

Weight: 158g
Dimension (L x W x H): (7.3 x 0.9 x 14.45) cm

The Body

Z1+,  Top View(left) , Side View (Right) 

SIII: Top View (left), Side View (Right) 

Both devices have a similar build-up, with the volume control button & power on button on the side of the phone, speakers & sensor on the top of the phone.
However, I felt that Z1+ has a sleeker body compared to SIII. The sides of Z1+ felt smoother. 

However, both phones' cover is made out of plastic and I would feel nervous when I removed the phone cover, in fear of breaking it. Both cover felt quite flimsy.

Hard Drive

Another score for Ninetology Z1+

Both phones have a Lithium battery which is detachable. However, Z1+ has DUAL SIM CARD SLOT !

SIII has only one micro sim card slot. 

Dual Sim Card slot will be useful for those who owns two different numbers. You need not to use two phones with this additional feature! 

Camera

A clean sweep for Samsung SIII

Despite Z1+ camera having a higher Megapixel, the photo captured by Samsung SIII is much more sharp & clear. This applies to both the front & rear camera.

However, both phones have their distinctive extras such as filters & special effects to allow users to go creative while capturing their favourite moments!  

BATTERY LIFE

Z1+! 

Despite SIII's battery having a higher capcity , I realized that the Samsung Galaxy SIII's battery life burns much faster compared to Ninetology Z1+. SIII overheats easily thus resulting in a sudden drop in battery life span, which is a nuisance if I were to use my 3G/multitask for a long time.

Z1+ on the other hand has a more stable battery life. It does not overheat easily, and is perfect for multitasking/fiddling around the phone to kill boredom :)

IN CONCLUSION... 

Both phones have their own pros and cons & distinctive features. Personally, I'd prefer NINETOLOGY Z1+ over Samsung SIII after using both phones for a week due to the features & additional bonus available. Z1+ satisfy my needs & want in a smart phone :)

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Dim Sum @ Oriental Pavilion, Jaya 33

When I was young, I despise having dim sum. Reasons being: 1. I am a bread person and eat nothing but bread when I was young. 2. NO AIR COND LOL! So whenever my parents tried to bring our family to our usual dim sum restaurant near my house, I would protest like mad, lock myself in the room & throw a huge tantrum lol. Spoiled kid indeed.

But there is one place I'd go for Dim Sum - Oriental Pavillion @ Jaya 33! Oriental Pavilion is a fully air-conditioned restaurant. They serve awesome egg tarts, and also other non-dim sum dishes such as fish fillet porridge so it successfully won my heart. That was the only dim sum restaurant I would agree to tag along with m family when I was young =p (yes, yes, I am a super spoilled kid)

Thank goodness I grew out from that stage and now, I enjoy dim sum quite a lot. But I still enjoy going to Oriental Pavilion for dim sum if I can. Not because its fully air-conditioned LOL but the quality of the food there

Oriental Pavilion's majestic entrance. The dining area is as big as a school's hall to accommodate its ever increasing patrons.

The hall was buzzing with patrons chit-chating, babies wailings & so on. Good thing we made a booking earlier or we'd had to wait outside for a seat.

Since we reached tehre at 12pm, there was no "cart lady" or "cart man" pushing the cart with dim sums around so we had to order it from the paper :/

Steamed peanuts are served as an appetizer upon ordering.

Mah Lai Goh (Steamed Malay Cake)
The texture of this cake was so soft and moist, it felt as if it is melting in my mouth as I took a bite.

Steamed Siew Mai RM8
Fat, big, juicy & succulent prawns, enclosed in minced meat wrapped with the Siew Mai skin & topped off with some ebiko, this is so far the best Siew Mai I've ever tasted in Malaysia. "The prawns are really so juicy & bursting of flavours" is certainly an understatement. I'm not exaggerating here you have to try it out yourself! ;)

Fish Balls

The fish ball was Q & bouncy! Nice to chew & simply addictive.

Har Gao
There's coriander inside it so I wouldn't take a bite >_>...can't comment on this lol.

Vegetable Dumplings
Don't really know why is this called vegetables dumplings as it aint vegan. Like the Siew Mai, the prawns were juicy & succulent . The prawns were paired up with the spinach & smooth dumpling skins.

Fried Prawns Dumplings
The dumplings were deep fried to perfection, hence the golden crisp skin. The dumplings are not greasy at all despite being deep fried. And once again, the prawns inside were really bouncy & succulent! Dip it in the sweet mayo, you get an combination of tangy, sweet, crunchy & juiciness.

Fried Raddish CakeRM8
The loh bak go here is a little too soft to my liking. It's quite greasy too so I stopped after a bite or two. Love the "wok hei" of this dish though.

Fried Hokkien Mee
Personally, I thought that Ahwa serves better Hokkien Mee but the ones here are pretty decent too. Oriental Pavilion's version has more pork lard, which gives the whole dish a punch & crunch!

Wak Dan Hor
The Hor Fun had a smooth and silky texture its so hard to eat it using a pair of chopsticks lol! Full of wok hei ,crunchy pork lard & juicy prawns, this dish was unanimously voted as the "best dish of the meal".

Overall rating: 7.5/10
The food was good, but there were some hiccups in their service. We were told that the fish porridge was not available, and they kept us waiting for our loh mai kai (glutinous rice chicken) for more than an hour so we had to cancel that order :/ But I would definitely be back for more juicy & succulent prawns! The price is slightly on the steep side, but you pay what you get =)

Sorry for the unavailability of the pricing. This is what happens when you leave your draft blank before you go on a vacation.

Oriental Pavilion
Lot P104, 1st Floor, Jaya 33,
No. 3, Jalan Semangat, Section 13,
46100 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Business Hours:
Mondays to Saturdays
11.00 am – 3.00 pm
6.00 pm – 11.00 pm
Sundays & Public Holidays
10.00 am – 3.00 pm
6.00 pm – 11.00 pm

Contact Number: +603-7956 9288
Website: http://www.orientalrestaurants.com.my/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheOrientalGroupofRestaurants

The Red Bean Bag, Publika, Solaris Dutamas

Hello everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates, I have just returned from my short 5 days 4 nights trip @ Taiwan! Was feeling quite ambitious, thus I brought my laptop to Taiwan with hopes of blogging at night at my hostel after sight-seeing as we didn't join any tour so it was supposedly a flexible and relaxing trip, as of past experiences. But mana tahu we only returned to the hostel after 12am almost every single day. This has been the most hectic trip I'd ever been to. Feeling tired from all the walking and shopping! Will blog about it soon so stay tuned :D

The weekend before I depart to Taiwan, I bugged Guan Ren to go out with me lol and we headed to one of the most popular food playground in KL, PUBLIKA! It was pre-decided that we shall be dining at The Red Beanbag :P #tyrantgluttonygirlfriend 

Nestled at the corner of the 1st floor at the ever-happening Publika, the Red Bean Bag is a contemporary & chic Aussie style cafe that serves all-day breakfast & brunch! Been dying to visit this place since...I've heard of its existence.Was over the moon as I had been to Publika a few time only to go home feeling disappointed as I was unable to dine in at RBB due to the overwhelming crowd. We were really lucky on that Sunday afternoon as the waiting time was only about 10 minutes.

Spot the distinctive red bean bag! Do note that the bean bags are used to store coffee beans, not red beans.. (When I asked Guan Ren to dine in at the Red Bean Bag , he would pull a cheeky face saying "but...I don't like red beans...")

Bean bags imprinted with wordings such as "LOVE" , "PLAY" hanging around the grey cement wall, creating a playful yet rustic ambiant.There's a window for curious patrons to take a peep into the kitchen, observing the chef whipping out wonders.

The menu was simple- a brown paper plastered on both side of a corrugated cardboard paper. "The Light Side" signifies starters, whereas "The Dark Sides" signifies the mains.

The wait for the food was slightly longer than the usual waiting time, around 15 minutes but it was acceptable as it was fullhouse & there was only a few waiters serving the crowd.

RBB's Signature Baked Eggs RM18
Eggs cracked into a bed of tomato sauce,  cooked with chicken & beef bratwurst, topped with mozarella cheese. Served with 2 slices of toast

Order this dish whenever you visit RBB. Trust me. 
The cheese was rich. One could tell that the cheese used was 100% authentic parmesan cheese, not those cheese and bread crumbs mixtures, with just a bite. The sauce was thick, and bursting with flavours. I couldn't resist but to come back for more and more! The crusty bread, paired up with the rich tomato base sauce that blended in perfectly with the cheese and eggs was just hevenly. The eggs were overcooked as you can see from the pictures. But we didn't mind- the quality & generosity of the ingredients compensated for the overcooked eggs.

Eggs Benedicts RM20
French Toast, topped with wilted spinach, sauteed button mushrooms, beef bacons, poached eggs & a generous ladle of hollandaise sauce

Egg yolk flowing out? Check; Creamy Hollandaise sauce? Check; Fluffy bread base? Check;
RBB uphold all the good quality of a good Eggs Benedicts. Love the fact that they used french toast as their base instead of the usual English Muffins or plain toast. The french toast has a nice & rich buttery aroma. It was toasted till perfection, crunchy on the uotside, soft and fluffy in the inside.

Overall Rating: 9/10
The service was really pleasant,with helpful waiters attending us, refilling our glasses of water time to time. Food was superb, needless to say, and the environment was charming. The Red Beanbag is definitely on the top of my favourite brunch place list!


The Red Beanbag
Lot A4-1-8, Solaris Dutamas (Publika)
(opposite Big Ben’s, take the staircase up)
Jalan Dutamas 1,
50480 Kuala Lumpur

Business Hours:
Tue – Fri: 8.30 am – 10.00 pm
Sat – Sun: 9.30 am – 10.00 pm

Contact Number: +603-62115116
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theredbeanbag

1 Utama Wonder Food Adventure!

I was really lucky to be selected as one of the 50 bloggers to participate in 1Utama Food Wonder Adventure organized by 1Utama x Butterfly Project. I was brimming with excitement as it was my very first time participating in a Butterfly Project Event!

What is 1Utama Wonder Food Adventure all about? 1Utama Wonder Food Adventure is an event held in conjunction with 1Utama's Wonder Food event from the 4th-24th November 2013. Basically, this is a simple & fun-filled hop-on hop-off event, where each blogger was given a passport to stamp and redeem free food from the wide variety of chic eateries @ 1Utama's glorious Food Street! :D

Upon registering, Tammy (founder of Butterfly Project) handed me a 1 Utama Shopping Bag filled with goodies and my passport ! Off we go!

As 1Utama is the World's 4th Largest Mall, 1Utama is saturated with gastronomical delights, to satisfy everyone's craving & tickle your tastebud. Local food, Chinese food, Japanese food, Korean food, fast food...you name it! Below is the list of restaurants/food stall/cafe that we are required to visit

LG Promenade: SS2 Goreng Pisang, Ninja Joe, Seaweed Club, I Love Yoo, Eat & Happy Yong Tau Foo, Oyster King, Bisou, Mr Cendol, Pao Xiang Bak Kut Teh, Ko Hyang Korean Country Delights.
LG Highstreet: Lameeya, BBQ Chicken, Food Box, Vivo American Pizza and Panini, and Lava.

Sounds exciting right? :D Let's begin!

Trip to Nuffnang Office

Hello everyone! Do you still remember Nuffnang Food Fest ? The ultimate festival where you get to eat free food just by tweeting?

Nuffnang had a giveaway contest which requires blogger to submit their blog post regarding #NNFoodFest. I received an e-mail notifying me about it 3 hours before the contest was supposed to end and so I though "Why not? I have nothing to lose!" and submitted my entry.


SO WHAT DO YOU KNOW

My heart skipped a beat. Maybe two. Or three.
I was literally on cloud 10. Jumping out of joy. Elated. Happy. Filled with euphoria.

It was my very very first time entering a Nuffnang contest. And I actually won! A BIIIIIG THANK YOU TO NUFFNANG :D

Now...the problem is..collecting my prize. Unfortunately, I am usually occupied with family gatherings/events on weekends and Nuffnang office is not open on a public holidays so my dad couldn't drive me there. So my mum suggested to take the LRT!

I did my homework before departing. From google map, I concluded that Nuffnang's office is just a stone throw away from Dang Wangi's LRT station, but it is separated by the infamous Klang River 

by car, it is only a 3 minutes drive

Well, no I can't possibly drive from there.
I thought of taking public transport from Dang Wangi LRT station there but google recommended me to walk!

:0....OKAY SO I HAVE TO WALK PASS SOME HIGHWAY.

I dug deeper and eventually found out that there is actually a pedestrian bridge connecting the LRT station and Jalan Sultan Abdullah. So the total walking distance is only about 300m! :D

I initially planned to go alone, since it was an exam week I doubt that any of my friends would like to accompany me. Mum was totally opposed to that idea with all the stabbing and kidnapping cases going around recently so she decided to accompany me :D.

 I guided my mum to Kelana Jaya LRT station and we took a LRT there to Dang Wangi station. Mum was really taken aback with my good sense of direction =p She was not even sure how to drive to Kelana Jaya LRT station.

The journey took us about half an hour. RM3 per way.

 Up the really steep escalator

 And tadaaa! The pedestrian bridge =D

 The infamous murky Klang River !
We walked further, crossed Jalan Sultan Abdullah and saw the "Jalan Yap Ah Shak" sign! :D It was a lot nearer than I expect!

 See the brown building there? That's heritage house!
At first I thought Heritage House is going to be some old traditional building.
So I walked around the pedestrian walkway of Jalan Yap Ah Shak..using my slow like a snail 3G to try to google where on earth I was. After stoning at the walkway for 15 minutes I decided to put my pride aside, stepped into Kurnia's office (the white building on the left) and asked for directions only to found out heritage House was just directly opposite -_- LOL

You'd have to register and state your reason of visit at the guard table before going into the lift to Nuffnang office which was located on floor 12B.

And guess what? The first person I saw once I set foot into the lift was Timothy Tiah! Co-Founder of Nuffnang :D Mum was really shock how young he was!

Once you reached 12B, turn left and proceed straight and you'll see a door with Nuffnang and ChurpChurp's Logo. Press the door bell and,,,

Welcome to Nuffnang's Office :D
I love their office so much! The orange, vibrant wall which coordinated well with their orange work chair gives the office a lovely vibrant vibes. Chocolates and snacks were seen lying around the table. There were toys and musical instruments around too, for the Nuffies (Nuffnang's staff) to de-stress, I suppose. Nuffies were seen wearing casual and comfy clothes. It doesn't feel like an office there!

I wanna work there someday. I hope. 

The lady that greeted me asked me to choose between three bags, a yakult cooler bag, a Cha Time recyclable non-woven bag or a Yu Xiang Bak Kut Teh bag pack. She claimed the contents were the same. Before I even opened my mouth, my mum said "BACKPACK" out loud.

So yeah. I got a pack of Yakult (which was opened,btw LOL), an orange Bak Kut Teh backpack, 2 Nandos Peri Peri vouchers and 3 Humble Beginnings Mille Crepe voucher.

Now that I think back I think it was a trick question.
There might be more goodies inside the recyclable bag. Heard that some people got RM100 Juice Work's voucher and even Cha Time vouchers. But I did not =(
Oh well... but then again am already happy and satisfied with my vouchers =) 

Thanks again Nuffnang for the give away =)