iPhone 6 Plus Review

Hey all!

As you all already know, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus was officially launched not long ago. Usually like everyone else in order to own one, we got to wait until our telco announce the launch but thats not the case for me this time! :) I managed to get hold of the new iPhone 6 Plus Silver 128GB via Singapore.

I've used iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 5 and now the iPhone 6 Plus. My first impression? It's Big. Bigger than I thought it would be but I love it! :)

Here's the reason why :

Design & Hardware
It's very slim, weight just 172 grams (No, I didn't try to bend the phone). It's nice to hold but still I prefer the body of iPhone 5 but again, not really a big issue for me. Even if its abit more thicker, I don't mind - That way the camera bulge at the back can be solved. The screen is 5.5" (1920 x 1080 Retina HD Display), freaking awesome to watch videos, play games and for someone who loves to take photos like me! You gonna go crazy! (In a good way ahha)

Camera
It has the same 8MP like iPhone 5S but with extra features such as image stabilization. The clarity of the photos taken with iPhone 6 Plus is the BEST I've seen so far compared to other smartphones (Nope, not being bias but thats the fact!) Check out some of the photos using this phone with no edits even under low lights! I've tried taking videos too, the quality is so good!

Sofware
It comes with the latest iOS 8 (Which has quite number of bugs but seems alright after the iOS 8.02 updates) Switching between the apps is fast and doesn't lag. Since the screen is huge, the home screen works perfectly on landscape mode too.

Performance
Battery life has always been an issue for any smartphones but iPhone 6 Plus has great battery life.

100% - 9am

65% - 2pm (Facebooking, Instagramming, phone calls, Whatsapping etc)

40% - 7pm (Check emails, etc)

It lasts long with moderate usage and I only charge it back when I got home.

Conclusion
Probably the best smartphone with amazing performance, crystal clear display, amazing photo quality/ video. It's quite costly (depending on which spec you prefer). I recommend you to at least get the larger GB (if you're thinking of not changing the phone for at least 2 years). Don't get the 16GB, you gonna regret :)

Xiaomi Mi 3 review

OK, First of all I’ve never thought I’ll be using other phones than iPhone (I’am still No.1 Apple Fan boy!). Probably the reason why I like this phone Xiaomi Mi 3  is because of the user interface which looks (EXACTLY) like iOS on iPhone. Last year I’ve got the chance to use Android (HTC One) for the very first time for a month because I gotta send my iPhone for service. Seriously, it’s the worst phone ever. It lags a lot & camera quality sucks (how can someone use 4MP on a smartphone?!).

But Xiaomi is totally different. Here’s the reason why :-

Price
For a smartphone, the price is (SUPER) affordable for anyone to purchase. How much does it cost? RM 769. Yeap, that’s USD$250. Compared to other smartphones out there, you save 500 bucks (slightly more or less).

Design & Hardware
The body is kinda similar to Windows Lumia Phone’s but it’s way solid. The screen is 5-inch. I like to take photos, so this is one of my favourite feature. It's made of plastic & feels metallic. However, the chassis uses an aluminum-magnesium alloy for rigidity and has a beautiful face with a 5-inch full-HD display covered in Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Watching HD video via Youtube is A-MA-ZING! (1,920 x 1,080 pixels)

Weighing just 145g - That’s not heavy at ALL. Speakers are located at the bottom  of the phone (Good sound quality btw!) together with the USB port, where else volume buttons and power button is placed on the right side of the phone. (But since kinda near to each other I often accidentally pressed the volume button to off the phone).

SIM Card slot is placed on the top of the phone. If you’re iPhone user, no worries it comes with Micro-Sim slot (get it under accessories) so that you can easily use the sim card on Xiaomi’s phone too. You’ll be impressed with the build quality and feel once you hands on one!

Storage can be an issue if you’re a person who downloads a lots of app or taking a lot of photos because it has only 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage (No microSD card lot for external storage purposes). Connectivity wise, it has no 4G LTE but it does have Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth.

Camera
Xiaomi Mi 3 has 13MP (Megapixel) camera as well as a dual-LED flash. The front-camera is 2.0MP (Need to mention that for all the selfies out there :P). Since I love taking photos, quality must be good and Mi 3 meet the requirement.  Here are some of the shots taken with this phone (No edits)

(Indoor shot)

(Indoor shot)

(Indoor shot)

(Outdoor shot)

Software
The UI is very pretty (As if you’re looking at iOS app icons). It has its own version of android called MIUI. This phones comes with all Google’s mobile software. To name the few… Play Store, Chrome, Maps, Gmail, Google + and a lot more. Since it’s running Android, you can do a lot of customisation to it - theming function capable (Custom effects, Widgets etc). Home screen swipe over can be customised too. Other stuff I like about this phone is that, I can clear up the cache and close apps with a press of a button (See screenshot below) which saves a lots of hassle - I don’t have to close each apps one by one. Switching between apps is super fast too. So far, I’ve no problem with the UI/UX.

Performance
Since it has Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, the phone is never noticed it lagging. It’s fast and didn’t hangs or crash while I used any apps. One of the other main feature of this phone is the battery life. Unlike iPhone, I don’t have to charge the phone all the time.  If I fully charged it in the morning, it lasts long with moderate usage and I just have to charge it again once I got back home from work. I’ve no I issues with the phone call too. It’s clear and crisp.


Conclusion
This Xiaomi phone is affordable phone to get. The cost might be less but it performs way better than some of the smartphone in the current market. It has good camera, fast processor and huge screen. The only lack thing about this phone is that it doesn’t support LTE and no extra storage, other than that it work like charm :-)

Haircut at Restyle+ by A Cut Above

A week ago, I went to Restyle+ (Located at NU Sentral, beside KL Sentral) for a haircut. Why that saloon? Just to try out their organic products since I've been hearing my friends were talking about it and the outcome after using those products was impressive. Leroy Thong was my hairstylist that day. Pretty cool dude! We talked about many stuff and how he admires my hair (He's attracted to the texture of my hair, ahah!).

While chit-chatting, he cuts my hair and ready to color it (I have abit of white hair near to the neck :P). Now, this is the best part. Everytime I color my hair, I kinda hate the smell and the pain that I need to go through when stylist applies the hair dye BUT not this time. I was quite surprise that there is no whatsoever feel to the skin surface of my hair. Leroy did asked me if I felt uncomfortable. No, nothing at all. This is because of the aveda organic product they are using (See below for the shampoo photos).

Even the waiting period while the dye dries off was pretty quick. Right after the hair wash, the hairstylist pour abit of oil into my palm and asked me to rub my hands and smell it. Wow, it was something! I felt so relaxed and 'awake'. How does this bottle looks like? (See below for the purplish color bottle :))

Overall, I'm super satisfied and definitely going back there again :) Last but not least, check out my before/after haircut ahhaha :P


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What is Restyle+

Restyle+ is about providing an organic solution to a healthy scalp and hair, while still being able to stay true to its original goal; to cultivate the look you want, the appearance you aspire to portray.

Restyle+ combines exciting range of services to bring out the edgy youth in you and uses cutting-edge performance-driven, plant-based skin, body and hair care products with the art of the high-touch experience, to offer a comprehensive menu of treatments for head-to-toe beauty to ensure a healthier you, a better world for everyone.

Congratulations! Welcome to Dribbble

One word! Tough. I took me quite a while to select some of the best works from the total submissions for the dribbble invites. I suppose to giveaway only 2 but the due to the amount of amazing work I've receieved, I've no choice then giveaway another 2 dribbble account which I planned to giveaway next month. Thank you such to those who've submitted your artwork. It's all awesome but I can only pick the best out of all based on details, effort, attractive and creative. Here are the 4 lucky bunch of artists who won the invites. Congrats once again.

PS: I'll be contacting the winners by email. Pls check your email peeps.

Rames Studios Brand New Blog Design Launched : 'The Survivor'

Hi all,

Here's my brand new blog skin design - 'The Survivor'.

Today is 3rd March (2 days away from my birthday :D) I would like to take this opportunity to THANK YOU ALL for visiting my blog everyday, just to see what's new from me :D. Appreciate all your feedback and comments. Hope my photos and manipulation artwork inspired you guys in some ways ahahh.  Thank you so much once again and do keep on visiting =)