Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by lanatir

Publications for Gentlemen

lanatir — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:52:08 +0800

Thanks to my buddy in Singapore, I got a hold of these must buys...

The Rake (a must subscribe mag)!

Blue Shirt, White Shirt

lanatir — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:56:15 +0800

I'm sure many of the working force has some of these in their closets. I have about a dozen of them in rotation for daily workwear (with various details and design elements). Among my favourites are

1) Blue shirts (with texture variation, contrast stitching, lined collars and cuffs) from Bespoked.
2) 1 blue shirt from Granoff (RTW).
3) One white M&S shirt which I find really comfy.
4) One blue Jaspal shirt which surprised me because the material is nice, fits well except that it needed some alteration at the sleeves.
5) A couple of blue/white pinstriped shirts from Bean Pole korea because the collars are stitched and soft and the material is really interesting plus it fits well.

What about you... which are your faves and why?

Brooks Brothers fans?

lanatir — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:02:05 +0800

any of you here using their range of clothing? would like to hear some feedback

The little things

lanatir — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:29:06 +0800

So any of you diehard fans of collecting the above?

I kinda like Paul Smith socks but they never bring in Asian sizes in their boutiques here.

I'm always on the lookout for nice socks and pocket squares (the yellow one below is a Ferragamo one someone gave me)

Designer Pens

lanatir — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:06:05 +0800

Some men consider the MB pen with the snowcap peeking out of the shirt pocket (aka bird splat) a kind of statement (like a Rolex). There is no doubt to this though. I believe that MB products are nice and the 149 is a great pen (not to mention their yearly limited editions). However, as a fountain pen collector, I prefer to use other brands. It's always nice to see something other than the bird splat.

Feel free to talk about this.

Show off your cufflinks

lanatir — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:36:11 +0800

I have quite a few of them... here are some of my faves...

share yours with us...

Samsung Yepp YP-P3 Mini Review

lanatir — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:06:20 +0800

I just got my P3 in Korea (Seoul's Technomart) last week. It cost me KRW300,000 (about RM795 at the exchange rate last week) for the 16Gb version. I think the 8Gb version was only slightly cheaper. My local friend brought me to Technomart (many ppl hate Yongsan now) and we walked around to find it. It was interesting to see that almost all stalls had a Cowon S9 on display but no P3s. However, they only brought out the P3 upon request.

Brief comparisons with the S9
- P3 was more solid feeling due to the metal case. The S9 is well made but just didn't attract me like the heft of the P3 plus the chrome sides of the S9 (I didn't see the Ti version) was an added fingerprint magnet.
- I think S9's sound (BBE+ etc) and video was slightly better (due to the AMOLED on the S9 and also S9's varied video capabilities).
- Upon initial demo, I must say that the UI for the S9 was a bit bland (though customizable) and didn't blow me away.
- The S9 is made in Korea. The P3 8Gb is made in China and my 16Gb version is made in Indonesia.
- S9 had a G-sensor and the P3 has none. The Haptic on the P3 is interesting and gives one feedback when a touch action is successfully done.
- Bluetooth capabilities on the P3 are superior due to ability to make and receive calls with the P3 paired with a mobile.
- 16Gb version of the S9 was KRW330,000 I think.

So why did I decide on the P3? I think it was the worry of after sales support and also the solid feel of the P3 (definitely sleeker).

I've updated my P3 to the latest 2.07KR firmware and the touch response was definitely more accurate and faster now. It was a bit sluggish earlier.

Music and SQ
- Navigation is quite easy and I like the album flip display with the new firmware.
- You can drag and drop files into the P3 without using Emodio. Just like an external drive. I believe there's a way to switch between UMS and MTP as well with different firmwares.
- I paired the P3 with a new pair of ATH-EW9. Earlier, when the earphones were not burnt in, the sound was a little flat. Now, after a week, I felt that the EW9 is beginning to show the full potential of the P3.

- The SQ still cannot match the SQ of my Sansa Clip but I think giving the EW9 some more burn in time will only improve things. I will also be adding a Fiio E5 to the setup. At the moment, without the mini amp and at this point in time, the P3 just falls slightly short of the Clip's SQ.
- DNSe 3.0 does help a lot. Tweaking definitely needs to be done in order to get the best out of the P3.

Display and Video
- The LCD screen is still pretty darn impressive. Colours pop up!
- I've not had much time to play with video yet. With the new Firmware, there are more video formats supported bringing it closer to the S9.
- There is also a new mosaic navi interface to allow you to quickly jump to a particular scene.
- Playback is smooth. I've yet to push it.

Software
- Only Emodio and the manual are included on the disc.
- Emodio is a little prone to crashing on my laptop especially when tasked with handling some large video files. I think my laptop needs a change!

Other features
- Widgets are cute but mostly not very useful (except for Sleep Cat) but I hope that more new widgets will come.
- There is an on board speaker with VibeWoofer feature (vibrate during bass).
- The current flash games on the P3 are not very fun.
- Subway maps are pretty useful (of course in countries with subways like Singapore and Korea). It was useful for me since I go to Korea sometimes.
- The Korean English dictionary is definitely useful. Since I speak some Korean, this helps me a lot.
- Text To Speech works wonderfully.
- FM radio - from what I've toyed with, no issue with local channels.

Cases

I knew that I also wanted to find an affordable case. If I didn't find one, I would have ordered a Noreve one. There were about 4 options there.
- Plastic crystal
- Silicone
- An all black leather case (most shops had this). Sleek and not badly designed but the quality was a bit lacking for KRW30000
- I got this Zenus one for KRW35000 which to me was the best one available.

That's it for now...

Any PEN collectors here?

lanatir — Tue, 16 May 2006 14:04:36 +0800

Anyone interested in collecting pens? Ballpens, rollerball, fountain pens? Even pencils?