#351-Our Malaysian Embassy in London damn rich laaa... 12:27

What you see here is the parking garage for the Malaysian Embassy in London, United Kingdom. It is at the back street(ow buey lor) behind the embassy. The 206 infront means Malaysia and the D is diplomatic and the last 3 numbers are random.



Why do they have a Porsche as an embassy car??? Their whole fleet also consists of a few Mercedes-Benz E200Ks, Mercedes-Benz Vianos' (the van), a Mercedes-Benz S350L as the official embassy car (with a plate number 1M, which probably have costed about £50,000), a few BMWs here and there, and a 1997 Honda Civic as far as I know.

And the Malaysian government back home is complaining that the politicians change their Proton Perdanas into Mercedes-Benz E200Ks or Toyota Camrys. Why??

THIS IS NOT AN APRIL FOOLS DAY POST.

iTunes playing Flo Rida feat. Birdman - Priceless.
Sent from my MacBook Pro.

#332-iPhone 3G tariffs in UK vs. Malaysia. 23:35

Alas, the iPhone 3G has finally landed on Malaysian shores, almost a year after it's release in July 2008. It's no point for me getting it in Malaysia, because here in the UK, the iPhone is much much cheaper and the price plans are better. But anyways, I just wanted to tell my readers about the iPhone 3G in Malaysia.

A brief insight into the UK pricing first. In the UK, the iPhone is available on the O2 network only and all the iPhone on contracts have 18-month plans. There are four plans to choose from which is;

1.) £30 (RM159.60) a month for 18-months.

The iPhone 8GB is £99 (RM526.68) and the 16GB goes for £159 (RM845.88).
For that price, you get 75 minutes and 125 texts, unlimited data and Wi-Fi, visual voicemail and reduced roaming rates.

2.) £35 (RM186.20) a month for 18-months.

The whole package is the same as the £30/month, just that one gets 600 minutes and 500 texts.

3.) £45 (RM239.40) a month for 18-months.

In this plan, the iPhone 8GB is FREE, and one is to pay £59 (RM313.88) for the 16GB.
You get 1200 minutes and 500 texts, unlimited data and Wi-Fi, visual voicemail and reduced roaming rates.

4.) £75 (RM399.00) a month for 18-months.

This plan sees both the 8GB and 16GB iPhones free, and the only other difference from the £35/month and £45/month plans is the 3000 minutes talktime. The rest is the same.

Alternatively in the UK, you can also get the iPhone on Pay & Go which to Malaysians is called pre-paid.

The 8GB retails for £342.50 (RM1822.10) and the 16GB retails for £391.45 (RM2082.51) and you get unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi for the first 12-months of the iPhone purchase.

In Malaysia, the iPhone is available on the Maxis network in 6-month, 12-month and 24-month contract plans which are named Value Plus Plans, iValue Plans 12-months and iValue Plans 24-months respectively. In each contract plans, the are four categories to choose from.

Let's start with the 6-month contract plans or called the Value Plus Plans;

In all 6-month contract plans, the iPhone 8GB retails for RM2540 (£477.44) and the 16GB for RM2960 (£556.39) and one will get 500MB of data for the entire contract period.

1.) Value Plus 80

One pays RM80 (£15.04)/month for 6-months, 12 sens a minute for voice calls from Maxis-to-Maxis numbers and 15 sens a minute for voice calls from Maxis-to-non Maxis numbers.

2.) Value Plus 150

It is RM150 (£28.20)/month for 6-months, 10sens/minute for voice calls from Maxis-to-Maxis numbers and 12sens/minute for voice calls from Maxis-to-non Maxis numbers.

3.) Value Plus 250

It costs RM250 (£46.99)/month and it's 10sens/minute for all voice calls to mobile numbers, whether it's Maxis or not.

4.) Value Plus 500

It's the same 10sens/minute for all voice calls to mobile numbers regardless of network and one is to pay RM500 (£93.99)/month.

On to the iValue 12-month contract plans. There are four plans, iValue 1 to 4.

1.) iValue 1

It is RM100 (£18.80)/month, the iPhone 8GB costs RM1900 (£357.14), the 16GB RM2290 (£430.45), one will have 333 minutes, additional 15sens/minute for a call if exceeded 333 minutes, 500MB of data and it's 0.5sen/KB if the data usage exceeds 500MB. The texts are 10sens/text. A person also needs to pay RM200 (£37.59) in advance.

2.) iValue 2

It is RM155 (£29.14)/month, the iPhone 8GB retails for RM1780 (£334.59), the iPhone 16GB retails for RM2160 (£406.02). This plan gets you 667 minutes/month with an additional charge of 12sens/min if the limit is exceeded. The texts are 10sens/text. One gets 1GB of data/month, and will have to pay 0.5sen/KB for additional data. And the advance payment is RM200 (£37.59).

3.) iValue 3

It monthly commitment is RM250 (£46.99). The 8GB is RM1490 (£280.08) and the 16GB is RM1870 (£351.50). 1500 minutes a month, 10sens/text, 2GB of data a month, 10sens/minutes for additional calls out of the 1500 minutes, and 0.5sen/KB for additional data usage. One has to pay RM500 (£93.98) in advance.

4.) iValue 4

The price is RM375 (£70.49)/month, the 8GB costs RM1080 (£203.01) and the 16GB RM1470 (£276.32). One gets 2500 minutes, 10sen/text, and 3GB a month for data in this plan. The cost for additional minutes and data is the same as iValues 1, 2 and 3. RM1000 (£187.97) is the amount to pay for the advance payment.

iValue 24-month contract plans is the longest plan for the iPhone in Malaysia.

For all iValue 24-month plans, iValue 1-4, the number of minutes, the amount of data, the cost of additional minutes and data, and the price of a text is the same as the iValue 1-4 on 12-month plans. The monthly commitment prices are also the same.

The only differences are;

1.) iValue 1

iPhone 8GB - RM1510 (£283.83)
iPhone 16GB - RM 1890 (£355.26)
Advanced payment - RM 400 (£75.19)

2.) iValue 2

iPhone 8GB - RM1260 (£236.84)
iPhone 16GB - RM1640 (£308.27)
Advanced payment - RM620 (£116.54)

3.) iValue 3

iPhone 8GB - RM680 (£127.82)
iPhone 16GB - RM1060 (£199.25)
Advanced payment - RM1250 (£234.96)

4.) iValue 4

iPhone 8GB is free.
iPhone 16GB - RM260 (£48.87)
Advanced payment - RM2000 (£375.94)

All I can summarise from what you can see above is, the iPhone in the UK is more value-for-money than the one which will be going on sale in Malaysia today.

iTunes playing Amy Pearson - Don't Miss You.
Sent from my MacBook Pro.

#247-Reality 17:07

Over these past few months, I've come to realise that time will past by fast if you don't do anything productive. It was like just yesterday was January, and now it is November. The number of days leading to SPM is now 6, down from say, 200+ just a few months ago. A lot of things have happened this year and some friendships have been mended too. My dog passed away just last Saturday after a whole morning of listening to Buddhist chanting by my late grandmother. After months and months of waiting, I've passed my 17th birthday and now I possess my L license. In just a couple of months time, I'l be over in the UK for college. Prom is in about a month's time. It's been 5 months since I drove my dad's friend's BMW 645ci. My new W300 camera is now 4 months old. It has been 7 months since I started my blog and also my dinner date with Nat. 9 months since the BSB concert in Sunway. My strained relationship with Hubert is mended through the end of school. And I also realised on the last day of school, I may not see some of my friends anymore, bar the SPM time.

Sent from my Sony Ericsson P1i.

#225-Song Censorship... 17:20

Well, I recently found out something awkward yet amusing yet a bit, em, how would I put it? Another one of our censorship board's mistake? Anyways what I have in question is about probably one or more songs on Malaysian radio stations lately. An example, The Best Damn Thing by Avril Lavigne. I mean, come on, what's wrong with the word damn? It's just a word to strongly emphasize on something or to emphasize anger. For Malaysian radios, we're left out with the best part of the song, when Avril sings the chorus at the part when she sings "It's the best damn thing that your eyes have ever seen". They cut out the word damn. Now it's "It's the best .... thing that your eyes have ever seen". Again guys/girls from wherever this censorship thing comes from, there is seriously nothing wrong with the word damn!! If there is, why didn't you all censor the part in the new song by Flo-Rida feat. will.i.am called In the Ayer when will.i.am sings the chorus and sings "Oh hot damn, this is my jam"? Sigh. Why oh why? There is this one more song, I forgot what song it was, but I remembered this because they censored the word damn but not god. I believe god might be and offensive word to some people who don't believe in the existence of that figure. Anyways, that's enough of rant for this post and I think I might continue on another blogpost tonight before sleeping.

iTunes playing DJ Mystik - Butterfly (Japanese Techno).
Sent from my Dell Inspiron 8600.