I am going after a new gadget, again. It is not iPad and certainly not iPhone. It is phone related and I am about to get myself a HTC Desire. It is not exactly a new phone now but it is considered one of the hottest smartphone at the moment. It has been compared to iPhone 4 and other similar models like Samsung Galaxy S. In case you do not know, I am currently using Samsung Omnia i900.

To clear some air here, iPhone is just too expensive to own. I do not really mind about the latest issue about the drop of signal but the price tag has really put me off. Even a contract with my current mobile service provider would cost at least £25 per month plus a phone price. Getting the handset on its own would cost around £700. HTC Desire costs just £350. I cannot justify why iPhone 4 would cost double.

I will probably be getting it within this week but I am still deciding whether or not to trade in my Samsung Omnia which will probably save me about £60 - £70 in exchange for a second hand £325 HTC Desire. As mentioned, a first hand HTC Desire costs £350 from Three Mobile which is my current Pay As You Go provider. Well, ultimately, it depends whether or not they have the stock or if they are still offering the phone for £350.

I still quite like my Samsung Omnia and I am not fussy about it running on Windows Mobile Professional 6.5.3. The TFT Resistive Touch Screen is one of the reasons to blame. It always requires hard pressing on the screen and sending a message sometimes takes ages. I said “sometimes” because occasionally, it works well. The speed is reasonable but I guess Windows products do not have a good reputation on speed. The internal storage is incredible at 8GB and it has a 16GB model. Even at 8GB, I find it hard to fill it up. I could have used it as my media player but the battery life is poor and it does not have a 3.5mm jack. By the way, it feels plasticky and creaky with typing a message. The camera flash is so “brilliant“ that it produces white photos most of the time.

HTC Desire is running on Android and it has an AMOLED Capacitive Touch Screen. AMOLED technology is said to be energy saving. According to some user reviews, HTC Desire battery life is not great either. I guess it will always be difficult not to charge your smartphone daily. The more powerful your smartphone is, the more you want to use it and the faster you drain the battery. In my opinion, Android is the only OS that could compete against iPhone OS. Windows Mobile 7 may be coming out soon but its marketplace is just not great. The applications and games are just bland. One small flaw which should be addressed in the next version of Android is that every application and game has to be installed on the phone memory. It will be tough because HTC Desire does not have 8GB internal storage like the Samsung Omnia. Anyway, it has been dubbed as fast and the flexibility of Android should make it fun. I just cannot wait to get my hands on HTC Desire!

Mee and I have not been to the gym for a week now. Well, that’s because we were in New York for a week. We had a nice time but the weather was so hot that it was uncomfortable to walk around the town especially the subway. It felt like we were in Malaysia. My first impression was, hmm …. It is just another big city. We went to most of the famous places to go and honestly, our 5 and a half hour one day tour has already covered 80% of New York. But still, a second visit is undeniable because you just do not feel that you see it all. We could go to the Times Square everyday to experience the busy life in New York. It was so lively at any time of the day.

The subway system was a bit if a disaster. Of all seven days, we could not find a single subway map. Some of the ticket counters even wrote that there were no subway maps. In another word, we should not disturb the ticket counter staff for subway maps. I am thankful that one of my colleagues has lent me her New York City guide book which has a subway map at the back of it.

For the last few days in New York, we went to Chinatown. It is huge and it really is a China town. There were lots of stalls selling spotlights, bags, and even pirated DVDs. Well, I would say that it is one of the best places to look for souvenirs. And it was always crowded. Chinatown is also one of the places where we could go everyday and it never seems enough. There are so many things to see and do in New York. I am not going to promise anything yet but hopefully, I would be able to write something about our trip to New York on a day by day basis.

I have not really got the time to do much about my car insurance. It will expire in a couple of weeks time and the best deal is when I renew my car insurance policy with my current car insurance provider. I have tried a few car insurance comparison websites previously and a few car insurance providers quoted me roughly the same price for both third party, fire and theft policy and comprehensive policy. I am thinking about calling my current car insurance policy provider for a quote if I opt for comprehensive policy. However, as my insurance policy is going to be expired soon, I might just let it renew as it is instead of going through the hassles of comparing and reading car insurance reviews to find out which one of them is giving out the best deal.