My Silver Swift

I changed to a SUZUKI Swift 1.5 (AT) not long ago and been driving it for 3 months, over all I’m very satisfied with this car. I have test drive the Mazda 2 SP and Nissan March before decided to buy this. Here are some experience and find outs from this Swift:

The auto gear:
It’s a nice car to drive, power and performance just so so only, do not expect fast pick up speed from standstill, however, the auto transmission is very smooth, that’s the main reason I chose it. It has the zigzag gated gear lever, and is fun to shift, some time, I just put at 2, let the rpm climb up then shift to 3 and then D, in this way the pickup is faster than usually at D all the time. But I do not know will this practice cause any damages to the gear box or not…

Under the bonnet:
The engine system under the bonnet is neat, clear and well arranged, the layout of pipes, hoses, wiring cable are routed neatly, Suzuki engineers have done a very good job here, the air-con is factory fitted.

The handling:
Easy parking and maneuvers, that’s also the reason I like, it has a short wheel base as compared to others, go through humps and uneven surface will feel jerk and bouncing, not so comfortable. Good handling with little body rolls during cornering, and nice steering feel, even at high way speed, it feels quite stable.

Safety:
The brake system is quite adequate, it comes with ABS and EBD. Dual front airbags are standard.

Sound system:
It has neat integrated sound system at the dash board, can play MP3s, with steering wheel mounted buttons for easy control. Plastic panel rattling if the bass is set at high during playback, overall not so entertaining, though the noise are well insulated inside the cabin.

Interior and exterior:
It has a neat and simple interior layout, did not have much compartments to put things in, just ferry 4 normal passengers and the boot space is limited. The out look is unique, a bit short compared to Mazda 2 SP.

Fuel Consumption:
It can use RON 91 and above, I pump SHELL 95 instead, not 98 for some saving, in future may be 3 years later, will try the 92. As I have only traveled about 4500 km, normally in start-stop general driving situation, the average FC shown is around 11.5 km/ liter at the gauge. With full synthetic Castrol 5W40 engine oil.

There have much useful information about SUZUKI Swift at the following forums:
http://www.swiftclubsg.com/forumv1/ http://forum.suzukiclubsingapore.com/viewforum.php?f=25

My Digital Camera - Panasonic TZ3

Bought this Panasonic TZ3 to replace my Nikon 3700, like it very much. Initially want to wait for the Sony H9, but consider that H9 bigger body size and not that handy to carry around. Also the TZ3 has built in lens cover. Find it quick and easy to use, because the buttons are located nicely; LCD screen menu selections are simple to set, plus a quick FUNC button to display and setting the essential: ISO, Picture size, Burst rate, White balance, Picture aspect ratio and its quality, to suit the needs.

It is a wonderful point and shoot camera:
Can remember the last zoom setting;
Very fast burst rate of 3 fps;
Very responsive;
10x optical, 28mm wide-angle zoom lens, 4x Digital zooms, from 10x up to 60x possible;
Tele Macro mode; Image stabilizer (2 modes available);
4x and 8x zoom review to inspect the captured pictures instantly;
2x, 4x, 8x, 16x zoom in the picture playback;
Excellence built quality with reasonable picture quality;
Big LCD screen; 30 fps video at 16:9 is quite satisfying;
Able to use SDHC card, it means larger capacity memory (32MB) are available in future for longer video.

There are some to improve on the Firmware (Update): When connect to a TV at Playback mode to watch pictures or videos, the camera LCD screen does not allow to be switch off, hence it consume battery unnecessary, as the information on the camera screen can be seen on the TV screen already;
When the camera at other mode with its lens extruded, when switched to Playback mode, the lens does not retract back with its built in lens cover closed, the unnecessary exposure of lens during long duration viewing the pictures or videos will cause more chance for the dirt to enter into the lens, also the lens barrel to knock other objects. Have to off the power then switch to Playback mode, on the power again, so as to let the lens stay put to view the pictures or videos for long hours.

Some functions that I hope the next (TZ4?) to be included in are:Wireless remote control; Manual and Auto focusing selection; Zoom able during video recording; LCD screen able to tilt or rotate; Voice recording; As compact as possible; Longer battery life.

There is a forum about digital cameras; users could find very useful information at there:
http://forums.clubsnap.org/

PS, The DMC-TZ3 Receives 2007 TIPA Award for Best Superzoom Digital Camera in Europe:
http://panasonic.co.jp/pavc/global/lumix/pressrelease/index.html

My Pocket PC - Acer N311

I bought an Acer N311 Pocket PC two months ago, It’s slim and small, can put inside my shirt pocket easily, I carry it every time wherever I go and I find it very useful after two months of usage. It Looks beautiful, quite well made and feel nice. The screen is protected by Martin Field screen protector that I got it from Doml, its clarity is as good as without having it after the installation. It has a 3.7” VGA screen, but has reflection on its surface, I might want to change it to an anti glare screen protector, to see will it help or not the next time.

This Pocket PC can do many wonderful things:

It can be an mp3 player; the sound came out from the speaker quite good enough, not very loud although the volume had set to its maximum level. But not a problem, I use it to listen music and songs personally at short distance, quite pleasant without the headphone.

It can be a video player; I use it to watch mpg videos with no problem, only some videos that with higher resolution has lagging. It is also a viewer, I use it to see pictures and graphics files and they can be played as slide show.

It is also a web browser, I use the built in Pocket Internet Explorer (PIE) to surf Internet, to get information from the web, it has wifi b and blue tooth wireless connection, I use it to surf Internet or download some web contents whenever I can access the wireless hotspot. When I’m off-line with no access to the wireless connections, I still can read the downloaded web contents anytime I want. The WiFi detects and connects not as good as usual notebook PC, you need to have a good signal to get it connected.

It’s a VoIP phone as well; I use Skype and SkypeOut making phone calls with no problem. It also has Pocket MSN Massager for me to chat, read and send emails.

It has voice recorder, the built in microphone can record voices in Note, depends on your voice recording format, for near distance, the result is ok.

Its basic function is a PIM, with WM5 OS, there are 3 alarms to set, each from Monday to Sunday, can use Reminders to remind you the things to do inside the Calendar, even when the device is not on, the alarms and reminders will still be activated. It has mobile version of Microsoft Word, Power Point and Excel to write documents, view presentation, do worksheet wherever I go.

There are much software available, either in freeware, shareware or need to be purchased from the Internet. Each to enhance and make the Pocket PC more equipped, like in Communication, Database, e-Book, Education, Entertainment, Games, Health, Multimedia, Productivity, Professional, Ringtones, Software Tools, Sports, Themes, Travel, Utilities, Wireless, etc…
Examples are at:
http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/
http://www.pocketgear.org/

There is a Singapore Pocket PC forum at: http://www.ppcsg.org/, readers could find very useful informations about Pocket PC.

PS,
May 2007, I got an anti glare screen protector from Brando, to replace my 1 year old MF SP.
Product# : PASCR01560
Product : Brando WorkShop Screen Protector (Acer n300)
http://shop.brando.com.hk/screenprotector.php
So far so good, just that stylus feel a bit diff, need to get use to it...

Preventive maintenance for notebook PC and its Li-Ion battery pack

Here are some preventive maintenance to notebook PC and its Li-Ion battery pack:

To defragment the notebook PC hard disk at least once per 1 to 2 months, it depends on the usage of the hard disk.

For daily use, use notebook PC together with AC and battery power, but use battery power once per month, fully drain it and charge it up again.

When battery is fully charged 100% and notebook PC is OFF (Not in use), do not leave AC power ON and overcharge the battery for more than 3 hours; If notebook PC is ON (In use), can continue charge the battery even the battery is 100%, ie. Use your notebook PC together with AC and battery power.