A place I stepped into, a couple of hours ago, got me thinking of this saying (in a different way than its original meaning for valuable).

For it glitters and stood out on a wooden boardwalk, with lovely glass painting that would fit amazingly in a cathedral, a chillax ambience and soothing music, yet failed to impress…

Reason:
Extremely neglected customers.

Note:
If you know the place I’m describing or talking about, good for you.

Feel free to decide with your own experience if it was truly good or bad.

*****

If you read through past posts on my dining experiences, I tend to not touch on service or not be critical or harp on it, due to past work experiences in service industry.

But this, took the cake, icing included.

I understand the need to clean up and serve a huge group before us, a simple ‘kindly wait, as we do have a group waiting’ would have been nice.

But nothing, not even a nod of acknowledgement after 10mins of wait.

Not even after being seated, on our own.

After much waving, attention was given, orders taken but still another 10-15mins for a glass of wine and a pot of tea. While the other tables were promptly served and attention given.

When it was time to foot the bill, it came fast, so fast it left me feeling –>
（−＿−；）…

Somehow it left me wondering, was it our dressing (casual Friday, jeans and tees) that got us such warmth-less service or was it because we looked like students or were they trying to leave customers with privacy, yet forgot to take notice?

Whichever it may be, let this not deter you from a good chillax place with soothing ambience and music but be warned, of its lack in service.

I would revisit someday, at a timing with less crowd, just to try out the food and wine i missed earlier. And perhaps in hope, service will get better (not just based on my experience but including feedbacks found on 4sq).

Had a simple dinner with parents, at a coffee shop nearby. Food was decent, a little slow for service.

Mom seemed pleased, so all’s good

A random photo from recent Phuket trip.

Standing on the beach, back facing the sun, with the waves splashing on my feet and me…  snapping my own shadow.
Totally random.

For that moment, I was alone, by myself, in my own thoughts.

An opportunity came and thus the chance to ‘spend’ 2 weeks with Nokia Lumia 800.

Here are my thoughts on it:

Likes:

- Design / Display / Battery / Grip
It seems that Nokia has once again embraced simplicity while giving it a sleek feel, esp. for the curved Corning® Gorilla® Glass. For someone who is constantly on 3G, it lasted longer than my other handset and i love the feel or grip for this phone, doesn’t slip and i don’t have to get additional casing for it. It comes with one slip-on cover, same color as the phone.

- Processing Speed
One of the fastest, compared to other OS phones, be it starting a new app or switching to another.

- Music
Allowing users to download lower quality free playlist from Music store, for easy listening. Although sound quality is inconsistent but I appreciate having such a function that doesn’t require mass data transfer.

- Social network
Easy link to social networks, e.g. Facebook and Twitter, allows fast updates and view of current info of friends.

Dislike:

- Charging point flap
I really do find this rather flimsy, was worried i would klutz and break it but thankfully, it didn’t. It would be nice if users could hide this flap in the phone.

- Camera
Definitely one main function i would scrutinize / compare with other mobiles. Much room for improvement for this, for i didn’t like how lacklustre the photos turn out, with default settings. Macro and other modes were decent but can’t impress with its default being as such.

- Operating System (OS)
It reminded me a whole load of Symbian OS and the near-endless scrolling for app… is just… urggh.  Now that I’ve tried all mobile OS (W7, Android and iOS), I realized W7 and Android both possess similar issue, unable to remove default account (eg. Live or Gmail) without a full phone reset, hmm.

*****

Well, tt’s great to know Nokia is coming back strong and seeking change in design and functionality, while taking in feedbacks from its users.
W7 OS will always be a challenge (a big one for me) but if mobile functions are on par with other mobiles in market, there’ll still be followers.

For those looking for a social networking phone, with decent music functions, email and basic mobile uses, Nokia Lumia 800 will fit your needs nicely.

For specifications and other info, check out Nokia’s website –> LINK

*****

Thanks to Nokia and pr agency for the loan set.

Model: DSC-TX10
ISO: 125
Exposure: 1/640 sec
Aperture: 6.3
Focal Length: 5.1mm

Note: no tweaks

A Chang beer in one hand and a book in the other.
Enjoying the sun and breeze, and just chilling by the beach.

Missing that moment, especially with such dreadful unpredictable weather we are having…