Philips SHL8805

I bought this pair of headset way back in 2011 when my wife was looking for another item to avail of SM's 6 months 0% interest installment option if your items to purchase is worth at least P5,000. I was looking for an item to fill the gap of P2,500 and what came to my mind was a pair of high quality headset.  This one came with a bang since it costs P2,990.00.  The main reason I chose this one is because it is the only headset in SM's Music Store that has a remote control.  The other choice was Audio Technica but it didn't have the remote feature.  Also, this Philips headset sounds almost completely the same as with the Audio Technica counterpart.  The black variant was much cheaper but unfortunately there was not one available so I was forced to just pick this white one instead.

The unit came with a 1.2m cord and the jack was gold plated (I think).  But the important thing for me is the bass and I find it quite strong as compared to some Senheiser headsets.  But the Monster Beats headset is one notch superior.  As for the midtones and the high ones are quite decent enough to hear what you don't normally hear from some earphones.

I also find it quite comfortable to wear but prolonged use makes your ear feel like a Munchkin. The reason is that it's just an on-ear type so it kinda squeezes your ears a little. Its also not difficult to store since you can twist both the left and right earphone to make it flat, perfect for storing in your backpack.

This one never failed to amuse me except for the white color which makes it quite flashy & makes it look like its more expensive than how it costs.

Headphones

Choosing the right type of headphones is quite gruesome sometimes.  If you are an audiophile you would opt for a more expensive one like Bose, Senheiser, Sony, or Shure.  But if you have nothing to spare for these expensive types, you would ought for cheper ones found in stalls inside the malls or even Green Hills.  But what about CD-R King headphones?  Since we have an internet shop we already bought a dozen types.  The first ones that I have bought were just the standard P60 type.  But it turns out that after just weeks your P60 is gone.  The material used was very cheap that it will easily break and the copper wires are so thin that your nose hairs are thicker and more durable.  But the P150 types are quite sturdy and lasts for at least a month. The latest headsets that we bought were the neckband types since there were no more headband types with  the linen ply all over the wires.

Well, it depends on how you will use it.  We opt to buying the ones which have linen thread surronding the wires thinking that they are durable looking compared to the ones which only have rubber wires.  The ones that lasts more are the neckband types.  As for the headband types the usual point of breakage is the part where you adjust the band depending on your head size.  Also, the wires that are found just beneath those adjusting headband types easily break when it is oftenly adjusted.  While on the necband type, there is'nt anything to adjust so the wires beneath the band are untouched.  Our last batch of headsets are the neckband types and it lasted for 10 months already.  It looks like that CDR-King headphones improved their design which made the quality of their headsets quite sturdier than before.  But of course the quality of audio isn't that good compared to the high end types but they are enough for a Skype conversation and Youtube videos.

Don't Worry, Know the Warranty

As on my previous posts, I have mentioned that I have two MSI Motherboards that failed.  These are 2 out of 10.  Thinking that the boards are no longer covered with warranty, since PC Express claims that there is only one year warranty for MSI motherboards, I tried to see what was really wrong with these boards.  There were no signs of burn marks, damaged components or anything.  I lost hope and thought that there will be two PCs in our shop with no motherboards.  One day I mentioned the problem to one of my officemate, who happens to also have a computer shop.  He told me that most of the motherboards have at least two years of warranty.  He suggested to look for the official distributor and call them to double check if the one year warranty that PC Express claims is valid.  So I did looked up in the internet and found in MSI's website that their official distributor in the Philippines is NetEssentials and their office is found in 8th steet along Boni Serrano which was quite near our office.  According to them the warranty of MSI boards is 2 years.  To my surprise, I jumped for joy!  My Mobos are still covered!  The following day I hurriedly brought the two boards to NetEssentials.  They did the necessary inspections like the one I did before, looked for any burn marks, damaged components, and the sticker with the serial numbers.  After been visual inspected, they gave me a slip and said that I can follow-up the status of the boards after 3 working days.  It took 1 week before the boards were replaced with new ones.  They said that the problem was the on-board graphics.  Although its been a week, it is better to have them back than not having them fixed or replaced at all.

This has been a lesson to me, that before having your device or any other electronic appliance or gadget repaired by yourself or an outside technician, know first if it is still covered with warranty.  Some brands let their products carry an international warranty.  This means that if you bought it from someplace else like Singapore, Hong Kong, or even in the US of A.

One of my experience regarding the warranty is repairing my 2nd Generation iPod.  After failure to repair it I delegated it to the Mac Center in Megamall.  After having it shipped to Singapore I found out that it was still under warranty with only a few days left for the warranty to expire.  They could have replaced it with a new one if it not I have opened it.

Recently, my boss asked me if I can fix his HP Netbook since it won't boot up.  My advice is to contact HP first and know if it is still under warranty and have them fixed it instead of me.  After one day he endorsed it to HP and they repaired it since it is still covered with warranty.  Unfortunately, HP will have to format the hard disk and reinstall the system including the OS.  Bummer.

So if you have a defective gadget, Do not worry, know the warranty!

I'm Officially a Symbian User

I am writing this to declare that my O2 XDA II Mini is officially dead.  It died when my wife accidentally dropped it in the toilet bowl.  I attempted to revive it but after a couple of disassembly-assembly and a bit of visual inspection(Just to see if I have a darn talent in fixing such kind of devices) it no longer showed signs of life, so I declared it as totally unusable.  Well, this is bad news for my wife since she was the one who inherited it.  Anyway, since I currently have 2 cellphones that I am using, now I have to choose which one of them should I give her, my Nokia E90 or my HTC Touch Viva.

Beforehand, before it was flushed-up, I already have a clue that the O2 wouldn't last that long so I have already decided that I will give her my HTC Touch Viva and will live with a Symbian based E90.  Although I am having second thoughts since the Viva is very much useful to me especially the dictionary and the MS Office programs.  But anyway, I still gave it to her.  I thought to myself that the HTC Viva is too much for me.  The applications that was installed in the Viva were no longer used for the past couple of months except for the dictionary and the MS Excel.  So I just let it go.

The E90 have a battery problem, aside for the fact that it doesn't last for a day the battery itself is already bloated.  So I went out to buy a replacement battery and also unlocked the E90 since it was tied up with Globe. I am a die hard Sun Cellular user.

I installed some apps from the Ovi store and upgraded the firmware hoping that it will boost-up in speed since it only had a 300MHz processor.  The Ovi app store is not that appealing compared to the iTunes App store.  I have limited choices and didn't even found a dictionary application.  Good thing that I have downloaded a software from this Indian guy named Vikrant and have it installed.  What I don't like about it is that it's quite heavy in the pocket.  That is why I also bought a special belt-clip for it.  But on the bright side I already got used to this phone and have enjoyed using it ever since.  I type faster especially when texting.  Slowly I am liking the feel of the Symbian S60 software.  Although opening applications takes quite some time but I am able to manage.  Besides, the reason I choose this is to simplify things and it did.

K9NGM4 MSI Failure Analysis

When I looked for a motherboard for our internet shop I was thinking for a sturdy and reliable mobo to last until all the PCs are paid up by the revenue of the business. The first thing that went through my mind is ASUS since the company has been in the motherboard business for years already and they have less negative feedbacks from users. But upon the moment of purchase I was warned by one of the PC Express technicians that the ASUS mobo that I wanted was not that sturdy and they are experiencing some installation problems with it. I was buying an AMD processor and there was only 1 ASUS mobo available for AMD processors. So I asked the store what do they recommend instead in replacement for the once thought to be reliable ASUS. And there came in MSI as their recommendation. There were a lot of MSI models for AMD so I asked for the one that gave the best on-board GPU since most of the in demand games at that time were not graphics hungry most especially the online games.  Besides, if ever the demand for higher graphics came then I will just buy external video cards to go with the gaming niche. So they gave me the MSI K9NGM4 AM2+ Socket Motherboard.  But a year has passed and 3 out of the 10 MSI mobo that I bought  has gone down the drain.

The first one that failed was brought back to the PC shop to take advantage of the warranty. The failure mode is that after some time of usiage it suddenly turns off. Then as days go by after that symptom it only took minutes or seconds after boot up then without warning the entire system will shut down. After two days of waiting PC Express then decided to return the Mobo to MSI as they cannot see what is the cause of the problem. Then after two weeks MSI simply repaced the mobo with a new one which was a relief to me.

Another problem encountered on another unit is that the mobo cannot bring light on the VGA port. The fans are rolling and the LEDs are blinking but there is nothing on the LCD display. This keeps on happening everytime you push the power button. After some disconnection of peripherals and system components you will finally see the start-up logo and  then an error message in red font saying something about overclocking failure. Then the system will be back to normal.

And the latest problem that I encountered was that the unit cannot power up. After several attempts to power it up only 5% chance that the system will go up. Just recently there was no power at all after almost a hundred presses on the power button. It seems that the unit suddenly died on me.

I'm still packing the dead PCs and have PC Express do their own assessment on the problem. I hope that they can fix them or else I will have to replace them with a new one preferrably other cheaper brand. The last board that I bought was an ECS which has the advantage of a 3-year warranty. Now that is a very attractive deal for a cheaper choice. So if you will buy a rig today or in the near future I hope that this will help. You should consider your options carefully.