Google Pixel 2 review

You know I have a weakness for Pixel phones by Google. Their main pull is the clean and stock Android OS unlike the usual customized Android OS by other manufacturers which usually suck. In the past year, I’ve got to use both Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones and unfortunately I had to let go of both phones for a couple of reasons.









First I got myself the slightly larger version of the Pixel, the Pixel 2 XL. Black and white chassis aka the Panda Pixel with an orange accent on the power button. I have always liked to make my second phone aside from the iPhone a Google Pixel or at least an Android One phone. As I said, stock Android is best Android. The Pixel 2 XL as always comes with USB C fast charging. There’s no wireless charging yet for this model and the screen still sports a sizeable bezel at the top and the bottom. At the back of the metal chassis is a fingerprint scanner and that’s about it.











My second Pixel phone for last year was the Pixel 2, the smaller brother of the Pixel 2 XL. There’s not much difference between this one and the latter except for the screen and battery size. It still has a solitary camera and the same two tone back cover.

Needless to say, this Pixel phone gets the latest Android updates earliest compared to other Android phones. The screen is alright, no Amoled or anything spectacular. Just okayish I guess. Performance-wise, you can run PUBG Mobile at high setting although the rounded corner require you to adjust the menu icons accordingly. Like its predecessor, the main pull for a Pixel phone is its camera. Photos taken are sharp and crisp and the night mode photos is only second to newer Pixel or iPhone models.

So why did I sold off both my Pixels in a year? First of all, I was itching to get my hand on a brand new iPhone model. My last iPhone, the iPhone 8 Plus felt outdated compared to the X and the XS of today (at that time). I had to let go of the XL to be able to afford a brand new iPhone XR. The Pixel 2 on the other hand is a fine phone. It’s small enough to fit in your pocket so I can bring it along for runs without even noticing it’s there. However like my old first gen Pixel phone, the battery life was abysmal to say the least. My secondhand Pixel 2 wouldn’t last past 3PM every day on a single charge. This battery drain anxiety sucks even for your second phone. I couldn’t use it as GPS navigation for long without leaving it on charge most of the time. Hence the main reason I sold off the Pixel 2 phone.

Will I consider getting a Pixel phone again in the future? For the moment, not so much. For one thing a brand new Pixel phone cost as much as a brand new entry level iPhone. And a second hand one especially an older model almost always has sucky battery life. For now I’m using a cheap Xiaomi Android One phone with mediocre specs and below average camera. But that’s okay because it’s the stock Android OS that counts.

Sony ICT 506 radio review

There is something exquisite about the sound produced from a Sony transistor radio. It is not too bassy or loud but it has that unique Sony radio sound that you can’t find on any other radio make or model. That is as far as I know of course. I have not owned or listen to too many radio models in my lifetime but the ones that I did never sound anything like Sony’s

The ICT 506 is powered by AC current as well as batteries which comes quite handy. If you want it to be stationary, just plug in the power adapter. Otherwise, fix the batteries.

The radio tuner is manual which provides that authentic radio tuning experience. You got AM and FM frequencies on this radio. There’s two big tune and volume dials on the side. Other than that, there’s the Off, AM and FM switch on the front.

Reception-wise, it’s pretty bad when you’re indoors. You’d be lucky to be able to tune in to more than a handful of stations on stereo. I had to stand near the doors or windows to get a clear reception. Maybe because of my concrete building but it’s rather disappointing because all the stations that I like have more static noise than sound. If you’re totally outdoors, the radio works fine.

And that is my short and simple review of the Sony ICT 506 radio. I love the sound that it gives, but the indoor reception, not so much. Perhaps the antenna could be longer or more powerful, I’m not sure how they work. It’s a decent transistor radio.

How to transfer your children to a new school in Selangor

After over 7 months of sending our kids back and forth between Semenyih and Seri Kembangan, we finally found a suitable and much closer school for them right here in Bangi. I can’t tell you which school it is for privacy and security reasons but suffice to say this one is only 8 kilometers or 15 minutes drive from our home compared to 45 minutes (of rushing) for the previous one. It is a relatively obscure school and not very popular compared to a few other elite or established schools in town but any school much nearer to home will do for us for now. Plus the fact that there’s a proper nursery/transit and religious school just nearby also helps. So here’s how you go about changing schools for your kids within the state of Selangor.



First things first, you need to visit the office of your old school and bring along a few basic documents including copies of your marriage certificate, child birth certificate, their parent identity cards, any one of your utility bills* with your or your spouse’s name on it and your child’s examination result if they have sat for one. You will then hand over all those documents to the clerk and fill up the P.U (A) 275 forms, 3 copies for each children. This form will need to be signed by the headmaster of the school so bear in mind it might take a day or two for he/she to do so.

Once the headmaster signs the P.U (A) 275 form, you will have to bring that and all the relevant documents that I mentioned earlier to the district education office (PPD) where the new school is located. In my case it’s the Hulu Langat education office in Kajang. There the clerk and officers will review your application and decide whether to approve or reject them. I can only speculate here but some of the reasons for rejection is the school that you are applying to transfer is really popular and the classes are already full (pretty common for urban schools in Selangor/KL) or the new school is too far away from your current address. As for me while I do live at a Semenyih address, the new school that I’m transferring my kids to are pretty near in distance hence they have no valid reason to reject my application. But to be honest, I was worried at first thinking that they might insist that I register at S.K Semenyih or S.K Rinching Hilir which are also close by but fortunately for me that did not happen. We’d rather not send our kids to S.K Semenyih because it’s a bit further away and does not coincide with the route we’re taking to work. As for S.K Rinching Hilir, it is a quaint little school tucked in the middle of Rinching Hilir village but too bad, there’s no registered nursery or transit point to leave our children at nearby plus there’s absolutely zero school bus to ferry our kids after school.

Next after you get your approval from the PPD, go back to your old school to submit the approved forms and collect your child’s myriad school records - which include academic, co-curriculum and health records. If the old school owes you any certificates of achievement, demand those as well before you leave for good. Other than that, you will also need to carry along all the text books from your old school to the new one. You will have exactly 14 days from the date of the transfer approval to register your kids to the new school or the transfer will automatically be cancelled.

Finally when you get all your documents, forms and records ready, you head on to the new school to register your child. Ideally you should go to the new school office before your children officially start school so that the clerk and teacher can do all the necessary preparations (like deciding which class to put them in). You can pick any dates within the 14 days to send your child to the new school but we chose the first Monday after the last week at the old school so that they don’t miss any classes or lessons.

So that’s basically the steps you will have to take to switch your children’s school. Might sound like a lot of work but lucky for us, all the parties involved did their best to make the process as smooth as possible. All in all it took us only 3 days to finish everything and we had to take 2 days off from work to settle everything. As of today our children starts their first day at the new school. Sure it will take some time for them to adjust to a new surrounding, make new friends but I’m sure they will do just fine.


*if you are renting, you will need to submit a tenancy agreement with your names on it.