World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I must admit I picked up this book after hearing there was going to be a movie based on it. I’ve always liked the concept of the multiple perspective type of storytelling. I am also a fan of zombie themed movies, books and games so this was a def pick up for me.

Instead of the usual stories of Zombies killing humans and how they survive, World War Z is set in a post-zombie world where “survivors” recall/retell their story of life before, during and after the zombie outbreak. The different views of people from all walks of life and of all types of occupations, from the highest ranking officer to the awkward otaku and from places like China to middle east to US.

An entertaining read.

This is the third post in a 3 part review series of the P1 Mifi Modem MX230. You can read my previous posts“P1 ToGo plan with MX230” and “Review : P1 MiFi on the go!”.

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I’m actually quite sad to be ending my review and giving back the MiFi modem. Its like one of those things that you never noticed you had, but only after you had it then you realize its quite useful.

I’ve been carrying it out for quite a bit and I certainly feel that it’s a quite useful thing to have when you’re around. I use an iPhone but occasionally my telco provider runs into some problem and there is little to no connection.

The nature of my job allows me to occasionally work offsite and again, I found the Mifi device useful in this situation. Its faster speeds also suit the office projects where you need to get online (not if you only use word documents la! Hehe)

However, there is a small limitation to the P1 Mifi. It does not support high-rise buildings. My office is on the 21th floor and was unable to get a signal. I’ve asked P1 and the maximum level is 5-7th floor. Perhaps this would change in the future.

And now the most important question – how much does it cost?

The MiFi is under the P1 ToGo plan which is RM69 per month and the contract is 24 months. For the device, there’s a current promotion you can opt for the Personal 4G WiFi model MF230 for free or pay additional RM100 for the High Performance Personal 4G model MX230 (the one pictured). For more details on pricing and more information, click on the P1 Mifi page

Who should get it?

I think this would be great for students and working adults as well as people with multiple devices. Buying data for each of your devices can really add up and end up being expensive as compared to just getting one device. Also, if you always work while on the go, this is a better option instead of using mobile tethering from your phone which sucks up precious battery.

Conclusion

I think the P1 Mifi Modem is a good device to consider. I currently have data on all my devices under contract so I might not get it in the near future. But once my contract is over, this is something that I will think about getting. Not many internet providers I’ve used so far can have the same claim of P1 of giving 10Mbps speeds.

Disclaimer : The P1 Mifi Modem MX230 was loaned to me for a period of this review (3 weeks) and all my posts are fair and unbiased.

I mentioned in a previous post that I got a review unit of the P1 MiFi MX230. After plugging it in to charge (it comes precharged in the box but not to full battery capacity) I tested it while out and about in Selangor and KL.

There’s only one small button on the device and one microUSB port with a cover. I must comment that I like that it has a cover. Without the covering over the ports, the ports then to get dusty after a while and its almost near impossible to clean. So yes, the idea of a cover is very smart.

The MX230 comes with only one button and three indicator lights – battery, wifi signal and P1 signal. To switch on, just press the button continuously till the 3 lights blink green. Then the lights will blink and start searching for a signal.

The indicator light comes in three different colours (refer pic above) – Red, Green and Yellowish/whiteish. Like a traffic light, red means that the signal or battery is low, green means that its excellent speeds/connection and finally white/yellow is just moderate. So no fussy buttons, no weird instructions. Just simple – 1 button, 3 lights.

Testing on the go

I got a voucher for a free room in Tune Hotel Kota Damansara and since I had the the modem, I opted not to get any internet addon but use the modem instead. As you can see from the pic above, the battery was running low (this was after I was testing for signal in quite a few places) so I plugged it into my laptop. Now one thing good about this MiFi modem is that I can still switch on the wireless WHILE its charging.

One thing that truly impressed me was the speeds. The P1 ToGo packages come with speeds that reach up to 10Mbps and while this is highly dependent on the area, I was very happy with the speeds I got. I work with stuff online quite often and having a fast internet is a great tool. Even without it being ‘green’, it was still very decently fast and faster than my current mobile data. I forgot to speedtest it at the time though, sorry!

After the rather successful first usage, I also tested it out in a few other places like in KL. The pic below was taken while in Fahrenheit 88 (you can see KLCC in the background). Here you can see that its all green. Fully charged and great connection. My friend (whose prepaid data plan ran out) was very pleased.

In the photo above, you can also see its clearly small size inside my palm (I have medium sized hands) as well as the small button underneath it. Its so lightweight that I’ve actually been carrying it for the past week with it in my handbag without feeling the extra burden.

Since I’ve already brought it out for a test run, the next review post will be about what I liked about the product as well as more info on the plans and pricing!

How could I miss the bookworm event of the year? This year the BBW Book Sale was (is still ongoing actually) at the Mines Convention Center from 8-23 December. This year was special because they decided to open for 24 hours over the weekend.

Decided to head down there with the boys and my sister on the wee hours of Saturday. We left Damansara about 12.30am and headed down to Mines. We got to the vicinity less than an hour later. I was prepared for a lot of people but I didn’t expect to be stuck even before we entered the convention center.

It took us about one hour just to get to the parking. I decided to park inside and got a parking in the basement quite easily. The Convention center was huge! I mean, I saw photos on Facebook (like below) but It was seriously huge.

We browsed for a good 3-4 hours looking at all the books. The hall was spilt approximately halfway between fiction and non fiction books. My method of browsing the books is to walk between the tables while looking right and left to skim through at titles and authors names. I also skipped the romance section as I don’t really read those.

So by 4am, my friends were already starting to queue. And mann was the queue long. It was literally half the hall, yes, even at that time. I joined the queue at about 4.30am and by that time everyone was already a bit bleary eyed. We eventually paid at 5.30am (yes, took us one hour of queuing. It was nuts). We just drove back and went straight to bed. We were literally out from 12ish and only reached home about 6am. that’s about 6 hours in total book shopping. Gosh!

But of course, it was a good deal. This year I picked up only titles that I really wanted to read or authors that I am familiar with and collect their books. All the below books were RM8 each, unless stated

• Kathy Reichs – 206 Bones, Devil Bones, Virals, Mortal Remains
• Terry Pratchett – Eric, Unseen Academics & Nation
• Anchee Min – Empress Orchid & The Last Empress
• R. A. Salvatore – The Orc King
• Oscar Wiled – The Picture of Dorian Gray (RM6)
• Nathaniel Hawthorn – The Scarlet Letter (RM6)
• Salmon Fishing In the Yemen
• Dawn of the Dreadfuls
• Dan Brown – The Lost Symbol (RM10)
• Nigella Express (RM30)
• Stephen King – The Dark Towel : The Gunslinger
• Baking pans X 4 pcs

Got a total of 16 books, 1 cookbook, 4 baking pans = MYR188. Not too bad if I do say so myself. Now to find the time to read…

Recently I was passed a MiFi modem for review from P1. In case you didn’t know, MiFis are mobile WiFi hotspots. Super convenient when you’re out and don’t want/have data connection. Plus it provides wifi for multiple devices so your friends can tumpang and connect their laptops, ipads, tablets phones all at the same time.

I must say that there are currently other providers that have a similar MiFi devices but some of the  plans are not as attractive (eg: having different quota for different timing).

[Side note: Does DiGi not have a MiFi anymore? I cant seem to find it on their site]

Anyway I went to pick up the device from P1 Paddock (their main office/customer service center) and the process was extremely smooth and fast. I was observing others at the customer service area as well and one thing I like about the P1 Paddock is that they have ample seats scattered around the area.

I got the MX230 modem (there’s another modem MF230) and was pleasantly surprised to find out how small it was. Its 13x69x69mm and weighs a mere 76grams. The box comes with an instruction manual as well as a micro USB cable & plug/wall power adaptor (so you can charge on both a power point and computer.

Some specs about the MX230 modem :

• Supports up to 8 WiFi enabled clients (802.11b/g)
• It can also be used as a USB Modem when its in tethering mode on Windows XP, Vista, 7 or higher and Mac OS X 10.5 or higher
• It only takes 3 hours to complete a full charge
• A fully charged device can last for Up to 6 hours (depending on the usage)

I’ve previously tested the P1’s Acer Netbook with W1Max as well as the Wiggy USB modem so I can’t wait to test this baby out. But for now, if you need more info, head down to P1’s MiFi page!

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This is the first post in a 3-post review of this device. Read the next review “P1 MiFi on the go!” and “P1 ToGo Mifi Modem MX230“