Review of the iphone 3G after 24 hours usage.

I love it !!!!  It is better than anything out there by a big margin. However here are some problems. Maybe in time it will be resolved. But now I can still live with it.

Problems
Hotmail is not available unless you pay some third part to redirect your mail.

I am now using yahoo mail. Push does not work at first. I follow some advise and went to yahoo->mail->option->logout then it works. HSBC ealert is not available for mobile number starting with 5. My friend who works in HSBC’s etrading department is informing them about it.

Stuff that I can do on a PC but not on the 3G iphone
I cannot see subscribe feed from Youtube, to read/edit comment, to see other people home page.

WordPress – there is an apps for TypePad but not WordPress. I try to edit my blog via Safari but cannot, maybe just me.

Cannot pay bill via HSBC. The confirm page does not appear. Stock Trading on HSBC web looks ok.

Some really cool stuff
Midomi is a free download from appstore. You can humm a music and it will find it for you. You can play the music and buy it from itune store. It is pretty accurate too.

3G Iphone from Hong Kong

www.thechinastory.org

I got a phone call from 3G lastnight at 11:30pm to say they have an iphone for me since I am one of the many who registered on their website.

I was so excited and I didn’t sleep much.  Now I have been testing my iphone for 2 hours. I am a new iphone user (my previous phone is a dopod c730. i have ipod video). It is a big decision for me to jump ahead and get the iphone. I chose the unlimited data plan for $498+$18. If you are a new iphone guy and thinking of jumping in, you can read on. If you are an existing 1st generation iphone user, you can check youtube. There are many reviews.

Price -
———-
I have done the calculations for the 4 tariff plans offer.

Monthly tariff   Phone price (16G)   Tariffx24mths    Phone+24 mths  Plan Description

$188                 $3738                    4512                   8250                500mb
$268                 $2538                    6432                   8970                500mb (no tunnel chg)
$328                 $1738                    7872                   9610                500mb (no tunnel chg)
$498                 $138                      11952                 12090              unlimited (no tunnel chg)

$18 (mandatory package) for approx 20sms messages

Hence the minimum ebay price should be $8250 ($US1057). For me I won’t sell mine for less than $12,090.

Every plan needs to put down deposit so one will not save time value of money.
Clearly 188 plan is not any cheaper than 268 when tunnel charge is included. But you get extra minutes. So I don’t recommend the $188 plan.

Total cost difference of unlimited vs $268 plan is $3000. I think the unlimited plan is worth it consider you get unlimited data and the occasion over use. (I have received very expensive bills in the past due to over use data). Hence I have the unlimited plan. I think we need more than 500MB if you use youtube. Unlike most WM phone, you can easily see data usage so you won’t over use so easily.

 

Activation
Unlike the U.S, my phone is 100% activated at the shop. I get to play with it on the way home.

Sim card compatibility
HK Iphone 3G is unlocked. So you can put another sim card and then activate it using itune. You can also use mainland China sim card for voice and data. I tried surfing the web using my CSL1010 card but it didn’t work, the guy at 3G says I have to configure the settings then it should work (same with China simm cards).

Wifi speed
Pretty fast no problem surfing and watching youtube.

3G speed
Similar speed to wifi, maybe a bit slower. I can watch youtube no problem. I did internet banking with HSBC. Need getting used to since I need to zoom and move a couple of times to input data but still ok.

3G reception
I can watch Youtube from my house. However there are only 2 bars. I don’t know how many bars is not ok.

GPS
I pressed the map icon to lauch the google map. I press the button at bottom left. Then it will locate me via GPS. It seems pretty accurate. I haven’t tried GPS to navigate yet.

Using the iphone
I am a new iphone user and need getting used to.  I keep pressing the wrong key.

New apps
I have never used itune store before. I just registered and it seems very easy. You have to put in your VISA card detail. After that HSBC call center called me to check if I have done the transaction just in case my VISA is stolen. Then you can download free apps. You can also go to other countries to download music.

Bloomberg - by the look, I am very impress with Bloomberg. It appears to put a bloomberg terminal in front of me. Of course I am sure there is very little functions in comparisum but the stock price and news is very useful to me.

Remote - I can use my iphone (via wifi) to remote control and tell my pc to play itune music. It is very fast. I am impress.

WeatherBug - It locates me via GPS and tells me weather forecast.

PhoneSaber – I am a new iphone user so this kind of game is very impressive to me. I can swing my iphone like a starwar light saber then the iphone gives saber sounds. Very cool.

Functions not availabe

All the limitations are clearly explained to me by the nice sales person. It is also written. I guess they want to make sure people don’t complain.

MMS – (SMS is available)
3G calls
Video Stream – So you can watch 3 finance TV channels.
Record video

1 Yr warranty
This is warrant by 3. Repair shop is at MongKok. However if you jailbreak the devise then the warranty is void.

Colour
I got the white 16GB version. I think an extra $138 for 8GB is nothing. White because black is available for the 8GB version and the ipod video. So it is less common.

Same photos taken by iphone 3G. Not as good as a camera.

Back to office Typhoon No. 3

The Tyhoon No.8 reduces to No.3 before noon so I have to go to work. This is Central Hong Kong. I took some photos along my way. My office is somewhere on the 20th Floor in the middle of the photo.

 

 

Cosco International 517.HK

Today is typhoon no.8 in HK and so I can stay home and do some stock mining.

When I look at Cosco, I cannot believe the PE is 2.24. I thought there must be a mistake. Cosco is a very good company and PE used to be very high.

In the next few days I will dig deeper and write a few more articles.

	Cosco 517.HK	Cheung Kong 1.HK
Issued Capital shares	1,479,000,000	2,316,000,000
Share price	3.95	112.1
Market Capital	$5,842,050,000	$259,623,600,000
Share holders funds	$4,901,000,000	$90,156,000,000
Share capital	$147,000,000	$1,149,000,000
Share premium and other reserves	$4,754,000,000	$89,007,000,000
Earnings	1.759	11.9499
PE	2.245594088	9.380831639
08 earning estimate
Low	0.43	4.58
High	0.78	8.41

Note.

1) Market capital of Cosco is just 30% higher than its share holders funds where as Cheung Kong is 250%.

2). Earning estimates for both companies are low.

3). If we take the low Cosco earning estimate of 0.43 then PE=11. Which is still cheap.

From a glance Cosco is very cheap. I will dig deeper to find out why investors are unfavouring this company which had a huge run up to its price.

Soap in water

A good stock is like a piece of soap submerge in water, always wanting to float to the top. However if the soap is in the river then it is subject to random natural forces like wind and rain pushing down. Stock market turbulence will push the stock price of a good stock down. Just like the piece of soap being push down as it travel across a mini waterfall. However we can be assure that when the downward force goes away the soap will float to the top.

Want Want is like this piece of soap. It is being push down again and again by bad weather. When the storm is clear, it will float to the top. No one knows for sure whether there will be more bad weather ahead. However we are very sure, the current stock price is very attractive. It is below its intrinsic price.