Hmm... how do I start?
Last Sunday (5th April 2009) ], Celcom invited a few bloggers (myself included), to a sneak preview of the new BlackBerry Storm smartphone.
Started off at Sudu @ Hilton KL. Enjoyed a wonderful buffet spread there, before us 'invitees' to a rather large coach, to shuttle us to the Sepang International Circuit. So I thought, 'Ok, a coach. It,s gonna take a while, but who cares? I'm going to the F1!!'.
Wrong!
As the bus left Hilton, we were given 3, yes, 3 outriders to escort us to Sepang. We stopped cars, barred tolls, split traffic jams (and made some on the way too). Honestly, a ride with outriders has to be one of the pleasures in life. :P
When we arrive, we're given our gold Corporate Suite passes and a blue Celcom Broadband umbrella. We began our journey to the grandstands, going through checkpoints and ticket checks without a hitch.
Last Sunday would mark my first trip to SIC, let alone for an F1 event. So the first time was set to be one of the best trips, as the Suite came with food from Pan Pacific and free-flow drinks. Not bad, air con, and all. Definitely THE way to watch the F1.
Before the race started, Celcom started the event with a quick word from Celcom CEO, Datuk Sri Shazalli Ramly, followed by a BlackBerry Storm preview.
I bet you wanna know more about the Storm, right?
First impressions may make you want an iPhone instead, but look again. With the Storm, BlackBerry launches a new touch-screen technology called SureType, which is basically a 'clickable' touchscreen. Instead of a soft-touch screen, where you 'tap' the screen to highlight and select, the SureType screen allows one to touch to highlight something, then 'click' to select/activate.
Some online reviews of the Storm say that the new SureType technology makes it's on-screen QWERTY keyboard makes typing as good, if not better, than some real QWERTY devices like the Bold 9000 and the Nokia E63. I'm not so sure about that through the 30-minutes I had with their preview sets.
Later on, through a quiz session (in which only a knapsack was up for grabs) I won a BlackBerry Storm.
After the preview, there wasn't much activity, aside from the race.
Then it rained.
Through the team radio feeds we got within the suite, we got loads of complaints from drivers, saying the conditions were making it impossible to drive in. So they stopped the race, making Jensen Button the winner of the Malaysian leg of the F1 Grand Prix.
Then came the part of the evening EVERYONE was waiting for; THE JAMIROQUAI CONCERT.
It was muddier than expected, with the storm that stopped the race just finishing. Celcom provided us with a riser, allowing us to remain clean from the mud. Unfortunately, not all of remained clean, making the very route to the riser very muddy. But there were a whole bunch of nibbly things going round, as well as free-flow carbonated drinks. Not bad at all, definitely the better way to live.
Opening act was Atilia, followed by Naturally 7, then there was the one-and-only JAMIROQUAI!
My first concert. The best concert.
So much fun.
Got home at about 3am.
