I signed up for the Simba (previously known as TPG) 50GB SIM only plan and here is what I think about the plan

 

Well, I was quite annoyed by Starhub unstableness. It's like I can have super laggy moments at home with my wifi right in front of me. Not to mention that I'm still on 3G and it can be dead slow - like taking a minute to refresh a webpage.

At the worst, it affected my GrabFood deliveries - like I got disconnected and then couldn't receive any jobs. I also cannot complete a job because the connection was too weak or unstable.

Anyway, I did previously signed up for the TPG free trial. It was not too bad, except that I couldn't get it to work on my mom's iPhone 6S+. It worked on my iPhone 7+ and iPad Mini 2. I remembered it to be pretty smooth for my usual usage. I didn't test it in the undergrounds but my cousin reported that it didn't have any connection underground.

However, this time round, TPG promised better connections and more coverage. But is it true? Let's find out!

The TPG 50GB SIM only Plan

50GB SIM ONLY PLAN

$

10

 

For 30 days

 

50GB DATA

+1GB Roaming Data

to selected countries

300 Local Call Minutes

30 Local SMS

.

To be honest, the plan is very attractive because its a lot of data for such a cheap price. You cannot find another Telco that is cheaper than this! 

$10 for 30 days of 50GB 4G data, 300 call minutes and 30 SMS is quite a deal!

Connection 

I'm using the SIM plan mainly for GrabFood, Youtube, online Shopping and some light social gaming (Clash of Clans and Clash Royale). My area of activities will be around my neighbourhood area whereby I'll be doing my GrabFood deliveries. Occasionally, I'll head down to the central area of my Zone.

I first tested the reception in my own house, just the reception, not the connection and speed as I'll still be on Wifi. The reception was full bar in my living room but when it gets to my room, it went down a bar. I don't know what to say about it but it doesn't seems like good news. I've not gotten anything less than full bar in my own house with my 3G Starhub plan. (Unless, Starhub is having problem)

So my plan was activated on 23rd October and I've been using it for a week now. To be honest, TPG isn't the most stable network and the coverage is limited as of now. They promised to expand their coverage over the next quarters but I guess they should work harder on maintaining stability of their network first.   

For now, I feel TPG is not a good plan to use for GrabFood or if you need fast and stable connections on the go. I've encountered "No service" twice within the 7 days I've been using the card and the longest lasted for up to 10 minutes.

Reception is not good in (some)lifts and can get to just 1 bar of reception. That is as good as my previous 3G line, which can get weak in lifts too. I didn't see the improvement I expected from 4G line, except that, maybe YouTube videos did load slightly faster.

There was also once that I was randomly connected to "Celcom" (I think it's a Malaysia Telco) and then notified with an SMS "Welcome back to Singapore". Although the roaming data wasn't used, I don't really like the scare. What if it happens again and I'm being charged for data roaming?

We're looking at $3 per GB of roaming data once exceeding 1 GB.

Only support VoLTE calls

The TPG 50GB SIM only plan doesn't support calling and you need a phone that supports VoLTE to be able to make "normal" (call time) calls (not Whatsapp calls, Whatsapp calls work just fine). Although my phone model should support VoLTE, the option is not available when I tried to set it up, which means I cannot make VoLTE calls. 

TPG provided an alternative solution which is to download an App "TPG 4G Voice" and you call make and receive calls via the app. I've tried calling out with it and it did work. I got my sister to call me and I'm able to receive the call. I've chat over the app and it seems pretty clear though not that smooth, with short lags but it doesn't affect the conversation much.

Updated: By the way, a downside for GrabFood delivery partners is that, if you can't make VoLTE calls, you cannot call the customer at all! Because when you call via the Grab Driver App, it will not connect you to the TPG 4G App to make the call. You also can't manually call the customer via TPG App because you won't have their number (privacy protection). You can only call the hotline or chat with Grab CS to have them call the customer on your behalf.

OTP SMS

I've not tried to activate anything with my TPG number but a number of users have reported that they cannot received the OTP for their signups. It's believed that TPG could have blocked some 5 digits phone numbers from the servers hence the OTP cannot get through.

Well, this sucks big time as many of the apps and signups requires an OTP!

Charged Twice

I just realised this mistake when I was checking my bank balance earlier. TPG has charged me twice for the plan. What happened was that, while I was making payment for the first time, there was an error message saying payment failed after I entered the OTP and so I thought it didn't get through. So I tried a 2nd time, only then the payment went through without any error. 

But then I realised that both payment went through, so I actually paid $20 for the plan! I've emailed their support and surprisingly I got a respond the next day. They asked for some information which I gave them and they swiftly responded on the next working day stating they would investigate and then refund if there really is a double payment. Refund may take up to 21 days though... which is pretty slow in my opinion. 

A reminder to all who had signed up or planning to sign up for TPG plans, many users have complained about being double charged or randomly charged to their credit cards. Some reported still being billed AFTER emailing to terminate their plans!

I think it's safer to inform them about cancellation much early before your next bill date. Say give them 2 weeks notice. That is what I plan to do as I don't think I'll carry on with this plan, at least not until it becomes more stable.

To be fair, I definitely won't recommend TPG as your main line especially if you're always on the go or need constant connection like for food delivery, but it will make a nice and cheap secondary/backup plan when your main plan is running out of data. Over the last few days of using, the connection seems to have been a little more stable.

Updated (03 May 2021): Erm... they've yet to refund me the double payment as they promised... even after I sent them a 2nd email in December last year -_-" But I was too lazy to contact them a 3rd time! Anyway, plan was cancelled in December last year, as it's not ideal for GrabFood. It's quite OK for normal use if you don't travel around a lot.

The woes of GrabFood walker months into Phrase 2 of Circuit Breaker

 

I've to make it clear that whatever I write in this posts are personal experience and judgement. They're not official and could be wrong.

So here goes ... 

1. Higher competition, decreased in orders

I think it's no secret that an astonishing number of riders joins GrabFood during the Circuit breaker. This increased the competition between riders, more so now that the Circuit breaker is over and people are allowed to eat out.

The problem now is, demand is much lesser than the supply, so riders will face lesser jobs. I think the "golden age" whereby you can earn a decent amount by working "office hours" or lesser is over. Now you slog and still may not earn as much as before.

I've personally tried this out over a period of time. For walkers, the peak periods are almost always out of our league.

But why? I thought peak periods = more orders? You may ask.

Well, since it's an equation everyone knows, that's why the competition is even higher! Imagine everyone logging on during the peak periods!

Also you've to take into account that with the new "pay more for further distance", customers are indeed paying more just to get orders they prefers from somewhere further. Which means, more orders that is out of the range of walkers.

 

So just head down to those hot spots areas! You say.

Well, once again, this is just another equation everyone knows about, so what makes you think competition will be lesser in the hot spots?

I've personally been to the hotspot area during the lunch and dinner peak hours. On the worst day, I've 0 order for the lunch peak hours and 1 for the dinner peak hours. On better days, 1 order for both periods or 1 order for lunch and 2 for dinner.

But of course, I have only camped there for about 4-5 days during the past few months, I just don't see any benefit from travelling down there as orders aren't that much as well. And while I was there, I saw many green and pink shirts idling around, waiting for orders. That is just how competitive that area is.

2. No Compensations

I know I've ranted about this. But I would like to touch on this again. 

GrabFood used to be very prompt and fair on paying their compensations. If you've waited for more than 30 minutes at a restaurant, you get compensation. The same goes for large orders.

Now?

They're just very prompt with rejecting compensation requests. Seriously, I don't know if there are people gaming the system but I don't think anyone can game the system for large orders since Grab will know what is being ordered.

That's why I don't see why a quantity that qualified for compensation previously doesn't qualify for compensation now. Did they expect riders to evolve like Machop and end up as Machamp with 4 arms?

As for the long waiting time, well, that could be gamed. I mean someone can really just rot at the restaurant for 30 minutes to claim that.

But I don't think anyone would be doing that because time = money for GrabFood riders. The longer time you take to complete an order, the longer you're added to the pool of available riders. I don't see what benefit does that do, as the compensation is not much, just $2.50 I think (correct me if I'm wrong). But even if it's more than that, you're just wasting potential chance to earn more.

I can't help but think this is another of the "bait and switch" tactics by GrabFood because riders do not want to accept orders from certain restaurants due to long waiting time or will cancel heavy or difficult to carry orders. (It's not easy to rider or walk with 5-6 large drinks without spilling even a little). Pray hard you don't get a fussy customer.

So are all these compensations just to bait riders into taking these orders, after which, you end up fulfilling the orders only to get your compensation requests rejected?

Updated: I've gotten one of my long waiting time request approved recently. And guess how long I waited? 1 hours 12 minutes and it's during peak dinner hours. They compensated me $6.

Anyway, just a reminder, if you received order from a Certain "Tall" ramen, you might want to consider cancelling as they are super slow... like so slow that I waited for more than 1 hour!

3. Decreased allowance for Cancellation and Rejection of Orders

Before I go on, I think I need to explain once again what are the Acceptance and Cancellation Rates. (You can skip all the explanations if you already know)

Acceptance Rate (AR) = Number of Accepted Orders/Number of Orders given to you.

Cancellation Rate (CR) = Number of Jobs you Cancelled after accepting/Number of Jobs you accepted.

I know it maybe confusing for some, but take orders as calls. So when someone calls you, you can either answer (accept) or reject it. This is the Acceptance Rate (AR)

After you accepted the call, maybe its some annoying insurance agent call, you can either end call (cancel) or let them finish talking (complete the order). This is the Cancellation Rate (CR).

These rates are highly important if you're working to get the Quest Incentives. I believe they also affect other things like the number of orders given to you or even temporary freezing of your account.

Anyway, Grab have increased the Acceptance Rate to qualify for the quest incentive. It was previously 80% and now it's 90%. 

Which means you can only reject 3 orders (3.5 actually, but you can't do half an order) out of 35 orders. (35 is the minimum number of orders you've to complete to qualify for the Weekday Quest bonus of $30)

For cancellation rate, it has dropped from 20% to 10%. Meaning again, you can only cancel 3 out of 35 orders. So if GrabFood decided to be evil and give you many large orders, then you'll eventually have to

accept at least one of them, unless you're prepared to do more orders to make up for the percentage or forgo the quest incentives. 

Now, I think these changes put the riders at a disadvantage positions and are practically forcing them to take whatever orders thrown to them, ignoring their ability to complete them. Also the high rejection rate of compensation requests is just very demoralising for the riders who waited a long time for an order or took the risk of spilling drinks and withstand the muscle aches and picked up a large order.

Times have been difficult for most of us and I wish GrabFood isn't just showing care in the form of words but also actions. Empty talks is cheap, don't make yourself cheap, GrabFood.

I took the voluntary swab test for front line workers...

Well, this will just be a quick update. 

The government have provided free swab tests for front line workers, including food delivery partners. They plant carry them out nation wide and will move to different region or GRC/SMC over the pass few months.

This time round. it was located quite near to where I stay, so I headed down for a check. It's free for me anyway.

I was surprised that there is almost no one else there for the test during the timing I booked (3-4pm). You know, Singaporeans loves "free" stuffs! But granted, this free test is only for front line workers and they're usually to busy working. No work, no money.

The Swab Test

After I was registered (you need a photo ID and your delivery app, they'll need to verify that you're a food delivery worker), I was asked to head to the testing station. There, I was briefed about what they're going to do. They'll swab my throat and both my nostrils. I was also asked if I have had head or nose operations previously. 

I didn't and they went ahead.

The tester (I don't know what to call them) opened a new cotton bud and then asked me to open my mouth.

Say "AHH" loudly. You need to open your mouth large enough for them to swab the back of your tongue. It was quite deep back in there. It was uncomfortable but ended quickly so I didn't have the nauseous feeling.

I think and I must emphasis, I THINK that they use the same cotton bud and then stick into my nostril. 

What happened was, I was busy adjusting my mask because they will ask you to pull down your mask when doing the throat swab and then you've to pull your mask up to cover your mouth when doing the nostril swabs. Anyway, I didn't see it so I couldn't confirm, but I'm guessing they used the same one as I didn't hear anything like the opening of packaging.

Anyway, the nostril swab was extremely uncomfortable. They stick deep into your nostril (areas that you'll never access when you dig your nose) and then they turn the cotton butt and count to 5.

I can tell you, I almost teared when the cotton butt was stick in there. It's uncomfortable and it can trigger you to start tearing. But it's not painful, if you cna take injection, you can take the level of "pain" for this swab test.

The swab test only lasted less than 5 minutes and I was allowed to go. As I was leaving, I was given a goodie bag with 2 masks, a finger oximeter, 2 bottles of hand sanitisers.

I was feeling fine for the 10-15 minutes I was walking home. But I developed a slight running nose and headache after that. 

I cannot conclude if it's caused by the swab test or that I was tired after making a few food deliveries under the hot sun prior to taking the test. It was very hot that day. 

Anyway, it wasn't a big deal, just a slight headache and running nose that went away in an hour or so.

The next day, I was informed that I tested NEGATIVE!!

YEAY!!

I tried to get into the Treasure Zone today ...

 

I was our delivering food today when I was notified of a Treasure Zone starting in a location which I thought was pretty near.

I was given 9 minutes to get into the zone. So I decided that I should try, as I was feeling pretty fit and the weather is quite ok.

I only have my legs with me as a "mode of transport", no bicycle and no money or ezlink on me. So the only option is to walk. 

Actually the only option is to jog and breeze walk. If you walk like you're shopping, then don't even bother. 

I'm badly equipped for this journey because I'm wearing sandals and have the mask on (ok, everyone does). 

I'm not proud of this, but I've to jaywalk, break a few traffic rules (run across the road with less than 10 seconds left on the counter), took my mask off because I'm panting too much and jogged for a large part of the journey.

And still, the zone expired when I was just about 500-600 meters away from it! I was already at the block opposite the edge of the zone. WTF right?

Anyway, after that I made my way home. I've no interest to get into that zone if not for the treasure zone. 

While I was walking back I googled the distance between where I received the notification and the edge of the zone. It's 1.7 meters and google map quoted 22 minutes to get there by foot.

I don't think I'll ever try to get into treasure zones again unless it's somewhere nearer or more time is given... or perhaps it's that I'm not fit enough? But anyway, too tiring and too much rushing. 

I cannot imagine how many rules does one needs to break just to rush into the zones within the given timeframe, especially for those who are on the road. It's dangerous and calling for accidents to happen.

I'll be taking these Diet Enzyme tablets from Ishokudogen(iSDG) for 30 days!

 

Source: takaski.com

I've always have digestion problems. The longest I didn't go to the toilet (to poop) is 14 or 15 days! That is how bad it is. Being indigested is never fun, it's a lot of discomfort (bloating, fullness) and sometimes it comes with pain that made you just want to lay still. I've seen doctor a few times and they seems to give "temporary" solutions like pills to loosen the stools and such. The effect never really lasted.

Recently, my indigestion have became worst, from the normal once in 3-4 days to now almost only once a week. I've gotten back to doing the tummy exercises (Here), especially the leg lifts as an attempt to try to make things better, but it's not very effective.

One day, I was watching TV and came across Digestion Enzymes. According to the host, the enzymes are very helpful in detoxing, improving indigestion and increasing the metabolism rate. They're even helpful for better skin conditions and slowing down ageing!

I went online and did a quick search and realised that these enzyme tablets can be found on Shopee SG and they're selling like hotcakes. The reviews are generally positive (for this particular local Seller) and some even reported seeing some improvements hence they came back to buy a 2nd time.

I decided to get one to try for myself.

I got 2 of them actually - I really couldn't choose between them as the each got at least 1-2 effects I really want.

Detox Enzyme (White Packaging)

This is the description of the product:

"the Soukai Enzyme Supplement Premium is formulated with 232 types of vegetable enzymes! Apart of enzymes, it is also formulated with Lactobacillus Bifidus, which ensures that the intestine does not absorb any extra nutrients. Those who eat alot of food and yet do not put on weight, has more Lactobacillus Bifidus in their intestines than the average person. This basic type is also recommended for anyone who face constipation."

It's a lot of scientific terms which I don't understand so I asked the seller, who told me that this pills will:

1. Remove stool and eliminate toxin ✔

2. Promote digestion and keep intestinal health (for constipation problems)  ✔

3. Whiten skin and desalt spots ✔

4. Lose weight and shape body (improve fat burning rate) 

5. Relieve sore throat and keep the health of respiratory system 

6. Neutralize peptic acid

My eyes brightened at the 3rd effect! Oh wow! That'll be a HUGE bonus! 

Night Enzyme (Blue Packaging)

This is the description of the product:

"Night Diet Enzyme Supplement is for anyone who unconsciously overeat at night. We tend to overeat from time to time, especially as a reward to our tired bodies after a long day. However, this is hard work for the enzymes within our bodies, and the fat burning process is unable to perform at full capacity. The Night Diet Enzyme has four types of Amino Acid, which acts as support for the enzymes, and help encourage the metabolic process while we sleep. Since the standard is to take 2-4 diet enzyme supplement pills every day, you can take the Basic supplement in the morning, and the Night Diet supplement at night, which might lead to better results!"

The seller told me this pill will actually help improve sleep quality too. Which is something that would be a huge plus!! I've mentioned in a previous post that my sleep habit has been a mess after trying to deliver GrabFood in the wee hours for a month.

This is how the tablets look like for the Night enzymes. There are 120 of them in one packet. Instruction says take 2-4 tablets per night before sleep, so I'm going to take 2 per night.
 
I've yet to open the Detox one as it's to be taken in the day, so I'll probably start only tomorrow.

The tablet does have a slight smell but it's not your usual bitter, medicine kind of smell, it actually kind of reminds me of some Japanese sauce. I don't know why.

Anyway, in any case you don't like its taste (which I doubt so), the tablets are small enough, you can actually just swallow them without really having to taste them.

What I wish to Achieve

So now, I'm going to take these tablets for 30 days. Why 30 days when there are 120 tablets? Well, I'm sharing this with Mum. She is very excited about its effects too.

Anyway, what I wish to achieve by taking these tablets:

Main:

- Increase the number of times I poop in a week

- Eliminate the discomfort of indigestion 

- Improve sleep quality

Secondary:

- Reduce tummy

- Improve skin

So now, I'm going to well, disclose my weight and waist size once again... ... ... 

I'm 45.1kg. (Note there will be a discrepancy of 0.1-0.3kg) and my waist is 76cm. (Yes, I've gained back the fats I lost in The 3 months Tummy-Flattening Challenge!)

So let's hope by the end of the 30 days, there will be some positive changes.

Grab, can you stopped being so suspicious of everyone?

 I don't know how many people are gaming the system, I don't know how tsek ark (black heart) Grab wants to be... but please lah, just because someone waited 33 minutes at a restaurant doesn't mean they are purposely delaying time just to game the system to get the long waiting time compensation!

I've waited there for more than 40 minutes to be honest, I just didn't press that "I'm at restaurant" button the moment I got to the coffee shop zi char store. The merchant doesn't seem that busy ... so I don't see the need to press the button immediately... not until I saw 3-4 other riders (FP and Grabfood) waiting outside and a few people waiting for their dabaos. 

So I asked the staff at the merchant who quoted me 20-30 minutes. So I sat down on an empty table and waited. I guess it's a bad choice.

I was being chased from table to table twice while waiting for that order which pays only $4! And then finally, I got too paiseh, I walked outside the coffee shop and stand at the roadside.

By the 25th or 26th minutes mark, customer texted me and I told him that he needs to expect another 10-15 minutes wait. All these should all be in their record, IF they ever want to check.

I felt cheated and my time wasted on a $4 order, which I believed I would be compensated for waiting for more than 30 minutes. But nope ... so it's no wonder no riders want to take up orders from certain merchants at certain timing. And I finally figure out why some orders are left there to rot and turn cold because the rider take their own sweet time to get there. It's just not worth rushing.  

GrabFood, good luck with being niao (stingy) with compensations that you PROMISED. And also, good luck with building trust when you suspect everyone who tried to claim the compensations. 

Dragon Touch Vision 4 4K Action Camera

I recently bought a Dragon Touch Vision 4 action camera from Shopee SG for SG$65. This action camera cost only about  1/8 of the price of a GoPro HERO 8 but doesn't its perform only at 1/8 the quality too?

Let's find out.

Specifications

Dragon Touch Vision 4

Video Resolution: 4K 30FPS, EIS 4K 30FPS (3200*1800), 2.7K 30FPS, 1080P 60FPS, 1080P 30FPS,  720P 120FPS

Image Sensor: 16MP CMOS-Sensor

Image Resolution: 16M/12M/8M/5M

LCD: 2.0" LCD

Wifi OS: Andriod and IOS

Lens: 170° HD Wide-angle lens

Memory: Micro SD card up to 64GB (I've tried with a 128GB card and it worked)

Language: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese

Battery: 1050 mAh 

Waterproof: 98ft

Compatible with external mic

The Packaging and Accessories

There is nothing fanciful about the packaging actually, just a simple box with some specifications. Inside is also very simple, just a plastic mold for the camera and remote and a box with all the accessories.

Taken from Dragon Touch Manual PDF 

I'm actually quite impressed with what they offered here for the price. I mean that is A LOT of accessories and Dragon Touch provided a Youtube video in their manual in case you don't know how to use them... just like me...

By the way, they included a clip-on microphone in the box too. I don't know why they didn't have that in their PDF.

The Camera 

 

The camera is light when its without the battery. It almost feels like a toy but a well built one. The power button is right at the front, beside the lens with the shutter button at the top. One side of the camera sits 2 arrow buttons while the other sits a micro USB charging port (also use to sync with PC and if you use it as a Webcam),  a micro HDMI port and a micro SD card slot.

    

The MSDC mode allows the PC to read and write to the memory card on the camera. 

PC Cam modes allow the Vision 4 to be use as a webcam. I've tried it with Zoom, working fine but I didn't test the audio.

 
Charging Mode allows charging and usage at the same time. This will be good if you're outside and battery is dying halfway through.

  

Yes, shameless advertising for the micro SD card I'm selling on Shopee SG. 

All recordings are done on that card. 
You can click the Gif in the side bar if you're interested to check it out.

Although the specification on the box says that it can only allow up to 64GB, I actually used a 128GB micro SD card and it still works. All you have to do is just format the card on the camera via System Settings. Micro SD cards of at least Class 10, USH-I is recommended. 

Charging and Battery

I really like it that they have given 2 batteries with a 2 slots battery charger so that you do not have to wait for one battery to finish charging before charging the other one. 

Both the battery charger and camera charges with a microUSB (the "older" Android cable) and charges relatively fast. Both the charger and the camera have LED indication of the charging status, red means charging and blue means charging is completed (for the charger) while the camera will turn off the LED once charging is done.

The battery is a 3.7V 1050mAh rechargeable battery. I feel it's a little bulky for the capacity but at least it's quite light. Time taken for one full charge is about 1.5 hours.

I left the camera recording mostly in a stationary position and tested how long the battery last. I only moved the camera once a while to test the EIS stability.

With 4K 30FPS setting and the battery lasted 96 minutes on a single charge. 

And on EIS 2.7K 30FPS, it lasted 74 minutes. 

I filmed one of my delivery trips on EIS 4K, I left it on even when I'm not recording and it still have 1/3 battery bar left at the end of 1 hour. I only did 20-30 minutes of recording in total though.   

The camera gets noticeably hot when recording continuously for more than 45 minutes. The temperature can get as high as 48°C on the LCD screen, the other part of the casing gets up to 43°C.

Ease of Use

Well, I cannot say the Vision 4 is really that user friendly. I kinda hate its menu and the whole "operation process", whatever you call it! 

But before we get to that, you need to know the button system of the camera. 

To navigate the modes, you use the mode also the power button.

To navigate the options within the modes, you use the arrow buttons.

To Select or Enter, you use the Shutter button.

When you switch it on, the default mode is Video 4K 30FPS mode, EIS if you turned it on. To change the video setting, you need to navigate to the Setting mode. And to do that, you need to press the mode button (the power on button) till you reach the setting mode.

While I've not accidentally switched off the camera while changing modes, I don't really like the idea because the power/mode button is right at the front which means reaching it a little difficult. Or maybe it's just me, I find that position a little awkward to hold.

Also, the setting mode is right at the back (last "main" mode option in the menu), which means you've to go through all the other modes (Photo, Video Viewing and Photo Viewing) before arriving at it. It's kinda annoying.

    

And the worst is, the setting menu have Sub-menus and then you've to go through ALL of the sub-menus before arriving at the option to Exit the setting mode!! It's also the same for viewing videos and photos; you've to scroll to the end to get that option to go back to the Video mode!!! 

OMG!! Why can't they just simplify everything say with a "back" or "home" button? Also the arrow buttons ... can't they be better positioned? I can't really operate with one hand due to the button placements.

I think it might be better if its touchscreen, but then if it reacts this slow, I don't know if it really helps. 

Another downside is, you can't delete photos or videos with the camera itself, your only option to delete is to download the App (Live DV) on your phone and delete it from there. The App is available on both Google Play and App Store. You can also control the camera via the App, set the Video and Photo resolution...etc. However, note that you'll be on mobile data once connected to the Wifi of the camera.

Live DV

Edited 18 Sept 2021: You can delete videos and photos off the camera itself, but it's not straight forward. You've to hold the Arrow up button for 3 seconds and the option to delete will appear.

Video and Image Quality

I'm not a video person, which means I'm not very particular or sensitive about video quality unless its really not "viewable". My only comparison would be my iPhone 7 plus.

iPhone 7 Plus 4K 30FPS

Dragon Touch Vision 4 EIS 4K 30FPS

I did a short recording of 2 grouped order at about 19:30. So there is a combination of walking while holding the camera (not with handle) and also riding on bicycle (strapped to the handle, not using the mount). I'm not sure if its me, because that I suffer quite easily from stimulation motion sickness (so I don't really play First Person Shooting games esp on big screen), I got nauseous while editing the walking parts ... too much movements and too shaky. The cycling parts are much better for my eyes and stomach. 

Cycling

Walking 

(I choose the more stable part to show, hope it's ok for your eyes and stomach)

Both videos are render as 2160p 29.97FPS, as that is the highest resolution I could render. My apology if that's not what you're looking for. 

To me, the video quality isn't that bad but the iPhone 7 surely does better in terms of sharpness and stability. I feel the audio pickup of the Vision 4 is quite soft but still reasonable. But I'm starting to doubt how it would turn out if I'm recording on the go. 

Image taken with iPhone 7 plus

Image taken with Dragon Touch Vision 4  

I'm pretty disappointed with the photo quality. I'm not sure why the photo quality of the Vision 4 is so bad and everything seems out of focus. 

 

Conclusion

Pros		Cons
+ Light and portable		- Bad/Annoying menu system
+ Decent video quality		- EIS could be better
+ Lots of Accessories		- Photo quality is bad
+ Wifi functionality		- Cannot delete from machine itself
+ Can be use as dash cam and webcam		- Doesn't work very well in darker areas
+ Battery life is quite decent		- Gets hot pretty quickly

Although the Dragon Touch Vision 4 has it's flaws, I think its still quite decently as an action camera. The battery life is pretty decent and so is the video quality under the right conditions. I guess it's worth its price. But given a choice, I'd dump in a little more cash and switch to one with touchscreen and better menu system.

Rating:

3/5

Is Shopee Ads worth it?

 

I know I shouldn't be pouring more money into this "business" of mine, but well ... *sigh* I thought to give it a try. You know at the end of it, at least I tried.

I bought $20 worth of Ad Credits as Shopee suggest running Ads for 2 weeks to see any meaningful results.

So, how does Shopee Ads works? Is it worth it?

I'm going to share my experience and views about it.

 

Types of Shopee Ads

There are 3 types of Shopee Ads available - Shop Ads, Targeting Ads and Keyword Ads. I wouldn't touch on Shop Ads as it's irrelevant for my listing.

 

Keyword Ads

As the name suggest, Keyword Ads will boost your ranking in the search result listing with certain keywords.

Shopee give you 2 options when using this Advertising function:

1) You let Shopee auto-pick the keywords and set the bidding amount for you for you.

2) You choose the keywords you want to bid for from a list of given keywords.

You can toggle between these options anytime. And you can adjust your bid anytime, according to how you rank for each keyword and how relevant they are.

 

So, yes, you've to BID for the keywords. The more money you bid per click, the higher you'll rank. It's all about money.

So if I bid $0.20 for a keyword (say "microSD card") and someone else bid $0.22, he'll rank higher in the search result than me. So if enough people bid higher than you, you still might end up in the 2nd or 3rd page of the search results.

 

Targeting Ads

The same bidding system also applies for the Targeting Ads. But of course Targeting Ads works differently from Keyword Ads.

Targeting Ads will display at places visible to users, like 

1. Daily Discover on the homepage

2. Similar Products and You May Also Like on the product detail page

I've only gone into using this form of advertising on the 2nd half of the 2nd day and plan to stop it later when the Ad credits are running low to focus on the Keyword Ads.

 

Limiting Spendings and Time frame

The good thing about these Ads are that, you can choose how much you want to spend on a daily basis and how long your want the campaign to run. For me, I set the daily limit to only $2. So my listing will be put through the bidding system till my $2 runs out.

How fast it runs out depends on how much I bid for the keyword and how many people clicked on the listing. You'll only be charged when someone clicks on your listing.

So if someone search with a keyword that is worth $0.30 per click, and click on my listing in the search results then I'll be charge $0.30. This would then leave me with $2.00 - $0.30 = $1.70 on my daily limit.

I didn't set a time frame for my Ads as I only topup $20 Ad credits and so I just let the campaign run till the $20 get used up (Which I assume will be 10 days later). But if say you topped up $100 and only wish to run the Ads during a sales (say the 9.9 sales) you can set the time frame from 9 Sept to 10 Sept or even 9 Sept to 9 Sept and keep the rest of the credits for the next sales. Alternately, you can just pause the campaign.

Results of Using the Shopee Ads

I'll be sharing statistics of random days of running the Ads, and then at the end of the whole campaign, sum up and give my views about using Shopee Ads.

During the first few hours of the first day of starting the campaign, I've already seen some results. My listing took a great jump from page 14 to the 3rd page for a a particular keyword and 1st page for some others! Hence the high impressions rate (289)! 

 

Number of clicks have also gone from 0 to 4!

Statistics by end of Day 1.

Sadly, none of the clicks/visitors converted to sales. But this is only the first day, still too early to tell.

Targeting Ads

There are not much results from Targeting Ads for me. There are some impressions but 0 clicks for like a week.

Keyword Ads 

As for Keyword Ads, they do generate a lot of impression, averaging about 200 per day. As for clicks, it varies daily, but at least 1-2 clicks a day.

None of them converted though.

By the time of writing this (23rd September), I'm already more than halfway through my Ad Credits (~$9.30 left). I've generated quite a lot of impressions but clicks were little. Click through rate (CTR) is just about 1-2% daily. There is 0 conversion, followers or likes to date.

Also, statistics will likely get inaccurate from here as the kick-off for 10.10 sales has started and sellers are pumping in money for Ads now. I've fallen to 2nd or 3rd page for some keywords already.

Conclusion

I think Shopee Ads are good for generating traffic but not really sales. But it could be that this market that I'm selling in is way too competitive. Perhaps people still prefers the big brands that comes with years or even lifetime warranty. I don't know, but there are just so many factors that could contribute to  conversions. 

But anyway, if you ask me if I would continue my Shopee Ads? Nope.