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Vivo V7+ benchmarks, camera, battery performance

Gadgets

Shaun

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Friday, April 6, 2018

Vivo V7+ benchmarks, camera, battery performance

Following my earlier review part on the Vivo V7+ exterior, build and software. This section carries on into other aspects of the phone. Lets take alook at the Vivo V7+ benchmarks, camera, battery performance and the eventual review conclusion.

Performance Tests

The V7+ hardware specifications are not quite something to brag about. The onboard entry-level CPU and 4GB RAM is far from high end specs offered on the market. This is also considering Qualcomm 600 to 800 Series CPUs and 6 to 8GB of RAM on phones being mainstream. On hindsight, 4GB of RAM is comparable to flagship models phones 2 years ago.

However, those phones can easily cost twice as much. Despite the V7+ specification shortcomings, surprisingly, the phone does an excellent job in handling any productivity task you throw at it, such as editing documents, emailing and messaging. Also, the Funtouch OS UI does a good job in minimizing taxing the hardware through running only the apps in-use.

When translating to real-world use, the phone is well optimized from a software perspective which makes use of available limited resources. Notably, despite its lower hardware specification, the phone performs well in my gaming performance tests. The V7+ plays mainstream games well without any hiccups.

The V7+ plays games, but it should be not what you get it for.

Also, 3D games such as Asphalt and Mobile legends run well without any noticeable lag or drop in frames. 2D games such as Hearthstone perform well too. However, if you are a serious gamer, games should be not what you get the V7+ for. This is mainly let down by the sub-HD screen resolution.

When translating to real-world use, the phone is well optimized from a software perspective which makes use of available limited resources.

Benchmarks

Physical benchmarks is one area where you can really see the shortcomings of a slower entry-level processor. The phone managed an AnTuTu Benchmark score of 75213. This benchmark tests for acceleration that takes advantage of heterogeneous hardware on the Android platform. The score places the phone in the lower 22% percentile of benchmarks.

AnTuTu Benchmark Scores

Geek Bench Single and Multi core scores

3D Mark Sling shot on OpenGL and Vulkan

The V7+ achieved a less-than average single core score. It scored 763 in the single-core Geek Bench. This score is similar to the Samsung Galaxy S4. However, it does score well in the multi-core score, achieving 3897- comparable to the Google Pixel XL, Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 around the sub 4000 score. But is about 25% lower than a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (with a score of 5228). On data-parallel computation, the phone benched 2958 in the Geek Bench RenderScript score, comparable to a Samsung Galaxy S7.

3D performance is below average with a 3D Mark Ice storm extreme score of 7879 and a Sling Shot Extreme score of 432 on OpenGL and 369 on Vulkan. Additionally, API Overhead test scored 47666 on OpenGL, and 202444 on Vulkan (4 times higher). Notably, throughout the benchmarks, the phone hovered around the 34-35°C with a useable FPS range of 28 to 103.

Excellent Heat Management and Temperatures

Commendably, heat was not an issue on the phone. The Snapdragon 450 does a good job in running well without getting too hot. In my stresses tests, the phone never got hotter beyond body temperature, hovering under the 37°C mark. Noticeably the CPU does not exceed over 80% load in my tests, it could be due to a conservative down clocking to keep the CPU running at efficiency operating point.

Good Camera Performance

Camera performance is good for the segment. The V7+ comes touts a conventional dual camera setup, with a single lens on each face. However, the unique selling proposition of the V7+ is its humongous “selfie-shooter” secondary front-facing 24 Megapixel (f/2.0, 23.8MP 5632×4224) camera.

The front camera dwarfs its rear facing 16MP (f/2.2, 15.9MP 4608×3456, f/2.0, 1/3″, 1.0 µm) rear primary camera. The phone is capable of recording 1080p video at 30fps.

The Rear 16MP camera offers phase detection autofocus and LED flash.

Additionally, the camera software comes with your usual bells and whistles such as photo geo-tagging, touch focus, panoramas, face detection and HDR. The camera capture interface is incredibly easy to use. It is lag-free, intuitive and easy to use out of the box. If you are coming from Apple’s books, you won’t feel lost.

V7+ Photo Test Shots

In my camera test, the colour accuracy of outdoor photos are visually good and accurate. The default setting offers more of a slightly muted cold tone without appearing too rich or overly saturated.

The skies in day outdoor shots are not over-washed, especially in sunlight. The camera manages adequate contrast to capture details in the skies and clouds without underexposing dark parts of the foreground even without HDR mode activated. With HDR on, photos take twice as long to capture. Resulting pictures have richer darks and darker whites such as the ripples as seen on the water reflections.

Outdoor night shots are reasonably fair, but not great. There is noticeably more noise as well as a lower dynamic range for night shots. There are also noticeable higher chances of blurring. This is given a higher ISO, longer shutter speed as well as limitations of a small sensor able to take in so much light at once in low-light conditions.

For indoor shots, the camera does a good job in filtering indoor lighting, such as fluorescent tints and automatically adjusts the colour modes correctly. There are adequate contrast as well as colour accuracy which makes this shooter very suitable for indoor use.

Outdoor macro shot

Indoor photos

Lit dim indoor shots

The camera handles macro shots well. Focus is achieved via tap-to-focus, though there is very limited depth of feel with a single lens. In selfie mode using the front 24MP camera, it enables a humorous “beauty mode“, or what I call the “K-mode” which automatically cleans up any blemishes on your subject’s face.

Reasonable details in outdoor shots

Over-saturation at night

Less detail at night

Excellent Security and unlocking options

The phone offers 4 modes of unlocking. Pin and Pattern unlock modes are your basic offerings with base Android phones. In addition, there are Fingerprint and Face unlock modes. The face unlock utilizes the phone’s front camera. You manage all your security settings, including deletion of fingerprint and facial recognition data all in the phone’s unified settings page.

The V7+ security unlock options

The Rear Fingerprint sensor

Front camera for face unlock

A fingerprint sensor sits centered at the back of the phone by the phone’s rear logo. With the phone held in-hand. You can quickly unlock your phone from a cold standby (i.e. with the screen off) with a fingerprint swipe. Unlocking through fingerprint brings you right into your home screen or your last activity. Registering your fingerprint is a one-time setup and is rather painless. Also, you can also register more than one finger print if the phone is to be used between multiple users.

Lighting fast fingerprint unlock

The fingerprint sensor is one of my favorite methods of locking. Where you can simply take your phone one-handed out of your pocket, swipe the back and it will be ready for use as you bring your phone up. It can be pretty habitual after awhile and minimize the time needed to pause to enter an unlock code, etc.

In addition, for face recognition, registration of your face is rather quick and painless too. It took less than a minute to setup. The front large camera does a good job in capturing your face in a variety of light conditions. Just make sure that lighting is adequate for the best facial registration.

Upon registration, the facial recognition is rather quick too. Double tapping the phone screen wakes it up, presenting an unlock screen. Staring into the front of the phone for 2 seconds will instantly unlock phone without any input. Similarly, the unlock brings you pass your unlock screen into your home screen/last used activity.

Failed facial recognition screen prompt.

The face unlock is smart enough to fail unlocks from photos graphs and photos from another screen. If face unlock fail, you will be presented with alternative unlock methods, such pattern, pin or fingerprint.

Excellent Battery Life

One of the main selling points I find of the V7+ will have to be its fantastic battery life. Sealed inside the phone is a sizable non-removable Li-Ion battery sitting at 3225mAh. I managed to get easily 2 full days of use of daily moderate use on the phone. Test case mirrors a typical work day using the phone for productivity and entertainment on my work commutes.

Usage includes continuous 4G standby with mixed Wi-Fi use, 1-2 hour of internet browsing and social media and 2-3 hours of music daily. Apps used includes communication, such as about 30 minute of phone calls a day, WhatsApp and social media.

Unexpectedly useful Vivo Wisdom Engine

One of the largely unnoticed software innovations by Vivo is what they call the Wisdom engine. It sounded really gimmicky as first. Almost like their quirky dual split-screen feature (similar to Samsung’s Multi Window) which never quite worked for me due to a large number of unsupported apps incompatible with the dual screen feature.

In a nutshell, the Wisdom engines is a passive background monitor app running on Vivo’s FunTouch OS. It notifies you on any abnormality’s your phone encounters out of the ordinary, such background apps with high battery usage to prolong battery life.

Wisdom Engine Notifications

Geekbench Battery score

Quirky dual split-screen mode

And I say it does a pretty good job at it. Surprisingly, with enough effort, you could push the V7+ battery to last 3 days of regular use. I ended up having to charge at the end of the third day before the battery became totally depleted. Noteworthily, in the pursuit of feature innovation, most phone manufactures these days often cramp in more power-hungry features at the expense of battery life.

Battery Benchmarks

On continuous usage drain tests with the screen on at 50% brightness, the phone managed a respectable 9 hours and 42 minutes of battery life before being depleted. Despite not supporting wireless charging, the phone supports fast charging via a single Micro-USB port. It takes about 3 hours to fully charge from 5% up to 100%.

Moreover, the V7+ sub-3000 mAh battery capacity is comparable to that of the current Samsung Note 8. However, the V7+ runs circles around the Note 8 in the battery department, up to 2 times at least. This impressive battery score puts it top in its class, and just behind the sub-4000mAh heavy-weights, such as the Redmi Note 4 and Oppo F3 Plus.

Furthermore, the phone also spots an impressive Geekbench Battery performance score of 3807. The Vivo V7+ is a good example where the benefits of a lower sub-HD screen, coupled with a low powered CPU where you can truly see the benefits of a lower specification for a less power-hungry device. For the average consumer, it will fit in nicely for you if you demand a simple no-frills phone which can easily last you over a day in battery life with more to spare.

Last impressions and Conclusion

All in all, though the V7+ might not spot the latest specifications and probably not the poster boy of you would call “industry-leading“. However, the V7+ does punches well over its weight in terms of the features to offer for its price and market segment. This is especially so if you manage your expectations and just need a phone which is very usable and works well, minus all the bells, whistles and price of current flagships.

The V7+ does punches well over its weight in terms of the features to offer.

Perks such as the presence of a fast extinct 3.5mm headphone jack is a plus point, together with removable storage and a decent punchy CPU providing adequate gaming performance puts the V7+ in a very neat package which makes up for its shortcomings. For example, while the phone could do better with a full HD screen, the lowered power consumption in return, gave it excellent class-leading battery life I simple adore.

The entry to mid-range phone market is one often under looked. In comparison, it is worth noting in the light of the iPhone X, Galaxy S9 and Huawei P20 taking battle on the high-end market, these current flagships can easily costs 3 times more than the V7+ $469 SGD asking retail price (with one year local warranty). You might not be getting as much more phone for your dollar. The Vivo V7+ stands out as one of the few gems in this market segment. Value for money you might say, without the cost.

Hence, if you are in the market for an entry to mid-range phone such as Huawei P10 Lite, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 or OnePlus 3. The V7+ is definitely a good refreshing contender to consider in the lineup.

It might actually be a phone I would buy.

Good- 72%

Pros:

Excellent battery life
Runs very cool at load
Fast fingerprint and face unlock
Capable front and rear camera
Well priced

Cons

Sub-HD screen
Minimal performance headroom
Sketchy Bluetooth performance
No NFC
No wireless charging

Vivo V7+ phone review

Gadgets

Shaun

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Thursday, April 5, 2018

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The V7+ is Vivo’s flagship smartphone for their entry into the Singapore Market early this year. Released globally in September 2017, it sits as a mid to high-end phone set to compete in the already crowded market segment. I briefly introduced the phone previously last month where Vivo Singapore first announced the phone. Today. let’s check out the phone in the flesh in my extensive Vivo V7+ phone review. Also, I shall be looking into form, hardware and practicality of Vivo’s newest flagship phone.

New kid on the block

Vivo might not be a brand first to mind when talking about Chinese phones. In the likes of incumbents such as Huawei, Xiaomi or even OnePlus. Vivo is a budding new brand in Singapore looking to make a name for themselves in the already crowded Smartphone market. You might recognize them as a major official sponsor for the FIFA 2018 and 2022 World Cup too. Furthermore, Vivo is part of the BBK Electronics portfolio with subsidiary brand to Oppo under their belt too.

However, Vivo in particular is no stranger to the consumer smartphone market. The brand has a big presence in China. Moreover, it is one which Vivo touts for providing consumer smart phones equipped with cutting-edge technology at very affordable prices.

Since their branding founding in 2009, Vivo has since expanded their presence in 20 markets globally. This includes their main markets China, Hong Kong, India as well as Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia. This year, Vivo is looking to expand their presence in Singapore with the Vivo V7+ and Y65 phones. The V7+, code named “Vivo 1716” is also known as Vivo Y79 for the China market.

Vivo touts for providing consumer smart phones equipped with cutting-edge technology at very affordable prices.

Under the hood and Box

Under the hood is a Qualcomm SDM450 Snapdragon 450. It is a 64-bit Octa-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU coupled with 4 GB of RAM and mated to an Adreno 506 GPU. While the specifications of V7+ is not exactly high-end, it is healthy and adequate for the usage patterns for majority of users out there. Moreover, it offers benefits of battery life longevity which I shall covered in the battery performance part of the review.

Phone box packaging

First level packaging

First boot

The packaging box is minimalistic in design too. Out of the box itself is the V7+ unit with an Apple-ish box held together in a cardboard holder. You get an assortment of manuals, guarantee cards, SIM-ejector pin as well as a Gel case slotted in the cardboard backing.

Additionally, you get a regular 5 volt 2.4 Amp charger, a Micro-USB fast charge cable. In my package, there is a soft gel case included with the phone. A standard V7+ plastic screen protector is pre-applied on the phone out of the box. This screen protector is not tempered glass and could scratch easily with daily use.

Exterior and Good Build

The V7+ form factor and design is typical of touch screen candy bar phones in the market. Albeit, bearing some resemblance to the iPhone 8 or the OnePlus 5. The phone is available in colours, champagne gold, matte black and infinite red.

Visually, the phone is sleek in black. I found the Matte Black the nicer of the colours available. It reflects a sense of sophistication and luxury associated with the Matte Black look. The design of the phone is clean and sleek.

Additionally, the phone is cladded in aluminum and plastic. It is solid and gives the phone a premium feel. There are noticeable plastic bands on both the top and bottom of the phone. These plastic bands are areas which houses the top sensors as well as the mobile and Wi-fi antennas.

Aluminum and plastic body in a tight neat package.

Moreover, the V7+ controls too are rather intuitively laid out. Physically, the bottom of the phone houses a microphone, micro-USB charging port which supports fast charging, a mono speaker, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack (thankfully).

Bands around the phone

Bottom ports

FM radio functionality

The headphone jack, when plugged in with your headphones, uses the wire body as an antenna for the in-built hardware FM radio. Hardware FM radios are fast becoming extinct in most modern phones these days. It is a throwback to a feature fast replaced with digital radio, and internet streams. Glad to see the option still available.

the phone is cladded in aluminum and plastic. It is solid and gives the phone a premium feel.

Less than exciting Screen

Flaunting the front of the phone is Multi-touch IPS LCD capacitive touch screen. It sits under a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 4. The 6 inch screen itself has a 18:9 aspect ratio. Hence its form factor is tad longer than your typical 16:10 screen. However, it does not feel large when held with one hand.

The phone could catch up with a full HD screen.

Also, this screen ratio allowed Vivo to cramp in more screen without making the device width wider. This is reminiscent to what we first saw in the Samsung Galaxy series, where the form factor became mainstream.

The slender width makes a good fit in-hand.

The phone feels lightweight and balanced in-hand for its size. The exterior dimension sits in at 155.9 x 75.8 x 7.7mm and weighs under 160 grams. This form factor yields a ~78.4% screen-to-body ratio. One-handed operation and typing on the phone is comfortable with two hands even on the stock keyboard.

Default keyboard is well spaced for it’s screen size.

Strangely, in the age of High definition (HD) and even quad HD screens in flagships, I found it intriguing that Vivo went for a sub-HD screen. The resolution sits in at 720 x 1440 pixels offering 16 million colors. The pixel density correspondingly sits at 269 ppi. This isn’t what you call “Retina range“. For an IPS panel, the phone has impressively deep black levels. Also, the screen is tad more on the blue side, though you can easily switch to a warmer colour via software.

The sub-HD screen is more than adequate for small devices such as phones. Though you will experience some quirks such as HD video and images no scaling up and not appearing as sharp. You will also need to scroll more when browsing. But the visual difference between a retina-like display and this sub-HD screen for its size is minimal.

Intuitive Exterior Buttons

There are no buttons on the left side of the phone with only a small pin-hole and sim-slot. The right side is dominated by three buttons. These are the volume up and down buttons as well as the single power button. The power button is located below the other two, towards nearer midway of the phone.

In real-world use, I found having all the buttons on one side of the phone intuitive and removes button guesswork. Particularly on which side the power button is located. This is particularly useful when you phone is in your pocket.

Good Connectivity and Expansion

For mobile connectivity, the phone supports dual-sim standby on GSM/HSPA/LTE via dual Nano-SIM slots. Dual-sims are the norm for Chinese phones. The V7+ flaunts its oriental background with similar offerings. Ejecting the hybrid sim-tray at the top left of the phone reveals a rather lengthy card tray.

The tray has space for a single Micro-SD card too in addition to the two said nano-SIM slots. This allows you to accommodate up to an microSD, expandable up to 256GB to complement the phone’s 64 GB Internal in-built storage.

The V7+ Sim tray on the left of the device

Additionally on the wireless front, you get the usual bells and whistles such as Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (including hotspot functions), and Bluetooth 4.2. Wireless performance is solid and I am pleased to report no issues on daily use. I however, had some issues with Bluetooth file transfer. Connectivity at times was sketchy, with Bluetooth dropping between file transfers. Moreover, there is no NFC support, as well as wireless charging.

Bluetooth sending quirks

Default Call screen

Additional device info

Call quality of the phone is good. There were no crackles, pops or distortion to voice. The phone also provided good feedback on voice calls as well on speakerphone calls.

Software and Speedy UI

However, despite its minimalist spec, the phone is quite a speedster for productivity. The Funtouch OS is Vivo’s proprietary skinned UI running on top of Android 7.1.2 (Nougat). Menus are zippy and responsive, especially to quick swipes.

Moreover, the home screen is set up with a grid like series of apps, largely similar to iOS. In my usability tests. I found the menus really optimized with frame rates consistently above the 30 fps range, at times hitting 60 fps. Providing for a butter-smooth UI experience.

Vivo’s FunTouch OS

FunTouch OS Homescreen

Home screen Grid Layout

Rearranging the Home screen icons is similar to how you do so in iOS too. Holding the home button will bring the home screen into an jigging icon “edit” mode. Here you can move apps icons between screens, folders, uninstall or delete them.

You however, cannot remove system installed apps including Vivo apps from here. With the exception of a few Vivo apps such as the V-appstore and V-cloud service, I am glad to report that there are not many bloatware preinstalled on the phone.

Pre-installed apps

Rearranging icons

Limited Web browsing visibility

The menus are fast and speedy. Unlike iOS, you can rearrange icons to any position on the grid. I would however prefer stock Android experience. Undoubtedly, the UI totally screams Apple iOS, which you can tell where Vivo got their design cues from. Despite this, the UI is fast and responsive across home screens.

On use on apps such as web browsing. Page loading speeds are fine and the Chrome browser performs well and able to provide a speedy browsing experience with no rendering jitters. Web browsing view port visibility is limited and let down at times by the V7+ small sub-HD screen. Picture don’t appear as sharp and crisp as say rendered on a HD or UHD screen, such as the Oneplus 5 or Galaxy S9. This limits what you are able to see at a go on a page.

In the next part of the review I shall touch on the phone benchmarks, camera and battery performance, as well as the conclusion to my review.

Mobile One My M1 App bug causes excessive background data use

Blog

Shaun

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Monday, April 2, 2018

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If only this was an April fool’s joke. It looks like the Mobile One My M1 App bug causes excessive background data use. Today, I received an SMS from my telco Mobile One (M1) today that I had exceeded 100% of my mobile data allowance use.

This was rather odd as I am a rather light data user. A typical month for me see myself using an excess of 1GB of mobile data to spare. There is no reason for such excessive data use so quickly.

Excessive background data consumption

Henceforth, a quick check on my data use on my phone pointed to a shocking revelation. M1’s own “My M1” app was the top data consumer on my phone. Shockingly, it had hungrily consumed by itself over 1 gigabyte of mobile data overnight.

It will also continue to sap data during daytime standby in the background. If gone unnoticed, it could potentially go on consuming all your data until you start receiving “out of data” SMS prompters. Then it might be too late.

This was puzzling as the App is not a data-hungry app to begin with. It is used mainly to check on account details, talk time, data and SMS quotas. A quick call to M1 mobile customer helpline to disable my mobile data brought me to learn that this was a known bug with the App.

The main intent of my call too was to cut off my mobile data as soon as possible. So I do not incur any additional exorbitant data charges. This is also given the chance that the telco possibly would not honor the error or reimburse customers.

Update to the latest App

After talking to the customer service representative on the phone, the only recommended solution now from M1 is to update the app. Affected versions includes all known versions of the M1 My M1 App before the current 5.13.0 Version. This is known to affect Android versions. However, I have yet to get confirmation whether iOS is affected too. This latest 5.13.0 Version was just released today on April 2nd 2018 as I last checked on the App store.

M1 as of this evening too, has just similarly sent out notification prompters to all app users telling them to update. There is however, been no mention of the data-hungry bug to date.

M1 charges up to $10.70 extra per 1GB block of excess data on my post-paid plan. So I am hoping this was an honest mistake and not one to deliberately blow off all their customers data quotas. Lets just assume it won’t be of the latter. Moreover, I am hoping that M1 will be able to honor the issue and inconveniences you are giving to customers. Also considering that I will have no data left for the rest of the month.

No official statement yet

To date there is no official statement of how M1 is going to compensate customers for the My M1 App bug. I shall update when I get more details.

Update 6th April

After 5 working days, M1 still has no updates or acknowledgement of the issue. The App store for the My M1 app are humorously full of angry reviews of customers complaining about the issue. Some customers reportedly claiming the App using up as much as 2GB of data over a day on their phones. M1 replies to the review comments had been the least unhelpful and non-actionable. M1 is definitely not handling the situation well.

Following after another call to M1 customer service helpline, they indicated too, there is nothing much they can do now. It is recommended to let your data use overrun for this month.

Thereafter, you can refute the additional data charges with your bill by calling M1 support again the following month. This is where the extra charges should be waived on your following billing cycle.

CUBE & My Urban Backyard Exhibition

Events

Shaun

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Saturday, March 31, 2018

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CUBE and My Urban Backyard Exhibition is a small Urban and Built Environment showcase organized by the URA as part of the Challenge for the Urban and Built Environment (CUBE). Held at the City Galley URA building. The exhibition aims to showcase built environment ideas portrayed through school projects. The event is jointly produced during the CUBE workshop for pre-university students. Participants includes Singapore Junior Colleges and Polytechnics.

Moreover, the exhibition is situated at the Level 1 open atrium of the URA Centre. The exhibition building is geographically located right beside maxwell food center. Also, the venue is within a 10 minute walking distance from Tanjong Pagar MRT station. There is parking available at the URA building.

Simply put, the My Urban Backyard exhibition is a platform for various schools, ranging from the primary to pre-university level, to present their visions for urban planning. The brainchild of the event were ideas from the 16 schools, as showcased in the exhibition. It runs for the month of April. from 23 March till 27 April 2018.

School Exhibits

Furthermore, works here on display see contributions of design tasks submitted from various post-secondary education institutions from Singapore. In addition, the showcase comprise of mostly printed works and drawn concepts, as well as a combination of print and physical models. The printed materials are displayed on vertical display stands. They are neatly lined all along the lower atrium of the building first floor.

The displays are typical of that of your high school science fair displays. Here, models made out recycled materials all crudely and rudimentary put together. Also, physical displays such as paper and cardboard models have their own space in front of the stands. These showcases studies and research on design and built concepts form around the world. Moreover, this includes those by the Netherlands and Switzerland. just to name afew.

The models are nice simple and creative. Some of the exhibits are pretty brilliant. One such example is a tasks to redesign the Mei Chin neighborhood in Queenstown. Another such notable project is Yishun Junior College Warung project. It aims to preserve the Kampung Spirit through an Eco food hub at the Commonwealth Queenstown area.

Notably, this was conceptualised through a modern “super tree” like formation of buildings. Additionally, there was even a rather adorable display of the Jalan Besar area by the fast-extinct bamboo clothes drying poles we know of in older HDB estates.

Works around the world

Smaller wall mounted exhibits

Models on displays

Built-up model of Singapore

Furthermore, a display highlight is a large cardboard scale model of all the buildings in Singapore. It fronts the display as grand center piece. The large exhibition model sits center stage, being laid out in it’s very own sector. It is located similarly in first floor open lobby atrium of the URA building. It is presumably those managed by the URA. The modules includes all residential buildings as well as commercial buildings in the central business district.

Singapore map main piece

Details to individual blocks

Works by various JCs

Also, the buildings in the model are represented using a combination of cardboard and wooden blocks. 3D building models build using cardboard and held up using a combination of of tape and blue tack adhesives. Also, small green wall pins used to demarcate trees. Also, shown on the model too are new developments. Areas of interest includes the soon-to-be developed Punggol North digital hub village as well as the new Tuas port extension.

Moreover, the model is an accurate scale representation of the Singapore built up areas. The density of the certain areas such as the central business district and mature housing board estates like those in Ang Mo Kio, Toh Payoh and Punggol. Moreover, it also paints how densely populated Singapore actually is.

Notably, only sectors like the central water catchment area and military training areas in Jurong West are clear and devoid of high rise building developments. Moreover, restricted areas such as government buildings, army and air force bases are not shown.

A good place to chill with ideas

All in all, you are good at the my urban backyard for about 30 minutes. There isn’t too many displays to bore you with content. The exhibition is highly accessible and all conveniently laid out on the open lobby atrium of the URA building. It is a good break from the buzz of the central business district to see the student works on display at both exhibitions. Also, the exhibition is also open on weekends with free admission.

CUBE & My Urban Backyard Exhibition

Grab Uber takeover, the Rise of monopolistic private-hire

Articles

Shaun

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Tuesday, March 27, 2018

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Grab Uber takeover, the Rise of monopolistic private-hire

The fallout of the recent Uber acquisition by Grab had been hitting the local headlines daily. The deal was seen pretty much of a takeover than a blatant acquisition. Thereafter, Grab swiftly spared no expense in promptly shutting down their bitter rival. This includes shuttering Uber offices, leaving staff on leave and taking over all App-booking in the region.

Grab recently announced taking over Uber operations in the entire South East Asia

Note worthily, the news had definitely caught the attention of government watchdogs. The Competition Commission of Singapore indicated their intentions to intervene on the deal given the uncompetitive nature of the acquisition. However, that regulatory intent was over-shadowed by the acquisition deal, which was completed in the blink of an eye before anyone could react. Henceforth, the news came very much of a shock surprise to many, including regulators. This left both drivers and commuters including myself wondering what to do from here.

So how did it all happen and what is it from here with an incumbent here in Singapore? Let’s examine the areas of concern.

A ride-share history back in time

Before we touch on the specifics, lets that a look back at how ride-sharing came about in Singapore. I am not much a stranger to the Private-car hire since. Looking back, the foray started with Grab Taxi almost 5 years ago. Grab was previously also known as MyTeski around Oct 2013. There were no private-hire cars then and Taxis then were the Kings of the road. They were ruled by the three major companies (Comfort/Citycab, Prime and SMRT taxis).

Moreover, Grab Taxi started out as a more efficient and cheaper alternative to notorious Taxi call booking centers to call cabs from remote areas from Singapore. Also, taxi drivers I spoke to then loved the Grab Taxi app. It empowers and allowed them to greatly minimize their vacant ride time. Things were good for cabbies, until Uber came along.

The rise of Uber and Grab

Uber came into Singapore in Feb 2013 as a limo service, where their mainstay UberX private-car hire first started operating in 2014. However, it is not until Aug 2015 where Grab Car (now harmonized under the “Grab” name) made its foray into our shores and the region. I am glad to be one of the first adopters of Uber and Grab till today to see the transformations.

It was then too, where Lion city car rentals (LCR), an Uber-owned company was setup for drivers looking to affordably obtain a car. They offered car rentals in address to exorbitant Singapore car prices where the competition with Grab truly started to heat up.

The early transport civil war

Henceforth, both Uber and Grab rapidly captured the market. The rest was history as we know it. Taxi rides and Taxi numbers on the roads plummeted. In 2017, there were two private-hire cars to every single Taxi on the road. Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices shot up with the influx of new private-cars purchased to meet the demand.

In retaliation, Taxi drivers painted an anti-competitive sentiment to both Uber and Grab by undercutting prices. This was fueled by unsustainable private-hire pricing. Moreover, this ate into the Taxi-drivers livelihood who saw their monthly earning fall as much as 30%.

There were also brief moments then where Taxi drivers started finding fault with Uber/Grab drivers. Cabbies once accused private-hire companies of insurance fraud. Comfort also once calling on cabbies to report on errant Private-hire drivers who pick up passengers from taxi stands. Such wars were not healthy and were promptly condemned by the public amidst much publicity. Taxi drivers who could not beat the competition, ended up joining the private-hire gang instead, furthering the Taxi fallout.

Henceforth, this resulted in 2016-2017 being one of the worst years in the Singapore Taxi industry. It had a record number of cars unrented/on-idle with corresponding tumbling of Taxi company share prices.

Transformation of the Taxi industry

But unlike protectionistic measures in Japan and Europe, the Singapore government was thankfully open to let the market run its course. This also supported the nationalistic ideology of a car-lite society. Moreover, it was this too, with Uber and Grab where we started to see dramatic improvements in the Singapore Taxi industry.

These improvements ranged from service and efficiency improvements, to better driver-altitudes. For example, Taxi drivers are less picky now. Furthermore, Taxi call centers started creating more user-friendly Uber-like taxi booking apps to rapidly link drivers and riders. These were all in the benefit of the consumer. It won’t be possible if private-hire car companies didn’t give Taxis a much-needed wake-up call.

Uber’s Puzzling exit strategy

Uber’s exit was definitely uncalled and unplanned for. It came much of a shock to many. The announcement was a smack in the face for new initiatives such as Fastlane and Driver training academy in Malaysia. It also put Comfort’s newly launched Uberflash in the lurch following Comfort’s partial acquisition of Uber just last January 2018.

Comfort announcing in January 18, their now defunct Uberflash service, pending integration with Grab

Uber is not exactly not doing well in Singapore or the region. Uber had a strong customer base, local and foreign. They also have a large pool of high-quality drivers. This makes the Grab takeover very much more puzzling.

Moreover, even the entry of small operators like car-pooling operator Ryde will have insignificant impact on Grab potentially monopolistic position on setting prices. Furthermore, there is no stopping Grab from easily taking over small competition to maintain their dominant market position.

Feeding the Unicorns

Ride discounts and coupons are all the talk on Uber and Grab. Despite consumers cheering on ride discounts, it does not take an expert to know that undercutting the market is a completely unsustainable business model. Both Grab and Uber as Unicorn companies burn through cash in the battle for the private-hire ride market share.

Where does all these money come from? Notably, from Venture capital and angel investors. Grab had received funding from Temasek’s Vertex Venture Holdings, as well as an additional S$2.7b investments on July 2017 from Didi Chuxing and SoftBank. This possibly could had given Grab the needed cash flow to put forward an offer even Uber could not resist.

Good for business, bad for consumers

Going on that, no sane investor will pour in money not expecting returns. One of the most widely-known market strategies of private-car hire companies is to undercut the competition for market share to embed themselves well into society as a need to achieve indispensable normalcy. This shall be followed by strategies to jack up future prices for revenue maximization. Hence, that is where the profits will start coming in.

Several big-stakes key investors in the private-hire market has plenty to benefit too from the acquisition. This includes the Hyundai Motor Company and Emtek group looking to tap on the fast growing South East Asian market. Moreover, there is also Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, who own stakes in both Grab and Uber through Comfort-owned Uber and Vertex Venture Holdings with Grab respectively. Japan’s Softbank too, own stakes in both companies.

it is a no brainer in a monopoly where a single operator will ultimately control the prices of a market.

Prices may inevitably rise

Moreover, it is a no brainer in a monopoly where a single operator will ultimately control the prices of a market. Hence fares will ultimately increase over time to a new equilibrium without Uber. While Uber has Lyft as a competitor in the US, for Singapore and South East Asia at least, it is the battle between Grab, Go-Jek and Uber. Uber’s presence has always kept Grab on their heels in Singapore at least.

This, through natural market forces kept prices manageably low. The competition was often fought through aggressive driver recruitment, incentives and rider coupon deals. Additionally, it is not uncommon to receive Uber discount coupons, with Grab catching-up with a similar undercutting offers of their own some hours later. Humorously, this move often labels Grab as the “Uber copycat”.

Consumers may end up having to pay more for rides with a single player

Since following the takeover announcement, and to much dismay, Grab fares at times had been consistently higher (up to 2 times more) than Uber fares. It could be a one-off coincidence, but it does leave a sour taste in your mouth knowing that come April 8th, there won’t be even much of a choice for commuters.

Notably, when Didi took over Uber operations in China on 2016, driver promotions and incentives corresponding fell with the lack of competition.

Drivers could earn more, but at expense of Driver welfare

The acquisition could be a welcome to Private-hire drivers, whose earnings coffers had been losing steam from the Uber-Grab competition. Henceforth, driver earnings could go up with the increased fares. Additionally, traditional Taxi companies have plenty to cheer too. With increased Grab fares, Taxis fares are also expected to match those by Grab as an oligopoly.

However, Grab ultimately controls how it pays its drivers. Hence, it can’t be assumed that higher fares directly co-relate to higher driver earnings and welfare. Just like disposable pawns on a chess board, a single operator with an oversupply of drivers at their disposal could reduce driver’s bargaining power, eventually leading to reduced driver welfare.

Notably, when Didi took over Uber operations in China on 2016, driver promotions and incentives corresponding fell with the lack of competition.

Also, companies could to exploit their position in their pursuits of growth revenue and expansion ahead of drivers and commuters alike. Drivers I rode with these days after the acquisition announcement echoes a strong worry. It’s a sentiment about the consequences of what a sole service provider can potentially do.

Many will miss Uber’s welfare model of treating their drivers well, a policy well-known in the market to offer relatively better service and satisfaction than Grab. If Grab were to win over loyalty of commuters and drivers from Uber, it would be wise to start listening to their drivers and take ownership of their development. Drivers are the face of the organization, and that is where you can align their commitment to the organisation.

Deterioration of service standards

Despite arguments of the acquisition achieving economies of scale through consolidation of services. However, we can expect ride quality to corresponding deteriorate. The lack of competition promotes complacency and inefficiencies. This could in-fact strife service improvements and innovation, given a much-lesser incentive to do so now.

Commendably, through the years, Grab themselves had well-established itself as a private-hire company with strong localisation know-how. This is true not only for transport, food deliveries, but payment systems too (with higher profit opportunities). This is particularly strong in the South East Asia.

Hence, this critical tactic knowledge has allowed Grab to reach into local heartlands way better than Uber. However, that too comes with the risk of greater service level variability and uncertainty. Hence, the added complexity should be managed well. Otherwise, it could inevitably translate into overall lower quality drivers and correspondingly lower service levels.

The return of drivers cherry-picking customers

Furthermore, Uber’s anonymous destination policy is a love-hate relationship. It puts commuters first, allowing you to request an Uber pick-up from pretty much anywhere accessible in Singapore. Customers, especially those calling a ride from remote areas love it. Drivers, hate it.

With only Grab now, we could expect drivers now to be more picky and even probably discriminatory on their choice of customers. I was thankful for Uber picking me up remote areas of Singapore several times as a commuter myself, while Grab had often let me down.

Henceforth, we can see drivers only accepting rides only in high-yield, popular and surging areas at the expense of commuters from less-favorable regions. Hence, do be prepared to wait for a Grab ride from remote areas, or not to be picked up at all. This can be seen as a step backwards in service quality, reminiscent of the throwback to the notorious Taxi ride-picking of the yesteryear.

No clear future direction

Through the years, Grab had always been playing the catch-up game, improving and localizing very well, Uber’s business model and services offered. The short-term repercussions of the acquisition are evident as highlighted in my discussion.

still, the acquisition is a proud and commendable “David versus Goliath” moment with a local unicorn overthrowing a Silicon Valley global giant.

It is highly unlikely that Grab would reverse the deal already made. While we can be sure to expect prices to go up, there is more than it meets the eye. In the absence of “guiding competition”, the future of the private-hire industry is pretty much uncharted as it is. This is a question including Grab I believe would like to have a crystal ball for answers.

All in all, still, the acquisition is a proud and commendable “David versus Goliath” moment with a local unicorn overthrowing a Silicon Valley global giant. It will be pressing to know what is next for Grab. A good place to start is for the company to understand their role in the country, and up-hold the primary mission to serve the people well, at a fair price.

Now that would work.

10th Apr Update: Added supporting references to Didi-Uber takeover.

Checking out Timezone Flagship Arcade at Vivocity

Places

Shaun

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Friday, March 23, 2018

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Checking out Timezone Flagship Arcade at Vivocity

Timezone, Australia’s most widespread and popular gaming arcade outlet has opened their newest and largest flagship store right in the heart of Vivocity Mall Singapore. They were previously tucked on the upper third floors of the mall (where Diaso was also located). Now they had moved down to Level 2 at Vivocity unit #02-43 just between Candy Empire and Fish & Co restaurant. Let’s check out the Timezone Flagship Arcade at Vivocity Singapore.

Large Arcades- A rare sight in Singapore nowadays

Timezone is an international chain of family amusement arcade centers based in Australia. The first Timezone arcade opened in 1978 in Perth. Their newest and largest branch in Vivocity boasts over 12,000 square feet arcade goodness. Despite its large size, the Timezone arcade is nothing to brag about in the likes of old expansive arcades of the yesteryears.

Remembering arcades of the Yesteryears

Furthermore, it is refreshing to see the return of such large arcades previously thought to be extinct in Singapore. You might remember Magic Land amusement center at Marina square which previously operated by Uncle Ringo in the early to late 90s.

Moreover, there is also the Parkway Parade amusement center with a large arcade on the top floor of the shopping center. It too has a couple rides such a Merry-go-round and a Viking ride ship. Moreover at Cineleisure Orchard in the early 2000s is the E-zone arcade with VR rides and ghost trains.

However, the amusement industry is under threat in the face of the new changing preferences now. People don’t spend time in the shopping arcades anymore or playing games at home. Families and arcade geeks don’t see much the value of entertainment today. Especially in a country these days where play is often “unproductive” or secondary.

Inside the Arcade

Timezone itself has 10 outlets all around Singapore. Locations include Plaza Singapura, City Square Mall, Westgate to Northpoint city. Moreover, this range from small kiosks like mini arcades to large expansive ones you expect from Timezone. Having said that, despite being over 12000 sq ft in size, it not being as massive as the Timezones in Australia. Timezone claims it features non-stop entertainment.

The arcade has your usual bells and whistles of a classic Timezone. Staples includes crane/candy machines, racing machines, shoot ‘em up and air hockey stations, and basketball games. Timezone are known for offering rides in addition to their arcades. Payment to all the arcade machines and rides are done using Timezone contactless smart card credit system.

Space invader classics

Prize Loft

Ticket churners

A row of larger than life game machines sits at the store entrance. This adds to the wow factor. Besides the latest carnival games, you can some bizarre arcade games modeled off their mobile platform counterparts, such as Crossy road, Subway surfers and Flappy bird- arcade edition.

Ticket and prize galore

At the front of the arcade is a walk-in prize shop, allowing you to view all your possible winnings from the ticket machines. Moreover, your winnings from ticket-eligible game machines dispenses traditional tickets. Also, it is nice that Timezone stuck to offer the enjoyment of classical paper tickets. These tickets can be fed back into an automatic ticket counting machine. Here, it will print you out a total tele-count receipt for redemption at the prize shop counter. Timezone beckons you to play, shop and redeem attractive prizes at their this new prize shop too.

Bumper cars

When it comes to rides, the arcade here is no exception either. Here, premium rides and attractions costs $5 to $8 a ride. The selection includes Bumper cars and a mini Bowling alley. Also, the Spinner bummer bumper cars are circular type- boat like karts. You can control via both a left and right lever at the side of your seat.

Mini Bowling alley

In addition to the bumper cars are two lanes of a mini bowling alley. This miniature bowling alley is activated via paying a game with your Timezone card. Moreover, the rules of the game are similar to a regular bowling match, but smaller than life. Notably, the size of the bowling balls here are humorously small, almost sized like shot-put balls. Even the lanes are at most 5 meters in length. This makes the mini bowling alley very kid and family-friendly.

In addition to the Mini bowling alley are a couple of premium rides such as a Mini motion simulator. However, there is however, no laser tag games and obstacle areas unlike the previous Vivocity Timezone location on the 3rd floor.

Mini simulators

Bookable Party Room Area

Packed weekends

Furthermore, the arcade also offers event spaces via bookable party rooms. With prior notice, you can get to book a party at the arcade’s Monster-themed Party Room. This you can use for events like family gathering to birthdays. The party room has a full glass window offering views overlooking out of Vivocity into the Sentosa island area.

Also, the arcade is noticeably more packed on the weekends. Though it tend to get quieter on weekdays. However, this also means not having the need to queue up for arcade machines when you want to play.

All in all, the new Timezone revamp is pretty much a much need upgrade to inject more fun into the Vivocity area. Definitely a good way to spend in addition to your hours of window shopping when you are in the area.

Marveling at the i Light show displays at Marina Bay

Events

Shaun

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Tuesday, March 20, 2018

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Marveling at the i Light show displays at Marina Bay

Singapore is often renowned for her fantastic modern skyline which defines the city and stays lit throughout the night. Blending that urban lighting sprawl together with the love for arts is the i Light show which runs at the Marina promenade for this month.

Show Details

For a limited time, the show runs from 9th March to the 1st April 2018 at the Marina Bay Waterfront. It employs an open concept with exhibits littered throughout the vicinity. It claims to be Asia’s Leading sustainable light art festival.

MailboX i Light display by the Marina Bay

The light show has an open concept idea. The displays starts off from the Customs house near Clifford pier, running all along the Marina Bay, past the Promontory Carnival and Red Dot museum towards the Marina Bay shops. Here, you can interact with the exhibits either digitally or physically. Additionally, the main event runs daily from 7:30pm to 11:00pm, with extensions to midnight on Fridays & Saturdays.

Moreover, admission is free, with almost all the items on display are free to access. However, the organizers claim that some charges apply for some attractions, with more details on their partner event website. That was not the case during my visit. It was free to use them all.
Let’s have a run through what’s on display.

Meet the Octopoda

Fancy some Amigo and Amigo Drumming? Located in front of Marina Bay Event Square is the Octopoda. It is an interactive Australian light installation that invites audiences to become part of his tentacle percussion ensemble. Moreover, the free standing octopus is suspended up from a jig superstructure.

Also, it features eight independent tentacle drums. Banging on each drum beyond a certain threshold activates a unique display of colour and light. Notably, these lights are animated and can be seen travelling directed into Octopoda head, lighting him up and bringing it to life.

Dreamscape at the Mist Walk

Furthermore, one of the nicer looking exhibits in the show. Brought to by Magdalena Radziszewska from Poland. Dreamscape is a mystical display of gothic looking flowers. Moreover, it is seemingly made with the texture of crushed paper and sets a dark mysterious tone in contrast to the myriad of bright exhibits in the show.

Additionally, Radziszewska, in her display synopsis speaks of supernatural and magical properties being attributed to flowers for centuries. Their delicacy and mysteriousness seem ephemeral and out of this world. Often, you can see people just standing in front of the exhibit, staring and marveling at the sight in front of them.

Tap to the Kloud

An array of white polygons located along the pavements on the Marina Boulevard. This assortment of locally-made interactive light exhibits are brought to you by students from Nanyang Polytechnic (School of Interactive and Digital Media). Also, the interactive light installation claims that it that connects people and the colours of their ever-changing emotions. These emotions are portrayed by the assortment of colours which the box displays in response to how they are.

Here, patrons can tap on the “cloud” (Kloud) shaped boxes, causing them to change and pulse their lights within the boxes to the external disturbance. Moreover, patrons via the web can select and alter the colours on multiple surfaces through the app.

NYP’s Kloud

Chandelier of Spirits

i Light Event map

Through the Bay area, you can find the i Light Event map, which serves to show you the entire event map as well as directions to the two next closest exhibit displays.

Moreover, the Kloud exhibit is also situated by the Breeze Shelters. This is where the Chandelier of Spirits display reside. It is brought to you by Living Spirits from Thailand. Furthermore, it is an assortment set of animating light bulbs strung from permanent shelters along the Marina broadwalk by the Promontory. It is located besides a peculiar installation of lit mushrooms titled Whareatua – Field of Dreams by Jamie Boynton, New Zealand.

Located by the Lower Board Walk is Light Play. It is the works by the School of Arts, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University featuring programmable lights.

Tweet to the MailboX

MailboX is probably one of the few most eye catching and interactive digital exhibits on the show. It can read tweets and display the message with a lightshow. The interactive display piece is a joint work by a number of collaborative artists from Australia. This includes artists Christopher Simpson, Isabella Bain, Khanh Nguyen, James Rotanson, Anthony Zeater & Steven Bai.

During the period of the i Light show, participants can send a tweet using the hashtag #ilightmarinabay. Often, you can see crowds gathered around the MailboX as patrons composes tweets to have them displayed. Henceforth, your sent tweets will be read and your message will be automatically displayed on the MailboX light surfaces. Moreover, the lights can pulse, animate and change colours. It engages the sender with the audience around the installation.

Enter The Passage

Canadian Serge Maheu installation is one of the iconic “show boys” of the i Light show. Passage is an immersive, minimalist, contemplative and interactive artwork. Moreover, it explores the emotional connections people develop with the use of light and sound. Structurely, it comprises of a series of lit rings which animates and pulses from the movement of the people walking the passage.

Furthermore, the installation uses a series of light gates to track your movement as you walk along the passage. Light animations will follow your movement through the passage. You got to keep walking to keep the light installation going. Additionally, there will be helpers on standby (especially on weekends) to regulate crowd flow given the installation’s popularity.

Moreover, with its strategic location by the Marina Lower Boardwalk, it offers great photo opportunities being flanked by the skyline of Singapore central business district. The passage just visually stands out in the dark surroundings with its line of concentric lit rings.

Through the loops!

Caricature booths at the market

Inside the Red Dot Museum

Market of Artists and Designers

In addition to the light show, the Market of Artists and Designers is a market place running concurrently with the Light show. The spot hawks a variety of novelty items along the Marina Broadwalk area. Also, the marketplace is distinguished by a line of white canvas tents accentuated with LEDs lights strung between the tent roof. It gives the marketplace a rather dreamy atmosphere.

However, this is definitely no flea market. You can find mostly lifestyle and health products on sale here by independent sellers. Items of trade includes clothing, bags, trinkets, jewelry as well as aroma therapy products. However, most of the items sold are rather, over priced novelty items.

All In all, i Light Marina Bay is a nice and refreshing compliment to the spectacular Marina Bay reservoir area. It adds more energy to the area and serves as an excellent location to showcase the arts, by the Bay. You are good through all the exhibits for an evening. Especially if you were to have a go at interacting with the exhibits.

Definitely a fun evening out!

Fun at the Prudential Marina Bay Carnival and Gourmet GastroBeats 2018

Events

Shaun

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Sunday, March 18, 2018

1

Fun at the Prudential Marina Bay Carnival and Gourmet GastroBeats 2018

Living in a city where fun is often an afterthought, it is refreshing and long due to see the return of large carnival fairgrounds in Singapore. Come the Prudential Marina Bay Carnival. Prudential is proud to be the Title Sponsor of the Marina Bay Carnival, Singapore’s largest games carnival in its inaugural year.

Moreover, Prudential, as the event and title sponsorship aims to underscore the company’s commitment in strengthening their commitment to the Singapore market. Additionally, the event is jointly contributed to with support from partners, Pico Events, URA and the Singapore Tourism Board.

Note worthily, the event fair started a couple months back before December 2017. Unlike most fairs which runs for a couple of weeks, this fair runs till the end of the first quarter of 2018 (End March 2018). Moreover, the fair opens from 4pm to 11pm daily with free admission.

Bringing back a long-forgotten Era

Back in the 90s as a kid, such Euro fun fairs were a common sight in Singapore. That, together with the regionally-based travelling Uncle Ringo Fun Fair was a staple in any HBD heartland open fields.

Sadly, such fair grounds and open fields are all fast disappearing in the face of residential development. Then, these local Fun fairs see a great assortment with plenty of rides. This includes roller coasters, suspended rides called the “Space Cab” as well flat ride staples and bumper cars. Sadly, today, local traveling fairs in Singapore had shrunk to an assortment of pathetic family rides, franked by large mostly tents of Night Markets (Pasir Malam) commercial stores. It is a far cry from the large fairs in the 90s.

Hence, it is nice and heartening to see such much needed fun returning to Singapore, much for the children of today to experience what a local major fun fair is about.

Fun at two Venues by the Marina Bay

The carnival itself is reminiscent of the old heartland fairs of the yesteryears. Here, the carnival is split between two distinct sites. One site is located at the Promontory by the Customs House overlooking the Marina Bay Reservoir.

The site by the Marina Bay Reservoir at Central Business District skyline

The other main site is nearer to Marina Bay Sands building. Located at the Bayfront Event Space in between Marina Bay Sands shops and the Red Dot museum. Additionally, you can easily recognize it by the tall green rotating ride called the “Mach 5”, which I shall touch on later.

Gourmet fest at the Promontory

The first and smaller sector of the fairgrounds is the Promontory Gourmet fest. This site houses mostly food stores and game counters. There are few rides here. Also, it is also the temporary home to the popular Star Flyer ride.

The Star Flyer is one of the few most iconic rides in the Promontory. Notably, it is also largely popular with carnival goers here. It is a tame spinning ride on swinging chairs which rises up a vertical spire. At the top, it offers good views overlooking the Marina Bay and reservoir.

Promontory at Marina Bay

General Fairgrounds

The Star flyer central attraction

There are plenty of food stores here, rows of them here to be exact as well as a variety of Fairground carnival game counters. Food is totally on the pricey side. For instance, a choice of side cheese fires and dishes costing an upwards of $12 to $15 for a small dish. Be expected to spend at least a combination of $30 per person for a dinner here.

Carnival Booths

Gourmet grounds

Performance stage

You can dine at one of the view open-air benches and standing tables under the night sky. Moreover, at the center of the festivities is a large open stage with scheduled live performances. The event also organizes silent discos, as well as mass exercise events.

A Cashless Carnival

In the Prudential fair, all food, carnival games and rides are all paid for via a cashless RFID card system. Only cash or Nets top-ups are available. Your first top-up have to be a minimum of $10 (10 credits) which includes a free carnival card. Moreover, you can keep the card for subsequent revisits.

Card top-up counters can be found littered all around the fairgrounds. You can buy cards, check or add additional value at any of these kiosks. Cash top-ups have no minimum sum.

Main Carnival Fairground and Games

A short 10 minute stroll via the Marina Bay boardwalk beside the Red Dot museum is the Carnival main fairgrounds. The other and larger site is where most of the Euro fairground rides reside. Greeting you at the entrance is a Jungle Log fume ride, as well as a huge assortment of game counters.

The fairgrounds are also littered with rows and islands of game stores. Here, the assortment here ranges from traditional ring toss, knock the bottles to Shoot’em up western style games. Prices for a try starts at $5, up to $8 for booths with more extravagant prices. Example includes the ring toss with their large glittery fancy dragon stuffed-toy prizes.

Ring toss

Shoot ’em Up

Ball Toss

Furthermore, it is not uncommon to see patrons trotting around the grounds with their wins- carrying huge stuff toys or even bags of them. Notably, the fairground toilets are outdoor portable toilets located at the rear of the fairgrounds.

The rides at the Fairgrounds

There is a large healthy assortment of rides in the fairground. It comprises of a combination of family and thrill rides to suit riders of all ages. Highlight thrill rides includes the Mach 5 centrifuge and the Euro Coaster from Italy. However, I noticed you do not get a full selection of typical Euro fair rides. This includes rides like the Ferris Wheel, Enterprise, Top spin, Move It and Frisbee. They could be omitted due to ride intensity and size restrictions.

General Fairgrounds

Family-friendly Fairground rides

Jungle River Log fume

Interesting, it is also, if not the first time where a transportable log fume ride is operating in Singapore. Called the Jungle River, it is a two tier plunge pool log fume ride. Such water fume rides are traditionally fixed built-up rides, it is one of the few rare interesting travelling fair versions. Additionally, other flat notable rides include a classical slide, Dad Fun Schiff Pirate Ship as well as a traditional Merry-go-round.

Dad Fun Schiff Pirate Ship

Dogdem (Bumper) Cars

Carousel Merry-go-round

A ride range from 5 credits to 10 credits per person per ride. For example, the Bumper cars will set you back $8 per ride, while the Euro Coaster and Mach 5 ride costing on the upper-tier prices of $10 to $14 per ride. But these two rides are easily the favorites, and the ones generating the most screams throughout the night.

Queues are short even on weekends so you have no issues getting on a ride under 5 minutes. This makes the speed passes you can purchase for an additional fee to beat the queues tad bit redundant too.

Mach 5 vertical centrifuge

Mach 5 is a KMG Speed centrifuge vertical spinning ride. It is an extremely common ride in European fairs known for its visual impact and ease of setup.

The ride spins riders sitting 4-across back-to-back in a gondola. There are two gondolas, one located on either end. Furthermore, the ride is mainly a G-force ride, giving you a combination of heights as you sit suspended at the fair as the tallest ride here. It provides a near-sensation of falling and you transverse on the downward part of your ride rotation.

The Euro Coaster

The Euro Coaster ride is a Zyklon Pinfari portable closed circuit fairground coaster. It is instantly recognizable as one of the most common portable coasters around the world. Moreover, it is the largest ride in the fairground, but not necessarily the most intense. The Roller Coaster from Italy is one of the two roller coasters in the park, with the other being the Shark family coaster with a pirate theme. It is however, not as popular.

The Pinfari Euro Coaster all lit at night

Additionally, the large ride sits centered in the heart and dominates the center of the park. You can frequently hear the roar of the 4-seater single car coaster rolling along its tracks, often accompanied by screaming patrons.

Euro Coaster Entrance

Coaster Tracks

Shark Coaster

The roller coaster is your standard with custom coaster trains. The ride layout is very similar to the old Uncle Ringo roller coaster which used to frequent in the heartlands. The coaster starts off with a hill climb right off from the station, followed by the first drop. The ride then transverses a couple of helixes before encountering the second drop, more helixes and a pass-through over the ride station and the last small drop before entering back into the ride station.

Go for a ride on the front seat of the Euro Coaster

It the odd thing is the presence of over-shoulder restraints in the coaster cars which usually signify the presence of a coaster inversion, but strangely, there are no such inverted inversions throughout the Euro Coaster course.

Expensive, but worth the time and visit

All in all, you are good for the entire event for an evening. With its 4pm opening time, you are in a good spot to catch dinner and enjoy a couple of thrill rides. Crowds are generally good, not overcrowded, but could be better. However, a visit is not cheap. Notably, with two roller coaster rides, a beer, food and 1-2 carnival games costing you an excess of $50-70 a person per visit.

Expenditure-wise, in comparison, one could highlight that an entire day of rides in Universal studios with unlimited rides sets you back similarly from $70. Which makes you wonder are you getting much less for your money. However, it really depends on what you are looking for at the event. After all, you are more of less expecting to pay a premium for pretty much an “out-of-country experience” with imported Euro fair rides.

Ultimately, the commercial success of this year’s Prudential event will decide the fate of next year’s event. Back in the 90s, Euro fair rides are comparatively just as expensive too.

Prudential , the title sponsor for this fair year

I completely enjoyed the carnival, a nice throw back into the old fun fairs and travelling theme parks I enjoyed as a kid. Reminiscent of a fun era long-gone from Singapore today. There is no other better venue to have such a Carnival than right at the Promontory, highly accessible right in the heart of downtown marina bay.

It is definitely an experience hard to beat.

Check out more photos of the event here.

Washoku Cafe at Tai Thong Crescent

Japanese

Shaun

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Saturday, March 17, 2018

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Washoku Cafe is a Japanese fusion casual dining restaurant serving mains and quick bites in a chill environment. Let’s check out the establishment with a simple dinner dine-in.

The café is located on the outside of a micro mall along Tai Thong Crescent. There is mostly roadside parking and the nearest MRT station being Potong Pasir MRT (NE10). Also, at its core, Washoku Cafe is a Japanese fusion dining restaurant. It has a homely ambience with really cheerful staff. However, there is notably quite limited seating for large groups due to the store’s small footprint.

Japanese family causal fusion

Their menu is simple with few staples such as rice and pizza dishes. Recommended dishes includes their baked rice. They are tiny little pots of mouth-watering goodness. They come served baked still-wrapped in foil. Once you break the crusty brown top cheese layer, you are greeted with a steamy interior of rice mixed with your ingredients of choosing.

In addition, I would recommend Washoku Café’s pizzas for sharing. Their Salmon and mushroom pizza it is essentially, well a as it says on the tin. It is an interesting mix of somewhat Japanese on an Italian and a pinch of Mediterranean. It is a potpourri of straw mushrooms with odd slices of salmon embedded with cheese in a thin-crust pizza.

Wrapping up are their range of salads such as Potato, mixed greens and Washoku salad to name afew. Additional selections includes Bacon and egg, Potato Mentaiko, Scallop and Prawns. Also, during my dine-in, I had chicken salad. It comprises of fried chicken chunks, bean curd, chopped sausages, tomatoes and lettuce.

Moreover, on one of my random dine-ins, the staff offered us some cake and candies on top of the meal my group ordered. Pricing-wise, the café selections are pretty light on your wallet, with typical expenditure in the range about under $20 (about $10-20) per diner dinner. It is more affordable than the SORA Gourmet Food Hall we visited previously.

In conclusion, Washoku Café is not a bad place for a simple meal dining out. Their menu options are not the most in variety, but effective in selections at a great price delivered with friendly service too.

Verdict:

~~Must Go!~~ | ~~Actually pretty Good~~ | Worth Trying | ~~Shortlist Optionally~~ | ~~Should Avoid~~
Washoku Cafe Locality Map
2 Tai Thong Crescent #01-27,
Singapore 347836
Opening hours: 11:30am- 10:00pm

Roast Delights at the Carvery Park Hotel Alexandra

Buffets

Shaun

-

Saturday, March 10, 2018

2

Roast Delights at the Carvery Park Hotel Alexandra

The Carvery is hotel restaurant located in the Park Hotel. They offer a buffet spread specialising in meats and roasts with a European flair. Lets check out the Roast Delights at the Carvery Park Hotel Alexandra.

Getting there

Geographically, the Park Hotel sits at the intersection between Alexandra and Jalan Bukit Merah. The Carvery is a relatively new restaurant in a new hotel building. Tucked in the upper 7th floor, it is a new modern “vertical” hotel built alongside on top a shopping mall called the Alexandra central mall. Also, the restaurant sits beside the hotel pool area on this open-air seventh floor bar area. It is accessible via an elevator ride from the inconspicuous tiny lobby of the hotel.

Moreover, it located beside known landmarks like IKEA Alexandra along Alexandra road, facing Queenstown shopping center and the Anchorage condominium. Old timers may remember it as the site where the old SAFRA Bukit Merah resided. Park Hotel sits on top of the Alexandra Central mall. However, do note that accessibility by MRT is limited. The roads though are well served by buses.

Welcome to meat paradise! The entrance to the Carvery restaurant.

Fantastic Roast Selection

As introduced, the thing which the Carvery really shines is the meats and roast section. Notably, the restaurant prides themselves for offering one of the best on-site roasted meats. You can see them nicely roasting the one of few indoor roaster machines tucked behind the meat bar. Choices include fowl (turkey), roast beef, lamb and my personal favorite, pork knuckles. The selection changes everyday, but you will have at least 2-3 options.

A chef station manned by a member of the culinary staff will be on-site to cut and serve your chosen cuts. Moreover, notable inclusion will be their juicy roast ham hock. Otherwise also known as pork knuckle, it is the extreme shank end of the leg bone and joint between the tibia/fibula and the metatarsals of the foot of a pig. It is also where the foot was attached to the hog’s leg.

On my visits, I found the quality of the roast excellent. The restaurant really know how to do their meats well. They are well marinated as well as juicy. The ham hock also retains it’s crispy outer shell. It makes you always back for more. Accompanying the meat selection is a myriad of sauces such as berry jam or mint sauce to go with your lamb. And cooked brown sauce for your steak roast. the beefs are cooked to a medium consistency which are really juicy on the inside.

Cooked Food selections

In addition to roasts are a choice of cooked food served on counter. This “food bar” runs along the entire length of the restaurant.
It is probably one of the single most longest continuous food counters you can find in a restaurant buffet setting. This cooked food selection starts a choice of appetizers such as premixed salads with a small assortment of seafood.

The continuous running central food bar.

However, if you are into seafood, The Carvery will disappoint you. Still you can find some fish and prawn choices in their cooked food options, but don’t expect to see crabs or fresh oysters here. If, so I would recommend Orchard Hotel or Grand Copthorne Waterfront. Seafood is simply just not Cavery’s specialty.

On a brighter side, I found the quality of their cooked food good despite lacking in varieties. Choices includes a mix of Chinese mixed dishes such as vegetables, and steamed fish. Moreover, adding to the mix is an extensive European flair with wood fired pizzas, lasagna. Those needing your carbohydrate fix will be delighted with their pasta, mixed potatoes dishes as well as a self-served counter offering bread and choices of two soups.

Last but not least the extensive cake and desserts section is tucked on the far end of the food counter. Here, you find cheesecakes, fruits and apple custard served in chocolate cups. Here, you also find a cheese bar with an assortment of cheese (blue, cheddar mozzarella) accompanied with grapes served with biscuits. Very European indeed.

Lastly, the restaurant ambience is largely clean white and modern, which goes with the hotel’s general look and feel. Complimenting the restaurant’s indoor seating is are open-pool side infinity pool outdoor seating. The open outdoor bar however, only opens at night.

All in all, the Carvery is one of modern European dining at its best for the price. I found the offerings good for the price. Lunch prices will set you back at $42++ per adult, while dinner costs about $62++. The price is reasonable for the spread offered and not as expensive by most hotel restaurants. It sits in the lower price range of buffets like Furama city center and Carlton, but offers far better quality then the two.

Moreover, the restaurant can get surprising popular during lunchtimes as they occasionally do run discounted or credit card 1-1 deals which makes it ideal for groups. It is indeed an elegant restaurant and a meat lover’s paradise.

The Carvery Park Hotel Alexandra
Level 7, Park Hotel Alexandra
323 Alexandra Road,
Singapore 159972
Opens at times daily: Lunch 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm Dinner 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Collins Western Grille and Bento

Western

Shaun

-

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

2

Collins is s heartland western grill franchise in Singapore. They serves a variety of good and very affordable western foods as well as Japanese bento sets which are truly value for money. Let’s check out what Collins Western Grille and Bento has to offer.

It is not uncommon to find a typical Collins branch in a “hole in the wall” coffee shop western store. You can find them mostly in heartland coffee shops. Moreover, Collins also recently launched a more up-market range of restaurants which I like to call the “Atas Collins” which they claim to “Redefine your dining experience“. I shall cover in a separate write-up. This article shall focus on what I call the “traditional Collins”.

Your typical Collins store in a heartland coffeeshop. This one is at their Jalan Merbina branch.

Henceforth, the setting in Collins shop, is well, your typical coffee shop fan fair. You can mix and match your food choices from all the stores, including the drinks store. No exclusivity or restrictions here. Your food comes out really quickly after ordering.

In addition, I found this western setup is reminiscent of the old and now defunct Botak Jones western. The benefit is really low prices, even comparable to that of hawker center western grill dishes.

What’s on the menu?

If you can’t decide what to have at Collins, you can’t go wrong with their Chicken. A recommendation will be their most affordable and value for money staple dish will be their Chicken chop with seasoned spaghetti. It is served with corn cob and fresh salad with mayo. This is costs $7.90 with portions which could easily set you back twice the price in comparable dine-in restaurants.

Collin's best selling grilled chicken chop and pasta topped with brown sauce. You can't go wrong with this option! — Collin’s best selling grilled chicken chop and pasta topped with brown sauce. You can’t go wrong with this option!

Moreover, adding to that, a highly recommended dish will be their St Louis pork ribs served together with a quarter chicken. It can be a rather filling meal even by my gluttony standards. This hefty serving is yours for under $15.90. In comparison, a similar meal at say a steak house could easily set you back in the range of $30-40. Very good value I would say.

The ribs are glazed and marinated well, but sometimes can be on the dry side. However, is not as juicy and tasty as what you get form premium offerings at Tony Romas Baby back ribs or Morganfields. Moreover, it happens to be one of Collins most sellable dishes. They sometimes usually run out of stock on the end of the day. So do be quick!

Their pork chops servings are generous and surprising are juicy, not tough and dry like what you get from typical hawker center faire.

Good balance of quality and price

Despite being a hawker store, Collins establishes themselves at a segment above your standard western store. Moreover, I found their general serving portions generous. No “fancy all plate but no food” scenario here like what you see in fine dining restaurants. The quality of their meats are consistently well cooked.

Their grilled salmon with the usual servings of corn and pasta.

Moreover, they are not dry and surprisingly always juicy. Their chicken dishes are pretty universal, with varieties offered through a selection of different sauces. Surprisingly too, Collin’s pork chops retains their juiceiness, with big servings. This is interesting as seldom do hawker centers western stores get this right- without serving essentially dry rubber chops.

Your typical Collins offerings. Chicken chop, pork chops and fish and chips as pictured.

In addition to their main dishes are a selection of sides and entrees. This range from soups which varies by day. Additionally complementing the menu are starters such as salads, potato offerings such as cheese fires and wedges, as well as Sausages or chicken drumlets for sharing. Payment is made upon ordering. You be given a buzzer prompting you to collect your food.

Queue Beepers

Grilled fish with pasta

Cream of mushroom soup

Fancy a Japanese selection?

Moreover, a little known fact is that every Collins also serves a small selection of Japanese bento sets. Though not a popular item on their menu, their Bento sets gets my recommendations. You have a choice of curry rice such as Furai Fish, Chicken or Prawn Curry Rice. Furthermore, these come served in large decently sized Bento boxes packed with rice, salads and additional fried serving of Tori Karaage. It completes the meal and is rather filling and satisfying by itself, all for a bargain under $9. In addition to these Bento sets are more affordable Katsu curry rice bowls (about $5.50 a bowl) served with Miso soup.

The less popular, but totally awesome Bento sets with fish or chicken katsu offerings. At a bargain under $10 a pop too!

An attractive membership program

Moreover, despite being around for about 2 years, this year, Collins runs a membership program. Having a member account with them gets you 10% off all your bills. The registration fee costed me about $20 upfront with a sign-up bonus of an equivalent ~$20 worth of free food from their regular menu. These are redeemed via a main course and soup which I was planning to consume in the future on my future meals with them.

Hence, so to me, that effectively waived the sign-up fee. Moreover, you can accumulate points tired to every dollar spent which you can redeem in cash redemption too (100 points per dollar off your bill). Just remember to tell the cashier that you are a member before you place your order. On few occasions, I was setback by their cashier not being able to include the discount after the order entered into the cashier for payment. This effectively forfeited my points and discount for that meal. You are identified using either your NRIC or handphone number (preferred). Despite these quirks, I found their meals offered are still extremely value for money, even without the discounts.

All in all, Collins gets my recommendations for offering really cheap food yet good food for the price. This, coupled with a large number of branches all around Singapore makes their food highly accessible to all. It is one food choice, I look forward to.

Collins Western Grille and Bento
At various locations around Singapore.
Check their website for full franchise list around Singapore.
Collins Grille typical opens daily: 10:00am – 2:00am (Open 16 hours a day till past late)

Astons Specialties Western Grill Restaurants

Western

Shaun

-

Sunday, February 25, 2018

6

Astons Specialties Western Grill Restaurants

Astons is a chain of western food restaurants serving quality casual food at an affordable price. You can typically find their restaurants in malls in the city, as well as heartland malls. They run a variety of restaurant franchises all over Singapore. Lets check out what Astons Specialties Western Grill Restaurants have to offer.

Moreover, their restaurant line-up starts with the more prevalent but affordable Astons specialists outlets which I shall cover here today. Also, the restaurants serves only al-la carte dishes and have similar menu range as the franchise’s other range of outlets which goes by ANDES by Astons name. Additionally, the more expensive, but arguably more value for money chain in the Astons line is Astons’s Steak and Salad. Here, they offers similar al-la carte dishes with an accompanying salad buffet, but at a higher starting price per dish.

Furthermore, there are a large selection of Astons branches all over Singapore. Noticeable ones includes City Square mall and Central mall at Clark Quay, where you can always see long queues. But waits are usually under 15 minutes, even on peak weekends. Tables are cleared quickly by staff who are quick to usher in customers, especially during peak periods.

Also, you can recognize the outlets by their distinct western style bricks walls. Hence, this gives the restaurant a rather rodeo rustic western feel. Additionally, this is accentuated through a combination of barn wall props. To date, there are about 19 such Aston outlets, with most situated in the city, under the same brand to suit all price and customer needs.

You can mostly find all Astons branches in air-conditioned shopping malls as a standalone restaurant (e.g. Changi village). Moreover, seating is restaurant style which individual seating tables and counters. Hence, they are good for small groups of 2 to 4, though large groups can be accommodated with joining of tables.

What’s on the menu?

On menu choices you have the usual vanilla grill selections you expect from a western grill, no more, no less. The arsenal includes Chicken, Beef steaks, Lamb and Fish choices. Additionally, the restaurant is Halal-certified, hence there are no pork dishes. Also, there are a selection of burgers, salads, as well as pasta, though they are not as sought after as their grill menu items.

Steaks mixed grille with sausages, garden salad and onion rings.

You have to decide and select your main courses and payment before being seated. Hence, it is not uncommon for patrons seen welding menu cards deciding on their orders in-queue before being attended to. Thereafter, you will be directed to your seats after payment where you dishes are promptly served right to your table. Generally, beef and mixed grill dishes generally take longer to arrive.

Breaded chicken culet with fries and garden salad.

Each main course comes served with a selection of two sides of your choosing when placing your order. These comprises of a selection of hot or cold sides. The hot sides comprises mainly of potato-based or vegetable sides. Staples range from mash potatoes, Macaroni and cheese (a recommendation) as well as your usual selection of fries or beans. For greens, you have colesaw or house salads. I recommend the country vegetables comprising of a broccoli vegetable mix.

Good quality for the price

Price-wise, their dishes do cost on average more than Collins grill. Collins is the next big western franchise in Singapore and one of the main competitors to Astons. However, despite the above average restaurant setting, Astons is also pretty budget-friendly for the offerings.

Note-worthily, the pricing of their food range from $15 SGD for a burger or chicken chop dish (inclusive of sides) to under $24-30 for more premium choosing such as lamb chops or Tenderlion beef steaks. A Prime Sirloin with 2 sides costs a fair $15.90. Also, almost all their dishes seldom exceed $30 except for their premium selection cuts, which you do expect to pay more for.

Grilled chicken leg with country vegetable and mashed potatoes.

A favorite will be their highly affordable Grillworks chicken all priced under $11 with a variety of 7 different sauces. This range from black pepper to lemon lime, teriyaki and even hickory BBQ. A recommendation will be their Hickory BBQ Chicken at $9.90. A way of cooking to your preference. Their pasta offerings are all under the $11 mark too.

What surprises me is that the food price to quality. On my visits across Aston branches in the city and heartland malls, I found my main courses like beef steak I ordered has a premium feel and is well cooked to your specifications. They are consistently prepared to the most one-level of done-ness from my desired ordered preference. Some higher-end restaurants, (or even hotels) even can’t get this right. It paints good communication from the orders downstream to the kitchen. This is commendable by Singapore restaurant standards in this price segment.

Their more premium steak, medium-rare done with country vegetable sand garden salad.

All in all, despite being the less-premium casual dining western dining outlet of the Astons brand, Astons surprisingly offers good value for money. It gets my thumbs up as one of the best go-to western dining places in malls.

Astons Specialties Western Grill Restaurants
At various locations around Singapore.
Check their website for full franchise list around Singapore.
Astons Specialties typical opens daily: 11:30am – 10pm

Welcome to Shaunchng.comDocumenting the world, one post at a time

Welcome to Shaunchng.comDocumenting the world, one post at a time

Shaunchng.comDocumenting the world, one post at a time

Performance Tests

Benchmarks

Excellent Heat Management and Temperatures

Good Camera Performance

V7+ Photo Test Shots

Excellent Security and unlocking options

Lighting fast fingerprint unlock

Excellent Battery Life

Unexpectedly useful Vivo Wisdom Engine

Battery Benchmarks

Last impressions and Conclusion

Good- 72%

New kid on the block

Under the hood and Box

Exterior and Good Build

Less than exciting Screen

Intuitive Exterior Buttons

Good Connectivity and Expansion

Software and Speedy UI

Excessive background data consumption

Update to the latest App

No official statement yet

Update 6th April

School Exhibits

Built-up model of Singapore

A good place to chill with ideas

A ride-share history back in time

The rise of Uber and Grab

The early transport civil war

Transformation of the Taxi industry

Uber’s Puzzling exit strategy

Feeding the Unicorns

Good for business, bad for consumers

Prices may inevitably rise

Drivers could earn more, but at expense of Driver welfare

Deterioration of service standards

The return of drivers cherry-picking customers

No clear future direction

Large Arcades- A rare sight in Singapore nowadays

Remembering arcades of the Yesteryears

Inside the Arcade

Ticket and prize galore

Bumper cars

Mini Bowling alley

Show Details

Meet the Octopoda

Dreamscape at the Mist Walk

Tap to the Kloud

Tweet to the MailboX

Enter The Passage

Market of Artists and Designers

Bringing back a long-forgotten Era

Fun at two Venues by the Marina Bay

Gourmet fest at the Promontory

A Cashless Carnival

Main Carnival Fairground and Games

The rides at the Fairgrounds

Mach 5 vertical centrifuge

The Euro Coaster

Go for a ride on the front seat of the Euro Coaster

Expensive, but worth the time and visit

Japanese family causal fusion

Verdict:

Getting there

Fantastic Roast Selection

Cooked Food selections

What’s on the menu?

Good balance of quality and price

Fancy a Japanese selection?

An attractive membership program

What’s on the menu?

Good quality for the price

Singapore Places

Column