2023 is coming to a close. Today, we pick up some of the highlights of news and reviews OCWorkbench covered this year.
Let’s take a look at some of the reviews we have put up this year.
The first review of the year was the Oppo Pad Air Review . This device is lightweight and is quite affordable for it’s performance. You might want to check it out why we give it a nice score.
Next, we reported about SIMBA subscribers can now upgrade to SuperRoam 50 GB plan at service centres islandwide. We had this breaking news and it was welcomed by many subscribers that were looking to upgrade their plans rather than porting in and out to change plans.
We also covered a guide on What to Look for When Choosing the Perfect Phone Charger putting emphasis on the different standards available.
Data roaming becomes common place in 2023. Roaming becomes an issue as more people travel overseas and can’t connect to the roaming network. In this article, we focused on Japan as it is a country which uses quite a number of different LTE bands from Asia and Europe. Read our guide at Complete Guide to Data Roaming in Japan: Choosing the Right Operator and Bands for Fast and Affordable
We also reviewed another chargerby UGREEN Review of the UGREEN UK Plug 65W 4 port GaN charger
In March, Google pushing out Pixel #FeatureDrop featuring Night Sight, Magic Eraser and more These features brings Pixel phones to another level through it’s feature drop.
During the same period, we received news that SIMBA is going to launch their fibre broadband service. We were researching and felt that SIMBA might use CGNAT technology to preserve IPv4 address. We were quite spot on. Read about what is CGNAT network and how it will affect you in choosing an ISP. Considering a switch to an fibre network ISP that uses CGNAT? Here’s what you need to know
We review another wall charger Review of Belkin BOOST↑Charge Pro Dual USB-C Wall Charger. In addition, we reviewed the OPPO FIND N2 OPPO Find N2 Flip Review: Your Ultimate Foldable 5G Phone of 2023 ?
Another smartphone review Samsung A54 Review the mid range phone that provides impressive night photography and 5 years of was posted in March.
Finally some PC peripheral which we seldom post these days. A Review of Crucial P5 Plus 1TB PCIe Gen4 3D NAND NVMe M.2 Gaming SSD, up to 6600MB/s
In May, we reviewed the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G Review : Exceptional Features at an Affordable Price – 200 megapixel Camera, 120 which we are using it as a daily backup driver to test out networks. It is based on entry level snapdragon 695 processor.
We also posted about airalo e-sim for those who needs a quick and fast roaming solution.Save on roaming costs with airalo e-sim
In June, we reviewed Xiaomi 13 Ultra: The Ultimate Smartphone for Photography Enthusiasts, Now in Singapore. Pre and mentioned about the Maxis Hotlink Pantas : Best Plan with Data Sharing Across 4 Countries – Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand which makes it a good solution for travellers within this region.
In July, we tested ZYM while roaming in Malaysia, ZYM Mobile Achieves 408 Mbps Roaming on Digi 5G NSA . That is quite a good speed from a MVNO roaming on Digi in Malaysia. At the same time, Singapore telcos will end 3G service on 31 July 2024. So get ready your VoLTE phones by June 2024 as your voice calls on 3G phone won’t work anymore.
In August, Netizens complain about OCBC Digital app’s malware scanning feature but this is important as sideloaded apps may the backdoor for criminals to take over your account and siphoned out your cash. Other banks followed with similar software to scan for apps that has permission to read the screen. This triggered issued as most anti virus needs that permission turned on and they were flagged as malicious apps.
We reviewed another charger Belkin BoostCharge Pro4-Port GaN Charger 108W Review
In September, we tested out the high end Sony Xperia 1 V Review: Transforming Convenience with Innovative Sim Slot and Powerful Snapdragon 8. The Xperia 1 V takes exceptional stable video footages but may have over exposed some scenes. Check out the review if you haven’t.
In October, we covered Google 2023 Keynote – Launch of Google Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel Watch 2 and reviewed the product at this link Google Pixel 8 Pro Review: Exploring the Power of AI Wizardry – Best Take, Audio Magic Eraser, Google.
We also reviewed the Pixel Watch 2 Review: Longer Battery Life, Faster Performance, and a More Refined Design Powered and wrote about How to screen shot the Google Pixel Watch 2 interface with two physical buttons
In October, we posted about the Snapdragon X Elite. So what is it ? Read What is the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite platform ?
In November, we posted two articles on 6 Best Wi-Fi 6E Routers with 2.5 GbE WAN for Your Fibre Broadband and Wi-Fi 6 vs Wi-Fi 6E: Performance, Price, and Device Availability in anticipation of more users looking for answers to upgrading their WIFI to support 2.5 Gbps fibre broadband.
At the same time, the private launch of SIMBA 2.5 Gbps plan was out and we posted SIMBA Fibre Broadband ONT is a ONU from LINK-ALL model LAU-G150-C with 2.5Gbps port and a optical i
The SIMBA Fibre Broadband 2.5 Gbps Speedtest result surfaces on the net in the same month. Residents in Changi, Pasir Ris, Loyang, Tampines, and Simei can now conveniently sign up online for SIMB
DBS follows suit and added security scanning to their app and trigger AVG as a malware DBS Digibank Android app flags AVG Antivirus as malware
In December, SIMBA Telecom adds inflight roaming for SuperRoam Max, added Brunei, Saint Pierre and Miquelon and Whizcomm also launched a aggregated 2.5 Gbps Fibre plan to counter SIMBA’s 2.5 Gbps fibre plan WhizComms launch 2.5 Gbps FibrePlus Broadband at S$21.60 per mth to compete with SIMBA Telecom’s
Google dropped it’s December feature pack with Video Boost feature. We tested it and listed The Pros and Cons of the Google Pixel 8 Video Boost. Our test is posted at Google Pixel 8 Pro December Feature Pack Video Boost tested. We did a Christmas Night Walk Video Tour with Pixel 8 Pro + Video Boost. You can watch the video here Pixel 8 Pro Video Boost Night Sight Video Feature Test
M1 reduced it’s Pricing for its Maxx plan to $14 for 200 GB and 2 GB Roaming challenging the rest of the telcos. We tested it M1 Maxx SIM Only Plan – 200GB for $14 in a Fierce Operator Battle
Although not officially announced, Starlink Satellite Broadband is readily available for Singapore, users can pre-order and subscribed to it (pending regulatory approval).
This basically rounds up 2023, it is truly an exciting year for us.
What products do you like us to review in 2024 ? Do drop us an email at ocworkbench via youtube, facebook, instagram etc.
We also welcome any sponsorship or advertisements. Hope to hear from you soon.