COMEX 2011 spans 4 floors of SUNTEC Convention Centre. Although most exhibitors are crowded on the 4th floor, some are scattered on ground, 2nd level and 3rd floor.
For those who are going there to check out the deals on handsets, tablets or to sign up broadband plans, the three telcos are all there. First is Singtel.
Fibre Broadband plans
Singtel is located at Level 2 Ballroom 1. A check on it’s internet plans for fixed line broadband and mobile broadband tells us that they are still not cutting prices to compete with other players. Their promotion of Explore Home 50 is at S$67.90/mth with a 50Mbps Fibre broadband , mio tv and a home line. They do have a S$100 Off Tablet if you buy a smartphone. For example, the Acer Iconia A501 table t on Honeycomb only costs you S$99 per mth (subscription to data is S$40/mth).
If you want a free Apple macBook Pro or MacBook Air, Singtel has that when you sign up their broadband plans from S$88 a mth onwards.
M1 next door is offering a very cheap Fibre Broadband plan. It is priced at S$39/mth for a 50Mbps plan. In addition, you could also purchase the samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (16GB) with a bundle plan of 100Mbps Fibre+Mobile broadband (mData Lite) at S$75/mth. There are other plans too to get the tablet at free S$93.10 or BUY at S$394 and S$299 respectively with a S$40 or S$49.50 per mth plan tied to it.
Starhub is offering a Lenovo Ideapad U400 if you sign up maxinifity ultimate 100Mbps fibre plan for S$99.30/mth. Other good offers include Free ASUS N45SF notebook for 50Mbps Fibre broadband at S$81.32/mth. Another deal they have is FREE samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with 50Mbps Fibre at S$81.32/mth.
If you do not require any notebook or freebies, the M1 100Mbps Fibre at S$39 is definitely the Winner.
Notebooks
All major brands are there at Level 4. If you are looking for a mid range Core i5 system, Acer has one at S$799. It is ASpire 5755-2412G60Mn priced at S$799. it comes with Core i5-2410M processor with 2GB DDR3 and 500MB HDD. The Icondia Duo with dual screen powered by Core i5-480M is also there but at a steep price of S$1998.
Dell Inspiron 14 is slightly more expensive at S$899 but it comes with 4GB DDR3 ram compared to the Acer counterpart.
We looked at Toshiba next and is shocked. They offer the Satellite L735-1071X 13.3 ” screen with 8GB DDR3 and it is from S$729!!
ASUS offer is K43SJ29i5. It is the same processor but it has a GeForce GT520M discrete graphics inside. It is priced at $799. HP has a 14″ HP431 notebook PC at S$699 but it has only 2GB DDR31333 and 320GB HDD.
The HP Touchpad which is supposed to be on sale for the 1st 100 customers have been cancelled due to safety reasons. It is somewhat weird that people are rushing for an obsolete product. Perhaps they are too rich or just want it as a photo frame or web browser which is branded but at a super low price.
USB 3.0 portable HDD
USB 3.0 external HDD are difficult at the previous exhibition. This time round, it can be seen almost everywhere. The Buffalo ministation USB 3.0 1TB is S$129 while 500GB is only S$79. Toshiba’s 500GB is at S$89 while 1TB at S$139. Seagate 500GB is at S$89 while 1TB is S$139 for it’s Freeagent Goflex ultra portable drive. Western Digital 500GB is priced t S$69 while it’s 1TB is at S$129. There is a Star buy at my Book Essential 2TB at S$139 at the show. Iomega also have their Star buy at S$79 for a 500GB and S$115 for 1TB. Samsung also has their M2 Portable at $75 for 500GB and S$129 for 1TB.
Internet TV box
At the backlane of level 6 is where the action is. Most of the cheap accessories can be found on level 6. In fact, we even saw General Electric (GE) selling digital cameras there. There are also Indian stores selling parallel imported Android power Tablet devices probably from China.
One interesting device we found is the AMOI V6T. It is a full HD 1080p playback video streaming device. A demo there shows that it is capable of streaming HD quality movies and even the latest HK dramas online. Another such device selling there is the Asiabox by Amconics Singapore. It is similar to the AMOI V6T where you can search and watch thousands of video titles. In addition, it can download free or premium apps on it. You can also watch youtube videos on it, facebook, twitter too.
Although both boxes enables you to view TV dramas, we are unsure if they are licensed to do that. It seems to be using some p2p technology and the contents are from some China sites rampant of illegal videos.
The other device we saw is the Palladine PALROID PR220HD. It is a internet tv box powered by 1GHz ARM v7 and it runs Android 2.2. You can access the device with a USB keyboard/mouse wired or wireless keyboard/mouse. It has HDMI out and 3 USB 3.0 ports. Basically it looks like a phone connected to the large TV screen. You can download the apps just like you do on your android handphone.
So if you are going down to COMEX during the weekend, get ready to watch out the deals we highlighted. Do not miss the chance to check out.
For price lists please visit this URL.