The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 WiFi is now available for bundling from Yes. The package deal at RM1,679 comes with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 (worth RM1,299), a Yes MiFi Huddle (worth RM399), Yes ID (worth RM50) and RM90 credit (RM30 x 3 months). This gives a total savings of RM159 from the total value.

The Galaxy Tab 8.9 had entered the Malaysian market earlier this month quietly at RM1,699 for the 3G version and RM1,299 for the WiFi only version. Compared to the its larger Galaxy Tab 10.1 sibling, the Tab 8.9 is identical in terms of processing power, memory and screen resolution despite its small dimensions. If a 10.1″ is too big to handle, a 8.9″ is a more practical size and it is also 95 grams lighter. This offer with Yes bundling is available at Senheng, Harvey Norman and Yes outlets from tomorrow 25th November until 31st December 2011.

If you’re confused with the various Galaxy Tabs in the market, check out our Samsung Galaxy Tab comparison post where we compare all the specs side by side. Next month, we would be expecting the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus and Galaxy Tab 7.7 to hit Malaysia. So far, U Mobile has already commenced registration of interest for the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus with official availability slated for 5th December.

[ SOURCE ]

	Android, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS, Players on the Field, Samsung, Yes
	Samsung, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Malaysia, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Malaysia price, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 price Malaysia, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 WiFi, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Yes, Yes, yes 4g, yes huddle

Topping up on Yes can be a chore if you use it on a regular basis. Now they have introduced auto reload service for normal Yes Plan credits and Valuepacks. The auto renewal is done via Credit card which can be managed through Yes online selfcare.

For normal credits, it tops up based on your preferred amount and can be set between the 1st to 28th day of the month. For valuepacks, you can choose to auto top up from existing credits or from your credit card. Since valuepacks hold a validity of 30 days, this auto reload service will top up right before your existing valuepack expires. As an added promo, those that activate auto renewal for valuepack before end of this year will be entitled for RM5 rebate for 3 months.

More information on credit auto reload & valuepack auto renewal at Yes website.

As always, don’t forget to read the FAQ.

	Players on the Field, Yes
	Yes, yes 4g, Yes auto reload, Yes auto top up, yes credit, Yes Valuepacks

YesLife is now ready for download on Android. The mobile app allows you to make phone calls using Yes Credit over your mobile’s connection be it 3G or WiFi. Registration for beta was opened last week.

The app supports Android 2.1 and above. There’s also a note that there are known issues on HTC Wildfire and other devices with processors running below 600MHz.

To download, head over to Android Market.

	Android, Mobile Apps, Mobile OS, Players on the Field, Yes
	Android, Yes, yes 4g, Yes Life, Yes Life app, Yes Life for Android, yes malaysia, YTL Communications

Yes have just opened registration for the beta version of its Yes Life app for Android. You’ll need a Yes ID to sign-up and the app is not available in the Android Market just yet.

Only devices running Android 2.1 and above are supported. To sign-up click here. Yes has not mentioned when the final version of the app will be released. But considering that the beta is being distributed to the public at the moment, it going to be just a matter of weeks till the final version is released.

We’ve gotten our hands on the beta version of the application and we have to say it is much more polished than the iOS version with loads more useful features added making it much more conducive to use.

If you’re on Yes and use an Android device, let us know what you think of the app.

	Android, Mobile Apps, Mobile OS, Players on the Field, Yes
	Android, Yes, yes 4g, Yes Life, Yes Life app, Yes Life for Android, yes malaysia, YTL Communications

Yes is doing a special Raya promo where they are giving free credit and Yes ID registration when you purchase their wireless devices. In addition, they are also giving extra free credits if you stay with them for extended duration.

First up, their Yes Huddle MiFi and Yes Zoom home gateway which is sold at RM399 each comes with RM30 credit together with free Yes ID registration worth RM50. If you stay with them for 6 months, RM60 will be credited into your Yes Account. Upon reaching 12 months, they will credit another RM100 credit. In total, that’s RM190 worth of free credits for 12 months. Initially we thought you’ll get RM160 after a year but it was revealed in the FAQ that only RM100 is given, hence RM160 is the total credit rewarded. As expected, you need to keep your account active for 12 months which requires a minimum top up of RM30/month.

For those who didn’t know, your normal Yes Credits can be transferred to Yes ValuePack seamlessly online. This is useful when you foresee a high monthly usage and you can tap into your remaining credit.

Meanwhile the simple Yes Go is offered at RM100 which comes with Yes ID (worth RM50) and RM50 worth of rebate. No details whether the rebate is given one shot or by monthly basis. If RM50 is given immediately, this makes it a good temporary prepaid broadband service for tourist.

For more information, head to Yes Raya Turbo Kit promo page.

	Mobile Devices, Players on the Field, Yes
	Hari Raya, raya turbo kit, Yes, yes 4g, yes go, yes huddle, yes zoom

In Malaysia, competitors don’t utter each other names, top execs in big board rooms shun the mention of a competitor’s name in their presence. It is forbidden, a cardinal sin punishable by death. Ok maybe that’s not entirely true but it is very rare, almost unheard of for a brand to mention its direct competitor so openly.

For a brand to mention its competitor is one thing but for a brand to promote and display said competitor’s logo is almost unbelievable!

Well the social media people at P1 thought that they’d be good sports and share a contest that their competitors are running.

Yes, via its Yes World portal, is running a ticket giveaway contest for the upcoming premier of “Cowboys vs Aliens” and while Yes is promoting the contest via its social media channels, P1 thought they’d give a helping hand and promote the contest on their social media channels as well. This is tremendous! In all our years in this industry, we’ve never seen anything like it.

The rational behind it? P1 says they promoted the contest because “everybody loves free tickets no matter who gives them out”. Sensible logic, we say.

Is the world about to end? Probably not. But its definitely a new beginning. Kudos to P1 for setting the positive trend. We’re hoping other brands will follow suit. What P1 did goes a long way in creating a good perception for the brand, or its social media channel at the very least. Now, all that remains if for them to up the ante and fix that darn network of theirs (sorry P1, we still think its problematic)

In the meantime, let’s see if the advocator of “positive change” will reciprocate the goodwill gesture.

[via Twitter and Facebook]

	P1, P1, Players on the Field, Yes
	4g, Cowboys vs Aliens, Facebook, free tickets, P1, social media, Twitter, WiMAX, Yes

According to TheStar, YTL Communications is in the process of securing licenses to roll out its Yes 4G services in the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. Its CEO Wing K. Lee had mentioned that YTL has received acknowledgement from the Government and they are now requested to submit their business plan.

Currently REDtone is the only WiMAX operator in East Malaysia and they haven’t been expanding much since its launch 3 years ago. About 2 years back, P1 too had showed intention of expanding to East Malaysia but this hasn’t materialise until today. We’re not sure what was holding them up but we believe expanding to Sabah/Sarawak is much more complicated compared to other states in Peninsular Malaysia due to different local/state regulations.

If Yes is able to roll out, this will give Sabah/Sarawak consumers more broadband choice as 3G providers are still struggling to cover all major towns. It would be impressive if Yes can cover the trunk road from Kuching to Miri and from Lawas to Kudat – the tip of Borneo.

For YTL, moving into Sabah/Sarawak is crucial for them to claim nationwide 4G coverage as no WiMAX operator has coverage on both sides of the South China Sea. REDtone too has tried to enter Peninsular Malaysia but so far we haven’t heard anything from them.

In terms of coverage, it was also reported that YTL aims to double up its network sites from 1,200 base stations during launch, to 2,500 by year end. This includes expansion of sites at Johor, Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu.

[ SOURCE ]

	Players on the Field, Technologies, WiMAX, Yes
	sabah, sarawak, Yes, yes 4g, yes coverage, Yes East Malaysia, Yes Sabah, Yes Sarawak

UPDATE: Updated Broadband Comparison with breakdown of Fixed, Mobile Broadband & Mobile Internet plans.

Our Malaysia Broadband Cost Comparison post is in dire need of an update since most broadband providers had revised/introduced new broadband plans. As demanded by you, we’ve updated the broadband comparison table as below:

Further breakdown with speed & excess charge by categories after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

	Celcom, DiGi, Industry in General, Maxis, P1, Players on the Field, TM, TuneTalk, U Mobile, UniFi, Yes
	Broadband Comparison, Broadband Price, Celcom, Celcom Broadband, Comparison, Malaysia, Malaysia Broadband, Malaysia Broadband Comparison, Malaysia Broadband Price, Malaysia Broadband Rates, Malaysia cost per GB, Malaysia Internet Rates, Maxis, Maxis Broadband, mobile broadband, P1 4G, P1 WiMAX, streamyx, TM, Tune Talk, U Mobile, U Mobile Broadband, Unifi, Yes

Earlier this week Yes announced that it had signed an agreement with Japanese WiMAX operator UQ Communications to “further enhance both entities’ leadership positions in the 4G space and to advance the development and adoption of next-generation WiMAX technologies.

The signing coincides with the completion of the world’s first WiMAX2 field test conducted by UQ on July 8 in Tokyo. The test demonstrated a mobile WiMAX2 network delivering a downlink speed of over 130mbps in a moving vehicle.

In a statement announcing the signing Yes CEO, Wing K. Lee said that “WiMAX is the most matured and widely adopted in the world.” In the same statement, Yes claims WiMAX2 “performs better than current LTE technologies while maintaining full compatibility with existing WiMAX devices.”

We’re not fans of press releases announcing “successful” tests proclaiming crazy speeds like 130mbps over a wireless network because there is a major difference between theoretical and practical network speeds. Most of the time, these tests are conducted in a closed network where there’s virtually no network load. Realistically, you’re not going get these kinds of speeds anytime soon. So you have to take these announcements of 100+mbps download speeds with a grain of salt.

The interesting thing to note here is Yes’ decision to stick with WiMAX while almost all of the other operators in the country (including the once WiMAX posterboy, P1) are looking at building next-generation networks based on LTE.

Read the rest of this entry »

	Players on the Field, Yes
	UQ, WiMAX, WiMAX2, Yes, Yes, YLT Communications

Update: Yes announced that its network is stabilised and “fully restored”. Based on our usage experience, it’s so far so good. Are you a Yes user? How’s your connectivity this morning?

If you’re a Yes customer and facing connectivity issues, you’re not alone. From our experience and complaints of others, Yes seems to be having some network problems since yesterday evening as far as we can tell. While we were able to connect to the Yes 4G network, we were not able to access any sites other than the yes.my portal.

Though the issue seems to be intermittent, we have to say that it is extremely frustrating to not be able to access sites when you want to get things done quickly.

On our last check, we’re still experiencing intermittent connectivity on Yes.

Yes has made an announcement that rectification works is on the way. According to them the issue was caused by one of their “key network service providers”. There’s no timeline given but we hope they can stabilise the network as soon as possible. The Yes network has been solid so far and while network issues are part and parcel of the internet game we hope that Yes makes sure that these disruptions are very few and far, far in between.

[ SOURCE ]

	Yes
	Yes, yes 4g, Yes connection problems, Yes Network issue