Pocket-Sized Fun

I never thought it would happen, but I JUST WON THE SATURDAY OZ LOTTO DIVISION 1 PRIZE OF AUD3 MILLION!

Ha ha! Actually, I won Jack, but that sure woke you up, I bet. Which is good because I’m about to do this blog’s first official Product Review. Yes, you read that right. Product Review. For those readers out there who are not familiar with this sophisticated “cosine” concept, here is the formula:

Product + Camera + Time + LOTS OF BEER = Product Review

Before we begin, this blog would like to say that this review is entirely Kenny’s fault. I received an email from him last week, with the subject “RE: YOUR PENIS IS TOO SMALL – ENLARGE 5X NOW!!1 SUPER RX FORMULA!! The gist of it was basically “Hey, want free stuff?” to which I calmly replied, “HELL YES!!”, a decision that took all of 30 miliseconds.

Anyways, on to the actual review, because I’m seriously running out of beer here.

Ladies and male people, introducing Pixart’s Pocket Photobook — All pocket, all book! MEN: Now, for the first time ever, when your date asks “Is that a photobook in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” you can answer “YES, IT’S A PHOTOBOOK!!” with complete confidence.

Ha ha! Seriously, the Pocket Photobook is the latest addition to the Pixart stable of products, which is perfect for people who want something smaller than the regular coffee table sized offering, or those who want a Photobook but are on a smaller budget, or those who don’t have pockets the size of coffee tables.

To create the Pocket Photobook, you’ll need to first download and install Microsoft’s .NET Framework version 1.1 and the Photostylist software, which is small and easy to use, but could use some minor enhancements — writing captions for the photos was slightly tedious, because I had to manually set the font and font size for every one of the 24 pages, and it would have been much better if there was a way to make the settings stick. But that minor issue aside, the software works great – way better than Windows XP.

Creating the photobook took about 3 hours (9 minutes compiling photos and writing captions, 2 hours 51 minutes drinking beer), and 5 days later this arrived in the mail:

I have to say I was very impressed with the quality of the photobook. But more impressed was my girlfriend, who was the receipient of the photobook. She loved it so much, I had to pry it from her death-grip to take pictures for this review. I had only 5 seconds to take these pictures before it was violently snatched from my hands, so please forgive the Crap-O-Matic Camshots:

Just one gripe, though: There was some obvious bubbling in the lamination on the spine of the photobook, as you can see in the picture above. I’m sure quality is something Pixart prides itself upon, so I imagine this was a rare defect that slipped through QC. That said, Dominic of Pixart was extremely helpful and responsive to emails and feedback, so if for some reason you receive your photobook in less-than perfect condition, be sure to drop him an email and let him know.

Verdict: The Pocket Photobook is a great gift that’s sure to delight its recipient, unless it contains pictures of said person’s spouse with another man/woman/farm animal in a bubble bath.

The Pocket Photobook is going for RM50 for 12 full-color double-sided pages, and shipping is RM6 to anywhere in Malaysia. Pixart is currently offering a 20% discount on the Pocket Photobook until the end of September 2006, so hurry on over if you’re looking for a unique gift for friends and family, or feel that now is the right time to collect all your brother’s naked baby photos into a handy pocket-sized presentation photobook for maximum family entertainment this coming Holiday Season. Your brother will thank you.