DSLR for savvymigrant

Last Sunday me and my family went to the 10:30 mass near our domain. After that, we went to the shopping centre and bought our very first DSLR camera. We bought the camera at JB Hi-fi. They've got good deals and promos for sort of items like this. We bought a Nikon D40 DSLR camera. It is just basic and entry level one for DSLRs but having Nikon as the brand and me being just a beginner, I'm sure this will be enough to do the works. I also made some research on reviews for this brand and model and it turned out to be excellent for a neophyte on this field, like me.

It is a great feeling to have a camera that will take more beautiful pictures of my family and our adventures to Australia. I am also happy because I could start learning to take good photos for this blog so that all viewers may enjoy more of what you see. I've admired other bloggers who took good photos with their own DSLR cameras and have shared them to their respective readers. Even I, really do enjoy nice and clear photos on blogs.

I am also currently working to build a new home for savvy migrant with the help of my friend in the Philippines. Soon it will be housed at www.savvymigrant.com and hopefully we can have it up and running before Christmas. I learned that moving this blog into an independent hosting with Wordpress blog software would reach more internet and blog savvies. This particularly means that this blog will be indexed on other search engine apart from google which is ideal.

With this, I do hope that you could still stay in tune with me as more interesting stories and informations about migrating to Australia will be tackled in a different level but still with the same aim of helping fellow migrants live and survive challenges of migrating.

Navigating Your Way

When we arrive in Australia, everything we saw was new for us. Even the names of the street sounds different as what it is in our country. Its hard to travel without the help of a map. In the state of Victoria, we use Melway. For NSW is Sydway and QLD is Brisway. I know there are other maps but these are the more popular ones.

I frequently refer to Melway in Navigating Melbourne. I remember the times when I used it just to go to our local church, Centrelink and Medicare office near our suburb. I use it when I bring my family to the parks during weekends and even more when I am applying for a job. In short, its a must for a migrant to grab a map whatever state you are in.

But now, we can use an even easier, faster and more convenient means of going from one place to another by using a satnav. Satellite Navigation or Satnav for short, uses global positioning system that locates user on the road in the unit's maps database. So when you're driving, you can actually see yourself moving in the screen.

What is very cool in using satnav is the optional voice navigation that you can set on the unit. Just simply input the address where you want to go and the satnav will calculate your route and display the 3d map screen and it will guide you turn by turn until you reach your destination. I remember last April 08 when i drove from Adelaide to Melbourne 750 kms from our place. I virtually relied on my satnav and did not bother to bring the traditional map with me. It was a splendid drive without worries, tensions and stress because when you know where you are going and the satnav is saying that you are on the right track, you can spend your time not worrying but enjoying the sceneries, the music on the radio and the conversation to whoever is travelling with you.

I purchase the NAVMAN S30 Model not only because its one of the leading brand here but it also got a good price tag, more features and a sleek design as well. Its a good product to buy for starters.

Savvy Phone

These past few days I was too happy as I have discovered a great way to save our hard earned money in communication especially in keeping in touch with all our loved ones and friends from overseas. For those of you who may not be aware yet, I am introducing the Skypephone WP-S1. It was offered for free by Hutchison 3G Australia or 3 on the $29.00 cap/plan. I was amazed by what this mobile phone could possibly do because it does not only make you contactable anywhere you are but it allows you to call anybody who is using Skype on their computers around the world(provided you are within the Skype Broadband zone) and they are also able to call you from their PCs to your Skypephone for no charge at all! Isn't this enough reason for me to be happy about?

We've been using Skype on our laptop to call our relatives from overseas for almost a year now. We found it very valuable because it saves us a lot of money by not using our regular mobile or other phone lines. However, we found it not to be as convenient as the regular lines when calling because we need to be on our computer and access our Skype account before we could get on. Most of the time, our relatives would have to wait for us to come home to access our computer. Now, it got better because of the Skypephone. You could virtually get on to Skype wherever you go and no matter how mobile you are. This morning, I have rang my brother from overseas on his computer and the line is as clear as the regular one. He even called me up a few times on my Skypephone and while writing this blog we spoke for about 30 minutes. It's a nice feeling to speak to someone without worrying about the bills. Agree???

As what is stated on the brochure, skypephone customers got a limit of 4000 minutes of outgoing calls (thats over 60hours per month or 2 hours per day) and 10,000 chat messages (sent and received) per month. For me, 2 hours a day is way too much just to keep in touch with relatives and friends. The other good side of this is your relatives or friends can save money as well by not buying pre paid cards just to call you on your mobile when you are not on your pc. It goes to show how powerful skype is. With over ten million subscribers online, VOIP(Voice Over Internet Protocol) will be the way of the future.

I am not a technically savvy person, that is why when I chose this phone, a silly thought pop out of my mind. Could I still use skypephone to make a call onto other lines like Optus, Telstra and Vodaphone etc...? The answer is yes. It works the same as the regular mobile phones. I've tried ringing our landline and as well as my wife's mobile. It works perfect. The other question is how can I set up this phone to skype? Do I have to manually type in the user ID on my contact list? The answer is no. If you are already a skype user, simply enter your log in details on the Skype screen and all your existing Skype buddies will automatically load into your contact list. It's very much switch on and can be activated in less than 24 hours. The other good thing in switching to 3 is that they can have you maintain your original number regardless of what network it was originally from. This is very handy, though I think some other networks could also possibly do this as well.

Lastly, I just want to pop this question up. Which do you normally go for when choosing for something to buy? Is it style or functionality? When choosing or buying something, I normally go for the functionality before the style. I know that style is cool but on a more important note, most of us migrants should choose functionality because during the settlement stage, every dollar counts. The more you get savvy ways of doing things, the faster you can settle. Using 3 skypephone mobile is definitely a savvy way for a savvy migrant.