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As part of the Pakej Komunikasi Belia Hotlink is offering a number of smartphones either for free or with rebates, in line with the RM200 rebate from the package. One deal that caught our eye was for the BlackBerry Z10 which is being offered at a promotional price of RM1688 with an additional 1.5GB of Free data. This RM1688 price is valid for existing Hotlink BlackBerry BIS customers who are eligible for the Pakej Komunikasi Belia. However, existing customers who do not qualify for the Pakej Komunikasi Belia may instead get the BlackBerry Z10 for a discounted price of RM1988. New customers who qualify for the package can get the smartphone at RM1888 while new customers who don't qualify for the package can get the deal at RM2188. The free 1.5GB worth of data is only valid for 7 days after the device has been bought while the actual promo is valid from 9 March 2013 to 30 April 2013.

This time around it is Celcom's turn to offer the Sony Xperia Z with two new plans added to their already quite large number of plans. These new plans are the Mobile Internet mPro + Celcom First Voice and Celcom First mPro Plus + FREE 60 minutes + 60 SMS.

Combining bundled data with voice calls and SMS, the Mobile Internet mPro plan offers 5GB of Data at RM88 with a choice of Prime 40, Premier 80 or Elite 150 Celcom First Voice plans for the price of RM1288. The Celcom First mPro Plus plan offers the same 5GB of Data at RM88 with Free 60 minutes and 60 SMS at RM1388. Both mPro plans are for 24 months and have penalty fees for early termination of the contract.

Targeting port-in subscribers from other networks or providers, DiGi is now holding a promotion until 30 April 2013 with various rewards. These port-in users who switch to the DG Smart Plan 58, 88 and 148 will get:

• Up to 900 extra Free Voice Call Minutes
• Free 1GB of Internet Quota (with Tablet SuperSIM)
• Free 500 BonusLink Points
• Automatic International Roaming Service

What do I need?

As mentioned previously, Facebook Home is Facebook's new app launcher UI that integrates Facebook features and overlays onto your Android smartphone operating system (OS). Just to repeat what was said earlier, it isn't a fork of the Android OS and all you need to install it is the right hardware and some Facebook apps such as messenger already installed. Facebook Home will be available for all Android devices (meaning you can download it from Google Play) on or after 12 April 2013. According to Facebook, Facebook Home will be updated regularly and monthly.

The Facebook Phone finally arrives

Due to all the leaks about Facebook's "new home on Android" most of what got announced at Facebook's recent big event wasn't really big news. Confirming our previous news about Facebook Phone leaks, is that Facebook is indeed releasing an Android Home screen launcher. The official quote from Mark Zuckerberg was:

“Today we’re finally gonna talk about that Facebook phone. More accurately, we’re gonna talk about how you can turn your phone into a Facebook Phone." Mark Zuckerberg.

Sony Xperia Z fans out there should rejoice as U Mobile is now offering the smartphone for as low as RM999 on the U Premium bundle or from RM1688 to RM 1488 via their U58 and U88 bundles respectively. The U Premium bundle in particular offers the Sony Xperia Z at a subsidized price of RM999 with a monthly of RM187 and 5GB worth of data. Bear in mind that the U Premium bundle is only available for the first 50 units of the Sony Xperia Z only and that the U58, U88 and U Premium bundles are going for 24 month contracts.

A couple of weeks ago, DiGi introduced their DG Smart Plan 58 and DG Smart Plan 88 for postpaid users looking to get a more affordable data plan. Now, they are expanding this lineup with their premium offer, the DG Smart Plan 148. Going for RM148 per month the plan offers 6GB of data in the form of 3GB Mobile Internet Quota and 3GB worth of Smart Apps Quota (Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp). The plan also includes 600 minutes of free calls and 600 free SMS to all networks. Due to the higher monthly fees, the call charges have been reduced compared to the other two plans.

The Pakej Komunikasi Belia announced a couple of months back by the government shined a little monetary relief on all the Youth (who qualified) looking to get a new smartphone. Now, under this package DiGi is offering a FREE smartphone and a customized Prepaid data plan all for RM50. The smartphone in question is the Alcatel One Touch Glory 2S which has the following features:

• 1GHz Cortex A9 processor
• 3.5-inch screen (HVGA)
• 256MB RAM
• 150MB storage + microSD (up to 32GB)
• 2MP rear camera
• 1400 mAh li-ion battery
• 2G (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) + 3G (HSDPA 900 / 2100)
• Radio + Bluetooth 4.0 (A2DP) + A-GPS support
• Android 2.3 Gingerbread

Quite a lot of people have predicted and been waiting for the time when Facebook comes out with its own hardware. Now, we've got the first renders of the Facebook Phone that may be announced tomorrow in Facebook's Official event. Rather than the HTC Myst that some thought it would be called it is now going by the name HTC First. Tech specs for the HTC First include the following:

• Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8960 processor
• 1GB RAM
• 5MP Rear camera + 1.6MP Front camera
• 4.3-inch screen (720p HD resolution)

Great Design, Drops Better than the iPhone 5

While the HTC One managed to beat out Apple's iPhone 5 in drop tests recently it should be noted that it is a lot harder to repair. The HTC One recently got a teardown at iFixit (a site which takes apart smartphones and tries to put them back together). In that particular iFixit teardown, the HTC One is the only smartphone to get a repairability score of 1/10, which means it is next to impossible to repair (the Apple iPhone 5 has an iFixit repairability score of 7/10). Tearing down the HTC One the folks at iFixit found:

• Most of the components are covered with copper tape for shielding which when removed looks like used aluminum foil (almost impossible to fix back)
• The battery is attached to the midframe and covered by the motherboard, making it very difficult to replace.
• To replace the display you have to remove the rear case which may require taking apart the entire HTC One.