24 Hours Series

24 Hours in Haeundae

Through the lenses of Redmi Note 8 Pro

Published

November 26, 2019

Leez

Alright, I’m not that great at writing about my adventures while travelling, so be gentle. Don’t come at me. I often journal about my day, but that’s to keep track of commissions and cookie orders.

Anyways, I went to South Korea for G-Star. If you guys don’t know, G-Star is one of Asia’s biggest video game expos. Knowing that I was pretty excited to fly to South Korea for it. There was going to be good food, lovely company, tons of skincare and video games — all the things I love. Of course, I was going to be pumped.

A warm welcome and stay

We were staying at Haeundae which is a nice chilly beach-side area in November. When we arrived, a kind soul lived in the area and was more than happy to drive us to our Airbnb. If mister Lim somehow stumbles upon this article, thank you so very much for your hospitality and kindness. You were relentlessly kind and there’s no amount of thanking I could do for what you did for us.

He drove us to our Airbnb and offered to take us all out to dinner. He took us to have some sashimi by the bay. It was amazing. I was at loss for words. One moment, we picked a fish; the next, it was skinned, deboned, and chopped up ready to eat.

Haeundae is a pretty touristy spot. Most locals rush here during the summer. Considering we were there mid-November, it was pretty windy and cold by the beach. This didn’t really change how stunningly scenic the place was though. From early morning walks by the beach to the hectic nightlife in the area, you can never go wrong by exploring the area.

When you’re close to the Haeundae beach, you need to wake up early to watch the sunrise. You cannot miss out on seeing the sunrise or sunset when you’re by any beach. That’s my rule of thumb.

If you’d like to explore the place at night, you’re in for a treat. The place is booming with lights and music. We dropped by a street market nearby that sold tons of fresh produce. If you’re daring enough, you can have fresh eel and squid. If there was ever a time I felt strangely lucky to be allergic to most kinds of seafood, it would be that day.

South Korea has amazing food

Before anything else, I just need to say: South Korea has amazing food. I don’t know where to even begin. Just an hour after landing at Busan and I had already fallen in love with the place. It may have been the Somaek talking, but still. There is a growing list of meals I’ve tried in Korea that I will forever miss until my wishful and hopeful return. I can’t even say which one was my favorite since all of them were pretty flipping good.

: Sunrise breakfast

: Seolleongtang is the gift from the gods

: Kimchi is love. Kimchi is life

: Lovely panini for breakfast

: Curry here is amazing

: Jjajamyeon is also a gift from the gods

I already loved kimchi. I know it’s not necessarily a dish in and of itself, but I love kimchi so much I would cut someone for the last serving of kimchi. I’m kidding! Or am I?

Jokes aside, you need to try out sashimi when and if you find yourself in Haeundae. With people being so close to the sea, everything is super fresh. Have that with some soju and beer and you’ll be having the night of your life.

G-STAR 2019

I didn’t get to take too many photos while I was at the convention center because it was so swamped! Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time roaming the expo. The booths were massive and everyone was so kind and approachable! I have Ywiser to thank for letting me join them on the trip.

G-Star 2019 was an intense trip. There were so many eye-catching booths everywhere. It didn’t help how every booth I passed were games I already play, games I have and haven’t played, and games I would kill to play. There were tons of people, left and right.

I would stare longingly at filled up loot bags from booths some people managed to rack up. I mean, as of writing, I’m staring at my loot bag that I didn’t get to fill to the brim with free merch from booths. As a completionist, my hands were itching to attain every achievement, but we ran out of time…

Separation Anxiety

I’ll have to admit, it was a memorable trip. If anything, I’ve come back home seriously learning Korean. It was an unforgettable experience. I still wake up craving for some Seolleongtang and I’ve almost completely stopped drinking every night since the trip.

Most of the things I brought back were freebies from the expo, skincare, and a ton of fond memories I’d want to come back to on the next trip. I think, with the Redmi Note 8 Pro, I managed to capture some of the stunning scenery I obviously didn’t want to miss out on.

South Korea was lovely. Busan had no brain-starving zombies and Haeundae didn’t have tsunamis. I didn’t get to take a good photo of the bridge where a scene in Black Panther was shot, but if you go, please do. Haeundae is such a scenic place. You can’t help but stop at your tracks and stare.

Related Topics:Busan G-Star haeundae Haeundae beach Redmi Redmi Note 8 Pro South Korea

24 Hours Series

vivo V27: Studio lights in your pocket

Meet the new Aura Light Portrait System

Published

April 14, 2023

Chay Lazaro

It’s spring 2023 and vivo is back with the V series. The vivo V27 comes with a new feature called Aura Light Portrait System, which takes its main camera to another level. Like its predecessor it’s got a color-changing back, making it a fashionable choice for different users.

Stylish color-changing design

We have the V27 in Emerald Green, which starts off with a lighter tint that looks like jade. When exposed to UV light, it changes into a darker shade of green. This is achieved thanks to the Emerald Glass processing technique. The phone also comes in Magic Blue, Flowing Gold, and Noble Black.

Chay is wearing light colors so the Emerald Green model matches her outfit better. It makes a nice, subtle pop of color, and goes with her pastel-y mint green purse and boots.

It’s also worth pointing out the 3D curved screen and this curved back on the V27 make it feel extremely thin and light.

Studio lights in your pocket

As mentioned earlier, the vivo V27 features the Aura Light Portrait System for great portraits even in low light. It’s a combination of the IMX677V sensor, which Sony designed with vivo specifically for this phone, algorithm optimizations, and the Aura Light. Its outer ring is matte and sandblasted, softening the light coming out of it.

The Aura Light, combined with the large sensor, and algorithm optimizations work together to take great portraits even in low light.

Lunch and coffee

The day before was a very long day so we figured we should get food and coffee. We found this dimly lit restaurant in Soho called Cafe Select. I think it’s a German restaurant because we had some schnitzel and there’s German decor everywhere.

We also specifically asked for the corner booth to test out the V27’s low light capabilities. Despite the lack of light sources, it’s impressive that the V27 managed to produce an accurate cutout of me even when I kept moving with the Bokeh Portrait video mode on.

There’s no natural light in this restaurant so it’s also the perfect place to take portraits and test out the Aura Light Portrait System. It’s like a portable ring light that you can use to take clearer portraits. Take a look at some examples.

On video mode, you can also use LUTs. We had fun using the Nostalgia filter to film a short video in the restaurant, which perfectly matches the vintage vibe of its interiors.

High definition selfies

The vivo V27 would not be a V-series smartphone if it didn’t have an amazing selfie camera. On the V27, we got a 50MP HD selfie camera with autofocus.

It’s worth noting that the phone feels so light in the hand. It’s so easy to take one-handed selfies. I also love how subtle the color change is on the Emerald Green model.

The V27 offers three levels of selfie filters that help hide blemishes and enhance your features — None, Natural, and Classic.

The 50MP front camera means clear selfie details. Most other smartphones have inferior selfie cameras compared to its rear counterparts, but not the V27. As you can see in the example below, zooming in on my eyes show that you can clearly see the strands of my eyebrows.

Walking the High Line & shopping

To test its video stabilization and macro camera, we continued to walk the High Line. Both features produced very impressive results.

Another feature we tried is MicroMovie. It’s perfect for creators like me. It comes with a whole bunch of templates that you can use for TikTok or Instagram Reels. I filmed a daily vlog with it and had so much fun.

While we were shopping, I noticed too that the V27 changed colors after being indoors for a bit. It turned into a beautiful white marble-like finish that fades into mint green at the bottom.

After the sun has set, it’s time to take more low-light portraits and OOTD. Our friends Alex and Leslie even joined us for a quick photo shoot. New York City comes to life at night, and with a 1/1.56-inch sensor and Super Night Mode, the vivo V27 can easily capture the hustle and bustle of the city streets.

More than just a camera smartphone

The vivo V27 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 and comes with either an 8GB or 12GB of RAM.

With Extended RAM the phone borrows memory from your internal storage and gives you an additional 8GB RAM. This way you get either 16GB or 20GB available RAM.