It’s that time of the year again when the biggest consumer computer show — IT Show ‘09 — hits Singapore.

Running from March 12th to 15th (today to this Sunday), the IT Show takes up floors one to six of the Suntec convention centre. The show opens daily at 12pm and ends at 9pm during this four-day period.

IT Show is really huge this year. All three Singapore telcos have big booths. M1 and SingTel are on floor 2, and StarHub is on floor 3. Floor 4 is the main hall with all the big consumer brands like HP, Canon and Samsung, whilst floor 6 hosts all the small chapalang IT gadgets vendors, from computer games to memory cards to GPS gadgets.

It might be a down economy, but it sure didn’t seem like it as the place was thronged with people this morning when I went. In certain places — especially on the fourth floor near the popular booths — you will get stuck in a human traffic jam trying to squeeze past the milling crowd. This weekend will be a nightmare to find parking if you’re visiting the show, so public transport is advised.

IT Show'09 crowd at one of the booth intersections. Photo doesn't do justice to the crowd!

Okay, on to the other Sitex show bargains on the first day.

One tempting deal comes from Samsung, which is selling its new 14.7-megapixel NV100HD camera for S$599, with loads of freebies thrown in. 3 x 4GB SD card, card reader, 5-in-1 cleaning kit, extra lithium battery, tripod, etc and etc, anyone?

This nifty little number (see below) also shoots HD videos and has a nice 28mm wide-angle lens. And it also has a handy 3-inch touch-screen as well. Besides the wide-angle option, this is a worthy update over and seems a better buy than Samsung’s own S$549 NV24HD, which comes with an older 10-meg lens but better 24mm wide-angle.

Samsung NV100HD

In the first part of the roundup, we tallied the entries on the Techgoondu LG TV contest, and Apple iPhone emerged as the favourite gadget of 2008.

In this article, we’ll be looking at some of the other gadgets that our readers picked, and why they picked these devices.

From left to right: LG KC910, Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot C905and Samsung innov8

The high-end, 8-megapixel camera phones war looks set to escalate soon in Singapore. This month should see the launch of the LG KC910, while Sony Ericsson is expected to step into the ring with its Cyber-shot C905 soon, before year-end. They join the Samsung innov8, launched here last month.

Sweet? I have not laid hands on the innov8 yet, so dunno how good it is. But for these phones to replace my regular camera, the aging 8.6 megapixel Leica D-Lux 2, they better have a snappy user interface, fast write times, not too jarring noise artifacts, no shutter lag and be great at indoor shots without flash. These are typical archilles heels of today’s crop, and are many mid-end digicams’ failings too.

Win an LG 42-inch LCD TV now.
Contest closes Nov 12, 2008.

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A little late but better late than never … Sigma yesterday announced the DP2 compact digital camera – barely 6 months after the launch of the ground-breaking DP1.

In case you didn’t know, the DP1 was its first kick ass FOVEON sensor point and shoot that soon became every amateur photographer’s dream P&S. I’d love to have one so I need not have to lug around my EOS 350D DSLR with a 18-50mm, especially on those days when I think I might take some photos but really end up just taking the cam out for some fresh air.

Now the DP2 gets the same 14 megapixel FOVEON sensor as used in the DP1 and the SD14 DSLR. Sounds like too many megapix? Well, don’t forget its a FOVEON sensor so pixel resolution-wise, its actually 2,652×1,768×3 layers. And the key thing is that for a compact cam, this sensor is physically big: 20.7mm x 13.8mm.

Traditionally, computer bazaars have the best deals for the last day, when retailers clear their stock at low, low prices. This is when the crowds rush in.

When I went down today to Comex at noon, and the crowd was already building up. Some good buys/price drops include:

1. D-Link DIR-655 Wireless N router – S$169
No need to trade in your router, no need to bargain. You can even get a pair of (presumably cheapo) speakers for free when you buy one of these mean fellas that can handle loads of Bit-torrent downloads. Original price was S$189 if you trade in an old router.