When you hear Jabra you will usually think of Bluetooth headsets favored by many professionals and executives. They’ve been in the country for a long time now offering headset solutions for contact centers but now, they are also bringing in their office enterprise headsets to the market.

GN Netcom, the 140-year old Danish company who also owns the Jabra brand, has recently partnered with one of the country’s leading IT distributors, Wordtext Systems Inc. (WSI), to be the one to carry its office headsets in the enterprise market.

These new headsets are targeted towards executives and personnel who need to answer landline calls away from their desk and would still be able to toggle calls between mobile phones and softphones using only a single headset.

“Jabra is committed to providing high-quality wireless headset in the Philippines. Our new headsets will give business executives, office personnel and mobile workers the freedom and mobility they ask for”, says Ralph Ede, the GN Netcom Regional Managing Director for South Asia.

One such headset is the Jabra GO 6400 series especially the 6470. The Jabra GO 6470 comes with a headset and a docking station.

The headset will be the only thing you need to answer calls from your mobile phone, desk phone or softphone such as Skype. It features a Noise Blackout system that will effectively eliminate background noise you can still be heard from a noisy location.

The Jabra GO 6470 touch screen base will be the one to unite all your phones. If you’re at your desk, just select from its touch screen the phone you want your headset to communicate with.

The headset can be placed on the docking station for 15 minutes which will give you 6 hours talk time on a full charge. It also has a 100m wireless Bluetooth range so you can take that call while you’re making coffee inside the meeting room.

For further information about Jabra products and their availability here in the local market, visit www.jabra.com and www.wordtext.com.ph.

LG Electronics, the global no. 1 brand in air conditioner for nine straight years introduced two new air con technologies to the Philippines; the world’s most energy-efficient commercial air conditioner (Multi-V Plus III), as well as LG’s inverter split-type air conditioners with H1N1 (Swine Flu) filter.

The new MULTI-V Plus III combines cutting-edge technology and eco-design to deliver innovative comfort solutions.

These include the following: Cyclone Subcooling Interchange has 1,000 meter long piping design to reduce pipe pressure loss; Super Aero Fan creates low noise and high static pressure; BLDC Fan Motor cuts energy consumption by 35% compared to AC Fan Motor; Wide Louver and Gold Fin give the unit a longer life span by improving fin efficiency and high heat transfer; Optimized Cycle Control Technology allows continuous heating during defrost operation; and BLDC Inverter Scroll Compressor and Controller that give 10% and 47% higher energy efficiency than AC inverter compressor.

The new Inverter Split-type Air Conditioner uses compressor inverter technology that adjusts its cooling capacity to maintain a consistent temperature, increasing energy efficiency compared to conventional split air conditioners.

This new model also features an H1N1 (Swine Flu) filter and multi-stage plasma filter that ensure a virus-free environment. KITASATO Research Center of Environmental Sciences in Japan tested and certified that the H1N1 Filter was proven effective against Swine Flu.

If you’re looking for new air-conditioning system for your home or business, think LG and look for these two new technologies.

Spotted at the Consumer Electronics Live (CEL) Manila 2009 yesterday were some cheap LCD TV from Taiwan Company, AVISION.

This widescreen LCD TV-Monitor won’t replace your living room set but it would be a nice, cheap TV for your own room and could easily be your PC monitor.

Speakers occupy the bottom part of the monitor which doesn’t sound too solid at high volume.

It does have a lot of connections available at the back. An HDMI port, component and composite like a normal TV does.

It also has a USB port on the side so in case it’s hooked into your PC, you’ll have a spare USB slot that is easy to reach.

The AVISION LCD TV-Monitor is nothing special but it’s really cheap if you don’t mind less-known brands.

• 19” 19AL58 (5000:1 DCR) – P10,950
• 22” 22AL58 (5000:1 DCR) – P12,950
• 26” 26AL58 (8000:1 DCR) – P18,950
• 32” 32AL58 (15000:1 DCR) – P22,950

This brand is available at all Electronics Boutique  branches and also at Brochiere Computers in SM Megamall.

Maybe you can offer it as a raffle prize in your Christmas party. Hehehe.

Earlier today at Consumer Electronics Live 2009 at World Trade Center, Dell introduced three of their gorgeous, high-end laptops including the world’s thinnest, Dell Adamo XPS.

DELL ADAMO M13

The Dell Adamo M13 is the pinnacle of craftsmanship and design. It’s chassis is made from a single piece of aluminum featuring precision detailing and a scalloped backlit keyboard.

The 13” Dell Adamo M13 is going to be available this December starting at Php139,999. *whistle*

DELL ADAMO XPS

The Dell Adamo XPS is hands down the thinnest laptop in the world at only four-tenths of an inch thin. It has a 13.4” display featuring an Intel Core 2 Duo ULV processor, 4GB DDR3 memory and 128GB SSD storage.

Today was a sneak peek of the Adamo XPS which will be available next year. No price yet at the moment but feel free to take a guess.

ALIENWARE M15x

For the ultimate in portable gaming you may want the new Alienware M15x from Dell. The 15"-inch gaming notebook codenamed “Defiant” is powered by Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-core overclockable Mobile processor. It can accommodate up to 8GB DDR memory and Dual 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M GPUs.

With the Alienware brand, you know it’s going to be a worthy gaming notebook. Pricing and availability is yet to be announced.

If you want to check out these notebooks and other cool gadgets, head to CEL Manila 2009 at World Trade Center in Pasay City today until the 15th.0

Planning to treat yourself with a MacBook this coming Christmas? Let this short guide help you decide which is the right one for you.

MacBook 

Apple’s most affordable full-featured notebook, the new MacBook has something for everyone. A mere 2.75 cm thin and weighing only 2.27 kg, it easily fits your backpack (and your mobile lifestyle).

It offers great integrated graphics performance for playing 3D games or creating photo books in iPhoto and making movies in iMovie, plus it has all the MacBook features you want at a price you’ll adore.

SRP – Php54,990

MacBook Pro

If you want high-performance graphics and an enhanced display, you’ll want the all-new MacBook Pro, now available in 13-, 15-, and 17-inch models.

With an advanced NVIDIA graphics architecture, every MacBook Pro employs a power-saving integrated graphics processor, and the 17-inch MacBook Pro discrete graphics processor. The MacBook Pro is fast enough to run the most graphics-intensive games and professional applications, but portable enough to come along for the ride.

SRP starts at Php68,990

MacBook Air

MacBook Air is ultraportable and fashionable to boot. At just 1.36 kg, it sets a new standard for mobile computing – without scrimping on the keyboard or display.

With a faster architecture, advanced NVIDIA integrated graphics, more storage, a 13.3-inch display, a full-size keyboard, and breakthrough wireless innovations, MacBook Air is engineered to take on the wireless world.

SRP starts at Php85,990

Any type of MacBook would be a perfect gift for you or somebody close to you. I’m sure anybody who receives one will be delighted.

In conjunction with Sony Ericsson unveiled three new and exciting mobile phones in the market today that are geared towards consumers looking for mobile entertainment for their phone.

I like the way SE decided to give names to its phones instead of calling them by their model number.

The first one is the Kita (or Yari as called outside the country) which is a revolutionary slider phone for gaming. It detects your movements and gestures with its camera sensor to play games similar to what Wii does with its Wiimote. Instead of a remote, you use hand gestures or body movements to play its preloaded games of boxing, tennis, etc. I tried it and it looked really cool.

Here are some of its specs:

• 262,144 color TFT QVGA (240 x 320)
• 5 MP camera with autofocus and LED Flash
• QVGA @ 30fps video recording
• Accelerometer (good for playing LocoRoco)
• FM Radio
• 60MB internal memory with microSD support (up to 16GB)
• Data connection: 3G, Bluetooth, USB
• Comes in Achromatic Black and Cranberry White

Retail price of the Sony Ericsson Kita is P12,990

The second phone is the Aino which is geared towards Playstation 3 owners. You can use the Aino to communciate with your PS3 using its WiFi or 3G connections. You can play media from your PS3 to the Aino or even use it as a remote to your PS3.It comes with a matching Bluetooth headset and desk stand charger.

Here are some of its specs:

• 16,777,216 color TFT (432×240 pixel)
• 8.1 MP camera with autofocus, image stabilizer, face detection and LED Flash
• VGA @ 30fps video recording
• Accelerometer and limited touchscreen functionality
• FM Radio
• 55MB internal memory with microSD support (up to 32GB)
• Data connection: WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, USB, DLNA, Mac connectivity
• Comes in Luminous White and Obsidian Black

Retail price of the Sony Ericsson Aino is P23,950

Last but not the least is the gorgeous Satio which is the first Ericsson phone to offer ninth High Definition (nHD), a mobile High Definition TV experience directly to your phone. It has a 3.5-inch wide touchscreen that could play your 16:9 format HD videos while on the go.

It also has a built-in document reader and editor to handle your Office and PDF documents.

Here are some of its specs:

• 16,777,216 color TFT touchscreen (360×640 pixel)
• 12.1 MP camera with autofocus, face detection and xenon flash
• VGA @ 30fps video recording with video flash
• Accelerometer
• FM Radio
• 128 MB storage; 256 MB RAM with microSD support (up to 32GB)
• Data connection: WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, DLNA, USB
• Comes in Black, Silver and Bordeaux

Retail price of the Sony Ericsson Satio is P32,500

Satio, Aino and Kita comes with exclusive content via the Sony Ericsson Entertainment Asia portal where you can get films from Sony Pictures, songs and music videos from Sony Music and game titles from the Gameloft library.

The launch of these new phones is in partnership with SM Supermalls and UNICEF to support the Mobile Education and Child Protection Program for Street Children.

Windows 7 will be officially introduced to consumers this Saturday (Nov. 7) at the Cyberzone in SM North Edsa. If you’re interested in acquiring a license of Windows 7 but don’t know which edition is the right one for you, here’s a chart to guide you.

If you’re wondering about Windows Home Basic, it is targeted towards netbook users and is similar to Home Premium but with the following restrictions:

• No Windows Media Center
• Partial Windows Aero functionality
• And you can only join Home Group (not create)

For the local prices (according to a Microsoft marketing rep):

• Windows 7 Home Basic – P8,000
• Windows 7 Home Premium – P9,500
• Windows 7 Professional – P15,500
• Windows 7 Ultimate – P16,500

There’s also a special promo that will last until Nov. 8 where you can get Windows Basic for only P7,777 at all retail stores.

Prices for 32-bit and 64-bit version of Windows 7 will be the same.

For multiple-license upgrades, it is currently available for businesses and not for home users. Will let you guys know if this will change.

Note: Prices and promo per store may slightly differ. In Octagon (SM Megamall), you can get the Home Premium for only P7,500 for a limited time.

Last week Apple unveiled the world’s first multi-touch mouse, the Magic Mouse. Apple’s Mighty Mouse’s predecessor is now a wireless, sexy-looking piece of gadget.

What Apple basically did was turn the glass touchpad surface of their Macbook Pro into a wireless, mouse-shaped device. No more mechanical buttons and now you can do all those finger gestures that you can do on the touchpad with the Magic Mouse.

You can scroll through long documents as if the magic mouse has a scroll wheel, pan across large images or swipe to move forward or backward through web pages and photos.

Magic Mouse uses Bluetooth as its wireless connection to your Mac from up to 10 meters away. It is powered by two AA batteries that Apple claims would last you about 4 months.

At least a Mac OS X Leopard (10.5.8 or later) is required for the Magic Mouse.

It is now already available with the new iMac but is expected to be sold separately next week for Php3,490.

Sony Philippines sent us their new ultra-light and ultra-thin laptop — a Sony Vaio X, powered by the fastest Intel Atom Z550 processor running at 2.0GHz. Check out our unboxing video and some close up shots.

Sony Vaio VPCX113KG/B
11.1″ LED screen @ 1366×768 pixels
Intel Atom Z540 @ 1.86GHz
2GB DDR2 SDRAM
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500
64GB SSD (PATA)
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Media Card Reader
Li-Ion battery up to 3.5 hours
Weight: 655 grams (1.44 lbs)
Price: Php69,999

Sony Vaio VPCX117LG/B
11.1″ LED screen @ 1366×768 pixels
Intel Atom Z550 @ 2.0GHz
2GB DDR2 SDRAM
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500
128GB SSD (Serial ATA)
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
Media Card Reader
Li-Ion battery up to 6.5 hours
Weight: 760 grams (1.68 lbs)
Price: Php92,999

See unboxing video below:

The LG GD900 Crystal is one of the most coolest and interesting looking phone I’ve seen in a while with its transparent slide-out keypad made with tempered glass.

If you’re wondering how the design concept came about with the LG Crystal, here’s an interview with Youngho Kim, VP of design at LG Mobile Communication.

Q: Tell us about the experience of creating the LG GD900 Crystal. How did you come up with an idea of transparent phone?

Kim: We started toying with the idea in 2005 and later the concept won the Presidential Design Award at the Korea Industrial Design Exhibition in 2006. At the lab, we are always examining new designs and always on the lookout for something that would stand out from the rest. Ironically, we created a ”stand-out" phone by making it transparent!

Transparency is one motif that many designers around the world have experimented with at one time or another. It’s like invisibility – the holy grail for designers because we’re essentially working with something that’s almost invisible. But the challenge is also a reward because we’re not constrained by the barrier of a shell or covering. Once the opaque skin is stripped away, the interior is exposed, creating a kind of emotional connection.

Q: There are a few transparent concept products from other manufacturers. What is it that distinguishes the LG GD900 Crystal that your team has developed?

Kim: Everything else we’ve seen are prototypes at the conceptual stage whereas this handset is now just a few weeks from being in the hands of an end-user. Other transparent products have never made it this far and usually have ended up as experimental design concepts that end up in a museum or design studio.

The real challenge of creating the LG GD900 wasn’t that the transparent design had to be attractive but that the handset itself had to function no differently than any other premium mobile phone. Consumer insights, which play a big role in how we approach handset design, have shown time after time that design and style are important but unlikely to be accepted by the masses unless the functionality is all there. Even fashion-conscious customers want a good lens on their camera for those important photos and clear sound even when they’re on the subway.

Q: Did you have any difficulty developing the design of the LG GD900 Crystal?

Kim: One challenge we had to overcome is that consumers want big screens but they don’t want big handsets. So on the GD900 Crystal we expanded the touch screen functionalities to the touchpad itself. We adopted an inner slide system utilizing a gapless rail support mechanism to achieve the simple look. The final challenge was making the electric circuitry invisible which was achieved with the help of a layer of touch-sensitive film. We achieved all these breakthroughs and still managed to keep the thickness to a slim 13.5 millimetres.

Q. Advances in design are often driven by the development of new materials. What new materials were used in the creation of the LG GD900 Crystal?

Kim: We’ve used many kinds of materials on other models that have turned out to be successful and popular with consumers who want a different look. This is easier said than done, as the right materials also have to have the right look and feel. For LG Shine, we used a full metallic body, first ever used on a mobile phone; and for LG Secret, the initial concept was a "style that lasts" and we used premium materials of tempered glass and carbon fibre. For GD900 Crystal, it’s made of a highly durable tempered glass and is framed and reinforced by a band of Liquidmetal, a relatively new material that designers are looking into that is very strong and quite shock-absorbent.

Q: Tell us your outlook for transparent consumer products.

Kim: Transparency is another form of invisibility. It’s something that everyone fantasizes about but until now, that’s all it’s been. The fact that we can now make devices for daily use that are, for the lack of a better word — “invisible” — is significant because we are no longer constrained by a solid “barrier” in design. It’s like a window that is also an input device — it’s revolutionary. We’re excited about what the future holds in the next generation of “design transparency”.

Check out the review of the LG GD900 Crystal at Yugatech.