Yesterday, Smart Communications announced the availability of LTE plans for the iPad 4th generation and iPad mini (WiFi + Cellular).

Enjoy the features of the new iPad by being paired with fast and reliable internet connection with speeds up to 42Mbps. Smart’s LTE coverage has about 1,000 sites currently located over 115 cities and municipalities across the country. You’ll be downloading movies in minutes, watching your favorite HD online videos with minimal buffering, and just enjoy the entertainment experience you get from your iPad.

Smart LTE plans for the iPad and iPad mini will be available in 53 Smart Stores starting today, May 18, 2013.

Smart iPad Plan 999

Avail of the iPad Plan 999 and get unlimited 3G/LTE connectivity for 24 months. To sweeten the deal, you can get the iPad 4 with retina display or the iPad mini at an P8, 000 discount (see table below). You may settle it in cash or defer your payment up to 12 months at zero percent interest.

Smart iPad Plan 499

You may also opt for the iPad Plan 499 and get the lowest rate at P1,374 a month. This already comes with a 16GB iPad mini, 65 hours of 3G/LTE connectivity plus Anti Bill Shock protection for 24 months. No credit card? No problem! You won’t need one for you to be able to avail of this plan.

The table below shows your monthly fee for the iPad mini/iPad with Retina models on top of the plan service fee (P499).

For more information on the iPad Plans, visit: www.smart.com.ph/getmini.

The Fanny Wang 1000 Series on-ear headphones combines superior sound quality with high-fashion. Claiming to boast of natural, thumping bass with crystal clear mids and highs, these headphones should be an ideal choice for those who want to experience optimal sound quality regardless of music genre.

This On Ear Wang Headphones utilize a tri-fold design making it easy to stash when not in use. Ear-cups are well-padded to keep your ears comfy over long period of use while blocking outside noise. The adjustable band should fit all head sizes while offering a stable and comfortable fit.

Its 40mm high performance titanium-plated drivers, should add heft to the bass line without drowning the mids and highs. It feature what they call the Duo Jack, which allows you to share your music with a friend via the in-line cable splitter. It’s also iPhone-ready with the Apple integrated remote.

The Fanny Wang 1000 series headphones come in black, white, orange, green and blue colors and retails for Php8,910.

PLDT’s business arm, SME Nation, recently announced a strategic partnership with prominent consumer electronic brand, Samsung, to deliver innovative business solutions for the country’s growing SME market.

The partnership aims to further empower entrepreneurs with business-enhancing bundles comprised of broadband and cloud services with the latest IT equipment and smart devices. With PLDT, SMEs nationwide are assured of reliable high-speed connectivity and trusted cloud-based solutions. With Samsung, SMEs can get high-tech gadgets such as tablets, notebooks, smartphones, and Smart TVs.

“To succeed, SMEs have to capitalize on given agility and speed advantages, again, with the right ICT tools which must include highly reliable access networks and relevant business solutions which drive efficiencies and cost savings,” said PLDT EVP and head of Enterprise, International and Carrier Business, Eric Alberto.

“Our economy’s upward trend with the current investment-grade and the rising stock market show how businesses are doing well now and that this is a crucuail time for SMEs to have the tools and devices to help them be more competitive in their industries,” said Alberto.

Being a preferred brand among consumers, Samsung created a B2B group aimed at empowering small-to-medium sized enterprises by providing them with the most reliable IT and mobile products for their business.

“This partnership is significant as it represents a fruitful union between two of the leading companies in their own respective fields,” said Chung Lyong Lee, president and chief executive officer of Samsung Electronics Philippines Corporation.

There are the times when having a Bluetooth-enabled speaker or headphone would be of use. One useful case would be when you have a pair of loud speakers leeching music off your iPod but you don’t want to be tied up next to it whenever you want to change tracks, you would wish to have a Bluetooth speaker instead.

The Genius BT-100R is a music Bluetooth receiver that works on any speakers (even car stereo) or headphones that uses RCA cables or 3.5mm audio cables. So if you have your favorite speakers, or your high-end headphones, but you want to bring Bluetooth capability to it, this is your device.

Just connect your speakers to the BT-100R and you can start pairing it with your smartphone or other Bluetooth-enabled music source. This device comes with a rechargeable built-in lithium battery that charges via USB and can last about 10 hours.

The Genius T-100R is already available in PC stores for Php1,250.

During the BlackBerry Live conference, BlackBerry also introduced their latest handset, the “youthful” and “fun” BlackBerry Q5.

According to BlackBerry President and CEO, Thorsten Heins, the BlackBerry Q5 is for youthful fans who wants the cutting-edge functionality of the BlackBerry 10 OS, and a physical QWERTY keyboard, while allowing them to have fun, create, share, and stay connected?

The Q5 features the classic BlackBerry keyboard BB purists has grown to love, along with a 3.1-inch LCD touchscreen with a 720 x 720 resolution. It will also tote a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 8GB worth of internal storage plus a microSD slot.

Being a BlackBerry 10 device, the Q5 will also get the Time Shift camera mode, BBM Video with Screen Share, and also the BlackBerry Hub.

Is this the next generation BlackBerry Curve? Looks like it as this QWERTY device will be made available to emerging markets in July most likely including ours. No price has been announced yet but the Q5 will come in black, white, red and pink colors.

If you love Whatsapp or Viber or Line, there’s no reason for you not to love one of the most popular social media communication app in the world today, WeChat, which was officially launched yesterday at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel.

WeChat is an easy-to-use and fun application that allows users to chat with friends and family and lets them connect with other users anywhere in the world. Pinoys are very social-media savvy and WeChat is sure to hit it big in the country according to Poshu Yeung, Vice President of International Business, Tencent (the largest Internet company in China).

WeChat is an integration of the best features we used to enjoy in different apps. Here, users can do video and voice chat, share photos, group chat and a lot more. Brand Ambassadors Iya Villania and Drew Arellano shared their fun experiences in using WeChat.

WeChat has the “Hold to Talk” feature that works like a walkie-talkie, allowing users to do quick voice messaging than sending a text. I think it’s more personal this way. View Iya and Drew’s TVC featuring the Hold to Talk here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4TqXJVLo0o

One of the exciting features of WeChat include location-based social plug-in called “Look Around,” wherein WeChat locates the users in your area and you can instantly exchange messages using their animated emoticons or even voice or video chat. The emoticons are really cute and may be customized too!

Another unique location-based plug-in is the “Shake” option, wherein WeChat can locate users who shake their phones the same time. In a way, the shaking creates the initial connection between you and a potential new friend.

WeChat can be downloaded on iOS, Andrioid, Symbian, BlackBerry, and Windows Phones absolutely for free! It is worth noting though that when you download WeChat in your Android and iOS gadgets, you will be prompted that the application contains material not suited for 17 years old and below.

Today at the BlackBerry Live conference in Orlando, BlackBerry announced their plans on bringing their mobile social network, BlackBerry Messenger or BBM to the iOS and Android platform. With the widespread popularity of multi-platform mobile messaging apps such as Viber, Whatsapp, Line, etc., BlackBerry will soon be opening the doors of their exclusive BBM community to iOS and Android users.

Upon release, iOS and Android users would be able to experience the immediacy of BBM chats, including multi-person chats, as well as the ability to share photos and voice notes,and engage in BBM Groups, which allows BBM customers to create groups of up to 30 people.

According to Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President, Software Product Management and Ecosystem, at BlackBerry, the time is right for BBM to become a multi-platform mobile service. “BBM has always been one of the most engaging services for BlackBerry customers,enabling them to easily connect while maintaining a valued level of personal privacy,” he further added.

BBM claims to have more than 60 million monthly active customers, with more than 51 million people using BBM an average of 90 minutes per day. BBM customers collectively send and receive more than 10 billion messages each day, nearly twice as many messages per user per day as compared to other mobile messaging apps.

BlackBerry also announced BBM Channels, a new social engagement platform within BBM  targeting businesses, brands, celebrities, and groups to easily connect to their followers. This new BBM feature will initially be made available to BlackBerry users only.

BlackBerry’s BBM will be available in the coming months pending approval from the Apple App Store and Google Play.

About a month ago, Microsoft announced the end of support for their Windows XP and Office 2003 which will take effect on April 8, 2014. This means no further support will be provided for the said products in case vulnerabilities and security issues are found after that date.

To encourage SMBs to modernize their IT infrastructure before that deadline, Microsoft offers their beneficial promo called Get2Modern.

From May 1 to June 28 2013, qualified SMBs can avail of a special 15% discount on Windows 8 and Office 2013, as well as 20% off on Windows 8 Pro notebooks and tablet hardware upgrade offers.

To top it off, for the first 100 local SMBs who will avail of this offer, Microsoft Philippines will provide them with their own customized Windows 8 catalog app. An app made for Windows 8’s touchscreen UI they can showcase to their customers.

Issa Aviles, Small and Medium Business and Enterprise Marketing Lead at Microsoft Philippines said, “SMBs from the backbone of the economy as they employ a large portion of the workforce and contribute significantly to productivity, export and revenues. Yet, many are stuck with old technology and processes which do not address today’s needs for increased collaboration and higher productivity for a multi-generational workforce and security. Our goal through this effort is to help SMBs to modernize by moving away from old technologies like Windows XP or Office 2003 so they can truly realize new levels of productivity, experience stronger security and take advantage of cloud services cost effectively.”

Additionally, SMBs running Windows XP and Office 2003 need to be aware that these products will no longer receive support from Microsoft, which means they will be exposed to security and privacy risks, software incompatibility and eventually higher total cost of ownership.

To learn more of Microsoft’s Get2Modern promo and how you can upgrade your business, do visit http://www.itworks.ph.

Asus recently launched their competitively priced 7-inch Android phone and tablet device which is the Fonepad. This Intel-powered device will be available by the last week of May starting at Php11,999 for the 8GB, and Php14,999 for the 32GB.

We were able to play with the Fonepad a couple of months ago and we weren’t that ecstatic about its performance. However, we got word that the 32GB version that will be available here will sport a 1.6GHz single-core Intel Atom Z2460 processor instead of the 1.2GHz originally used.

You might be wondering how does a single-core Intel Atom processor fare on an Android device. Well it’s surprisingly good actually now that the firmware has been updated to support it properly. Regular use (navigation, pinch to zoom, scrolling through the gallery) posed little to no lags and is comparable to other next-generation dual-core chips in the market today.

Here’s the Antutu benchmark score of the 32GB Fonepad. A far cry from 5588 score of the Fonepad with the old firmware we tried last March.

However, Quadrant score is low but it might have something to do with the benchmark tool not recognizing the potential of Intel’s Hyper Threading Technology available for the Atom processor.

The Fonepad also has a microSD slot to give you more storage options. It only has a 3-megapixel rear camera with no flash but it also has a 1.2-megapixel front camera with an above average aperture opening. Asus wants this to be more useful for video chatting rather than regular photography.

Asus Philippines Technical PR Specialist, Eason de Guzman Jr., highlighted that with its affordable price, you will get a phablet with a premium-feel. It’s currently the only 7-inch tablet in the market with a brushed-aluminum body. It also has a 1280 x 800 HD IPS display to give you more bang for your money.

With it’s 4270mAh battery and Intel Atom’s low-power requirements, the Asus Fonepad will net you about 1.5 days on moderate use which is not bad for a 7-inch phone/ tablet-in-one device.

Aside from the two version, the Asus Fonepad will also be available in two colors: Titanium Gray and Champagne Gold.

To commemorate the 37th year of Atari’s Breakout, Google create a little easter egg on their image search that will surely take a few minutes of your time.

If you don’t know the game Breakout, it’s a game inspired by Pong, then in turn inspired the game called Arkanoid which you probably know. The object of the game is to clear all bricks by bouncing a ball off your paddle. Of course Breakout is the most simplest form of the game without any power-ups or anything to slow down the ball, or make your paddle longer… you know what I mean if you’re a fan of such games.

To play Breakout in Google, simply go to image search and type in “atari breakout.” The image results will turn into blocks which you have to break through.