We have here an unboxing video if you may want to check it out as the package includes an SD card and some red & white themed accessories.

Design and Construction

The O+ 8.6 is a great looking device. It’s solid and it carries design elements that make this phone much more unique. Also, the device falls perfectly into your hand and we didn’t encounter any problems with handling this phone.

On top you’ll find the place for the 3.5mm audio jack & the micro USB port while on the left you’ll find the volume rocker and the power button. Nothing is found all the way to the right and the bottom except for the microphone. The whole phone is surrounded by a shiny chrome side casing, which in our opinion makes it look cheap, but that’s just our take.

As for the capacitive buttons down below, they are pretty responsive – but we’d like to note that the home button blinks green when you have unread notifications and red if you are charging.

What stains the beauty of the device though is the way it attracts fingerprints. Yes, it looks good by itself but not when there are oil smudges all over, so you really have to wipe it very often – both the front and back sides.

Display

Some sites stated that this one had an IPS panel, but nothing really confirms it. To add, the 4.5-inch qHD display has a bad viewing angle from the top portion.

The screen becomes a little hard to navigate when there are too much smudges, but other than that, we were pretty impressed with the clear text and the vibrant colors.

OS, Apps and UI

As for the OS, it runs on Android 4.1 Jellybean. The interface is basically the same across all O+ devices, and while it is indeed too cartoony & colorful, we feel that the stuff injected by O+ here is much more polished than Cherry Mobile‘s or Starmobile’s.

We have no bloatware apps here, and most of the changes are visual. Like what we’ve said in our O+ 8.15 review, it still would have looked better if they left it on stock Android.

Multimedia & Camera

The speakers sounded good, but we’re sure other phones can produce audio louder. Video playback on the other hand was a bit disappointing too despite the qHD display – some parts of selected video can show pixilation regardless of if it is HD or not.

The 5 megapixel shooter on the back of the phone sadly takes soft and mushy photos. On the bright side, it keeps an acceptable amount of noise in low light situations and the colors are warm.

Video recording in 720p dropped a few frames, and the audio sounded a little buggy. Asides from that, it all worked well – from shaking & colors to focus.

Performance & Battery Life

With a dual-core processor, it does very average just like other phones of this class; the lags found on other phones running a similar chipset are also apparent here. The 1GB RAM helps though, and for the most part, it can do what it is expected to do.

• Antutu – 6,071
• Quadrant – 2,741
• Nenamark 2 – 23.8 fps

In a video loop with 50% brightness & audio, the device drained 60% of the battery in 2 hours. That’s a bit disappointing since that seems like it wouldn’t even reach a near 5 hours. On standby, it was also unimpressive as we had to recharge it a lot of times in a week without even using it.

Conclusion

O+ did a great job with some elements – the packaging by adding red & white themed chargers & earphones, the OS by keeping bloatware minimal & the version not too far behind and the little things such as a notification light in the home button.

Over at the flipside, the rest are mediocre – the display, the camera and the build have drawbacks.  It should have at least excelled in some points to justify the Php7,995 price tag, and somehow, we think that your money will be better spent on something else, or you could save up for another O+ phone like the O+ 8.15.

O+ 8.6 specs:
4.5” LCD display @ 540 x 960 pixels
Mediatek MT6577 1GHz quad-core processor
PowerVR SGX 531
4GB internal memory
1GB RAM
Dual-SIM, dual-standby
WiFi
Bluetooth
5MP rear autofocus camera, LED flash, 720p HD
VGA front-facing camera
GPS w/ aGPS support
FM Radio tuner
Android 4.1 Jellybean
Li-Ion 1,500mAh battery

What we liked about it:

• Clean O+ UI
• Solid construction

What we didn’t like about it:

• Subpar battery life
• Fingerprint magnet
• Unimpressive video playback & other minor elements

The post O+ 8.6 Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

The results page doesn’t actually name the handset as the Galaxy Note 3, but it shows a model number (GT-N7200) that highly suggests that it is indeed the SGN2’s (GT-N7100) successor. That is of course if the Samsung decides to keep its numbering scheme.

Another fascinating information revealed in the result page is that the handset used in the test is running on a yet-to-be-released version of Android (Android 4.3) and is powered by a processor with a clock speed of 1600Mhz or 1.6GHz.

As for the benchmark score, the alleged handset actually fared a little worse than the Galaxy S4 which got a score of 28,444 on our test. Regardless, the SGN3’s score (27,914) is still worthy of some props considering that the software installed on it is presumably still under development.

Of course, there’s a possibility that the test page shown above could be fake or rigged so do take this with your usual grain of salt.

{source}

The post SGN3’s AnTuTu benchmark scores leaked appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

The concept behind Mirasol has been around for quite some time already, and it has been shown in various forms. We actually saw one (see image above) when we visited the company’s museum late last year, but the latest one, which was demoed in this year’s SID Display Week, is by far the most promising.

What we’re talking about is a prototype handset that sports a 5.1-inch display with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440. If you do the math, that should equate to a staggering 577 pixels-per-inch; the highest pixel density we’ve seen on a smartphone.

But having an insanely high pixel density isn’t the only thing that’s intriguing about Qualcomm’s latest prototype. The company claims that their brainchild is six times better than common display such as LCD and OLED in terms of power consumption.

It’s a controversial claim that can only be proven once a finished product is released. Unfortunately, that won’t happen anytime soon as the company states that Mirasol is still under development and will still take a couple of years or so before it reaches production. However, if you’re as intrigued as I am about Mirasol, you can head over to this link for further reading.

{source}

The post Qualcomm unveils 5.1” prototype with 577ppi appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

The XBox One replaces the XBox 360 as Microsoft’s latest video game console and will directly compete with the likes of the PlayStation 4 and the Wii U.

Microsoft XBox One specs:
8-core processor
8GB RAM
500GB HDD
Blu-ray drive
HDMI port
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi Direct
USB 3.0 ports
1080p Kinect Sensor
XBox Live
XBox OS

The console will have access to TV shows (via the cable box), movies, entertainment, games (XBox Live), and Internet Explorer. Players can also even pop up on a Skype window while playing.

The post Microsoft XBox One finally revealed appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Although it seems that the leaked firmware is still on developmental stage, it’s already what a smartphone geek would consider as a “daily driver” as pretty much all the functionalities are in sound condition.

Here’s quick demo of the firmware installed on a Galaxy S3:

Now here’s the rundown of the features that SamMobile observed during their time with the leaked firmware:

• New S4 Lockscreen: Multiple Widgets, two Unlock effects (Ripple and Light), improved ripple effect than Android 4.1.2, ability to change clock size and set a personal message
• New Screen modes (From S4): Adapt Display and Professional Photo
• Daydream
• Driving mode
• Actionable notifications
• New Additions in Notification Center
• Completely revamped Settings UI (Tabbed interface – Exactly like the S4)
• Addition of Voice controls (Let’s you control various parts of the phone using voice commands – Galaxy S4 feature)
• Gallery modes have white background
• Full screen Samsung apps
• New S-Voice (from S4)
• New smart switch widget

This unofficial firmware is deemed by the site to “work perfectly as any other official firmware”. Having said that, its relatively safe (given that you follow the instruction provided in the source link below) for you to install it on your device and take it for a spin. If you did, we’d love to hear your comments about the upgraded firmware.

{source}

The post Samsung to bring S4 features to SGS3 appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

The Jolla smartphone sports a 4.5-inch HD “Estrade” display, dual-core processor, 4G LTE, 16GB of internal storage with microSD card support, 8 megapixel AF rear camera, user-replaceable battery, and an interchangeable rear shell called “The Other Half”. Running at the heart of the Jolla is the gesture-based Sailfish OS with Android app support.

The Jolla has a price tag of 399 Euros or around Php21,000, and will start shipping by the end of 2013. Those interested can pre-order the device here.

{source} {via}

The post Jolla outs Sailfish-powered smartphone appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Several months ago, my stand on Nokia’s decision on Windows Phone was a little shaky. I even wrote an article about it here, asking if I should give them a second chance. Now though, I’m starting to think Nokia can do this.

I personally think that Nokia’s way to the top will be a lot easier with Android, but Nokia is indeed proving that there’s also a way to the top with Windows Phone.

Through WP, Nokia is a king. It’s the company that pops into your head when you hear Windows Phone, and it offers the best hardware running the software. However, for Nokia, it’s going to be a slow journey, but I am positive that they’ll get there.

Nokia has a great design department & an amazing camera team. The software too is above average as they have made a good set of apps for Windows Phone – which lacks compared to Android & iOS. They have City Lens, Here, Cinemagraph & more, and I think it’s very cool. Also, it’s Nokia that’s doing most of the effort by releasing apps such as #2InstaWithLove – which calls out to Instagram to make an app for WP.

Windows Phone still adds a limitation to Nokia though, which is probably why Nokia has no 1080p phones and why the company had to make a separate Smart Camera app for the Lumia 925 to compete with present day smartphones

With all of that said, we’re just hoping Windows Phone’s next updates will be a lot better, since I think it’s very obvious – Nokia’s work can be a lot easier if Windows Phone didn’t hold it back.

Marketing is something I feel that Nokia has just learned, and it’s one of the most important elements in business success.  This is very clear in their new commercial for the Lumia, and I think it’s very clever. If only they got that to more TVs, maybe their sales would soar higher.

I was disappointed when we didn’t see the rumored EOS phone on Nokia’s event, but even if that’s the case, I was still glad. If you haven’t noticed yet, the Nokia Lumia 925 is still the company’s reply to the HTC One & the Samsung Galaxy S4 – and it still competes well.

While the One is made out of aluminum and the S4 of polycarbonate plastic, the Lumia 925 combines both materials into one phone. The Lumia 925 has the best of both worlds with an aluminum side frame and a polycarbonate back.

The display can be argued with, but the camera isn’t  The Nokia Lumia 920 didn’t have a bad camera; it just didn’t do as great in daylight. Nokia aims to fix that with the 6th lens they’ve added into the 925. By keeping a relatively high megapixel count like the S4 and amazing low-light capabilities like the One, again – Nokia offers the best of both worlds.

Without everyone really knowing, Nokia’s very competitive. When the other phone manufacturers added a bunch of camera settings into their devices, Nokia made sure they had a counterpart – and they didn’t wait for any tweak from Microsoft. As for the CPU and the other specs, one might argue.

Windows Phone needs to have a great update to accelerate Nokia further. Apart from that, it’s also the game & app developers that needs a push to strengthen the ecosystem.

All of those things will make Nokia’s way to success easier, but even with those at a slow pace, I’m sure Nokia will do just fine.

The post Here is why I’ve given Nokia a second chance appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

The idea behind the newly announced website is fairly simple; motorists are given access to live feed from MMDA’s CCTV cameras installed on major roads including EDSA (Ayala, Marcos Highway Megamall, Nepa Q-Mart, Orense, P.Tuazon, Taft and White Plaines), C-5 (Green Meadows) and Commonwealth Avenue, so they can see what’s happening in real-time.

Mr. Francis Tolentino, current chairman of MMDA, was keen to point out that the app can also be used not only in monitoring traffic situation, but also flooding. This will put to the test, especially now that we’re inching closer to the rainy season.

Another thing that Chairman Tolentino mentioned during the announcement was that the app was made at no cost to the government thanks to the joint venture with ICTV.

“With the MMDA Traffic Mirror, motorists can see the actual traffic and flood situations in these three major roads, minus the cost that usually comes with these applications,”

- Chairman Francis Tolentino, MMDA

MMDA Traffic Mirror can be viewed on computers, tablets and smartphones through mmda.nowplanet.tv and will be broadcasted in HD resolution. For now, the app will be a separate entity, but the agency is planning to incorporate Traffic Mirror to their other services so as to have a unified source for traffic situations and floodings.

The post MMDA intros Traffic Mirror appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

The app offers minor photo editing tools like crop, straighten, rotate, flip, and even remove red-eye due to head on flash. In terms of color, it allows users to make some few adjustments to their snaps by changing the White Balance, Contrast and Brightness.

Photoshop Express for Windows 8 and RT is also equipped with a handful of filters referred to as “Looks” for users who wanna add their personal touch to their photos. But the best feature in the package, in my opinion, is the Noise Reduction tool that, well as its name implies, lessens the amount of unwanted grains in your photo which is probably due to a high ISO setting.

The apps is free and can be downloaded through this link.

{source}

The post Photoshop Express now available on Windows 8 & RT appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

For those who’ve already seen or used (or still using) the X100, the X100s will be a familiar sight as not much have changed on its design. However, for the benefit of those who haven’t used any of these cameras, let me give you a quick tour on the X100s’ body.

Design and Construction

Both top and base of the camera is made of die-cast magnesium alloy that is both durable and lightweight. Together with the black Polyurethane grip and old-school layout, this gives the X100s a retro look and feel that is reminiscent to a 70’s camera.

Differentiating the successor from the predecessor can be quite tricky. In fact the only immediately noticeable difference between the two is the “S” logo at the bottom right of the latest iteration. This logo is placed on top of the Polyurethane grip which pretty much covers the bottom half of the front portion of the camera.

Over to the right side of the S-logo is the Focus Switch that lets you choose from three focus settings; Manual Focus, Autofocus-Continuous and Autofocus-Single (in descending order). The arrangement of these selections is another minute adjustment that Fuji has done to improve the X100s’ overall handling.

A good portion of the front panel is occupied by the X100s’ fixed 23mm (36.8mm, 35mm equivalent) f/2 lens which is divided in two segments; Manual Focus ring (top) and Aperture control ring (bottom). There’s also a removable ring at the base of the lens that you can unscrew should you wish to attach a lens hood to the unit.

Adjusting the aperture ring was rather easy thanks to a pair of tabs placed on its side. Unfortunately, the ring only allows full-stop aperture increments, so fine tuning is done through the jog-lever and/or the 4-way mode dial at the back.

Above the lens is small flash unit accompanied by a tiny hole for the microphone. These components sit in between the front end of the see-through hybrid viewfinder and AF assist lamp and a red-tipped lever. The lever is used to switch from the optical and the hybrid viewfinder.

The top portion of the camera is divided in two segments which are parted by a full-sized hotshoe in the middle. The left side is reserved for brandings and is deserted of any camera controls.

Meanwhile, the right side is peppered dials and buttons that are easily accessible with the use of the index finger and/or the thumb. This is where the two big knobs for Shutter Speed and Exposure Compensation are situated. The former, like the Aperture ring, only offers whole-stop increments, while the latter offers 1/3 stop.

There’s also nipple-type button for the shutter release with a power toggle switch around it and an Fn (Function) button beside it. The shutter button is threaded so you can attach an accessory like an external button or mechanical shutter release. The Fn button, on the other hand, can be assigned to several on-camera functions like ISO.

Flip the camera on its back and you’ll be greeted with another slew of buttons and dial that would surely delight any photo-enthusiast out there. First off is the 2.8-inch LCD display which occupies a good portion of the camera’s posterior.

On the left side of the LCD screen is a strip of four vertically-aligned buttons for Playback, AE (Automatic Exposure), AF (Autofocus) and View Mode. Above the quartet of buttons is the other end of the camera’s hybrid viewfinder which is flanked by two components on each side namely the eye sensor (right) and the diopter correction (left).

Over to the right is LED indicator and another set of multi-function buttons which comprises of AFL/AEL, DISP/Back and RAW/Q. In the middle of the action, there’s the Menu/OK button which is surrounded by a 4-way scroll wheel for Erase/Drive (Top), Flash (Right), White Balance (Bottom) and Macro mode (Left). There’s also a jog lever situated at the aluminum portion of the camera right below the Shutter Speed and Exposure Compensation dials.

Rounding up the tour is the threaded hole for tripod and battery compartment that also plays host to the SD card slot. Both of which are located at the bottom portion of the camera.

Handling

Because the design of the X100s is near-identical with its predecessor, we expect that the feel of the camera in our hands will be the same as when holding an X100. True enough, the newcomer delivered the same retro yet professional feel that made its older sibling popular among photographers.

On a physical standpoint, the term “Sexy” is not what I’ll use to describe the X100s. It’s actually a bit stocky and has a good amount of heft to it. It’s also worth noting that front portion of the camera is rather flat, which may present some concerns when gripping the camera.

However, after using the X100s for little over a week, we can definitely say that X100s’ shallow grip didn’t bother us one bit in being able to hold the camera with one hand. This is due to its reassuring weight, coupled with its stocky frame and the front surface that gives a rubber-like feel which more than makes up for the lack of depth in camera’s grip.

Another thing to point out is the amount of external controls that are readily available and easily reachable with both hands (esp. the right). While we don’t expect Point & Shoot users to appreciate this feat, we like to believe that a lot of dSLR shooters would certainly enjoy the full suite of manual controls that the X100s has to offer.

If there’s anything we’d like to see improve is the 4-way mode dial that’s not only a bit small for our liking, but is also unresponsive and inaccurate at times. We’re hoping that the next iteration of this camera will sport a dial that provides a clicking feedback rather than this free-turning dial.

Summary

As mentioned earlier, the Fujifilm X100s doesn’t stray too far from its predecessor in terms of design. It still has that same retro look and feel, not to mention a barrage of controls that made many photographers around the world drool over it.

So why make two identically-looking cameras, you might ask? Well it’s all about fine tuning an already great camera. Fujifilm has already got the design aspect pretty much squared away with the X100, so all that’s left for the firm to do for the next iteration is to make sure that all the other bases are covered and address some of the concerns that users presented during their time with the X100.

The bottom line is that although the X100s may look a lot like its predecessor on the outside, it’s certainly a totally different beast on the inside. These improvements and other aspects of this camera will be discussed during our full review which will come in a week or so.

The post Hands-on: Fujifilm FinePix X100s appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.