YugaTech | Philippines, Tech Reviews Blog

As Apple Store looms, how will local resellers respond?

yuga — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 02:12:15 GMT

According to a source, the regional Apple office has finally realized that their sales volume in the Philippines is already huge that it warrants they put up a physical store in the country. Yes, possibly a physical store that will compete with the premium resellers.

I am told that Apple has hired 3 new senior executives based in the Philippines to over-see this expansion.

This isn’t the first time that a supposed Apple Store will be built in Manila. Back in 2009, the company CB Engineers designed this project in Fort Bonifacio:

CB Engineers was selected by the Ayala Development Group to provide consulting services as the sustainability consultant and commissioning agent for the new Philippine Stock Exchange Office Building.

The project is a new 650,000-sq.ft. high rise office tower complex located in Bonifacio Global City, a business district of Metro Manila in the Philippines. The project is named for its anchor tenant the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) although the PSE will be occupying only about 108,000 sf or 15% of the total projected floor area. The project is being designed as a LEED Gold, Class A office space (referred to as Triple A Office Space in Manila) and will seek high profile tenants such as headquarters of large multinationals, with the retail section housing the Apple Store, Manila as the anchor tenant. To match the projects ambitious design goals, the Ownership Group has insisted on retaining a world class design team which includes Skidmore Owings & Merrill, SOM; EDAW and CB Engineers along with qualified local architects and engineers as the designers or record.

In April 2012, the PSE Board approved the relocation of its unified trading floor and corporate headquarters to Bonifacio Global City under a revised property deal with Ayala Land Inc. The area is around the BGC’s West Super Block.

If this project will happen, and it surely will, Apple will have its own footprint in the Philippines. An official Apple Store that people will certainly flock to when they want to buy anything Apple — iPhone, iPad and Mac.

With this development, the Apple Premium Resellers might get less attention from Apple fans. Once you have the Genius Bar at the Apple Store, that’s the only place you’d want to go to if you have to get your iDevices fixed or replaced. And of course, if you want to buy Apple, you’d more likely to get it from the real Apple Store. (Oh, I can see the really long lines now.)

The leaves the resellers with? Fewer customers to service. They won’t go away but they might need to expand their catering beyond Apple products to sustain or maybe extend store hours to like 24/7.

In the end, this is good news to consumers and Apple fan boys out there.

Nokia Lumia 900 Dark Knight Series

Ronnie Bulaong — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 01:44:00 GMT

Nokia has certainly upped the ante with their Lumia devices. To increase the hype and popularity they’ve thrown great parties all over the world, coming up with the SNS contests, teaming up with local businesses like what they’ve done with Philippine Airlines.

One of their recent gimmicks is the announcement of limited edition Batman Dark Knight Lumia 900. It’s so limited that they’ve only manufactured 900 units. Unfortunately this will only be available in UK and is priced at £600 (around Php40,548). Along with this, British retailers will be throwing a movie premiere tickets to those who will be availing the limited edition handset.

Source: Phones 4U

Google Nexus Tablet is a 7-inch Asus Transformer?

yuga — Thu, 31 May 2012 08:55:29 GMT

At the CES 2012, Google CEO Eric Schmidt mentioned that a Nexus tablet is in the works and that it should surface after 6 months. At same event, a 7” tablet was seen in the NVidia and ASUS booth that features a quad-core 1.2GHz Tegra 3 processor, 1280×780 resolution, 1GB RAM and 16GB storage capacity.

The shocker with this tablet is that it is said to be released with $199.99 price tag. Sources said that this may be a viable candidate for the first Google Nexus tablet.

True enough, six months after the CES 2012 a tablet is seen being tested at Rightware’s PowerBoard benchmark. The device information solidified what the sources previously mentioned about an ASUS/Google partnership powered by NVidia. The only slight misstep in the prediction is that this tablet is equipped with a 1.3GHz Quad-core NVidia Tegra 3 processor.

Based on the source code on the said benchmark, the product of ASUS/Google tandem is listed to have Android 4.1 which will most likely be Jellybean. Staying true to their legacy of pairing their latest device with their latest OS, this 7” tablet is believed to be the very first device to sport the Android Jellybean.

As for the official announcement of this tablet we’re putting our money on Google’s annual i/O Developer Conference this 27th and 29th of June. This is definitely something to look forward to especially if the initial price estimate is right, so stay tuned for any updates regarding this 7-incher. For now we’ll have to live by its alias Nexus 7.

{ source }

Updated:

Editor’s Note: We will be flying to Taiwan next week for the Computex 2012 (sponsored by Asus). We can definitely say that the Google Asus Nexus 7 tablet will be unveiled there. The expected retail price is in the vicinity of $250 or around Php11,000. – Yuga

Here’s the official teaser video shared to us by Asus:

Notice at the end, it says — new transformation, with a silhouette of what could be a small Transformer Prime separating from its keyboard.

LG launches Optimus L7 & Optimus 3D Max

yuga — Thu, 31 May 2012 08:43:24 GMT

Yesterday, LG Mobile Philippines officially launched two new handsets in their smartphone lineup — the Optimus L7 and Optimus 3D Max.

We’ve recently featured both of these phones on our previous articles and did our first impressions. These devices will come in two color variants, black and white. You can check out our first impression of the Optimus L7 here and Optimus 3D Max here.

LG will sell the Optimus L7 for Php15,990 while the Optimus 3D Max will cost Php26,990. Here’s the specs of said devices.

LG Optimus L7 P705 specs:
4.3″ IPS LCD @ 480×800 pixels, 240ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass
Qualcomm MSM7227A Snapdragon 1GHz Cortex-A5
Adreno 220 GPU
512MB RAM
4GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD
HSPA+ 21Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi Direct, DLNA
Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
NFC-enabled
GPS w/ aGPS support
5MP autofocus camera w/ LED flash
VGA front-facing camera
FM Radio tuner
1700mAh Li-Ion battery
Android 4.0.3 ICS
125.5 x 67 x 8.7mm (dimensions)
122 grams (weight)
Php15,990 (suggested retail price)

LG Optimus 3D Max P725 specs:
4.3” 3D LCD display @ 480×800 pixels, 240ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 2
TI OMAP 4430 dual-core 1.2GHz
PowerVR SGX540 GPU
512MB RAM
8GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD
HSPA+ 21Mbps
Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
NFC-enabled
GPS w/ aGPS support
Dual 5MP autofocus camera with LED Flash
VGA front-facing camera
1520mAh Li-Ion Battery
Android 2.3 Gingerbread (upgradable to ICS)
126.8 x 67.4 x 9.6mm (dimensions)
148 grams (weight)
Php26,990

We’ll be publishing the full review of these two handsets later this week or early next week.

Globe now offers new iPad 3 with Postpaid Plans

Ronnie Bulaong — Thu, 31 May 2012 02:32:33 GMT

Globe Telecoms has officially launched their postpaid offerings that will come bundled with the new iPad 3. As expected, the Apple tablet is being offered at discounted prices when you subscribe to a Tattoo Broadband plan.

Globe is offering the new iPad with Plan 499 and Plan 999 with additional cash out depending on the desired storage capacity. The cash out can be paid immediately or installment for 3, 6, 9 months or a year for 0% interest.

Here’s a rundown of how much each will cost you.

Globe Tattoo Plan 499
New iPad 16GB (4G + Wi-Fi) – Php29,990
New iPad 32GB (4G + Wi-Fi) – Php39,990
New iPad 64GB (4G + Wi-Fi) – Php34,990

Globe Tattoo Plan 999:
New iPad 16GB (4G + Wi-Fi) – Php21,990
New iPad 32GB (4G + Wi-Fi) – Php25,990
New iPad 64GB (4G + Wi-Fi) – Php30,990

Plan 499 comes with 292 hours of free surfing a month while Plan 999 is unlimited. Globe promises up to 7.2Mbps on the new iPad plan.

These plans will have 24-months lock-in period. If you don’t want to be tied with this service, you can opt to purchase an unlocked version of the new iPad at Apple Online store.

You can find out more about the new iPad in our full review here.

Aren’t you glad you didn’t buy Facebook?

yuga — Thu, 31 May 2012 02:11:33 GMT

Says the Twitter DM sent to me by a close friend from the US. Just last week, we were hurriedly planning on how to get into the Facebook IPO and buy us a few shares as some sort of long-term investment.

The opening price then was $38. The closing price yesterday was just a little over $28.

There goes your $10 a share if you actually bought into Facebook.

I’m not really into the stock market but I had the feeling FB could be the next GOOG. I remember back in 2004, I also talked with some friends into buying GOOG share when it became public.

In retrospect, my excitement is more about buying a “souvenir” rather than investing. So I look at it as a move for the long haul. Besides, I believe in this little advise that “one should only invest in money one is willing to lose”.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone out there actually did buy into Facebook out there.

New iPad 3 now selling in the Apple Online Store

yuga — Wed, 30 May 2012 11:52:21 GMT

The release of the new iPad 3 a bit delayed but it’s finally here. Globe Telecom did their own launch event last night to offer the WiFi+4G models and just this afternoon, the Apple Online Store also reflected the new iPad 3 as available.

Both the WiFi-only and WiFi+4G models are available and ships in 1-3 days after you order.

The retail prices of all the iPad 3 models is as follows:

iPad 16GB WiFi – Php23,990
iPad 32GB WiFi – Php28,990
iPad 64GB WiFi – Php33,990

iPad 16GB 4G+WiFi – Php29,990
iPad 32GB 4G+WiFi – Php34,990
iPad 64GB 4G+WiFi – Php39,990

Notice that the price of the WiFi models are the same as the iPad 2 when it first came out. The WiFi+4G models are actually cheaper by Php1,000 compared last year.

You can read our full review of the new iPad 3.

Sony announces Xperia Acro S and Xperia Go

yuga — Wed, 30 May 2012 09:53:22 GMT

Sony Mobile has just announced two new Android smartphones, the Xperia Acros S and the sporty Xperia Go. From the looks of it, these two handset seem to be the “tough & sporty” versions of the Xperia S and the Xperia Active.

The Xperia Acro S features a scratch-resistant, mineral glass display with wet finger tracking. It is also passed the IP55 and IP57 Ratings for dust and water resistance.

Sony Xperia Acro S specs:
• 4.3-inch HD Reality Display @ 720p, 1280×720 pixels, 342ppi
• Qualcomm MSM8260 Snapdragon 1.5GHz dual core processor
• Mobile BRAVIA Engine
• Adreno 220 GPU
• 1GB RAM
• 16GB internal storage
• up to 32GB via microSD
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA
• Bluetooth 2.1 w/ EDR
• NFC support
• FM Radio tuner
• GPS w/ aGPS support, GLONASS
• 12MP autofocus rear camera, LED flash
• 1.3 front-facing camera
• PlayStation™ Certified
• HDMI port
• 1080p full HD video recording, 720p HD front camera
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• Li-Ion 1910mAH battery
• 126 x 66 x 11.9mm (dimension)
• 147 grams (weight)

The Sony Xperia Go is somewhat an update to the popular Xperia Active from last year. It’s got the highest level of dust and water resistance in a smartphone – IP67 Rating.

Sony Xperia Go specs:
• 1.0GHz NovaThor U8500 dual-core processor
• 3.5″ Reality Display @ 480×320 pixels
• Mobile BRAVIA Engine
• 512MB RAM
• 8GB internal storage
• up to 32GB via microSD
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 w/ EDR
• 5MP rear camera, LED flash
• GPS w/ aGPS support
• Android 2.3 Gingerbread, upgradeable to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
• Li-IOn 1305mAh battery
• 111 x 60.3 x 9.8mm (dimension)
• 110 grams (weight)

The Sony Xperia go will launch in the US market under the name “Xperia Advance”. Both handset will be release some time in 3rd quarter of 2012.

Epson LabelWorks LW-400: Label all the way!

yuga — Wed, 30 May 2012 07:03:32 GMT

A couple of weeks ago, Epson Philippines brought us to a 3-day Media Challenge in Eden Park, Davao City where they showcased their new line of printers, projectors and labelers for 2012. The LabelWorks LW-400 was the one they actually gave away to everyone who attended.

There are actually 3 models under the Epson LabelWorks (LW-300, LW-400 and LW-900) so this one is the mid-range labeler.

I’m only familiar with those decades-old labeler that’s made of plastic and punches a mold into them to create embossed letters.

In contrast the LabelWorks prints out the labels using thermal paper. The sticker labels feel like laminated paper and are very thin so they can be easily used on any surface without worry. I’m not sure how long they will last though, especially if they’re exposed to humidity or liquid.

The labeler hooks up to a power plug but you have the option to use batteries when you want to bring it out and use it in the field.

The cartridge (sticker label) comes in plain white but we were told you can get replacement cartridge in National Book Store in various colors.

The Epson LabelWorks LW-400 will be available in stores this June and is expected to retail for just Php3,150.

Check out more photos of the labeler here.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc gets Ice Cream Sandwich

yuga — Wed, 30 May 2012 02:32:35 GMT

The earlier promise by Sony to roll out Ice Cream Sandwich to Sony-Ericsson Xperia handsets is currently in progress. ICS updates to SE Xperia Arc and Xperia Neo are now slowly being rolled out to devices.

We checked this update on one of our Xperia Arc devices and can confirm the update being detected via Sony PC Companion.

The update is not OTA so you will have to down load PC Companion and install it on your PC to run the update.

Here’s a thorough rundown of the changes made along with the ICS update.

Note though that not all Xperia Arc and Xperia Neo might detect this update but you should keep a close look and try it with PC Companion in the next few days.

Note: You can check this listing of SI numbers for Xperia Arc to see if your device is included already.

HTC One S in the flesh, first impressions

yuga — Tue, 29 May 2012 09:57:53 GMT

While were still waiting for the official launch of the long-delayed HTC One S, we managed to score a review unit and take it for a spin. HTC Philippines will eventually release the One S but before then, let me share some live photos and first impressions.

The HTC One S can be considered as the smaller sibling of the One X, down to the design, materials and construction.

However, the One S took the distinction of being the thinnest and slimmest handset coming from HTC. At only 7.8mm, it’s one of the very rare smartphones that measure just under 8mm. The only other phone that I can remember having this slim profile is the Motorola Droid Razr.

However, since the Droid Razr somewhat cheated with its reverse chin for the housing of the rear camera, I’d give the HTC One S the crown for the slimmest Android phone we’ve ever tested and used.

The One S also sports a dual-core Qualcomm Krait 1.5GHz processor, the same CPU used in ~~the Sony Xperia S and~~ the Samsung Galaxy S3 in some regions. In some benchmarks, the Krait 1.5GHz performs better than the quad-core Tegra 3 processor so the One S isn’t really far behind.

And while the handset uses a Super AMOLED display, it does not have the resolution used in the One X. The 960×540 pixels in the 4.3-inch screen only results to just 256ppi density. As such, you can still see the pixels with your bare eyes even though the display is crisp and clear like many other Super AMOLED screen before it.

The hardware configuration of the HTC One S is already impressive but one concern that it shares with the One X is the limited internal storage.

HTC One S specs:
4.3″ Super AMOLED display @ 540×960 pixels, 256ppi
Dual-core 1.5GHz Krait
Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon S4
Adreno 225
1GB RAM
16GB internal storage
HSPA+ 21Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
8MP autofocus rear camera, 1080p
1.3MP front-facing camera, 720p
GPS w/ aGPS support
Beats Audio
1650mAh Li-Polymer battery
Android 4.0 ICS
119.5 grams
130.9 x 65 x 7.8mm

Since the HTC One S is not yet officially launched and released in the Philippines, the unit is still a rare device in the local market.

However, you can score one of these over at Widget City for only Php24,150 (check it out here).

Watch out for our full review in a week. For the meantime, check out some live photos we took of the device.

Disclosure: Widget City provided for the review unit. They are also a display banner advertiser on this site.

Samsung Galaxy S3 launched, priced at Php32,990

yuga — Tue, 29 May 2012 03:26:18 GMT

Samsung Electronics Phils. has officially launched the Galaxy S3 in the Philippines last night. This was the chance for Samsung to finally reveal the local pricing of the handset — Php32,990 (16GB).

Samsung is also giving the two telcos (Globe and Smart) around one week to sell the Galaxy S3 with their postpaid plans before the handsets will be released in store shelves unlocked.

That means you’ll have to wait until June 9 before you can go and get it in stores for Php32,990. Otherwise, you’ll have no choice but to it get from either Smart and Globe.

We’ve already covered the Samsung Galaxy S3 to overkill levels so we’ll just share our previous stories about it here:

May 3: Live Blog: Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2012 in London
May 4: Samsung Galaxy S3 is official!
May 4: Samsung Galaxy S3 in the flesh, first impressions
May 4: Galaxy S3 vs. iPhone 4S vs. Lumia 900
May 4: Samsung Galaxy S3 Benchmark Results
May 5: HTC One X vs. Samsung Galaxy S3 — Let’s Quad Core!
May 10: Globe & Smart to offer the Samsung Galaxy S3 this May
May 12: Smart Galaxy S3 Pre-order starts on May 23
May 14: Samsung Galaxy S3 price to hit no more than Php37k
May 16: Globe Galaxy S3 pre-order starts on May 23
May 22: Samsung Galaxy S3 goes up on Amazon for $799.99
May 23: Samsung Galaxy S3 Plans and Price on Globe
May 26: Smart offers Galaxy S3 at UnliData Plan 2000
May 26: Galaxy S3: Smart UnliData 2000 vs. Globe UnliSurf 2499

The SRP of the Galaxy S3 directly competes with the HTC One X so it should be interesting to see how the sales of these two units fare. We’ve seen the S2 trump the HTC Sensation before and we’re predicting the S3 will make a repeat performance this year.

Asus Zenbook Prime in the flesh, first impressions

yuga — Mon, 28 May 2012 15:40:28 GMT

Asus Philippines today launched their second-generation ultrabook called the Zenbook Prime. Asus claims it is the first notebook to use a full HD 1080p IPS LCD display.

While the previous models of the Zenbook were using backlit LED panels, the new Zenbook uses an IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels.

Imagine the IPS display of the new iPad 3 used in an ultrabook — that’s really crisp, super clear and very wide viewing angles. If you’re using the Zenbook UX21, which is the one I have, the difference in the screen resolution is miles away.

Asus also listened to folks and added a backlit keyboard with the new Zenbook Prime. They engineering on the keyboard was also improved so individual keys are higher, giving you more tactile feedback and less typing errors.

The trackpad was also remodeled to be smoother and way easier to use. I really hated the trackpad on the old Zenbook but the new one feels like it’s much closer to the one in the Macbook Air, in terms of sensitivity and performance.

While the exterior design of the Zenbook Prime is still the same as the old model, the upgrades done were mostly in the interior. That includes the new Ivy Bridge processors, faster SSD and boot times.

The only bummer news is that Asus will only be bringing the high-end variant of the Zenbook Prime. That means you will only see the Zenbook Prime UX31A in stores this June. The variant will have a Core i7 Ivy Bridge processor, 4GB RAM, 256GB SSD and a 13.3″ IPS LCD with resolution of 1080p.

The estimated retail price for that when it comes out is about Php69,995.

Congress approves Anti Cybercrime Bill HB 5808

yuga — Mon, 28 May 2012 04:47:17 GMT

So the House of Representatives has finally passed their own version of the Anti-Cybercrime Bill (HB 5808) which is also known as the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. The bill includes online threats and online defamation as cybercrime offenses.

So aside from online intrusion, hacking or illegal use of network resources, online libel will also be part of this bill.

For online defamation, the penalty is a minimum of Php500,000 (and a maximum of Php1 million) penalty plus a prison term.

The Senate has their own version of the Anti Cybercrime Bill (Senate Bill 2796). Senator Angara also clarified the Senate Bill in contrast with the issues on SOPA and PIPA.

The Senate and Congress will be consolidating these two bills and eventually finalize them and pass it into a law upon the President’s approval.

HTC One V Review

Louie Diangson — Mon, 28 May 2012 02:04:23 GMT

HTC’s entry-level Android handset comes with a signature design that traces all the way back from the HTC Hero and the HTC Legend. Check out our full review of the Android ICS-packing HTC One V after the break.

If you have found yourself wanting the HTC One V after reading our second encounter with it last week, now is the time to read our final verdict and find out if it’s really worth having you at “hello”.

Design and Construction

The HTC One V’s design has good pedigree, drawing a lot of inspiration from its predecessors namely the HTC Hero and the HTC Legend, hence the chin. It has a unibody design which is similar to its other HTC One cousins and is finished with a metallic matte texture in grey color. If you don’t like bulky and heavy smartphones, the One V is the device that your hands will thank you for. It has a slim body and weighs just 115 grams.

Appearance wise, the One V went for the simple yet straight-forward functionality. Look at the front and you’ll find the wide earpiece and three capacitive buttons just below the display. On top are the wake/sleep button, headset jack and the notifications light. On the right side are the volume rocker and the microUSB port on the left. Turn it on its backside and you’ll see the 5-megapixel camera and flash and the speaker grill right at the bottom.

From my experience in handling the device, I believe that the One V was designed for right-hand use. Hold the smartphone with your left hand and your palm will directly cover the speaker grill. It’s also frustrating to hold if a USB cable or charger is attached to it. So let’s say you’re charging the device and decided to make a call, you’re more likely to go for the right hand-to-right ear method.

Display

The One V has a 3.7 inch LCD dispaly, one inch smaller than the One X’s, and is covered with glass that slightly protrudes from its mounting. The screen is vibrant with deep blacks, has crisp details and good viewing angles. Sunlight legibility is good as well.

The One V has a pixel density of 252ppi. It is 60ppi and 74ppi shorter than the One X and iPhone 4S respectively, but pixels are hardly noticeable in the One V.

On the downside, the glass display is a finger print magnet. If you’re one with sweaty hands you’ll constantly find the need to wipe the screen with a cloth to clear it up.

HTC Sense UI

The HTC One V’s boot-up time from dead cold to network availability took 14 seconds. Pull the ring to unlock and you’ll get Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 with HTC Sense v4 UI all the way. Of course, HTC’s huge digital clock and cool weather widget are on the main home screen. You’ll get five home screens of which HTC has already managed to fill up with widgets for you.

Tap the app drawer and you’ll get a 4×4 grid of icons which you can navigate through left and right scrolling. The UI animations are pretty smooth and scrolling is very fluid. Although you’ll experience some slight lags but is rare and forgivable.

Camera

The One V has a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera that is capable of shooting HD videos at 720p. It can take clear and very decent shots even in low-light conditions. There’s no dedicated camera button but you can have the ability to tap the screen to set a focus point. There’s a lot of detail in the photos but the colors often times appear overdone especially on greens and reds.

A lot of thought has been given to the One V in terms of camera features. They took inspiration from the likes of Instagram and decided to add filters and effects. It also has the capability of taking HDR and panoramic photos, even slow motion video capture.

Multimedia and Apps

Like any other Android smartphones, adding your own multimedia files such as music and videos is just a matter of drag and drop. Although I have to create my own Music and Videos folder to avoid clutter, the One V just simply reads the whole memory storage and makes your multimedia files accessible and ready for your enjoyment.
Since we mentioned storage space, the One V has 4GB of internal memory but only 1GB is user accessible so make sure you have a microSD card in hand.

HTC went one step further in packing the One V with music-centered apps and features. It has 7digital and TuneIn Radio pre-installed and SoundHound integration within the music app. The music app is beautiful to look at especially if your song has an album art. If album art covers are your problem, you can simply update it within the music app itself with the help of Gracenote. As for Beats Technology, the enhancement is only available if you plug in a headset.

Video playback is wonderful and with added features like the ability to capture a scene just by tapping the shutter icon. Beats audio is also present but you can also choose to use HTC’s own mode of enhancement.

As for other apps, Google apps such as Gmail and Google+ are already scattered within the app drawer. The One V also has the HTC Car app that turns the UI into something that would look great on your dashboard, helping you utilize the basic phone and navigation features while driving.

As for other app needs, the Google Play Store and HTC Hub are ready to serve you 24/7 as long as you have an internet connection.

Performance and Benchmarks

The HTC One V has a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon processor with 512MB RAM and an Adreno 205 GPU. See the benchmarks below to find out how it performs.

The Quadrant score of 1,776 which is just within the range of the single-core processor of this category. The Antutu Benchmark took the score of 2876 while the GPU got a passable mark of 27.1fps.

The the configuration and ICS to boot, the One v performs really well for an entry to mid-range handset. You’d bump into some occasional lags but for the most part, things look smooth and snappy. Of course, the set up is more than enough to decently play most of your games and apps, like Temple Run.

Battery Life

With a single core processor and 3.7 inch LCD display, the One V benefits a lot from its 1500mAh battery. Meaning it isn’t as power hungry compared to other monster smartphones that we have in the market. Therefore it channels the juice to other important stuff such as calling, texting, gaming, and internet browsing.

I’m not much of a caller and texter, managing only an average of 30 minutes of calls and less than 100 text messages a day, but I’m a heavy internet browser and multimedia user. With that kind of use and connected to WiFi almost 24 hours a day, I managed to squeeze two days of fun. I bet you’ll get lesser than that if you’re heavy on texts and calls. But so far, I’m quite satisfied.

Conclusion

With all that hype for quad-core smartphones with massive displays, I sometimes wonder if the need for feature-packed smartphones with lesser processing power and smaller displays are slowly diminishing. With my experience with the One V, I can say that there’s still hope.

This is the kind of device that can provide a decent muscle power, lots of features combined with good looks. In other words, the HTC One V is a wonderfully designed smartphone that gets the job done.

HTC One V specs:
3.7” WVGA LCD Display @ 480×800 pixels, 252ppi
1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon processor
512MB RAM
4GB internal storage (1GB usable)
up to 32GB via microSD card
HSDPA up to 14.4Mbps
Bluetooth 4.0
5MP autofocus rear camera
720p video recording
GPS w/ aGPS support
1500mAh Li-Polymer battery
Android 4.0 ICS
120.3 x 59.7 x 9.2 mm

The HTC One V has a suggested retail price of Php15,990.

What we liked about it:
• Sleek, classic design with trademark chin
• Sharp, vibrant screen
• Good, feature-rich camera
• Runs ICS out of the box

What we did not like:
• Internal storage is small
• Display is a fingerprint magnet
• Battery life could be better

Facebook should buy Dolphin Browser instead of Opera

yuga — Sun, 27 May 2012 15:30:01 GMT

There’s story spreading that Facebook is interested to buy Opera browser to create its own custom “social” browser and compete with the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft.

It’s been revealed that one of Facebook’s biggest challenges is in mobile (one reason why they bought Instagram), the odds are stacked against it compared to in the desktop arena. There’s Google that also doing advertising (Adsense for Mobile) and has monopoly of the Android environment with its built-in browser, Apple which is also heavily pushing its own Safari browser on mobile and Microsoft with its big reach and distribution network to leverage IE Mobile on Windows Phone handsets.

That leaves Facebook very little to wiggle around when it comes to prime access on the mobile web, except of course thru the iOS and Android apps.

While the idea of owning and deploying a Facebook Browser might make sense, I am not as equally sure if Opera would be the right candidate for Facebook.

Yes, Opera claims it has over 200 million users (both desktop and mobile) so that’s a lot of users that Facebook can also acquire (we’re not yet discounting the overlap of users here which is probably more than half of that number).

Nevertheless, that’s hundreds of millions of users that Facebook will just eventually lose to either Chrome, IE9 (when Windows 8 comes), and Mozilla. So if Facebook is going to buy Opera, the only really useful part of that trade would be the mobile users. In the end, they will just waste half the money on Opera.

My suggestion for an alternative to Opera would be Dolphin Browser. It’s a good alternative — a mature, mobile-only browser that’s already have hundreds of thousands (and maybe even millions of users) already. It’s also highly rated, got good reviews, and is available for the iPhone, iPad and Android devices. It does not have a desktop browser, which Facebook does not need anyway (again their focus for acquisitions is always mobile).

Of course, Zuckerberg had bazillions of dollars to splurge on a buying spree and Opera might just look like spare change to him. I just thought Dolphin browser is the better browser between the two.

Rumor: SM’s Henry Sy buying Globe Telecom?

yuga — Sun, 27 May 2012 08:12:11 GMT

We got this really surprising tip from a source that rumor is going around that billionaire tycoon Henry Sy is looking to buy controlling shares of Globe Telecom.

Henry Sy has interestes in a lot of markets — retail, real estate, banking, leisure, etc. This rumored interest in the telecoms industry could have been sparked by the recent acquisition of Digitel by PLDT, putting the competition between Smart and Globe in a spotlight.

Earlier, Globe has secured a $90 million loan from China Banking Corp. to spend for the expansion of its 4G network in the Philippines. China Bank is also owned by Henry Sy.

Globe has a market capitalization of around Php142 billion and recently achieved a 1st quarter revenue of Php20.2 billion (Q1, 2012). The company is partly owned by the Ayalas with 32% share while Singaporean telecom, Singtel, owns 47%.

Henry Sy is the Philippine’s richest guy (#173 in the world) with an estimated worth of $8 billion or Php344 billion. That’s more than enough money to buy controlling shares of Globe.

Henry Sy doesn’t need to buy it out of the Ayala clan. He can just buy the majority shares from Singtel to take control of the telco.

Again, it’s just a rumor (so take this story with a grain of salt) but if this actually happens, Henry Sy might do to Globe what it did to Banco de Oro — propelling the company to the top spot by leveraging on its assets and interests in other markets.

Cherry Mobile taps Ainol for cheap ICS tablets

yuga — Sat, 26 May 2012 12:26:47 GMT

A number of readers have pointed out to me last week that Cherry Mobile is already selling what could be a co-branded Ainol Paladin tablet so I confirmed it with the folks from CM if this as indeed true.

We posted our review of the Ainol Paladin here back in January which was a huge hit for being the first ICS-powered tablet in the Philippines. That, plus the fact that it was really very affordable at Php5,800.

Cherry Mobile‘s official statement was that “Ainol is an exclusive ODM Partner” (Official Device Manufacturer). This means CM can actually carry any or all of the tablets that’s being manufactured by Ainol. That also means you get local warranty and support service for those units as well.

I was also surprised that Cherry Mobile is doing a sale on this unit and priced it at only Php4,999.

Check out the poster above for details of this sale (along with all other Android devices from CM).

Galaxy S3: Smart UnliData 2000 vs. Globe UnliSurf 2499

Ronnie Bulaong — Sat, 26 May 2012 01:43:31 GMT

As we near the official launch of the highly anticipated Samsung S3, the two telco giants vies for the hearts of prospective upgraders and switchers through their plans. Now before you get too excited and sign up for any of these telcos, let’s take a closer look at their offerings and see which one fits your lifestyle and usage pattern.

As we mentioned in our previous post, Globe was the first to reveal their range of plan for the SGS3. This quad-core handset will come in free with their UnliSurf Plan 2499 and will have a standard lock-in period of 24 months. Apart from the unlimited mobile internet, the plan will also have consumables worth Php1,500 a month.

Following the said announcement, Smart recently unveiled their available plans for the same phone. The SGS3 will come in free with their UnliData Plan 2000 which is Php499 cheaper than Globe’s offering.

The catch here, however, is that you’d have be with the carrier for a longer period of time. The lock-in period for this plan is 30 months (instead of the 24-months on Globe).

Here’s a short computation of how these two plans look like:

Globe Galaxy S3
Php2,499 (UnliSurf Plan)
x 24 months (lock-in period)
Php59,976 TCO

Smart Galaxy S3
Php2,000 (UnliData Plan)
x 30 months (lock-in period)
Php60,000 TCO

* TCO: Total Cost of Ownership

Looking at this, it’s clear that neither plan gains a significant edge over the other in terms of the total amount a user has to pay (TCO). But what clearly sets them apart is the lock-in period. The Php500 per month difference between the two plans will come into play in this situation.

If you can afford to shell out an extra Php500 every month so you can get out of the plan a bit faster, then the Globe UnliSurf Plan is for you. But, if you’re not in a rush to switch phones or plan and does not have a spare Php500 a month, better go with Smart’s UnliData Plan. At the end of the day, it boils down to how much you’re willing to shell out for this quad-core handset.

In terms of bundles here’s what the two plans has to offer:

Globe UnliSurf 2499
Php1500 Consumable
Free Texts: 200 (Globe-to-Globe) + 25 (Other Networks)
Free Call: 10mins (Globe-to-Globe) + 5mins (Other Networks)
Free Texts (International): 10
Free Call (International): 20mins IDD
Free UnliCall and Text: 1 Globe or TM number

Smart UnliData 2000
N/A
Free Texts (All Networks): 200
Free Call (All Networks): 150 mins

By having a little bit of everything the UnliSurf 2499 plan bested Smart’s UnliData 2000 plan in terms of bundled services. In addition to this, the former has Php1500 consumable per month. That sums up to an additional 245 minutes worth of voice calls to same network subscriber or 226 minutes to other networks per month compared to Smart’s fixed 150 minutes to all network.

Based on the comparison above, we think that Globe’s UnliSurf 2499 is the better of the two in terms of bundled services and flexibility. Then again, there are also other important factors that you, as a consumer, need to look into such as network coverage and dependability that we really can’t comment on because that depends on your current location.

What we are sure though is that the introduction of these plans for the Galaxy S3 will definitely hurt the sell-ability of the other handsets in their line-up.

With Smart — the HTC Sensation XE, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Nexus which also comes free with UnliData Plan 2000 will definitely be overshadowed by the Galaxy S3. With Globe — the Nokia Lumia 800 and the Galaxy Note might also suffer the same fate. For both networks, it might also hurt the sales of the iPhone 4S which is offered at the same or higher plan.

Just to sum this one up, we are more inclined to recommend Globe’s UnliSurf 2499 for flexibility and maximizing plan usage. But, if you just want a really low monthly fee, Smart’s UnliData Plan 2000 is the obvious pick.

Sony promises Xperia S, P & U to get ICS as scheduled

yuga — Fri, 25 May 2012 20:12:18 GMT

The promised ICS update on Sony’s NXT smartphones that includes S, P and U are still right on schedule according to Sony. The Android update is expected to arrive this June with the Xperia U’s update slightly delayed and is expected to arrive by the 3rd quarter of the year.

Sony also has good news for their 2011 smartphone users. They mentioned that earlier handsets like Arc, Neo, Mini, Mini Pro, Pro, Active and SE Live with WalkMan will also be receiving the latest Android OS starting next week. Handsets like Arc S, Ray and Neo V which already got the Android 4.0.3 will also have an upgrade to 4.0.4 along with the aforementioned devices.

Sony also spilled the beans that Xperia Play will not get the same treatment as the other Sony smartphones. Although the update is possible, it will come at the price of compromising smooth gaming experience. They said that even after collaborating with various developers and advanced users, a stable gameplay is still beyond reach through ICS, hence forced to make the tough decision to withdraw the attempted update to the said handset.

This is definitely, great stuff for Sony users out there. As for the Xperia Play, I’d say that not going through with the update was the best decision at that situation. That handset was built with gaming in mind and it’s only fitting for it to provide a second to none performance in terms of gaming experience on a smartphone rather than having the latest OS. Stay tuned as we’ll post another article if this update officially lands in our shore.

Smart offers Galaxy S3 at UnliData Plan 2000

yuga — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:20:49 GMT

After Smart put out their pre-order page on May 22, they’ve just added additional information on the postpaid plan that the Samsung Galaxy S3 is available.

Surprisingly, Smart has decided to give the Samsung Galaxy S3 on UnliData 2000. Smart did not indicate any other plan in which the handset is available.

With this plan, subscribers will have to pay Php2,000 a month in exchange for unlimited mobile internet, 200 free SMS and 150 free calls.

This puts the Galaxy S3 in the same UnliData plan as the Sensation XE, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Nexus, and the iPhone 4.

However, instead of the standard lock-in period of 24 months, Smart is extending this to 30 months.

iOS 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak now available!

Louie Diangson — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:37:15 GMT

For those of you waiting for a jailbreak for your Apple devices running iOS version 5.1.1, the long wait is over as the UNTETHERED jailbreak is now available!

The jailbreak is provided by Pod2G and distributed by the Chronic Dev Team through their jailbreak tool Absinthe 2.0. The jailbreak process is fairly easy. (Yes, I’ve done it on my own device.)

All you have to do is download the jailbreak tool, extract it, run the application, plug your device, and click the jailbreak button. It’s quite fun since you don’t have to put it in DFU mode.

The full list of compatible devices running iOS 5.1.1 is listed below:

• iPhone 4S
• iPhone 4
• iPhone 3GS
• iPad (3rd gen)
• iPad 2
• iPad 1
• iPod touch 3G
• iPod touch 4G
• Apple TV 2G

Word of warning though, jailbreaks come with risks and that means that you might brick your device if it isn’t done properly. Folks at Redmondpie.com has provided the download link and some easy to understand instructions here. If you don’t know what “jailbreak” is but still want to do the process, please ask for assistance.

Enjoy your happy jailbroken weekend everyone!

Contest: YugaTech-Creative Wordplay Online Contest

yuga — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:00:14 GMT

Our friends from Creative are back and wanted to do another giveaway to our readers. This time, let’s try how good you guys are with words. Check out the details below on how you can win these speakers from Creative.

This is a word-puzzle game. All you need to do is list of all words you can come up with from the letters of this phrase — “Creative ZiiSound Wireless Bluetooth Speakers“. The assembled words must be at least 5 letters or more.

Don’t forget to email your entries to creative.yugatech@gmail.com and then leave a comment below that you have sent an email entry so we can verify/confirm.

Our Prizes.
1 Creative D200 Wireless Bluetooth Speakers
1 Creative Inspire T6160
3 Consolation Prizes (Tactics Alpha, WP350, HQ1600)

Facebook releases Camera App for iOS

Louie Diangson — Fri, 25 May 2012 02:22:00 GMT

Facebook has just recently launched its own photo app for the iPhone; creatively called Facebook Camera, which lets you take a photo, apply effects and captions and share it on Facebook.

The app is developed by Facebook’s own team and not Instagram’s because the acquisition hasn’t closed yet. One of the advantages of the Facebook Camera over Instagram is its ability to upload multiple photos. It also has 14 filters, the ability to tag friends, “Like” photos and send comments.

Since the app is closely tied to Facebook, it offers a smoother interaction with the social media site. “The big problem that we were trying to solve was that if you are in the middle of an experience and you want to share your photos, it’s often too much of a hassle to go through the whole process.” said Dirk Stoop, Facebook Photos product manager.

The question now is how will this app fit into play if Facebook already has Instagram? Stoop admitted that there’s an overlap in functionality but they see the two apps as separate products with different personalities, serving different purposes and audiences. If that’s the case then there will be some slight competition since Facebook has decided to grow Instagram independently.

As for other platforms like Android, Windows Phone or Blackberry, Facebook has declined to comment about future products but said that it is “carefully looking at what might make for a good Facebook photos experience across other platforms.”

As of the moment, Facebook Camera is not available for download in the Philippines App Store yet but you can expect it to roll out in the coming weeks.

Slim Case with Slide-On battery for iPhone 4

yuga — Fri, 25 May 2012 02:11:59 GMT

We seldom feature iPhone cases around here but this new one from Third Rail has an interesting proposal. Instead of a built-in battery ticked into a bulky case, Third Rail made it optional as a slide-on pack.

The case is made of solid polycarbonate materials in a matte black finish. The inside, at the bottom end there’s the proprietary 30-pin Apple USB port while the top section slides out to make way for the iPhone to fit inside the case.

The case itself is relatively thin (around 2mm) but the construction extends the height of the whole assembly by at least 2 centimeters at the top and bottom end.

The back panel has 4 small, rectangular holes where you can snap in the external battery. There’s a set of 3 metallic contact points around the middle section for the charge to pass thru.

At the bottom of the case is where the micro-USB port is located along with a switch for the charger.

The slide-on battery is also interesting. It comes with 2 micro-USB ports — one for input and one for output (probably to be able to daisy-chain the power charging).

The back of the battery also has the same 3-pin contact points which allows for another slide-on battery to ride on top of it. It’s a pretty interesting proposition but I reckon the iPhone might not be that usable when you have several batteries stack on top of each other.

The Li-Ion battery is rated at 1250mAh and is able to re-charge my iPhone 4S from 9% to 70% before it completely drains up. With the case snapped on, you can now hook up your iPhone via a micro-USB charger as well.

The case is available in local stores like Digital Walker or Digital Hub for about Php3,850. Seems to be a little on the expensive side though (that is, if you consider buying a separate slim case and external battery instead).

Anyway, if you have an iPhone 4 or 4S, you might want to have this review unit for yourself.

So we’re raffling it off with Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: Digits Trading provided for the review unit. They are also a display banner advertiser on this site.