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Nokia Asha 310 dual SIM at P4,650 retail price

April 8, 2013April 8, 2013 ajay Leave a comment

Nokia Philippines recently unveiled the latest addition to their Asha Touch family of smartphones. The Nokia Asha 310 features a 3” scratch-proof, capacitive touchscreen and is available in the following colors: black, white and golden light.

The Dual SIM feature of this phone allows users to switch between SIMs easily. Its Wi-Fi capability, on the other hand, gives internet connectivity wherever it’s available. What makes the Asha 310 a must-have as an entry level smartphone, it already comes preloaded with the following: Nokia Xpress Browser, YouTube video streaming, a gift pack containing 40 free premium game titles, Nokia Maps, eBuddy instant messaging, and apps for the top social networks – Twitter & Facebook.

The phone also comes with a 2 megapixel camera and a free 4GB memory card, with support for a
further 32GB of external memory.

In the words of KarelHolub, General Manager of Nokia Philippines: ” All these are for the end-
user and part of Nokia’s innovative and strategic approach in transitioning consumers from
feature phones to next-generation smartphones.”

At a suggested retail price of only P4,650, the transition will hardly be felt in the pocket indeed.

BlackBerry Z10: P29,990

March 8, 2013March 8, 2013 ajay Leave a comment

Had my first glance of the new BlackBerry Z10 the other day which BB fans can now reserve at www.buybb10.com before its availability on March 19.Announced retail price is at a high-end P29,990 although this is expected to be bundled up with plans by Smart, Globe & Sun. What can I say … ’twas my first time to see a Blackberry without the physical QWERTY keyboard that the brand is known for. This one is all multi-touch!

Features to watch out for in this smartphone:

Lotsa power under the hood with Qualcomm S4 Plus dual core processor

2 GB of Random Access Memory (RAM) and 16GB of internal storage

LTE-ready

8 MP rear camera with a TimeShift feature that lets you choose the best out of the many frames taken in a single shot

4.2 inches screen display with 355 pixels per inch for extra vivid colors

Weight: 137.5 grams

Dimensions: 66 mm (width), 130 mm (height), 9mm (thinness)

The Z10 is powered by Blackberry 10, the “re-designed and re-engineered” BB platform that is supposed to be faster, smoother and more responsive.New features include the all-new browser, a cool predictive keyboard, the Blackberry Balance technology separating work applications from personal content, and the BB Safeguard technology for enhanced security, among others.

Of course, there’s also BlackBerry World with 70,000 apps but we think this is way, way behind Google and Apple with more than half a million apps in the market, thus providing a vast ocean of selection for its users.

We wish BlackBerry good luck for this product. Seen at the launch (from left): BB endorser Borgy Manotoc, BB Country Director for the Philippines Cameron Vernest, and Kristian Salvo, BlackBerry Philippines Business Manager.

Inboosta Travel Booster review

March 7, 2013March 7, 2013 ajay Leave a comment

By now, am a veteran of portable chargers and have tried a number of brands already. Mobility is mainly the reason why you’d want this gadget.I like using the internet and uploading to my social networks but it’s a dampener when when the old phone battery of my (antiquated) Samsung S2 dies on me while on coverage or on the road. Hence, a travel charger is a great savior.

The Inboosta Travel booster is so far the best of the portable chargers I’ve tried. It has solid construction, is very easy to use and its appearance is definitely eye candy. The review unit I got came in a bright pop of pink which made it very attractive to whoever saw it. This is all part of the brand’s IB4400 Rainbow Series where the charger colors come in lovely shades like fuschia, neon green, yellow, white and tiffany blue.

Gone are the days when a boxed charger like this will scare technophobes.The good thing with this Inboosta is that it was pre-charged so I was able to use it immediately even when fresh out of the box. Just connect one end of the USB cable to the charger and the other end to your phone (while using any of the micro USB adaptors available), turn on the buttons in front of the gadgets which will light up to signify that you’re now powered on. I love the fact that even while this Inboosta looks heavy, it was a breeze carrying it around. The charger is not just for smartphones but also for tablets, handheld game devices, music players and others.

Once the power drains out, just connect the cable to your computer again to get some juice. Ideally, you should charge for eight hours or overnight and in return, you will get portable power of approximately 240 minutes.

Overall, I’d give the Inboosta Travel Booster a thumbs up. I consider it the best in class among similar products at the moment. Available at a price of P2,490 in the following stores:

Digital Hub
Digital Walker
Beyond the Box
Switch
Astrovision
Astroplus
Banana Telecom

Review: Crumpler Vegetable From Inside the Mountain

February 4, 2013February 4, 2013 ajay Leave a comment

Zoom in! That’s moi with my favorite travelling backpack at the moment, the Crumpler Vegetable From Inside the Mountain. I don’t know why some Crumpler bags have these really long names but I’ve used this label long enough to appreciate the quality and thoughtfulness that goes with each product. In the case of this bag in review, I really like it for its use of light materials which doesn’t make carrying it a big burden.

This is the front view of the bag with all three components. There’s a sizeable pouch for holding shoes , shirts or whatever you like and a small purse for holding such things as make-up and keys. I love it that they included the mini-bags for better organization of one’s stuff. Clutter is what this busy bee doesn’t want

Back view of the bag. To the left side is a key ring and a loop for holding a water bottle. Since I have scoliosis, carrying this bag with its ultra-lightweight back straps was really a relief for me.

Here’s a shot of the bag’s gray interiors showing my 13-inch Macbook fitting snugly inside. This portion is secured by a flap with velcro fastener and apart from this, there’s also a side pocket for added protection. For such a small-looking bag, the interiors were surprisingly spacious. I can think of a few other things to stuff this bag with, aside from your puter: shoes, clothes and books!

So far, the only discomfort I’ve experienced with this bag is that the zipper tends to get stuck in the material when I opened or closed the backpack but other than this, this Crumpler bag is perfect by me.

The Crumple Vegetable From Inside the Mountain has a retail price of P5,950.00 from the following Crumpler stores in Metro Manila: Crumpler Bonifacio High Street, Crumpler Robinsons Ermita, Crumpler Megamall and Crumpler Trinoma.

Samsung Galaxy S iii Mini : P14,990

January 24, 2013January 24, 2013 ajay Leave a comment

Last night, we had the chance to attend the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini which will be retailed at only P14,990 starting February. Methinks this is ideal for smartphone users who have always dreamt of owning the Galaxy S3 but were put off by the steep price. As its name implies, the S iii mini is smaller, cheaper but performs the same fully-loaded functions.

Some of the specs we spotted on the S iii Mini:

latest Android operating system, Jelly Bean
4.0″ WVGA Super AMOLED Display
Available colors: marble white, pebble blue, garnet red and titanium gray.

The intelligent features of the Galaxy S3 remain in this mini phone such as Smart Stay (which detects if the user is looking at the display so that it doesn’t easily time out), Smart Alert, Direct Call and Samsung’s advanced messaging service Ch@tON.

Samsung Philippines has teamed up with Globe to offer the Galaxy S iii mini free at Super Plan 999 which comes with P900 consumable, 50 MB data and two call and text freebies which you can change monthly. Both the Galaxy S3 and S iii mini will also be bundled up together in an exclusive Globe Platinum offer coming soon.