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    Huawei unveils Ascend D1 quad XL, Ascend G600

    Gadgets Team
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    Huawei unveils Ascend D1 quad XL, Ascend G600

    Yesterday, in an exhibit held at the Cyberzone in the SM North EDSA Annex, Huawei launched their two newest smartphones—the Ascend G600, which is also known as the Honor 2, and the quad-core Ascend D1 quad XL.

    The D1 quad XL boasts of a quad-core HI3620 processor clocked that is able to power the 330-PPI display. The device runs on Android 4.0 ICS.  With the 1280 X 720 HD screen (measuring at 4.5 inches) and the Dolby-powered speakers, you’ll be able to get a pretty good audio-visual experience. From what we’ve seen, the display is amply clear and most of the elements onscreen are still visible even under bright lights.

    The device weighs approximately 145g and measures 64.9mm wide and has a slimness of 11.5mm. It is a dual-camera device, with the front camera hosting 1.3 megapixels and the rear camera being able to shoot stills at 8.0 megapixels and videos in Full HD. It hosts 8GB of memory, which is expandable to up to 32GB via microSD.

    At the launch, Yugatech founder Abe Olandres shared his take on the Ascend D1 quad XL, and noted that the device had exceptional battery life and an ultra-quick boot time at around 5 seconds. Other features include the earSmart voice processor and access to a cloud service.

    The Ascend G600 (Honor 2) was also launched as a successor to the Ascend Honor, rocking a 4.5-inch IPS display screen shielded in Gorilla Glass. The device is powered by Android 4.0 ICS and a dual-core chip clocked at 1.2GHz.

    The Honor 2 wields an 8-megapixel camera out back and a VGA front-facing camera as well. It also has DLNA connectivity, in addition to its Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities. It hosts 4GB of storage, which is expandable via microSD.

    Both devices will be available by next week. Prices have not been specified, but our guess is a little over PHP 20,000. When you purchase within the holiday promo period (December 11-January 11), you’ll be getting a free limited edition Ascend track jacket along with the Ascend D1 quad XL, and an Android Christmas pat light with the Ascend G600.

     

    The end of the world is at hand! There’s an app for that. (Android)

    Ren Alcantara
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    1
    The end of the world is at hand! There’s an app for that. (Android)

    The end of the world is clearly upon us. Since the Mayans ran out of space on their stone tablets for anything past 2012, people have been warning of the impending cessation of life as we know it. You probably have packed schedules, as the EoTW has inconveniently been scheduled with the Christmas rush, so to avoid the awkwardness of forgetting that you have an apocalypse scheduled on the 21st, get the app that reminds you how much time you have left on this mortal coil.  The End of the World Countdown provides a simple app (and convenient widget!) that counts down the time all of us have left. Now you won’t have to worry about scheduling that office Christmas Party just as civilization crumbles! You have just enough time to get all the gifts sent (make sure you mail them express) before the clock runs down, so head over to the link, and get the timer now!

    Vacation mode? Play this while you wait for the break to kick in.

    Ren Alcantara
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    0
    Vacation mode? Play this while you wait for the break to kick in.

    There are a few days left before the end of the world, so in all likelihood, your brain has already checked out, and you are on break mode. If you have nothing better to do at work (or simply refuse to do anything else) and you have run out of 9gag pages, head over to http://highgroundsgame.com. It’s basically a Magic: The Gathering-style online game that is deceptively simple, yet impossible to stop playing. You are on a battlefield, and across you is an enemy city. To win, you must destroy said city with randomly-generated units that you can place either in front or behind your city. Depending on where you place the units, they will defend, attack, or generate resources with which you can do other things to further your cause. It’s very much like the popular collectible card game, except without the cards. You are given units randomly, so despite the straightforward goal, there are always boons and banes with which you will have to work. Just like M:tG, you can spend real money to buy additional units, though there are more than enough units in the single player game to unlock and keep things interesting. The game makers even put in a mode wherein you can challenge friends over the ‘net, so if you want to drag someone else into the hole of unproductivity, the game is more than willing to oblige.  Go ahead. hit the LINK. Just don’t blame us if you get caught.

    Dell quits global smartphone business

    Gadgets Team
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    Dell quits global smartphone business

    In an entirely unsurprising move, Dell has announced that is it is quitting the Android smartphone business. Readers may remember that the US computer company tried its hand at making Android powered hybrid phablets in the past years, the most notable of which is their Streak series of devices. Dell is instead concentrating on Windows 8 devices, most notably Windows 8 tablet devices and has said that it’ll be one of their core competencies as far as their mobile strategy is concerned. If you’re one of the few people who liked the Dell Streak, you’ll also be sad to know that the company isn’t looking to jump back into making Android devices anytime soon, with  Jeff Clarke, the head of Dell’s consumer business saying that “it needs a lot of investments to really be successful”.

    Source: Forbes

    Famed futurist Ray Kurzweil becomes Director of Engineering for Google

    Gadgets Team
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    Famed futurist Ray Kurzweil becomes Director of Engineering for Google

    Google has always set its sights on the future, and that usually meant that it had to hire people with a wide vision, as far as technological trends are concerned. That’s probably the reason that the news of the company tapping the services of famed futurist Ray Kurzweil comes as no surprise to us. The futurist has been hired by Google as Director of Engineering to work on projects that involve machine learning and language processing. Ray Kurzweil was one of the peopel who predicted the future of self-driving cars and and smartphones that can take verbal questions almost a decade ago, which means he’s the right man for the job as far predicting future trends go.

    Source: Kurzweila.net

     

    BlackBerry 10 keyboard detailed in video walkthrough

    Gadgets Team
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    BlackBerry 10 keyboard detailed in video walkthrough

    The launch of BlackBerry 10 and its associated devices are fast approaching, but there’s still a lot of questions in people’s minds about the new OS, chief of which is messaging. The company built their business around their messaging service and most people are clueless how they will be able to integrate the elements of their service into a new OS (and a new device). Well,  RIM’s Vivek Bhardwaj was kind enough to make a detailed video walkthrough about the new keyboard on their upcoming touchscreen device and we have to say that we’re cautiously optimistic about the improvements they’ve made. It looks like RIM has poured a lot of resources into trying to replicate their legendary QWERTY keyboard on a touch-based device, going so far as to replicate the overall look of their physical keyboard on the touch-device. The new OS also features some powerful predictive abilities as well, and is smart enough to insert spaces into words in case you were in hurry to type things out. Check out the video below to see all the improvements.

    Source: YouTube (BlackBerry)

    Windows Phone 7.8 update leaked on Navifirm

    Gadgets Team
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    Windows Phone 7.8 update leaked on Navifirm

    While there has been massive fanfare and hooplah for Microsoft’s latest mobile operating system, not much is known about the arrival of the promised Windows Phone 7.8 update for older devices. Thankfully, the new update has shown up ahead of schedule via Navifirm. Although it’s still not an official launch for the update, users who have taken the plunge and downloaded the update report that it is legit, and works for a number of Nokia devices which include the Lumia 510, 800, and 900.  If you’re feeling adventurous, you can use Navifirm to download the new update (if it hasn’t been pulled yet) – just remember to backup your data first so that you’re covered if something bad happens.

    Source: My Nokia Blog

    Acer Aspire V5 Ultrathin Notebook launched in the Philippines

    Gadgets Team
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    Acer Aspire V5 Ultrathin Notebook launched in the Philippines

    The 15.9″ Acer Aspire V5 Ultrathin Notebook has arrived on our shores, and that means good news for gamers who like to play graphic intensive games on the go without the need to build a gaming desktop. The Acer Aspire V5 Ultrathin Notebook is a mere 23 mm thick and weighs only 2.3 kg, powered by the second-generations quad-core AMD A8 processor, and includes the powerful AMD Radeon HD 7600G and 7650M Dual Graphics in the unit for a brilliant HD experience and provides ultimate gaming performance boost when you need it, eliminating the lag that one might experience when trying to play games. For those who game on multiple monitors, it also supports up to four simultaneous displays, so you can multitask or gain an advantage in the gaming arena.

    Even non-gamers can appreciate the Acer Aspire V5 Ultrathin Notebook. AMD has also added the HD Media Accelerator, which enables seamless streaming of high-resolution video and hastens file conversion for sharing with other devices. The Quick Stream further smoothens video downloading over the Internet. For those who aren’t too good with recording videos just yet, the Acer Aspire V5’s Steady Video Technology does away with shaky playback to ensure stable and even image delivery. Its BIOS Optimized Solution can revive the device from sleep mode in a mere two seconds, and boot in only 14 seconds.

    AMD’s App Acceleration feature increases the pace of everyday PC applications, and DirectX support delivers hi-fi gaming and computing. Its Turbo Core 3.0 technology enables the computer to boost performance automatically when needed. Need that speed boost while you’re on the Internet? Acer Instant Connect connects the PC instantly to the computer four times faster than other notebooks, and the AcerCloud cloud storage network allows users to share files and communications throughout the device ecosystem.

    Additional features such as the Acer Crystal Eye Webcam allow users to share documents, photos and applications across various social networks. Gamers and multimedia users can boast about their victories and highlights to friends and family members on social networks as well. The Acer Aspire V5 Ultrathin Notebook  will retail for Php 30,900.

    Globe, Smart launch iPhone 5 in midnight launch events

    Gadgets Team
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    Globe, Smart launch iPhone 5 in midnight launch events

    Today is officially I-Day, or iPhone day – the date that Apple has set for the official launch  for their iPhone 5 in the region, which includes our fair country, the Philippines. As expected, both Smart and Globe held their own midnight launches to commemorate the event, with Smart choosing the Newport Mall in Pasay as their main battleground while Ayala owned Globe held their launch gala at the newly renovated wing of the Glorietta Mall.

    Like last year’s launch for the iPhone 4S, both telcos pulled out all the stops to make their launch events stand out from their competitors. Globe put on a heck of a show during their launch, and invited a number of celebrity endorsers and local bands to entertain the public. This was pretty much the same story with Smart, although the telco did manage to get American pop duo LMFAO to play at their venue. Smart also held simultaneous launches for the iPhone 5 in different parts of the country.

    Both Globe and Smart has said that demand is overwhelming for the new device, with units literally flying off the shelves. Unfortunately until both telcos give hard numbers on how their signups did, it’s still unclear which telco managed to eek out a win in this next round of the iPhone wars.

    If you’re still hankering for your own iPhone 5 plan, you can check out Globe’s pricing here and Smart’s pricing here.

    Intel 2012 Year-End Thought Leadership Press Briefing

    Gadgets Team
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    Intel 2012 Year-End Thought Leadership Press Briefing

    Gadgets Magazine attended the Intel Year-End Thought Leadership Press Briefing today, where Intel updated us on what they did in 2012 in the Asia Pacific region and their plans for 2013 and beyond. Despite economies around the world slowing down, the Asia Pacific region experienced growth that Intel contributed to.

    In 2012, Intel introduced their innovative 22 nm 3D tri-gate transistors with the launch of the 3rd generation Intel Core processor family, which gave ultrabooks and PC systems the technology to transfer files quicker, start up your computer faster, and give consumers peace of mind with improved security. Enterprise customers were able to enjoy the Intel Xeon E5 processor family, which gave enterprise customers the offering of an eight-core processor, and the Intel Xeon E7 processor, which gave enterprise customers support for mission critical applications.

    On the consumer side, Intel teamed up with tech firms such as Acer, Asus, Lenovo and Toshiba by including their 32 nm Intel Atom Z2760 processors in their tablets, ultrabooks, and convertible ultrabooks, which also coincided with the newly launched Windows 8 operating system. Intel also covered the mobility spectrum in 2012, extending their reach into smartphones made by Lenovo, ZTE, and Motorola, just to name a few. Intel 3rd generation CPUs made their way onto 140 different ultrabook designs.

    In 2013, Intel will launch their 4th generation Intel Core processors, and they will also be included in 40 different ultrabooks, with ten of them being convertible ultrabooks. Intel stressed that they wanted to make their presence felt in convertible ultrabooks, and 44% of computer users stated that they would be using convertible ultrabooks with Windows 8, 31% preferred ultrabooks with touch, 22% preferred tablets, and 3% preferred non-touch ultrabooks. “What we wanted was a blend of the two products—the utility, connectivity and practicality of the Ultrabook, and the iPad’s touch capabilities,” said tech analyst Rob Enderle.

    “In 2013, we expect the adoption of technology in emerging markets to propel innovation,” said Philip Cronin, the Director of Regional Sales Organization for Intel Asia Pacific. Touch and mobile devices are also expected to make a huge impact in 2013, along with voice and gesture technologies. “2013 will be the year that consumers experience touch ramping as a mainstream feature in notebook and all-in-one PCs. Voice and gesture technologies will also build momentum and be sought after as new ways to interact with computing devices including PCs,” said Uday Marty, Managing Director of Intel South East Asia.

    Intel also had promise for its enterprise customers. “Small to medium enterprises in Asia will represent an area of explosive growth over the next three years. Not only will additional small to medium enterprises appear, but, existing small to medium enterprises will start adopting technology into their work; ushering in a new wave of connected businesses, entrepreneurs and employers,” Marty added.

    The cloud will also make a big impact in 2013, with traffic expected to explode six-fold by 2016. “Organizations and IT managers will finally realize their cloud adoption plans, moving from years of preparation to an ideal future of cloud computing,” said Nick Knupffer, Marketing Director of Data Center and Connected Systems Group, Intel Asia Pacific and China.

    Facebook updates Android app, now native app for Android and is faster, better

    Gadgets Team
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    Facebook updates Android app, now native app for Android and is faster, better

    While a lot of us here at the Gadgets office are Android lovers, one of the things that we absolutely hated with the device was the clunky Facebook app for it. It’s slow, clunky and is pretty much the antithesis of what an Android app is supposed to be. Well, Facebook has turned that around with their newest update for their mobile app, which is now completely native to Android – none of that HTML 5 crap – and boy is it fast. You can read what Zuckerburg and Co. has done to improve things in their official post, but the long and short of it is that the new app is now faster than ever before. Photos load quicker, there’s hardly any load times and the integration of FB to third-party apps is now not a horrible experience. Facebook has also added a few UI tweaks as well, like the status bar disappearing when you scroll down. It’s best to download the update to the app yourselves to see the difference – the update is now live on Google Play.

    Source: Facebook

    Review: Arnova 7d G3

    Gadgets Team
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    Review: Arnova 7d G3

    One should not expect too much from a tablet. Tablets are simply made for on-the-go productivity and aren’t meant to replace a laptop or a smartphone. Take the ARNOVA 7d G3, for instance. It’s just a regular tablet with basic functions. It has no retina display, no special stylus, and no unique kickstand with a keyboard. That’s perfectly fine in my opinion; tablets are meant to consume content, not create it. This is why it is reasonable to settle on a basic low-cost tablet like the device at hand.

    The ARNOVA 7d G3 is a 7-inch tablet that runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and packs a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor with 1GB of RAM. It comes with 4GB of internal storage, which is expandable to 32GB with a microSD card. The device is Wi-Fi only, although it’s capable of utilizing 3G through a USB module.

    Though its shell is plastic, it’s still very solid. The thing I love the most about the device is that it’s slim and lightweight, being as thin as an Archie Double Digest and weighing only half as much as your typical compact camera. This made it easy for me to pack it in my bag and carry it around.

    This tablet is a pretty straightforward device, as it hosts no special ports or buttons. Flanked on its side are the power button, a LED indicator, a microUSB port, a 3.5mm standard audio jack for your headphones, and a reset button. The front face holds the 7-inch capacitive touchscreen with an 800 x 480 display (16:9 aspect ratio), and the device’s speakers. The tablet has an accelerometer that lets you use it in whichever orientation you’re comfortable with.

    Also on the front face of the device are a camera and a mic. The device doesn’t have a back camera, which makes it difficult to take pictures because you can’t frame your shot the way you normally do. Having the camera on the front face, though, allows you to make and take video calls. One has to note, however, that its placement on the right side of the screen makes it ideal only when you use it in portrait orientation.

    While it runs on Android, some of the apps from Google Play aren’t compatible with the device. This is why the brand carries its own app store—the AppsLib. Here you can find dozens of apps for your ARNOVA device.

    The device has some performance issues. For one thing, it doesn’t do well when several apps are running. Oftentimes I had to deal with apps being frozen or suddenly not responding, and I had to restart them several times. I also encountered lags with the device’s touch screen when I used it for browsing and gaming.

    Another issue is its battery life. I was surprised that I had to plug it into a wall socket for nearly 6 hours just to get a full charge. The battery lasts for an average of only 4 hours of heavy use, which includes gaming, browsing and multimedia playback. It isn’t practical for something that’s made for the convenience of portability to have a short battery life.

    Despite the device’s weaknesses, it still served its purpose. I was able to browse, watch videos, play games, read e-Books, and edit documents (using the Office Suite app) while I was on the go. The device became very helpful to me, in particular, since I’m not a smartphone owner and it eliminated the need for me to lug around my laptop to perform basic office and multimedia tasks.

    Even if the capture quality of the built-in camera isn’t stellar, the device’s multimedia playback is pretty good. Despite the resolution of the screen, I was able to enjoy watching videos. The tablet supports playback for H.264 video files up to 1080p resolution, as well as AVI, MP4, MKV, MOV and FLV videos. I really appreciated the device’s sound quality, which wasn’t too loud, but clear and audible enough for me to enjoy watching videos without my headphones on.

    The price of the ARNOVA 7d G3 is very attractive, at only PHP 5,990, which is a good enough deal for a decent tablet that gives you basic functions and features. However, if you’re looking for something more special, you should probably look elsewhere as ARNOVA has yet to come up with a tablet with super powers.

     

    What’s Hot:

    Slim and lightweight

    Affordable

    What’s Not:

    Laggy touchscreen response

    Does not do well with multiple apps running

    Short battery life

    Bottomline: The ARNOVA 7d G3 is nothing special, but it sure is handy and portable enough to use when you’re on the go.

    Buy Meter: 3.0/5.0

    Tech Specs: 

    • OS: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
    • CPU: 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor
    • Display: 7-inch Capacitive MultiTouch Screen (800 x 480 pixels resolution)
    • Physical Dimensions: 223mm x 142mm x 12.2mm
    • Weight: 340g
    • Memory: 1GB RAM, 4GB ROM (expandable via microSD)

    Globe will not be differentiating between their iPhone 5 3G and LTE phone plans when Apple OKs LTE on iPhone 5

    Gadgets Team
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    Globe will not be differentiating between their iPhone 5 3G and LTE phone plans when Apple OKs LTE on iPhone 5

    Globe Telecom’s Pether Bithos has stated at the company’s official iPhone 5 presscon today that they will not be differentiating between the plans they have for the 3G version of the iPhone 5 and the LTE plans of the device. The Globe executive cited that it would be “too difficult to explain to the customer the difference between the two to the customers.” Which makes sense – even some technology journalists have trouble explaining and understanding what LTE is really about. This is a major line in the sand for Globe, and a commitment that most customers will appreciate. On the subject of the official availability of the LTE on the iPhone 5, Peter has said that the ball is now in Apple’s court, as the company has it’s own approval process when it comes the LTE certification. It’s also important to note that all Globe iPhone 5 devices being sold in the Philippines are all LTE capable – once Globe’s LTE application with Apple gets green-lighted, all early adopters of the iPhone 5 will get an OTA update to turn on the LTE modules in their devices. It’s also important to note that to get LTE service, your SIM and account will have to be provisioned for it.

     

    ZTE unveils the Grand Era; world’s slimmest Quad-core Smartphone

    Ren Alcantara
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    0
    ZTE unveils the Grand Era; world’s slimmest Quad-core Smartphone

    ZTE, the world’s fourth largest manufacturers of smartphones, has just released the ZTE Grand Era and the 4.3-inch Grand X LTE T82. The Grand Era V985 is the company’s new flagship smartphone, and as such is brimming with features. It runs a Tegra 3 quad-core CPU and runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, with an available upgrade to the 4.1 Jellybean Operating system. It has built-on 3D acceleration, and 8-MP main camera and a 4.5-inch High definition screen with a resolution of 1280×720. All if this is crammed into a frame that’s only 8.6mm thick, making it the thinnest quad-core phone in the market today. Along with the launch of the Grand Era, ZTE also released the Grand X LTE T82, a dual-core LTE phone with a 4.3-inch screen, Qualcomm MSM8960 chipset and Android 4,0 ICS. Along with the top two phones on ZTE;s new roster, they also launched the Grand X V970–a dual-core ICS device with a 4.3-inch screen and a 5-MP camera, the ZTE V887, their model with a 5-inch screen and  a dual-core processor, the ZTE V889M dual-core phone with a 4-inch screen, and the ZTE V790, their single core, 3,5 inch screen phone.

    All of the ZTE devices are dual-sim capable, and cater to the needs of everyone from users who aren’t looking for all the bells and whistles of a top-tier phone, to those who want their device to be as fast and slim as humanly possible. The phones will be made available to the public through ZTE’s official distributor MSI-ECS starting on the first quarter of 2013.

    Telecentre.org Foundation uses Microsoft Lync for efficient community transformation projects

    Gadgets Team
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    Telecentre.org Foundation uses Microsoft Lync for efficient community transformation projects

    Microsoft Philippines has partnered up with the Telecentre.org Foundation to help strengthen the business process of the organization’s community by providing them with Microsoft Lync, an enterprise-ready unified communications platform that allows users to keep track of the availability of their contacts, send messages, start or join audio, video or web conferences, or make a simple phone call all through a consistent, familiar interface.

    The Telecentre.org Foundation is a global organization of telecenters that aims to promote personal and social development through communication technology training, and is intended for people living in remote or rural locatons around the world. These telecenters provide public access to the Internet and other digital technologies, making it convenient for rural Filipinos.

    “As a global organization, it is important for us to stay connected with telecenters outside the country for us to achieve our vision of improving digital literacy locally,” shared Vida Zorah Gabe, Manager, Communications and Community Learning of Telecentre.org. “Microsoft Lync empowers all our employees to cost effectively conduct online conference calls with colleagues, wherever they may be. The various features of Lync such as presentation and desktop-sharing and convenient options to dial-in allows us to stay constantly updated with our business operations and partners around the world.”

    “With Lync, our quarterly communication technology cost estimate is down from 3 million pesos to 15 thousand pesos,” Gabe revealed. “This gives us more funding for programs that essentially benefit the communities we support.”

    “We at Microsoft believe that technology can help transform and empower communities to strengthen their business productivity. Our partnerships with organizations like Telecenter.org Foundation are in line with Microsoft’s commitment in helping communities,” said Tovia Va’aelua, the Business Group Lead at Microsoft Philippines.

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