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    Review: Sony Xperia ion

    Gadgets Team
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    Review: Sony Xperia ion

    After coming out with their Xperia S, Sony has decided to up the ante in the smartphone market by releasing the larger, more expensive Xperia ion to the market. The Xperia ion is the top-of-the-line smartphone that Sony has as of the moment, and as such, it brings Sony’s best traits to the table.

    Physically, the Xperia ion is an imposing device. Its black, monolithic front is completely protected by Gorilla Glass, and contains a 4.55-inch LED-backlit LCD that has a 720 x 1280 pixel resolution. Right below that lies four Android navigation keys. The more astute among you have probably guessed that the use of four navigation buttons means that the Xperia ion is powered by Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), and you’d be right. On the right side of the Xperia ion lies the power button, volume rocker and camera shortcut key. On the left side lies the USB port and a micro HDMI port.

    The back of the Xperia ion is treated with a brushed aluminum finish, with rubber strips on either end of the device. There’s a 12-megapixel camera on the back, along with a small LED flash. As far as we can tell the battery is non-user replaceable, and the Xperia ion will require you to use a microSIM card.

    Internally, the Xperia ion uses a dual-core Qualcomm MSM8260 Snapdragon 1.5GHz processor, with 1GB of RAM. Yes, you read that right – in a world where its rivals have already transitioned to more powerful quad-core processors (at least for their high-end devices), Sony has decided to stick with previous generation technology. There’s 13GB of internal storage on tap, and users can expand that via the microSD card slot.

     

    One of the things that really caught our eye with the Xperia ion is the screen. It’s easily one of the best we’ve seen on a smartphone before, and clearly shows how Sony’s mastery of TVs affect how it builds displays for its smartphones. Sony calls the display their HD Reality Display, which basically means that the display has an overall pixel density of 323 ppi, which makes the display really pop.

     

    Unfortunately, we’ve come to the portion of the review where we talk about the OS and the overlay, and you’ve probably already guessed that the Xperia ion doesn’t do well in this particular department. Simply put, there is no excuse for a supposed hi-end device to not run the latest version of Android at launch, especially when the next version of Android has already been announced. To Sony’s credit, they have already announced their plans to upgrade the Xperia ion to the next version of Android and we’ve seen it running on a beta build of ICS during the official product unveil.

    As far as benchmarks are concerned, the Xperia ion performed well enough for a device of its class. For AnTuTu, the Xperia ion scored 6505 points, which puts it on par roughly with the performance of the Samsung Galaxy Note. For Quadrant Standard, the Xperia ion managed to grab 2831 points, which isn’t bad, considering the hardware inside.

    Performance-wise, the Xperia ion fared pretty well, and managed to power through most of the apps and games that we purchased without much issue. It will run into trouble when it comes to newer, more graphic intensive apps and games.

    We feel the need to mention that although the Xperia ion uses a 12-megapixel camera, the image quality isn’t that great. The camera does a good enough job when there’s plenty of sunlight, unfortunately it stumbles when it comes to low-light, emitting large amounts of noise.

    Battery life is pretty good – the non user serviceable 1900mAh battery gave us around a day of moderate use, which you can still stretch if you decide to be more frugal with your use with it.

    It may be unfair to judge the Sony Xperia ion against other, recently launched smartphones, but that’s just the harsh reality of the mobile game at this point. That doesn’t mean that the Xperia ion doesn’t have anything going for it – far from it – it only means that you will need to thoroughly evaluate your love affair with it before dropping cash for one.

     

    What’s Hot:

    Solid construction

    Excellent industrial design

    Large, crisp and bright screen

     

    What’s Not:

    Still uses Android 2.3

    12-megapixel camera exhibits noise with low-light

     

    Bottomline:

    The Sony Xperia ion might not be in the same league as some of the more recently released smarthphones by its rivals, but its still a solid Android smartphone that you might still want to take a look at, especially if you’re a Sony fan.

    Buymeter: 4/5

     

    Tech Specs

    • Operating System: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
    • CPU: Qualcomm S3 1.5GHz dual-core processor
    • LCD size: 4.55-inch 720 x 1280 pixel resolution LED-backlit LCD
    • Physical Dimensions: 133 x 68 x 10.8 mm
    • Weight: 144 g
    • Band: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
    • Internal memory : 1GB RAM, 13.2 GB storage, expandable through microSD

    Globe aids in post-flood relief operations

    Gadgets Team
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    Globe aids in post-flood relief operations


    Globe is presently performing emergency response operations for those who have been affected by the flood. They are currently helping out the relief operations of Simbahang Lingkod Bayan, OxFam Philippines, Department of Agriculture and DepEd by providing the volunteer workers with free prepaid load, free internet, and free use of laptops and cellphones to help them send updates and advisories on relief operations.

    The company has put up their Libreng Tawag booths in 10 evacuation sites— Concepcion Integrated School, Concepcion, Marikina; Municipal Hall, Navotas City; Brgy. Bagong Silangan,Quezon City; Brgy.Burgos, Dinalupihan,Bataan; Brgy. Daungan, Hermosa, Bataan; Department of Agrarian Reform,Quezon City; Brgy. Dolores, San Fernando, Pampanga; Nangka Elementary School, Nangka, Marikina; Provincial Capitol, Malolos, Bulacan; and Mandaluyong Elementary School, Mandaluyong City.

    Globe, through its CSR program Globe Bridging Communities, has distributed food (including hot meals), water, and clothes to families who were affected by the flood in Fairview, Payatas and Marikina.  According to the company, they’re also planning to team up with Children’s International and VSO Bahaginan  to do the same in Caloocan and Hagonoy, Bulacan. They’ve also enlisted their employees to help in the repacking operations of DSWD, and to man soup kitchens at the Malolos Central School.

    Globe is also rallying donations in cash, in kind, or through GCASH.

    Gadgets Magazine August issue: We’re 12 years old!

    Gadgets Team
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    Gadgets Magazine August issue: We’re 12 years old!

    You heard it right. It’s our 12th birthday! This month we’re taking on all things High Definition—and we don’t just mean those new-fangled HDTVs, we’re talking about the entire HD lifestyle.

    Be sure to catch this month’s GadgetsLab to get a glimpse of all the latest gadgets, tried and tested just for you. Leading the pack is Samsung’s newest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S III. We’ve got the most interesting features laid out for you this August, including an in-depth story on the country’s sole science museum, The Mind Museum. We’ll also be introducing you to some interesting people, like cinematographer JA Tadena and Magic 89.9’s DJ Pat. Plus, as a birthday treat for the boys, we’re debuting our new gun section, Bullet Points.

    The icing on top of our birthday cake is the Cover Story, as the entire Gadgets team has cooked up a 12-page feature about technology in the past present that let you enjoy life in high definition. Two lovely ladies grace our pages this month. On our cover is the gorgeous Solenn Heussaff, and inside is car show darling Gwen Ceridwen.

    Here’s our special blow-out: You can get into Pinoy Blogfest 3.0 for FREE at the Alphaland Tents on August 25 when you present a copy of our August anniversary issue! Join us as we celebrate 12 years of tinkering with gadgets and bringing you the latest updates on your tech lifestyle.

    Grab your copy now!

     

    Google’s self driving cars log 300,000 miles with no accidents

    Gadgets Team
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    Google’s self driving cars log 300,000 miles with no accidents

    Driving may become a thing of the past: Google has logged 300,000 miles in its self driving cars without any accidents under computer control. Considering the number of accidents that even the most careful drivers have, this is a significant achievement.

    Although we may not see this kind of technology here in the Philippines for a while, we might as well pursue it considering the number of accidents motorists get into each year, along with traffic congestion and other factors that make driving a hassle in the Metro Manila area.

    However, Google admits that its technology still needs some work. “We’re encouraged by this progress, but there’s still a long road ahead. To provide the best experience we can, we’ll need to master snow-covered roadways, interpret temporary construction signals and handle other tricky situations that many drivers encounter,” Google said in its official blog.

    Some people, however, still think that 300,000 miles is still too low to consider the project a success: “Google’s cars would need to drive themselves (by themselves) more than 725,000 representative miles without incident for us to say with 99 percent confidence that they crash less frequently than conventional cars. If we look only at fatal crashes, this minimum skyrockets to 300 million miles,” said Bryant Walker Smith of Stanford Law School.

    Although the idea of a car driving itself seemed like a far-off fantasy as early as the beginning of this century, it is steadily making progress.

    Pinterest announces open registration

    Gadgets Team
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    Pinterest announces open registration

    Brace yourself for more Pinners! Pinterest recently announced that you can now register directly on the site to create an account, replacing its invite-only approach.

    For those who haven’t been introduced to this awesome site, Pinterest is a virtual pinboard where members organize and share photos of food, fashion, funny stuff, and loads of other interesting things. Before declaring open registration, you get to join Pinterest only when you get invited via email from an existing Pinterest user. The site is rapidly gaining popularity, and according to Mashable, it has even become the third largest social networking site in the US, tailing Facebook and Twitter. According to the Pinterest blog, the growing site has now opened registration to more prospective Pinners. You can now create an account using your email address, your Facebook account, or your Twitter account.

    “We’re really excited to have the capacity to offer Pinterest to more people and if you’re a Pinner with friends who’ve been waiting on the sidelines, we hope you’ll let them know,” the announcement reads.

    Head over to Pinterest.com now and start pinning!

    Nikon supposedly launching CoolPix S800 soon, first Android powered point-and-shoot camera

    Gadgets Team
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    0
    Nikon supposedly launching CoolPix S800 soon, first Android powered point-and-shoot camera

    Nikon’s supposedly stepping up and offering something new beyond the usual fare of higher megapixels and better zooms in digital cameras, as the company is supposedly releasing their Android powered CoolPix S800 to the market on August 22. The new device will run on Android (2.3) and will have full access to Google Play, allowing third party apps to run on the device. Some of you may be asking what the possible implications of a Android powered camera are – off the top of our head, faster tagging and social network sharing are just some of our guesses. Additional specs include a 3.5-inch screen of some sort, along with a GPS module and a WiFi module. The camera will also supposedly have a 25-250 mm lens, so you know it’s going to be a decent shooter, not just a gimmick camera. Let’s just hope this rumor pans out, eh?

    Source: Nikon Rumors

    ECS outs Mobile Widget line of products, unveils Pocket WiFi, Pocket Speakerphone and R100 Wi-Bridge

    Gadgets Team
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    1
    ECS outs Mobile Widget line of products, unveils Pocket WiFi, Pocket Speakerphone and R100 Wi-Bridge

    Aside from being a prolific manufacturer of motherboards and videocards, ECS has now also dived into the realm of small, portable electronic doodads. Dubbed as their Mobile Widget line, these new products are aimed at people who are looking on increase the functionality of some of their older devices through the clever use of existing technologies. Their Mobile Widget line will initially have three products in it – the Pocket WiFi, Pocket Speakerphone and R100 Wi-Bridge. The Pocket WiFi (pictured above) sounds pretty straightforward – it’s a portable pocket WiFi router that can also act as a WiFi device for products that don’t have WiFi built-in, like certain game consoles and older notebooks.

    The Pocket Speakerphone does exactly what its name implies – it’s a small speakerphone that you can connect to whenever you need to have a conference call with your staff or group, and boasts a  built-in microphone with 360° audio pickup coverage zone.

    The ECS R100 Wi-Bridge meanwhile,  turns an ordinary TV into a smart TV by simply connecting the R100 Wi-Bridge to your TV or projector via HDMI or VGA. Full HD movies, games, and music stored on your computer, smart phone or tablet can then be wirelessly sent to your home theater system, giving you ultimate convenience and comfort. ECS R100’s dual-band, high-bandwidth wireless link helps you watch smooth theater-quality Blu-ray 1080p HD movies without glitches. No word on pricing or availability has been set for these three products.

    Globe having issues connecting to Sun subscribers, working on a fix

    Gadgets Team
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    Globe having issues connecting to Sun subscribers, working on a fix

    Having issues connecting to Sun subscribers using your Globe and TM numbers? It’s not just you. Globe has informed us that they have found a glitch in the interconnection facility of the Cellular Mobile Telephone System (CMTS) of Digitel Mobile Philippines (Sun Cellular), and as result, you may encounter some difficulty making and receiving voice calls as well as sending and receiving text messages from subscribers of Sun Cellular. Globe has assured us that they’re working on fixing the issue,  has re-routed voice call traffic with Sun Cellular to an alternate facility to help connect calls to and from Sun Cellular subscribers. Good thing there’s still Twitter and Facebook messaging, eh?

     

    iPhone app allows you to have temporary phone numbers

    Gadgets Team
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    iPhone app allows you to have temporary phone numbers

    Need that extra privacy? The iPhone app Burner allows you to create a temporary phone number. If you’ve ever needed to avoid crazy exes, stalkers, play a prank on your friends, or close deals you made online with people without providing your real phone number, this is probably the ideal app for you. You can even share your temporary number on Facebook and Twitter without having your real identity compromised.

    According to the website, “Turn off inbound SMS notifications or rings quickly and easily. Manage all your inbound calls, SMS messages, and voicemails in one place,” and you can even drop the number from existence completely when you’re done with it. “Done with the number? It’s easy (and fun) to “burn” the number, taking it out of service and wiping it from your phone as if it never existed!”

    However, there is a catch for such a service: you are only given a certain number of credits, so you have to purchase more if you want to use this service constantly. Their Terms of Service are also very specific on how you use the app, so use it wisely and legally only.

    Samsung supposedly in talks with RIM to buy/license BB10

    Gadgets Team
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    Samsung supposedly in talks with RIM to buy/license BB10

    Some good news for beleaguered mobile company RIM, as it is rumored that they are in talks with Korean manufacturer Samsung to either license BlackBerry 10 or buy RIM entirely. As a result of the rumors, RIM’s stock has enjoyed a slight uptick in trade, up 4.2 percent to $7.62 at the close in New York. “Samsung is considering ramping up its internal development efforts, licensing BB10 or buying RIM,” Misek, who has the equivalent of a sell rating on RIM, wrote yesterday in a note. “Samsung is undecided.”

    So why would Samsung be interested in buying RIM or licensing BB10, considering it already has huge investments in Android? Remember, Samsung has started making inroads into developing their own software, and has started picking up mobile software engineers to work on its internal projects. Licensing and or buying BB10 allows them to build on top of another operating system that is mostly complete, which saves on both time, effort and money, and will only have to work on integrating it on future products.

    Source: Bloomberg

    Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 official: 9.8mm thin, Intel Atom Processor, will run on Windows 8

    Gadgets Team
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    Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 official: 9.8mm thin, Intel Atom Processor, will run on Windows 8

    Looks like Lenovo has officially acknowledged the next generation of the ThinkPad Tablet. Aptly named the ThinkPad Tablet 2, the new, Windows 8 powered tablet will replace the old Android ThinkPad Tablet that is currently being sold to enterprises and businesses around the world when it launches in October next month. The tablet will be powered by an Intel Atom Processor that gives it the ability to run legacy software, has a 10-inch, 1,366 x 768 resolution IPS display, has 10 hours of battery endurance, and can be outfitted (optional) with a 3G/4G module for connectivity. The ThinkPad Tablet 2 will also come with a pen, and comes in at a skinny 9.8mm. Lenovo has not set any kind of price for this particular device yet, but you can expect this thing to go on sale roughly the same time that Windows 8 is released.

     

    Mimoco outs Bruce Lee MIMOBOT USB drive

    Gadgets Team
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    Mimoco outs Bruce Lee MIMOBOT USB drive

    Bruce Lee once said, “You just wait. I’m going to be the biggest Chinese Star in the world.” True enough, he is presently deemed by the public and the media as the most influential martial artist of all time. Bruce Lee serves to be one of the most iconic personalities in 20th century pop culture. Now, thanks to Mimoco—a USB stick manufacturer known for its cute and creative designs— this martial arts legend is going to be the biggest Chinese Star in the flash drive market.


    The nifty, adorable Bruce Lee MIMOBOT is available in up to 64GB of disk space and comes pre-loaded with icons, avatars, wallpapers, and mimoByte sound software. It’s officially licensed with Bruce Lee Enterprises and is the latest addition to the Mimoco Legends of MIMOBOT series.

    Source: SlashGear

    Father of the Year: Dad supercharges his kid’s Lightning McQueen toy car with 0.66-hp, 500-watt electric motor

    Gadgets Team
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    Father of the Year: Dad supercharges his kid’s Lightning McQueen toy car with 0.66-hp, 500-watt electric motor

     

    For most people, a kid wearing out a Lightning McQueen toy car usually means two things – throw it away and hope their kid gets pre-occupied with a new toy, or buy a new one exactly like it. Well, FFTEC tuning shop owner Sean Burgess wasn’t going to have any of that, so instead, he did what came naturally to him – pimp his son’s ride. He reworked his son’s toy car with a new aluminum subframe, and replaced all the worn plastic tires with rubber all terrain tires, which went on disc brake calipers with sealed ball bearings. The then put a 0.66-hp, 500-watt electric motor inside the toy car and results are impressive, to say the least. Don’t believe us? Then check out his kid zipping around an dirt oval track ripping it up. Our inner child is officially jealous.

    Source: YouTube

    Citi PH bags Global Finance’s World’s Best Internet Bank award in consumer, corporate divisions

    Gadgets Team
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    Citi PH bags Global Finance’s World’s Best Internet Bank award in consumer, corporate divisions

    Citi Philippines won the title as the country’s Best Consumer Internet Bank and Best Corporate/Institutional Internet Bank, as proclaimed by New-York based media company Global Finance.

    The competing banks were judged based on strength of strategy in attracting and servicing online customers, growth of online customers and success in convincing clients to use web services, breadth of product offerings, evidence of tangible benefits gained from Internet initiatives, and web site design and functionality.

    This is Citi Philippines’ 7th win in the consumer category. It has bested the corporate category for six consecutive years.

    “Citi’s 200-year legacy is marked by innovations that helped shape the world and connect people across markets. In the Philippines, we have introduced technological advancements opening customers to global banking solutions and changing the landscape to be at par with global standards,” says Citi Country Officer for the Philippines Sanjiv Vohra. “We are truly proud of this achievement as we continue to provide the best online services to our clients, since the time we first introduced the convenience of electronic banking in 1983,” he adds.

    Citi Asia Pacific also bagged the Best Information Security Initiatives for the consumer category. In the corporate/institutional category, Citi was also named Best Trade Finance Services, Best Web Site Design and Best in Mobile Banking in Asia.

     

    HTC is gearing up to make their own 5-inch phablet, will have full HD and be released in September-October

    Gadgets Team
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    HTC is gearing up to make their own 5-inch phablet, will have full HD and be released in September-October

    Here’s something from the rumor mill: HTC is supposedly building their own 5-inch phablet that’s said to carry a 1794 by 1080 pixel display. Add in the 126 pixels carried by the Android navigation bar on the bottom, and you’re looking at a full HD 1920 x 1080 display, a first for the smartphone space. Samsung’s Galaxy S III and HTC’s own One X both use 720 x 1280 display resolutions. So what spurred the sudden interest in going big? Well, the source that Digitimes used said that the company saw the appeal and revenue of devices like the Galaxy Note and LG’s Vu, and hopes to score it big with their own re-imagining of the phablet. Rumored specs of this supposed 5-inch HTC HD monster? Well, how does a Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor and a Adreno 320 GPU sound? Like any rumor, take all of these news with a grain of salt, until HTC confirms the actual product a few months from now.

    Source: Digitimes

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