Samsung Series 7 Slate PC Price in the Philippines, Features, and Tech Specs

Samsung Series 7 Slate PC Price in the Philippines, Features, and Tech Specs: The Samsung Series 7 Slate PC, as its name suggests, combines both the portability of a tablet and the work functionality of a laptop computer. It is mainly suitable for businessmen and professionals who must constantly be up to date and efficient. The Series 7 Slate PC has all the basic features of a full-sized laptop including high-end specs in an extremely portable size that makes it an excellent tool of maximum productivity on the go.

The Samsung Series 7 Slate PC has a sombre, serious looking design and it also contains full sized ports, a chrome and aluminum brushed cover, and vents. The metal surface is made scratch and fingerprint resistant. The Samsung Series 7 Slate PC measures 11.6 x 7.2 x 0.5 inches and weighs approximately 2 pounds, undoubtedly bigger and thicker than the Apple iPad 2. It has a 16:9 screen orientation that differentiates it from most other tabs. The dimension makes it a bit unbalanced when used in portrait mode; however, it also makes for an easier grip under the arm and can be carried hands free.

The Samsung Series 7 Slate PC is dark gray in color and among its spare designs is the chrome Samsung insignia placed at the center of the back lid, almost indistinct. There are three sets of vents that run across the top of the backside to cool off the processor while there is also medium sized speaker on the bottom. Some physical buttons are also present.

The power button and screen orientation lock of the Samsung Series 7 Slate PC are situated on the right side while the volume rocker is located on the left. There is a physical button on the front side corresponding to a Start button. This opens the Launcher program that consists of two home screens, each containing shortcuts to different applications. There is also a micro-HDMI socket and a 3.5 mm headphone jack on the same side.

There is a docking connector on the bottom that allows the Samsung Series 7 Slate PC to connect to an accompanying keyboard dock. The dock enables the tab to function as a laptop or a PC. However, a Bluetooth keyboard is also available as an accessory. On the top edge is a microSD slot hidden behind a sliding door.

The Samsung Series 7 Slate PC features a 1.6 GHz Core i5-2467 M processor, 4GB RAM and 128GB Samsung made solid state drive (SSD). It is also equipped with an integrated Intel HD 300 graphics processor and runs Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional as its operating system. There are quite a handful of pre-installed apps including: Photos, Videos, Music, Bing Map, Notes, Yahoo Finance, Social Dashboard, Recipe, Clock, Weather, Internet Explorer, Windows Journal, Twitter, RSS Reader, Calendar, Camera, Amazon's Kindle reader, and a browser shortcut icon for YouTube. The tab also supports pen input for both jotting down and marking webpages and email attachments.

The Samsung Series 7 Slate PC has a bigger HD display that can surely trade in for its bulkiness. The screen is surrounded by a glossy black bezel that is merely a thin strip. The screen is an 11.6-inch HD LED backlit display with 1366 x 768 resolution. The display is made with Samsung’s own SuperBright Plus Technology that exudes out bright and high contrast colors and superb viewing angles. The 3-Megapixel primary camera is located on the rear near the vents. There is a secondary camera located on the front, worth 2 MP. Like most other tab cameras, however, the image capture from both cameras still wants for more improvement.

Overall, the Samsung Series 7 Slate PC is a uniquely made tablet computer with enough accessories and built-in hardware to transform it into a powerful laptop.

Samsung Series 7 Slate PC Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 47,00.00

You may also check out: Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Tablet Computer

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Acer Iconia Tab A200 Price in the Philippines, Features, and Expectations

Acer Iconia Tab A200 Price in the Philippines, Features, and Expectations: The Acer Iconia Tab A200, an Android-based tablet, has been made official through a press release just recently. It will have a 10.1-inch screen that has 1280 x 800 resolution. For now, it runs Android Honeycomb, but the company has stated that by early 2012, it will be upgraded to run Ice Cream Sandwich. For those who will purchase the Acer Iconia Tab A200 earlier, they will get a free upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich by the time it is released.

The Acer Iconia Tab A200 is powered by a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor and 1GB worth of RAM. It features a 2-megapixel front-facing camera to be utilized during video calls. It also houses a full-size USB port and a micro-SD slot.

One of the special features of the Iconia Tab A200 that have been released to the public is what Acer call as the Acer Ring. It is an application that connects Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites. It also has a screenshot function that could not be seen in most Android tablets.

With the public still waiting for the Acer Iconia Tab A200’s release, read along and find out what is it about Android 4.0, more popularly known as Ice Cream Sandwich, has to offer its users.

Ice Cream Sandwich is the newest and the latest version of Android being used in phones, tablets and other gadgets. It has been made with comfort, accessibility and easiness in mind. With Android ICS, you can experience multitasking with ease and more visual. It allows you to jump from one task to another with the help of the list of recent applications you have used found in the System Bar.

Web browsing has also been made a powerful experience with Ice Cream Sandwich. With this version, you can now request desktop versions of websites instead of just being contented with its mobile version. It will also allow you to read and access previous sites that you have bookmarked even when you go offline. When the Acer Iconia Tab A200 is released with Ice Cream Sandwich earlier next year, you can get all these.

However, the Acer Iconia Tab A200 may not sound impressive to everyone. With its price still undecided, other tablet fans are contemplating on either going for it or ditching it. Without much difference from the earlier version that was the Acer Iconia Tab A500, it makes the public think of what advantages it can get when this tablet is purchased. Another disappointment that has been quite obvious is Acer’s use of Tegra 2 while the public is hoping that it would come with the latest version of the chip.

Acer has announced that the Acer Iconia Tab A200 will be cheaper compared to the other tablets already in the market. Considering this fact, you can make this tablet a first one or something that the family can enjoy using since it was made especially for gaming, reading books, viewing movies and social networking. People who are fond of using social networking sites and are always on the go will find this tablet helpful and easy to use especially with the Acer Ring application.

As a whole, the Acer Iconia Tab A200 tablet may not be as impressive as the others in the market but it can be very functional. When Acer releases its price and sticks to their statement that it is cheaper than the others, it just might be successful compared to its predecessor. Who knows, it may just be the tablet you need.

Acer Iconia Tab A200 Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 22,500.00

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Mitsubishi Fuzion Price in the Philippines (as of December 2011)

Mitsubishi Fuzion Price in the Philippines: The Mitsubishi Fuzion is a sleek-looking multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) that is based on the chassis of Mitsubishi Montero Sport. In 2005, it was first released in Taiwan and is named as Mitsubishi Zinger, making it one of the newest Mitsubishi cars in the market today. Zinger is described as a person full of life and energy, which also best describes the features of the vehicle.

The Mitsubishi Fuzion was equipped by a 4-speed automatic model engine but was later replaced by a 4G69 MIVEC-powered version at the end of 2008, in order to meet new emissions standards. The 5-speed Manual model still use 4G64 engine. The company claims that the Mitsubishi Fuzion merges together the best characteristics of three kinds of vehicles: the sporty character and ruggedness of an SUV, the spaciousness and versatility of a van, and riding comfort of a passenger car.

Mitsubishi Fuzion Specifications:

Class: MPV

Body style: 5-door hatchback

Engine: 4G64 2.4 L straight-4; 4G69 2.4 L straight-4

Transmission: 4-speed auto; 5-speed manual

Wheelbase: 2,720 mm (107.1 in)

Length: 4,585 mm (180.5 in)

Width: 1,775 mm (69.9 in)

Height: 1,790 mm (70.5 in)

Mitsubishi Fuzion Price in the Philippines (as of December 2011):

Fuzion 2.4 GLX Gas AT: Php 950,000.00

Fuzion 2.4 GLS Sport Gas AT: Php 1,150,000.00

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Sony Tablet P Price in the Philippines, Features, and Other Info

Sony Tablet P Price in the Philippines, Features, and Other Info: The release of the iPad has made a lot of people go after a lot of rip-offs that are not of good quality and have been a source of heaps of disappointment for tablet fans. Unfortunately, companies have been releasing different versions of tablet computers with outdated operating systems and applications that have raised eyebrows making consumers confused with what to get and what not to get. Fortunately, companies have realized that there were many negative reviews on various products and they started developing better tablets. What’s more is the release of Android Honeycomb, a better alternative to those used for mobile phones since it is fit for tablets.

One tablet to definitely check out is the Sony Tablet P, a strong competition for other personal tablets that have been released in the market. The Sony Tablet P looks like no other as it was designed to be unique, sleek and impressive. This dual-screen Android tablet looks like a handheld console that folds in the middle, unlike its predecessor, the Sony Tablet S that folds like a magazine.

As impressive at it may seem, the Sony Tablet P is quite expensive compared to its competition in the market. Read along and find out if the Sony Tablet P is worth you money or is it just another tablet for the Sony fans out there.

The Sony Tablet P weighs 375 grams, way lighter than its competitors and is easy and comfortable to hold even for longer periods. Despite its light weight, this tablet is pretty solid and tough, a petty but good thing for those who always tend to just throw in their tablets inside the bag or for this tablet, inside the pocket. However, make sure that it is protected from keys and other materials that could scratch its finish, reminding you that this tablet also needs to be taken good care of.

With the impressive function of the Android Honeycomb, it allows you to work on many applications as much as possible. Imagine five home screens filled with various applications and widgets. Browsing is made possible through Wi-Fi or 3G and just like the usual you can pinch the screen with your fingers to zoom in and out the page. However, the Wi-Fi receiver of the Sony Tablet P may be a bit of a problem especially when you move quite far from the router. Sometimes, you would get the “no Internet connection” notice while you browse the Internet. This is quite disappointing since its competitors have better Wi-Fi receivers.

The Sony Tablet P is equipped with a mini USB port at the right side, beside the volume buttons. It also comes with an internal micro SD slot. The Sony Tablet P comes with 4 GB of storage so you might want to use a memory card, especially if you are fond of saving movies, music and other files in your tablet. This is where its competitors also score since other tablets have 8 to 16 GB of storage. Charging the Sony Tablet P would mean connecting it to an adapter and not via USB, another score for other tablets although this might just be a petty thing.

In summary, the Sony Tablet P has its high points and low points. This tablet has two impressive vibrant screens that will give you crisp displays. It is lighter and more compact for a tablet. The Sony Tablet P is run by a capable processor that fits well for tablets, and not only for mobile phones and you can even play PS1 games with it. However, since the screens are split into two, watching movies in a small screen may not be as exciting as with other tablets. You also don’t get to play using physical buttons, only with the other screen. And one disappointing thing as well is the Wi-Fi receiver’s capability.

Sony Tablet P Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 30,000.00

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Sennheiser HD 518 Price in the Philippines, Features, and Tech Specs

Sennheiser HD 518 Price in the Philippines, Features, and Tech Specs: The HD 518, an audiophile-worthy headphone from the German gadgets company Sennheiser, offers a high quality audio experience but with a very affordable price. The full size headphone is equipped with Sennheiser’s very innovative E.A.R technology that ensures accurate channeling of audio signals. In addition, the Sennheiser HD 518 also has the very sophisticated Duofol diaphragm that reduces unnecessary resonances to bare minimum. Together, these features give an outstandingly well-balanced and accurate representation of audio.

The Sennheiser HD 518 is an over the ear audio headphones and is deemed to be the cheapest among Sennheiser’s line of HD headphones. Similar to the other members of the HD series, the HD 518 is open backed and designed to cover the ears entirely. The open back design gives more comfort to the ears; however, it may also leak sounds off of the earphones. This is good for those who still want to hear the surrounding sounds but may be a disadvantage to those who do not want outside noise interruption.

The Sennheiser HD 518 has two comfortable elliptical ear cup constructions that are both appealing and comfortable. The cups have a distinctive grille-like casing that also adds design to the earphones. Although full-sized, they are not too big or too small for an earphone. The body of the Sennheiser HD 518 is made almost entirely of plastic with a few metallic screws here and there. This plastic coating that seems to be similar to all the other members of the HD series, ensures that the headphones don’t become too heavy. The body exerts a firm with comfortable grip on the head that doesn’t wear out even for an extended length of use.

The cushions of the Sennheiser HD 518 seems to be a downgrade from the padding of the higher priced HD 558 and HD 598 in that they consist of a rougher and less soft material with a springier inner foam. This gives more pressure to the ears compared to the aforementioned HDs; however, overall the headphones still feel comfortable together with the open design and fabric crackle free pads that don’t conceal much heat.

The Sennheiser HD 518 uses a 2.5 mm, three-meter long removable cable that connects to the left earphone with a turn and lock mechanism. The removable cable makes it easier to customize the headphones. The cable plugs into a 6.3 mm jack; however, there is a 3.5 mm converter included in the package.

The highly innovative Eargonomic Acoustic Refinement (EAR) technology employed in the Sennheiser HD 518 channels audio signals directly to the ear, which by and by produces a crisper and excellent sound reproduction with deep rich bass. There is also a neodymium ferrous magnet system in the headphones that gives a highly optimized, field strengthened dynamic response, together with the lightweight aluminum voice coils. Transparency and minimal distortion are also achieved through the state-of-the-art Duofol diaphragms.

The Sennheiser HD 518 is indeed made and designed for high fidelity use. The mids and high tones are clear and the bass is superb and a bit laid back. The Sennheiser HD 518 is also a good company for an amp even though it employs the Sennheiser signature veiled sound. The HD 518 is indeed good not just for day-to-day computer and workstation listening but also for all recorded rock, pop, and classical sounds.

Sennheiser HD 518 Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 4,500.00

You may also check out: Sennheiser HD 800 Audio Headphones

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HP Folio 13 Ultrabook Price in the Philippines, Features, and Other Details

HP Folio 13 Ultrabook Price in the Philippines, Features, and Other Details: The Folio 13 is HP’s very first entry in the Ultrabook showdown. The laptop is marketed as ultra-thin and ultra powerful with a battery life that can extend to up to 9.5 hours. It is also sold at a relatively good price of around $900 for something that contains high-end specs, while the MacBook Air (13-inch), one of its main competitors, is priced at approximately $1300. HP seems to be steering the market for the laptop to businessmen and professionals because of the TMP chip and three-year warranty. However, the Folio 13 is said to also have a more mainstream version.

The HP Folio 13 runs on a 2nd Generation 1.6 GHz Intel Core i5 mobile processor and comes installed with a genuine Windows Professional 7 operating system. Some versions are available with Core i3 low-voltage processor. It can also have an optional TPM 1.2 embedded chip for security purposes and has Mobile Intel HM65 Express as a chipset. The HP Folio 13 has 4GB worth of RAM and 128 GB worth of mSATA SSD internal memory. On the other hand, the additional memory slot can support up to 8 GB of extended memory in the form of SD, SDHC, SDXC and MMC.

The HP Folio 13 is 220 x 318 x 180 mm in dimension and weighs 3.3 pounds or 1.50 kg - a bit heavier and bulkier than an average Ultrabook but nonetheless, light. The design of the HP Folio 13 caters for easy grip and handling, specially at the bottom part where it is soft and has a bit of friction. It also features rounded corners and is almost entirely made out of metal except for the bottom and plastic keyboard. However, both the palm rests and the keyboard are brushed metal.

Design-wise, the HP Folio 13 is spare and simple with no unnecessary buttons and branding in the perimeter and in the covers. The chunkiness of the device can be owed largely to the many ports it comes with. It has a fuller variety of ports compared to the other Ultrabooks in the market. Specifically, it features one HDMI port, a USB v 3.0 port, an RJ-45/ Ethernet port, a USB v 2.0 port, and a headphone out/ microphone in combo jack.

One important feature of the HP Folio 13 is its backlit keyboard. The keyboard is described to be full-sized, island style and with UV coating. The keys are well spaced but with a shallow key height. The HP Folio 13 also has a glass-surfaced touchpad that makes use of HP's proprietary ImagePad for multitouch support and click pad experience similar to the MacBook Air.

The HP Folio 13 has a 13.3-inch screen (1366 x 786 pixel resolution) with HP BrightView LED. The bezels are very narrow that allows for decent viewing angles. The HP Folio 13 has Dolby Advance Audio for a cinematic surround sound experience, and it has an integrated dual-microphone array. It also has the Integrated HP TrueVision HD webcam that is located near the display.

The HP Folio 13 runs on a six-cell (59WHr) lithium ion battery and has an HP 65-watt non-smart AC adapter.

The consumer model of the HP Folio 13 is already available in the market since December 7. It is sold at a starting price of $899.99 for the lower Intel Core i3 configuration. The more advanced ‘business’ edition of the HP Folio 13 will be released around January 2012.

HP Folio 13 Ultrabook Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 43,000.00

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Sony PlayStation Vita Price in the Philippines, Tech Specs, and Other Features

Sony PlayStation Vita Price in the Philippines, Tech Specs, and Other Features: The PlayStation Vita, first known as NGP, is the successor of the PSP or PlayStation Portable, a gaming device from the PlayStation brand of Sony. The portable gaming device features powerful specs and innovative hardware that will leave the user wanting for nothing in terms of overall gaming experience. The games that can be played on the device are also unique and it comes with much improved applications for connectivity.

The PlayStation Vita is an eight-generation PSP model that measures 83.55 x 182 x 18.6 mm and has a super oval shape. The device may prove bulky, being bigger than the PSP 3000, but otherwise, it is nearly the size range of the other long-released PSP models. It is also similar in form to the original PSP but much wider than Nintendo 3DS.

The PlayStation Vita runs on a quad core ARM Cortex - A9 MPCore processing unit, and a quad core SGX543MP4+ graphics unit. It comes with 512 MB worth of RAM and 128 MB worth of VRAM. The main user interface the PlayStation Vita is called LiveArea, which is said to exceed XrossMediaBar. LiveArea also includes social networking features like the PlayStation Network.

The software like games and apps for the Sony PlayStation Vita is distributed in a new flash memory card called PlayStation Vita Card instead of a Universal Media Disc (UMD) that is used by the earlier PSPs. It has a 5-inch or 130 mm OLED multi-touch enabled 24-bit capacitive screen with a maximum resolution of 960 x 544 qHD and 221 pixels per inch depth.

The Sony PlayStation Vita has Bluetooth v 2.1 with EDR support, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ Wi-Fi, and an optional 3G connectivity. It also has two VGA cameras on the front and back: the front is 0.3 MP and captures 60 frames per second, while the rear camera has a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels and captures 120 frames per second.

The PlayStation Vita has two analogue sticks on the front, which makes it like the current home gaming consoles, suitable for first person shooting modes. Aside from the touchscreen input and analogue sticks, there are also the usual 12 pieces of PSP physical buttons, a D-pad, three-axis electronic compass, six-axis motion sensing, and the most unique innovation so far - the rear touch pad. The rear is a touch sensitive area with the same size as the display screen, and works similar to a laptop trackpad. The fingers are meant to stray and poke the rear while playing games. This, together with all the other sensing add-on will surely add reality and another dimension to the gaming experience.

Several games have been released for the Sony PlayStation Vita like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Gravity Rush, Hustle Kings, Everybody's Golf Next, Killzone, Wipeout 2048, Resistance, LittleBigPlanet, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend, Ridge Racer, Reality Fighters and Call of Duty. It is also fully backwards compatible with PSP games digitally released on PlayStation Network via the PlayStation Store. To reduce pixilation, the graphics of the games released before is up-scaled with a smoothing filter.

Aside from new games available for the PlayStation Vita, the device is pre-installed with applications such as ‘Party’ for chatting and ‘Near’ that lets the user detect the Vita games people in their immediate vicinity are playing. There are also virtual-game related rewards for checking in at certain geographical locations.

There are two models of the Vita available: one with WiFi that costs $249, and another that has an accompanying 3G with the WiFi support worth $299. The Sony PlayStation Vita was released on December 17, 2011 in Japan and some parts of Asia, and it’s expected to be released in Europe, Australia and North America on February 22 the following year. There were a total of 321,407 units sold in the first two days of its release.

Sony PlayStation Vita Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 12,000.00 (Starting Price)

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 Price in the Philippines, Features, and Other Details

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 Price in the Philippines, Features, and Other Details: The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 is one of the most anticipated digital cameras in the market. It is compact and solidly built with a design reminiscent of age-old cameras. It is easy to handle, without too much fuss on its physical utilities, and it takes high quality pictures with vivid colors. Added to these features are the long zoom range and the speedy lens.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 is the successor to the widely successful LX3. First released two years ago, the LX3 became an instant success and even came to be regarded as one of the classic digital cameras. The LX5 also features the same full range of manual setting modes, fast shutter, and RAW file format as the LX3, but of course with some twist and improvements here and there.

For instance, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 has a new 3.8x 24-90 mm zoom lens, a large 1/1.63 inch 10-megapixel CCD sensor and it also has HD movie recording with built-in Creative Movie mode to adjust shutter speed and aperture when shooting. The user interface was also redesigned for easier accessibility. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 has a Power OIS anti-shake system that minimizes blurry needs for high-speed images, Intelligent Resolution technology and an optional viewfinder. The model is available in both black and white colors.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 features a super bright f/2.0 LEICA DC Vario-summicron lens that offers high sensitivity CCD. The lens is a superb piece of technology. It consists of 10 elements in 9 groups with 3 aspherical lenses and 5 aspherical surfaces. Together, these pieces make for stunning true-to-life images with laudable details. The lens produces minimal distortions especially at the wide end, high resolution, and minimum image artefacts such as chromatic aberrations, ghosting and flaring.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 has a 0.24 mm ultra-wide angle lens that is very rare in compact cameras. This extends the optimal zoom from LX3’s 2.5x or 60 mm to 3.8x or 90 mm as 35 mm equivalent. This adds versatility to snapshots including portraits since the LX5 offers approximately 213% larger viewing space and approximately 136% larger compared to the normal 28 mm wide-angle lens. The f/2.0 lens is approximately twice as bright as the f/2.8 lens, which in itself is already considered a bright lens. Together, image capture will be stunningly sharp, crisp, and devoid of blurry effects, especially during low lighting conditions.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 also utilizes a 1/1.63-inch CCD with an 11.3 MP total resolution. The highly acclaimed CCD was redesigned to accommodate an expansion of the dynamic range by 31% and saturation by 38%. The CCD can give three different aspect ratios with the same wide angle from 24 mm to 90 mm. In addition, the minimal illumination of the LX5 is as low as 3 lux in movie recording and the maximum setting is IS0 12800. Together, these enable shooting quality images even in very dark places.

Another important thing about the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 is its 5.0x Intelligent Zoom feature. The Intelligent Resolution technology that powers the LX5 extends the zoom ratio to approximately 1.3x and even combines optical zoom, all the while maintaining the image quality. Together, the optical scan thus extends to 5.0x. In addition, the center part of the large CDD can bring the subjects even closer in what is called Extra Optical Zoom. This extends zoom to 6.7x. There is also a Step Zoom function that lets the user set the zoom range from 24, 28, 35, 70, or 90 mm. A maximum of 800 mm can be attained when using both the Intelligent Zoom and digital zoom.

As mentioned earlier, Panasonic also worked on the low-frequency vibration and high shake component. Power OIS (Optimal Image Stabilizer) can be easily activated when pressing the shutter button or when shooting at night with a low shutter speed. The technology approximately doubles the effect of shake regulation compared to other cameras.

Other features of Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 include: HD movie recording at 1280 x 720 pixels resolution 25 fps and AVCHD lite format, a full resolution 2.5fps, high-speed burst of approximately 6fps/10fps, shutter speed of 60 to 1/4000, a user interface for exposure controls, image capture, white balance, etc.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 is a bit pricey at around $400 but it sure is a nice deal with regards to its high-end specs.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 18,000.00

You may also like: Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3 Digital Camera

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Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet Computer Price in the Philippines, Features, and Tech Specs

Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet Computer Price in the Philippines, Features, and Tech Specs: The Nook Color has undergone a transformation that other e-Book reader manufacturers have not done yet - turning into an Android tablet from a regular e-Book reader. So, what makes the Nook Tablet special than the rest of the e-readers and its competitor, the Kindle Fire, which has been one of the best-selling gadgets today? Read along and find out why we think of the Nook Tablet in comparison to other e-readers, its advantages and disadvantages and how it is compared to its predecessor, the Barnes and Noble Nook Color.

So, how does the Nook Tablet look like? It looks very close to the Nook Color since Barnes and Noble has stated that the Nook Color was a successful and unique device that people recognized easily. So, Nook Tablet looks like Nook Color, but with better features. You will notice the slight difference in color as the Nook Color is dark gray and the Nook Tablet is metallic silver. It weighs only 14.1 ounces or 400 grams. The good thing about the Nook Tablet as well is its textured back that will help you have fewer slips when reading something exciting that you actually forgot you are holding a tablet.

The Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet looks like no other Android device as it sticks to its original and distinctive appearance. Plus, it still includes that loops on the lower left side that will surely make you recognize it as a Barnes and Noble product. This tablet measures 8.1 x 5.0 x 0.48 inches, something taller than the usual 7-inch tablet. On the upper part of the left side of the tablet, you will see two volume buttons, while on the upper part of the right side, you will see the power button.


It will be easier to adjust the volume of the Nook Tablet since you do not have to look for the volume feature in the settings before turning it up or down. At the top, you will see a headphone jack and at the bottom, a USB port. On the other side of the tablet, you will see the speaker grill which is good enough, but you might still want to just use the headphones instead. The back cover of the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet is convex in shape, making it easier to grip.

So, what makes the Nook Tablet interesting? Barnes and Noble decided to upgrade it to a 1GHz dual core processor with a 1 GB RAM. It also boasts of a 16GB storage front. However, 12 GB is intended for the Nook’s storage so you are left with 1 GB only for other things you might wish to save in this tablet. If you are the type of user who doesn’t need to save a lot of files other than that of the tablet’s system files and applications, this may work for you. However, if you plan to save other stuff such as movies and music, you might not see the Nook Tablet as a friend.

The battery of the Nook Tablet will last you for almost nine hours, which is better than the Amazon Kindle Fire and some other tablets. However, charging it will be a challenge sometimes because you can’t charge it through a PC using a USB cable. It will only charge using the supplied power charger.

Although the Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet is not really impressive when it comes to browsing, it is excellent for reading magazines, comic books and children’s books. It will also allow you to read without a book light at night. And with its screen filled with colors, who would not find this tablet interesting?

The main question now is that would consumers consider having the Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet over cheaper alternatives in the market? Perhaps, because the cheaper the price of the tablet, the little the features and developments when compared to the Nook Tablet.

Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet Computer Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 11,200.00

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Toyota Avanza Price in the Philippines (as of December 2011)

Toyota Avanza Price in the Philippines: The Toyota Avanza is a compact multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) that is designed and manufactured in Indonesia and Malaysia by Daihatsu, with regulation from Toyota. The name "Avanza" was taken from the Italian word avanzato, which means "advance". The vehicle is also being sold under the Daihatsu brand.

The Toyota Avanza was launched at the Gaikindo Auto Expo in 2003 and was selling over 100,000 units that year. It is developed as a low premier MPV to split the Toyota Kijang to two different models; the other being the Toyota Innova, which is of higher-spec since it is aimed at a higher market.

Since 2006, the Toyota Avanza is available in the Philippines with 2 trim levels: The 'J' and the 'G' line. The 'J' line features a 1.3 I3 engine, has no power windows and locks, and is solely obtainable with manual transmission. The 'G' line on the other hand has a 1.5 engine and has power features paired to a 5-speed manual transmission or a 4-speed automatic transmission. The Toyota Avanza J line variant was later sold without the 3rd row seat. It has been commonly used as taxicabs here in our country.


Some of the standard features of Toyota Avanza:

* MacPherson Strut Suspension
* Electronically controlled side mirrors
* All windows equipped with power windows
* Warning lights on information meters for various safety and engine systems
* Air-conditioning with rear blower
* Global Outstanding Assessment (GOA) body
* Seat Belts
* Alarm system with engine immobiliser, siren, cabin sensors, and auto door locks
* Fog lamps and high-mount stop light
* Reverse sensors

Toyota Avanza Price List in Philippine Peso (as of December 2011):

Avanza 1.3J MT (5 seater): Php 593,000.00

Avanza 1.3J MT (7 seater): Php 613,000.00

Avanza 1.5G MT: Php 803,000.00

Avanza 1.5G AT: Php 843,000.00

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Nokia Lumia 710 Price in the Philippines, Features, and Other Details

Nokia Lumia 710 Price in the Philippines, Features, and Other Details: The Lumia 710 is a more modest version of the Nokia Lumia 800. The phone was first announced on October 2011 and was released at the end of the year. The device is slightly at the lower-end and is offered at a retail price of only $370.

The Nokia Lumia 710 has a curved 119 x 62.4 x 12.5 mm design and weighs 125.5 grams. The plastic cover is thin and flexible but it nonetheless locks in smoothly and solidly. There is an overall suitable manufacturing and a creative lax on the colors as the Nokia Lumia 710 is available in a range of customizable covers: black, white (front)/ black, white, cyan, fuchsia, yellow (back).

The display type of the Nokia Lumia 710 consists of a plain TFT LCD capacitive multi-touch enabled screen that contains 16 M colors in 480 x 800 pixels resolution. The screen size is 3.7 inches in diagonal and has a pixel density of approximately 252ppi. However, despite the budget deal, the screen is still made out of the durable Corning Gorilla Glass and features Nokia ClearBlack display. The screen still gets its job done, giving justice to the UI and image outputs.


The Nokia Lumia 710 runs on a 1.4 GHz Scorpion processor and Adreno 205 graphics-processing unit. It runs Microsoft Windows 7.5 Mango operating system, and utilizes Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon as its chipset. The phone functions through both 2G and 3G network.

The Nokia Lumia 710 contains 8 GB worth of internal storage and 512 MB RAM. Unfortunately, there are no card slots to extend the storage capacity. Nokia compensates for this by offering 25 GB worth of cloud storage in Sky Drive, but the allocation is not free.

Sensors-wise, the Nokia Lumia 710 contains an accelerometer, proximity sensor, and compass. It supports SMS messaging in a threaded view, MMS, email, push email, and IM. For Internet browsing, the Nokia Lumia 710 supports WAP 2.0/ xHTML, HTML5, and RSS feeds. It also has a built-in stereo FM radio with RDS and has GPS with A-GPS support. The phone, however, does not support Java applications.

As for data encoding, the Nokia Lumia 710 supports Class 33 GPRS and Class 33 EDGE. It has an HSDPA speed of 14.4 Mbps, and an HSUPA speed of 5.76 Mbps. WLAN support is through 802.11 b/g/n WiFi. The phone also has Bluetooth v 2.1 with A2DP and EDR as well as a microUSB port v 2.0. Other features include: SNS integration, active noise cancellation with dedicated microphone, MP3/ WAV/ eAAC+/ WMA and MP4/ H.264/ H.263/ WMV players, document viewer/ editor, video/ photo editor, voice memo/ command/ dial, and predictive text input.

Nokia has included a number of company related tiles in the phone’s Windows 7.5 OS including Mix Radio that streams and downloads music, and Drive that functions for voice guided turn-by-turn navigation. In addition, the Nokia Lumia 710 supports the Windows Phone keyboard that is laudable in itself. The keyboard offers fast and a more user-friendly method of typing emails and texting.

The primary camera of the Nokia Lumia 710 is located at the back with 5 MP in 2592 x 1944 pixel resolution, and with autofocus and LED flash. The camera features geo-tagging and has face detection capabilities. Video quality is at 720 p at 30 frames per second. There is no front camera support that is unfortunate since the Nokia Lumia 710 has Skype access. There can be some problems with grittiness of the image and video under low and mid lighting. However, the camera is still fast and there is no excessive compression of the image under good lighting. The Windows software for the camera is also adequate for photography.

The Nokia Lumia 710 runs using a standard lithium ion battery with 1200 mAh. Standby time reaches up to 400 hours using both 2G and 3G networks while talk time takes up to 6 hours and 50 minutes using 2G and up to 7 hours and 40 minutes using 3G. With continuous music play, the battery can last up to 38 hours.

Despite the lower-end specs, the Nokia Lumia 710 nonetheless exhibits many positive attributes at such a price point. Ordinary users will find this Windows phone satisfying for everyday use.

Nokia Lumia 710 Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 16,000.00

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Fujifilm FinePix X10 Digital Camera Price in the Philippines, Features, and Other Info

Fujifilm FinePix X10 Digital Camera Price in the Philippines, Features, and Other Info: The Fujifilm FinePix X10 received quite an acclimation when it was released into the market on March. This digital camera is compact with an aluminum alloy body that is retro designed. It shares some characteristics and soft features with its older brother Fujifilm FinePix X100, but X10 is a bit relegated and its compactness can fit comfortably on the palm.

The Fujifilm FinePix X10 digital camera is well built with no extra movements in its frameworks due to the die-cast magnesium alloy coating on the top and base and adjusted control dials. The middle has fine leatherette finish that provides a firm and comfortable grip. Also, this 35 mm camera is light at only 350 g with the battery and memory card. It measures 117 x 69.6 x 56.8 mm. The Fujifilm FinePix X10 is made of high precision solid parts from the zoom ring and mode dial to the exposure dial.

One of the best features of this 12 MP camera is the 2/3-inch EXR CMOS sensor. The sensor can automatically detect optimal shooting modes from 99 options. The technology utilizes a different pixel arrangement that enables the Fujifilm FinePix X10 to take pictures at a full 12 MP resolution or combine adjacent pixels to boost image quality. Additionally, it enables neighboring pixels to capture images at two different ISO sensitivities at the same time, enabling images that have a vast dynamic range to be captured without the need to take multiple shots. On the other hand, its EXR Auto mode adjusts EXR configuration in order to provide the best pictures at a wide range of conditions.

The EXR technology employed in the Fujifilm FinePix X10 also brings about remarkable speed: 0.01 s shutter lag time, 0.8 s Quick Start Mode, and up to 7 frames per second continuous shooting at full resolution and 10 frames per second at reduced resolution. Video recording is as high as 1080 p. The 4x, 28-112mm, f/2.0-2.8 zoom Fujinon lens features manual zooming, and provides an angle of view equivalent to a 28-112 mm lens. The zoom lens can be manipulated manually, adding to the retro style of the Fujifilm FinePix X10. In addition, the lens has an advanced design that enables them to capture distortion-free images with high precision. The zoom ring contains a built-in power switch to facilitate easy power up of the camera while looking through the viewfinder.


The Fujifilm FinePix X10 has a 2.8-inch 460,000-dot LCD screen that has an anti-reflective coating. Images can be previewed and composed on the screen or they can be composed on the optical viewfinder. The viewfinder, like the screen, is vivid and provides a suitable area. However, there is no focus point marker. Next to the viewfinder is the flash unit. The flash can be synchronized to the shutter speed up to 1/4000 of second. This feature can be very useful in taking creative pictures. In addition, the Fujifilm FinePix X10 allows for macro capture at a distance of just 1 cm, permitting great detail.

The Fujifilm FinePix X10 has four options for auto-bracketing function: AE, ISO Sensitivity, Dynamic Range, and Film Simulation. The film simulation mode simulates the colors and tones of color reversal films: PROVIA, Velvia, and ASTIA, along with a monochrome mode. The expanded dynamic range that can be adjusted from 100% to 1600% can be utilized to bring out the details in high contrast settings. Image quality controls include: color, tone, and sharpness adjustment, two-color space types, noise reduction control, white balance settings, precise white balance settings, and ISO sensitivity setting range. The Fujifilm FinePix X10 digital camera also offers of host of other versatile functions like a motion panorama 360 view, intelligent digital zoom, super-intelligent flash, mode dial and scene positions, self-timer, and playback options.

The Fujifilm FinePix X10 is priced at around $600 - a great buy considering its high standard specs and wide-range functionality.

Fujifilm FinePix X10 Digital Camera Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 30,000.00

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Motorola Xoom 2 Android Tablet Price in the Philippines, Tech Specs, and Other Features

Motorola Xoom 2 Android Tablet Price in the Philippines, Tech Specs, and Other Features: The Motorola Xoom 2 is the new and improved version of the earlier Xoom, the first ever tablet computer that featured Android Honeycomb. Xoom 2 is the lighter, faster, and thinner brother of the original Xoom. In fact, Motorola describes this gadget as 10 percent lighter, 33 percent thinner, and with an improved high definition screen. The size of the tablet is 253.9 x 173.6 x 8.8 mm and it weighs 599 grams. Both weight and girth matches that of the Apple iPad 2. The gadget was announced on November 2011.

The most noticeable change is the exterior design of the Motorola Xoom 2. The makers clipped the corners, added edging and slimmed down the tablet. It also feels better on the hands with an easy grip thanks to the rubbery coating. The clipped corners and thinner design apparently serve an ergonomic purpose in that it they don’t create pressure on the palms even after extended use.

The Motorola Xoom 2 is also more rigid than merits first look. The bezel is less pronounced, around 13 mm in vertical and 20 mm in horizontal. The tablet is also brushed with a splashguard coating both in the outside and inside to protect against accidental dampening.

The buttons of the Motorola Xoom 2 are located on the rear - the standby and volume rocker alongside the rubbery power button are both accessible using the right fingers in landscape mode, while the two stereo speakers are both located at the top. The speakers feature 3D surround sound. Also, at the top are headphone jack and an infrared emitter. The micro-HDMI and micro-USB ports are at the bottom.


With respect to the improved display, the Motorola Xoom 2 features a 10.1-inch TFT capacitive multi-touch enabled screen that contains 16 M colors. Motorola upgraded its screen to an IPS panel so that the viewing angles already approach 178 degrees. In addition, images, videos and all others turn out to be crisper and more vibrant. The resolution of the screen is 1200 x 800 with approximately 149ppi pixel density.

The screen of the Motorola Xoom 2 is made out of the durable Corning Gorilla Glass, also an upgrade from the more ordinary screen of the original Xoom. The tab has a 5-megapixel camera at the back with auto-focus, LED flash, geo-tagging capabilities, and has a pixel resolution of 2592 x 1944. It takes video at 720p and at 30 frames per second. However, there is no touch or focus option for the camera. There is also another camera that is 1.3 MP at the front.

The Motorola Xoom 2 runs on a dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9 processor and uses Android v3.2 (Honeycomb) as its operating system. It has Nvidia Tegra 2 T20 chipset and ULP GeForce GPU. There is a 16 GB worth of internal storage and 1 GB of RAM. However, there are no card slots - microSD nor SD - to extend the memory. Sensors included accelerometer, gyro, and compass.

The Motorola Xoom 2 supports push email, IM, and Adobe Flash. There is no radio; however, there’s GPS with A-GPS support and Java support via Java MIDP emulator. In addition, there is a new plethora of applications preloaded into the Motorola Xoom 2 including a package from Google, a document viewer, photo viewer/ editor, organizer, voice memo and predictive text input. The tab comes with MotoCast, a free application from Motorola for remote streaming. In addition, Motorola also added Intelligent Grip Suppression that allows users to grip the tablet’s screen while allowing for multi-touch scrolling and zooming.

In summary, the Motorola Xoom 2 is much better than its predecessor. The improved design with its clipped edges and lighter weight is especially laudable. The preloaded applications sure are an improvement from the original Xoom in terms of utility. However, the Xoom 2 still has some noticeable shortcomings especially its relatively low internal storage and non-expandable memory, and the non-existent autofocus for video capture.

Motorola Xoom 2 Android Tablet Price in the Philippines:

Motorola Xoom 2: Approximately Php 22,500.00

Motorola Xoom 2 (Media Edition): Approximately Php 20,500.00

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Apple iPhone 4S Price in the Philippines, Features and Specs

After months of rumors and speculations, the iPhone 4S finally gets unveiled instead of the highly-anticipated iPhone 5. We take a look at Apple’s new baby so join us as we get to know the next generation iPhone a little better.

Design and construction

In terms of its aesthetics, the iPhone 4S pretty much got the experience that the iPhone 3GS went through. Like the 3GS, the iPhone 4S is basically seen as just an incremental upgrade to the iPhone 4 and nothing monumental or groundbreaking is to be expected.

True enough, the iPhone 4S may have gone through an overhaul but most of the changes all happen under the hood that we will get to later on. For now, let us take care of the aesthetics part first.

Looks-wise, there’s not much difference if you come to think of it between the iPhone 4S and the older iPhone 4. The handset measures 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm and tips the scales at 140 grams. It basically has the same measurements as its older siblings and is just a hair heavier. In terms of aesthetics, it’s like the iPhone 4 again with the same fascia and the same body with its sexy goodness that is just so good to touch and feel.

Under the hood

This is where all the important going-ons are happening. The iPhone 4S may just be an incremental upgrade but still, the components that lurk under its hood are so impressive that a geek may find it hard to believe. In short, this is where all the action takes place.

At the center of operations, the new Apple A5 chipset takes center stage. This chipset, like the competition also has an SoC configuration so you basically put the processor and GPU of the device together atop the chipset.

In the case of the iPhone 4S, the processor is a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU with a clock speed of 1GHz that supplies all the necessary computing power to the handset. Right next to it is the dedicated PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU of the device that is responsible for turning out incredible graphics on the screen of the handset.

There has been no confirmation as to how much RAM the Cortex-A9 processor of the iPhone 4S will get to work with but there are whispers that it only has 512MB of RAM at its disposal. Well, no confirmation nor denial from the Cupertino-based company so we’ll just leave it as it is. In terms of storage space, the iPhone 4S will be released in three versions – 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. In choosing your device, you are advised to go for the one that packs the most storage since Apple neglected to give the iPhone 4S a dedicated media card slot for expansion.

The display

This is another neat feature of the iPhone 4S. No, not neat. This is one of its killer features – its Retina Display. The front panel of the handset is mostly taken up by its 3.5-inch IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen panel with a resolution of 960 x 640 pixels and pixel density of 330 ppi. In addition to that, the display is of the LED-backlit type so we expect nothing but good things from the iPhone 4S in terms of display goodness.

Like its predecessor, the display of the iPhone 4S also gets treated to an oleophobic coating that makes the screen of the device scratch-resistant so your handset is safe from unsightly scratches or cracks. It also packs the usual array of sensors that extend the functionality of the handset in addition to making it a great gaming device as well.

The shooters

The camera department of the iPhone 4S also got a nice bump up in terms of its specs sheet. The rear shooter of the device has been upgraded and is now endowed with a very capable 8-megapixel snapper that has LED flash and autofocus in addition to coming in with features such as face detection, geotagging and touch focus.

The rear shooter, when video mode is toggled, is capable of recording videos with a 1080p resolution at 30fps in addition to having video mode features such as video geotagging, video stabilization and letting you use the LED flash as your video light.

The front-shooter on the other hand is an anti-climax with its VGA resolution though it can be useful for FaceTIme video chats and capturing self-portraits.

The bottom line

If truth be told, there is nothing really game-changing with the new iPhone 4S. From a pundit’s point of view, it is just like an upgraded iPhone 4 – sort of like the HTC Sensation XE to the original HTC Sensation.

But still, people will still line up to take this baby home not because it is an impressive handset (which it is, in fact) but more so because of its being a status symbol. Do I want one? You bet I do!

Apple iPhone 4S Price in the Philippines:

iPhone 4S Prepaid Price List (Smart):
iPhone 4S 16GB - Php 33,200.00
iPhone 4S 32GB - Php 38,200.00
iPhone 4S 64GB - Php 43,200.00


iPhone 4S Prepaid Price List (Globe):
iPhone 4S 16GB - Php 37,599.00
iPhone 4S 32GB - Php 43,399.00
iPhone 4S 64GB - Php 49,199.00

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BlackBerry Bold 9900 Price in the Philippines, Features, and Other Info

BlackBerry Bold 9900 Price in the Philippines, Features, and Other Info: We put the BlackBerry Bold 9900 under the scope for a closer inspection and it didn’t disappoint. We share with you our findings so keep on reading for the full details of the BlackBerry Bold 9900’s specs sheet.

Design and construction

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 is part of the trio of a new generation of BlackBerry handsets that Research in Motion released a couple of months ago. Aside from being powered by BlackBerry OS 7, the latest iteration of the BlackBerry operating system, the Bold 9900 also boasts of a souped-up internals that according to RIM will make the device more competitive in the smartphone market now being dominated by Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

In terms of its design and aesthetics, the new Bold 9900 is reminiscent of the original BlackBerry Bold 9000 and is slightly bigger than the BlackBerry Bold 2 9700 series of devices that precede it. Coming from the same tradition as the original BlackBerry Bold, the Bold 9900 is a bit larger in the hand and has measurements of 115 x 66 x 10.5 mm. with its relatively slim waist line, the Bold 9900 is effectively thinner by about 4 mm than the previous members of the Bold line of handsets. The 130-gram catch weight of the device is also about average for a device its size and makes the handset feel comfortable in the hand.

Similar to the original Bold, the Bold 9900 comes with a metal band that encircles its whole frame that adds to the appeal of the handset. It also serves as an accent piece and tends to break the monotony of the black colorway of the smartphone. The Bold 9900’s screen lock can be found on the top edge of the handset while the right flank of the Bold 9900 contains the device’s volume rocker and convenience key along with it.

The left flank of the handset on the other hand houses its 3.5 mm headphone jack in addition to the microUSB port of the Bold 9900 that is used for charging and syncing the device. Another convenience key can also be found in this side of the handset while the bottom edge of the device only has the microphone pinhole of the Bold 9900.


Under the hood of the Bold 9900

As mentioned earlier, Research in Motion decided to give its new BlackBerry handset more impressive components to make them fare better in the smartphone competition. The Bold 9900 is one of the beneficiaries of this decision and we see the handset get introduced to the QualComm MSM8655 SnapDragon SoC chipset that it packs in the middle of its circuitry to keep things orderly in the innards of the handset.

With the 8655 chipset at the heart of its operations, we see a single-core Scorpion processor chugging away at 1.2GHz supplying the handset with the computing power that it requires. Joining the processor atop the chipset of the Bold 9900 is the handset’s dedicated Adreno 205 graphics chip, which is responsible for properly displaying all the graphics in the Bold 9900’s screen.

As for its system memory, the Bold 9900 comes with 768 MB of RAM that is directly responsible in supporting the processor of the device in running the handset’s operating system. As for storage capacity, the Bold 9900 comes with an internal memory pegged at a generous 8GB. It may not be much for power-users but since the handset comes with a dedicated memory expansion slot, it will be very easy to add extra storage to the handset albeit externally.

The display and other features of the Bold 9900

The Bold 9900 broke all conventional BlackBerry designs when it was given a smallish 2.8-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen. Yes sir, the Bold 9900 is also touch-capable aside from the fact that it also comes with a full physical QWERTY keyboard. The display of the handset packs a resolution of 480 x 640 pixels while its pixel density count is at 286ppi.

Aside from that, the Bold 9900 also comes with touch-sensitive controls we commonly see in high-end Android smartphones in addition to its classic optical trackpad located right smack in the middle of these controls. Using the optical trackpad of the Bold 9900 in conjunction with its touchscreen capabilities means that a user would have an easier time in navigating the handset’s user interface. Couple that with the QWERTY keyboard that the handset packs and you got a messaging fan’s wet dream in the Bold 9900.

The bottom line

There is not much to say about the new BlackBerry Bold 9900 except for the fact that it could probably be the best smartphone that Research in Motion ever came up with. It is that simple.

BlackBerry Bold 9900 Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 30,000.00

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HTC Rhyme Smartphone Price in the Philippines, Features, and Specs

HTC Rhyme Smartphone Price in the Philippines, Features, and Specs: HTC’s Verizon line has one conspicuous member. From its metallic purple design down to its trendy glowing LED accessories and cream pouch – the HTC Rhyme is undoubtedly tailor-fitted for women. The UK-based company, known for its revolutionary designs, has now come to target girls in the gadget market using the power of purple and cute little add-ons.

The candybar-designed HTC Rhyme is very eye-catching (for a girl) and has that hip and minty aura that more likely exudes out of the purple visage. The smartphone is light at 130 grams and 119 x 60.8 x 10. 9 mm. The HTC Rhyme is covered with a plum casing that has a pearly shear and is metallic to the touch. The back consists of a more faded hue of plum made out of HTC’s own soft-touch plastic. However, aside from plum, the HTC Rhyme is also available in two other colors: Clearwater and hourglass.

Although quite small, the HTC Rhyme is solidly built like some other HTC smartphones and it fits comfortably on the palm. All sides of the phone are taken by necessary physical features. There is a noise canceling microphone, headphone jack as well as the power button on the top of the phone. The right side contains the volume rocker, and a micro-USB connector. The charging port is located on the left while the bottom contains the secondary microphone.

Feature wise, the HTC Rhyme doesn’t sum up to the higher end HTC models that have dual cores, at least 4 inches in diagonal screen and feature higher versions of Android. However, it has its own set of features that impressed me.

The HTC Rhyme runs on a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor and Adreno 205 GPU while its operating system is Android v2.3.4 (Gingerbread). There is an 8GB card included in the package while the memory card slot can carry up to 32 GB microSD. In addition, there is a 4 GB worth of internal storage and 768 MB worth of RAM.

The display of the HTC Rhyme is 3.7 inches in diagonal, S-LCO capacitive and multitouch enabled. It features 16 M colors in 480 x 800 pixel resolution with approximately 252 ppi pixel density, with generally impressive viewing angles. Its screen also features the latest version of HTC Sense UI 3.5. It has GPS with A-GPS support, and the usual plethora of sensors: accelerometer, proximity and compass, and can support Java applications via Java MIDP emulator.

The HTC Rhyme has a 5-megapixel (2592 x 1994 resolution) camera at the back that features autofocus and geotagging capabilities, as well as an accompanying LED flash. Videos can be taken at 720 p. A secondary camera is also present on the front.

Battery life-wise, the HTC Rhyme has an advantage over average smartphones. It runs on a non-removable standard Li-ion battery of 1600 mAh. Standby time lasts up to 295 hours in 2G or 340 hours in 3G while continuous talk time is up to 10 hours 20 minutes for 2G or up to 8 hours in 3G.

As mentioned, the HTC Rhyme comes in with a bunch of its accessories packaged together with the smartphone. The celebrity accessory is perhaps the phone charm as HTC puts it. It plugs directly to the headphone jack and lights up when an incoming call is received while the cord serves as the affix with which to find the phone. The user can plug the charm into the phone and leave it dangling on her pouch while the phone is buried (usually) at the abyss of her bottomless bag. However, the downside is that, the charm fares well in dimly lighted places but not so much in broad daylight, and it only does so for the next five minutes after the call has been received. The piece by which to attach the charm is also inflexible, making it hard to attach the accessory to just any bag or purse.

The other accessory of the HTC Rhyme is the tangle-free headphones, which is not actually as high-end quality as it seemed but still delivers good sound and is customized to the color of the phone. The best accessory however goes to the charging cradle which can hold the smartphone at an angle for effective movie watching or when in use as an alarm clock.

All things considered, it really depends on the users whether or not they’ll go for the cutesiness of the HTC Rhyme or if they’ll condemn HTC for stereotyping women. The specs as well as HTC’s latest Sense UI on the other hand makes it an excellent smartphone overall.

HTC Rhyme Smartphone Price in the Philippines: Php 25,000.00 (Suggested Retail Price)

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ASUS Zenbook UX31 Ultrabook Price in the Philippines, Tech Specs, and Other Features

ASUS Zenbook UX31 Ultrabook Price in the Philippines, Tech Specs, and Other Features: The Zenbook UX31, is among Asus’ contender in the young yet rapidly expanding and diversifying Ultrabooks market. Ultrabook, which is a trademarked name to the semiconductor chip maker Intel Corporation, are skinny, lightweight and generally ultraportable laptops. In these regard, Asus launched its line version called Zenbooks following releases from Acer (Acer UltraBook S3) and Apple (MacBook Air).

The Zenbook UX31 is clearly an offshoot design based consistently on Apple’s MacBook Air. It’s 13.3-inch frame has a solid aluminum alloy as the body while the interior is silver-coated and finished with the same aluminum-based materials, with the edges coming on as a little sharp and solid. So mostly, the design is metal with a button-less trackpad and keyboards made of the same aluminum alloy.

The Asus Zenbook UX31 is a bit heavier and denser than the MacBook Air at 2.96 pounds. The laptop measures 17 mm in girth at its thickest part when closed and only 3 mm at its thinnest point. The aluminum lid has a concentric pattern in the middle that catches and reflects light. Overall, the laptop is soundly built, aesthetically designed and has a well-made craftsmanship.

The Asus Zenbook UX31 houses a very efficient and fast 1.7 GHz Intel Core i5-2557M central processor and has 4GB worth of VRAM and 4GB DDR3 RAM. The specs also offer a Turbo boost option in the processor to up to 2.7 GHz. The Asus Zenbook UX31 is loaded with a 128 GB ADATA SandForce SF2281 solid-state drive which can reach an astounding maximum speed of 550 MB/s and a top write speed of 500 MB/s. The boot speed takes less than 20 seconds while it recommences from sleep in only 2 seconds. The laptop also allows for a 1632 MB worth of shared memory.

The Zenbook UX31 however offers an SSD with a smaller storage capacity than other ultrabooks and it only has a mini HDMI port instead of the usual full-size. Aside from these, it doesn’t have a built-in LAN port, however, ASUS provides an Ethernet-to-USB adapter with the laptop. There is a mini-VGA port for external HD display or monitor. The adapters for these are also provided for along with the laptop. The USB 3.0 port off to the side is suitable for accelerated data transfer to an external device as well as for portable device charging even if the laptop is turned off. There is also another single USB 2.0 port and SD/MMC card reader. The Asus Zenbook UX31 is also Bluetooth v 4.0 and Wi-Fi enabled 802.11 b/g/n. It runs Windows 7 Home Premium as its operating system.

The Zenbook UX31 boasts of a 1600 x 900 pixel screen resolution powered by Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics. The high-end feature adds crisp and dimension to the usual 1366 x 768 resolution of other laptops in the same size category. There is increased clarity to every detail along with sharp and bright panels. The screen also boasts of impressive viewing angles. Added to this is the dark and narrow bezel surrounding the display that gives an overall cinematic feel. Aside from the high-resolution display, the Asus Zenbook UX31 also brags of a superb Bang & Olufsen sound system that produces loud and rich sound, kind of unexpected in a laptop that size.

The Zenbook UX31 comes with two preset Power2Go power management settings for better battery consumption and performance. The battery promises up to 7 hours of battery life in a single full charge and up to 9.5 hours in battery-saving mode.

ASUS Zenbook UX31 Ultrabook Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 59,000.00

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Acer Iconia Tab W500 Price in the Philippines, Features and Other Info

Acer Iconia Tab W500 Price in the Philippines, Features and Other Info: Although entertainment is probably the fundamental reason behind why anyone would care to buy a tablet computer nowadays, Acer took on the challenge of bringing forward an item that will also aid work efficiency alongside quality entertainment. The Acer Iconia Tab W500 is made for both mobile amusement and workflow productivity. This tablet computer from the Taiwanese computer company Acer Inc. offers both power and flexibility and all for a rational price.

Like the Asus Transformer Prime, the Acer Iconia Tab W500 has a dual design. The tablet computer has an optional keyboard dock so that when the keyboard add-on is plugged in, the whole thing can turn into a laptop. So for any drawn-out use of the keypad, you can opt for using the keyboard dock, or for executing mobile net browsing or any touch-based game and application, you can opt for just the tab.

The Acer Iconia Tab W500 is 275 x 190 x 15.95 mm as a tablet and 275 x 190 x 11/19.5 with the dock. It weighs 0.97 kg and an additional 0.61 kg with the keyboard dock. It is hence bulkier and much thicker than the iPad 2 or the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, but it has a smooth and rounded design on its edges that are good enough for a solid hold.

The Acer Iconia Tab W500 runs Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit as its operating system. This means that you don’t have to trouble yourself with looking for compatible apps in the market that would match any of the common applications when using the tab or syncing it with a personal computer.

Because the operating system is Windows-based, Acer had specifically designed a keyboard dock just for the Iconia Tab W500 that contains a rubber track ball at the center. The keyboard can be shipped together with the tablet for a price of $529. Without the keyboard, the tab alone costs only $449. One caution with using the keyboard dock though - the tab screen doesn’t fold forwards like a lid on a laptop and actually locks securely at the bottom.

The Acer Iconia Tab W500 runs on a 1 GHz AMD C-Series dual-core processor C-50 and AMD A50M Fusion Controller Hub chipset. It contains up to 2GB of DDR3 onboard system memory and has a solid state drive (SSD) worth 32 GB. There is a dedicated 256 MB system memory for the graphics. The Acer Iconia Tab W500 also has a 2-in-1 card-reader support for both SD cards, and storage cards with adapters. In addition, there are two full-size USB ports, an HDMI output, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a SIM slot, and a lock button. It also has ambient light sensors and G-sensors.

The Acer Iconia Tab W500 has a 10.1-inch HD display capable of 1280 x 800 resolution, which is not the capacitive type but with high-brightness and has an ACER spin off of 146 ppi CrystalBrite LED backlight TFT LCD. Colors are vivid with nice contrast and have high definition quality. It has an integrated touchscreen that supports finger touch and image auto rotation with a wide viewing angle of 80 degrees in all four directions, hence photo and graphics manipulation and touch application interactions wouldn’t be a problem.

The audio of the Acer Iconia Tab W500 is of an excellent quality owing to the Dolby Advance audio processing in its program. There are two built-in stereo speakers at the back that features high-definition support despite their tiny size. The Iconia Tab W500 also features Acer PureZone technology, which contains two built-in stereo microphones with beam forming, echo cancellation and noise suppression. Hence listening to music and watching movies or videos in the tablet/laptop are guaranteed to be enjoyable.

Aside from the sounds, the Acer Iconia Tab W500 also has the dual Acer Crystal Eye webcam that produces up to 1280x1024-pixel resolution that makes for quality video conferencing. Connectivity-wise, the Acer Iconia Tab W500 contains the full arsenal. It has WLAN support, WPAN / Bluetooth 3.0+HS and a fast Ethernet port on the dock for LAN.

The Acer Iconia Tab W500 comes with a variety of utilities aiding both entertainment and productivity. Among these are Adobe Flash player and Reader, McAfee Internet Security Suite, Microsoft Office Starter and a preloaded Microsoft Office 2010, Social Jogger, and Windows Live Essential.

The Acer Iconia Tab W500 runs on an embedded Acer PowerSmart long-life Li-ion battery that is said to support up to 1,000 cycles of charging. The battery life lasts up to 6 hours of continuous Internet browsing and 4 hours with 720 p video playback.

Acer Iconia Tab W500 Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 25,000.00 (with the keyboard dock); Php 21,000.00 (without the keyboard dock)

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Kia Carens Price in the Philippines (as of December 2011)

Kia Carens Price in the Philippines: The Kia Karens (also known as Kia Rondo) is a well-known compact multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) that was released by Kia Motors in 1999. It was released after the introduction of the Multi-S during the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show. Actually, the Multi-S serves as the concept of the Kia Carens. The letter S stands for Sporty, Spacious and Smart.

The Kia Carens is available in 5 or 7-passenger configuration with either a standard 175 horsepower 2.4-litter 4-cylinder engine or an optional 192 horsepower 2.7-litter V6 engine in two trim levels. Standard features of the vehicle depends on the market that may include: 16-inch alloy wheels, AM/FM/CD player/Sirius satellite radio/MP3 capability, iPod auxiliary jack, air conditioning system, power windows and door locks, front/side/full length side curtain airbags, 4-wheel disc brakes, ABS, electronic stability control, tire pressure monitoring system, LATCH, child safety door locks, tilt steering column, front and rear 12-volt outlets, front and rear cup holders. Other options include: moon roof, leather interior, heated front seats, cruise control, keyless entry, and infinity 10-speaker stereo.


Kia Carens Price in the Philippines (as of December 2011):

Carens 2.0 LX VGT CRDi MT: Php 899,000.00

Carens 2.0 LX VGT CRDi AT: Php 949,000.00

Carens 2.0 EX VGT CRDi AT: Php 1,195,000.00

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Nokia Lumia 800 Smartphone Price in the Philippines, Features, and Tech Specs

Nokia Lumia 800 Smartphone Price in the Philippines, Features, and Tech Specs: The Nokia Lumia 800 is an intriguing phone in its own terms. It has been conceptualized, designed, built and distributed by the Finnish multinational company in less than a year. This led some to speculate that the phone may serve as a forewarning of Nokia’s new trajectory as a mobile phone company after its troubles in the past. It is after all the first Windows phone handset brought about by the tie-up between Nokia and Microsoft that was announced last February.

The Nokia Lumia 800 has a refreshing and a distinctive glassy exterior. The design is very much reminiscent of its cousin, the Nokia N9, from which the phone was said to be a modification. It has a smooth curved back handle that fits smoothly on the palm. However, the sharp edges may be a little uncomfortable when the phone is slid and carried around in a pocket.

The Nokia Lumia 800 has a unibody design, which makes the battery inaccessible. It features a perfectly fit convex and durable Gorilla glass screen that is 3.7 inches measured in diagonal. The volume rocker, power / lock button and camera buttons are all placed at the right side of the phone while the left is left blank. On top are the microUSB port, a microSIM slot and the 3.5 mm headphone jack.

The Nokia Lumia 800 supports MP3 and WAV sound formats and has a loudspeaker. On the bottom of the phone are the speaker and microphone hole. In addition, as dictated by its Windows phone specs, it also features touch-sensitive back, menu and search capacitive controls at the bottom of the screen.

The Nokia Lumia 800 is 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm in size and weighs only 142 g. The display type is an AMOLED capacitive / multi-touch enabled screen capable of 480 x 800 pixel resolution with approximately 252ppi. The display specs were significantly downgraded from that of N9 to fit the Windows phone specs list. Hence, the Nokia Lumia 800 may not exactly be as high-resolution and won’t give a crispier image compared to higher-end phones. However, Nokia’s ClearBlack display is nonetheless stunning when coupled to the phone’s industrial polycarbonate shell design. Added to this is the AMOLED nature of the display that gives more vibrancy and contrast ratios to the colors compared to, say, TFT screens.

The Nokia Lumia 800’s camera is 3264 x 2448 pixels or 8 megapixels with autofocus, dual-LED flash and it features Carl Zeiss optics. The camera is Geo-tagging enabled, and captures videos at 720p at 30 frames per second. There is no secondary camera at the front that means no video calls support.

The alteration from N9 in terms of hardware specs leaves some to be desired. The RAM was reduced from 1 GB in N9 to 512 MB and its phone storage capacity is only 16 GB instead of 64 GB in N9. In addition, it doesn’t have a card slot for an extended storage memory either.

The Nokia Lumia 800 runs on Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 Mango operating system, has Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon chipset not found in N9, a 1.4 GHz Scorpion CPU, and Andreno 205 GPU. However, the Lumia 800 has all the standard capabilities in terms of data handling: GPRS Class 33, EDGE Class 33, and 3G at HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps. It is Wi-Fi enabled at 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth v2.1 enabled with A2DP and EDR. It has GPS support but no Java support as well as no innate Divx/Xvid support.

The Nokia Lumia 800 uses a standard Li-ion battery with 1450 mAh. The phone can last up to 335 hours on stand-by time and go on to 13 hours with continuous talk time.

The phone comes in black, cyan and magenta colors. In my own opinion, the phone is more or less reasonably priced.

Nokia Lumia 800 Smartphone Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 26,000.00

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HP Envy 17 3D Laptop Computer Price in the Philippines, Features and Other Details

HP Envy 17 3D Laptop Computer Price in the Philippines, Features and Other Details: We take the HP Envy 17 3D for a spin and came away impressed with what the HP product has to offer. We got the lowdown up next so continue reading for the full details.

Design and construction

With its Envy line of laptops, HP has definitely created a niche for itself in the desktop replacement category and is considered as one manufacturer that releases these desktop replacements in a premium package. The HP Envy 17 3D is a testament to that with its premium design and powerful internals.

In today’s world where design and aesthetics are just as important as the components the breathe life to a gadget, the Envy 17 3D from HP surely doesn’t disappoint. The laptop comes with a very attractive design that makes the competition stare at it in envy. The Envy 17 3D packs an aluminum body that is reminiscent of the 17-inch MacBook Pro from Apple with the HP laptop packing the same clean lines and streamlined design as that of the Apple product.

Due to the fact that the HP Envy 17 3D comes with a 7.3-inch display as its name suggests, the laptop is as expected bulky and hefty to begin with. The Envy 17 3D has dimensions of 16.38 x 10.83 x 1.25 inches at its thinnest point and 1.52 inches at its thickest. The laptop weighs in at a very hefty 7.35 pounds that is more than what similar laptops in this category would weigh. In short, the Envy 17 3D may not see a lot of the sun because it just wouldn’t be advisable to carry this big-ass laptop around town without running the risk of getting sore shoulders or back spasms.

Despite the heft of the laptop, HP compensates that by giving the Envy 17 3D a really envious design. The casing of the Envy 17 3D is done in a brushed aluminum finish but HP doesn’t stop at that and ups the ante by putting a laser-etched random dot pattern on the wrist area of the laptop in addition to those etched in its lid. Not only that, the Envy 17 3D gives off a solidly-built impression but still manages to kick off the industrial design but instead gives off the air of class and elegance.

Under the hood of the Envy 17 3D

The size of the Envy 17 3D is something to be marveled at but nothing will prepare you for what the laptop has in store in terms of the components that lurk under its hood. As such being the case, it is pretty obvious that HP pulled out all the stops to ensure that the Envy 17 3D be given top-notch internals.

This begins with the processor of the laptop. In the case of the Envy 17 3D, it packs a second-generation quad-core Intel Core i7-2820QM processor that runs at a clock speed of 2.3GHz. Activate Turbo Boost and the clock speed of the Envy 17 3D gets cranked up to a maximum of 3.4GHz. And that’s just for starters. Looking at its system memory, a whopping 16GB of DDR3 RAM is paired with the quad-core processor of the laptop to ensure that the Envy 17 3D wouldn’t break a sweat even if the most complex of operations is thrown at it.

The computing powers of the processor-RAM combination of the Envy 17 3D is complemented further by the discrete ATI Radeon HD 6850M GPU which packs a full gigabyte of GDDR5 video memory. Storage needs on the other hand are handled by the laptop’s 1.5 terabyte Dual Hard Disk Drive with 7200 rpm speed. Not only that, your data is kept safe by the hard drive’s HP ProtectSmart hard Drive Protection feature so your files are safer than a priest in church.

The display and other features of the Envy 17 3D

As for its display, we have already mentioned how humongous the 17.3-inch display of the Envy 17 3D is. What takes the cake though is that the display is of the Full HD 3D Ultra BrightView Infinity LED display type. What this simply means it that the display of the Envy 17 3D which packs a Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels is also 3D-capable as the name of the laptop suggests.

Make use of the Active Shutter 3D Glasses bundled in the retail package of the Envy 17 3D and you will be treated to a 3D content with clarity that is just crystal clear. Not only that, the laptop also comes with Beats Audio enhancement which makes the Envy 17 3D the ultimate when it comes to multimedia consumption.

The bottom line

Not much can be said about the HP Envy 17 3D. With this laptop on your desk, there is no way that you will be going back to a desktop PC again. Ever.

HP Envy 17 3D Laptop Computer Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 80,000.00 (Starting Price)

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Sony S1 Android Tablet Computer Price in the Philippines, Features and Specs

Sony S1 Android Tablet Computer Price in the Philippines, Features and Specs: With the tablet computer wars getting more cutthroat by the moment, we see winners and losers come and go. That being said, it is obvious that the iPad 2 from Apple is still reigning supreme in the tablet market with other tablet computers from other manufacturers scurrying around to bring down the Apple juggernaut.

With that in mind, manufacturers seem to crop up from nowhere to release their respective tablets and get some piece of the tablet action. At first, there was only Apple, followed by Motorola, Samsung, HTC and the like. Research in Motion also came up with its own and Toshiba also entered the tablet fray. The result? A tablet market flooded with devices thereby making the consumers the clear winners here.

Not everything though is a success story. With an announcement that it is pulling the plug on its webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad, HP officially bowed out of the tablet wars this early in the game. We are saddened by the news but instantly rejoiced when it was announced when the HP TouchPad was put on Fire Sale wherein their prices were drastically reduced.

With HP’s exit is another company entering the tablet wars in the form of electronics giant Sony. Release last September in the U.S. and Europe, Sony is hoping that it will fare better than the ill-fated HP and its TouchPad.

What then can we expect from the Sony S1? What kind of specs does it bring to the table? Will it be able to bring down the iPad juggernaut from its lofty pedestal? Or will it do a TouchPad exit as well? Read on to get the scant details we were able t scrounge about the Sony S1.

Design and construction

The Sony S1 is yet another tablet that packs that ugly black slab of plastic form factor commonly seen in tablets lining the shelves nowadays. Unfortunately, no official measurements and weight has been released yet so we are only able to speculate about the tablet.

Looks-wise though based on the images on Sony’s website, the S1 actually looks slim and is in contention for being one of the slimmer tablets to hit the market. Its bezel looks like it is done in a glossy black finish so we are expecting this tablet to be a veritable magnet for smudges, dirt and fingerprints.

Under the hood

Sony is kind of keeping things close to the vest right now so details are still sketchy as to what kind of components the S1 will be packing under its hood. Our sources confirm though that the tablet will sport a dual core processor that has a clock speed of 1GHz. This processor sits atop an nVIDIA Tegra 2 chipset so based on the SoC (System-on-a-Chip) architecture of the Tegra 2, the S1 will have a dedicated GPU in the form of its ULP GeForce GPU.

No news yet as to how much storage space will the S1 comes with but we are guessing that it will be substantial to make the tablet competitive. A media card slot is also expected to make memory expansion possible.

The display

This is one of the confirmed specs of the S1 tablet. It packs a 9.4-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen display that boasts of a 1280 x 768 resolution. With this kind of resolution, we are expecting that the display of the S1 will offer bright and vivid colors in addition to exceptional viewing angles. Images of the S1 actually give off the impression that its display is somewhat comparable to the display of the Samsung galaxy tab 10.1 which says a lot. This is partly due to the TruBlack technology used in the display of the S1 that promises improved colors and reduced glare.

Sad to say, we are still kept in the dark if this display is going to be covered with Corning’s famed Gorilla Glass for enhanced durability in the same way that no confirmation yet as to what kind of sensors will be integrated onto the display of the tablet.

The shooters

In terms of the shooting department, it has been confirmed though that the S1 will have a dual-camera configuration. It has 5.0-megapixel camera at its rear while a 3.0-megapixel shooter graces its front. We were not able to gather though if the primary shooter comes with autofocus and Led flash like most tablets do.

The bottom line

Sad to say, the Sony S1 is long on promise and short on specs but judging by the way Sony has been flooding the market with electronics from its other divisions, we are expecting the Sony S1 to be one power-packed device.

Rumors though indicate that it will come at a rather hefty price tag with rumor-mongers whispering that the S1 will come with a $599 price tag once it hits the shelves. A bit steep if you ask me but if money is no object and you want to rock a truly unique tablet and not be lumped together with the iPad 2-toting portion of the population, then the Sony S1 Android tablet certainly fits the bill.

Sony S1 Android Tablet Computer Price in the Philippines: Approximately Php 28,000.00

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