The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1.. simply amazing!

My friend 'Bong' from the Middle East introduced this one to me.. and my!! it's just simply amazing. I promise I'm going to wait for this one. Unfortunately, it's not yet available in the Philippines (or at least in Cotabato City).

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What's in store for this mobile monster?? It's multi-media phone equipped with the camera and music player designed to your complete satisfaction. It's a touchscreen wonder, and what more with its full QWERTY keyboard that slides sideways gives you the orientation of a notebook computer, and therfore, needs no unfolding or turning around of the screen to suit your view..


Now, to see is to believe.. indulge in its specifications hereunder:

General Specification:
2G Network
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network
HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100
Announced
2008, February
Status
Coming soon
Size
Dimensions
110.5 x 52.6 x 17 mm
Weight
158 g
Display
Type
TFT touchscreen, 65K colors
Size
800 x 480 pixels, 3 inches

- Full QWERTY keyboard- Optical joystick navigation
Ringtones
Type
Polyphonic, MP3
Customization
Composer, download
Vibration
Yes
Memory
Phonebook
Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Call records
Practically unlimited
Card slot
microSD (TransFlash)

- 400 MB internal memory- 256MB RAM, 512MB storage memory- Qualcomm MSM7200 528MHz processor
Data
GPRS
Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
HSCSD
No
EDGE
Yes
3G
HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
WLAN
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
Bluetooth
Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port
No
USB
Yes, v2.0 miniUSB
Features
OS
Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
Messaging
SMS, MMS, Email, Push E-Mail, IM
Browser
WAP 2.0/HTML (IE), RSS feeds
Games
Yes + downloadable
Colors
Solid Black, Steel Silver
Camera
3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus, video(VGA@30fps), flash; secondary videocall camera

- Built-in GPS receiver- A-GPS function- Java MIDP 2.0- FM radio with RDS- MP3/AAC/MPEG4 player- Motion sensor (with UI auto-rotate)- TrackID music recognition- Picture editor/blogging - Organiser- T9- Built-in handsfree- Voice memo/dial
Battery

Standard battery, Li-Po 1500 mAh (BST-41)
Stand-by
Up to 833 h
Talk time
Up to 6 h 30 min

Macbook Air: the thinnest notebook computer

Amazingly thin. Amazingly full-size.

The thinness of MacBook Air is stirring. But perhaps more impressive, there’s a full-size notebook encased in the 0.16 to 0.76 inch of sleek, sturdy anodized aluminum. And at just 3.0 pounds,1 MacBook Air is more than portable — it’s with you everywhere you go.

A no-compromise display.

The glossy 13.3-inch, widescreen LED backlit MacBook Air display is the same viewable size as the screen on MacBook. The 1280-by-800 resolution gives you vibrant images and rich colors at full brightness the moment you open MacBook Air. So you get full-screen performance with all the benefits of a slim design.

Full-size, full-feature keyboard.

The keyboard is full-size with crisp keys just like the ones on MacBook. But MacBook Air goes further by adding backlit key illumination, making it easy to work in low-light settings such as airplanes and conference halls. A built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts keyboard and display brightness for optimal visibility. And with the oversize multi-touch trackpad, it just keeps getting better for fingers.

Sonny Ericcson's C905: 8.1-Megapixel Camera Phone

Further blurring the lines that divide digital compact cameras and camera phones, Sony Ericsson has come out with the 8.1-megapixel C905. As part of the Cyber-shot camera phone family, you can expect a more-than-the-average feature set on this baby.

This slider comes with a Xenon flash and technologies such as auto-focus face detection, smart contrast and image stabilizer to give you the best shot possible. The large 2.4-inch scratch-resistant glass display allows you to view all your captures easily while the integrated GPS helps in navigation and provides geo-tagging services to all your photos so you’ll never forget where they were taken.

The bigger megapixel count will mean more space will be consumed by your photos, but not to worry. They’ve also decided to include a 2GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) as part of the sales package. Veering away from the camera functionality, it also packs in a media player, FM radio,Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3G, and a host of others.

You can choose from Night Black, Ice Silver and Copper Gold once it becomes available towards the end of this year (read: 4th Quarter of 2008). If it does make it on time, this’ll surely make for a pretty fine present once the Christmas season begins. (by Allan David Reyes)

Nokia launches new phones

SINGAPORE — Nokia has unveiled its latest mobile phone models, designed to keep people connected with both work and personal life—two elements that clash every so often.

In an event highlighted by a pomp and upbeat performance of a drum-and-chime ensemble, Nokia’s vice president for sales in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Chris Carr, introduced the two new members of the Nokia E series—the E71 and E66, both crafted to suit the needs of people on the go.

“The E71 and E66 are for people who want to lead a mobile lifestyle and want quick and easy access to their personal and work e-mail,” said Carr.

At the annual Nokia Connection 2008 here, Carr explained in his opening remarks how the new models respond to modern times when the means of communication constantly evolved at a quick pace.

He said Nokia continued to “find new and better ways to connect people,” some of whom are miles apart.

The sleek and stylish E71 and E66 run on the S60 platform and are pre-loaded with a program called Mail for Exchange, which is particularly for mobile e-mail clients who use Microsoft Exchange.

The phones also support e-mail accounts with several Internet service providers, including Gmail (Google mail), Yahoo! mail and Hotmail [Microsoft], Nokia said in a statement.

At the push of a button, one can switch from business—where the screen is filled with notes on the next appointment or task—to personal home screen mode, a wallpaper of perhaps a favorite photo along with shortcuts to the music player and Internet Web browser.

At a news briefing, Nokia’s vice president for E-series, Ilari Nurmi, described the E71, which features a full Qwerty keyboard, as an improved version of its predecessor, the E61i.

A third-generation phone, the E71, perhaps as slim as a ball pen at 57 mm, is twice as fast as the previous version, with a standby battery life that can last up to 20 days.

The E66 is designed for the more conventional cell phone users, with a slide design and the usual numerical keypad, Nurmi said.

Both the E71 and E66 come in grey and white stainless steel, a material that gives the phones additional strength and a touch of class. They will be out in the market by July 2008.

Renewed interest in low-cost computing growing in RP

The success of the Asus Eee notebook PC in the global market has renewed interest in low-cost computing in the Philippines.

Villman Computer Systems, one of the country's biggest computer retailers, said the demand for low-cost computers is expected to boost its PC sales this year.

"Desktop PC sales are steady but notebook sales are increasing," said Manuel Villaroman Jr., president and CEO of Villman Computer Systems.

Villman is one of Intel's local partners in the launch of a local low-cost computer package introduced together in cooperation with the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) on Friday.

"Market demand for low-cost computing products is expected to grow 10 times by 2011," Ricky Banaag, country manager of Intel Technology Philippines, said in a briefing.

Local consumers can now buy a computer system for less than P10,000 through Villman and another local distributor Enigma. These low-cost computers run on a 1.2-Gigahertz Intel Celeron processor.

Villaroman expects tougher local competition over low-cost computers.

Banaag said that PC ownership and Internet access are becoming a necessity in the 21st century. But one of the challenges is cost and accessibility.

Since 2004, the CICT has embarked on a project to bring down the cost of computing. It partnered with Intel and launched "PC ng Bayan," which Banaag recalled, was "very successful."
This week, Intel and CICT revived the same initiative but under a new name, dubbed "Nettop ng Bayan," which is a low-cost computer package.

Nettop is a new category introduced by Intel, which hopes to describe Internet-ready desktops that are designed for first-time users.

Apple's iPhone will be available for prepaid, postpaid users

Globe Globe Telecom said the latest version of Apple's iPhone will be available across all subscribers but the company has not yet disclosed when exactly it will launch the handset locally.

The recently launched iPhone 3G will be available to Globe's postpaid and prepaid subscribers in the Philippines later this year, according to a Globe announcement.

Globe's announcement did not carry much other details, including pricing schemes. The company said it has 21 million subscribers to date.

"We can't wait to get this revolutionary mobile device in the hands of even more people around the world," said Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer, as quoted in Globe's announcement.

Acer unveils Ultra-portable One

Almost everyone seems to have jumped into the ultra-portable bandwagon these days, and though some have released very impressive units that boast of high end specs, price-wise, the Eee PC still reigns supreme.

That was until Acer decided to join the fray. The Acer Aspire One rumored to just cost around $ 399 (Linux OS) which is way lower than the Eee PC making this the most affordable ultra-portable that comes from a known PC manufacturer. Those who attended Computex 2008 had an opportunity to see this thing of beauty first hand. Engadget even has a quick hands-on review on it based on the unit displayed at the showroom floor.

So what does $ 399 get you? You get a compact laptop that looks somewhat like a cross between an Eee and a Mini-Note. The keyboard layout albeit being a tad smaller is similar to the HP 2133, but spec-wise, it leans more toward the Eee. It’s got a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 512MB RAM, 8GB SSD, Wi-Fi (b/g), 8.9-inch screen, 1.3-megapixel camera, card reader and a Linpus Linux OS. A Windows version will also be made available at a higher cost with a 80GB HDD. It will become available in various colored editions that include red, blue and pink.

Specifics as to its availability have yet to be disclosed. It looks like the competition is indeed stepping up, but we’ll reserve our judgment on the Aspire One once we get a full hands-on review on this nifty lappie.

Meet the Samsung SGH G800

The Samsung G800 is the company's latest camera focus mobile phone and comes with a 5 megapixel digital camera with the promise that photographers can still get great shots even without a standard compact camera. But is that the case? We get snapping to find out.

The Samsung SGH-G800, to give it its full title, is a HSDPA slider with dimensions of 101 x 51 x 19mm. Fairly fat compared to your average mobile, the Sony Ericsson W880 is just 9mm thick for example, the G800 is to put it bluntly big and heavy. This isn't a phone that can be hidden in a pocket and forgotten about. It might be big and heavy, but the design is stylish with a brushed metal finish. The front of the handset is dominated by 2.4-inch 262K colour 320 x 240 pixel QVGA display that is crisp and clear with a d-pad and call buttons situated at the bottom underneath this. Slide up the screen (it is a slider design after all) and it reveals a big, solid, easy to use keypad. The topside of the phone sports zoom buttons and a dedicated shutter button while the underside offers two compartments for charging, headphones (not 3.5mm), and a microSD card slot. Like Nokia and Sony Ericsson, Samsung has professed the phone's camera credentials with a bulky camera lens cover that slides out the way (normally in your pocket) to reveal the 3x optical lens and a Xenon flash.

Luckily for Samsung the main selling point isn't the size, but those 5 million pixels and a 3x optical zoom waiting to get the perfect picture and a range of software applications that go with it. The phone's overall software is the same found on Samsung's Ultra edition handsets and comes with an easy to use interface that lets you get the most out of the phone from text messaging to listening to music via the MP3 player. Trying its best to be a fully-fledged camera, the phone offers a number of features that you can opt and choose for in the camera mode.

Which camera to use (front or back) is going to be a no brainer, but opting for one of the 14 scene modes might not be. On resolution you can opt for 2560 x 1920 (5M) down to 640 x 480 pixels while you can also choose whether you want to choose single shot, multi-shot, mosaic shot, frame shot or panorama. Then there are the flash modes; auto, on, red-eye reduction or off, timer options, macro modes, white balance, exposure settings, anti-shake, ISO settings up to 400 and special effects to boot. The options list like a real camera. Taking pictures is incredibly easy and in our tests we noticed no noticeable shutter lag as we experienced with the Nokia N95, although subjects too close can be blasted by the powerful Xenon flash. When it comes to the camera software users can share images or video via ShoZu. ShoZu, according to the blurb "is the leading provider of mobile social media services that connect mobile consumers with their online social networks, personal blogs, photo storage sites and other Web 2.0 properties from the handset".

Basically what this means is that you can access flickr, YouTube, Facebook, blip.tv and a host of others including CNN and the BBC all from your mobile phone without even going near a computer, and thanks to the G800's HSDPA 3.6Mbps connection speeds you can upload content as if you were on broadband at home. Of course before you upload your pictures you want them to be the best they can be and so you can edit in camera. Here the G800 gives you the ability to add effects such as changing the picture to look like an oil painting or if it was drawn with crayons while more useful options include removing red-eye, brightness, contrast and colour levels. You can even opt to add frames, clipart and emoticons if that's your thing.

Images are saved in addition to your original file so you won't lose anything and overall, while the software is basic, it's good enough to give you some control over what your images look like before uploading them to the web to share. But unlike Apple's iPhone, the G800's camera isn't just about still photography and users can record video as well. Here you have two resolution choices 320 x 240 and 176 x 144 disappointingly missing out on 640 x 480 or even higher resolutions. You do still however get control over white balance, exposure and sound. Once recorded you can, like the still images, edit the footage in camera. Here you get the ability to trim, spilt, cut, copy, add effects and audio as well as text. Once done you can then upload it to the web via ShoZu.

Features beyond the digital camera include Bluetooth 2.0 and an FM radio.