iPhone Google Mobile app now Supports Voice-Recognition

Here’s some news that might interest all of you iPhone owners out there. Google has just released the latest version of Google Mobile app which now includes voice-recognition functionality. This basically means you don’t have to type in a search query anymore in order to perform a search.

Just run the application, place the iPhone near your ear as if you were making a call, and tell it what you want to search for. It’s that easy. It automatically enables voice command functionality when you place the iPhone near your ear thanks to the proximity sensor that’s built-in the device. Voice commands are currently limited to US English only, but additional language support will be provided as part of future updates. This new version of the Google Mobile app likewise comes with Search with My Location which basically provides a localized search based on your current location. It’s a great additional feature, but I don’t think it works here in the Philippines.

Anyway, the all-new and improved Google Mobile app is now available via the App Store, and what’s even better is that it’s completely free. Check it out for yourself and tell us what you think about it.

Budget-friendly Nokia phones to usher in the New Year

With the slow down of the global economy affecting almost everyone, the new year might not be the best year for high-priced gadgetry. So, in response to the challenges of the present time, Nokia has just announced a new batch phones that will offer great value for your hard-earned money. Included in this fresh new line-up are the Nokia 7100 Supernova, Nokia 5130 XpressMusic, Nokia 2323 Classic, Nokia 2330 Classic, Nokia 1202 and Nokia 1661.

The Nokia 7100 Supernova is designed for those who put a premium on style and entertainment. This new slider comes with a high resolution color display, a 1.3 megapixel camera, FM radio, support for Share on Ovi - Nokia’s online photo sharing service, Mail on Ovi, as well as an internet browser. The Nokia 7100 Supernova is expected to begin shipping in the last quarter of 2008.

Meanwhile, the Nokia 5130 continues the XpressMusic line from Nokia and features the now familiar dedicated music keys. It comes with a 2 megapixel camera , FM radio, 3.5 mm headphone jack, support for Share on Ovi, Mail on Ovi, and is being touted as Nokia’s most affordable music phone to date. The Nokia 5130 XpressMusic is expected to become available in the first quarter of 2009.

The Nokia 2323 classic and Nokia 2330 classic, on the other hand, offer timeless design with a decent feature set. They both come with an FM radio with recording capabilities, an Internet browser, support Mail on Ovi and Nokia Life Tools. As opposed to the Nokia 2323, the Nokia 2330 classic is equipped with an integrated camera. Both phone models are scheduled to debut in the second quarter of 2009.

Last, but not the least, the Nokia 1202 and Nokia 1661 pair provide great value at a very reasonable price. The Nokia 1202 is expected to be the company’s lowest priced mobile phone to date. The Nokia 1202 features a flashlight, extended battery life, loud ringtones and a phone book for up to five users. The Nokia 1661, meanwhile, is Nokia’s lowest priced color phone. It comes with an FM radio, a large color screen, loud ringtones, a flashlight and multiple phonebooks as well. Both the Nokia 1202 and 1661 are expected to ship in the first quarter of 2009.

No 3G, Wifi or huge megapixel cameras on these new phones, but you do get the basic and most essential features you’ll need on a mobile phone. So if you’re on a strict budget and looking into getting a phone that will mostly be used for calls and SMS, then you might want to check these new Nokia phones out once they hit the local market in 2009.

Targus Chill Mat for your Lap and Laptop

Laptops are one of the hottest gadgets these days, both figuratively and literally. With more features than ever before, laptops are becoming more versatile and powerful, but at the same time, heat has always been an issue. Due the growing demand for smaller and thinner devices, the small form factor of present day laptops leave little room for proper ventilation for heat to circulate and escape.

It’s a good thing, though, that we have products such as the Targus Chill Mat to cool down our laptops and protect our laps from literally getting burned. It supports laptops of up to 17-inch in size and connects via USB for power. It’s an ideal partner to a Macbook Pro laptop thanks to its design and color scheme, but I don’t see why it shouldn’t work with any laptop regardless of brand.

The Targus Chill Mat is retailing for P2225 and is exclusively distributed by MSI-ECS in the Philippines. For more product information and other inquiries, you may contact Jonas Lim at 688-3732, email jlim@msi-ecs.com.ph, or visit www.msi-ecs.com.ph.

Nokia E63: The E71 made Affordable

The Nokia E71 has been touted as one of the best E-series phones to come from the Finnish company, but it’s relatively expensive when compared to the other previous models Nokia has released in the past couple of months. So as to offer everyone in the market a chance to own and enjoy the benefits of the E71’s great form factor as well as some of its stellar features, Nokia has announced the E63.

It looks almost like an identical twin of the E71 albeit lacking the sopshitication as it trades in the steel accents for ordinary plastic. Aside from the external changes, it likewise dumps the 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus, GPS and HSDPA 3.6Mbps connectivity for a more modest 2-megapixel camera and GPRS/EDGE connectivity feature set. Sure, the lack of HSDPA connectivity might be a bummer but at least it still comes with WiFi, Bluetooth, and the same reliable battery to make it a decent buy at its more affordable price of $255 which is roughly just P12K++ as opposed to the P23K SRP of the E71. This is, of course, just my assumption of how much it would probably cost, but let me just stress how its price will play a key role if the E63 has any chance at all in succeeding the local market.

No word though on when it will become available in the Philippines, but I’m betting it might make a debut just in time for a post-holiday shopping spree. So if I were you, I’d go easy on the expenses this holiday season because you never really know what goodies lie in store when 2009 finally arrives.

Philippine Online Apple Store now Open

First, there was only the iTunes Store. Now, you can likewise order iPods, Macbooks, iMacs and other Apple related products direct from the online Apple Store. Yes, that’s right. Philippibe online Apple Store is now open for business.

According to Yugatech, orders made from the website will be shipped directly from the regional hub in Asia and only takes 1-2 business days. Purchases that are more than P3000 qualify for free shipping as well.

In line with this momentous event, Apple is also giving away exclusive limited-edition T-shirts to all those who make a purchase from now until November 28. It might not be one of the most wickedly designed shirts to date, but if you’re a true blue Apple fan boy, I’m sure you’d love to have one.

The price of their items are not the cheapest as far as the local market is concerned, but at least you can now order from the convenience of your own PC (or Mac) and have your Mac goodies delivered straight to your doorstep.

iPhone becomes top handset in U.S., passing RAZR

9:45 AM, November 10, 2008

Move over, Motorola. The iPhone has shaved away your lead in the mobile phone market, passing the RAZR to become the top handset purchased by U.S. adult consumers in the third quarter of 2008, according to the research firm NPD Group. The RAZR had held onto the top spot for 12 quarters.

Consumers are buying more iPhones than RAZRs because there is a "watershed shift in handset design from fashion to fashionable functionality," said Ross Rubin, NPD's director of industry analysis. That means consumers don't care only about looking cool anymore -- they want to look cool with a phone that doesn't have an 18% failure rate.

Research In Motion's Blackberry Curve came in third in NPD's ranking. A different report last week, from Canalys, found that the iPhone had passed RIM and Motorola to gain a 17.3% share in the smartphone market. That report showed Nokia still hanging onto first place globally. RIM could be hurting because the Blackberry has twice the failure rate of the iPhone.

Still, according to NPD, the jump in iPhone sales wasn't enough to stave off a slowdown in U.S. phone sales overall. Phone purchases declined 15% in the third quarter from the same period last year. Revenue fell 10%.

It's unclear if the iPhone rush will continue: NPD said mobile phones with QWERTY keyboards saw the greatest year-over-year rise in sales. About 30% of handsets sold in the third quarter had QWERTY keyboards. And as all of us fat-fingered people know, a tactile keyboard is not one of the iPhone's many assets.

New Macbooks-Jailbreaking Don’t Mix

Those who are still into jailbreaking iPhones/iPod Touches and are tempted to buy the new Macbooks might want to reconsider buying this latest line of laptops from Apple.

Some users have reported that they’re experiencing connectivity issues when trying to jailbreak their iPhones/iPod Touch using these new Macbook laptops. It’s still not certain as to what’s really prohibiting these Macs from continuing the normal jailbroken process, but iTunes is certainly being considered as an early suspect. Here’s what Gizmodo has to say about the whole situation:

“It’s a very specific problem, too — the tool still runs, and users who have a pre-modified firmware created on another Mac or Windows machine are able to ‘restore’ their devices to a jailbroken state without any trouble. It’s the creation of modified firmware, which is the central purpose of the Pwnage tool, which has been axed.”

For now, I think it’s best to stay clear of these new Macbooks if you’re still interested in the whole jailbreaking process unless you’ve got a spare PC lying around the house you can use to indulge your little hobby. Anyway, you can allows opt to give up jailbreaking for a brand new laptop.

So, which will it be; jailbreaking or a new Macbook? Either way, you’ll end up with an expensive Apple device that probably should be worth a lot less than what it’s retailing for at the moment, but is definitely way cooler than its cheaper rivals that are out in the market today.

XPERIA X1 Update: Pics Galore, Release Moved to Nov. 28

Sad news for those who we’re planning to get their Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 phones on the 14th. We’ve just been informed that the release has been moved to a later date, November 28 to be exact. The expected price, unfortunately, has also changed due to the depreciation of the Philippine Peso and we don’t have confirmation yet as to how much it might now cost. Hopefully, it won’t cross the P50K threshold and the release won’t be prolonged any longer.

Anyway, here’s a treat for those waiting for some actual photos of the XPERIA X1. These are some of the shots that I took of the XPERIA X1 that was loaned to me so you can have a better idea of what it really looks like from almost every angle.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison with a Nokia 6300 and an iPod Touch. While I so wanted to compare it to a 3G iPhone, I don’t have one at the moment so the next best thing available was my iPod Touch.

As you can see, they’re almost all the same length, but the XPERIA X1 is noticeably thicker. As for as XPERIA X1’s display is concerned, it strikes just the right balance between brightness and richness of color. You might also notice in some of the pictures that the chrome finish and touchscreen are a bit of a dust and fingerprint magnet so that might be a point of concern for those who are obsesively compulsive about cleanliness of their gadgets.

HP turns to Intel Atom for New Mini 1000

Despite being a bit on the expensive side and a bit slow when compared to its contemporaries, the HP Mini Note has garnered a following of its own thanks to its exquisite design. Now, HP’s improving on what they’ve gotten correct with their first netbook and is offering up something a bit more at par with rest of the pack the second time around.

The HP Mini 1000 will come in two variants: one with the same small 8.9-inch display, and a new one with a bigger and more adequately sized 10.2-inch screen. They’ve replaced the aluminum finish look for a sleek black plastic chasis. The new Mini will now also finally have an Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor under the hood like the rest of the netbook pack, support up to 2GB of RAM, and have up to 16GB of SSD storage. Other options are yet to be disclosed, but the usual features such as Bluetooth, WiFi and VGA camera are still there. The Vista OS has been bumped off the specs sheet with Windows XP taking over the OS chores, but something to look forward to in 2009 is their new Mobile Internet Experience interfacebuilt on top of Ubuntu.

The UI shares similarities with their Touchsmart PC and aims at providing the user with an all-in-one interface for quick access to most commonly used features. This early on, we’re pretty psyched about it as it looks really polished. This is one added feature that might make users opt for the Linux version as opposed to the more popular Windows variant.

The HP Mini 1000 that sports an 8.9-inch screen, 512MB RAM, and 8GB SSD on Windows XP will cost $400 while the 10.2-inch version with the same specs is priced at $450. The price of the version that will feature an 8.9-inch screen and the Mobile Internet Experience OS on Ubuntu will start at $380 when it’s made available in January next year. There’s also a red Vivienne Tam Edition that will retail for $700 and 3G-enabled versions set to be announced in December as well. For more pics of the HP Mini 1000, you can check out Gizmodo’s photo gallery.

Sadly though, no international release dates were mentioned but we’re pretty optimistic it’ll become available before the first half of 2009 comes to an end. This is just another reason for you regret buying that insanely cheap-looking netbook just because you couldn’t wait for something better to come out. But then again, if there’s one thing you can count on in the world of technology, there will always be something new coming out in the not-so-distant future that’s sure to replace the latest and coolest gadgets of present time.

XPERIA X1 site Now Up and Running

rue to their word, Sony Ericsson has launched an XPERIA X1 site where you can sign up to be one of the first to own their new mobile phone.

This site not only caters to Philippine residents, but is also applicable to Indonesians and Malaysians as well. You just need to enter your name, e-mail address and mobile phone so that you’ll be informed once the XPERIA X1 is available for purchase in your country.

We have it on good authority that the big day will be on November 14 as far as the Philippines is concerned, and the price is just a hairline below P40K. That gives you approximately two weeks to save up for this Windows Mobile-powered smartphone, but if you’ve been patiently waiting for the XPERIA X1’s arrival in the local market since its announcement way back in February, you probably would have saved up enough money to buy one unless, of course, you were swayed by your friends to buy a 3G iPhone. If not, then your long wait will soon be rewarded by a brand new touchscreen-enabled, QWERTY-equipped, Windows Mobile smartphone that’s been well crafted by the hard working folks of Sony Ericsson.

Dell Inspiron Mini 12: Bigger display, Thinner body

While Asus may have had the early advantage in the ultra-portable laptop race, the rest of the pack is catching up as their second generation devices are slowly trickling in. To be more specific, Dell has unveiled their next netbook offering, the Inspiron Mini 12.

This new version comes with a large 12-inch display, a first in the netbook industry. Two variants will be offered under this new line: a 1.3GHz Atom Z520 model and a 1.6GHz Atom Z530 version. Windows XP and Ubuntu will still be the OS options for 2008 but come 2009, Windows Vista will likewise be available as well. There will also be 60GB or 80GB HDD options and a 6-cell battery upgrade that’s definitely a welcome treat. The Mini 12 might be larger due to the bigger screen, but it’s also slimmer measuring in a mere 21mm thin.

It’s scheduled to roll out internationally in November, but it will still depend on the local distributors on when it will exactly become available in their respective markets. The US starting price is $600 or close to P29K when converted using a $1=P48 exchange rate. It’s not exactly cheap, but with a thinner profile and a size that’s close to regular laptop, this might be the best netbook to date as far as form factor design is concerned.

With the Inspiron Mini 9 yet to become available in the market, it makes you wonder; will Dell Philippines completely skip out on the Mini 9 in lieu of the Mini 12 or will they just push back the debut of the Mini 12? I’m hoping that it’s the former since this looks like a better deal than what the Inspiron Mini 9 has to offer.

Motorola Aura brings back the SwitchBlade design

Looking like a blast from the past, the new Motorola Aura is bringing back into fashion the old switchblade design and pimps it out to great new heights.

The Aura has a grade 1 62-carat sapphire crystal lens to protect its screen, a stainless steel body that has been electro- and hand polished, and Swiss-made and custom-engineered rotating mechanism with 130 precision ball bearings. Plainly put, this is one well crafted mobile phone for the discerning buyer. Unfortunately, as luxury phones often go, you won’t find high-end features on this baby. It only comes with a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, EDGE, and text and e-mail capabilities which is about as standard as it gets when dealing with mid-range mobile phones of today.

So, how much will this baby cost? You can land yourself one if you’ve got $1,999 to spare. Look for it to be released anytime now as its scheduled availability date is in the beginning of the 4th quarter of 2008 which is just right about now. Will it be available locally? I don’t see why not though an exact date of its release is anybody’s guess at the moment.

Ipod to PC

iPod to PC is perfect iPod copy, iPod backup software to rip and copy music, videos, photos, podcasts from iPod to PC and vice versa. And all formats compatible with iPod are supported with this iPod ripper. It also supports music and video transfer between iPhone and PC. Moreover, the iPod copy software supports iPod to iTunes transfer.

As all-around iPod copy, iPod backup software, iPod to PC helps you easily create, edit and delete iPod playlists, manage multiple iPods at the same time, transfer music and videos between iPhone and PC. In addition, the iPod ripper offers a function of managing your iPhone as a portable hard disk.

iPod to PC provides an ideal solution for you to manage, rip, copy, backup iPod/iPhone on personal computer.

*Reminder - We will email the download link and serial key in your email, Please use your Primary Email Address


Buy Now

Report Scam click here!

MSI Wind U120 coming in November to Asia

While the MSI Wind may already be considered a success in the local market, it is apparent that MSI is not content with just one netbook under their name as they’ve announced the Wind 2 set for a November debut in Asia.

You can expect a new body design, SSD storage options, 3.5G modem, and of course, an Intel Atom processor. While the price is not yet definite and no exact figure has officially been given, rumor has it that it might cost roughly $600 or P28K. It’s really not that affordable, but hey, considering the Wind ranks as one of the top netbooks in the market today in sales as well as in performance, this second iteration might just be worth it.

If you’re on the hunt for a netbook that’s worth investing in, I would suggest you wait for the Wind 2 (U120) to arrive first before making any purchases at the moment. Besides, if you don’t like it, its presence in the local market will drive current prices down which will result in giving you a better deal in the end. Let’s just hope they stay true to the November release date so we won’t have to wait long for its availability. As for current MSI Wind owners, you can download the latest BIOS to get some added speed for your soon to be outdated netbook.

New HP iPAQ Messenger phones revealed

It seems like HP’s taking another shot at the mobile phone biz as they’ve just recently unveiled two new iPAQ Messenger handsets.

The HP iPAQ Data Messenger is a touchscreen phone that also has a QWERTY keypad hidden underneath its 2.8-inch 320×420 pixel touchscreen display. Slide it out sideways and you’ll get the convenience of a full keybaord plus the added appeal of a touchscreen device all in one phone. It comes equipped with a 3-megapixel camera with LED flash, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and 3G/HSDPA connectivity. It also has 128MB SDRAM for applications, 256MB flash ROM, microSD card slot for additional storage options, and runs on Windows Mobile 6.1.

The HP iPAQ Voice Messenger, meanwhile, offers more or less the same features in a candybar form factor. It doesn’t come with a touchscreen display, but also incorporates a full QWERTY keypad albeit the keys being much smaller than the Data Messenger. The HP iPAQ Voice Messenger is expected to cost $570 while the HP iPAQ Data Messenger will fetch for $680 when they both become available in the US this coming November. That’s roughly P27K and P32K respectively in the local currency.

While both iPAQ Messengers seems to be decent enough for the present market, the lack of something new to offer in terms of design and functionality might be its biggest disadvantage. However, if its performance is a lot better than the other phones in its category, then these new iPAQ Messengers might just be the pair that finally puts HP on the global mobile phone map. No word though on international availability, but a safe assumption would be in the early part of 2009.