This is my 10th year with SMART! I’m giving away an iPad 4 w/ Retina Display to celebrate!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 18th, 2013OMG it’s been 10 years! Addict Mobile represent! Entering my very first job (in real estate, can you believe?!) I wanted to feel like a responsible adult who’s new to the workforce so the first thing I did after signing my employment certificate was to apply for a post-paid line. I was actually already a SMART sub back then but through prepaid and the main reason why I stuck to this network was their competitor had an odd billing system which had this thing called “dollar conversion” and it didn’t quite make sense because my bill would fluctuate every month. So budget conscious me killed it and took a risk with a postpaid line with SMART. And a Nokia 3650. OMG, do you remember this phone? It was the phone with the weird circular keypad and despite having an odd layout, I could text really fast on it! 3650 + Addict Mobile reprezzzent!!!
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The late review: Starmobile Diamond is elegant at a surprising PHP 9,990
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 16th, 2013
Every other tech blog has made the ‘Diamond pun’ so here’s mine: this post has taken forever to write (because diamonds last forever). So yes, this is late. Like one month late. The Starmobile Diamond was released back in April and has been making the rounds among the many lifestyle and tech blogs. About two weeks ago I had lunch with Starmobile’s Consumer Marketing Head, Katrina Tioseco, President Michael Chen and Asst. Brand Manager Paula Rivera. Immediate discussions naturally revolved around the state of the phone industry, local blogs and yes, SCUBA diving (as Katrina is also a licensed SCUBA diver). I swear, diving is the new golf.
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Understanding the new 2013 BRAVIA line from SONY
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 9th, 2013
Two weeks ago, I enjoyed a night of being wined and dined by the good folks from SONY as they unveiled their new BRAVIA line of TV’s.
I’ll tell you a secret. Having been a tech writer and editor for more than 10 years, I’m at my most uncomfortable self writing about anything to do with A/V products. Not because I don’t understand flat screen TV’s or audio — it’s more about trying to describe in words an experience that’s best felt when you’re there. How do you write about 3D? How do you write about 7.1 surround sound? You can shove a thousand words to your reader and he still won’t get it.
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Jonathan’s Greatest Work: Magnum Opus Fine Coffees
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 6th, 2013
Jonathan is what I would call the “reverse bartender.” He’ll listen to you. He’ll engage in small talk but in return he’ll serve you an upper. Jonathan Choi is the proprietor and head bean of Magnum Opus Fine Coffees, an artisan coffee shop located in the always-busy intersection between Aguirre Ave and Elizalde in BF Homes, Paranaque.
Jonathan recognized me from my days with the Hinge-Inquirer group doing a little (big-sized!) magazine known as m|PH. Yes I was famous before the Internet. JK!
In an article I wrote for 8list last week, I outlined the 8 reasons why ‘Magnum Opus’ is the definitive coffee geek’s haven in the south. for one, the Belgian Heartbreaker won me over:
I insisted on his personal take of a café mocha which was essentially an amalgamation of ristretto (quickly pulled espresso shot so it’s not watery), cream and molten Belgian chocolate all served in a short martini glass. The sum is a creamy, frothy tug of war between the jolt of an espresso shot and dark chocolate. This feeling is what the great Greek poet Horace refers to in his poem to Murena, ‘The Golden Mean.’
‘The Golden Mean’ was a Horatian ode that deconstructed the topic of ‘balance’ in the same way that the Dark and Light sides of ‘The Force’ must be kept in check.
On my first visit, Jonathan confirmed a suspicion about how I make coffee. I’ve postulated that my el-cheapo handpresso can pull a better shot of espresso than my relatively more expensive 16 bar espresso machine.
Tarry no further. Do have a read over at 8list.
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Magnum Opus Fine Coffees
115 Aguirre Avenue, BF Homes Parañaque.
+63939.920.0701
@magnumopusfc on Twitter and Instagram
Kobe Bryant speaks Filipino in latest Lenovo Mobile ad
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at April 30th, 2013Kobe Bryant is Lenovo Mobile’s new endorser for both the Philippines and China. In the advert, he’s touting the flagship K900 smartphone powered by Android and Intel.
Hands on with the new BoostCase for iPhone 5 battery pack
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at April 30th, 2013
Finally, it’s here in local shores! The iPhone 5 is a beautiful device, but suffers (like all other smartphones) from drained battery woes especially when you have LTE turned on the whole day. Although the battery management has slightly improved (speculation has the iPhone 5 battery carrying a wallop of 1400 to 1700mAh), these numbers are meaningless to the general consumer! The BoostCase for iPhone 5 adds about a full charge + 50% more battery life to your existing iPhone. So that means if that your iPhone is pulling 6 hours before drain, the BoostCase will give you 9 hours aggregating your total count to roughly 15 hours. That’s for the 2200mAh one.
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It looks like Multiply will be closing for good on May 6 2013
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at April 26th, 2013
It looks like Multiply CEO Stefan Magdalinsky has an official reply as well, and would not comment further on the exact reasons. His Twitter account (@smagdali) does not mention anything as well.
If you check Multiply.com, you will find this message:
Multiply is closing on May 6
We regret to announce that Multiply will be closing on May 6, 2013 and ceasing all business operations by May 31, 2013.Multiply will maintain normal site operations through May 6. We will use the rest of May to make sure the all accounts are settled and that merchants receive full payment for all the transactions they completed on our platform. This will also provide our merchants with time to find and migrate to alternative ecommerce platforms, settle all payments on items bought and delivered, and to minimize disruption to their businesses.
Multiply will ensure that you receive all funds you earned on the platform no later than May 31, 2013. We will close the actual marketplace sooner, on May 6, 2013, to ensure that all orders have sufficient time to complete and be delivered to your customers before the end of the month.
Merchants who have premium subscriptions should contact our customer support and we will ensure that they receive a full refund for the un-used time on your subscription.
Very little words, really. Last year, Multiply announced that they will be shifting their focus from social networking into full on eCommerce and it seems they are closing that chapter as well. I have gotten confirmation from Jack Madrid that this is true.
Could it be the influx of new players such as the Rocket Internet group (composed of Zalora and Lazada) or that the boutique / second hand market is really just heavily involved in other forums such as Sulit? Multiply has been a huge enabler for entrepreneurs to set up small garage sales all over the Internet and it’s indeed sad to see them go. You’ll be missed.
SMART Communications launches LTE Prepaid Services and Plans
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at April 26th, 2013
Bit of ‘late’ news here. Last week, SMART Communications launched their prepaid LTE service which means that you can now avail of LTE signals without the need of a phone plan. The LTE SIM card costs PHP 350.00 if you plan on using it with your current LTE-compatible phone. If you want the LTE USB plug-it, this will set you back by PHP 5,995 for the dongle and SIM. If you intend to share your LTE with multiple devices, this will set you back by PHP 6,995. Speeds up to 42 mbps. In terms of sachet connections, here are the keywords for LTE plans. The most ‘sulit’ is the unlimited 995 Plan.
LTE 50 P50 1 day Text LTE 50 to 2200
LTE 299 P299 7 days Text LTE 299 to 2200
LTE 995 P995 30 days Text LTE 995 to 2200
Contest: Giving away a 1TB WD External Drive from our friends at Jollibee!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at April 25th, 2013
Hey readers! It’s contest time again! Who wants to win a 1TB WD external hard drive?! As you know, summer can be a bad month for your gadgets because of the extreme heat that bakes your already hot computers. So what better way to “sun block” your data than to back up with a nice fat (or NTFS haha!) storage solution?
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Introducing the HUAWEI Ascend W1, Windows Phone 8 for only PHP 8,990
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at April 22nd, 2013
Whoa! Windows Phone 8 for less that P10,000? Nice! Last week, Microsoft Philippines together with HUAWEI unveiled a sub-10k smartphone running on the latest Windows Phone 8 operating system. Historically, there have been other Windows Phone devices that have been released for less than P10,000 yet cannot be upgraded to the latest OS.
Here are the specs:
480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches
5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Qualcomm MSM8230 Snapdragon
Dual-core 1.2 GHz Krait with Adreno 305 GPU
microSD expansion up to 32 GB
Internal 4GB storage with 512MB RAM
Ascend W1 Huawei's First Windows Phone 8 Smartphone Now Out at P8990_12April2013 (6)
BoostCase for iPhone 5 starts at PHP 3,250 for 1500mAh
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at April 20th, 2013
For fans of BoostCase, the wait is finally over. It’s thinner and more stylish than the previous BoostCase for the iPhone 4/4s and will be available starting Wednesday, April 24 2013. The stores that will be carrying it include: Beyond the Box, Digital Hub and Digital Walker Branches.
Boostcase Hybrid 1500 mAh – SRP P 3,250
Boostcase Hybrid 2200 mAh – SRP P 3,950
