Samsung’s CorbyPRO is next year’s must have phone
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 14th, 2009I think it was LG that started these “messaging phones.” A couple of months ago, they claimed that they were the first to release QWERTY phones for the masses. This was, of course the LG KS360 which debut at a price of P8,xxx.xx. Truth is, it wasn’t a true messaging device, not for the lack of usability mind you, despite their claims to having “threaded messaging” as it didn’t consider that the Philippine market was highly dependent on WiFi.
Months later, today, Samsung announces the CorbyPRO, a definitive sure win come January 2010 when this phone is released. Among the three Corby phones released, Samsung is putting its ace in a cheap pocket with an affordable QWERTY device sporting WiFi. Add HSDPA connectivity and a 3.5mm ear jack and you get ALL the casual features you need to become truly mobile. As a messaging phone, the device allows connections to multiple instant messaging platforms such as Google Talk, AIM and ICQ (who still uses ICQ?). Price: Php 11,990.
• 2.8”QVGA Full touch-screen
• Slide-out QWERTY keypad
• Wi-fi capable
• 3.5mm earphone jack
• 3.2MP camera with 2x zoom
• Bluetooth
• Expandable memory through microSD (up to 16GB)
• HSDPA 7.2mbps technology
• PRICE 
hp 11,990
• Available January 2010
If you don’t need WiFi, you can opt for the CorbyPRO’s (B5310) younger sibling, the B3410 for PHP 7,590. It looks the same, but foregoes HSDPA for EDGE and has a smaller 2MP camera.
Rico of Technogra.PH has his own take on the Corby series.
X-mini II Capsule Speaker vs Generic “Greenhills” Speaker
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 14th, 2009
Teehee. Check out the XMI X-mini speaker I won at a media raffle. The X-mini II is a small and compact speaker that connects to any device with a 3.5mm jack. The capsule twists and folds out to reveal an accordion diaphragm (it’s called the Bass Xpansion System or BXS for short). I can see why this thing won a Red Dot design award in 2008. It’s sleek. The X-mini charges via USB with a claimed battery life of 30 hours. One thing I failed to show in the demo, for lack of another X-mini, is the feature to link several of these together to form a wall of sound. The X-mini retails for about USD $35.00. For the X-Mini’s older brother, check out the X-Mini Max II.
Now let’s compare it to this P250.00 portable speaker I bought a few weeks ago. I don’t even think it has a name: ST-01 is the product code? It’s … well. Aesthetically, it’s really just a hodgepodge of stuff put together and painted matte black. Turning it on, I was greeted by flickering disco lights. So it isn’t just a speaker: It’s a portable party (!!!). This speaker charges using any of the two types of Nokia chargers (LOL) widely available in the market. Battery life is at two hours.
Here’s a video I made demonstrating the audio quality we get from both of these little things.
Hands down, the X-mini II comes out as the definitive winner in terms of features, but come on for P250.00, you can forgive the generic speaker. Not bad at all. This is a Christmas gift you can give to all your friends with the sticker of your company or website. Technology is cheap.
Congratulations Mike and Maffy!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 11th, 2009
A photo filled with WIN!
Krispy Kreme Friendster Donuts
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 9th, 2009
These come in two flavors — lemon and raspberry. The donuts mirror Friendster’s new look. They taste ok.
Anvaya Cove Clam Seeding: How to rehabilitate a coral reef with giant clams
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 7th, 2009
The video above documents the clam seeding activity in Anvaya Cove. 79 giant clams were brought in on Friday, December 4 2009 and went through acclimatization in the shallow water a few feet from the shore. The next day, all the clams were tagged and measured. Out of the 79 clams, there were four mature “daddy” clams at about 8 years of age that would be responsible for inducing spawning.
Video footage taken using a Sony Cybershot DSC W230 with Marine Pack. Footage edited with iMovie.
There are only about 37,000 giant clams (tridacna gigas) left in the Philippines and they’re almost all grown from the UP Marine Institute in Bolinao. Realistically, giant clams are already extinct mostly because they become victim to human intervention. Giant clams are a delicacy. They are also used in the construction of holy water pedestals in Churches and ornamental bathroom sinks. Just to give you an idea, the Philippines has seven out of the documented nine species of giant clams in the world, and the tridacna gigas is the biggest.
On December 5 2009, Anvaya Cove (an Ayala Land Premiere development) in Subic organized a giant clam seeding program to rehabilitate their house reef. A total of 79 giant clams were seeded. I joined a group of volunteer divers for the seeding program.
I met Louie and Chen Mencias of Bluewater Consultancy, the guys in charge of the clam seeding operation in Anvaya. If you’ve ever been to Dive and Trek in Bauan, Batangas and Twin Rocks in Anilao, these were the same guys who seeded clams in those sites earlier this decade.
Here’s an example of a giant clam that was seeded around 2003 in Dive and Trek. They’re now really big. I like kicking up the water above its mantle to make the clam open up:
REEForestation: How clams actually rehabilitate reefs
Giant clam seeding is the fastest method to rehabilitate a reef. The concept is really simple — these clams are hermaphrodites which means that when they reach sexual maturity of 8 years (male) and 10 years (they become female), they can release either sperm or eggs into the reef. When one clam spawns, other clams will also start spawning millions of sperm and eggs. The fish love this because this is what they eat. The more clams spawn, the more fish become attracted to the reef. Small fish eat the clam spawn. Big fish eat the small fish. And that’s the circle of life underwater.
Because of competition underwater, fish will start to branch out around the sanctuary, and this is the area where fisher folk are allowed to catch. Give it a few years and a barren reef will flourish.
P.S. Thanks to Rosan for the photo of me gearing up!
McDonald’s in Greenbelt has finally reopened!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 6th, 2009
Finally, they’re open again. The McDonald’s in front of AIM and beside Greenbelt has been a fixture since childhood. I asked the guard and they said they’ve been open since December 1. These photos were taken on the morning of December 4. The “new” store design is accented by wider spaces and more diverse seating choices.
So nice to know I can go back to my morning Big Breakfast fix when I’m in Makati.
Behind the scenes with Sarah Gaugler for December ’09
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 3rd, 2009
Behind the scenes video of Sarah Gaugler, cover girl for UNO Magazine’s December 2009 issue.
She’s a house favorite with the staff so we put her on the cover for our December issue. This is behind the scenes.
Toshiba’s Flat Iron T110 and T130 Ultraportable
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 3rd, 2009
They’re not for gaming, but the new ultra-light Portege models from Toshia are indeed beautiful. There are two of them available for the market — the T110 and T130, separated only by the stock RAM available. The T110 comes with 1GB of DDR3 SDRAM, a 250GB hard drive and boasts an 11.6 inch wide screen. It’s close to a netbook, but not quite.
The T130 comes with 2GB of stock RAM and 320GB or 500GB hard disk space. This line of “flat iron” netbooks come with an Intel GMA 4500 video card. It won’t be able to play your latest games that’s for sure but an ultralight laptop doesn’t exactly fit that purpose.
All models also come with Windows 7 Home Edition in full 64 bit glory, which means that you may really want to take advantage of the higher models if you wanna boost up your RAM (the T130 can go up to 8GB). All models run on a 1.3GHz Intel SU2700 with 3MB of L2 Cache.
All models also come with 3 USB 2.0 ports but only one port is available as a charger.
P44,990 for T130 0% 12 months
P39,990 for T110 0% 12 months
Nokia 2330 Classic Winner and Behind the Scenes Stuff
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 2nd, 2009
Using our trusty randomizer web application, we figured out the winner in less than 30 seconds. As agreed in the terms and conditions of the Nokia DiscOVIries competition, the eight previous winners of our two month contest will duke it out in a battle of complete randomness to win a Nokia 2330 Classic phone.
And, our winner, based on the stars, is Lowell Aguirre!
I’d like to thank everyone who joined this series of contests in the past two months. By far this is the biggest mainstream campaign a local company ever invested in with bloggers. Glad to have been a part of it.
But more importantly, a little sincere word on Ovi — from what I’ve seen there has definitely been a big increase in sign ups for the service. Yay, that’s good. But as I’ve said before, this is one of those things that has work successfully in other countries simply because there isn’t much .. ‘conformity’ when it comes to the red tape of public utility (AKA telco services). In the Singapore version of Ovi, the portal gives away unlimited free music for one year every time you buy a new Nokia phone. Difficult here because of licensing issues. In Singapore, software companies have taken advantage of the Maps platform to build really good subscription-based services such as public transportation schedules, routes, locations of diners, etc. Difficult here because too many companies are reinventing the wheel and there isn’t a huge effort to know how important software technology is. Why? Well, the Philippines is “events based.” So many events. So many society pages. So little relevant conversation. And if so, it’s about the same thing (look at the “off topic” or “anything goes” forums in any online group to prove my point). Moving on.
If there’s one thing I’ve observed from the DiscOVIries campaign, it’s this — and this may come as a surprise — as what i observed had nothing to do with Nokia’s campaign per se: when it comes to bringing in the “new” many agencies don’t look at numbers. They look at what their direct and ambient competitors are doing. So when someone executes a really great idea, it waits to get copied. Ironically, there’s a similar article here, but on the gaming industry. Friends have told me that they’ve seen the print ads and videos not just in the movie theaters and papers and television. But as agency pegs from competitor brands. Wow. Interesting.
There are barely any more innovators. And where they exist, they don’t have the financial capacity to drown out the noise of mainstream trends.
Behind the scenes photos after the jump.
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HAXX! My new column with TECHIE.COM.PH
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 1st, 2009Once a week, I contribute a few words to my new “how to” column, titled HAXX!. The other blogs are written by Vince Sales, Rico Mossesgeld and Alodia Gosiengfiao.
In deciding on a theme for this weekly blog post, Jayvee Fernandez decided to do exactly what he does for his friends who pester him on Facebook and SMS – come up with impromptu “How To’s” which, due to his overflowing generosity, charges nothing for it. He’s finally getting paid to do just that. If you have a geeky tip you want to submit, don’t hesitate to email him at me at jayveefernandez dot com. He might just publish it.
For those who don’t know, Techie.com.ph is composed of the same staff of the late T3 Philippines, when it was still running on print. The staff has since transitioned into the web, which really makes more sense for a gadget publication and led by fellow gearheads Vince Sales and Alora Guerrero.
Usually, my articles come out every Friday, but do check on the site regularly. They’re doing a great job — Gizmodo has quoted them twice already!
