SMART Communications to offer iPhone 4S by end 2011
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 9th, 2011
The Inquirer reported this evening that SMART Communications would be offering the new Apple iPhone 4S come end of 2011.
Quote:
MANILA, Philippines—Wireless telecommunications giant Smart Communications is set to heat up competition in the offering of telco services bundled with Apple products with the rollout of Apple’s game-changing smartphone iPhone to premium subscribers within this year.
Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of Smart’s parent firm Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., confirmed that Smart was in talks with Apple to launch the latest version of the iPhone—iPhone4S—before yearend.
Similar to what happened to bigger markets like the United States, Germany and Canada, consumer electronics giant Apple has abandoned the regime of exclusive iPhone distribution.
With the lapse of the exclusivity deal with Globe Telecom, the original iPhone official carrier in the Philippines, Smart is now getting ready to launch iPhone4S as well.
[source]
The article also mentions the possibility to bring in Apple iPad tablets with data plans.
It seems that a Twitter hashtag campaign has started called #smartiphone. You can try to follow this for more developments. This development is rather interesting as SMART has already cornered exclusivity deals with HTC for their Android phones. WIth the iPhone 4S deal, has SMART locked in the smartphone business for both Android and iOS?
Aside: During the launch of the Netphone 701 and SmartNet platform at the Jump store, one of the execs did hint of being in talks with Apple for something related to smartphones. It seems like the cat is out of the bag. Are we going to see a SmartNet app pretty soon on the iTunes Store?
[N.B. There is a general disclosure on my blog's about page on who I work / consult for.]
Ramon and Vina’s Geeky Prenup Shoot
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at October 27th, 2011
Congratulations to my cousin Ramon and his lovely wife Vina for tying the knot! You see, Ramon and Vina alongside other high school friends are constants in my life as we hold true to our sacred board game nights. Believe me, it is so hard to find other like-minded people who can spend hours in the company of alcohol and perforated cardboard.
I asked them if I could post their prenup photos on the blog and they wholeheartedly agreed. Can you guess the themes? Click on the photos for higher resolution.
A look into the new 2011 Ford Explorer with My Touch
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at October 8th, 2011
I’m not a car geek. Far from it. So let me tell you how I ended up test driving the new 2011 Ford Explorer. All 3.5L V6 of it.
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How to save yourself from a socially awkward situation
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at August 8th, 2011
Solution: Download this card and use when necessary
SCUBA Test: Samsung PL120 and SH100 WiFi Camera with Seashell Housing
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at July 18th, 2011
Above: Jan in his complete pro UW setup
The Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands. The irony is that a lot of the action happens in the city Manila. In its odd state, you would think that for a country that is surrounded by water, we would have at our disposal a stable of underwater cameras or housings with underwater cases for sale in most gadget stores. Sadly this is not the (underwater) case. **Pun Intended**
If you take a look at the UW housing landscape in the Philippines, save for a dedicated store that deals with UW housings, it is quite rare to find manufacturers outfitting underwater cases for cameras. The reason isn’t so much as lack of demand, but warranty. It is very hard to put a warranty tag on a decent acrylic housing that can be submersed at depths of 100+ ft. Not that it would flood. But the risks may be bad for business.
Nonetheless, bringing down a camera to the underwater depths has its rewards. I for one have been diving for more than 2 years, shooting amateur UW video for a little more than a year, and indulging myself in underwater photography for a little over six months.
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Father’s Day + Nintendo + Legend of Zelda for 3DS + Robin Williams
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 18th, 2011This odd combination actually works. Happy Father’s Day =)
My Dive Gear
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 16th, 2011So Lilliane started this so I decided to follow with my own list of dive gear. I’ve divided the list into skin diving gear, SCUBA gear and underwater camera gear.
Skin Diving Gear
Black SCUBAPRO Spectra Mask
The current mask I’m using now. I like the black skirts instead of transparent ones because it gives less distractions when taking photos. This mask was a gift to me by Chie!
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A Hunt for the Rhinopias
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 13th, 2011Over the weekend I took part in an event loosely coined as the ‘Hunt for the Rhinopias.’ As a diver and a photographer, it’s the latter that urges me on to keep diving because of the sheer challenge of underwater photography as a hobby. Before taking photos underwater, I’d scoot through a dive site in 45 minutes. When I started photography, our dives turned to a slow crawl as we explored every square inch of the reef to find shrimps, crabs, slugs and other critters.
Our gear on display for the Rhinopias photo hunt.
There was word circulating among the divers that a yellow Rhinopias frondosa, more commonly known as the Weedy Scorpionfish or the Popeye Scorpion has been spotted in a dive site called Red Rocks in Anilao, Batangas. The Rhinopias is extremely rare and there happened to be one in Anilao sitting on the reef at 30 ft deep. At that depth, we spent two dives of 80 minutes each, taking turns to photograph this rare scorpionfish that is camouflaged to look like a yellow patch of sea kelp.
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Nintendo announces the Wii U
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 8th, 2011
EDIT: It looks like there really is a new console. But the focus of the E3 announcement is on the Wii U (FACT SHEET). Seems likely as the graphics shown for some of hte games don’t seem to run on Wii GPU’s.
Part iPad. Part controller. Part console. Count on the Japanese to boggle my mind. I have no idea if this is a console or a controller. Coming 2012.
Jeff Cannatta of TRS speaks the same thought:
UPDATE: The new console:
HTC ChaCha: The Facebook phone you’ve been waiting for! (Part I)
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 1st, 2011
EDIT: Part II of review here
You could probably argue that all Android phones are made of the same stuff. Some may have bigger screens. Other are thinner than the rest. Some duke it out with better cameras and battery life. But essentially, they’re all made of the same operating system with the same basic features. So, choosing what Android phone to buy is usually based on aesthetics, brand loyalty and basic phone specs (I mean, there isn’t really much difference between a 5MP and 8MP camera but to some they feel it matters).
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Effing Brilliant! Nestle delivers Ice Cream to your home via Facebook
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 1st, 2011
There’s a not-so-secret Facebook group where most, if not all the PH-based digital suppliers hang out. It was here that Ricky Baizas showed us Nestle’s Ice Cream Party delivery service. I definitely KNOW that if your brand uses social media to generate sales then you’re doing the right thing.
https://www.facebook.com/nestleicecreamparty
The only catch is that you have to place an order worth at least PHP 1500.00 if you wish to customize what you get in the ice box. Otherwise you can order for as low as PHP 950.00 Quite understandable. This is why Nestle has positioned this service as an ice cream party package. After you add them up on Facebook, you’re redirected to the order form where you can input the quantity and pay via COD. Orders must be booked 3 days prior for residents of Manila.
As an added bonus, you can even customize your order so that it comes with the ice cream bike + manong!
