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Verzio debuts in the Philippines: Makers of the dual SIM phone and other neat gadgets

Dual SIM menu

I was at Fiamma the other night for the unveiling of a new technology company here in the Philippines. The invite was rather vague, announcing a new range of digital lifestyle products. I’ve never heard of Verzio before – and who would have – they’re rather new. They make laptops, cellphones, digital cameras, and pretty soon Pocket PCs which are due out next year.

Dual SIM in the Philippines
Their killer product is the new dual SIM phone. Yep, you’ve probably seen phone hacks on the Internet where guys cut up SIM cards into two in order to fit two SIMs in one slot. This however is different. Take a look at the photo below. You’ll notice that there are TWO operator logos running at the same time with TWO signal transmitters. Holy cow! The dual SIM phone is now legit. These phones are perfect for those people with two SIM cards which is rather common nowadays in the Filipino workspace. There are two models, the Duplii and the Twinn.

dual_sim_philippines.jpg

So how does it work? I managed to try the user interface and worked my way through the nicely skinned menu system resembling Nokia and Sony Ericsson design. What happens basically is that your SIM cards are assigned “1” and “2” accordingly and you can make calls and reply using SIM “1” or “2.” In the same way, messages are labeled as coming from either phone number. I must stress — both SIMs are active simultaneously.

duplii_verzio.jpg

Duplii SRP PHP 15,000.00
3G Tri-Band Dual SIM Phone
Candybar design
Simultaneous dual SIM standby
Bluetooth 2.0
Data transfer via USB
3G video conference and calls
FM Radio
2.0MP camera
microSD expandable memory
Available in metal black

twinn_verzio.jpg

Twinn SRP PHP 12,000.00
Triband EDGE Dual SIM Phone
EDGE connectivity
Slider design
Bluetooth
Touch screen with stylus
microSD expandable memory
1.3MP camera
Available in Racer Black

Funny how the low end model has a touch screen feature with stylus and the high end model doesn’t.

Amidst the crowd of people in the event, I saw a familiar face in Chris Uyco who happens to be the VP and General Manager of Stanmore, the company that’s bringing in Verzio to the consumer market. Chris is a very important figure in the technology retail industry. He’s the guy behind Haldane, the company that brings in Sony Ericsson products, the O2 XDA, and whatever became of BenQ-Siemens. I was glad to see Chris once again and was also rather excited to know that it would be his group that takes care of bringing in Verzio to the Philippines.

As mentioned, the phones are just the tip of the iceberg. The developers and engineers are formerly from Sony Ericsson and Nokia according to what I gathered. Other products include M700 7.1MP point and shoot camera series that’s sub P10,000 and the Core 2 Duo laptops under P40,000.00. I’ll be writing more about Verzio’s entry into the local market as they launch more things. This is definitely worth keeping tabs on.

I asked Chris how the big three telcos would receive this phone. He says that they are actually excited to have this over in the Philippines. I guess this means that telcos are resigned to the fact that Filipinos may have really, more than one SIM. Exclusivity is dead.

Check out more photos and additional thoughts at Cellphone9.

By Jayvee Fernandez

Jayvee Fernandez is a tech enthusiast and sitting Techbology Editor for The Philippine STAR.

He is also an EAN certified SCUBA Diver and underwater photographer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. His photos and videos have appeared in various international and local publications including Random House Germany, Discovery Channel Canada, and CNN.

29 replies on “Verzio debuts in the Philippines: Makers of the dual SIM phone and other neat gadgets”

[…] Valentino Marangi blog wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerpt [IMG Dual SIM menu] I was at Fiamma the other night for the unveiling of a new technology company here in the Philippines. The invite was rather vague, announcing a new range of digital lifestyle products. I’ve never heard of Verzio before – and who would have – they’re rather new. They make laptops, cellphones, digital cameras, and pretty soon Pocket PCs which are due out next year. Dual SIM in the Philippines Their killer product is the new dual SIM phone. Yep, you’ve probably seen phone h […]

you know i also saw another new brand with dual sims – its called HUG, they have a stand alone stall in 168 Mall in Divisoria, and they have around 3 phone models i think.

Running two sims at the same time on a single phone isn’t exactly new. A few months back, there was the myPhone which basically does the same thing and just after that, there was also the Twin Phone which was two phones in one (ala F series from Samsung) which gives to independent phone interfaces for the two sims you are using. Both managed to stir up a little noise upon their arrival, but now, have been over run with all the more technologically advanced gadgets that have arrived.

I wonder how long this one last? It does look much better than the two previous ones I mentioned, so maybe this one has a fighting chance 🙂

i’ve seen one from my former boss who wanted to bring it from china but later abandoned the effort. his test phone was using the pocketpc os. not so easy to use and sold for around 15k. as long as the big boys (sony ericsson, nokia, motorola, et al) don’t make these dual sim phones, i’m not so inclined to buy one. not just yet.

I caught myself saying “Wow” out loud. That’s just the thing you’re looking for. But I bet the initial release of this technology is going to cost more than what you’re bound to pay for two low-end phones (for purposes of being serviced by two networks). Let’s give it a year or two. Crossing my fingers for the product to diminish in value (haha hopes). 🙂

@kofigurl

I doubt if it will diminish in value that much as most phone units that rapidly decrease in price are the ones that have direct market competition such as Nokia vs. Sony Ericsson, etc.

Verzio, Twin Phone and MyPhone don’t exactly have intense market competition that can match it in terms of features (active dual sim)which is why it won’t be forced to lower its price any time soon.

hi.. ive just want to know where is verzio duplii phone available at.this kind of phone will make my life a little stressful. thanks.

hi.. i just want to know where is verzio duplii phone available at.this is the kind of phone which will make my life a little stressful. thanks.

i just visited HUG’s site and the dual sim phones there are so promising, with dual cameras, mp3 and mp4, touch screen, fm radio, bluetooth and usb connectivity, i heard the price range from only 2,900-5,500. Did anybody bought this phone??

can u tell me do ur phones work in ireland with networks 02 and vodafone.and culd u tell me how much in euro

please culd u tell me dose your fones work in ireland with their networks 02 and vodafone.and do u know how much in euro

I just bought a verzio TWINN last week. after a day of use the phone suddenly goes off. After two days the video gets scrambled and the unit hangs! I brought it back to the store where I bought it. They will still send it to Manila. I hope they replace it with a new one. By the way I am from Davao. I hope its just one unit out of the factory with defects. I surely hope it is not true with the other units!!

I’m from ROMANIA, EUROPE, I’m interested in 1 VERZIO DUPLII DUAL SIM. can anyone help me to buy such a phone, please?
thank you.

hi.. i’m wondering how much is the versio twinn now? i live here in the philippines anyway..

if your verzio lcd cracks w/in 7 days, the warranty becomes void. i suggest “don’t buy a VERZIO”.

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