Art Samaniego, TechNews editor for Manila Bulletin — and myself — just got back from Hong Kong over the weekend to purchase the first units of iPhones. We were able to play with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Here’s our 2AM hands on — we’re totally spent from a day of walking. Apologies with the background noise — those are LEGO bricks being stacked. HEHE!
Tag: Hands On
Finally! Got the chance to play with the most eye-catching Windows 8 debut yesterday and it’s from Dell. Microsoft’s marketing collateral had the Dell XPS Duo 12 splattered all over their pages and it made me wonder how this thing really worked. Now I know what the “window pane” is for. The Dell XPS Duo 12 is both an ultrabook and a tablet. instead of folding out the screen to a 360 degree view (like the Lenovo Ideapad Yoga), the Duo 12 lets you push out the screen to tilt around the hinge so that you can collapse it into a tablet, as pictured below:
Yep, lots of moving parts here. It’s my favorite by far in terms of the “gimik” but I’m not sure if this i the sturdiest of them all. It’s yours for PHP 65,000.00.
Specs below:
Battery life: Up to 8 hours
Weight: Starting at 3.5 lbs
Dimensions: 8.4″ x 12.5″ x 0.8″
Screen size: 12.5″
Touch: Yes
Hard drive size: 128 GB or 256 GB mSATA SSD
RAM: 4 GB or 8 GB DDR3L SDRAM
Processor: Intel Ivy Bridge ULV (Core i3, Core i5, or Core i7)
Graphics: Intel HD 4000
There was a brilliant article written a couple of weeks ago illustrating how in the near future (meaning the next 2 years) there will be two kinds of photos — the (1) photos that capture events and the photos that (2) capture what you actually see:
Imagine actors and athletes doing what they do today on Twitter—sharing their adventures from a first-person POV—except doing it with Glass.
And that’s how Facebook would differentiate with Glass. One gives you a summary while the other freezes a moment. In a way, Glass is like a visual Twitter.
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On something completely different, people have asked if Glass will eat into the sales of GoPro? That’s assuming that Google successfully launches this product in the next 12-24 months and they manage to bring the price down to something consumer-friendly. As of late, it’s pegged at USD $1,500.00.
Looking at the tech, it might be easy to assume that these GoPro headsets will go the way of the pager, as the more advanced Glass technology relegates the core functions of a GoPro. But because Glass is so delicate, whereas GoPro cameras are built to rate in “extreme” environments, this may push the latter to focus on these types of active lifestyles such as SCUBA diving (GoPro cameras have o-rings… the sheer pressure would crush Glass).
Future just got a bit more exciting.
Been playing with the Samsung Galaxy Note for the past week. It’s a peculiar device, being the biggest smartphone to date yet doesn’t seem to have that bulky feel compared, say to Dell’s Streak. I’ve shown this phone to a lot of friends and the most common reaction is that of intrigue accompanied by the question, “would I look stupid carrying this around?”
EDIT II: Want to see the Galaxy Note UNDERWATER? Check it out.
EDIT: Hands on with the Galaxy Note here.
I have a conspiracy theory about the worldwide consumer IT industry. Every year, all the manufacturers (except Apple — coz they’re not fun) add 1 inch to the screens of their smartphones to make consumers look more and more ridiculous when using these devices.
OK, but no, that’s probably too far from the truth but you have to admit that on paper, having a device that has 5.3″ of screen real estate can barely be called a phone anymore. In theory it all sounds bizarre, but this is one of those times where actually holding the device gives you that “aha!” moment. In short: The Samsung Galaxy Note works.
Top: Side by side with the Samsung Galaxy S II (4.3″ screen vs 5.3″ screen on the Note)
Read on for more photos and comparison.