Tag: Price

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Mostly Everything

Samsung announces ATIV line: the first synergy of Windows 8 for tablets, Surface laptop and Windows Phone 8

Very interesting news on Samsung today. The Korean company has been know as the poster boy of Android with their extensive line of tablets and smartphones all powered by Android. Today, they are making history by showing the proof of concept philosophy of Microsoft: the new Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 ecosystem.

For those unfamiliar, Microsoft has bet their entire farm on this new user experience by unifying all their commercial products (except the XBOX) into a single user experience in the form of laptops, tablets and smartphones. Windows 8 runs on the “Surface” ATIV PC and ATIV PC PRO. It also runs on the ATIV tab. For smartphones, the latest iteration of Windows Phone 8 runs on the new ATIV S.

No pricing as of late but you absolutely need to check these new products out. I’m particularly excited for Microsoft as this is the proof of concept they bet on and the critics have been either hot and cold on this new direction of making software less expensive while investing in hardware. The initial announcement of the Surface tablet by Microsoft left a lot of OEM’s shocked because Microsoft didn’t brand these designs with the stamp of any manufacturer. Looks like Samsung has made good on this one. They’re very pretty.

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Mostly Everything

Product Review: CD-R King Rice Cooker (does it really work?!) for PHP 350.00

Due to popular demand from friends, we decided to pursue a second episode for the CD-R King review series. Again, we’re not sure where to go from here but it seems like this is really going somewhere. Anyway, in this episode, Rico and I respond to a question most of you have been dying to ask: is the CD-R King rice cooker for real?

This episode actually turned out better than expected because Rico and I don’t know how to cook rice.

Also, we decided to put our videos up on its own domain.

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Mostly Everything

SMART LTE Launch Plan: PHP 3500 for 10GB per month; comes with USB dongle at 42mbps

The cat is out of the bag (also, I apologize for the many updates with SMART). Though not officially announced by SMART Communications, the pricing for the highly anticipated LTE was leaked yesterday in some blogs. I was able to confirm the pricing scheme as well with people from SMART and it seems that the strategic leak worked quite well to their advantage — SMART was on Engadget earlier today.

Again, LTE stands for Long Term Evolution which marks the true beginning of the next generation of mobile Internet for everyone. If 3G brought about mobile apps usage like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, it is exciting to see what LTE can bring about.

The August 25 launch (everyone is invited!) will announce the current pricing scheme:

– LTE will debut in the Philippines at PHP 3,500.00 per month
– it will already come with a LTE USB dongle for free; early last year we confirmed the price of the USB dongle was somewhere in the PHP 10,000 range so yeah, you’re saving ten grand by subscribing
– the USB dongle will be capable of speeds up to 42mbps; this is the same (if not similar) dongle I used during the beta test period. Note that 42mbps is the maximum capability of the dongle but the network can handle, technically up to 100mbps. That’s 100 megabits per second. To know the difference between megabits and megabytes, read my primer.
– the initial offering caps data at 10GB per month.

SMART LTE BORACAY

To be honest I was actually surprised with the sub 4k price point of LTE. Pundits were expecting SMART to launch the service in the PHP 5,000.00 area or thereabouts and this can only mean that with a relatively low price point for LTE, it can only get more affordable from here (either by increasing bandwidth or by making it even cheaper or by offering new handsets once they arrive). The Philippines is one of the first countries in Asia to have this sort of Internet and it’s exciting to see what the next 6 months will be like.

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Mostly Everything

Expanded PowerBag lineup include Tablet Messenger and Deluxe Bag

A couple of weeks ago I road-tested the PowerBag, a backpack that lets you charge your gadgets on the go. It’s essentially a backpack + battery pack + gadget cables. The battery pack is user replaceable and can carry between a 3000 to 6000 mAh charge. That’s essentially a full charge and a half for an iPhone 4s.

These two other models fit a 14″ laptop (you could probably fit in the 15″ retina display MacBook if you tried hard enough) and your favorite tablet be it a Samsung Galaxy Tab or an iPad.

Tablet Messenger PHP 6,490

• 6000 mAh battery allows for power on the go
• Dedicated External charging pocket with micro, mini and Apple connectors • Internal tablet pocket
• Adjustable shoulder strap

Deluxe Black Backpack PHP 7,490

• 6000 mAh battery allows for power on the go
• Dedicated External charging pocket with micro, mini and Apple connectors • Carries up to 14″ laptop
• Suspension contoured back strap

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Mostly Everything

16GB Google Nexus 7 Priced at PHP 17,999 (Villman)

OK two things here:

Villman is selling the new 16GB Google Nexus 7 at PHP 18,000 pesos. That’s twice the price in retail when you buy the device in the USA. Stocks are limited and that’s what you get when demand is high. It’s actually a bad deal if you think about it — you’re paying more than twice the price for this device if you peg the dollar at PHP 44 (total SRP should be around PHP 8,600.00) which is an amazing steal that destroys all other affordable tablets the local scene.

But then you also have to realize that Google is HALTING new orders for the new 16GB tablet, making only the 8GB model available for sale on the Play store.

The company has now halted further orders of the 16GB version of the tablet, costing £199, on its Google Play store in the US and UK. Orders made in the period up to the end of last week are due to be fulfilled, but a shortage of stock now means a hiatus in sales.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that it’s forever gone. It’s more like .. are you willing to pay almost twice the price of an affordable tablet or wait a bit longer?

I go for WAITING. And this is for the simple reason that the USD $200 SRP is a feature of the device and paying anything more than that mitigates the amazing price point. If you’re going to pay PHP 18,000 for this tablet, you might as well have gotten an iPad.

[info c/o John Nieves]