Unboxings & Choosing Your Next Smart Device - II

Now this is what I'm talking about when I say there is a lot of quality material out there from Pinoys into tech reviews. Just take a peek at these 2 videos on the features of the Cherry Mobile Omega HD. The content is just so compelling, I almost want to run out and buy one of these phones.






Check out Rommel Manzano's channel at Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/rommelmanzano?feature=watch

Samsung Mega - Phones Just Got Ginormous...Again!

Samsung announced the Galaxy Mega last week in a press release. I've been waiting for videos of the product in actual consumer hands but they have been hard to come by. But here's a video that was apparently leaked, with commentary from the poster:



I haven't seen units yet in any local stores either. What is known for certain are the specs, as published in the press release. In a nutshell, the specs I find important are as follows:

• Display: 6.3-inch HD TFT  
• Processor: 1.7GHz Dual Core ARM Processor 
• OS: Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean)
• Camera: 8 MP rear-facing camera, 1.9 MP front-facing camera
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, WiFi Direct, BT 4.0, USB 2.0
• Memory: 8/16GB Internal Memory (microSD up to 64GB) ＋ 1.5GB RAM
• Battery: 3,200 mAh Li-ion Standard Battery

This thing is huge compared to the Galaxy Note II's 5.3 inches. It is just ever so slightly smaller that a 7-inch tablet. Aside from the pudgy-fat-fingers use-case and the i-can't-type-properly-on-a-small-screen issue with users like me, this is not a phone for everyone. However, personal opinions aside, right now it's Samsung that is forging ahead of the competition in terms of creating new niches in the market. Creating products like the Samsung Mega explores the possibilities. If you check stores, both online and brick-and-mortar, other lesser known brands like Starmobile, Cherry Mobile, Cloudfone, MyPhone, etc. already have their own 5-inch or slightly smaller screened phones. That niche was non-existent if we were talking about screen sizes before the original Galaxy Note was launched.

With the positive response from the way the Galaxy Note II got sold out when it was launched, only time will tell if the consumer market will embrace an ever bigger phablet. This is a gamble that I think Samsung will win though. But ultimately it's going to be the consumer who decides whether this niche deserves it's own line of products.

Unboxings & Choosing Your Next Smart Device

With the increasingly overlapping release dates of so many competing smartphone brands, it's been hard to keep up with the latest device releases. It's become harder to maintain a good grasp of what products give the best value for money, especially if you're on the lookout for your next phone or tablet. So reviews, specifically unboxings with demos, like the one below are really useful for evaluating products you may want to consider buying. The one linked below is for the about to be released Starmobile Diamond:



Increasingly, I find myself watching the feeds for sites like Rappler.com. You should look for local reviews when looking for a product to buy. The important thing is to see the Filipino perspective about a device before looking at it. Like other Asians, we don't necessarily have the same use-case scenarios that North Americans have. It's better to look for local tech journalists reviewing locally released products, so you get to experience a review that is as relevant to you as possible.

Also look for product information on stores you can physically go to to try the thing. It's common for stores not to give you hands on time with device, so walk away if the retail store does that. You should 'vote' with your money. Buy from the stores that give you the chance to test the product before you actually buy it. Let them know you appreciate the tinker time they give you.

So what will your next smartphone be? Where did you first hear about it? Did you watch a detailed review of it before deciding to go to store to check it out?

Top 5 Android Apps I Can't Stop Using

I've been fiddling around with my HTC Tattoo for close to a month now and have had a chance to experiment on it in the last few weeks. Just like the way I distro-hop from one Linux distro to another, I just had to try and look for Android apps that would fit my needs. Here are 5 free apps that I have found useful for my mobile needs:

ASTRO File Manager- Just like FileZ on my Treo, I find I must have some sort of file manager to see what's taking up space, delete file I no longer use. ASTRO is a lot more useful than your vanilla file browser because of one simple feature -- cut and paste! I can cut (or copy) a file and move if somewhere else. Even more useful is the ability to choose multiple files to cut (or copy) and paste. It just makes managing files on the phone itself a whole lot easier. Another feature I appreciate is it's built-in ability to zip files. Makes emailing multiple files all the more easier. And yes, it supports attaching files to email, too!

Aldiko - An eBook reader is a must for me. I had 2 on my Treo (Adobe Reader for Palm OS and eReader) and I would be damned if I can't haz my eBooks. Aldiko has a a good interface that displays a visual bookshelf of the books that I have on my phone. Features that I find useful include the ability to change the reading into day and night mode (black text on white or white text on black) in 2 taps. It's the same with the Table of Contents, 2 taps. Another 2 taps takes me to a link to download books from Feedboks. 2 taps to a feature is always handy, don't ya think? There are some things I still need to get used to. In .epub books there are no page numbers. If I need to skip to a different part of the book, I need to move a bar that shows percentage or (if the book was formatted with chapter info) at the start of each chapter. Not that accurate if you're looking for a particular part of the book. I've started using bookmarks to get around that problem. Another niggle I have is that I have to import books into Aldiko. To import books I need to save them into a specific folder in the media card (ebooks/import). After that, I need to launch Aldiko and import the books before they can be listed in my bookshelf. Kind of tedious. Still, I'm starting to get used to it too.

Seesmic - I Twitter, so I must have a Twitter client. Seesmic has 3 features that I want and need. I can set it up to use my bit.ly account so I can track the links that I shorten. It also integrates posting pictures to Tweetphoto, yFrog, MobyPicture and Twitpic. I can also tweet my location, as it can use the phone's GPS. All three I can do while composing a tweet. That's a compelling enough reason for me to use it over Peep, the default Twitter client on the Tattoo. It also supports linking to videos using a Google/Youtube account, useful if your not shy about sharing your videos.

Handcent SMS - SMS is a given in any phone. Most phones already include the option for threaded conversation-style displays. Handcent ups the ante by giving me more customization options. I can send SMS to a group,very useful when optimizing Unlitext or sending out announcements. It has a handy pop- up that appears over the home screen that allows me to reply right away without going into Handcent itself. I can perform a search for text in messages. The shortcut on my home screen can display how many unread messages I have. It comes with it's own (optional) T9 keyboard. It even has a blacklist function, one feature I wish I will never have to use ;-). Overall, it has very useful features, it's customizable and it looks pretty just doing what it does.

ConvertPad - Who doesn't need to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius or MPG to KM/L from time to time? This app exhaustively covers every possible conversion that I've ever imagined myself asking about, including currency conversions (this requires internet access to update the rates). Kudos to MathPad.com for this great app!

Moving from Treo to Droid is about as harrowing as moving from XP to Windows 7. You stay with what you have because you've grown attached to it despite its age. The heir apparent doesn't offer much. You wait for the next compelling thing to come along. It eventually arrives after a long time. You hold back, thinking twice about moving on. Eventually you make the jump. So my experience has been limited mostly to finding Droid apps that mirror how I met my needs using my trustworthy old Treo. And that was what I was after, waiting all these years. I'm not regretting my decision to go for a Droid phone one bit. I have just what I need and more. The only thing I miss from my Treo use would have to be HomerSays :-)