Via AskMeBazaar Xiaomi has been busy lately. Fresh off announcing two new devices for the Philippine market, the Chinese manufacturer is bringing its 16,000mAh Mi Power Bank to Lazada Philippines to be sold on the online retailer’s website at noon on April 24. And the price? Just P1,299, which is double the cost of the 10,400mAh Mi Power Bank, though it makes sense, as the convenience of carrying one battery pack instead of two is obviously going to come at a price. It will be available in one color only: silver with a brushed look. Neither Xiaomi nor Lazada Philippines …
Huawei P8 now official, priced around P23,500
Via TrustedReviews Earlier today, Huawei launched the P8 — notice the Ascend branding has been given the boot — an update to its top-billing P7 smartphone from last year. Also gone are the two layers of Gorilla Glass 3 held together by the previous model’s angular skeleton, replaced by an all-metal frame with a matte finish, chamfered edges, and rounded corners. The result is a product that looks nothing like its predecessor, especially when you tilt it sideways to showcase its ultra-thin 6.4mm profile that’s a smidge thinner than Huawei’s older flagship. What it does look like is a cross …
Xiaomi Redmi 2’s price, availability in PH revealed
(UPDATE 1, April 15: Talk about timing. Xiaomi has made the Redmi 2 official in the Philippines — while we were writing the article. The phone will retail for P5,999 when it arrives at a still-undisclosed date.) (UPDATE 2, April 20: And we just got word that the Redmi 2 will officially go on sale on the 28th. That’s eight days from now.) The Xiaomi Redmi 2 is on its way to the Philippines. That’s assuming the company’s latest posts on the Mi Philippines Facebook account are indeed about the budget smartphone sequel. The three short video teasers weren’t exactly …
Review: ASUS Zenfone 2
(UPDATE, April 21: We spoke to ASUS Philippines country manager George Su on the sidelines of the Zenfone 2 launch in Jakarta, Indonesia, and here’s what he said about the handset.) (UPDATE 2, May 16: The ASUS Zenfone 2 is now official in the Philippines. Even better, it’s available on Lazada Philippines’ mobile app. Pricing starts at P9,995 for the 2GB RAM variant, while the 5-inch model costs P7,995.) Weeks ago, we wrote about scoring a retail unit of the ASUS Zenfone 2 (ZE550ML) well ahead of its official release in the Philippines, chiming in with our initial impressions and doing …
Alleged models, prices of ASUS Zenfone 2 in PH
(UPDATE 1: According to Abe Olandres, the ZE500CL will retail for P7,995, while the ZE551ML will have three sub-variants in the Philippines, starting at P9,995 (1.8GHz Intel Z3560 with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage). The most expensive model in the ZE551ML series (2.3GHz Intel Z358 with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage) will reportedly sell for P14,995, and the middle-of-the-pack unit will be priced at P12,995.) (UPDATE 2: We’ve received word from ASUS Philippines about the prices of the Zenfone 2 variants, and we’re publishing it in full: “Prices that Abe posted are not yet final and are still subject to change. So, yes, Abe’s post is not …
What we know so far about the LG G4
The successor to the impressive LG G3, which, as we noted in our review on Yahoo, is “as delightful as smartphones get,” is set to debut on April 28, according to The Verge. And with the aptly named LG G4 due to launch a few weeks from now, we thought today would be a great time to post a cheat sheet based on what we know so far about the top-billing Android challenger from the Korean manufacturer. Design Case-maker Spigen has all but confirmed what the G4 looks like by showing off a bunch of cases designed for the handset …
Cheaper Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge now on Lazada PH
Lazada Philippines is now selling 32GB and 64GB editions of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge ahead of their official Philippine launch on April 18 — and at lower prices, mind you. About 10 percent lower than their suggested retail pricing. The online retailer has listed the 32GB Galaxy S6 at P31,999 and the 32GB and 64GB variants of the Galaxy S6 Edge at P36,999 and P42,999, respectively. You may use your BDO credit card to purchase any of the phones on installment plans of up to 24 months, albeit with corresponding interest rates depending on the payment period. Keep …
We’re breaking the rules of online publishing…
Who are crazy enough to soft-launch a site that’s so bare? My writing partner since my Mega Publishing days, Ramon Lopez, and I are. We have disregarded the first, second, and third rules of online publishing: You do not launch a website unless it’s packed with articles, or as my former boss, Summit Media president Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng, would call it, puno. Surprisingly, we’re okay with breaking “those rules.” First, we already bought two phones so we could write about and take videos of them. Second, we couldn’t bear to watch our clips just sitting on our computer for weeks. Sayang. Third, it’s …
Deal alert: Cherry Mobile Nova 2.0 ‘buy 1, take 1’ promo
Heads-up, bargain hunters. Cherry Mobile announced on Facebook yesterday that it will be having a “buy one, take one” promotion for the Nova 2.0 this Wednesday, April 8. The dual-SIM Android Jelly Bean smartphone is currently priced at P3,999, meaning each unit will essentially run you P2,000, which is a very low price — even for an older model. Granted, the Nova 2.0 may never get a taste of sweet Android KitKat, much less Lollipop. Still, for the price of a pair of Nike sneakers, you’re looking at not one, but two well-specced handsets featuring a 4-inch IPS touchscreen and …
We unbox the ASUS Zenfone 2
(UPDATED) Yesterday, we bought a retail unit of the ASUS Zenfone 2, which, based on the positive buzz it has been generating since its introduction at the 2015 CES in Las Vegas, is one of the most anticipated smartphones this year. Naturally, we made an unboxing video of the spiritual successor to the Zenfone 5 (and Zenfone 6?), seeing that we’re still a month away from its Philippine debut. Unfortunately, as much as we would have loved to bring home the higher-end Zenfone 2 with 4GB of RAM, we had to settle for the 2GB RAM model, because apparently, the former …
What’s special about MyPhone’s Rio 2, Rio 2 Lite
In addition to showing off a new logo, Philippine tech company MyPhone just unveiled the Rio 2 and Rio 2 Lite, two budget smartphones running Android Lollipop — the first ones in the country outside of Google’s Android One efforts. Both devices offer similar specs and are built around MediaTek’s quad-core MT6582 chipset, though the Rio 2 has more screen real estate — protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3, mind you — to go along with a larger, 2,800mAh battery. The MyPhone Rio 2 also comes with software navigation buttons, just like the ones found in the company’s Uno, whereas …
And PH’s top smartphone brands in 2014 are…
We’re well aware of how popular Cherry Mobile is in the Philippines, but we couldn’t quite put it into numbers, given how secretive consumer-electronics companies usually are when it comes to sales and profits. That is, until now. Research firm IDC today released its Asia-Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, ranking Cherry Mobile as the top mobile vendor in the country in 2014, with a staggering 21.9 percent market share of the total smartphones shipped last year. Samsung came in a far second with 13.3 percent, while MyPhone, Lenovo, and Torque placed third, fourth, and fifth with 11.2 percent, 6.5 percent, …
Cherry Mobile One vs. MyPhone Uno: Which one’s right for you?
By now, you’ve probably read about the 2 Android One phones that have been recently released in the Philippines. And for those of you who are looking forward to a Nexus-like experience for cheap without digging through the bargain bin of second-hand models, the big question is: Should you get the Cherry Mobile One or the MyPhone Uno?
Ladies and gents, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge
Samsung has finally taken the wraps off the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, successors to its flagship Galaxy S line, at the ongoing 2015 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. And as expected, the two smartphones pack headline-grabbing specs and features that raise the stakes for everyone in the cutthroat mobile industry. Bleeding-edge silicon is what makes Samsung’s top-tier Galaxy handsets so attractive — life savings be damned. Here, take a look at them: [youtube link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggL_yLCC2a0&list=UUMeavCblAE1-lP5CWpcZHMA” width=”560″ height=”315″] Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge preview [youtube link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3NvdHYPZC0&list=UUMeavCblAE1-lP5CWpcZHMA” width=”560″ height=”315″] Samsung Galaxy S6 preview Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge specs ALORA UY GUERRERO’S …
