Bose SoundDock Series III Lightning Speaker Dock

Bose expands its SoundDock Series with the latest Lightning-equipped model of digital music system. Known as SoundDock Series III, the new speaker dock switch from the 30-pin dock connector to Apple’s smaller and smarter Lightning connector for charging and playing music from the latest iPhone 5, iPod touch 5th gen and iPod nano 7th gen.

The SoundDock Series III features a unique acoustic design and digital signal processing to deliver accurate, detailed, room-filling sound. It has the same signature Bose industrial design as the SoundDock II with clean, modern lines, and a sleek, slim profile. The speaker dock also includes 3.5mm AUX input jack for playing other audio devices. A remote control is included to control the system and basic iPod or iPhone functions, including playlist navigation.

Soundfreaq Sound Platform 2 Bluetooth Wireless Speaker heading to CES 2013

Though CES 2013 will be held January 8-11 next year, Soundfreaq just can’t wait to unveil its speaker lineup for the upcoming event. The Sound Platform 2 (model SFQ-06), the successor to the original Sound Platform, is acoustically balanced to complement every genre, at any volume; and is designed to fill a room with powerful, balanced sound, natural bass response, and true stereo separation.

The new Sound Platform uses Bluetooth wireless technology for music streaming from any Bluetooth-enabled smartphones, tablets, notebooks and PMPs. To deliver improved acoustic performance, the Sound Platform 2 features enhanced bass at high-volume listening, larger speaker drivers, acoustically tuned dual-port chamber, UQ3 spatial enhancement and Tone Control. The wireless speaker system includes the DSS (Dual System Streaming) that can pair two SFQ-06 devices together to play left and right audio.

Mushkin to ship the World’s First 480GB mSATA Solid State Drive

Mushkin, maker of SSD and memory products, is back with the world’s first 480GB mSATA solid state drive. Coming on January 2013, Mushkin’s new 480GB high-capacity Atlas  SSD drive has a MO-300 (mSATA) form factor measuring 50.80 x 29.85 x 4.85mm, and uses SATA III 6Gbps interface.

Mushkin managed to fit 8 NAND flash chips and a controller on a mSATA PCB, allowing Ultrabook and slim notebook users to go beyond 256GB mSATA storage capacity. The US-made Atlas mSATA SSD is equipped with SandForce SF-2281 SSD processor with unthrottled IOPS, and uses MLC NAND flash to deliver fast performance. The mSATA drive supports TRIM command, S.M.A.R.T. and built-in ECC error correction.

Archos GamePad 7-inch Android Gaming Tablet

Playing games on Android phones and tablets is nothing new, but most of time you have to play on the touchscreen. Not many Android devices on the market have integrated physical gaming button. Sony has the first attempt with the Xperia Play PlayStation phone with sliding gamepad, and here comes Archos‘ new GamePad 7-inch Android gaming tablet.

The GamePad features 14 physical buttons, including D-pad, four actions buttons, two shoulder buttons and dual analog thumb-sticks to “bring the physical aspect back to the gaming experience”. The device is powered by a 1.6GHz dual-core processor with Mali 400 MP quad-core GPU and 1GB of RAM, and runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with full access to Google Play for downloading games. Though designed for gaming, the tablet works like other Android devices, and gets a 7-inch 1024×600 capacitive touchscreen display.

Using the mini HDMI output, you can connect the GamePad to your HDTV for playing games and watching movies on a big screen. The tablet also sports a front-facing camera, built-in speaker, 8GB onboard storage and a microSD/SDHC supporting up to 32GB. It supports WiFi connectivity.

Sony details Xperia mobile accessories, throws in discounts for Xperia buyers

Aside from selling Android-powered Xperia smartphones, Sony has also been pretty active in the mobile accessory space. We sat down with Mr. Patrick Larraga, Head of Mobile Business for Sony Philippines and other Sony execs earlier today to talk about a few of their mobile Xperia accessories, namely the Sony SmartTags, SmartWatch and the Smart Wireless Headset Pro. 

The Sony SmartWatch isn’t particularly new, but it’s still a pretty cool gadget to have nonetheless. It’s basically a small display that you pair with your Android device that allows you to monitor and control your device. You can remotely check your email, SMS messages, missed calls and even use the watch as a remote viewfinder for your Android device if you’re into that kind of thing.

The Sony Smart Wireless Headset Pro does exactly what it says – it links with your smartphone and allows you to listen to the music on your smartphone wirelessly. Don’t want to link it to your Android device? No problem – it’ll work as a stand-alone music player without any issues. You can also read text messages on the small LCD display, and gives you access to the people in your call list without taking out your phone.

Canon wraps 2012 PhotoMarathon Manila leg with 2,500 participants

The Manila leg of Canon’s 2012 PhotoMarathon competition drew to a close last Saturday with a record-breaking number of participants shooting in the streets of Intramuros, Manila.

“This has by far the greatest attendance among all our PhotoMarathons from the past seven years,” said Alan Chng, president and CEO of Canon Marketing Philippines. “This is the perfect year-end occasion to thank those who have supported Canon and continuously strengthened the photography community.”

Last year’s Manila leg consisted of around 2,000 participants, while the Luzon and Visayas legs of 2012 were able to gather over 200 and 100 participants, respectively.

This year, 2,500 participants from the point-and-shoot, DSLR, and camcorder categories took on the challenge of shooting the best scenes or subjects within a given theme and time limit.

The Canon Crusaders of Light judged the entries.  The winners of each category were awarded with top-of-the-line Canon gadgets and accessories.

Canon PhotoMarathon 2012 is co-presented by Aperture Trading, Benro, Cebu Pacific Air, Columbia Digital, DELL, Echo Store, Gatorade, Intel, and Mang Inasal. Major sponsors are Black Rapid, Datacolor Spyder 4, FPPF, Petron, Selecta Overload, Selecta Magnum, Spider Holster, Tenba, Thinktank, Transcend, Xfinity, Zesto Fruitsoda, and Zesto Slice. Media partners include BusinessMirror, Digital Photographer Philippines (DPP), HWM, iMag, and Manila Bulletin’s Picture Perfect.

Globe announces Huawei Ascend P1 LTE as its first ever LTE handset

Globe’s made good on their promise to out an LTE device on their network. The local telco has chosen the LTE version of the Huawei Ascend P1 as the first ever device on their LTE network.The Huawei Ascend P1 LTE is available for free at Globe Unli Surf 1799 with unlimited data, along with a  Php 800 monthly consumable for calls and texts, and three call and text freebies that can be changed monthly.

Globe will also be offering a lower postpaid plan for the Huawei Ascend P1 LTE, under  Unli Surf 999 at P500 cashout for 24 months. Prepaid kit is also available at P21,000. We’re not exactly sure who Globe is targeting with the pre-paid LTE kit for the P1, but we’re assuming that they’re trying to get early adopters of their LTE service to buy the LTE phone to stick their LTE SIMs inside instead of the USB dongle that was initially offered. The  Huawei Ascend P1 LTE has a 1.5GH dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Capacitive Multi-Touch Screen, Android ICS with 8 megapixel camera, WiFi, and BlueTooth.

Beats By Dr. Dre Executive Active Noise Cancelling Headphones

Along with the Beats Pill, Beats Electronics also introduces the Beats By Dr. Dre Executive, its first set of headphones after ending the partnership with Monster Cable. The new headphones is built with premium materials such as aluminum alloy, stainless steel and leather and delivers signature Beats by Dr. Dre sound.


The Beats Executive features Active Noise Cancellation, which the company said is powerful enough to reduce a ket engine to a whisper, to deliver music without outside noise and interruption. Its soft leather headband and comfortable ear cups are designed for long wear, and the folding design makes it easy to carry. It comes with a standard 3.5mm audio cable and an iOS-compatible cable with in-line microphone and remote for phone functionality and music control. Also inclded are an airline adapter, a hard shell carrying case, a cleaning cloth and two AAA batteries to power Active Noise Cancellation.

ADATA Premier Pro SP600 SATA III SSD

ADATA adds to its Premier Pro line the new SP600 entry-level solid state drive wuth SATA III 6Gbps interface. The new line allows consumers who want to experience the fast speeds of SSD at an affordable price. Based on MLC NAND and powered by JMicron JMF661 controller, the SP600 offers up to 360MB/s read, 130MB/read, and 40,000 IOPS random read and 30,000 IOPS random write performance.

The Premier Pro SP600 is available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities, and buyers can choose from two packaging options to their needs. The Desktop Pack will include a 3.5-inch conversion bracket for mounting the SP600 to a desktop PC, and the Notebook Pack will come with an aluminum drive enclosure for users to turn their old notebook drive into a portable hard drive.

Patriot Memory Gauntlet 320 Wireless Portable Hard Drive

Patriot Memory is launching the Gauntlet 320 wireless portable hard drive. Like other wireless hard drives, Patriot Memory’s new offering is an ideal solution to expand storage capacites of mobile devices such as tablets, smartphone and notebooks. You can store all your files and media including music, videos, images and docuemtns on the WiFi drive and stream and share them wirelessly and on-the-go.

The Gauntlet 320 has 320GB capacity and uses WiFi 802.11b/g/n connectivity with WEP/WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK security. It can connect with up to 8 devices and stream to five at the same time. The wireless portable drive also has USB 3.0 for direct connection with USB 3.0-compatible computers for high-speed data transfer. The internal li-ion battery provides up to 5.5 hours of continuous streaming.

Patriot Memory will release iOS, Android and Kindle Fire apps for use with the Gauntlet 320. The wireless drive will be released in January for $159.

HP L2401x Slim Full HD LED Monitor for Business

Other than the x2401, HP also brings the commercial version L2401x slim monitor for business users. The 24-inch display has a sleek design with 11mm slim profile, a black bezel and brushed metal case. Based on MVA panel, it provides wide 178-degree horizontal and 178-degree vertical viewing angles. The L2401x features 1920×1080 Full HD resolution, LED backlight, 5000:1 contrast ratio, 1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast, 250 nits brightness and 12ms response time.

The HP L2401x provides HDMI, DisplayPort inputs, and two USB 2.0 ports. It is priced at $269.

Meet the Sony Xperia miro

Still here at the Sony event, and we have another treat for you—a peek at the Sony Xperia miro!

The miro runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and has 4GB RAM and 2.2GB ROM that’s expendable via microSD. It wields a 3.5-inch display with a 320 x 480 resolution, and has both front and rear cameras. The front camera hosts a 5-megapixel sensor.

It’s packed with xLOUD audio technology and the Walkman app for your music listening pleasure, plus Facebook inside Xperia that gives you instant access to Facebook without having to constantly login.

The Xperia miro will cost PHP 9,990 when it hits the market, which is expected to happen within the year.

Sony Xperia V in the flesh, we got pics!

Remember Sony’s Xperia V that was announced back in IFA? Well, y’all be glad to know that it has managed to find its way to our shores. Sony didn’t officially launch it per se, but hey, if it’s here, it’s here, right? As expected, Sony’s soon to become mid-end device feels exquisite to the touch, and is extremely responsive, thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Krait dual-core processor embedded in the device.

Sony’s rep told me that the new processor is roughly equivalent to other quad-core processors out in the market *cough*Tegra 3*cough* without the usual hit in battery life that these processors bring. The 4.3-inch display is hella sharp, and like we mentioned before, is extremely responsive. As for price and availability..well, we hope you’re sitting down. Sony says that this device will be available early next year, which means that if you really, really want it, you’ll have to exercise some of that EQ and hold off buying anything this Christmas.

HTC’s phablet is the J Butterfly, first ever 5-inch smartphone with 1080p resolution

Rumors of HTC’s own oversized smartphone (oft categorized as phablet) has been swirling ’round the net for a couple of months now, but it looks like the Taiwanese company has officially outed their own phablet offering in the form of the HTC J Butterfly that’s destined for the Japanese market. This particular smartphone holds the title of the first ever 5-inch smartphone with a 1080p capable display, which is achieved using a Super LCD 3 panel made by Sharp. That’s right folks – you’re getting a pixel density of 440ppi, which is the highest we’ve ever seen on a device of this size. There’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro, quad-core processor under the hood of the J Butterfly running at 1.5GHz, which is paired with 2GB of RAM. Connectivity-wise, you’re looking at 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 (LE), NFC, LTE and CDMA/GSM/UMTS/GPRS, which means that this is a truly global device that should work wherever it goes. Oh, did we mention that it’s also water resistant, and has a rating of IPX5. Naturally, everything will be powered by Android 4.1. Now all we need is the price and availability – one thing is for sure, we’re salivating at the opportunity to paw this thing.

Average display sizes keep on growing in tech, smartphones lead the way

You have witnessed it with smartphones in the last couple of years, but it’s a trend all across the industry - screen sizes are growing, according to the latest study by NPD Display Search.

Actually, if we take away OLED TVs which have started appearing massively recently, phones show the fastest growth in screen size. In 2010, the average handset screen size was merely 2.4 inches, growing to 2.6” in 2011, and 3 inches on average this year. In 2013, the average mobile phone will have a screen of 3.3 inches, as more and more people switch to owning a smartphone.

In the four years since 2010, that would be a growth of 38%. In 2012, we’ve seen most high-end Android handsets to feature 4.7-inch and larger display.

And that’s how it is all across the industry. There is one notable exception and that is mobile PCs, where we’ve seen sizes actually decline and the focus shift to portability. Tablets are a key part of that development. With 10.1-inch Android tablets, the 9.7-inch iPad and the growth of 7-inch affordable tablets, mobile PCs are getting dragged down.

How do you feel about that overall growth of screen sizes? How far can it go for smartphones?

 

Source: NPD

iPad mini: what we think we know

Apple has a little something to show us on October 23, and we all believe we know what that might be. A smaller, more affordable iPad model is expected to be announced – presumably called the iPad mini and likely destined to take down Amazon and Google as the dominant names on the 7-inch tablet arena. Obviously, the device isn't official yet, but at the same time, rumors about it have been going back and forth for months. Yeah, we know that security at Apple isn't as tight as it used to be. But thanks to those rumors, we believe we already know quite a lot about the iPad mini, although some pieces of the puzzle have yet to be revealed. Care to go over what we have so far and see what the iPad mini is shaping up to be?


Design

The iPad mini will probably look like this

Knowing Apple, we are expecting the iPad mini to look a lot like a miniaturized version of the current iPad, with clean, minimalist design, a slender waistline and rounded corners. After all, why would anyone want to change a working formula? Furthermore, thanks to all the leaks, we have enough reasons to believe that the body of the device will be made out of aluminum. Without a doubt, the new Lightning dock connector will be on the bottom, replacing the now-obsolete 30-pin interface and possibly rendering some of your existing accessories unusable, but those who want to keep using the peripherals they own will have the option to purchase a $29 adapter from Apple. As far as variety is concerned, it is rumored that the iPad mini will come in white or black. But most importantly, the device will surely be more compact and even easier to handle than its predecessor due to the smaller size and reduced weight.


Display

The size of the display on the iPad mini doesn't seem that hard to predict either as the rumor mill has been pointing at the same figures for months – chances are that a 7.85-inch screen will be gracing the front of the device. But while the screens used by the Android competition have a widescreen aspect ratio (16:10 or 16:9), Apple's smaller tablet will stick with the 4:3 proportion. And that's not a bad thing at all! As a result, the iPad mini will have a display with 40% more surface area compared to the screens found on the Google Nexus 7 or the Amazon Kindle Fire HD. On the downside, movies will either have those nasty black stripes on the bottom and top, or will be cropped from the sides. The resolution of the screen is rumored to be 1024 by 768 pixels, which is bad news for everyone who has been hoping to see a Retina display on the iPad mini, but on the other hand, that would keep the production cost (and probably the retail price) of the device down.

And here's a Sony Xperia VL for you, Japan

Sony just can't stop announcing new Xperia models these days. Being dangerously close to running out of letters, the company has started using two-letter combinations for its model names as of late. Yet another such new model is the Xperia VL, a mid-end Android device exclusive to the Japanese market.

Expected to launch on KDDI by the end of the year, the Sony Xperia VL will offer goodies such as a 4.3" "Reality Display" with HD resolution and Mobile Bravia Engine 2, 13MP camera, dust and water resistance, 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor 1 GB RAM, NFC and LTE.

By the looks of it - a pretty well-spec'd mid-ranger that should come at an affordable price. The preloaded OS will be Android 4 ICS, so Japanese customers are left to hope that a Jelly Bean update will follow soon.

 

Source: Sony

AnandTech reviews the iPhone 5: A6’s Swift processor clocked at 1.3GHz, taken through paces

The Apple iPhone 5 has been out for almost a month now, and while that might seem like a lot of time, it has been barely enough for tech gurus from AnandTech to take the device through its paces. And testing they did.

Why is this important? AnandTech gives the single most technical review of the iPhone 5, so for those who really want to understand what hardware Apple uses and why despite playing down specs, the company is actually running ahead in the silicon race. At the same time, Apple releases very little technical details about its custom-made chips like the A6 in the iPhone 5, and that’s why you need to do some state-of-the-art testing to get basic specs like the clock speed of the processor.

The first big conclusion that Anand and crew draw about the iPhone 5 is that Apple is actually delivering more than the double processor performance it announced at the unveiling. The iPhone 5 is powered by an A6 chip and on the die is a processor clocked at the unprecedented for Apple 1.3GHz. The processor itself is called Swift, and it is a custom Apple solution built on top of the architecture license from ARM. Anand expects this to signal a huge increase in the next iPad’s processor, possibly with Apple bumping it up to 1.5GHz.

Sadly, there are little good benchmarking apps for iOS (and cross-platform for that matter) to fully show the differences, but from the few Javascript tests available, it is clear that the iPhone 5 processor is cream of the crop, second only to Intel’s Atom Z2460 chip found on devices like the Motorola RAZR i. Apple has shrunken the size of the A6 chip itself, but it’s still not a small one.

You might remember that the iPad starting with the late second-gen tablet had the huge A5X chip, measuring a whopping 163mm2. This meant a lot of space for graphics, but while the new A6 measures a comparatively low 97mm2, it still has three cores, and runs all three cores at 33% faster speeds than on the A5. All are still PowerVR 543 cores, and this makes the whole setup deliver performance comparable to that of the third iPad. The difference? It’s in a phone.

Bottomline is that when someone tells you that Apple doesn’t care about specs and hardware, they’d be plain wrong. The company in Cupertino is on an aggressive one year cadence which it has followed rigorously with the sole exception of the iPhone 4S. While rivals like Samsung also have started releasing one flagship per year, Apple has the advantage of a fall launch, just in time for the Holiday season when sales flourish. There is a lot more to learn in the review below, so just head on there for all the interesting details.

 

Source: AnandTech

There are now over 1 billion smartphone users on the planet

In Q3 of 2012, a pretty significant milestone has been reached, according to a study by the research experts at Strategy Analytics. It is estimated that the total number of smartphone owners worldwide has surpassed the 1 billion mark for the first time ever since smartphones came to be back in 1996. In comparison, the figure stood at 0.7 billion at the end of Q3, 2011. That's huge!

Think of it this way: one in seven people around the globe have some kind of a smartphone, be it an iPhone, an Android handset, a Symbian device, or any kind of phone worthy of being called smart. But what's even more exciting is that the numbers are to go higher at an even more ridiculous pace, if the research is correct.

The folks at Strategy Analytics believe that the number of smartphone owners in the world will reach 2 billion no later than 2015. That's pretty astonishing considering that the first billion took well over a decade to reach. Furthermore, the Android user base alone will surpass the 1 billion mark in 2013, if it keeps growing at the predicted rates. All of that is because there is still a huge potential for growth, especially in markets like China, India, and African countries.

Source: Strategy Analytics

CyberPower Fang III Taipan Gaming Notebook with dual NVIDIA Graphics

CyberPower launches the new Fang III Taipan high-end gaming notebook with dual NVIDIA GPU. The 17.3-inch machine is powered by Inte’s Ivy Bridge Core i7 processor, up to 32GB of RAM and two graphics cards to provide smooth gaming experience.

The Fang III Taipan starts at $1819. The base model sports Core i7-3630QM 2.4GHz processor, 16GB of RAM and two NVIDIA GeForce GTX670 1.5GB graphics cards in SLI for enhanced gaming performance. You also get a 60GB OCZ Agility 3 SSD and a 1TB 5400RPM hard drive, as well as a 8X DVD SuperMulti burner. The powerful notebook comes with a 17.3-inch Full HD display and provides HDMI output. It supports WiFi 802.11b/g/n and also features backlit keyboard, 2 Megapixel webcam, fingerprint sensor and 3D Surround Sound.

If you got more to spend and want to give the Taipan more power, you can equipped it with up to Core i7-3940XM 3GHz mobile processor, 32GB RAM, dual 2GB GeForce GTX680 graphics in SLI, two 512GB SSD storage, Blu-ray burner, and Bluetooth and optional Killer WiFi network card.