HONOR Philippines has just dropped a hint of their upcoming smartphone to come out in the Philippines soon. The company has posted a hint just fresh off the launch of the HONOR Pad X8a and the HONOR X6b. This brand new smartphone that is coming soon will be water-resistant
HONOR Philippines has been on a roll this year, with notable releases including the HONOR 200 Series, alongside the recently launched HONOR Pad X8a and HONOR X6b, have been generating buzz for their innovative features, affordability, and durability.
We can expect the new HONOR device with water-resistant very soon.
Qualcomm has just announced their biggest change to the Snapdragon to date and it’s the Snapdragon 8 Elite Chipset. This chip is different from the others as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Chipset will be using an Oryon CPU inside which is an 8-core CPU with 2x prime and support for 5300MHz LPDDR5x RAM.
This new CPU is the same one that is being use on the Snapdragon X Elite chips which are being used by ARM PCs. This new chip from Qualcomm promises a 45% boost in CPU performance and also a 44% improved performance vs. the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. While on the graphics side, the new Adreno GPU inside it will be bringing in 40% improve performance. This will also be the first chip to bring Unreal Engine 5.3 and Nanite virtualized geometry system. The new Snapd
ragon 8 Elite is also bringing in the brand new Snapdragon X80 5G modem along with support for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and support for Ultrawideband.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite will be coming to different Android smartphones including from ASUS, HONOR, iQOO, OnePlus, OPPO, realme, Redmagic, Samsung, vivo, Xiaomi and more.
According to a recent Bloomberg report, ARM is set to terminate its chip design license with Qualcomm. This move from ARM could impact Qualcomm’s ability to produce certain semiconductor products.
Arm Holdings is responsible for designing semiconductor architectures, provides the essential blueprints for chips used in a wide range of devices. While Qualcomm is one of the biggest producers of mobile processors and system-on-chips. These chips relies heavily on Arm’s designs including to create its Snapdragon processors
The cancellation of Qualcomm’s design license could disrupt its supply chain however, with the usage of the new Oryon Chip which are using a different architecture made by the founders of Nuvia which was bought out by Qualcomm, Qualcomm processors won’t have a problem in the future.
As of now, neither Qualcomm nor Arm Holdings have provided detailed comments on the news.
Samsung has finally announced the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition at South Korea. It’s the newest foldable smartphone from the company and it comes with a thinner design, a better hardware inside and also a larger display.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition got a beefier specifications inside as this one now comes with an up to 16GB of RAM which is up from the 12GB RAM of the Galaxy Z Fold 6. The Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition also comes with a base of 512GB storage.
Other than that, it also features a 236g of weight at only 10.6mm thickness. The Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition is thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Special Edition comes with a striped back patter at the back with a metal and glass materials for its body.
The camera has also been upgraded to 200MP coming from 50MP of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Special Edition has a way larger 8-inch display with a 20:18 aspect ratio when unfolded while there’s a 6.5-inch display with a 21:9 aspect ratio on the cover display of the smartphone.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition also supports Wi-Fi 7 despite using the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy and for the battery, it still comes with a 4400mAh battery inside. Unfortunately, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition doesn’t support S-Pen input anymore.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition Price and Availability
Unfortunately, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition will only be available at South Korea starting this October 25 with a price tag of 2,789,000 Won or CA$ 2,797~ (Php 116,581~). No word yet regarding availability outside South Korea.
vivo has officially launched the V40 Lite in the Philippines. The vivo V40 Lite features a 5000mAh battery backed by a 50-month warranty, and it starts at just Php 13,999.
The V40 Lite comes with a 5000mAh battery and there’s 80W fast-charging technology can juice up the battery to 80% in just 30 minutes and achieve a full charge in as little as 43 minutes.
The V40 Lite is designed to withstand dust and moisture with its IP64 rating. There’s a 50MP rear camera as well along with the 32MP front-facing camera. The vivo V40 Lite starts at Php13,999.
From October 19 to October 31, 2024, customers who pre-order the V40 Lite will receive a special 4-year battery warranty. This means if the battery capacity drops below 80% within four years of purchase, vivo will replace it free of charge at any authorized service center. To activate this warranty, users need to access the “vivo store” app, navigate to the “Support” tab, select “E-Warranty Card,” and press “Activate Now.” The VIP Card must be presented when redeeming this benefit.
The iPhone 16 has been out for a while and it was an incremental update but it focused more on creators as the new iPhone 16 and 16 Pro smartphones now come with a more powerful camera and they all feature a camera control. Some people find it “gimmicky” but some find it useful. But how does the smartphone perform overall? Well, let me share with you what I think about the smartphone in our review.
Same design, still premium
The iPhone 16 Pro Max utilizes a Grade 5 Titanium design. The Titanium material was introduced last year to the iPhones and in my experience with the 15 Pro Max, I was very happy with it as it was solid and it does feel great. Similar to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the Grade 5 Titanium was solid to the hands and I do love the feel of it. It’s definitely both light and manage to survive some bumps without showing any dents on the frame of the 16 Pro Max.
As for the back, it’s still the same design with a glass back design but unlike the previous generation, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is a little bit taller so your old phone cases for iPhone 15 Pro Max wouldn’t fit on this smartphone. Indeed, the iPhone 16 Pro is larger and taller, yet it doesn’t seem that way when you hold it.
There’s the action button on the smartphone on top of the volume rocker and the power button is still ergonomically placed on the other side but the new button that was added in here is the camera control. I do find the camera control button a little bit hard to reach by my index finger when taking a photo in landscape mode but it’s a nice addition to the smartphone.
There’s the USB-C as well which was introduced last generation and it’s actually a big deal for me as I can finally record my videos on Blackmagic Camera app and save it directly to my external SSD.
Camera control a ”gimmick”?
The camera control of the smartphone is a convenient way to open the camera app of the smartphone. It does offer a control for navigating thru different camera functions on the camera app or you can use it for zoom control but overall, I find it finicky. It’s not perfect and sometimes, I would use the touchscreen instead as I find it a little bit hard to reach with my index finger and navigating thru it was just finicky.
But right now, I wouldn’t call it a gimmick as we still haven’t fully utilized the full features of the camera control. We still don’t have the two-stage shutter which I think will be the best feature of this. My favorite app, Blackmagic Camera, also doesn’t utilize the button but if it comes to third party apps and to the main camera app, I would find the AF/AE lock useful with the camera control button.
Largest iPhone Display
The iPhone 16 Pro Max got a bigger display at 6.9-inch and it’s currently the biggest display on an iPhone. Is it bulky? No. Is it taller? Yes. Is it bad? No. the taller display of the smartphone and its thinner bezels does really help having a better-looking display on the front and the taller and bigger display does help in having more content when playing games.
As for the quality, the colors are great and the brightness was awesome even if I was using the smartphone in direct sunlight. Even when the always-on display, the display of the smartphone doesn’t look like it’s off because of the quality that we’re getting on the display.
There’s the 120Hz Promotion display as always, it gives us a smoother display on navigation and also on gaming. As long as the apps and games that you are using support it.
Longer battery life!
The iPhone 16 Pro Max also features a larger battery inside and it’s currently the largest battery on an iPhone. The bigger battery gives me a longer battery life even compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. I was getting a longer screen time with the iPhone 16 Pro Max and sometimes I don’t even charge my iPhone 16 Pro Max until the morning of the next day.
Satellite messaging
There’s this unique and awesome feature as well on the iPhone 16 Pro Max which started when the iPhone 14 was released. There’s messages via satellite so you can receive and send messages wherever you are as long as there’s a satellite in your area. You can test it out with a demo with iOS 18.
This is really helpful for emergency services as you can send a message despite the lack of cellular signal. However, this is only available in selected territories.
AAA Gaming FTW
Every year Apple is introducing a brand new chip for their iPhones and with the A18 Pro, they’ve upgraded their performance even more especially for gaming. Apple promises 15% GPU and also 20% faster CPU while for ray tracing, it promises 2x faster performance. Well, those are just numbers but how about in real life?
Well, I was able to play games like Assassins Creed: Mirage demo and games like Resident Evil 4. Yes, they’re great and games like Genshin Impact runs at 120fps at max settings and the difference of the gaming performance between the iPhone 15 Pro Max and 16 Pro Max isn’t really noticeable for me.
But with the A18 Pro, you’ll have a peace of mind when it comes to future-proofing on both gaming and also with Apple Intelligence. Honestly? ALL of the games that I’ve tried on the iPhone 15 Pro Max still runs perfectly and that’s the same case with the iPhone 16 Pro Max as both the A17 Pro and A18 Pro are still powerful. There might not be a lot of games that supports ray tracing but it’s nice to see that we have 2x better ray-tracing performance on this smartphone.
A better camera
One of the underrated upgrades that was done in here was the camera. There’s a better 48MP ultrawide camera on the smartphone this time which means that we’re getting better ultrawide shots on this smartphone. Oh, and the macro on the ultrawide is a lot better as well. The camera control does help in quick launching the camera app anytime but unfortunately, all of the features isn’t just here yet.
iPhone 16 Pro Max in Desert Titanium and iPhone 15 Pro Max in Natural Titanium
Now, as for the camera, I have noticed that it shoots faster and the autofocus was bit better compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Unfortunately, we still have here a 5x optical zoom and it’s still not a “concert phone” like the Galaxy S24 Ultra but nonetheless, I still find the camera of the iPhone 16 Pro Max great all around.
Here are some sample photos that I took using the rear cameras of the iPhone 16 Pro Max:
While here are some selfies that I took using the smartphone:
The biggest update that was done to the camera is video — which is why I bought this smartphone. It can finally record at 4K at 120fps video which makes better slo-mo videos even at cinematic mode. The iPhone 16 Pro Max also has a lower ISO range when shooting using the Blackmagic camera app and I do find it more flexible especially with my limited lighting.
Another cool feature to love in here is Audio Mix which will give you the ability to transform the audio of your video that you just shot on the camera app to in-frame which basically just captures the audio in the frame, studio which will give you a podcast-like quality of audio and cinematic that gives a cinematic style of audio. While this feature might seem cool, the Audio Mix is limited only to videos that was shot using the camera app of the smartphone.
My favorite new feature on the iPhone 16 Pro Max is the ability to control the undertone and mood of the colors by just swiping on a style control. This gives me a quick way to adjust the styles that I like on the smartphone even on B&W mode. This gives photos more personality and also give a better mood to the environment or object that you’re shooting.
Here are some photo samples of photos with different undertones. Obviously, it gives more personality and creativity to your photos.
Verdict
Despite the minor upgrades on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, this is still a great smartphone. As of this posting, unfortunately, the best features of the smartphone aren’t here yet. There’s no Apple Intelligence and the camera control features aren’t fully featured yet.
Indeed, the smartphone in question offers a long battery life, an exceptional camera with a focus on video quality, a large display, and a sturdy build. Apple has maintained what already works well. The iPhones remain excellent, and this excellence persists with the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
However, if you currently own an iPhone 15 Pro Max, the 16 Pro Max may not represent a significant upgrade, as it is more of an incremental improvement. On the other hand, if you’re upgrading from an older iPhone model, you’ll likely find the new features of the iPhone 16 Pro Max to be a substantial enhancement.
Amazon has officially expanded its Kindle family with the introduction of the Kindle Scribe, an updated Kindle Paperwhite and the new Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition with colored display . These new devices aim to enhance the reading experience and offer features tailored to a variety of user preferences.
Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition
The Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition brings a colored display to the Kindle family. This offers a colored e-ink display so you can browse colored book covers and also see images and photos of books in colors. You can also adjust the color styles for a better reading experience and it also comes with wireless charging and waterproof design.
Kindle Scribe
The Kindle Scribe combines the benefits of Kindle with a powerful note-taking device. It comes with a pen with soft tipped eraser that lets you have a real feel of a pen or pencil. It also has an in-book writing with active canvas so you can write notes directly in the book.
Kindle Paperwhite and entry-level Kindle
Amazon has also unveiled the updated Kindle Paperwhite which is now 25% faster but it still comes with a 7-inch Oxide thin-film transistor display and it comes with a thinner design. It also comes with an extended battery life and also a waterproof design with 16GB storage option.
While the entry-level kindle just at 158g and it comes with 300 PPI display with brighter front light. The entry-level Kindle now comes in Matcha color.
Pricing and Availability
Kindle: Available now starting at US$109.99.
Kindle Paperwhite: Available now starting at US$159.99.
Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition: Available at US$199.99.
Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition: Shipping on October 30, available for pre-order at US$279.99.
Kindle Scribe: Shipping on December 4, available for pre-order starting at US$399.99.
Smart along with TNT, has issued a warning to subscribers regarding a new scam involving fake SIM registration portals. According to their public advisory, customers have reported receiving fraudulent text messages urging them to re-register their SIM cards through links leading to phishing websites that impersonate Smart’s legitimate SIM registration portal.
“Smart did not send these messages. These messages are phishing attempts aimed at stealing your personal information,” the company emphasized in its advisory.
Smart and TNT have clarified that there is no need to re-register your SIM if it has already been successfully registered. Customers are advised to disregard any text messages instructing them to do so.
Smart and TNT has also remind users that the official SIM registration portal is located at https://simreg.smart.com.ph. To help combat such scams, Smart and TNT have set up a public reporting portal called HuliScam, which can be accessed at www.smart.com.ph/huliscam. Subscribers are encouraged to report incidents of text scams and phishing messages through this platform.
Power Mac Center has officially opened pre-orders for the highly anticipated iPhone 16 series along with a special midnight launch scheduled in select locations, PMC is giving consumers the chance to be among the first to get their hands on the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro.
Customers can pre-order the iPhone 16 through different channels. Consumers can visit any of the over 120 PMC or The Loop branches, or online via the PMC Web Store, The Loop Shopee Mall, and the SM Malls Online app. Online pre-orders close on October 16, 2024, at 11:59 PM, while in-store pre-orders will end on October 17 when mall operations conclude.
iPhone 16iPhone 16 Pro Max
PMC is sweetening the deal with exclusive perks for those who pre-order. Shoppers on the Web Store can enjoy up to PHP 10,000 off on any iPhone 16 series device when paying in full without installment, and in-store customers can also avail of this discount when paying through non-installment methods or with a three-month credit card installment plan. In addition, all pre-order customers online and offline will receive a free Before Anything Else Dual Port 30W Wall Charger and enjoy a 30% discount on selected Apple and non-Apple accessories.
Device trade-in is also available with exclusive offers from October 10-31, 2024. Get up to PHP 54,700 trade-in value when you trade in a previous iPhone 15 device or up to PHP 1,000 extra trade-in value when you trade in your previous iPhone 14, iPhone 13, iPhone 12, or iPhone 11 device and purchase any iPhone 16 model.
Apple has just unveiled the new generation of iPad Mini and it might look the same as before but it got beefier thanks to the more powerful A17 Pro chip inside along with the support for Apple Pencil Pro. And of course, the iPad Mini will also be ready for Apple Intelligence.
The new iPad Mini will still come with an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina Display and it will have the A17 Pro chip which can also be found on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. This will be a massive upgrade in terms of performance versus the previous generation.
Apple iPad mini Math Notes inline jpg large
Aside from that, the iPad Mini will also come with a larger storage now which is now starting at 128GB and it will also support the Apple Pencil Pro which now has the Find My support and also features like barrel roll.
Other features includes a 12MP wide camera at the back that is way better than before and there’s the 12MP front-facing camera as well with support for center stage and lastly, it will come with iPadOS 18 along with support for Apple Intelligence
The new iPad Mini will now have a base model of 128GB and it will start at CA$679 (Php 34,990). It will be available this October 23 but you can now pre-order the device.