OPPO has just announced that they’ll be having a sub-brand called Realme. The new sub-brand of OPPO will be an online-only brand and they’re expected to release the Realme 1 soon in India.
The Realme 1 looks very similar to the OPPO F7 and also the OPPO A3 in Diamond Black so we’re probably looking at a smartphone with the same specifications.
Unfortunately, the Realme 1 is still exclusive in India but we’re hoping that the brand will also reach the Philippines soon. Also, I wish that OPPO can also create another sub-brand with a focus on gaming smartphones.
Fibre Optic Internet coverage is getting wider in the country as Royal Cable now offers Fiber Optic Internet access too. Royal Cable initially offers cable TV but now, Royal cable is now offering Digital TV and also Cable Internet.
Unfortunately, the Fiber Optic Internet of Royal Cable is only available in selected areas in Calamba City, Laguna. They’re offering Digital TV only service, Fiber Optic Internet, or Digital TV + Fiber Optic Internet access.
In case your area has Royal Cable coverage but they don’t have Fiber Optic line, they’re also offering Hybrid Fiber Co-Axial Broadband services. But Co-Axial is mostly unreliable and doesn’t offer really fast speeds. Check out the plans for Royal Cable below.
Samsung Galaxy A6 and the A6+ has been leaked by the Samsung Indonesia website and we’re getting a decent specifications from the smartphone and also a design that has the fingerprint sensor and the camera slightly follows the design of the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+.
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Just like the Galaxy S9 series, the plus variant will be the only one that will take advantage of the live focus feature thanks to its dual rear lens camera. The smartphones will also feature Samsung Bixby, Samsung’s own smart assistant.
Samsung Galaxy A6 Specs
1.6GHz Octa-Core Samsung Exynos 7870 CPU
5.6-inch 720×1480 HD+ Super AMOLED Display with 18.5:9 Display Aspect ratio
3GB RAM
32GB Internal Storage expandable via MicroSD
16-megapixel rear camera with f/1.7 aperture
16-megapixel front camera with f/1.9 aperture
WiFi, Bluetooth,GPS,A-GPS
Samsung Bixby
Fingerprint Scanner
Face Unlock
LTE
3000mAh Battery
Samsung Galaxy A6+ Specs
1.8GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 450 CPU
6.0-inch 1080×2220 FHD+ Super AMOLED Display with 18.5:9 Display Aspect ratio
4GB RAM
32GB Internal Storage expandable via MicroSD
16-megapixel with f/1.7 aperture + 5-megapixel rear camera with f/1.9 aperture
24-megapixel front camera with f/1.9 aperture
WiFi, Bluetooth,GPS,A-GPS
Samsung Bixby
Fingerprint Scanner
Face Unlock
LTE
3500mAh Battery
Unfortunately, the Android version of the smartphone wasn’t mentioned but we’re probably looking at Android Oreo on this smartphones. The smartphone doesn’t have water and dust resistance too but by looking at its specifications, we got a decent mid-range smartphones on this one.
No release date or announced date for the launch but hopefully we can get this smartphone in our country soon.
ASUS has recently announced that they’re the official hardware brand of PUBG SEA Championship, this year’s biggest eSports competition in Southeast Asia.
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds or PUBG is a 100-player battle royale shooter game and it’s the biggest game on Steam right now. In PUBG SEA Championship, a four-man squad has a chance to represent their country and also the region at the first PUBG Global Invitational that will be held in Berlin Germany this July 2018 with a total prize pool of $2 million.
Elimination matches will happen in key Mineski iCafe to determine which squad will head to the National Finals that will be held at SM North EDSA Sky Dome on June 9-10.
In line with this, ASUS ROG also supports the PUBG community by giving away 4 ROG PC sets worth Php500,000 to the top squad of the country final on top of the prizes that they’ll be able to get from the tournament.
The ROG PC Set will come with ROG Strix B360-H, ROG Strix GTX 1070ti, and ROG Swift PG258Q. With that set, I’m pretty sure that PUBG can run smoothly and without flaws.
If you’re interested in joining the PUBG SEA Championships, the qualifiers will be held at the following dates:
The Y series of Vivo is one of the most popular in the country as it offers an affordable price with a decent hardware inside. Recently, Vivo Philippines has outed the Vivo Y71 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor inside. The Vivo Y71 also comes in 3GB RAM with 13-megapixel rear camera and 2GB variant with 8-megapixel rear camera while both models packs a 5-megapixel front camera.
The smartphone also comes with a 6.0-inch FullView Display, 16GB of storage expandable via MicroSD, Android 8.1 with FunTouch OS 4.0, and the most interesting part, the 3360mAh battery.
Vivo Y71 Specs
6.0-inch IPS HD+ Display with 18:9 Display Aspect Ratio
Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 Processor
2GB/3GB RAM
16GB Internal Storage expandable storage
13-megapixel Rear Camera (3GB RAM) / 8-megapixel Rear Camera (2GB RAM)
5-megapixel front camera
WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
LTE
Dual SIM
Face ID Access
3360mAh Battery
Android 8.1 Oreo with FunTouch OS 4.0
The Vivo Y71 is available in Matte Black and Gold with the 3GB RAM retailing at Php8,990 while the 2GB RAM retails at Php7,990.
The best smartphone from Vivo will now come in a new color and it’s in Velvet Red! Yes, their latest flagship smartphone will now come in an eye-catching velvet red color that will make sure that the smartphone will stand out from the rest.
The Vivo V9 also comes in Pearl Black and Gold if you’re into more minimalistic colors. The Vivo V9 is equipped with Snapdragon 626 processor and also 4GB of RAM. The smartphone also comes with a dual-lens camera that can really do good bokeh shots and also a notched display which is a trend on smartphones this year.
The Vivo V9 Velvet Red is now available for Php17,990. You can also get the smartphone in Pearl Black and Gold.
ASUS wants to win back the hearts of consumers in the latest Zenfone 5 series smartphones. How? ASUS now offers a more affordable price for its hardware on the ASUS Zenfone 5. Not only that, It also has a premium design and notched display which can be mostly seen on high-midrange smartphones and also flagship smartphones. This is probably the most exciting ASUS Zenfone since the ASUS Zenfone 2.
Design and Hardware
The design and its build quality is probably the biggest asset of this smartphone. The smartphone has a combination of metal sides and of course, a glass back and front. And yes, this is the most elegant Zenfone ever. The ASUS Zenfone 5 is also a little bit heavier compared to the competition but that’s fine because it really adds to the solid and premium feel of the smartphone.
At the back is where you can find the fingerprint scanner of the smartphone along with the dual lens camera that is now sporting a vertical design and of course, the trademark concircular pattern design of ASUS is present at the back of the smartphone which adds a nice reflection to the smartphone.
The smartphone uses a USB Type-C and thankfully, we still have the 3.5mm headphone jack on this smartphone and then we also have the hybrid sim card tray on this one so yeah, you can only use one sim card if you want to use your MicroSD card.
The fingerprint scanner of the smartphone works well and it can unlock the smartphone really fast from sleep when used while the Face Unlock was a little problematic back in the ASUS Zenfone Max Plus M1 and still a little bit slow on the ASUS Zenfone 5Q, it has really improved on the ASUS Zenfone 5. It isn’t as fast compared to other smartphones but the face unlock of the ASUS Zenfone 5 will do.
The speaker of the ASUS Zenfone 5 does a fine job too and it’s loud and crisp and the smartphone will do just fine when you’re playing your Spotify playlist on your room. When it comes to connectivity, the smartphone does fine in calling, messaging, and mobile data. I’m not surprised since the ASUS Zenfone 5 comes with a Qualcomm Chipset inside
Display
The ASUS Zenfone 5 comes with a 6.2-inch Full HD+ Display with 19:9 Display aspect ratio. It has a notch just like the other smartphones this year and also a small chin. The rounded corners of the display that adds beauty to the looks of the smartphone. The notch isn’t as big as the one on the iPhone X but it isn’t the smallest one too that you can find on Android. Unfortunately, you can’t turn off the notch of the smartphone at the settings or you can’t individually turn off the notch on applications.
When it comes to quality, the display of the smartphone is vivid and really bright. It doesn’t actually feel and looks like an IPS Panel as the colors of the ASUS Zenfone 5’s display is really popping out. Viewing angles of the smartphone are great and it’s great for outdoor use.
Battery Life
One of the things that I loved about the ASUS Zenfone 3 is that the smartphone has a pretty good battery life and with the ASUS Zenfone 5, you’ll still get a decent 3300mAh battery. In our test in PC Mark, we got a decent score of 8 hours and 4 minutes which is pretty decent. In our normal usage, the smartphone was actually able to last a whole day with some light gaming and mostly just browsing my Facebook Newsfeed.
Software
Then ASUS Zenfone 5 is now running on Android 8.0 with ZenUI 5.0. The smartphone’s UI is clean, fast and it rarely lags. There’s a dock now too at the app drawer of the smartphone in where it houses the suggested applications of the smartphone and whatever your page of the app drawer you’re in, the dock doesn’t change the applications. However, it would be pretty cool if ASUS can update that soon and lets the user change the apps on the dock.
The ASUS Zenfone 5 also comes with Zenimoji which acts similarly to iPhone X’s animoji. The Zenimoji lets you record 10-second videos that you can send to your friends as a video in chat apps. It isn’t polished and as good as the Animoji but it’s really cute and I’m happy to see this on the ASUS Zenfone 5 but I hope that ASUS can add more emojis and also fix the sluggishness of the app.
Performance
With AI BoostWithout AI Boost
The ASUS Zenfone 5 packs a Snapdragon 636 processor with 4GB RAM and 64GB ROM and damn, the smartphone is powerful. We tried using Antutu on this smartphone and we got a pretty good score of 124972 without AI Boost. But with AI Boost, I can get a score of 138106.
AI Boost
One of the biggest features of the ASUS Zenfone 5 is its AI capabilities and its biggest one is the AI Boost. This feature can be accessed by just swiping down from the notifications and it will automatically boost the performance of your ASUS Zenfone 5 at the expense of the battery life. Does it work? Yes. Does it help in gaming? Not that much.
But if you’re into apps that needs CPU rendering and power then the AI Boost can really help you. We’ve checked at Antutu and the components that are being boosted with AI Boost are the speed up of the Multi-core processor, data processing and the ROM speed. Basically, you would immediately feel the AI Boost in some applications that load a lot of files but not so much on the gaming side as there was only a little boost in the GPU. But again, the AI Boost is still very helpful in your usage of the smartphone.
Gaming
When it comes to gaming, the ASUS Zenfone 5 will not disappoint you. It’s powerful and it can run all of the games without problems on the smartphone. I tried playing PUBG Mobile on the smartphone and it ran well even at high settings but I would set it at medium settings for a better experience. I also played NBA 2k18 on this one at high settings and I was still able to get the game at a really smooth framerates.
Camera
The ASUS Zenfone 5 got a dual-lens camera with a 12-megapixel camera as the main rear shooter paired with an 8-megapixel 120-degree wide angle lens. As expected, the wide-angle camera is inferior to the 12-megapixel one but it would be just fine if you want to take wide angle shots at well-lit conditions.
The 12-megapixel rear camera does a fine job in both lowlight and well-lit conditions and it’s even better than my ASUS Zenfone 4 Pro sometimes. The wide-angle camera, however, will only perform well under well-lit conditions but it will be a little bit grainy at lowlight. While the selfie camera is hit-and-miss. Check out my shots using the ASUS Zenfone 5 below:
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But overall, I was pretty happy with its camera. It may not be perfect but it does a fine job for a mid-range smartphone.
Verdict
The ASUS Zenfone 5 is the best Zenfone that the Taiwanese company has ever released. The smartphone features a really solid build and quality and the performance of the smartphone is beast too for a midrange and it goes head to head with the Helio P60 processor.
The camera might have some flaws but it is still pretty well and also the battery life of the smartphone can last up to a day of use. This is the best ASUS Zenfone yet and I will recommend the ASUS Zenfone 5 if you’re gonna buy a smartphone at its price range along with the OPPO F7.
The ASUS Zenfone 5 is now available for Php19,995.
Huawei Philippines has finally launched the P20 series in the country. There are three smartphones that belongs in the P20 series and these are the Huawei P20 Lite, Huawei P20, & Huawei P20 Pro. The Huawei P20 and P20 Pro packs a Summilux-H lens with the Huawei P20 featuring a dual lens camera while the Huawei P20 Pro with triple lens camera. While the Huawei P20 Lite has a more affordable price and it doesn’t have a lens co-engineered by Leica, we still love the camera of the smartphone in our review.
Huawei P20 Specs
Octa-Core Hi-Silicon Kirin 970 NPU
5.84-inch 2280×1080 IPS Display with Notch
4GB RAM
128GB Internal Storage
12-megapixel color sensor + 20-megapixel Black & White sensor, Leica Optics, f/1.6, 2x lossless zoom
24-megapixel f/2.0 front camera with AI Light Fusion
24-megapixel f/2.0 front camera with AI Light Fusion
WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
Fingerprint Scanner
Android Oreo with EMUI
4000mAh Battery with Huawei SuperCharge Tech
IP67 Water and Dust Resistance
Huawei P20 Lite Specs
Octa-Core Hi-Silicon Kirin 659 Processor
5.84-inch 2280×1080 IPS Display with Notch
4GB RAM
64GB Internal Storage
16MP+2MP Dual Lens Rear Camera with LED Flash
16-megapixel front camera
WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
Fingerprint Scanner
Android Oreo with EMUI
3000mAh Battery
Pia Wurtzbach graced the event
The Huawei P20 Pro is available for Php44,990 in three colors — Twilight, Midnight Blue, and Black while the Huawei P20 will be available in Black and midnight blue for Php 34,990 and if you are into the mid-range segment, the Huawei P20 Lite will be available in Klein Blue and Midnight Black for Php15,990.
The ASUS Zenfone 5 is the latest smartphone from the Taiwanese brand. It features 2-megapixel rear camera with f/1.8 aperture and an 8-megapixel wide-angle camera with f/2.0 aperture at the back. The smartphone also features an 8-megapixel front camera with f/2.0 aperture. The smartphone also boasts its AI prowess that can help the scene detection in the cameras which results to better results in camera shots. So if you aiming for the ASUS Zenfone 5 then you better check out the shots that we took using the smartphone below.
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The camera of the ASUS Zenfone 5 has drastically improved over the previous generation. 12-megapixel rear camera is superior compared to the wide-angle lens camera of the smartphone. Lowlight isn’t the strongest suite of the ASUS Zenfone 5 but it can deliver sharp and great photos under well-lit conditions. The selfie camera of the smartphone performs well at well-lit conditions but not so much under lowlight.
Overall, the ASUS Zenfone 5 does have some flaws in the camera but it still performs well for a mid-range smartphone. The ASUS Zenfone 5 is now available for Php19,995.
OPPO has officially announced the A3, their newest smartphone that features almost the same design of the OPPO F7 and also the powerful Helio P60 processor inside. The smartphone will also have a notched display and will still pack a Full HD+ resolution. Despite the similarities of the hardware to the OPPO F7, the OPPO A3 features a toned down camera which has a 16-megapixel rear camera with f/1.8 aperture and also an 8-megapixel front camera with f/2.2 aperture.
OPPO A3 Specs
6.2-inch FHD+ LTPS Display with 19:9 Display aspect ratio
2.0GHz MediaTek Helio P60 Processor
4GB RAM
128GB Internal Storage expandable via MicroSD
16-megapixel rear camera with f/1.8 aperture
8-megapixel front camera with f/2.2 aperture
WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
Dual SIM
LTE
3400mAh Battery
Android 8.1 Oreo with ColorOS 5.0
Well, we’re not sure if this one will replace the OPPO A83 but I’m pretty sure that the OPPO A3 is powerful like the OPPO F7. The smartphone also features a diamond design for all of its colors which makes it really attractive.
No word regarding local availability but the smartphone is priced at CNY 2099 (Php17,138) in China.
