The recent typhoon has damaged the SEA-ME-WE3 subsea cable which is located between Perth and Singapore. This cable system services different countries including the Philippines. This internet outage has slowed down the internet of countries in Southeast Asia. Aside from the SEA-ME-WE3 Subsea cable, the Asia-America Gateway, and the Insta-Asia subsea cable systems are also down.
Because of this incident, expect a higher latency in games that requires internet and also browsing websites. PLDT has also advised that the PLDT Home Broadband service is affected especially during peak hours.
The repairs are ongoing however it will take a month before it fully recovers.
Looks like more smartphones with dual cameras are coming to Samsung and the latest smartphone to leaked out from Samsung is the Samsung Galaxy C8. The C Series of Samsung is still new and one of the new member of the C Series family is Galaxy C8.
There aren’t much details about the smartphone but the Samsung Galaxy C8 is expected to have a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with Full HD resolution, a MediaTek Helio P10 Chipset running inside the smartphone, 3/4 GB RAM, 32/64GB Storage, Android 7.1 Nougat, and a 12MP+5MP Dual Camera setup with LED Flashat the back and also a 16MP front facing camera with LED Flash.
We’re not sure yet when the smartphone will be officially anounced but it it’s really refreshing to see Samsung creating more smartphones with dual lens camera.
The next generation iPhone 8 is expected to be unveiled on September 12 US Time so expect that the iPhone 8’s announcement in the Philippines will be at 1 AM September 13. The iPhone 8 is expected to have big change in terms of design as the next generation iPhone will have an almost bezel-less display with an on-screen fingerprint scanner.
It is also rumoured that the next iPhone would have a higher price tag as this one will co-exist with the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus. Well, we don’t have the full details yet but expect new devices to be revealed on September 13 (Philippine Time).
Looks like the Samsung Galaxy Note8 got a new competition now as LG has just unveiled their newest flagship smartphone, the LG V30. Just like the Galaxy Note8, the LG V30 will pack a large 6-inch display and also a dual lens camera with an amazing f/1.6 aperture while the secondary wide angle camera has an aperture of f/1.9 which is again, impressive considering that the previous LG smartphones packs an f/2.4 wide angle lens camera.
The LG V30 also packs IP68 waterproofing and also QuadDAC for better audio and also a B&O headphones inside which is perfect against Samsung’s AKG earphones that comes in the box of their flagship smartphones
LG V30 Specifications
6.0-inch P-OLED 2880×1440 Display
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Processor
4GB RAM
64GB Internal Storage
Dual 16-megapixel f/1.6, OIS + 13-megapixel f/1.9 rear camera
The OPPO F3 and F3 Plus are now available at Smart Postpaid. These are the latest selfie-centric smartphones from OPPO and both of these smartphones offer a dual lens camera on the front which lets you have better selfies and also groufies without the use of monopods.
The OPPO F3 and F3 Plus can be availed on Smart Postpaid Plan 399 with an additional 800 monthly fee for the smartphone. The Postpaid plan consists of 3GB Data, 20 mins all-net calls, unli all-texts, and also 500MB of data allocation for Whatsapp, Viber, and FB messenger.
You can avail the OPPO F3 Plus under 30 months plan with Php 2,000 cash-out while the OPPO F3 doesn’t have a cash-out requirement under 24 months plan.
You can also avail the OPPO F3 in Smart’s All-In Plans starting at Plan 500 with respective cash-out and options for 24 months to 30 months.
In case you’re interested, better read our review of the OPPO F3 and the OPPO F3 Plus.
ASUS has unveiled the ROG Chimera at IFA 2017 and it’s the world’s first laptop to pack a 144Hz display inside. It’s the best display on the gaming laptop that ASUS has to offer and I wish that more brands would follow the same route that ASUS ROG has made.
But of course, this 17.3-inch gaming laptop’s 144Hz Full HD display with Nvidia G-Sync Display would be useless if it doesn’t have a powerful hardware inside. Well, the gaming laptop packs an Intel Core i7-7820HK processor inside and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU inside so yeah, you don’t have to worry about that much about its power.
Another cool thing about this gaming notebook is it supports Xbox Wireless technology which means that you can connect your Xbox controller to the notebook without the use of a dongle.
Unlike the ASUS ROG Zephyrus, the ROG Chimera will pack a thick and heavy body which is just fine as this one doesn’t use Max-Q technology.
There’s no price and availability yet for the gaming notebook.
Acer has unveiled the Switch 7 Black Edition and it’s a 2-in-1 device that packs the latest 8th generation Intel Core i7 Processor and also a Nvidia GeForce MX150 graphics inside. Yes folks, the Acer Switch 7 Black Edition just showed us that it’s possible to cram in a discrete GPU inside a Windows tablet.
Oh, you don’t have to worry about its fanless design as the Acer Switch 7 Black Edition packs a fanless cooling technology from the company called Dual LiquidLoop.
Despite its hardware, the Acer Switch 7 Black Edition still managed to have a lightweight body at 1.15kg without the keyboard. Since this tablet is a 2-in-1 device, it also has a patented kickstand called Acer AutoStand similar to the Microsoft Surface Pro.
It also packs a 13.5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2256×1504 and also Wacom EMR Technology inside that can recognize 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity with pen tilt support. It also features a fingerprint scanner for Windows Hello and also a battery-free stylus for Windows Ink.
The Acer Swift 7 Black Edition is really an interesting 2-in-1. Not just because it’s a 2-in-1 device but because it features an 8th Gen Intel Core i7 Processor inside and also a Nvidia GeForce MX150 inside and yet, it doesn’t have a fan cooling inside. I wonder how this 2-in-1 notebook will manage its thermals and power with that.
The price and availability of the Acer Switch 7 Black Edition haven’t been announced yet.
Acer has announced a lot of products at IFA 2017 but the one that really caught my attention was their new Predator Orion 9000. It’s their newest most powerful PC and holy macaroni, it packs the most powerful Intel Core i9 Extreme Edition processor with 18 cores and 36 threads and also a 4-way AMD Radeon RX Vega graphics or even two Nvidia GeForce GTX1080Ti SLI. I know, it’s a monster.
The Predator Orion 9000 series also packs a liquid cooling and also IceTunnel 2.0 with airflow management solution that separates the system into several thermal zones with an individual airflow tunnel.
The Acer Predator Orion 9000 also features a black-and-silver spacecraft-like exterior with RGB lighting that you can customize and also a side window panel that shows the interior of the Predator Orion 9000.
The Acer Predator Orion 900 is powered by an Intel Core i9 Extreme Edition Processor, up 128GB of RAM, and Four AMD Vega GPUs or two Nvidia GTX 1080 SLI.
Jesus Christ. With this specifications, the Acer Predator Orion 9000 can run ANY games or applications without a problem even at 4K.
The ASUS Zenfone 4 will be available soon in the Philippines and it’s actually one of the first smartphones to pack a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor along with a 6GB of RAM. The ASUS Zenfone 4 will also pack a dual rear lens camera in which one of them is a wide angle lens.
And of course, the ASUS Zenfone 4 packs a hardware design that is really premium as this one packs a glass on the back and front and also a concentric circle design at the back which is part of ASUS’ identity. Do you want to know more about it? Check out our unboxing and hands-on of the smartphone below
Here’s some good news from the Republic of Gamers. ASUS is set to release the ASUS ROG GL503 this year, it’s the next generation of ROG notebooks that packs a sexier and more simple design compared to the other ROG notebooks. We also got a report that the ASUS ROG GL503 will start at P69,995.
So, what can we get from that? Well, the ASUS ROG GL503 will come with an Intel Core i7-7700HQ Processor, 8GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSHD, and a GTX 1050 4GB DDR5 GPU. So yeah, we’ll probably see the ASUS ROG GL503 replacing GL553 soon which is a thicker laptop but with an almost the same specifications.
ASUS ROG Strix GL503 HERO
It will also come in HERO and SCAR limited edition. The Limited Edition of the ASUS ROG GL503 will launch at a later date and it will get an additional 128GB SSD and 120Hz Refresh Rate panel.
ASUS ROG Strix GL503 SCAR
The HERO edition is made for MOBA players and it comes with a dragon scale textured lid & 120Hz monitor with 100% sRGB panel that can deliver the best contrast, and color accuracy while the SCAR edition is designed for first-person shooters and it comes with a 120Hz display with 5ms response time.
Basically, the regular variant of the ASUS ROG Strix GL503 will only come with SSHD but do not worry as this one is faster and better than the HDD. The basic ASUS ROG Strix GL503 will be priced at P69,995 while the ASUS ROG Strix GL503 HERO and SCAR Limited edition will be priced at P74,995. Well, that P5,000 difference is really worth it as the limited edition notebooks will pack a better 120Hz Monitor and an additional SSD on top of that SSHD.
The ASUS ROG Strix GL503 is expected to be launched this September.
Here’s our short hands-on of the ASUS ROG Strix GL503 back in Computex 2017
