Nokia has just been named as the top vendor of Windows Phone products thanks to the sexy Lumia 800 and the affordable Lumia 710. Nokia Lumia phones hasn’t been launch yet in the Philippines but some online stores like Widget Citysells Lumia phones at a reasonable pricebut unfortunately they were restricted to sell it here in the country until the Philippine launch which will be on April. We don’t know the real reason why and we’re still reaching Nokia Philippines regarding this matter
UPDATE: Here are the screencaps of Widget City’s post regarding the Lumia sales:
UPDATE 2: Widget City’s official statement (Widget City is one of the online stores that sells Nokia Lumia 800)
UPDATE 3: I’ve talked to Nikka, the Corporate Communications Manager of the Nokia Philippines and she said that NO ONE from the Nokia Philippines told the online store to stop selling the Lumias.
Anyway, I guess we just have to wait for the launching of the Nokia Lumia phones in the Philippines on April.
Here’s the smallest brother of the Sony NXT design phone family, the Sony Xperia U. The smartphone packs a dual core processor but it has the same WVGA 854 x 480 resolution which can be find on older Sony Ericsson phones. There isn’t much surprising features here. There are no WhiteMagic display here just like its bigger brother, the Sony Xperia P but this one has exchangeable bottom caps which can be change into white, black, pink and yellow. I think Sony wants to target teenagers and the youth on this one. I hope that this will be affordable to everyone. This phone uses Gingerbread but don’t worry, there will be ICS update soon
Sony Xperia U Specifications
112 x 54 x 12 mm, 110g 480 x 854 pixels, 3.5 inches Dual-core 1 GHz processor HSDPA Bluetooth 8 GB Internal memory 5 Megapixel camera with HD 720p@30 fps recording VGA front camera Android 2.3 upgradeable to 4.0 soon Interchangeable bottom caps Sony Mobile Bravia Engine
Sony Xperia S just got a little brother at MWC 2012 in Barcelona. Sony Xperia P, the aluminum clad smartphone got its similar looks from the Xperia S but this much more smaller and some of its specifications were downgraded like the screen resolution. The Sony Xperia P is the mid-range phone using the NXT design. Some of its notable features are “WhiteMagic” on the 4″ qHD reality display, NFC, Dual core processor and HDMI. I hope that this phone will be available soon at a reasonable price.
Sony Xperia P Specifications
122 x 59.5 x 10.5 mm, 120g 540 x 960 pixels, 4.0 inches Reality display with Whitemagic Dual-core 1 GHz processor HSDPA Bluetooth NFC Wi-Fi 16 GB Internal memory 8 Megapixel camera with HD 1080p@30 fps recording VGA front camera Android 2.3 upgradeable to 4.0 soon Sony Mobile Bravia Engine
MWC is starting to heat up because along with the announcement of theSamsung Galaxy Beamthey also announced the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1. There are only a few minor changes from its predecessor the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 such as the operating system and the lack of LED Flash. It will also be available in 3G and Wi-Fi Variants. I hope that this tablet will be affordable since it still retain some hardware that can be found on the original Galaxy tab. Dual core tablets are soooo 2011 if you ask me. They should’ve use the quad-core Samsung exynos or even the quad-core Tegra 3
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Specifications
256.6 x 175.3 x 9.7 mm , 588g 4G HSPA+ 10.1” WXGA(1280×800) PLS TFT 1.0GHz Dual-Core Processor capable of 1080p video playback 3 Megapixel rear camera w/ 720p recording VGA front camera Bluetooth 3.0 Wifi b/g/n 16/32 GB Internal Memory 7000 mAh Battery Android 4.0 Gingerbread
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Reviews and Hands-on
As of this posting there are no Reviews and Hands-on available
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Price in the Philippines
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MWC just started and Samsung already teased us with one of their newest Galaxy phones, the Samsung Galaxy Beam. It is called Galaxy Beam because of the ultra-bright 15 lumens projector. Yes, that’s right folks. We got a projector on an Android phone. I doubt that this phone will be a hit and the even though it has a large battery life the projector might drain the battery in hours. Still, the product is very interesting and as of this moment we don’t know if this Galaxy phone will arrive here in the Philippines
Samsung Galaxy Beam Specifications
64.2 x 124 x 12.5mm, 145.3 g HSDPA 4.0” 480×800 (WVGA) TFT 1.0GHz Dual-Core Processor 5 Megapixel rear camera w/ 720p recording 1.3 Megapixel front camera Bluetooth 3.0 Wifi b/g/n 8 GB Internal Memory 2000 mAh Battery Android 2.3 Gingerbread
Samsung Galaxy Beam Reviews and Hands-on
As of this posting there are no Reviews and Hands-on available
Do you think that the metro tiles is too lame on Windows 8? For those people who doesn’t want to have a metro style desktop may switch back to the classic Windows but the classic windows is sooooooo 2009 and people just want something new. At the Verge forumsa guy name Sputnik8 just came up with a Windows 8 concept for desktop that will blow your mind (see picture above). I find the UI similar to ubuntu but who cares? this one is better than what Microsoft did!. More pictures after the break
MWC 2012 is coming and LG already surprised us before it started by announcing the one of the first quad core phones in the world, the LG Optimus 4X HD. Obviously, this will be the successor of the LG Optimus 2X. An Android dual core sporting smartphone. LG Optimus 4X HD features a quad core Tegra 3 (they called it as the first 4-PLUS-1™ Quad-Core mobile processor), 4.7″ HD Screen, 8 megapixel camera with BSI and 16 GB internal memory. More details is expected to be announced during MWC 2012 at Barcelona.
Before the Nokia Lumia 800 was announced there was the buttonless Meego-powered Nokia N9. If you don’t remember what the Nokia Lumia 800 looks like then you might want to check out our review of the Lumia. The look and the feel is almost the same with the Lumia. But the Lumia used a 1.4 GHz processor compared to the 1 GHz processor which makes the Lumia faster and smoother than its meego cousin. The Nokia N9 also supports NFC which isn’t getting that much popularity in our country. Some people barely see the difference between the Lumia and the N9 and most of them but this review mig
Hardware and construction
The Nokia N9 is pretty much the same with the Lumia in terms of its construction. We still see and feel the polycarbonate body which is very prone to disfiguration when you bump the phonehard. So Nokia include a jacket inside the box but unfortunately the review unit that we got doesn’t have one. Just like the Lumia 800, this one uses a AMOLED Clearblack display which has a great viewing angles and the blacks are really black. One of the best screens I’ve seen if you ask me. Anyway, this baby has a 3.9″ screen compared to the 3.7″ screen of the Nokia Lumia. There are no buttons on the rear that’s why the screen is larger. At the button of the screen is a front facing camera for video calling. It is kinda odd to put the front facing camera below the screen. Sometimes, your hand might block the camera. Anyway another thing that is missing in the Nokia N9 is the camera button on the side.
At the back is the same polycarbonate body with the 8 megapixel Carl Zeiss camera at the back along with the Nokia Logo. The performance of the camera was quite better than the Nokia Lumia 800. No camera buttons though. At the top you’ll still get the the micro usb with the cover that you need to push in order to see the port and of course, there is the micro-sim and again just like the lumia, you’ll need to slide the micro-sim port in order to see it. Oh and there’s the 3.5mm jack on the top too. The rest is just like the Nokia Lumia 800.
Nokia N9’s Speaker grill at the bottom
There’s the 3.5mm jack!
With regular use, the phone lasts up to 1-3 days. That’s quite good if you ask me. Too bad, you can’t remove the phone’s battery. If you want some extra juice in there then I suggest that you buy powertubes and portable chargers. There’s NFC inside too but we haven’t tested it since it isn’t widely use here. The loudspeaker was almost the same with the Nokia Lumia 800 but I felt that this one is much more clearer and louder than the Lumia.
The 1 GHz single core processor? I got no problems with that. The device is fast and the transitions are smooth. The phone is responsive on the 3.9″ Clearblack AMOLED display which is protected by a curve gorilla glass display. Typing on the curve display isn’t so bad. And just like what I’ve said before, the curve gorilla glass made the phone more sexier
Camera
The 8 megapixel Carl Zeiss camera might be one of the best selling point of this device. And just as we expect on a high-end device from Nokia, it didn’t fail us. The camera app on the Nokia N9 is much better than the Lumia. The autofocus was excellent even on video recording. Oh and this one has touch focus too while its cousin, the Nokia Lumia 800 missed on that one. Here are some shots taken using the Nokia N9:
Night Shot P. Noval Gate at UST
Santissimo Rosario Parish
Roque Ruano Building
Tiger’s Lair!
Macro Shot of the MiPow Powertube
Here’s a HD video sample of the Nokia N9:
Be sure to choose 720p to check out the HD recording quality of the device.
The Meego Experience
Meego might be a stranger to some of you because this is the first and probably the last Meego phone that we will see from Nokia. Most of its features and looks reminds me of Symbian. The squarecircle icons are still there but the experience is a bit different with Symbian. This one is faster and this phone has less bugs and slowdowns. The combination of the Clearblack Display and the Meego UI is just awesome. You can barely the edges of the screen.
The device that we used Meego 1.2 Harmattan. One unique feature of Meego that I like is Swipe. As you can see there are no navigational buttons or anything on the front. Just the sleek curve gorilla glass. To navigate between homescreens and applications you need to swipe it from the edges of the screen. It took some time for some people to navigate when they saw and use the Nokia N9 for the first time. In order to unlock the screen you just need to double tap the screen and voila! the screen turns on and you just need to swipe it from the edge.
Yes folks, there’s multitasking on Meego. There’s one panel in where you can see all the apps and games that you opened. I managed to open a lot of apps and games but I haven’t experienced any slowdowns. Another panel is where you can find your notifications and facebook & twitter feed. While the last panel is, of course, the menu.
Notification and feed panel
App drawer/multi-tasking panel?
There are some pre-installed games on the device which are quite exciting and fun like Galaxy On Fire 2, Need For Speed shift, Real Golf 2011 and Angry Birds with Magic which will have more levels if you use NFC but unfortunately, we didn’t have any other devices with NFC in here. As for the Nokia Maps, yes, they’re still usable and almost the same with the Windows phone version. Whenever I swiped back to the homescreen some of the games just stay suspended or paused .
The browser does it job well. It doesn’t support flash but as a mobile device, most of the pages loads well without errors and it isn’t buggy and slow. If you want to bookmark or you have a favorite site to visit everyday and you want to make a shortcut of it, it’s easy. You can put the an icon on the menu for the shortcut of a link. I find it hard to navigate between other tabs because it will need you to swipe to the app drawer and then find the other tab of the browser.
Apps? No worries. The Nokia Store got you covered. Even though that the Meego is DOA and will soon be replaced by Windows phone, there are still some apps and games in the Nokia Store. Don’t worry about the support because Nokia will still support this phone. There are some decent apps in the Nokia Store like the Opera Mobile and there are even rumors that there will be firefox on the Nokia N9 that will support flash. Facebook, twitter and skype? Don’t worry, you don’t need to download those apps because Nokia N9 had those inside. Once you connected your Facebook, Skype and twitter account. You can now see the latest feeds on the notifications and feed panel. Aside from that, You’ll also connect messaging and your contacts on your Facebook and skype account. You can use your Nokia N9 device to use Facebook Chat in messaging and check out your contacts. For skype, well I didn’t see a video call there but you can do voice call on it. Too bad, the front facing camera is now useless.
The best app ever created…wait what?
Nokia N9’s Music Player
The gallery
There aren’t special features on the gallery and on the music app but they look good. IMO, it is better than the iOS. Didn’t have any problems and slowdowns when playing those HD videos and large pictures. It’s fast and smooth folks.
Here’s a short hands-on of the Nokia N9:
Verdict Nokia N9 might have some features that the Nokia Lumia 800 doesn’t have like NFC and front facing camera but the Meego is already dead on arrival. FYI, Your Nokia phone will still work even though Nokia would stop supporting it. If you are into phones with great camera then you might want to add this on your list because the 8 megapixel Carl Zeiss camera performed well on our test. All in all, the phone was fast and the camera quality was awesome but like what I said before, Meego OS is already DOA. The Nokia N9 will soon be replaced by the Lumia 800 which will be launched this April here in the Philippines. Nokia N9 is already available since last year and it has 2 variants — Nokia N9 16GB and Nokia N9 64GB their SRPs are P24,190 and P26,790 respectively
The White Nokia N9 is also available but in limited quantities!
If you are into affordable Android smartphones then the Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 should be included in your next-to-buy-phone-list. Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 will be one of the affordable Android smartphones when it comes up in the market. If you ask me, I think this phone got a decent specifications for a low-end phone. Just like any other affordable phones, it has a 800 MHz, and a fairly sized 3.27 HVGA screen. Not bad at all. It has an elegant and youthful design which may attract teens and first smartphone users.
Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 Specifications 58.6 x 109.4 x 11.9 mm, 106.8 g (with NFC) 800MHz Processor 3.27” HVGA(320×480) TFT Android 2.3(Gingerbread) Main(Rear): 3 Megapixel Fixed Focus Camera w/ video recording VGA@25fps GPS Bluetooth Wi-Fi Accelerometer Digital compass NFC (optional) 4GB User memory ＋ 512MB (RAM) microSD (up to 32GB)
Samsung recently announced the successor of the widely-known mid range Android smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2. And just as we expected, it won’t have a hardware just as fast like the Samsung Galaxy S advance. The Galaxy Ace 2 will still have a mid-range specifications and I was surprise that they used a Dual-core processor for this. Anyway, some of the notable features of the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 are the larger 3.8″ WVGA screen, 5 megapixel AF camera with HD video recording and the dual core 800 Mhz dual-core processor. It was disappointing to see that this phone is use Android 2.3 Gingerbread instead of Ice Cream Sandwich. But let’s cross our fingers for a ICS update on this one. I believe that these specifications is quite good enough for a mid-range smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 Specifications 62.2 x 118.3 x 10.5 mm, 122g
