Do you think dual core phones right now are too expensive for your pocket?. Think again, because Cherry Mobile just announced their newest Android phone powered by the Tegra 2. Yeah, POWERED BY TEGRA 2!. Cherry Mobile Magnum 2X is equipped with a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 Cortex A9 processor, each running at a speed of 1GHz. Froyo (Android 2.2) is the OS that comes with this phone but you can upgrade it to Gingerbread soon. No word if you can update it to Ice Cream Sandwich. I’ve been thinking why they made the screen smaller from 4.1″ of the original Magnum to 3.8″. It has a 5 megapixel rear camera with VGA front cam. Too bad, there are no LED Flash. Cherry Mobile Magnum 2X is the cheapest dual core phone right now in the market. Dual core phones right now ranges from 23k-29k while the Cherry Mobile Magnum 2X has a SRP of PHP15,899
Cherry Mobile Magnum 2X Specifications
Cherry Mobile Magnum 2X Price in the Philippines
As of this posting, the SRP of this phone is PHP15,899
First of all, I want to say that I’m not a Nokia fanboy and this post is not sponsored by Nokia or any fanboy who wants to promote Nokia. Anyway, Nokia World 2011 is set at London a week from now. Microsoft-Nokia and Microsoft are expected to unveil their newest Windows phones in Mango. Oh not the fruit. So are you ready for the Nokia World 2011?
So what are my thoughts?:
A Nokia Windows phone in Mango that looks like the Nokia N9. It will be called the Nokia 800.
Samsung and Google recently announced their new Android ice cream sandwich-touting device, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. And no, that is not dessert but a new version of Android operating system from Google. So why am I so excited about the Samsung Galaxy Nexus?, well this monster is powered by a dual core processor from Texas instruments with a curved display. Since this is from Samsung they decided to use a HD Super AMOLED display on a 4.65″ screen. Android 4.0 also offered a lot of new features. Anyway just watch the video below to know more about it.
GALAXY Nexus Product Specifications
Network
HSPA＋ 21Mbps/HSUPA 5.76Mbps 850/900/1900/1700/2100 EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 ＊LTE version will be available depending on the region.
Processor
1.2 GHz Dual Core Processor
Display
4.65” 1280X720 HD Super AMOLED
OS
Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich
Camera
Main(Rear) : 5 MP AF with LED Flash with zero shutter lag and fast shot2shot Sub (Front) : 1.3MP for Video Call
Video
Codec : MPEG4/H.263/H.264 Playback : 1080p@ 30fps Recording : 1080p Full HD Video@ 30fps
Audio
Codec : MP3/AAC/AAC＋/eAAC＋ 3.5mm Ear Jack
Google™Mobile Services
Android Market™, Gmail™, Google Earth™, YouTube™, Movie Studio Google Maps™ 5.0 with 3D maps and turn-by-turn navigation Syncing with Google Calendar™, Google＋ app
Connectivity
Bluetooth® technology v 3.0 USB 2.0 Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz/ 5GHz) NFC
Grand theft auto III has been considered as one of the greatest games on the PS2. This month, it will be GTA III’s 10th year anniversary. And now to commemorate that, Rockstar games will bring the game to the Dual core Android devices and iOS devices. These are the devices that will be compatible at launch
Apple iOS Devices: iPad 2, iPhone 4S Android Phones: Droid X2, HTC Evo 2, LG Optimus 2X, Motorola Atrix, Samsung Galaxy S2 Android Tablets: Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
GTA 3 will only work on Dual core devices. Sorry Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, you’re a playstation-certified phone but you’re not a dual core Android phone.
There will be demos of this game in mobile devices on the New York Comic Con.
I know it’s a bit late, but hey better late than never! Anyway, if you still remember I borrowed a Nokia E6 from WOM World Nokia (Now called as Nokia Connects). Nokia E6 is the successor of the Nokia E72. Both feature a QWERTY keyboard but Nokia E6 is equipped with a capacitive touch screen and it is ran by Symbian Anna, the OS that was used on the new Symbian devices such as the Nokia X7, which I reviewed a few months ago.
Body, Camera and Construction
Nokia E6 is the QWERTY brother of the Nokia X7. It has the same specifications of the Nokia X7 except that this one has a smaller screen capacitive screen and a QWERTY keyboard. While the Nokia X7 focus on multimedia and games, this phone means business.
Stainless steel body
Like I told you earlier, this is the brother of the Nokia X7. Nokia E6 features a solid body just like the X7. It has a Symbian Anna OS. Yeah, there are home screen widgets too but they are limited 3 widgets per home screen but you can choose from 5 home screens compared to 3 home screens with 5 widgets each of Nokia X7.
The 2.46 capacitive touch screen of the Nokia E6 is a bit small for me but you can play Fruit Ninja on it. I even got a score of 997 on arcade. That’s the best I’ve had on Fruit Ninja so far. But hey, the screen is still small but it is so gorgeous thanks to the high ppi of the screen. As for the battery, yes you can remove it by just removing the stainless steel back cover then boom. You can now replace the 1500 mah battery.
There are 4 dedicated keys on the Nokia E6, the home, calendar, contacts and the mail button. I rarely use those buttons because I am fond of using the capacitive touch screen of the E6. And again, just like the Nokia X7, the AMOLED Clear black display of the Nokia E6 didn’t fail me. The Nokia E6’s TFT LCD was great (Thanks Alex of The Technoclast for pointing that out). Look how the Super Clear LCD of the Samsung Galaxy SL fared with the Nokia E6, I even thought it was using a AMOLED Display:
Galaxy SL versus E6
Use it as a mobile router
The camera, well, just like the X7 it has an EDoF 8 Megapixel camera. The camera is great when shooting objects at a distance but it sucks big time when you shoot objects near you like text documents. Here are some sample images of the Nokia E6:
At low light
The puppies are so cute!
cute!
Puppies not poops
As you can see. The camera focused on the object far away from it
University of Santo Tomas, oldest university in Asia
yeaaaah at low light
low light again!
It was a cloudy day
At Fort Bonifacio High street
Yeah, my blog’s URL at Blogapalooza
EDoF camera = Not good at objects near you
EDoF camera = Great for shooting at a distance
While here’s a HD video sample of the Nokia E6
Here we go again, Symbian
Just like any other Symbian phones, Nokia E6 experienced some crashes and slowdowns. Especially when this notification pops out:
That notification pops out whenever I choose the “Wifi only” on the preferred network data to use. Yeah, whenever it appears it slowdowns the phone, sometimes it crash. Anyway, if you used Symbian Anna before, this phone won’t be a headache for you. Apps were not so plenty compared to the other touch screen smartphones of Nokia maybe because of the screen resolution, 640 x 480. Other Symbian^3 phones uses 360 x 640 resolution AKA nHD. There are plenty of applications inside this phone like Quickoffice and Social.
Fruit Ninja!
Hurray! I’m addicted to it
Verdict
In 2 weeks, the Nokia E6 and I had a love-hate relationship. When I received the phone, I loved the hardware. The QWERTY keyboard is so sweet, for the first time since I bought a touch screen phone, I loved the QWERTY keyboard again. You’ll also love the solid and stainless steel body of this phone (Yeah, Nokia is known for making solid and great bodies of cellphones). The downside of this phone, once again, is the operating system. Symbian Anna always crashed whenever I used it. And just like what I told you about the Nokia X7, Symbian Anna still lags behind the iOS and Android. If you are looking for its Android counterpart, HTC has one, the HTC Chacha. Both features a touch screen but the HTC ChaCha is powered by Android and has a shortcut for facebook with its Facebook button just below the QWERTY keyboard. While for Blackbery, they have the Blackberry Bold Touch 9900, which is very expensive right now. Anyway, you can get this Nokia E6 for PHP11,800 only atWidget City.
Hurray!, a new Avengers trailer was released by Marvel. In Avengers Thor, Tony Stark (Iron Man), Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Hulk will be on the same movie. Sweet isn’t it?.
Nokia World is coming closer. This October 26-27, Nokia is expected to announce their newest flagship Windows Phone device, the Nokia 800 Sun. Yes, it is the Nokia Sea Ray that was previously leaked by the CEO himself, Stephen Elop.
As you can see, Nokia N9 is Nokia 800 Sun’s twin brother. It is very identical to it. Nokia 800 Sun is expected to have a 3.7 FWGA screen along with 1.4 GHz processor, 16 GB storage and Mango inside. No, not the fruit, It is Windows Phone Mango.
Do you own an iPad?, Well it’s your lucky day because Facebook just released the official app for the iPad. I don’t have any iPad so I can’t test the app right now but all I can say is with the new app, you can easily navigate your Facebook. You can also enjoy bigger photos in the Hi-resolution screen and my most favorite new feature on the iPad is that you can play your favorite Facebook games on the iPad. For more information and how to get the app just visit this link
It has been 2 weeks since I borrowed the Cherry Mobile Orbit. Well, Some of my first impressions were wrong. It has been a useful Android device and I fondly love it for some time. Cherry Mobile Orbit combines the two features that most people want, Dual sim and Android. And do you know the other thing I like about this phone? , This phone is affordable.
Cherry Mobile Orbit’s back
Body, Camera and Construction
The Cherry Mobile Orbit looks like an ordinary smartphone. The body is made up of plastic and it is not that solid compared to other Android phones but it does the job well (And we’ll discuss that later). I got no problems when holding the Orbit, It is comfortable and it weighs just right thanks to the plastic body. The 4 capacitive Android buttons are placed below the screen and I don’t have any problems with that. There are call and end call buttons below those 4 capacitive buttons and I rarely use them but I had no problems with that but they should have remove that. The phone would have been sexier if they remove those 3 buttons below. I like the combination the gray and black color of the review unit I got.
The camera is a bit okay. The 5 megapixel camera records VGA Videos and the image samples are good but not excellent. Here are some images taken using the cherry mobile orbit:
The colors produced were good but there are a lot of noises produced even though I shot this picture at around 6 AM which is very bright.
Here’s a video sample of Cherry Mobile Orbit
For some unknown reason the video is a bit pinkish and I don’t know why. By the way, this VGA video is at 11.70 fps and has a format of .3GP, which is a bit disappointing.
Android, Apps and Dual Sim
This is where you insert those sims. Not hot-swappable
You can name your SIM cards
Android Froyo powers the Cherry Mobile Orbit that I used. I didn’t experience any crashes but there are a lot of slowdowns that I experienced maybe because of the processor. There are built-in apps by Cherry Mobile including Messenger, shop and music but I rarely use those apps. I use the phone mostly for Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Yeah, Android market offers a lot of apps for the Orbit. But if you’re looking for a game that requires some GPU’s magic powers, yeah you can download them but don’t expect to play it nice on the Orbit. Another thing that I love in orbit is the pocket wifi. You can use the phone to make it a hotspot. BTW, this phone has HSDPA inside. The thing that set this phone apart from other Android phones is the Dual Sim/Dual Standby feature. You can even rename your sim to anything that you want.
Unboxing and Hands-on
Verdict
Cherry Mobile Orbit is one of the few Android Dual sim phones out there. If you are looking for an Android phone that has Dual sim feature, I suggest that you pick this one. It has a 528 MHz processor, HSDPA, Wifi, 5 Megapixel camera and the unique dual sim feature in an Android. It has a SRP of PHP 9,999.
If you are a Nokia X7, C7, N8 and E7 then it’s your lucky day because Nokia store will offer full games for you for free. You can download those free games at Nokia store for a limited time only. Here are the games that are included :
Transformers 3 –
For fans of the blockbuster hit Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon, this is your chance to get into action as your beloved Autobot. The only mobile game inspired by the movie, Transformers 3lets you play as Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, or whoever Autobot you like and bring you to an intense 13 levels of pure Transformers action as you battle with the evil Decepticons.
Bejeweled 2 –
Can’t get enough of Bejeweled? Bejeweled 2fills your need for addictive, high-carat fun with more gem-swapping games to keep you entertained. Experience a whole new level of Bejeweled fun with 4 different game modes to test your skills in matching sparkling gems.
Fruit Ninja –
Get into Ninja mode with this juicy action game that lets you experience the most exciting and satisfying fruit carnage in mobile town. This worldwide smash hit game lets you become the ultimate bringer of sweet, tasty destruction with every slash. Swipe up across the screen to deliciously slash fruit like a true ninja warrior. With three game modes in single player, the addictive gameplay will keep you coming back for even higher scores.
Those are the three games that I loved to play on the Symbian devices. I played TF3 when I borrowed the Nokia X7 and Fruit Ninja on the Nokia E6.
