Kim Chiu for Cherry Mobile Alpha Series

When you've got the number 1 mobile phone brand in the Philippines to release a line of new gadgets, you definitely have to have the number one teen star to endorse it for you. I wasn't surprised to see the one and only Kim Chiu a few days ago as Cherry Mobile launched their new Alpha Series. It's the first of its kind of mobile phone in the world to have this price point, making it the most affordable phone running on Windows 8.1 OS.

Kim Chiu was welcomed by Cherry Mobile's Executives and hosts Phoemela Barranda and co-endorser Actor/Model Victor Basa. The Alpha Series was made to solidify Cherry Mobile's leadership in the market and they also launched Kim Chiu's commercial that evening that will show in major TV networks, cable channels soon.

Kim also ushered in the gadgets Cherry Mobile had on their sleeves. With a press of a button, the two gadgets came out of this contraption. 

Cherry Mobile's Alpha Play, priced at Php 7,999

Cherry Mobile Alpha Play has an 8 inch display, thick bezel and a little heavy. It's got a micro SD slot, USB 3.0 and HDMI port. The 5MP camera is enough for what you need for a tablet, plus again, it's on Windows OS.

Cherry Mobile's Alpha Style and Alpha Luxe; Php 2,999 and Php 4,999

Cherry Mobile Alpha Style and Alpha Luxe has Windows Phone 8.1. It's also got a sturdy, tough built, a Quadcore Snapdragon 200 processor, 4GB storage and 512MB of RAM. The difference is just the front and back camera, plus the actual style and display of the phone. The OS seems seamless on both which is probably attributed to the excellent OS it has. You've got to thank Microsoft for that.

Cherry Mobile's MORPH, priced at Php 11,999

As part of their intensive research and development of products, Cherry Mobile partnered with powerhouses Microsoft, Intel and Qualcomm in making the Alpha Series and got this release for two smart phones and two tablets that would beat most gadgets at the same price point then overwhelmed because of the Windows Phone 8.1 OS. I'm sure Windows has never done anything like this before, and this could well probably be the most affordable Windows Phone in the world. Something that's not seen on low cost devices.

Kim Chiu with Microsoft, Qualcomm and Cherry Mobile Executives during the launch in Sofitel Manila

They've also done a remarkable job on the MORPH and they plan to do more of these tablets with keyboard covers soon. Honestly, the HDMI and 3.0 USB ports on these tablets just made our day.

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Windows8 Touch Enabled DELL XPS12

Dell has been a recognized brand for hardware, specifically for laptop and desktop computers worldwide. This particular event I went to was the launch of something special, though not out of the ordinary they've revved up some of their former designs and got them on this new Dell XPS12.

Chris Papa the Country Manager for DELL says its another milestone to launch xp12 among their other great models soon. He says this too will come with services unprecedented in the Philippine territory because they will cover nationwide. They will also extend it to nearby Asian-Oceania countries so if you are frequent traverlers, you can take advantage of this awesome ultrabook which transforms from a laptop and into a tablet via a flick on its screen. The latest ultrabook is made slim, very powerful, and functions as a fully featured tablet. This is by the way their first touch enabled device on Windows8 platform. Though I'm not a fan of the OS they are gearing to take advantage of its full touch capabilities which other manufacturers haven't that much been really doing on their devices (well some do but that's another story). 

 Aside from that, the DELL XPS12 is one tough cookie. It doesn't look and feel tough but when I held it, structurally the swivel display does not look flimsy at all. As you flip the display over, you can close the lid and you can use the XPS12 as a tablet. Tried to change orientations but the Windows8 response wasn't that great. I don't quite know the gyro capabilities but it wasn't following that fast.

Alvin Go, Dell Philippines Product Manager showed how remarkable the device is. Made mostly of carbon fiber (one of the lightest in the market), its hinge is also machined aluminum so it's quite sturdy even if flipping transpires on the display. It's got a 100% SSD hard drive so data response is very fast. The 12.5 Full HD WLED and Corning gorilla glass just makes the display quite vivid for the video or photo connoisseur.

Then another big thing was announced! Support services for these models are now available for free nationwide and a couple more countries outside the Philippines. It means that no matter where you are, if you need help with your DELL equipment they can easily help you within 48 hours (that's if phone support won't be able to help you right off the bat!). This is world class On Site Service and is free for 1 year with notebooks and 3 years for high end PC's. 

Ricky Banaag, Country Manager of Intel boasts of better, longer battery life and faster processors for more models of Dell products. Intel also worked with brands that have ultrabooks on their line and receives positive feedback from consumers. The area of convertibles is gonna grow; and technology among all things will have to become well adaptive to what the consumer wants. It's quite nice to see these brands launching in places like Manila now. Be sure when you check out the stores, find out if DELL XPS12 would be the perfect powerful companion that would satisfy your gadget hunger. You don't have to stop what you're doing; this will surely change the conversation wherever, whenever.

 

 

Congratulations on this launch Dell! I am impressed!

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Success Story of a Public-Private Partnership: TV5 MMDA Metro Manila Traffic Navigator

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino discusses something to Ms. Luchi Cruz Valdez over dinner at the Shangrila Edsa Plaza Hotel Palawan Ballroom.

When PNOY (last year's SONA) called for corporations to work together with the government one of the first to heed his call was TV5. For starters they never thought of anything like this in the beginning. After brainstorming one lonely night they noticed some of the traffic updates that MMDA had on their whiteboard; what's funny was they kept on erasing this valuable data. Minds met and they did the next obvious thing. They digitized this information and got it online. Now this valuable information is available and has been helping thousands of Filipino commuters in the metro!

Paolo Bediones and Cheri Mercado hosted the event!

Now ranked in the top 10 most visited sites in the country, the TV5 MMDA Metro Manila Traffic Navigation site was launched formally this August 1st, 2011. TV5 Executives, MMDA Government Officials and the media were there to witness a momentous event in Philippine history. Only a few hundred thousand pesos of tax payers and private funds were used to set this all up which I think is ingenious even if MMDA was poorly funded this year. They used it wisely on information technologies perfectly designed and executed for the local Philippine transportation scene. They thought of the commuters and the people behind the wheel. I couldn't be more happier when I used it that time!

True enough, I had to leave the event a little early than usual because I had to rush back to the office. I gave this a shot and saw that C5 was a little better than EDSA. I got to Eastwood without a hitch even if my cab driver was on a snails pace. The information was real time so I already knew the situation before I went there. It's practical and ingenious I wish I had thought of that!

Mr. Roby Alampay told the audience about when and how it started. It was really a meeting of the minds between them and the people at MMDA. Today they can tell more than just the traffic situation. They have a database that an later on be used for trending, metrics and what not. This is valuable information that wasn't used before this project came about.

Mr. Carlo Ople demonstrated how the iphone and IPAD app would work. He showed more than just the actual system view available on the web. The latest headlines they have for INTERAKSYON one of the flagship news programs under TV5 were also seen in the application. You can even save it for offline reading. It had a pretty nice interface too.

Ms. Luchi Cruz-Valdez said that it has always been the goal of TV5 to bring information to the people. They have been doing this already with their other programs and assures their news and current affairs programs via pushing information to the applications will deliver just that!

Check out their website http://mmdatraffic.interaksyon.com for the latest traffic updates in Metro Manila. Major roads are currently in the system but they will have more later on this year once upgrades are done. To TV5, MMDA and the Filipino People congratulations! This is the best news I've ever heard this year!


PS

Thanks to Nuffnang for hooking me up on this event!



Capisce?!

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Meego + Fujitsu + Infinity App Store Luncheon Event

Last March 10, 2011 Fujitsu Philippines and Edmund Lim the Product Marketing Manager of Fujitsu PC Asia Pacific just launched MEEGO; a brand new Linux based OS for the Fujitsu line of netbooks. As an UBUNTU fanatic myself I was eager to get my hands on this one since the premise was to get all the social media functions tabbed into one useful interface. The bootup sequence only took around 15 seconds++ and it's got Twitter, Facebook, MSN and all the latest social network accounts converged into one roof. It presents each post and update on small, colored windows that can be easily clicked and replied to if needed.


The demographics that they probably want to capture in this segment are the young happy go lucky ones who want everything already taken cared of without using individual programs (downloading and installing them too) or going to sites just to get online.

It looks promising but I think nothing still beats the olden ways of doing this. It's another case of "preference" in my books. The ease on the computer might be it's selling point because it wouldn't hoard that much resources by doing the former because let's face it... Windows just hogs! This wouldn't be for the full business laden professionals since it wouldn't be able to perform most complicated "office functionality" but if you think about it; you would be able to enjoy open source materials easily than loading the whole brouhaha of Windows OS and its applications. Intel, Nokia has taken advantage of this already and I'm sure in the coming years we'll see different versions and upgrades of this kind. Definitely a step forward for open sourced OS and Fujitsu.


There's also a corresponding application store called Infinity App store that will release free and paid software for their Lifebook line. Since there has been no significant increase in the netbook market yet in the Philippines they are gearing to tap that too. Unlike our neighbors in the Asia Pacific, we fall slightly behind the user base for this type of products and they are optimistic that it will pick up in the next few months. Lifebooks are less than 2KG, but they never compromised battery life among other things. Their keyboard design stayed the same since they kept it spill resistant just like its predecessors. The new I5 processor also gave this needed power that cannot be matched by other brands with the same size.

Now here's the best news that I got from that event!

The Stylistic Q550

This is the perfect businessman's companion. With it's multi-touch capability and active pen features that can depict handwriting and hardness/softness of a stroke you can get this special slate by having it custom made for your lifestyle. The front and rear cameras make effortless photos/videos when you need it most. The data security is like no other with its fingerprint sensor and ability to lock down sensitive information when the time comes. Anti theft measures are in place which has never been seen on other slates of this kind. This is built for business and their target audience will stay on this demographic since general consumer ones like the IPAD and IPAD 2 haven't explored this area yet. I'm part of that so if in case I get one this surely will be a strong candidate!

Meego + Fujitsu Press Briefing Dusit Hotel, Makati City
Thank you to Mr. Edward Lim and the people behind the event. I had so much fun!

Thank you also to the people from Fujitsu Philippines and Asia Pacific. You got a customer in me!