AWIT AWARDS 2025 Powered by VibePH Shot on Honor 400 5G

VibePH jocks all looked so gorgeous and handsome at the Purple Carpet

It's my first time covering the Awit Awards who has partnered with MQuest and the folks from VibePH. They also have partnered with Honor Philippines who lent us their newest phone, the Honor 400 5G which we used to take videos on the purple carpet before festivities began inside the newly revamped Meralco Theater. We needed to be there early to make sure we had time to see the artists arrive around noon, and they were quite generous posing for us at the VibePH Purple carpet. Awit Awards is an annual event where the PARI (Philippine Association of the Record Industry) honors some of the remarkable musical artists in the country. Even before the event began, I heard PPOP greats SB19 and BINI were receiving awards which I'm super happy about! 

Saw Lolita Carbon, Donita Nose, Ben and Ben, Tutti Caringal, Iñigo Pascual, and a lot more musical artists at the Purple Carpet

Here's some of the scenes at the Purple Carpet, this was in front of the Meralco Building which houses the theater. 

This event was certainly one of the grandest ones I've ever seen. I could see the dedication and work they put in to honor the bands, the groups and individual artists who received awards. I specifically love the part where I saw my own idol Ely Buendia who received the "Dangal ng Musikang Pilipino Award" for his contributions to the music industry. They also gave awards to SB19, their collabs, individual members (including my bias Felip!) and femme PPOP artists BINI. 

This was something that was expected, and they definitely delivered. Hosts Joao Constancia and Ryle Paolo Tan also.gave something extra for this hosting stint. I'd like to send our thanks to MQuest Ventures, PARI and HONOR Philippines for letting us cover the Awit Awards 2025 Powered by VibePH and shot entirely during this event with the Honor 400 5G.

You are not just a business, but passionate people who want to further help the music industry and these artists. May your tribe increase tenfold!

Congratulations to all the winners!

IKEA: This Is How We Live Photo Exhibit and US and OUR PLANET Book Launch

Saw vloggers Mike and Nelly at the IKEA event

 

 

 

 

 

             

I visited the largest IKEA store in the world at the Mall of Asia grounds a few days ago, and I'm glad I was able to spend a few hours scouring for stuff that I would need in my home. Aside from that, I was there for a very important reason... it was the day where they were opening up a section of their establishment that they would dedicate for the Filipino family. See, IKEA held a photo contest a few months ago (This is How We Live Photo Contest), and the winners stand a chance to win IKEA furniture, plus a studio shoot. They also got to have their entries displayed in different IKEA collateral throughout the year . Needless to say, it was very interesting to see them all in the flesh! Their stories are all inspiring and during the pandemic, it has made them think about what matters most, which is family, friends, and the place they call home. 

Winners of the photo contest, which you'll see in the IKEA exhibit

Here's our video coverage of the event and a little tour of IKEA in the Philippines

 

US and OUR PLANET is a book by Phaidon which they worked with IKEA. It tells the story of different people who live in sustainable homes, in hopes to inspire you and families that it can be done. You may visit the "This Is How We Live" photo exhibit at the Ground Level of IKEA very near the Marina entrance (front left entrance). Admission is free so go visit the biggest IKEA in the world today!

Oh and before I forget, the rumors are true... those IKEA Meatballs are delish! Don't leave the store without ordering it!

FRESH TIME with BT21 Out Now!

I'm quite sure you've seen it on my YouTube channel, IG and Tiktok. With your love for BT21, I'm sure you've enjoyed what came out today. Our friends from FRESH Philippines made skincare fun with these special limited edition BT21 products they fondly call FRESH TIME with BT21. They have partnered with LINE FRIENDS and have come out with really awesome skincare goods that's not only effective, but feels and smells great!

This was done for you UNIVERSTAR BT21 lovers, but of course, there's more because they are also going to give you new cute collectibles that has those lovable UNIVERSTAR BT21 characters you adore.

This is the Soothing Gel Lotion in JEJU ALOE ICE and TOMATO GLASS SKIN variant

You need your skin to be moisturized and FRESH Philippines has got you covered with these two varieties of Soothing Gel Lotions. One is Jeju Aloe ice that's got TheraCool Complex, Niacinamide, Centella Asiatica that moisturizes, reduces inflammation,and has anti oxidant properties. The other one is Tomato Glass Skin which has the ability to retain water keeping your skin supple via the Hyaluronic Acid and Arbutin to take out sun spots.

It's also available in mini versions like this 120ml sachet that's easy to carry around the pocket and more affordable. I prefer this Watermelon Youthful Bliss among the variants because it has Therafirm Complex that fights signs of aging. Best of all, this smells sweet like real watermelon too! (My personal favorite)

They also have these 70% Ethyl Alcohol Solution in different scents. They call it ALCOSPRAY and is available in Cosmic Wonder (Purple) 100mL, Interstellar (Green) 100mL, Starburst (Red) 100mL, Supernova (Orange) 100mL, Interstellar (Apple Green) 500mL, Supernova (Blue) 500mL.

FRESH with BT21 70% Ethyl Alcohol Solution Alcosprays makes sure surfaces and your hands remain 99.9% germ free. It also has bacteria killing properties, but has aloe vera so skin remains soft while using it.

They also have a smaller version with a clamp on it which you can use for traveling. You can simply clip it on your bag and go.

For serious collectors, there are photo cards that you can get (there are 7 different kinds) for every Php 499 purchase. 

 

I highly recommend the Soothing Gel Lotions. They smell like real fruits!

 

FRESH Philippines will also have selected products on 50% OFF so this is the best time to get them all. Remember, this only happens from November 15-21 and is available in FRESH.PH and Watsons.com.ph. You can also check out FRESH Philippines social channels for information about their upcoming releases. They've had us on the edge of our seats about a rumored Mask Case and Tote Bag to add to their BT21 merch. That's amazing news!

ASUS Outs ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo OLED 15

 

Seeing the new ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo OLED 15 made me drool today. This is indeed the laptop of tomorrow as it is designed for the working man's needs.Built with a 4K OLED HD display and a built in tilting secondary screen on the bottom, it could so much especially for the creatives and professionals who would need more workspace in this day and age.

During the event today, they had premier Wedding Videographer/Visual Storyteller Jason Magbanua (my kumpare hehe) and landscape/travel and architectural photographer Nicco Valenzuela. Thing is, these people live and breathe editing and with the requirements in their industry, they would need something that is powerful and very reliable. The tasks they need to do is no joke as they play around with images and videos that are not only huge, but would need rendering as well. The tilting screen can give you the capability not only to see the whole picture, but lets you multitask. It also displays the most accurate colors which is quite needed in a common day for creatives like us.

The new ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo OLED 15 box comes with manuals, a pen, the actual unit which was unboxed during Jason's portion. He also took time to edit the video they've shown on the ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo OLED 15. Technically and creatively it puts a lot of pressure with weddings as he's pretty well known for SDE's or same day edits. Nico on the other hand needs to meticulously edit huge images, put a lot of attention to details and remove things that are not pleasing to the eyes and not see a single speck of it in the output. They already have experience with the first generation of ZenBook Pro Duo but this made them realize it has answered even more of their workloads, it still had so many things to improve and they've done that in the new ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo OLED 15. Performance wise, it's super easy to drag and drop things, it boots up fast, and has an i9-10980HK processor that can take on huge tasks you need to do in it. They have an i7-10870H version with the same 32GB RAM and 1TB PCIE storage and an RTX 3070 GPU which can do a lot in one sitting. The tilting screen makes a lot of difference for Jason and Nico, they an put all the notes, the controls, so they can drag and drop on the secondary screen and put the sequence and titles on the bottom. The display will get dedicated on the output, which is so convenient for them since they can use different software at the same time without worrying where to put it when you're working with something else. It's maximum performance with these hardware. The OLED screen is super clear, blacks stay deep, it maintains the color when it should and also doesn't hurt the eyes even if you look at it for a long time (because it has less blue light).

It also looks like a gem with its Celestial Blue color, you don't have to look like a piece of metal when you're this powerful. It stays stylish just like the other laptops from ASUS. I actually own a VivoBook 14 which has proven so good for work and play, with this much power, you can significantly up the game and do even more because it's the got the hardware you need to get the tough job done in a cinch. The UX582LR-H2002TS (Celestial Blue) costs Php 199,995 (15" UHD OLED / i9-10980HK / 32GB RAM / 1TB PCIE Performance / RTX 3070) and the i7 version costs Php 169,995. It is an investment, a really smart one.

Trust me, I own one. :)

More Affordable, Non Stop Play with the Vivo Y30

Gamers, players, those who watch videos, make sure you check out the Vivo Y30 on official stores as they get the price down to Php 8,999. This means you'll get more bang for the buck with this mid range phone and those mobile legends match you've been playing can last in your phone for a long time.

Not just the games, but music, youtube videos, go stream things without worrying about battery life and more juice for your social media posts because this thing can handle your everyday tasks with ease. Price point for this hardware? It was already good initially but this markdown would just make this Y30 even more appealing for consumers so they don't have to spend too much for a phone that can get your photos and videos stored with its 128GB internal storage. 

That means, no more deleting good memories right? Go get them now in stores and online shops because they might run out of it soon!

 

ASUS Outs Zenfone 4 Series

Had the chance to take a look at the newest phones of ASUS earlier of what seems to be some awesome products on the ASUS ZenFone 4 line. It's been a while since they came out with something new and if this is a game changer it'll be something that the other smartphone companies are taking a close look at. Will it perform much better than the ones that came out before this one? How would it fare compared to the OPPO F3 and Vivo V5 series? I had to ask those questions myself.

Darren Cheng of the ASUS Product Team says "We love photos and the possibility of taking photos like a professional photographer. Now cameras on smartphones are getting better, even the ones that take shots in low light environments. We also want to make the hard task of framing easy, and improve the selfies and group shots too. We have improved the SuperPixel camera, specifically the aperture with 1.8 on Zenfone 4 and 1.7 in the Zenfone 4 Pro. The large pixel size we have is great because we use the best Sony imx362 sensor, which gets 96% more light than usual and a better image processing system. We also have employed a second generation laser autofocus (improved to 0.03 seconds) and combine these technologies so you can take better photos with our phones. The Zenfone 4 also has a super wide angle camera so you can get 200% greater viewing area than before. You will see the difference easily as it also comes with twice the optical zoom and hybrid digital zooms, you can truly see more details in the photos."

The Zenfone 4 has an 8MP front camera, and is capable 5x clearer even in lowlight conditions. The Zenfone 4 Pro has got 3 Sony camera sensors in one device. It also had Portait mode for that bokeh effect. With these features alone, it may prove a challenge, but really are the photos good? How about the images for selfies?

Ivan Chen, Senior Product Manager for ASUS adds "The Zenfone 4 Selfie and Selfie Pro is gunning to be the best selfie solution and we made it to get clear selfies even in low light. The ASUS Superpixel Cameras can get you better shots with it's softlight features, the higher resolution and 24 MP DuoPixel technology can bring you larger photos. It's also got 120 degrees wide angle shots so you don't have to break your hand just in case you need to take those difficult shots and also 4K video recording, so you can have the clearest videos too. We also have an incomparable beautification mode to hide those imperfections, a software where you can do the edits in one place, employing noise cancellation, beautification even on live broadcast, even on real time tasks."

The ZenFone 4 Max Series has 5000mAh capacity, making your phone have long standby modes, charges fast, and premier battery safety. It was even tested 46 days  on standby, so if that doesn't make you buy one, then ask and carry around a car battery later lol. It can get you 3 hours of talk when you charge it for 15 minutes, which is already remarkable. They also employ 12 safety technologies protecting you from worries like heat, circuitry, inputs and outputs.

We also had our first encounter with the ZenFone 4 Selfie and Selfie Pro.

This is for the ZenFone Selfie Pro.

George Su says "You know we all love photos, and we are launching our campaign around on technologies that addresses the need to have phones that should be able to take great selfies and group shots, and I hope you experience that later on!"

During the event, they got us inside the ASUS City that they divided into districts. It was enormous fun for dealers and ASUS enthusiasts as they had to go through various activities and get snacks, raffle tickets and win prizes later on. They have built a very big community already, and they even included the Gong Yoo fans in the Philippines since he's the current APAC endorser.

It was also cute that the official mascot Zenny was able to interact with the kids and ASUS fans today. 

So in a nutshell they have released 6 phones today, the Zenfone 4 and Zenfone 4 Pro, the Zenfone 4 Selfie and Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro, plus the Zenfone 5 Max and Zenfone 4 Max Pro. Almost all of them have similar specs but with a bit of additional hardware upgrades on the pro versions.

I'll update this post when I get photos of Bea Alonzo, yes she's the new endorser for ASUS Philippines.

Photos of Bea Alonzo courtesy of Kate Adajar of Random Republika :) ty Kate!

We got the prices of the handsets: The Zenfone 4 costs Php 28,995, the Zenfone 4 Pro is at Php 39,995, the Zenfone 4 Selfie is at P13,995, the Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro costs Php 18,995 and the Zenfone 4 Max is at Php 9,995.

A BUM Black Army New Collection Teaser (PART 1)

The BUM Black Army's New Collection is going to be released today and is available at the http://www.bumequipment.com.ph website. I wanted to release one of the videos but saw something special on it so I'll save that as the finale. For the mean time, I'll share with you a minute of this second layout which they did in Valle Verde in Pasig.

Enjoy!

I know it's a little bitin, but there's more where that came from, plus the interview of Miguel and Bianca plus Nash and Alexa! You'll see TEAM REAL moments haha!

BUM wishes you to check out the clothes at Lazada today too!

For more information about their collection:

Official BUM PH

Like them on Facebook


Visit their official website

http://www.bumequipment.com.ph/