Motorola Dext on Android OS

Motorola has finally announced its own Android-powered smartphone. Officially dubbed the Motorola Dext, it will be sold int he US under a different name (Motorola Cliq).

This capacitive touch screen phone also has a sliding full qwerty keyboard.

Motorola Dext/Cliq Specs:
320 x 480 pixels, 3.1 inches
1 GB storage, 256MB RAM, 512MB ROM
up to 32GB on microSD
3G/HSDPA 7.2Mbps
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
5 MP autofocus camera @ 2592 x 1944 pixels
Qualcomm MSM7201A 528MHz CPU
GPS with AGPS support

Dext will have a customizable homescreen powered by MotoBlur that continuously syncs your phone and email contacts with your friends from Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Looks like Motorola is banking on a social smartphone.

Battery is rated at 1420mAh, the Motorola Dext will have a retail price of about $400.

Globe Tattoo Prepaid drops to Php895

Globe is doing a promo on their Tattoo Prepaid Kit. Get a Php1,000 discount for every purchase of a kit — that’s just Php895 from the regular price of Php1,895.

The catch — well, promo period is only until October 31, 2009. The Globe Broadband Tattoo prepaid kit still comes with free 5 hours of mobile 3G worth Php100. Kits are available at Globe Stores and authorized dealers nationwide.

Note: SmartBro Prepaid kit also costs Php995 now.

Intel launches new Core i5 and i7 Processors

Intel Philippines yesterday unveiled a number of new processors under its Core i5 and Core i7 brands. Most interesting feature is the Turbo Boost that automatically overclocks the CPU when you need more juice.

Intel introduced the Core i7 920/940 last year but those were intended for hardcore gamers and enthusiasts. The new ones they’re bringing in is an attempt to make it more mainstream and affordable. But unlike the i7 900 series which is Socket LG1366, the Core i7 800 series is on another Socket LG1156.

Most interesting is the Turbo Boost technology — a capability of the CPU to add extra horsepower when it is needed. For example, a 2.66GHz Core i5 750 can go up to 3.2GHz clockspeed. However, HT (hyper-threading) has been disabled on the i5.

The Core i7 800 series comes in 2 clock speeds and has HT enabled — i7-860 @ 2.8GHz and the i7-870 @ 2.93GHz. With Turbo Boost, the 2.93GHz i7-870 can go up to 3.6GHz.

There’s no final price yet but OEMs who attended the the launching say that the Core i5 750 will cost somewhere between Php10k to Php11k while the i7-860 could be between Php15k to Php16k.

I asked Intel Philippines President Rickey Banaag if this will mean they’re shelving the Core 2 Quad since the i5 and i7 are also 4 cores. He says no and Intel will keep them separate for market segmentation. In short, expect the prices of Core 2 Quads to go down in the next couple of months.

5th Gen iPod Nano with Video and FM Radio

As the iPod nano is the world’s most popular music player (hitting 100 million units), Apple today bumped up its specs along with some minor upgrades on the iPod Classic, Shuffle and iPod Touch.

The 5th-generation iPod Nano now comes in 9 different colors and gets a video camera and FM tuner to boot (they should have added WiFi too if you asked me).

Still at 8GB and 16GB, the Nano retails at Php8,790 and Php10,490.

The iPod Touch, on the other had, was bumped to 64GB. Apple dropped the 16GB model and retained the 8GB for just Php11,490. The 32GB costs Php17,490 and the 64GB at Php23,490. People were actually expecting that it’s the iPod Touch that will have the video camera.

The iPod Shuffle now comes in various colors aside from black and silver — they’ve got green, blue, pink and a special polished steel version. The 2GB starts at Php3,290 and the 4GB at Php4,390 (special edition costs Php5,490). Weird that the 4GB Shuffle got a price increase here.

The upgrade from 120GB to 160GB of the iPod Classic is confusing since Apple already had 80GB/160GB before, dropped it then re-introduced it.

Cruising with the Honda Jazz

When I was asked to bring home a Honda Jazz and take it for a spin in the next couple of weeks, I thought I should start creating a car or automotive category.

But then again, I am no car expert. So if ever my review comes out at the end of the month, it should be from a point of view of a regular or newbie driver.

I thought of doing some sort of an unboxing post by wrapping the car in a dozen makeshift balikbayan boxes but decided against it for environmental reasons.

This entry is just a sort of fair warning to my regular readers here that some time in the near future, they might bump into a lousy review of a Honda Jazz in this blog. But hey, cars are like tech toys for the big boys (that’s why this is under the Tech Toys and Gadgets category). My biggest problem so far is finding it a regular and safe parking slot.

Anyway, the photos here are of an Alabaster Silver Honda Jazz 1.3 5-speed AT. This 5-door hatchback costs about Php760,000.

Sony-Ericsson XPeria X2 to make a comeback

Sony-Ericsson is finally coming up with the next generation Xperia phone. The SE Xperia X2 has a design not far off from the first one, and hopefully, not priced as much.

3.2″ TFT resistive touchscreen @ 800×480 pixel resolution
Qualcomm MSM 7200 528 MHz processor
HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, HSUPA 2 Mbps
110MB storage, 256 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
up to 16GB with microSD expansion slot
8MP camera with LED flash, AF and IS, WVGA @ 30fps video recording
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
GPS receiver with A-GPS
TV-out
1500mAh Li-Po battery

I liked the form factor of the X1 but the WinMo OS wasn’t something that I fancied (and I’m not sure if it sold well in the Philippines). The X2 will come with the latest version, Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 Pro.

11.6″ Gateway EC1801i MiniNote

Gateway dropped the AMD Athlon CPU for an Intel SU3500 on their 11.6 inch mini-notebook. The Gateway EC1801i SU3500 MiniNote has almost the same look as the Gateway LT3102i Ultra Slim Laptop.

This is more like a version of the 11-inch Acer Timeline. See specs and price below:

11.6″ CrystalBrite HD 1366 x 768
Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 1.4GHz
2GB DDR2 RAM (max 4GB)
320GB HDD
Intel GMA X4500 Video Graphics
64MB dedicated video RAM (up to 1,759MB shared system memory)
Bluetooth 2.0
Webcam
WiFi 802.11 b/g
Windows Vista Home Premium

Weights about 1.43kg so it’s still light. Expect to shell out Php35,995 for this ultraportable notebook (in black and red colors).

Modu: World’s Lightest Phone has arrived

At only under 43 grams, the modu phone is the world’s lightest cellphone and it’s now available in the Philippines thru Globe Telecom.

Listed in the Guinness Book of Records, this fully functional phone is just 5 grams shy of the iPod Nano’s weight.

Aside from a music player, it’s also a mass storage device (with 2GB internal memory). If you looked at the keypad, it doesn’t seem to be the regular alphanumeric one we’re familiar with. I’m curious how the navigation works.

Nokia X6 and X3 revealed

The new X-series mobile phones of Nokia has now been formally revealed and they started it with the Nokia X6 touchscreen a slider Nokia X3.

Not sure how Nokia will differentiate this from the N-Series or the XPressMusic but these two handsets looked cool (and reminds me of an Ericsson phone before).

The Nokia X6 has a 3.2-inch touchscreen, 32GB of storage, and boasts of 35 hours of music playback. Not really that slim at 14mm but nonetheless looking sexy. It has 3G/HSDPA, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and a 5MP Carl Zeiss optics.

The Nokia X3 is a slider phone with a smaller 2.2″ screen with a 3.2Mp camera, and Bluetooth but has no 3G or WiFi.

Edimax NS-2502 SATA NAS Server

If you’re looking into some home network storage and is always craving for more space, check out this dual-bay Gigabit NAS Server from Edimax.

Been looking for some network storage solution for some time now but since I already got an external HDD, an Apple TV and HDX 1000 NMT (that’s a total of 1.5TB of storage), I never found any more use for a NAS.

However, the Edimax NS-2502 SATA NAS Server some some pretty nifty features that’s making me reconsider. Not only is it a network storage device, it’s also an iTunes Server, Media Server and BitTorrent client. That means you can download your torrents directly into the server without the need for a computer.

The NS-2502 has two drive bays so you can get as much as 4 terabytes (2×2TB) in there. The NAS hooks up to your router via RJ45 (LAN cable). The device can be managed via the browser in a password-protected local IP.

It also comes with a USB port in the front so you can actually attach another USB device there and copy the entire contents into the NAS with a single push of the button. It supports a number of file formats –CIFS, NTFS, FAT16, FAT32, ext2, ext3 file systems.

The NAS isn’t cheap by any means and retails for about Php7,350 without the HDD.

The 500GB Freecom ToughDrive

Portable hard disk drives have reached half a terabyte these days and this Freecom ToughDrive 500GB isn’t only big in capacity, it’s also tough and ruggedized.

This 2.5″ mobile hard drive is encased in tough plastic mold and rubber (silicone) so it’s pretty well protected from bumps and even long drops (I think the plastic end might suffer from cracks if that ever happens). Freecom claims it can withstand drops of up to 2 meters.

The attached USB 2.0 cord is also covered in soft rubber and can be tucked/concealed into the drive’s side. The hard disk drive itself is manufactured by Samsung (total capacity is 499+GB so computation is on base 10 instead of the previous base 2). Also comes with a USB cable extender.

An NTI Shadow backup software is included and there’s built-in password protection too. This one retails for about Php5,530 in stores for the 500GB model.

Apple’s Snow Leopard Officially Released

Today, we got to see and try Mac OS X 10.6 . Apple representatives from Singapore today showcased their new operating system, codenamed Snow Leopard.

• Snow Leopard comes as 32-bit and 64-bit out of the box and system applications such as Finder, Mail, iCal and Safari are also on 64-bit.
• Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) provides new ways for to create applications that’s optimized for multiple core processors.
• Introduction of the OpenCL (somewhat derived from OpenGL) to maximize the power of the GPU.

Apple is finally ditching the PowerPC so Snow Leopard can only be installed on an Intel-based Mac system. Almost half of the Apple presentation was dedicated to bashing Windows 7.

Existing Leopard users will only need to pay a Php1,690 license fee to upgrade to Snow Leopard. A Family Pack costs Php2,790 (up to 5 users) and a Mac Box Set that includes iLife and iWork will have a suggested retail price of Php9,490.