YugaTech | Philippines, Technology News & Reviews

Sony Vaio P Official Specs and Photos

yuga — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:23:49 +0000

Sony has officially announced it’s own version of a high-end netbook. Not that this is Sony’ first but the Vaio P departs from the usual netbook form factor and cheap pricing by offering a pocket-sized version.

The Sony Vaio P skipped the trackpad in favor of a pointing stick (nipple mouse) so they were able to save more space. Live photos courtesy of Engadget and official specs are listed below.

Intel Atom Z530 1.33GHz
8 inch (1600×768 pixels) display screen
60GB HDD, 64GB SSD or 128GB SSD Storage
2GB DDR2 RAM
2 USB ports
SD/Memory Stick slot
Ethernet
WiFi 802.11n
Bluetooth
3G (EV-DO)
Integrated GPS
Webcam
MS Windows Vista

It has one of the oddest dimensions — 9.6″ x 4.7″ x .78″ — but is short and thin enough to allegedly fit in your pocket. Weighs only 1.4 pounds too and comes with a default 3-cell battery that could last 4 hours (an optional 6-cell battery will last it 8 hours). It also has that instant-on feature where it boots up almost automatically with limited features.

Price starts at $899.99 to $1,499 on the SSD options.

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Asus Eee Keyboard is a Media Center

yuga — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:34:00 +0000

This could be the coolest thing that ever came out of Asus — an Eee Keyboard that acts as a stand-along home media center. There’s no telling what this keyboard really is as there are no details from Asus yet.

There’s a tiny 5-inch LCD screen on the right side of the keyboard (which also serves as a trackpad when hooked up to your PC) but no clue if it’s a Linux OS or an embedded platform.

But, if the ports on the top front side of the keyboard means is any indication…

This could be a fully functional PC all tucked inside a wireless keyboard (WiFi 802.11b/g/n). There you see USB ports, LAN, audio, and SD card reader, VGA and what could be an HDMI (?) port. There’s also a built-in speaker and mic.

If those ports are there, then we can also safely say a processor, SSD and RAM are also hidden somewhere inside (an Intel Atom maybe?). Photo credits by Gizmodo.

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Red Mobile 3G Speed Test

yuga — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:48:49 +0000

Now that the dust has settled on Red Mobile, we took the new service for a spin and tested the 3G speeds. Considering that Red Mobile is running under Smart’s 3G network, we should be able to compare how much bandwidth it was alloted.

I did the same methodology here for this test — doing several runs on SpeedTest.net, dropping the highest and lowest scores and getting the average. I used a Nokia E51 and PC Suite to hook the PC for 3G internet.

During the test, the phone was indicating it is getting HSDPA (3.5G) signal.

The average speeds based on the results are — 460.5Kbps downstream and 324.3Kbps downstream. It looks like the 3G bandwidth for Red Mobile has been capped at 512Kbps (0.5Mbps) while the upload speed maxes out at the theoretical 384Kbps.

Compare that to our test for Smart 3G using the same phone – 1,534 Kbps downstream/346Kbps upstream – the average download speeds for Red Mobile are lower while uplaod speeds are almost the same.

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Asus Eee PC T91 Tablet Netbook

yuga — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:54:33 +0000

Asus fans have been asking for a touchscreen tablet netbook so they’re gonna get one. Asus just unveiled the Eee PC T91 Touch Netbook due to be released on the first half of this year.

The T91 will have an 8.9 inch touchscreen display and will be powered by an Intel Atom Z520 processor {photo via}. It will only be 2lbs (less than 1kg) light and 1-inch in thickness.

Buyers will also have the option for built-in GPS and a TV tuner. Expect all other specs to be similar to the Eee PC 900/1000 series.

All I can say is, when and where do I line up to buy this rig?

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Motorola announces Moto Surf A3100

yuga — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:29:35 +0000

Motorola’s new Ming successor has been announced — the Surf A3100 — and will be scheduled to be shipped first to Asian markets this quarter.

The Moto Surf A3100 runs on a Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 platform but Motorola added a UI on top so the phone owners can maximize the use of the touchscreen display.

Specs include:

Qualcomm MSM 7201A chipset
256MB ROM, 128MB RAM
up to 32GB on microSD
3G/HSDPA 7.2Mbps
3 MP autofocus camera
secondary front-facing VGA camera
Bluetooth
GPS w/ A-GPS support

There’s also a trackball for navigation but conspicuously missing is WiFi connectivity.

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Macbook Wheel leaked outside MacWorld

yuga — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:17:06 +0000

The biggest surprise from Apple this year did not come from Phil Schiller’s keynote at MacWorld 2009 which has just concluded but from an unexpected source. And no, it’s not the unibody 17″ Macbook Pro with an 8-hour battery life either. It’s codenamed the Macbook Wheel.

Apple dropped the keyboard on this Macbook and replaced it with a huge click-wheel. See video below.

*hehe*

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HP Pavillion dv2 gets an Athlon Neo

yuga — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:33:27 +0000

AMD’s recently announced Athlon Neo processor already has a laptop in tow — the HP Pavillion dv2. This 12-incher should perform better than most netbooks with the new 1.6GHz MV-40 Athlon Neo processor though not that strong enough to pit against the Core 2 Duos.

AMD Athlon Neo 1.6GHz MV-40 processor
12.1-inch (1,280×800 pixels) display screen
up to 4GB RAM
160/250/320/500GB SATA HDD
ATI Mobility Radeon HD3410
Bluetooth
3USB ports
5-in-1 card reader
HDMI
Webcam
WiFi 802.11n
Vista Home Premium 64-bit
4-cell or 6-cell (up to 4 hours) battery life

Like the HP Mini 2140, it only has 92% of standard keyboard size but only weighs 3.8 lbs. Price starts at $699 for basic specs but could go up to $899 with the discreet graphics and an external Blu-Ray player.

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HP Mini 2140 now with Intel Atom too

yuga — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:06:30 +0000

While we thought the HP Mini 1000 was the next netbook out of HP’s doors, the new HP Mini 2140 isn’t far behind — replacing the previous Mini 2133 with Via CPU to an Intel Atom.

Those who bought the Mini 2133 earlier will not be happy to learn that the new Mini 2140 will sport the same keyboard goodness (92% full keyboard size), a 10.1-inch display screen size (1366×768 and 1024×567 resolutions), and powered by an Intel Atom processor.

Options for an 80GB or 160GB HDD and 1GB to 2GB RAM as well as a number of OSes — XP Home/Pro, SuSe Linux, FreeDOS and Windows Vista Home Basic/ Premium.

Expect the pricing structure to be similar to the MIni 2133 when it first came out — starting at $499 and higher.

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MSI X-Slim X320 is a 13.4″ Netbook

yuga — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:08:50 +0000

Just before CES 2009 officially opens, MSI has already sent a preview of their Mac Air look-alike with the X-Slim X320 – a 13.4″ Atom-powered netbook.

Looking gorgeously slim at 0.8″ at its thickest base, the MSI X320 still manages to include 3 USB ports, a VGA port, a LAN port, and a 3-in-1 card reader.

Clearly and Air competitor, the MSI X-Slim weighs about 1.3kgs (2.9lbs) and is just 6mm thin on the tip (just imagine a wider and thinner MSI Wind U100). No other specs available except that it runs on an Intel Atom CPU {via}.

Default battery is 4-cell but MSI will also offer an extended 8-cell battery that could last up to 10 hours. (Update: Engadget adds built-in 3.5G, 2GB RAM, 802.11n WiFi and 1366×768 resolution.)

To be priced somewhere between $799 and $999, depending on storage and RAM. Install OSX in this rig and you got a really cheap Macbook Air knockoff.

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What I want to see in 2009?

yuga — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:40:52 +0000

This is more like a wish list rather than a prediction for the year 2009 with specific focus on the Philippine tech landscape. Hopefully, we’d be able to see some of the items on the list become a reality before the year ends.

Residential WiMax. There are a couple of WiMax providers out there but none that has really catered to residential customers on a full-scale mission. The existing ones are focused on corporate accounts and are pretty expensive for the bandwidth they provide.
3G coverage in the boondocks. People who regularly travel to the provinces know 3G coverage is almost nil in far-flung areas of the archipelago. I know customer usage density there is thin but it’s where people really need a decent connection the most. My suggestion — start with the top 500 summer destinations in the Philippines.
Google Android OS compiled to run with most touch screen phones in the market (SE XPreria X1, LG Cookie, HTC Touch HD, Samsung Omnia). Dual-boot would be nice too. Wouldn’t it be fun to be able to switch between a WinMo and an Android in your phone?
Flat-rate bottomless 3G from all carriers. Yes, Sun Cellular has one, Globe used to have one and Smart has one on hold. A Php999 a month for 512Kbps could be the sweet spot. Oh, and please make data roaming affordable (Bridge Alliance is nice but rates are still steep).
Bank-funded Paypal accounts. Millions of people without credit card are still stuck in limbo when making online purchases. Paypal should enable funding of accounts via local banks. I know my previous meeting with a Paypal exec tells me this feature is far down the list but I do hope it pushes thru this year.
Digital TV. LCD HDTV sales are up and rising from last year. Would be nice if one of the cable networks would serve up hi-def broadcasts (HBO, CineMax, ESPN) especially for those owning 32″ or higher screens.
How about AM Radio as standard on most phones? I’ve already talked about this before here. (Sony Ericsson has one launched last year.)
Lighter but better battery life. That’s for mobile phones and laptops. I’m not asking for that water-powered battery from Samsung. Just a more compact but upsized battery life using another polymer alloy. It should not be very pricey too.
Wireless landline will kill NDD charges. Will it still be national direct dialing if I bring my wireless landline to the province and call another line in that area?
Better and mode detailed public maps for my GPS devices, even for just Metro Manila. WikiMapia rocks but too many pollutant data in there.

How about you? What do you want to see happen in 2009?

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Softbank makes iPhone TV Tuner in Japan

yuga — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:44:37 +0000

Just before the year 2008 ended, Softbank introduces a TV-tuner accessory to the iPhone in Japan — the 1-Seg TV. I’m not sure though if this device will work outside the Japanese airwaves.

The 1-Seg TV grabs the channels over the air and transmits the signal to your iPhone via wifi which could be a bummer if you want to watch TV in your car while driving on a heavy traffic (they should also enable USB cable transmission too).

Priced at around $108 (9,850 yen), the device is 100% in Japanese (hardware and software) so I guess bringing the tuner out of the country will only be useful to those who can read Japanese. You can grab the Softbank Software over at the iPhone App Store (if you are lucky to find it with a search).

Still, I wonder why no other 3rd-party vendor made something similar for a wider market {via}.

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Intel Core i7 940 CPU Benchmark

yuga — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:17:03 +0000

After a month playing with the new Intel Core i7, here are some benchmark results I got based on comparisons between PC Marks and SuperPi 32M of 4 relatively high-end CPUs. The Core i7 940 is expected to top the results but what would be more interesting is by how much.

The rig that was lent to me by Intel had the following specs:

Intel Core i7 940 2.93GHz
3GB DDR3 RAM
NVidia GeForce 9800 GTX

I then compared results with several other rigs lent to me by Intel and AMD (Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 @ 2.53GHz, AMD Phenom II 9950 X4 @ 2.6GHz and Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz which I own).

SuperPi 2M:
Q6600: 52 seconds
Core i7 940: 29 seconds

Super Pi 32M:
Q6600: 23 mins. 9 secs.
Core i7 940: 12 mins. 17 secs.

With SuperPi 2M and 32M , the Core i7 940 scored between 79% to 88% better than the Q6600. The Core i7 performed better under higher stress with SuperPi 32M.

PCMarks Score
Intel Core 2 Duo E7500: 3633
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz: 3774
Intel Core i7 940 2.93GHz: 5397
AMD Phenom X4 9950 2.6GHz : 4159

With PC Marks, the Core i7 940 performed 43% better than the Q6600 and 30% better than the Phenom 9950 X4.

The Core i7 920 2.66GHz has a price tag of Php16k at PC Express so I can only imagine the 940 to go as high as Php30k (based on SRP released by Intel Philippines).

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Duo PNF Pen and Free: Instant Touchscreen

yuga — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:47:30 +0000

The Duo PNF Pen and Free kit can actually make your laptop LCD screen (or any display monitor for that matter) into a touch screen almost instantly.

The device is a sensor and a pen you place on top of your laptop screen or desktop monitor and then attached to the system via USB. The device couples as an infra-red sensor and ultrasonic sensor to locate the coordinates of the pen which then sends the data to the system.

Here’s a video demo of how the PNF kit works:

The kit is on sale at Cool Toyz for a promo price of Php7,000. A bit on the expensive side but I think there would be a number of people (designers, artists, etc.) who might want to have one of these kit to replace their Wacom. I wonder though if the kit will be able to manage dual or extended screen displays.

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HP Firefly Laptop has 17″ and 4.3″ Screens

yuga — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 09:26:16 +0000

While this is not the first laptop to sport dual-screens, the HP Firefly looks odd with a secondary display screen of just 4.3 inches situated below the primary 17″ display.

This is not just an ordinary fancy laptop — it’s a 13-lbs mammoth gaming machine {via Laptop Mag}.

Powered by an Intel Core 2 Extreme 2.4GHz mobile quad-core processor, it also runs a dual Mobility Radeon HD 3870 graphics in CrossFire mode, a 250GB 7,200RPM HDD and 4GB of DDR3 memory.

The secondary 4.3-inch screen (800×480 pixels) allows you to watch other stuff while doing something else on the primary screen (maybe YouTube, iTunes or Hulu).

The trackpad, which is situated on the right side of the keyboard is also multi-touch — hoping you can play FarCry 2 with it. The webcam is also able to run at infrared mode so you can still be seen while playing games in the dark.

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How to Unlock your iPhone 3G

yuga — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:00:40 +0000

The biggest news for 2009 so far is the YellowSn0w unlocking application for the iPhone 3G. You can now insert any SIM card into your iPhone 3G — good news for consumers, bad news for telcos.

The “yellowsn0w” application works with the latest iPhone 3G modem firmware (02.28.00) so if your iPhone is not yet on 2.2, just hook it up on iTunes and upgrade it before unlocking.

You will also need to jailbreak your phone first (by downloading and installing QuickPwn). Once that’s done, you can now follow the unlocking procedures here.

I have yet to do this on my iPhone 3G so I’ll update this post after I make a successful attempt (initial reports from other unlockers revealed that close to half of the attempts weren’t any good).

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Magnetic Mount Lens for Mobile Phones

yuga — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 14:31:11 +0000

This one’s for all those mobile users who loves taking pictures of themselves using their camera phone — a set of lenses fit for your phone camera.

The set includes a wide angle lens, a telephoto lens and a macro for your mobile phone, iPhone included.

The lens is mounted via magnet so if your phone’s camera is already surrounded by a metallic casing, you’re all set. If not, there’s an included metal ring which you attach around the phone’s camera using an adhesive.

It looks ugly with the iPhone though (you need to permanently attach the metal ring around your iPhone’s camera to use the lenses). Each lens costs about $16.99 over at USB Fever.

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Why the iPhone Nano doesn’t make sense?

yuga — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:20:59 +0000

For a couple of weeks, there’s been a growing number of blog coverage about a rumored iPhone Nano which Apple is supposed to be working on. All we’ve seen though are knock-offs from China and eager iPhone Nano accessory makers.

An iPhone Nano does not make any sense for Apple and surely this rumor won’t fly to many who are still waiting for an affordable version of the iPhone 3G. Here’s why.

Screen Real Estate. One of the best features of the iPhone is it’s screan real estate. At 3.5″ very few other phones has this much screen size (the only other phone I know is the HTC Touch HD). Bigger screens mean better viewing pleasure and more content you can squeeze on top of the fold. An iPhone Nano, with say a 2.75″ screen, will be too small for viewing comfort.
Price Considerations. Shrinking the iPhone does not necessarily shrink its price so the argument that a Nano will be cheaper will not hold water. Besides, the price of the Apple iPhone is embedded in the monthly service fees paid to the telcos and not the upfront cost. If the iPhone 3G starts at $99 to $199 right now (with 24-month contract), an iPhone Nano at $49 with the same contract wont convince people that much.
Reduced Features. Downgrading the iPhone 3G to the iPhone Nano might also include shedding off some of its key features — possibly the GPS and WiFi. A crippled and smaller iPhone 3G might not be enticing to consumers either.
Apple wants to maximize profits and a cheaper iPhone Nano might not bring them the numbers to justify that. Again, the bulk of the cost is in the MSF and not the upfront cost (unless you’re in a country where law forbids exclusive lock-in offers).
iPhone Apps. Behavior and functionalities of hundreds or even thousands of iPhone Apps might not work because oft he smaller scree. The virtual keyboard alone will also have to be shrunk. It will also be harder for developers to create two separate iPhone Apps for two devices.

The Apple iPhone is just 1 and a half years old only. The device is still too young for Apple to split into two form factors. For me the iPhone Elite just makes more sense.

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Happy New Year to all!!!

yuga — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:53:07 +0000

Before everyone gets very busy tonight greeting everybody else and having a wonderful feast, I’d like to make a head start and wish everyone a very Happy New Year.

May the year 2009 be another great year all. Cheers!

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