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Verzio Twinn Duplii: Want 2 SIMs with that?

A new mobile phone launched last week with an interesting proposition — two SIMs running on the same phone at the same time. While this idea is not actually new in the Philippines, Verzio wants to penetrate a the aggressive mobile market in the country.

Funny thing happened when I was heading for the press launch last week — got stuck in traffic due to a downpour and when I got the only remaining parking spot near the place, the security guard turned me away (he says it was reserved for another resto). So I headed back home. *heh*

Verzio

Anyway, dual-sims have been around for ages. Enterprising mobile vendors in GreenHills have been selling them for years while others hack existing (esp. Nokia models) phones to be able to support two SIM slots. In fact, there have been mobile units which offer triple and even quad SIM (yup, 4 SIM cards in one phone!) from China spotted at VirraMall.

What Verzio is trying to do is addressing the growing market of dual-SIM culture in the Philippines. One model, the Duplii, is even 3G capable. Because of the eat-all-you-can promos being offered by Smart, Globe and Sun, consumers are encouraged enticed to carry an extra SIM card or sometimes even have two phones altogether.

So, it’s only economically sound to just get a single phone to hold your 2 SIM cards right? Well for most people, maybe yes. However, I can also see several reason why people have 2 numbers:

  • One is a public number and one is a private number. (me!)
  • Others have a personal number and another office number. (24/7 tech support, people working for telcos or related industries)
  • Some have a dedicated number just for their special someone. Or, the other secret special someone (aha!).
  • Hard core SMS users who only have Php15 a day budget for texting. (Text-chatters popularized by Sun Cellular’s All-Day All-Night Promo)
  • And those who don’t actually need two numbers but are more gravitated to having two phone units because of specific features. (A QWERTY or Smart phone and a regular slim phone.)

The Verzio Duplii retails for P14,990 (US$ 350) while the Verzio Twinn, P11,990 (US$ 280). As for me, the benefit of having two phones is that I can turn off the other (public) one when I don’t want to be disturbed. *guilty*

It will be interesting to learn how much percentage of the market segment can Verzio attract — the selling point being it’s a cheap dual-SIM capable phone. So, let’s take a quick poll from our readers here who have 2 mobile numbers. Will you go for a Verzio or stick with your 2 mobile phones.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

119 Responses

  1. Avatar for wal wal says:

    will it easily configure 3g, mms, and gprs settings from all local telecom networks?

  2. Avatar for Buddy Buddy says:

    What is the current market price given that this post was originally written November of last year?

  3. Avatar for judge judge says:

    how about the duplii,can i use this phone in the US,korea and japan?plz reply asap coz nex week im joining my ship in japan.

  4. Avatar for Swoops Swoops says:

    Yes MMS for Verzio is both slots, just checked.

  5. Avatar for Golden Roost Golden Roost says:

    Is verzio capable of MMS for both SIM 1 & SIM 2 slots? Myphone can only run MMS for SIM 1 slot. :(

  6. Avatar for Swoops Swoops says:

    Attended Verzio’s Fiamma event a week ago.

    Difference between Verzio Duplii and other Chinese dual SIM phones incl. Myphone:

    Uses branded processor, Qualcomm for 3G and Philips NXP for GSM which is similar to the likes of Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. Others are using MTK which is similar to Bird or CECT.

    Triband while others are Dualband.

    Phone contacts incl. 1000 names, 2000 e-mail adds and 3000 numbers plus other fields, other dual SIM phones are 800-1000 names and 800-1000 numbers only.

    Can use PC Suite to tansfer to and fro MS Outlook incl. contacts and all fields, others cannot.

    Bluetooth vcard contact transfer includes all fields ‘send/receive all’ or ‘one by one’ in one click, while other brands is number only, you need to input name manually one by one.

    User friendly interface similar to branded phones, other phones are using Chinese standard menu.

    Real megapixel camera as stated, all others incl. Myphone is interpolated VGA claim to be 2MP.

    These are just a few of what they presented so others I cannot remember. Hope this helps.

  7. Avatar for Peejay Peejay says:

    hi abe, didn’t do a back read of your posts yet but how does it compare to the myphone dual SIM?

  8. Avatar for LadyVi LadyVi says:

    JC John SESE Cuneta replied on Nov 27th, 2007

    While at first multi-sim seems convenient and better, but if you think deeper and in the long-run, having multiple phones is the right way.

    For one, I haven’t seen a multi-sim phone (add-on support or built-in support) that can let you text and/or call at the same time for both sims. Which is possible if you have two phone units. Not that it matters (although for me it does matter – being a busy person), in the long-run, if one unit breaks down, you still have another unit to use (and exchange sims).

    And if i may add having 2 unit is better specially in times of trouble. Gave my motorola phone (which is a lot cheaper from my nokia phone) to the thief who mugged me two weeks ago. And yes thanks to MOTOrola :-)

  9. Avatar for JC John SESE Cuneta JC John SESE Cuneta says:

    While at first multi-sim seems convenient and better, but if you think deeper and in the long-run, having multiple phones is the right way.

    For one, I haven’t seen a multi-sim phone (add-on support or built-in support) that can let you text and/or call at the same time for both sims. Which is possible if you have two phone units. Not that it matters (although for me it does matter – being a busy person), in the long-run, if one unit breaks down, you still have another unit to use (and exchange sims).

    With one unit with multi-sim support, if it breaks, then all your sims are useless.

    Secondly, I don’t know how Verzio will tap the Pinoy market, considering, as you’ve said, we’ve known and seen multi-sim features way way back – both as an add-on and as a built-in feature. In the end, having multiple phones prevailed (especially now, phones are cheaper [thanks to MOTOrola!!]).

  10. Avatar for boddah boddah says:

    dual sim.. with 3G.. now that’s tempting.

  11. Avatar for Pinoy Rich Jerk Pinoy Rich Jerk says:

    Its nice to have a dual SIM functioning at the same time. You can use different networks and take its advantages to your limits. I believe more pinoys will be interested on this m-phones soon…

  12. Avatar for Jaypee Jaypee says:

    Now I don’t feel bad coz I’m not the only who missed the 7.1 megapixel digital camera they were giving away. Hehe :D

  13. Avatar for AnnaE AnnaE says:

    If the dual sim system really works, then I’d go for it. My past experience with dual sim phones isn’t exactly that wonderful.

    I haven’t tried the Verzio, though.

    I’m hoping someone will share their favorable experience with this dual sim wonder.

  14. Avatar for youngmaze youngmaze says:

    how much?

  15. Avatar for jepoy jepoy says:

    Solid Broadband Corp’s myPhone,

    http://www.gameops.net/2007/08/philippine-broadband-company-to-launch.html

    But verzio’s model is better with 3G :P

  16. Avatar for chase chase says:

    That is nice actually so I don’t need to use two phones or switch sim cards. While I am here in the Philippines I use 2 sims like one Globe and a Norwegian sim which i usually use when I call back home.

  17. Avatar for ajay ajay says:

    Ako nga rin muntik nang itaboy ng guard because I parked in front of the driveway (*typical female). But I lied and said I’ll only be in a Fiamma for a few minutes. Well I guess in this case, resourcefulness pays. Regards Abe :P

  18. Avatar for koolitz koolitz says:

    akala ko sabay mo magamit ang dalawang sim at the same time…meron kasi na feature sa TV na ganon…back to back ang lcd screen. :-)

  19. Avatar for Pinoy Rich Jerk Pinoy Rich Jerk says:

    Wow! One nice m-phone I’m looking forward to. For me, it’s always better to have and enjoy 2 m-phone numbers which is functioning at the same time. Using different networks is an advantages for my mobile consumption. People will be more interested on this stuffs in days to come…

  20. Avatar for CrunchSite CrunchSite says:

    Abe, you forgot to write about the prices.

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