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*
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.
am selling my verzio duplii phone brand new. bought it yesterday at Sta Lucia Mall. April 12, 2009. Msg me if interested. Bought it at Php6000 selling it as it is. no memory card po kaya cheap. James 091898*****
mr hot ano po cell number ninyo interested po ako
im selling my verzio duplii for 4,000, january ko lang po binili at 1 month ko lang ginamit.ok naman ang battery umaabot ng 48 hours. complete lahat, pati resibo.
whew! meron bang downloads na themes? sawa na ako sa themes eh! pra iba nmn..
hi ms daisy… better bring ur fone sa malate… yon dw ang main branch nila… if u bring it to other service centers like i did.. sa malate din nila ipapadala… i brought mine (1 sim lang ang narerecongnize) to festival last march 5 n ang update nila today ko dw makukuha yong replacement unit… SANA…
guys i need your help.. gus2 q lng sana malamian lung san merong service center ang verzio twinn n malapit lng sa katipunan ave., q.c.? hindi kc aq mkrecieve thru bluetooth pero nkakapgsend aq, and ung battery nya overnight charging na pero ngagamit q lng ang phone for only 6hrs. imagine overnight q na cia chinarge.
tnx sa concern..
God bless..
for those who are considering buying verzio phones, forget it!!!! kung gusto nyo ng dual sim, mag nokia na lang kayo bili kayo 2 units, yun na!!!
pero in fairness ha, kasama ang verzio duplii sa postpaid units na pwede makuha sa smart.
i purchased a verzio dual sim touch screem handset last december 16, 2008. i was so excited in using it, however to my dismay it was faulty in regards ti its lcd, it turns black and freezes. i bought it to the nearest verzio shop in sta rosa laguna. the verzio technician told me that its flex cab needs to be replaced, if not it will be replace with a new same model. it has been a month, i go back to get it from that shop. i stayed inside the store to test whether is totally fixed but suddenly it goes back to the same fault it had. another thing, i observe that the battery was different from the new battery it had before i surrendered it. i had no option but to leave the phone for another season of fixing. i expected that it will take another month of fixing. i called the verzio shop, according to the lady i spoke with, there is no update yet of the said phone, it there is they are going to text me. in the contrary, i never received any sms when i tried getting the phone…. i do not have that up to this day…. it is so annoying!!! i purchased it without any hassles in my behalf but verzio gives a customer like me foul burdens with that bloody phone…. it is ridiculous!!! it was brand new but bloody because it is faulty until now….i can file a complaint to the ombudsman against verzio if i like to….. it was so ridiculous!!!!!! verzio will not prosper if it continues rendering faulty phones to its consumers….
im selling my verzio twinn for P3500 fixed price!
complete package, rarely used phone, 98% scratchless 0916-266-0256 QC
Verzio Twinn is no longer available @ makro, automatic center and sm appliance center, they’re out of stock. I called Haldane’s office @5211111 and their sales manager told me that verzio will no longer reproduce Twinn model. He advised me to go to Festival Mall in alabang or in the fort, they still have stocks in their stores for P5490 and P5990 for Duplii
Update lang on my Duplii phone that i posted last December:
Haldane (the company that distributes Verzio) replaced my phone and charger a for a new one but i don’t know kung malas ako or what pero I was monitoring the power consumption of the “new” phone and I found the same problem with this phone (i.e discharging at 10-12 hours after being fully charged) This is by using the two SIM slots. The same problem was observed when I used the SIM 1 slot only. However, when I used the SIM 2 slot, the power/battery lasted for 3 to 4 days.So now I’m using it as a single SIM phone. I wrote to Haldane about it last month but there is still no reply uptil now… so for those intending to buy verzio duplii…2 SIM technology seems to be not that sound or stable yet…
Hi,
I was bored and started walking along selendra, bonifacio heights, last night and to my suprise there’s a VERZIO shop. I’m tired having 2 units.. I keep losing them *sigh* I end up buying a dual-sim fone VERZIO duplii at P5990.
Dunno if this is in line with the topic but does anyone here saw the myphone tv phone thing. Its like an iphone where its a touch screen. Has anyone bought that or ever saw one yet. Thanks. Its a dual phone .
how much the 3G Duplii??????????
I’m from ROMANIA, EUROPE, I’m interested in 1 VERZIO DUPLII DUAL SIM. can anyone help me to buy such a phone, please?
thank you.
i bought duplii last january 15 sa quickcom north edsa. 5990 lang nun, pero ngaun ala na ata kc parang pinaubos na lang. ok naman kung txt at tawag lang hanap mo sa cp pwd na pagtiyagaan. kung nasa year 2000 tau ngaun cguro eto ang number 2 cp. kasi iba pa din talaga ang nokia.
… btw pwede nga pla pay lite… 1yr to pay hehehe…
verzio price update (cubao)
twinn 3999 (macro)
duplii 5999 (gateway)
mga bro at sis.. where can i buy a duplii in cebu?…
and how much do u think would it cost me?
this phone is really tempting.
how’s the camera of the duplii one?…
>dati meron sa macro cubao na 4000 na twinn pro sabi ng bro ko 5000 na dw ngayon and in other stores magkapresyo na ang duplii and twinn… hay naku!!!
>btw… i still love my twinn hehehe!!!