Showing posts with label end. Show all posts
Showing posts with label end. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The Nexus One end its life as an Astronaut



Remember the first Google Nexus phone, the HTC built Nexus One? It looks like the phone is ending its life as an Astronaut.

As part of a new project to lower the cost of satellites, NASA successfully launched NASAs 10cm-cubed CubeSat Satellites. The CubeSats are constructed from commercial off-the-shelf components, which each satellite costing between US$3500 and US$7000 to build. To keep the costs down, unmodified smartphones are used as the computer for the satellite. Three Android powered HTC Nexus One phones get the honor of powering the first CubeSats.

They Nexus Ones are equipped with a larger lithium-ion battery pack and a more powerful radio for transmitting data. Other than that, it really is just an off-the shelf Android phones. The phone camera is even used to capture and transmit images.

I was pretty sure I would be picking up a Samsung Galaxy S4 to replace my HTC Desire HD. Now, I really feel like maybe taking ONE more spin with HTC.

Source: CNET Australia
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Thursday, May 23, 2013

Gameloft End of Summer Sale at Google Play


In celebration of the end of the US Summer (whats so good about the end of summer), Game loft is offering three of its popular titles on Google Play for US$0.99:

  • N.O.V.A. 3: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance
  • Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation
  • Gangstar Rio: City of Saints

Sale is for a week. Grab then while they are cheap.
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

March 2013 High End Smartphone Buyers Guide

Phones without LTE need not apply. With two LTE offerings available at the mid-level, I will not be including any phones in the over Php20,000 category which do not offer LTE connectivity.

 If your budget is closer to 30K, I recommend a bit of patience. If you spend this much money, you probably want to keep your phone for some time, and the Sony Xperia Z, Sony Xperia ZL, HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S IV are just a month of two away from their Philippine release. 


1. Sony Xperia V (Smart Data Plan 2000/Php23,800) - HD + LTE

The Sony Xperia V has a 4.3-inch 720p display. The display has 354 pixels per inch, Sharper than Apples iPhone. It is powered by the dual core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Krait processor. It has a a 13 MP camera, but performance is a bit below the 8MP units you find on Apples iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S III. 

This phone come with Android 4.0.4 out of the box, but an update to Jelly Bean has been confirmed for this phone. Internal storage is less than the Xperia Acro S, at 8 GB, but it does come with a microSD card slot. The battery is a  1750 mAH unit, but 
it gets decent but not great battery life.

The real selling point of this phone is the HSPA+ and LTE radio. All in all, nothing spectacular, but with LTE and a low price, it is a good deal. The next phone on the list, will make you think twice about getting a Sony Xperia V though, 

I have a Sony Xperia V versus iPhone 5 comparison at this link.


2.  Nokia Lumia 920 (Php25,750) -  This could be the best smartphone in the Philippine market today



The Windows Phone 8 powered Nokia Lumia 920 uses the same processor and has as much RAM as the Sony Xperia V, but comes with a larger 4.5-inch HD (768 x 1280) PureMotion HD+ display with Clear Black technology, But this phone is all about the camera. The Lumia 920 has a 8MP primary camera with Carl Zeiss Optics and optical image stabilization, the first for a smartphone. A gyroscope is used to detect the motion of the phone and the whole optical assembly moves in the opposite direction to cancel out the movement. That happens 500 times a second. Finally an LTE chip rounds out the package. 

If you are buying a high end phone for cash this month, and willing to give Windows Phone 8 a try, this is the phone to buy this month.

We wrote more about the Nokia Lumia 920 in a previous post at this link. 


3. Apple iPhone 5 (Plan 2499/Starts at Php33,600) - The best iPhone ever

The Apple iPhone 5 is the best iPhone every built. The main feature of the iPhone 5 is the new 4-inch (640 x 1136) display. These is a pretty substantial upgrade behind the display. Inside you have 1 GB of RAM and the new dual core A6 processor, making this twice as powerful as the iPhone 4S. The A6 processor is built on 32 nm technology, which gives the iPhone 5 not only more power, but also better battery life than previous iPhones. The 8 MP camera is rivaled only by the 8MP camera on Samsung phones, and the dedicated camera centric smartphones. Yes, it now has LTE activated.

The Apple iPhone 5 comes in three models, with 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB of storage. Storage is not expandable.

It is an excellent choice, if you are happy with a 4-inch or so display. 

This phone is available from both carriers at Plan 2499, but Globe Plan 1799 plus Php4,800 cash or Smarts Data Plan 2000 plus Php2,500 cash are better deals. 

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