2012 v12n9 - THE MOBILE MOVEMENT

Mobile

THE FUTURE OF

Internet

HTC ONE X

One extra-powerful phone

GEFORCE

GTX 680: The fastest video card on the planet

ASUS TRANSFORMER TF300

MUSIC

A tablet easy on the pocket

MOBILE BROWSING NIKON COOLPIX S9200 High-power zoom

REVIEWED:

Accutone Pisces Band • Bang & Olufsen Beolit 12 • Blaupunkt Comfort 112 • Canon IXUS 240 HS • HP Folio 13 • Lenco Spherical iPD-4600 • Panasonic Lumix DMC-S2 Panasonic Lumix DMC-SZ7 • Philips O’Neill The Stretch Headphones • Samsung DV300F • Samsung NX200 • Sony NEX 5N • Sony VAIO S Series (VPCSB) • Sony W-Series NWZ-W262 Walkman

the

MAJA SALVADOR

CLICKS WITH THE

e l i b o m movement

GE X500

ASC Ref .No.A087N032912A

editor’snote Is it time to throw away our computers?

Maybe not just yet, but the convergence of more affordable smartphones and tablets, coupled with increased broadband coverage, is democratizing Internet access. More and more, Internet use is moving out of the office and becoming a pervasive part of our everyday lives.

To illustrate: During a weekend shopping trip to my neighborhood supermarket, I stopped to grab some snacks at a food stall. While waiting to be served, a counter girl approached me and asked if I could show her how to “Facebook” from her smartphone.

Quite frankly, I was surprised. It used to be that only corporate types needed 24/7 online access.

Apparently, without my noticing it, texting had become passé, and literally everyone is now connecting via Facebook, Twitter or Skype.

Personally, I think this is a good thing. Beyond the technological gobbledygook that the man-onthe-street does not really care about, what really matters are the benefits of widespread mobile Internet use. Access to a global knowledge pool, cheap communications, and a variety of digital media platforms are allowing people to stay informed, consider diverse views, and share their ideas with family, friends or the world at large.

We are, once again, at the cusp of the next digital revolution—and this is why Gadgets Magazine is taking a closer look at mobile Internet.

PRESIDENT & CEO CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT SALES MANAGER ACCOUNTS EXECUTIVE SPECIAL PROJECTS STAFF

Maribelle Alba Mika Fernandez-David Amy Christine Giray Marisa Consuelo Carol Agabin Gerald Coloma

PR & EVENTS STAFF

MR Gavin Desinira Teh Jeffrey V. Suazo

ACCOUNTING MANAGER ACCOUNTING STAFF

Tess Pascua Lorie Bernardo

ADMINISTRATION STAFF

Ramil Almojano Salvador Da, Jr.

LEGAL COUNSEL

Alba Law Office

GADGETS Magazine is published monthly by Great Minds Media Incorporated.

Address all correspondence to 9-B Evening News Street, West Triangle, Quezon City.

Our telephone numbers are 332-4004, 376-7356 and 514-8321..

Our website is: www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph Our email addresses are: editors@gadgetsmagazine.com.ph; gadgetsmagazine@gmail.com All unsolicited manuscripts, illustrations and photos submitted must be accompanied by a stamped self-addressed envelope if they are to be returned.

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. Every care is taken to ensure that the content of Gadgets is fully accurate; however, the publisher and printer assume no responsibility for the effects arising therefrom. Gadgets Magazine is a registered trademark of Great Minds Media Incorporated.

WE ARE ALSO ON

Maribelle M. Alba PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Maribelle M. Alba

Mika fernandez-david

Roni Callanta

John nieves

Michelle Callanta-Toledo

MR Gavin

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Resident MILF and monthly Beautylab guinea pig. Not to be influenced by pop culture, she remains true to her Multiply account and her Nokia N82, much to the chagrin of her colleagues.

STYLIST/CONTRIBUTOR Sports and fashion may be a little impossible to mix, but our resident celeb stylist and sports savvy writer balances both perfectly. She’s the little girl in 5-inch heels on court.

Presy Alba

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF The quintessential gadgets girl who loves all things Mac, red and blingy.

DIGITAL EDITOR All-around geek and gamer.

Loves guns, plays airsoft every weekend and games with Battlefield 3 religiously.

Has been called a noob approximately 1 million times.

MAY 2012

ASST. PUBLISHER Loves family, food, photography, travel, gadgets, office equipment, notebooks & pens, the beach, cooking, foreign supermarkets, coffee, crazy friends and food trips in the guise of photoshoots.

Not necessarily in that order.

CONTRIBUTOR Other than fashion, music, literary writing and pulling out 250k worth of Hermes and Gucci merchandise for work, she is obsessed with pop culture, glamour, 6-inch heels, smoky eyes and false lashes.

Benjamin Arnold

Christopher Kho

EDITOR-AT-LARGE Websites, anything and everything Apple, Power Tools and unusual gadgets excite her.

She also loves to travel, go on food trips, and try out all the new things.

SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Besides being the Senior Art Director and a regular staff writer of Gadgets Magazine, he has also been dubbed the resident Sexy Chef of the company—in the sense that he cooks healthy food and not because he is sexy.

CONTRIBUTOR He eats, sleeps and drinks racing, and will drive the tires off of just about anything with four wheels and a motor.

Patrick Jude Ilagan

Jon Uriarte

PAOLO Toledo

ART DIRECTOR He is a shutterbug living in the vast jungles of Manila. When not working he is busy reading books, solving the mysteries of life and fighting zombies.

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STAFF WRITER Writer and beat-smith with a geek-like passion for music gear, hip hop culture, and lyricism. If he’s not on stage, he wouldn’t mind being locked in a studio for days on end.

CONTRIBUTOR Husband and father to two beautiful ladies. Other roles include: Switch of The Mighty Miscellaneous, DJ Switchtrik, Advertising Creative, Sarisarisounds.com DJ, and an endorser for Team Manila x Daily Grind and UNSCHLD urbanwear.

www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

gadgetsteam

3

DECEMBER 2012 / JANUARY 2013

THE PEOPLE THAT MAKE THIS MAGAZINE GREAT FOR YOU

www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

contents

VOLUME 12 NUMBER 07 | MARCH 2012

ON THE COVER: Photograph by Dan Yusay-Harvey Make-up & Hair by Denise Go-Ochoa Art Direction by Benjamin Arnold Styling by MR Gavin Cover Dress by Jot Losa Shot at Art Movement Studios

COVER STORY

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MEET THE FUTURE OF MOBILE INTERNET: LTE

We enlighten you on the nature of LTE and the incredibly fast internet speeds it will offer when it finally hits the Philippines.

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MAY 2012

GEFORCE GTX 680

We give you the scoop on the fastest video card on the planet.

photo feature

MOBILE MAYHEM

The gorgeous Maja Salvador graces our pages for the mobile madness this month of May.

www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

The wait is over.

The HTC One X is here.

The One X is HTC’s latest flagship smartphone, and the company has spared nothing to make it one of the fastest, most advanced Android smartphones ever released. No superlative is worthy of describing the HTC One X – beautiful just doesn’t cut it.

Tantalizing display

Burst shooting

One tough mother

The HTC One X captures your imagination at first glance, as its beautiful 4.7-inch IPS LCD2 capacitive touchscreen draws you in with its 720 x 1280 screen resolution. Viewing photos and videos is an experience in itself, as the large screen gives you more real-estate to work with which translates into a better viewing experience.

Aside from shooting fantastic photos in low light, the HTC One X is also capable of rapid, burst shooting as fast as 4 frames per second. The camera also starts up pretty quick – 0.7 seconds – so it’s usually ready long before you are.

All of that is wrapped in a unibody polycarbonate shell and protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass, the HTC One X is as beautiful as it is sturdy. The HTC One X is made to be tough, beautiful and powerful – everything that you’ll ever want in a smartphone.

Quad-core processor

The HTC One X is powered by Beats Audio, giving you authentic, studio quality sound for all of your multimedia needs, be it videos, music and movies. In addition, the HTC One X is pre-loaded with the HTC Music Center where you can access your music library, internet radio and multiple online music services.

Breeze through tasks, games and applications with HTC One X. Equipped with the latest quad-core processor from NVIDIA, the HTC One X is capable of handling all the newest games and apps that come out on the Goole Play store, as well as last the whole day thanks to NVIDIA’s 4 plus 1 technology.

Not afraid of the dark Traditional camera phones shy away from low-light situations and fast moving scenes.

That’s not the case with the HTC One X – armed with a fast f2.0 lens that allows 44% more light than other leading competitive brands, it’s able to take fantastic photos in places other camera phones fear to tread.

Amazing Sound

contents VOLUME 12 NUMBER 07 | MARCH 2012

technology

10 25 41 44 45

Tech Parade

New tech finds

Find the latest gadgets out in the market today, some of which you might never have heard of.

GadgetsLab

Tried & tested, just for you

Mobility

48 52 54

Digitally Developed

Share your life story by creating beautiful and visually-stunning images right on your mobile device.

APPS

There’s an app for that

Want more from your mobile phone?

These apps will make your life easier when you’re on the go.

GAMING

Ridge Racer Unbounded

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TABLET BROWSING

Suzuki Philippines Takes the Scooter Field to the “NEX” Level Manila International Auto Show 2012

The country’s biggest and most anticipated automobile event of the year.

The tale of crowning the Philippines’ 2011 - 2012 Car of the Year

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Music

84

LISTEN

Mobile Browsing for Music Here’s where we show you some ways you can dig for music online on your mobile devices in the Philippines.

Featured Artist

86

Some thoughts on staying connected through tablets while on the road.

Working Hard, Wong Fu Style

We get up close with the ChineseAmerican filmmaking group and YouTube sensation as they enlighten us on their journey to success.

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Gadgets that don’t fall far from Tree

How to use your iPhone’s Personal Hotspot.

MAY 2012

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ALBUMS BROKEN DOWN & REVIEWED

Paul McCartney gives us the jazzy Kisses on the Bottom; Rihanna gets dirtier and badder as we listened to her Talk That Talk; Tanya Markova gives us a collection of old and new in the Shock Pop 2CD Edition.

Jobstreet Mobile App Lifestyle Parade

72

What’s life without style?

From clothes and footwear to bags and accessories, we prepare you for the summer vacation with these stylish must-haves.

BeautyLab

78

NU Skin Galvanic Spa and Transformation Set There’s a summer alternative to getting that tan you’ve always wanted.

Home

81 80

Samsung Home Appliances

From refrigerators to high-tech cleaners, Samsung’s next generation of home appliances offer energy efficiency and space.

Yin & YAng

It’s all about directions

Achieve harmony and balance with these Feng Shui tips.

Bits & Bytes

Events

89 93

CD Reviews Everything Apple

LifeStyle Feature

Now you can go job hunting and stay updated about it on your smartphones.

We give you the scoop on the ride that won this year’s Car of the Year.

The ride you might have been on before just changed its direction to promise fast-paced, action-packed, massive destruction and mayhem.

TABLETS

The ride that links the way we drive with the way we live.

The NEX115 scooter is a sporty, economical, convenient, and affordable way around the city.

We go in-depth and unbiased as we give you our expert reviews on the gadgets we’ve tested ourselves.

Snapshots

All-new Ford Focus

Lifestyle

Samsung officially launches the Samsung Smart Camera WB150F; Spyder leads the race to a fully charged summer; The Travel Club holds the Mad About Travel 2012 fair.

NewsBits & Bytes

UPDATES ON TECH NEWS

Check out what’s hot off the tech presses.

Buyer’s Guide

97

Looking for something in particular?

Getting a new gadget? Let us help you out. www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

techparade

BE UP-TO-DATE ON THE FRESHEST GADGETS TO HIT THE MARKET

ALCATEL GLORY X 918N SMARTPHONE

The Glory X 918N is ideal for individuals who need an affordable dual-SIM smartphone with great connectivity features and access to today’s Android app market. The Alcatel phone runs on Android Gingerbread with a 650MHz processor and it’s got a 3.2-inch capacitive touch screen, a 3-megapixel camera, 150MB of storage space, and a microSD slot. Its connectivity features include Wi-Fi, HSPA, Bluetooth 4.0, micro USB, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

Also, its case is easily interchangeable and you get two different colors upon purchase.

PHP 6,199

ALCATEL SAPPHIRE HD 995 SMARTPHONE

The Sapphire HD 995 is Alcatel’s new flagship gadget that is still affordable.

It runs on Android Gingerbread, giving you access to the Android app market, and comes with a 1.4GHz single-core processor and also Alcatel’s 3D user interface that makes viewing and managing apps easier and faster. It has a relatively large touch screen at 4.3 inches and packs a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with 720p@30fps video recording capability. It also includes 1GB of storage and a micro SD slot capable of up to 32GB, while its connectivity features include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and HDMI

PHP 13,999 10

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BLAUPUNKT COMFORT 112

WIRELESS HEADPHONES

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These headphones deliver high performance, and the best part—you don’t have to worry about any wires. This is especially useful if you like to listen to music while walking around the city or if you’d rather keep your music device inside your bag while you sound trip. You’ll no longer have to worry about dangling wires or always having to plug and unplug your headphones into the socket of your music player. The Comfort 112 Wireless Headphones comfortably wrap over your ears and put you in your own little world through its 40mm speakers. They also handles sound pressure levels up to 101 dB and come with a hard carrying case to keep them properly protected.

PHP 8,775

MILI POWER SHINE PORTABLE POWER BANK

The Power Shine is a high-capacity, multifunction portable power bank that will make sure your gadgets don’t run out of battery. It has a capacity of 4,000mAh and is capable of charging two gadgets at the same time when you’re away from an electrical socket. It comes with a micro-USB adapter (for Blackberry, HTC, Samsung phones, Sony phones), an Apple 30-pin adapter, and adapter for Samsung Galaxy Tab, making it capable of charging iPad and other tablets. Like the Power Miracle, the Power Shine is also small enough to fit into your pocket and is recharged by plugging it into a computer via the included USB cable.

PHP 3,650

DIVOOM IFIT-4

PORTABLE SPEAKER DOCK The iFit-4 portable speaker dock is specially designed for the iPhone 4 and comes equipped with Class-D amplifiers for that big sound in a small package, and PO-Bass technology for enhanced bass and a rich low-end. It’s completely portable due to its rechargeable Li-on battery that lasts for 8 hours, and it’ll also charge your iPhone or iPod when docked. This way, you can enjoy great sound from your Apple devices while outdoors or on-the-go—and since it’s small and light enough, you can even have it attached to your iPhone while playing games. You can also use the line-in jack to play sound from other music and audio devices.

PHP 3,200 www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

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techparade

CANON EOS-1DX DSLR CAMERA

BE UP-TO-DATE ON THE FRESHEST GADGETS TO HIT THE MARKET

Canon’s new flagship Canon EOS-1DX DSLR camera is called the “camera with three brains” as it features dual DIGIC 5+ image processors and a dedicated DIGIC 4 for metering and AF. Its processing speed allows the EOS-1DX to perform complex functions such as in-camera chromatic aberration correction that eliminate the need to fix it in post-production software, while the DIGIC 4 improves AF performance. The camera has an 18.1-megapixel full frame CMOS sensor at its heart, a 3.2-inch LCD and is capable of shooting video at 1920 x 1080/30p or 1280 x 720/60p while performing well in low light. It has an ISO range of 100-51200 with additional settings for situations that need extreme ISO, a 61-point High Density Reticular AF system, a built-in Gigabit Ethernet port for quick tethered shooting. You can also attach the WFT-E6A add-on that provides Wi-Fi and supports Bluetooth. The camera also has a new Electronic First Curtain mode in live-view that reduces camera vibration during critical exposures. Clearly, the Canon EOS-1DX is for more serious photographers and perhaps also some filmmakers.

CANON IXUS 240 HS DIGITAL COMPACT CAMERA

Canon adds a new model to its well-known IXUS line-up for those looking to get Canon’s signature image quality at an affordable price. The IXUS 240 HS, in its metallic body design, has a 16.1-megapixel sensor and a 24mm wide angle protruding lens. With its built-in Wi-Fi capability, users can share their pictures on Facebook, their videos on YouTube, or wirelessly transfer them to their computer, smart device, or another compatible camera. The IXUS 240 HS sports a 3.2-inch touch-screen display and comes equipped with a variety of picture effects, 58 Smart Auto scenes, and full HD video recording capability.

CANON EOS 5D MARK III DSLR CAMERA

The Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera is certainly for more serious camera enthusiasts and bears many similarities to the EOS-1DX, including its DIGIC 5+ Imaging Processor and high-performance 61-point High Density Reticular AF array. It has incredible processing power and offers up to 6fps of fast continuous shooting. It sports a magnesium alloy body, stainless steel lens mount, and a dust-and-moisture-resistant design while packing a 22.3-megapixel full frame CMOS sensor at its heart, a 3.2-inch rear LCD, dual memory card slots, and an extended ISO range of 50 to 102,400 (100 to 25,600 natively). The EOS 5D Mark III features enhanced video features for cinematography, television production, and documentary filmmaking professionals. This includes better noise reduction, longer recording times, improved weather resistance, and an incorporated headphone jack for audio monitoring. It can shoot videos at HD resolutions up to 1080 at 24/25/30p or 720 at 50/60p, and it also has an HDR mode, multiple exposure mode and comparative playback.

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techparade BE UP-TO-DATE ON THE FRESHEST GADGETS TO HIT THE MARKET

SAMSUNG SERIES 5 ULTRA ULTRABOOK

Samsung’s latest ultrabook, the Series 5 Ultra is almost guaranteed to blow you away. Sporting a beautiful chassis that’s only 14mm thin (20.9mm for the 14-inch version), the Series 5 Ultra is easy to carry and use and won’t weigh you down during long trips outside of your office. There are two versions of the Series 5 Ultra— a 13-inch Core i5 version and a more powerful 14-inch Core i7 version. The 14-inch variant also includes a couple of other goodies aside from a more powerful processor—1TB disk storage and an optical disk drive—a first for devices of its class. Both versions of the Series 5 Ultra sport an ultra-bright, 300nit HD LED SuperBright screen and have a battery endurance of about 6.4 hours before being charged.

PHP 44,900 – 13-INCH CORE I5 PHP 59,900 – 14-INCH CORE I7

SAMSUNG GALAXY BEAM SMARTPHONE

Tired of lugging a huge projector to meetings? Well, then you might want to take at Samsung’s take at the diminutive projector/phone category.

The Samsung Galaxy Beam combines a small, 15 lumen projector screen with a powerful Android device that allows users the power to share their content, anywhere, anytime and on any surface. The Samsung Galaxy Beam is also a powerful Android smartphone in its own right, sporting a dual-core 1GHz processor that opens up a world of possibilities. The 4-inch screen is big enough to rival other higher-end devices, and the Galaxy Beam’s manageable 12.55mm thickness means it’s not going to take up a lot of pocket real-estate.

SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB 2 TABLET

Samsung’s not letting up with their tablet onslaught with the release of the Galaxy Tab 2. The Galaxy Tab 2 comes in two distinct flavours – a 7-inch WSVGA(1024×600) PLS TFT variant and a larger, 10.1-inch WXGA (1280×800) deal. Aside from their sizes, they’re pretty much sporting the same specs – 1GHz dual-core processor, Android 4.0 (ICS) right out of the gate with a 3 megapixel camera for imaging. Both will come in 3G and Wi-Fi only flavours and both will naturally be swathed in Samsung’s TouchWiz UI interface.

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techparade

DIVOOM ITOUR-OMNI PORTABLE SPEAKERS

BE UP-TO-DATE ON THE FRESHEST GADGETS TO HIT THE MARKET

These portable speakers are ideal for those who want some background music while they’re relaxing on the beach, doing other outdoor activities, or those who need to have audio during their presentations. It’s equipped with Class-D amplifiers and PO-Bass technology, which produces deeper and more powerful bass, despite its small size of 55 x 32 x 155 mm. The device has function switches on the side as well as an FM tuner and a built-in rechargeable battery. You can play sound from a variety of sources due to its TF and USB reader, and 3.5mm stereo input.

PHP 1,850

ACCUTONE TAURUS IN-EAR HEADPHONE

These in-ear earphones not only go perfectly with your personal audio players, but also with your smartphones due to its built-in high fidelity microphone that you can use for phone conversations. With a 9.2mm speaker diameter, these earphones deliver a spacious sound and rich bass that can be adjusted through Accutone’s Bass Tuning technology. Sporting a high-gloss mirrorblack finish, it also features tangle-free cables, an ergonomic rotary volume control, and an Aluminum Spin Cable nob for dual-wearing. The 3 sizes of earbuds ensure that you’ll find the perfect fit and the leatherette zipper bag is a great place to store the headset during your travels.

PHP 2,950

MILI POWER MIRACLE PORTABLE POWER BANK

The MiLi Power Miracle portable power bank will ensure that your gadgets don’t run out of energy with its 2000mAh capacity. It’s been designed for wide range of mobile phones, including BlackBerry, iPhone, Nokia, Samsung, and a lot of other mini and micro USB devices. It also comes with a variety of adapters to guarantee that your devices can be plugged to the charging port. The Power Miracle is small enough to fit into your pocket and it has LED light indicators that tell you how much charge is left. Its standby time reaches up to 230 hours and the device is recharged by plugging it into a computer via the included USB cable.

PHP 1,650 www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

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techparade BE UP-TO-DATE ON THE FRESHEST GADGETS TO HIT THE MARKET

NIKON COOLPIX P310 DIGITAL CAMERA

Don’t be afraid of the dark—with Nikon’s Coolpix P310, you’ll be able to take great pictures even in low-light. A backside illuminated 16.1-megapixel CMOS image sensor combined with a specially crafted f/1.8 zoom NIKKOR lens give the Coolpix P310 excellent low-light performance, something that other point-and-shoot cameras can’t match. The Coolpix P310 also has a dedicated mode dial that helps you select the shooting mode that you need when you need it.

PHP 23,950

NIKON COOLPIX S30 DIGITAL CAMERA

Worried about your camera getting wet when you hit the beach? Not when you own the Nikon Coolpix S30.

The Coolpix S30 is a slim yet rugged camera that’s shock and water resistant (up to 3 meters) that you can take anywhere. Its 2.7-inch screen makes it easy for you to check images and take pictures, even underwater. This 10.1-megapixel shooter is also able to take HD videos, allowing you to take vivid clips of your next vacation that you can be proud of.

PHP 6,950

NIKON COOLPIX S9200 DIGITAL CAMERA

Reach out and shoot someone with the Nikon Coolpix S9200.

Its powerful 18x Nikkor zoom lens gives you the power to shoot distant vistas and subjects with ease, while still giving you excellent wide-angle performance. The imaging power of a 16.0 effective-megapixel Backside illumination CMOS image sensor works seamlessly with Lens-shift VR image stabilization, even when using the super-telephoto end of the zoom lens to produce beautiful pictures, whether capturing the magnificence of an open vista, or zooming in for a close-up portrait. The bright, 3-inch screen makes it easy for you to compose and shoot photos even in the dark.

PHP 17,950 16

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SONY HANDYCAM HDR-TD20VE CAMCORDER

The Handycam HDR-TD20VE is dubbed the world’s smallest and lightest 3D Handycam. A follow-up to last year’s Double Full HD 3D camcorder, this new release is around two-thirds the size of its predecessor and is capable of capturing 3D video in 1920 x 1080 full HD to be enjoyed on a 3D TV with active shutter glasses. It features dual Sony G lenses, BIONZ image processors, versatile manual controls, and a 3.5-inch Xtra Fine 3D LCD with TruBlack Technology for a more stunning picture quality. The camcorder also allows for more stable-free and blur-free video and stills, while its Auto Wind Noise Reduction, Closer Voice, and other advanced technologies provide superior audio capture.

SONY ALPHA SLT-A57 DSLR CAMERA

The Alpha SLT-A57 is the newest addition to Sony’s Alpha DSLR series. It packs numerous advanced features such as translucent mirror technology, a BIONZ processor, and 16.1-megapixel resolution.

It’s capable of 12fps continuous shooting and full HD movie recording at 60p with a cinema-like expression. Furthermore, it also features full-time continuous autofocus, full manual movie shooting, audio noise reduction, high sensitivity with an ISO range of 100-16000, more than a dozen picture effect modes, 3D sweep panorama, and Auto Portrait Framing. The SLT-A57 also has Auto HDR, which when switched on allows you to capture more details in the shadows and highlights for richer detail, color, and impact.

SONY DSC-HX20V DIGITAL CAMERA

The DSC-HX20V is a compact camera with a 20x zoom lens and an 18.2 megapixel Exmor R CMOS sensor, making it perfect for taking vivid blur-free pictures and full HD movies at any distance. It also includes a GPS log that can track the location of where your photos are taken as well as a variety of artistic picture effects. The camera weighs about 221 g, sports a 3-inch LCD touch-screen, and its body is partially constructed from recycled materials that showcase world-leading heat resistance and durability. The HX20V is available in black and brown.

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ASUS PADFONE HYBRID DEVICE

BE UP-TO-DATE ON THE FRESHEST GADGETS TO HIT THE MARKET

Asus is no stranger to bending the boundaries of what can be done with tablets, and the Taiwanese company has pulled it off yet again with their newest hybrid device, the Padfone. The heart of the entire system is an Android 4.0 smartphone that’s powered by a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm processor with Android smartphone and is equipped with a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED 256ppi display and an 8-megapixel camera. The main smartphone can then be connected to an optional screen which transforms the device into a typical 10.1-inch tablet, complete with a 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 resolution screen. The tablet dock also adds a 6600mAh battery which both the smartphone and tablet display share, increasing battery life dramatically.

ASUS TRANSFORMER TF300 TABLET

Liked the Asus Transformer Prime but don’t have enough cash to pony up for it?

You’ll be happy to know that there’s a saner, cheaper alternative in the form of the Asus Transformer TF300. While it’s not as pretty as the Transformer Prime (it uses a plastic body rather than a machined, aluminium chassis) the TF300 still has it where it counts – it’s powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 quad-core (1.2GHz) processor with 1GB of RAM. The screen is still a beautiful 10.1-inch (1280 x 800) IPS capacitive multi-touch display, and possibly the only issue you’ll have with it is the somewhat limited 8GB of internal storage. Of course, that’s easily sorted with a higher capacity microSD card and the generous 8GB of free ASUS WebStorage that you’ll get once you purchase it.

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FANNY WANG PREMIUM HEADPHONES While headphones are made to be stylish, their primary job is to deliver clear, rich sound to the wearer. That’s a lesson that many audio brands have forgotten—but not Fanny Wang. Their three headphone models—1000 On Ear Series, the 2000 DJ Series and 3000 Over Ear Noise Cancelling Series – are aimed at delivering stylishly designed headphones that you won’t be ashamed to wear while still delivering rich, clear sound at an affordable price point.

1000 ON EAR SERIES While the 1000 On Ear Series is the entry level headphone in the Fanny Wang line-up, don’t think for a second that it’s not up to the task of delivering awesome sound. The 1000 On Ear Series features 40mm high performance custom paired titanium plated drivers and an integrated duo-jack (in-line cable splitter) that allows you to share your music to your friends seamlessly. The Fanny Wang 1000 is iPhone/iPad/iPod ready with remote and mic.

PHP 7,700

2000 DJ SERIES The 2000 DJ Series is aimed at the discerning audiophile, and has a bit more features than the entry-level 1000 On Ear Series. The 2000 DJ Series has a powered amp and 50mm dual plated drivers that deliver the cleanest sound reproduction in its class. The same integrated duo-jack that’s available on the 1000 On Ear Series is also available on the 2000 DJ Series, as well as selectable Bass Boost switch that deliver 6dB of bone shaking bass. The Fanny Wang 2000 is iPhone/iPad/iPod ready with remote and mic.

PHP 11,500

3000 OVER EAR NOISE CANCELLING SERIES If you’re looking for the best, purest form of musical bliss, you won’t find anything better than the 3000 Over Ear Noise Cancelling Series. The 3000 Over Ear Noise Cancelling Series has the same 50mm dual plated drivers and powered amp in the 2000 DJ Series, but now it’s paired with 4 way active noise cancellation that takes away up to 20db of sound, leaving just you and your music. Like the 2000 DJ Series and the 1000 On Ear Series, the 3000 Over Ear Noise Cancelling Series has an integrated duo-jack that allows you to share your music to your buddies. The Fanny Wang 3000 is iPhone/iPad/iPod ready with remote and mic.

PHP 13,500

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MAY 2012

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MAY 2012

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KINGSTON HYPERX 3K SOLID STATE DRIVES

BE UP-TO-DATE ON THE FRESHEST GADGETS TO HIT THE MARKET

Hard drives are fantastic storage mediums, but for the hardcore gamer, they’re just not fast enough.

Moving parts usually mean that they’re still pretty slow in comparison with solid state drives, with the latter being far more reliable as there’s really nothing to break. Kingston’s HyperX 3K has blisteringly fast read and has incredible sequential read/write throughputs of 555/510MB/s and max random R/W IOPS of 85k/74k. The HyperX 3K SSD features SandForce DuraClass technology to provide best in class endurance, and to maximize life span and durability under the most intensive environments.

SAMSON METEOR MIC USB STUDIO MICROPHONE

If you’re looking for an affordable way get great audio recordings on your computer, the Samson Meteor Mic might suit you. It attaches to your computer via USB and packs a 25mm condenser diaphragm with a cardioids pickup pattern that can record at 16-bit, 44.1/48kHz resolution, which is the same quality found on audio CDs. It sports a chrome-plated body with a fold-back leg design and a stereo 1/8-inch headphone output with a volume knob so you can properly monitor what you’re recording. You can also plug it directly into your iPad or use it for Skype, iChat, or voice recognition software.

HTC ONE X SMARTPHONE

HTC’s bringing out it’s A game with their quad-core smartphone offering, the One X. The Taiwanese manufacturer’s flagship device for 2012 uses NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 quad-core processor running at 1.5GHzwith 1GB of DDR3 RAM to deliver blistering speeds when you need it. The device is encased in a polycarbonate body that holds an 8MP f/2.0 camera that’s equipped with HTC’s ImageChip technology that allows you to take shots even if you’re currently shooting HD video. That’s topped off with excellent sound quality via Beats Audio tech in the smartphone.

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MAY 2012

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GARMIN NUVI 1360 & NUVI 3760 GPS DEVICES

The Nuvi 1360 and Nuvi 3760 are GPS devices that are preloaded with a road guide Philippine map and feature turn-by-turn direction, text-to-speech technology, lane assistance, pedestrian navigation, and the ability to speak street names, all of which ensure that you never get lost again whether you’re in your car or on foot. The Nuvi 3760 has an award-winning slim design and both devices offer a variety of other features such as Traffic Trends, which calculates routes based on predicted traffic flow, and ecoRoute, which calculates a more fuel-efficient course. These devices can easily tell you where you are in order to direct you to the nearest hospitals, gas station, and other designated places.

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MAY 2012

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techparade BE UP-TO-DATE ON THE FRESHEST GADGETS TO HIT THE MARKET

DELL XPS 13 ULTRABOOK

While Dell may be a bit late to the ultrabook party, they’ve decided to enter the fray with pizzaz. Meet their XPS 13—one of the prettiest ultrabook’s you’ll lay your eyes on. Clad in an aluminium shell and carbon fiber base, the XPS 13 is one of the strongest ultrabooks out in the market today. It’s also one of the longest lasting, with Dell claiming astounding 8 hour and 53 minute battery endurance on a single charge.

The XPS 13 is also one of the thinnest ultrabooks in the market—only measuring in at 6mm at its thinnest point. This 13-inch notebook comes in two flavors—an Intel Core i5 version and a more powerful, Core i7 configuration. The XPS 13 also uses a speedy SSD drive, which ensures a relatively quick boot-up time of less than 20 seconds, so you won’t have to wait before you start working.

HUAWEI HONOR SMARTPHONE

It’s a sad fact of life that smartphones are generally considered as battery hogs. These wonders of modern engineering are usually relegated to paper-weight duty once their batteries give out near the end of the day. Not the Huawei Honor. This 4-inch screen smartphone boasts a battery endurance of about 3 weeks on standby, and has about 9 hours of talk time, 6 hours of gaming time and 8 hours of web surfing.

This is made possible via the device’s large, 1930mAh battery and proprietary power-saving software.

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TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

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Sony VAIO S Series (VPCSB) LAPTOP

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gadgetslab 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 37 38 40

HP FOLIO 13

ULTRABOOK

SONY NEX 5N

MIRRORLESS INTERCHANGEABLE LENS CAMERA

SAMSUNG DV300F SMART CAMERA

BANG & OLUFSEN BEOLIT 12 PORTABLE AUDIO SYSTEM

BLAUPUNKT COMFORT 112 NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES

SAMSUNG NX200

DIGITAL CAMERA

SONY W-SERIES NWZ-W262 WALKMAN DIGITAL MEDIA PLAYERS

PANASONIC LUMIX DMC-SZ7 DIGITAL CAMERA

ACCUTONE PISCES BAND HEADSET

CANON IXUS 240 HS

DIGITAL COMPACT CAMERA

PHILIPS O’NEILL THE STRETCH HEADPHONES HEADPHONES

LENCO SPHERICAL IPD-4600

HIGH POWER SPEAKER WITH IPOD/IPHONE DOCKING STATION

PANASONIC LUMIX DMC-S2 DIGITAL CAMERA

MAY 2012

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gadgetslab TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

HP Folio 13

BUY METER

4.5

/5

ULTRABOOK

By John Nieves

Yes, we’re reviewing another ultrabook, and though the product segment is fast becoming cluttered with thin, ultraportable notebooks, HP’s offering has enough features to stand out from the crowd. The manufacturer claims that the Folio 13 has the legs to deliver 9.5 hours of usable battery life while still maintaining a relatively thin 18mm profile.

SPECIFICATIONS: SCREEN SIZE: 13.3-inch HD LED, 1366x768 resolution screen MEMORY: 4GB DDR3 CPU: Intel Core i5-2467M, 1.6GHz STORAGE: 128GB SSD0 PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS: 22.02 x 31.85 x 1.8 cm WARRANTY: 1 year on parts and labor

WHAT’S HOT: • Excellent design and build quality • Long battery life • Excellent keyboard • Excellent trackpad • Great performance

WHAT’S NOT: • Bad viewing angles • Gets a bit warm during use

BOTTOMLINE: The HP Folio 13 isn’t perfect, but considering its performance during its time with us, it’s currently the ultrabook that’s on the top of our wishlist.

The overall design of the Folio 13 is relatively safe, compared to the other ultrabooks that came before it but considering it’s currently being aimed at enterprise users, it’s understandable. That doesn’t mean that the Folio 13 is ugly, far from it—it’s brushed aluminium lid is pretty to look at and the overall build quality of the device is pretty spot on.

Unlike other ultrabooks, the Folio 13 isn’t completely swathed in aluminium, as the lower chassis is actually plastic, with aluminium trimmings on the top. The Folio 13 uses a 13.3-inch, HD LED display with a resolution of about 1366x768. The keyboard is an illuminated island-type deal, with plenty of travel and is gloriously 26

MAY 2012

comfortable to type on. As is par for the course with ultrabooks, the Folio 13 is relatively light, and clocks in at only 1.5 kilos.

Under the hood, you get an Intel Core i5-2467M processor that’s pumping out about 1.6GHz of computing power, paired with 4GB of DDR3 memory. The Folio 13 uses a 128GB SSD drive to store everything, which is probably also the reason why the device posts extremely fast boot times (less than 20 seconds).

The Folio 13 isn’t lacking in ports, as it has 2 USB ports, HDMI and an Ethernet port essential for business users.

With the relatively fast Intel Core i5 processor inside and adequate memory,

there wasn’t a doubt in our minds that the Folio 13 would perform brilliantly.

While the ultrabook isn’t about to smoke gaming PCs in graphics performance, it did well on every other task that we put it through, which included browsing, viewing HD videos on both VLC and YouTube. Like we mentioned earlier, typing on the Folio 13 was a very pleasant experience—which isn’t always the case for ultrabooks. The Folio 13 also managed to get one thing right that we’ve mostly abandoned hope on—the trackpad. The Folio 13’s trackpad is very precise, and although it was a bit stiff to press, it also had one thing that we always complained about – a left and right click separator.

While HP posted a battery claim of about 9.5 hours, we weren’t able to replicate that particular feat on our own tests. We did however manage to enjoy about 8 hours of usable battery life with typical use, which is pretty impressive in its own right, considering a lot of ultrabooks struggle to reach the 6 hour mark, let alone 8.

That doesn’t mean that the Folio 13 doesn’t have its own share of niggles, of course. For one, the screen isn’t as good as we’d hoped, which easily gets washed out outdoors even on the highest brightness setting.

Viewing angles are also pretty limited, and you’ll constantly try to find a sweet spot when it comes to screen positioning for the

Folio 13 when you’re using it in a place where there’s plenty of ambient lighting.

The Folio 13 also becomes a bit warm during use—not enough to burn you of course, but warm enough to make you uncomfortable when it’s resting on your lap.

So is the Folio 13 the ultrabook you’ve been waiting for? It certainly has the goods – great performance, excellent keyboard and trackpad as well as long battery endurance. It’s not perfect, of course—but it’s pretty close. The HP Folio 13 retails for Php 55,990.

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MIRRORLESS INTERCHANGEABLE LENS CAMERA

By John Nieves

The heart of the camera is a 16.1-megapixel APS-C sensor which, as we mentioned earlier, is an upgrade from the NEX5’s 14-megapixel sensor.

The NEX-5N has a large ISO range that goes from 100 to 25600. The NEX-5N takes Sony’s E-mount series of lenses, two of which were included in the demo unit lent to us (SEL1855 & SEL16F28). Other features of the NEX-5N include multiple shooting modes (which include panoramic mode and 3D), the ability to take full HD video, 10 FPS continuous shooting and background defocus.

Handling the camera is easy enough, with all the buttons within easy reach. Navigating through the camera’s menus and shooting modes is done through the rotary dial (which also doubles as a four way navigation pad), with

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additional functions accessed through the touchscreen.

You can also focus on different objects that are presented through the LCD via the touchscreen—just press on your desired focus location and the camera does its best to focus on it. Unlike other mirrorless cameras—the Panasonic GF2 and Olympus E-PL2 come to mind—the NEX-5N does not have a hot shoe but does have its own proprietary flash unit that comes with the package. Users can also plug in an optional electronic viewfinder (FDA-EV1S) that uses a high-resolution OLED screen. Unfortunately, since the viewfinder also uses the same slot as the flash, both cannot be used at the same time.

Using the NEX-5N is a pleasure, and one nice thing we really liked was the ability to take shots seconds after turning it on.

There’s almost no shutter lag to speak of, and the 10 FPS continuous shooting mode made it easy for us to take pictures of fast moving scenes. The camera did show a bit of AF slowdown with some of the pictures that we took, but to be honest most users really won’t notice. We stuck with the Intelligent Auto shooting mode through most of its time with us, though we did take quite a few shots on Manual as well. Photos that we shot all came back nice and sharp, with nary a photo overexposed, which was impressive. The NEX-5N also surprised us a bit with its low light performance, with fantastic pictures even in soft light. Users will also be able to choose between shooting RAW and JPEG, and for the normal enthusiast, the latter is fine, though having the former as an option is certainly appreciated.

Probably the only thing that really annoyed us was the camera’s indecision when it came to navigating via the touchscreen. While you can change some of the options on the camera using the touchscreen, there really wasn’t a clear delineation on settings that can be changed through the touchscreen and settings that can only be changed by going through the scroll wheel. When we switched to manual shooting, we assumed that switching through the ISO settings

4.0

/5

SPECIFICATIONS: SENSOR: APS-C type (23.5x15.6mm), “Exmor” APS HD CMOS sensor with RGB primary color filters ZOOM & OPTICS: Depends on lens, uses Sony E-mount lenses PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS: 110.8 x 58.8 x 38.2mm WEIGHT: 269g (with battery and SD, without lenses) ESTIMATED BATTERY LIFE: 430shots MEMORY USED: Memory Stick PRO Duo / Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo, SD Memory Card, SDHC memory card / SDXC memory card

TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

Sony’s newest member of its NEX family range is the NEX-5N. While it still retains the NEX-5 naming convention, the NEX-5N is a significantly different beast than its younger brother.

One of the most noticeable differences is the bigger, 16.1-megapixel CMOS sensor in the NEX-5N from the previous 14-megapixel chip in the earlier model. Sony has also decided to throw in full touch functionality for easier use. Do the new features justify an upgrade from the previous model?

Physically, the NEX-5N isn’t an imposing device. With an overall depth of only 38.2mm without the lens attached, the camera is almost the same size as a typical point and shoot. The thinnest part of the camera is only 23.3mm and only bulks out near the manual controls, which holds the 1080 mAh battery (rated at 430 images) and the SD Card. The camera also features a tiltable 3-inch Xtra Fine, touch sensitive LCD screen that’s a first for the NEX range.

gadgetslab

Sony NEX 5N

BUY METER

WHAT’S HOT: • mall and handy • owerful and versatile • Excellent picture uality even on auto • Great low light performance

WHAT’S NOT: • roprietary ash, can’t take third party accessories • ouchscreen controls need work

BOTTOMLINE: The NEX-5N might look like the previous model, but internally it’s a whole new beast. t’s a fantastic piece of kit, and is sure to attract anyone looking for a camera that’s has the same abilities of a L without the accompanying bulk.

involved a quick press on the screen. That wasn’t the case unfortunately (you’d have to go through the scroll wheel for that) which really detracted from the overall experience of using the camera.

Like other mirrorless interchangeable cameras, the NEX-5N gives users a small and light camera that has enough features to replace (or at the very least, supplement) their bulky DSLRs. The Sony NEX-5N builds on the foundation of its older brother and comes out as one of the nicest mirrorless camera’s we’ve handled so far this year.

MAY 2012

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gadgetslab TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

Samsung DV300F

BUY METER

4.5

/5

SMART CAMERA

By Roni Callanta

Samsung recently added to its market-leading Samsung DualView line, the Smart Camera DV300F, also introducing the latest in Dual LCD technology with Wi-Fi connectivity for camera users who want to snap and share moments in an instant. They don’t call it a “Smart Camera” for nothing. But most users would actually say, “It’s about time!”

SPECIFICATIONS: PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS: 3.74 x 2.24 x .71 WEIGHT: 133g RESOLUTION: 4608 x 3456 (max) MEGAPIXELS: 16.0 FILE FORMAT: JPEG (DCF) EXIF 2.21, MPO VIDEO FORMAT: MPEG-4, H.264 OPTICAL ZOOM: 5x SCREEN SIZE: 3” SCREEN TYPE: TFT LCD FLASH MODES: Auto, On, Off, Red-Eye, Fill-in, Slow Sync STORAGE TYPES: MicroSD, MicroSDHC, Internal

WHAT’S HOT: • vailable i i connectivity • arious fun photo and video features

WHAT’S NOT: • ommands would be made faster with a touchscreen

BOTTOMLINE: he amsung is the perfect camera for your average shutterbug who keeps his her social networking sites updated via the built in i i connectivity. hoto and video sharing is made easy with various and fun features.

The DV300F enhances the already successful DualView technology of Samsung with a 1.5” front facing LCD screen ensuring users a perfectly-captured shot no matter how challenging.

The visual Self Timer is also quite helpful for those who feel the need to scramble for a spot in the photo after pressing the button.

One of the main demands of social networking site users is having a decent enough camera to use for uploading photos and videos to their Facebook and other social media accounts. That is why, most of us settle for our camera phones, iPods and 28

MAY 2012

tablets just to be able to upload the photos or videos right away, compromising crisp and a “good” capture.

The DV300F’s built-in WiFi connectivity enables users to email their images or upload them to their Facebook, Picasa, Flickr and YouTube accounts. In addition, images saved onto the camera’s microSD memory card can be saved to a home PC without wires by using the Auto PC Backup function.

Sleek, sophisticated and with an easy-to-handle form, the DV300F boasts an impressive 16-megapixels, 5x optical zoom and 25mm

wide-angle lens to capture all the action, even from a distance. Now, you don’t have to worry about your newly uploaded profile photo being blurry and pixelated from your camera phone.

One of the many features of the DV300F is the Magic Frame feature, which includes 12 fun background templates, as well as the ability to create posterquality art. The camera’s Picture-in-Picture function lets users insert one image within another. Users can even impress their friends by combining a still picture with a video clip—quite the

feature to maximize users’ enjoyment.

And if you thought that was all the DV300F had to offer, you were wrong.

Users can merge up to three different images to create their very own artistic masterpiece with the Split Shot feature—perfect for those who are into fashion or who have Lookbook.nu accounts. Funny Face allows photographers to add goofy grins, comical noses or even crazy eyes to each image.

The Artistic Brush feature is perfect for those who like editing their photos and/or movie clips and transforming their landscape

or portrait shots into black and white or full-colored sketches.

And lastly, with the Motion Picture feature, users can freeze time, capture an image and have one subject in that image continue to move.

I personally, just love the built-in Beauty Shot feature of the DV300F— automatically softening the image into that perfect PhotoShop finish and the other features are just perfect to make your picture and video capturing a bit more enjoyable.

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PORTABLE AUDIO SYSTEM

By Jon Uriarte

4.5

/5

SPECIFICATIONS: SPEAKERS: Stereo / Front DRIVERS: 2 x 50.8mm tweeters, 1 x 4-inch woofer / mid-bass; 120W RMS; Class D Digital Amplifier CONNECTIVITY: Stereo minijack; USB port COMPATIBILITY: iOS devices and other music devices with 3.5mm mini-jack DIMENSIONS: 23 x 19 x 15 cm WEIGHT: 2.8 kg

TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

Sometimes you just want a sound system that you can use with just about any other device, whether it be a laptop, an iPhone, an iPod, a turntable, or whatever else you might have. At the same time, you want it to be portable and powerful enough so it can be suitable for a range of different situations, whether it be for a house party, an out-of-town trip, or as your personal set of speakers in your bedroom. Bang & Olufsen, a company that’s been around since 1925 making audio products, just might have achieved it with the Beolit 12.

gadgetslab

Bang & Olufsen Beolit 12

BUY METER

WHAT’S HOT: • Excellent full bodied sound • apable of very high volumes for its size • hargeable and portable • Good design and construction

WHAT’S NOT: • if cult to set up ir lay • ight lack bass at extremely high volumes • ricey

BOTTOMLINE: t’s completely portable but it’s got a really big sound. f you can afford it, we highly recommend it.

Although the Beolit 12’s design is reminiscent of a lunchbox or a small picnic basket, it’s very well constructed and heavier than it looks with its weight of 2.8 kg. Its front side features a metal grille that stretches around to the sides of the unit and covers the speaker components. The top part of the unit features a smooth and silky rubber tray-like surface where you can place your music player, and is also where you will find the on/off, volume control, and network button. These buttons light up and are touch-sensitive, meaning they are triggered just by lightly laying your finger on top of them. The Beolit 12 also has a sturdy leather carrying strap handle attached to it, which is convenient for carrying it around.

On one side of the unit is where you will find a small panel where the USB socket, phono socket line in, and battery indicator light are located. On the lower rear of the Beolit 12 is a compartment with a pushto-open cover that conceals the Ethernet and power supply socket.

Setting up the Beolit 12 was a breeze. I simply plugged in the unit into an electrical socket, turned it on, and connected my music player to it via USB. In this setup, I noticed that my music player was being charged as well, which is always good.

Due to the size of the Beolit 12, I was not expecting the powerful natural sound and sonic clarity that came out of the speakers as soon as I began playing music, and

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I’ve heard stereo systems around five times its size that aren’t as powerful.

Sound only plays from the front side of the unit and I was in awe at its full-bodied quality, from a very tight and well-rounded bass all the way to pleasing airy highs—even though it only has a pair of tweeters and a 4-inch woofer with no midrange drivers.

The Beolit 12 was also able to get really loud. I tested it in my friend’s backyard, which is about the size of a 40-student classroom, and we weren’t even able to reach top volume without shattering our ear drums.

The sound quality doesn’t distort even at the highest levels, although audiophiles might find a lack of bass at these volumes.

The Beolit 12 is also capable of Apple’s AirPlay technology that allowed me to connect my Wi-Fi enabled music player to it wirelessly and play tunes. Setting it up makes use of the included Ethernet cable, a laptop with an Ethernet port, and an internet connection, and although I encountered a bunch of setup and connection problems in doing so, I was eventually successful after several tries.

Apart from its sound quality, I also liked that the Beolit 12 has a chargeable battery that makes it completely portable. I found that the unit was able to last for nearly 8 hours of continuous play when I had my music player connected via USB or line in, and about 4 hours when I was using AirPlay.

The unit also turns off by itself when it’s not doing anything, which in effect saves battery life.

All in all, the Beolit 12 is a fantastic package.

It’s well constructed, has astounding sound quality, is completely portable, and is capable of AirPlay.

It’s perfect for use on the beach, in the bedroom, at a house party, during small get-togethers, and is an ideal partner for your laptop during your travels. It’s quite an expensive piece of equipment, but if you need a portable audio system and can afford this one, we highly recommend it.

MAY 2012

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gadgetslab TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

Blaupunkt Comfort 112

BUY METER

By Jon Uriarte

One of the underlying functions of big over-ear headphones is to allow us to block out everything else from the outside world as we enjoy great sound comfortably. Most of the time when we’re out in a noisy public area, however, we find ourselves turning up the volume higher to compensate for the outside noise, and even in doing so, we sometimes notice that the environment still interferes with the quality of sound our ears receive. This is especially true on airplanes where you just can’t get away from the blaring atmosphere. The Blaupunkt Comfort 112 is a pair of active noise cancelling headphones among the many available in the market.

While passive noise cancelling headphones make use of layers of high-density foam, soundabsorbing material and what not in order to block out unwanted noise, they’re generally heavier and only reduce noise by about 20 dB, which is not enough to eliminate the 80 dB of noise present on an airplane.

Active noise cancelling headphones on the other hand, such as the Blaupunkt Comfort 112, have built-in microphones inside the ear cups that pick up outside noise in order to create an out-of-phase version of that noise so that they cancel out each other. This effectively eliminates about 70% of the ambient noise. Of course, some headphones do this better than others.

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MAY 2012

Out of the box, I immediately liked the look and feel of the Blaupunkt 112 Comfort headphones.

It has a classic-looking nogimmick all-black design that’s very solid and sturdy.

Its headband is adjustable and padded and the ear cups can rotate 90 degrees in one direction. When I tried them on, the ear cushions wrapped perfectly over my ears and were incredibly comfortable. I also liked that the headphone jack was detachable, as this means I could easily replace the wire in the future as this is the part of headphones that usually breaks first.

The 112 Comfort headphones came with two AAA rechargeable alkaline batteries that are meant

to be loaded into the ear cups in order to power the active noise-cancelling. The outer panel of the right ear cup is actually a sliding latch that opens to the battery compartment but this doesn’t compromise the design whatsoever. The left ear cup is where you’ll find the on/off switch for the active noise cancelling and the adjustment wheel for the level of active noise cancelling you want to apply.

I tested the active noise cancelling feature in a somewhat quiet office setting at first. With the headphones over my ears and nothing playing from it, I switched on the active noise-cancelling and I immediately felt like

4.5

/5

NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES

I turned deaf. The noise cancelling was effective enough to eliminate the sound of the air conditioner and other ambient sounds in the room almost completely. I was still able to hear other things such as talking and fingers typing on a keyboard, but it was lessened, and high-frequency and rumbling noises were pretty much gone. I did notice, however, that when the active noise-cancelling was switched on, there was a faint buzzing sound coming from the speaker, which I found a little bothersome.

Also, there was quite a bit of sound leakage from the ear cups at louder volumes, which is acceptable as these headphones are focused on keeping noise out and not in.

The active noise-cancelling was similarly effective in noisier areas such as malls and outdoor public areas. I could easily imagine how valuable these headphones would be on an airplane even if you just want to use it to get some silence without playing any music.

The sound quality of the headphones during music playback was commendable compared to others in its price range. When the active noise cancelling was turned on. It produced pretty good detail and sonic clarity across the spectrum, with crisp highs that was a little piercing at times, however, good soundstage, and a tight and full-bodied bass

SPECIFICATIONS: SPEAKER SIZE: 40mm FREQUENCY RANGE: 1523,000Hz SPL: 102 dB IMPEDANCE: 32 Ohms CABLE LENGTH: 1.5m

WHAT’S HOT: • Effective active noise cancellation • ery comfortable over ear cushion design for long hours of use • turdy construction • Great sound • ncludes sturdy travel case

WHAT’S NOT: • aint bu ing sound from speaker when active noise cancelling is on

BOTTOMLINE: he Blaupunkt omfort headphones are extremely comfortable, provide highly effective active noise cancelling, and deliver good sound uality.

that did not distort at high volumes. When the active noise-cancelling is off, the crisp highs disappear, but the output is a little more natural-sounding in exchange. I found it enjoyable to listen to music of all genres whether the active noise-cancelling was on or off.

The Comfort 112 comes with a sturdy carrying case, which I found to be very convenient. The case houses the headphones perfectly and it also includes a small zipper pouch on the inside for your wires and adapters.

In the end, there was really not much that I didn’t like about the Blaupunkt Comfort 112 headphones. If you’re looking for the perfect set of headphones for your travels or if you just like getting immersed in the moment when listening to music or watching movies, then we would highly recommend these cans.

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By Jon Uriarte

button and also adjusts the focus and zoom rings of the lens.

The NX200 packs an abundance of shooting

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video recording. Pressing the Fn or menu button within any of the available modes would take you to that mode’s settings.

Perhaps the most unique feature of the NX200 is the i-Fn button located on its paired Samsung lens.

Pressing it allows you to quickly make adjustments in aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and white balance—or other settings and effects, depending on what mode the camera is in. While the NX200 provides superior control with its i-Fn button, there is one major drawback—the lack of a viewfinder. The i-Fn button provides instant access to key settings, but I felt like the idea was more suited to a camera with an electronic viewfinder where you can hold it up to your eye while your left hand presses the

The image quality from the NX200 is excellent, as what you’d expect from a top-quality 20.3-megapixel sensor. It has an ISO range of 100-12800, but I found that anything taken above 3200 had too much noise, making the effective ISO range 100-3200, which is pretty decent. It’s able to shoot pictures in low-light conditions pretty well, although the same can’t be said for video capture despite being capable of 1080p at 30fps. Also, the mechanical noise made by the lens in autofocus mode during video capture gets recorded in the audio, which is fairly bothersome.

Furthermore, there is a lag in the autofocus whether you’re shooting stills or taking video, so when you move the camera during filming you’ll have to wait for the camera to adjust, and this delay affects the smoothness of recordings.

When taking pictures in dark low-contrast scenes, it struggles to lock on and it was also difficult to capture fast-moving subjects.

The NX200’s ability to shoot at a staggering 7fps in burst/continuous shot mode was pretty impressive. The attachable flash was incredibly easy to use, as tilting it up would automatically activate it and tilting it back down would turn it off. There are a number of Samsung i-Fn lenses that are compatible with the NX200 and you can even buy an adapter to make it compatible with other lenses in the market.

SPECIFICATIONS: DIMENSIONS: 2.5 x 4.6 x 1.4in WEIGHT: 0.49 lbs.

MEGAPIXELS: 20.3 SENSOR TYPE: CMOS SENSOR SIZE: 16 x 24 mmAPS-C LENS MOUNT: Samsung NX BATTERY TYPE SUPPORTED: Lithium Ion INTERFACE PORTS: micro USB, mini HDMI SUPPORTED STORAGE: SD, SDHC, SDXC INCLUDED IN KIT: Samsung NX 20-50mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, SEF 8A external flash OPTICAL ZOOM 3x

TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

Samsung isn’t exactly a new when it comes to interchangeable lens cameras. They also make camcorder, and the NX200 is the second release from its NX series. Specs-wise, the NX200 is able to hold its own in the competitive market, and we’ve taken a much closer look for ourselves.

modes and picture effects, and I was pleased to see that there was a fully manual mode, which was the first thing that I checked. Despite the wealth of buttons and dials, the camera is actually quite easy to use and every turn of the mode dial will instruct you on what is available in your selected mode. There’s a smart mode for when you want the camera to do all the work, and numerous other modes including aperture priority, shutter priority, panorama, scene selection, movie, and magic frame. Each mode has a large choice of settings within it, but I particularly liked the smart filters under the magic frame mode, which included nifty effects such as fish-eye, sketch, vignetting, old film, and soft focus among others—all of which can be applied during

4.0

/5

DIGITAL CAMERA

The NX200 comes in a sturdy metal body that exudes a modern retro vibe and our review unit included the 20-50mm i-Function lens and an attachable external flash. The top right section of the camera has the on/off switch, the mode dial for different shooting modes, and the zoom wheel for use during photo playback that also serves as an extra navigation control.

The back panel of the camera features the 3-inch display on the left and an arrangement of controls on the right side that includes a video record button, EV adjust button, function button, playback button, menu button, and the smart navigation dial that also surrounds another set of controls.

gadgetslab

Samsung NX200

BUY METER

WHAT’S HOT: • i unction button on lens • igh uality images • p video at fps • fps in burst continuous shot mode • nterchangeable lens • lot of picture effects and settings • ully manual mode • Great interface and easy to use

WHAT’S NOT: • o view nder • low autofocus for photo and video capture • echanical noise from autofocus during video • ideo recording is not so good in low light conditions

BOTTOMLINE: The NX200 offers almost everything that more expensive L s have, but in a more compact package.

The NX200 offers pretty much what a camera with a large DSLR sensor does due to its superior depth-of-field as compared to smaller cameras. Its capabilities and features make it ideal for serious photographers looking for a compact alternative to a DSLR. It’s very easy to use, and if they had thrown in an electronic viewfinder, worked on its autofocus abilities, and allowed better low-light movie capture, it would be pretty much perfect.

MAY 2012

31

gadgetslab TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

SONY W-Series NWZ-W262 Walkman

BUY METER

4.0

/5

SPECIFICATIONS:

DIGITAL MEDIA PLAYERS

By Paolo Toledo

With the many ways we can access, store, play and carry around our music nowadays, it becomes almost a prerequisite to everyday life. Everything we do requires a soundtrack—from driving through city traffic, to unwinding at your local café. There’s a perfect playlist for every activity, and it follows that developers have made specialized devices to use for each one. A good example is the 2GB Sony NWZ-W262 Walkman. how any active individual needs it to be. The waterproof function is indeed a nice touch as it relieves any worry of sweating, storage, or using it for water sports (though not for underwater activities).

The player functions as good as any even when wet, and cleaning the unit is as easy as wiping it down.

The NWZ-W262 is the new generation in the W-Series line of digital music players.

What sets it apart from the herd is the fact that it was created for a specific purpose – to provide an easy and comfortable way to play music while working out, or while engaged in any sports/ training activity. It’s incredibly lightweight, compact, and to top it all off, waterproof.

Gym and fitness aficionados would surely appreciate the design of the NWZ-W262. It integrates the MP3 player within the wrap-around earphones that loop the ears to fit snugly in the canals. It has no annoying wires, unnecessary weight (it’s a mere 32g), or any inconvenient part that needs to be housed or fastened to another part of the body. It’s streamlined well enough to 32

MAY 2012

let you run, jump, and sweat the way you want without getting in the way or making you feel like there’s even a device attached to your head.

Button controls also maintain the minimalist and no-fuss theme with only basic commands to easily work with. All controls are laid out under each earpiece with the play/pause and skip track buttons on the right ear, while playlist/shuffle mode and volume are on the left. You may not see the controls but it’s really easy to get used to and feel through the tactile buttons, plus a voice prompt announces the play mode in your ear while you select.

One of the major gripes you may encounter with the player though is the lack of an adjustable band.

The NWZ-W262 seems to

fit average to large sized heads perfectly, but if you have a small dome—usually encountered by females, shaved heads, or those whose rear heads are flat—the earphones tend to sag and lack good support.

You’ll find yourself having to rely on the ear loops and earplugs to hold it in place, but even those might not provide the right “grip” especially when using the player for rigorous training. It might suffice to use it during stationary workouts or even on a light jog, but once you do more rigorous activities like sprinting or jumping, you might be adjusting the earpieces into place more than once.

Other than that, everything else about the device works right how it should, and right

When it comes to sound quality, the NWZ-W262 does not disappoint as well. The levels are very crisp and wellbalanced, while the earplugs deliver brilliant punches in the low end. This helps create that mood for pumping-action music that goes well with any workout, especially if you’re into playing loud and hard beats while you sweat it out. It also blocks out the right amount of external sound to keep you “in the zone”, but not too much to make it hazardous when used outdoors.

Battery life for this player is also pretty decent – clocking in at about 8.5 hours straight, which is more than an average workout or even extended training. For those who might need it longer, the good news is that it charges pretty fast (a 3-minute charge can last for an hour) so you can definitely use your breaks in between to extend your battery.

Sony has also fitted the NWZ-W262 with an easy file transfer system that uses its “Content Transfer” software, which is conveniently built-in the device, or via the standard drag-and-drop file transfer

TYPE: Water-resistant Neckband Digital Music Player WEIGHT: 32g MEMORY: 2GB (approx. 470 songs, 128kbps) CHARGE METHOD: USB-based CHARGE TIME: 1.5 hours (full charge = 8.5 hours playback) INPUT/OUTPUT: USB microB connector / Hi-Speed USB (2.0) POWER OUTPUT: 5+5mW (max) POWER SOURCE: Built-in Li-ion Rechargeable Battery / USB power PLAY MODES: Repeat / Shuffle & Repeat FILE TYPES: MP3 / WMA / AACLC / Linear-PCM

WHAT’S HOT: • Lightweight, compact design • n ear player • aterproof • Good sound uality with bass punch) • uick charge

WHAT’S NOT: • o ad ustable band

BOTTOMLINE: If you’re the sporty-type, or someone who ust wants the right kind of music player for the gym, the Sony W-Series NWZ-W262 Walkman was definitely made with you in mind. The lightweight design, minimalist functions, battery life, and sound uality are all as well-trained as you are.

method (ala USB drive). This ensures a quick and painless experience when loading your tracks in any of the compatible formats: MP3, WMA, AAC, and PCM. Overall, the Sony W-Series NWZ-W262 Walkman is well-equipped and fit to deliver on its promise as an all-in-one music player made for those who need to bring their own soundtrack to the gym, the field, or to any outdoor activity. It’s designed to be ultra-lightweight and convenient without disrupting a workout, and its sound quality ensures that the music will keep you going, even when you’re wet.

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DIGITAL CAMERA

By John Nieves

4.0

/5

SPECIFICATIONS: SENSOR: 1/2.33-inch CMOS, 14.1 effective megapixels ZOOM & OPTICS: 10x optical zoom Leica PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS: 99 x 59 x 21 mm WEIGHT: 133 grams MEMORY USED/INTERNAL CAPACITY: 70 MB internal, uses SD/SDHC/SDXC

TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

There’s a massive amount of choice when it comes to digital cameras nowadays. Every conceivable form factor, thickness and price point probably has two or three models made for it, which means that the average Joe would be hard pressed to find the model that would have everything he requires in a package that’s easy to pocket – both literally and figuratively.

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-SZ7

BUY METER

WHAT’S HOT: • ast performance • ultiple shooting modes including • Extremely compact • o shutter lag

WHAT’S NOT: • mage noise starts to become a problem at around ISO 800

BOTTOMLINE: Quick, small, powerful. These three things are usually what people look for in a point and shoot, and all three are in the Panasonic Lumix SZ7.

Panasonic’s Lumix SZ7 is one such camera, and combines a relatively slim, pocketable frame with a long range, 10x optical zoom. The Leica lens in the Lumix SZ7 has a 35mm focal equivalent of 25-250mm and offers a maximum aperture of f/3.1 at 25mm to f/5.9 at 250mm. The Lumix SZ7 has a 14.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, and like other point-andshoots, shoots at the default 4:3 aspect ratio, though you can adjust it to shoot at 16:9, 3:2, and 1:1 at the expense of a lower resolution. The Lumix SZ7 has a 3-inch, TFT display.

The overall size of the camera is 99 x 59 x 21 mm,

which means that it’ll fit easily in the pocket of your jeans or bag without any issue. Of course, to get that small form Panasonic also had to slim down on some of the physical controls, and because of that the Lumix SZ7 only has the bare minimum of controls.

But since this is a camera that’s aimed at casual photographers and novice users, that’s not much of a problem.

That being said, you’ll still be able to control some of the shooting parameters in the Normal Shooting mode, which includes the ISO, white balance, and shooting speed.

Speaking of ISO, the Lumix

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SZ7 is capable of shooting from ISO 100 to 3200.

Like any camera, the Lumix SZ7 is able to take pictures in a variety of shooting modes, which the SZ7 has plenty of.

Regular stand-by shooting modes are present, which include portrait, scenery and night modes. There are also a couple of other modes that caught our eye, which include food, glass through (for shooting subjects behind glass) miniature and 3D (though pictures taken in 3D won’t be displayed properly on the 2D display).

One of the things that I noticed with the Lumix SZ7 is its extremely fast

focus speed. In bright environments, the Lumix SZ7’s AF was very fast, and rarely ever displayed symptoms of focus hunt.

Even in low-light, the Lumix SZ7’s AF was still pretty quick, and though I did encounter some focus hunt, it was still within acceptable limits. Combine that with almost zero shutter lag, and you have one quick performing camera.

Speaking of performance, the Lumix SZ7 performed reasonably well, especially in bright areas. Resulting pictures are pleasing to look at and have relatively good image quality and color reproduction. Pictures

taken at ISO settings of 100 to 400 are relatively free from noise; though the image quality degrades a bit and noise rises once you go over ISO 400. At ISO 800 the resultant image noise becomes a bit significant, at 1600 there’s a noticeable drop in image quality and a massive increase in image noise. And don’t even think about shooting in ISO 3200.

All-in-all the Lumix SZ7 is a capable little compact camera, and has decent enough performance to warrant a purchase, especially for people looking for a small, relatively powerful device that’s also easy to use.

MAY 2012

33

gadgetslab TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

Accutone Pisces Band

BUY METER

4.0

/5

HEADSET

By Jon Uriarte Although headsets with built-in microphones might seem like the ideal dual-purpose device for those looking to take calls on-the-go and listen to music, most are afraid of a possible compromise in the quality of either function. The Accutone Pisces Band attempts to provide the sound quality of expensive high-definition stereo headphones while not forgetting about the usefulness that phone headsets can provide—all while maintaining portability. Accutone is a company that’s no stranger to making telephone and computer headsets, so let’s take a closer look.

SPECIFICATIONS: SPEAKER SIZE: 40mm IMPEDANCE: 32 Ohms at 1kHz MIC DIRECTIVITY: OmniDirectional CABLE LENGTH: 1.3 Meter

WHAT’S HOT: • Great foldable headband design • turdy construction • Good sound uality with natural and smooth midrange • ble to take calls

WHAT’S NOT: • dded features not fully functional if you’re not using i od, i hone, or i ad • icrophone pick up is a little soft • udiophiles might nd it lacks openness in some low and high fre uencies

BOTTOMLINE: he isces Band is a uni uely designed on the go foldable headset that delivers en oyable sound uality while allowing you to take calls.

The Pisces Band is called as such because of its unique design that’s pretty much a wide and long headband with ear cups attached to the inside ends of it.

Its overall appearance is modern and stylish, making it easy to wear in public without drawing too much attention. The headband is padded, well-constructed, and it did not feel like it would break or snap when stretched, unlike other headphones that sport thinner and less-durable ones. It’s also extendable and foldable, the latter being one of the headset’s best features, providing me with the utmost convenience as I was able to effortlessly stash the unit inside my laptop bag or carry it around easily.

34

MAY 2012

The ear pad cushions are replaceable (further suggesting that those would wear out first before anything else gives in) and fairly comfortable even during long hours of use considering that they’re of the on-ear kind.

The supposed tangle-free flat cable has a digital control with buttons for volume adjustment and a middle button for “answer/ end” call during phone mode or “repeat song” during iPod music mode.

Yes, the Pisces Band was designed to connect specifically to either an iPod, iPhone, or iPad in order to make use of its microphone, digital control, and other features, but I found them to work with BlackBerry

phones and they supposedly work on most other phones as well. When used with BlackBerry phones though, the middle button is able to pick up calls but it turns into a mute button during a call instead of an end-call button. Also, when using it with a BlackBerry, music playback is automatically paused during an incoming call but the ringing isn’t heard through the headset.

The conversation quality was decent, except for the fact that the microphone pick-up was a little soft.

Now we move on to the main purpose of these cans—music playback. The sound quality on these headphones was fairly good.

Music sounded balanced and natural with a powerful

and smooth midrange. The sound stage was rather decent and it didn’t distort even at very high volumes.

Thumping bass all the way to airy highs were present, and although audiophiles might suggest that it lacks a bit of “openness” in some of those low and high frequencies, most musiclovers will find the sound to be perfectly full-bodied for their taste. Many telephone headsets tend to sound too cluttered and muddy, but the Pisces Band doesn’t, which leads me to suggest that it screams “high quality headphones” more than it does “telephone headset”.

So here’s where the Pisces Band stands—it sounds good and it shines through its convenience factor of having

a well-constructed foldable headband design and an added feature of being able to take calls. Despite being made especially for use with iOS devices to make the most out of its features, those extra functions work nearly as properly on most other devices. On out of town trips, I found that I preferred packing the Pisces Band rather than my other much more bulky headphones of the same price. You might have another set of headphones that put you in your own little world while listening to music, but the Pisces Band does just that with more portability while ensuring that you don’t miss your calls.

www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

gadgetslab

Canon IXUS 240 HS

BUY METER

4.0

/5

DIGITAL COMPACT CAMERA

By Jon Uriarte

SPECIFICATIONS: DIMENSIONS: 93.5 x 56.8 x 20.8mm DISPLAY: 3.2-inch PureColor II Touch LCD WEIGHT: 145g SENSOR TYPE: 16.1 CMOS BATTERY TYPE SUPPORTED: 680mAh Lithium Battery SUPPORTED STORAGE: SD, SDHC, SDXC LENS: 5x optical zoom lens

TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

Canon is easily one of the most dependable companies when it comes to cameras, and we should expect no different from their more affordable point and shoot devices.

The IXUS 240 HS is aimed at those who want to have Canon’s signature image quality in an affordable compact camera that fits in their pocket and has a wide selection of features that casual users might like..

WHAT’S HOT: • erforms well in low light conditions • Great image uality • ncludes many usable effects and settings • ome picture effects can be applied to video • ull movie recording • i i connection for instant sharing • turdy construction

WHAT’S NOT: • nresponsive touch screen for smaller buttons • ard to navigate through sliders under unction mode • ser interface operation is not so smooth

BOTTOMLINE:

Upon first inspection, the Canon IXUS 240 HS has a sturdy metallic build and intuitive design that is quite compact at 93.5mm in width and 56.8mm in height, but not as slim as some other point-and-shoot cameras out in the market at 20.8mm in thickness. This thickness makes room for its protruding 24mm-120mm Canon 5x optical zoom lens (which did well for wide angle shots) that extends to 10x through ZoomPlus.

The left side of the device has an HDMI output and a mini USB socket. On the top side of the camera are the on/off button, the shutter button, the zoom control, and a small switch that turns on the fully automatic mode. On the rear of the camera is mostly the 3.2inch touch screen except for the play button on the

bottom right. All of the other settings and features are accessed and controlled via the touch screen.

I found that the IXUS 240 HS performs very well in low-light conditions without using its flash, better than other point and shoot cameras I’ve tested in this price range. It’s capable of full HD video recording that also does well in dimmer areas. It has an ISO range of 100-3200 and an adjustable white balance and exposure value. It comes packed with effects such as Miniature, Toy camera, Soft Focus, Fisheye, Poster, Monochrome, and Super Vivid, among others—some of which can be applied to video capture as well. Other settings include High-speed Burst (for capturing fast moving subjects), Super Slow Motion

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Movie, and Color Accent that allows you to keep only your selected color while changing others to blackand-white—which can be applied to video as well. I must also point out that the camera is able to capture pretty decent audio.

Another feature worth mentioning is the camera’s Wi-Fi capability that allows you to upload your pictures and videos directly to the internet, your iOS device, your computer, or another compatible camera. This allowed me to share them immediately and free up some space on the memory card when needed.

The image quality is very good and probably better than that of other point-andshoot cameras in this price range due to Canon’s high-

sensitivity 16.1-megapixel CMOS sensor and DIGIC processor. The display gives a pretty accurate preview of what the pictures will look like when viewed on a computer screen.

The user interface isn’t the prettiest we’ve seen, and although it was rather intuitive and easy to understand, its operation was not as smooth. The touch screen of the IXUS 240 HS is not as sensitive as most touch screens that we know of and requires you to press a little harder in order to trigger the buttons. It wasn’t too hard to get used to, but I found the smaller sized buttons and the sliders under Function mode to be somewhat unresponsive at times and really difficult to press and navigate. This affected the flow of things

t’s well built, compact, takes great pictures and videos, and comes with a bunch of other features and effects that make it ideal for the casual user.

and made changing some settings a tedious task. Good thing, however, that Canon decided to include the fully automatic switch for those moments when you just want to take a picture right away and make the camera do all the work.

Most, if not all cameras have their plusses and minuses and the IXUS 240 HS is no exception. It does many things better than other point and shoot cameras in this price range and has some features that the others don’t—while on the other hand, the touch screen takes a little bit of getting used to and some settings are hard to navigate through. Aside from that, the Canon IXUS 240 HS does not disappoint.

MAY 2012

35

gadgetslab TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

Sony VAIO S Series (VPCSB) LAPTOP

By Benjamin Arnold When it comes to finding a good laptop, one would usually consider what they will use it for. Some would ask themselves, “Will I use it for work documents, writing letters and browsing the net—or will I use it to watch movies, edit photos or play games?” These questions will affect the buying decision, leaving you to choose between longer lasting battery life to do your work or a stronger and faster system to speed up your programs.

This dilemma though isn’t a problem with the Sony VAIO S Series.

BUY METER

3.5

/5

SPECIFICATIONS: PROCESSOR: Intel Core i52430M processor (2.40GHz / 3.00GHz with Turbo Boost) OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit MEMORY: 4GB RAM; 500GB hard drive DISPLAY: 13.3” LED backlit display GRAPHICS: Intel (R) HD Graphics Card AUDIO: Intel High Definition Audio Dolby Home Theater technology v3 PRICE: Php 59,999

WHAT’S HOT: • inimalist esign • Backlist E keyboard • uick access buttons • ariety of connectivity • tamina peed modes • ingerprint protection scanner

WHAT’S NOT: • ouse keys are dif cult to press • ir vents located at bottom making it heat up quickly when in “Speed” mode • ound uality is gritty • ricey

BOTTOMLINE: f you are having a hard time deciding between a long-lasting laptop and a high-powered machine, the ony eries B is a worthwhile choice if you are willing to spend Php 59,999.

To start off, the Sony VAIO S has a simple yet sleek design giving off a minimalist feel that gives off the impression of being made to perform rather than to physically impress. It has been fitted with a 13.3inch LED backlit screen that offers sufficient brightness while reducing power consumption; a back light keyboard that works well when you are working late at night keeping each key visible through the darkest of nights—and I also found the layout of the keys easy to use unlike other laptops; The keyboard also features 36

MAY 2012

three easy access buttons to the upper right next to the power button: one for an assist help menu, quick open web browsing button and a VAIO media hub button; three USB ports (one 3.0 port and two 2.0 ports) positioned to the right of the laptop body next to an HDMI and VGA port. It also offers built in card readers for a variety of cards including SD cards and HG Duo cards.

The weight isn’t that big of a burden on the back either.

To the left of the laptop is a headphone jack as well as a DVD drive that opens with

a quick press of an eject button located at the upper left corner of the keyboard.

Unfortunately, in the unit I tested, the CD/DVD drive didn’t work as it wouldn’t read any disks (whether it was a CD/DVD Movie, Music CD or Data disk) which forced me to use an external CD/DVD writer/reader.The mouse track pad, which is located at the lower edge of the keyboard, reacts well to touch but the left and right buttons are very firm making pressing the button a hassle as a large amount of pressure is needed to get the buttons to react.

In between the track pad buttons is an AuthenTec fingerprint scanner which helps protect the laptop from unwanted users. The Sony VAIO S also has an HD web camera just above the screen. When it comes to sound, the speakers can reach a reasonable sound level, but the speakers are gritty in sound.

In terms of performance, the Sony VAIO S delivers a punch. It is equipped with 4GB RAM, a 500 GB Hard Disk Drive, 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium and an Intel Core i5-2430M

Processor 2.40 GHz which can be increased up to 3.00 GHz with the use of a Turbo Boost option. This turbo boost option can be adjusted with a simple flip of a switch on the keyboard that is appropriately labeled with the words “Stamina” for if your prefer a longer lasting battery or “Speed” which boosts the speed of the laptop allowing it to work with more powerful graphics ideal for games and videos. These graphics are made possible through the use of the Intel (R) HD Graphics Card.

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HEADPHONES

By Roni Callanta

Being a music head and someone who is pretty much buried in her headphones 24/7, sound as well as comfort are the two most important things when it comes to that one thing music heads call their “best friend” or “quick getaway from reality.”

On the other hand, when placed into “Speed” mode, as the name implies, everything speeds up including the depletion of the battery (it lasts around 2 hours before dying) as well as increases the heat produced by the machine.

This becomes a bigger problem in terms of design as the only exhaust vent is located at the bottom of the laptop and doesn’t provide sufficient ventilation when the laptop is placed on a table or a bed. This, though, is a side product of increased performance which allows the Sony VAIO S to amazingly handle high powered graphical games.

The battery though, takes 3 hours to fully charge after being fully drained which makes the charging time longer than the draining time. All of this power saving and power boosting comes for the hefty price of Php 59,999.

So if you are having a hard time determining if you should pick between a laptop that can last long for your work needs or a machine that is powerful enough to handle your graphical need, the Sony VAIO S makes it a simple choice by merging two types of systems into one powerful—or long lasting— machine.

BUY METER

4.0

/5

SPECIFICATIONS: PRODUCT DIMENSIONS: 17 x 19.5 x 7.5 cm WEIGHT: 0.17 kg CONNECTIVITY: Single-sided cable (1.2 m) CONNECTOR: 3.5 mm stereo FINISHING OF CONNECTOR: 24k Gold plated TRACK CONTROL COMPATIBILITY: iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4 CONVENIENCE: Volume Control

TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

Philips O’Neill The Stretch Headphones

gadgetslab

When in “Stamina” mode, the Sony VAIO S lasted up to 5 and a half hours before dying out. The VAIO is capable of pulling off these figures by adjusting and controlling all power consuming devices built into the laptop. This includes the automatic adjustment of the screen’s brightness, the turning off unnecessary devices and of slower processing which also results into jittery movements of the cursor and slowing down of loading times. I also noticed that in “Stamina” mode, a variety of programs become unresponsive and some websites crash.

WHAT’S HOT: • emote and mic compatible with BlackBerry, iPhone, HTC, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Samsung, Sony Ericsson • elivers maximum sound • tretch able and cushioned headband and earphones

WHAT’S NOT: •

ay be a bit too bulky

BOTTOMLINE: The Stretch is a decent, simple yet stylish pair of headphones that doesn’t compromise sound over for comfort.

Its auto-fitting Stretch feature provides impeccable comfort without compromising its high-definition sound with dynamic 40mm drivers that deliver a deep and dynamic bass. The Stretch is incredibly cushioned that you can actually rest on your side and still feel comfortable. Its headband is constructed with a high grade nylon TR55 superstretch

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polymer ensuring that the headphones are extremely tough and flexible The Stretch is quite keen on durability with its tough and tangle-free cable and reinforced connectors, making the user not have to worry about cable and wire breakages. You can have your headphones on and not worry about the wires getting tangled once you land that kickflip with your buddies.

Other than sound and comfort, the look and style are also major factors in choosing the perfect headphones. For others, the more massive, the better.

With The Stretch on, it almost seems completely wired in just like other headphones, but the difference with The Stretch is its clean, simple yet stylish design, which is its aesthetic charm. Once you’re buried under these babies

and zoning out to your music, it screams “do not disturb,” which I personally love.

The Stretch makes for good company in those times you want to just take a break from all of that Manila hustle and bustle. And why not be comfortable and stylish while you’re at it?

MAY 2012

37

gadgetslab TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

Lenco Spherical iPD-4600

HIGH POWER SPEAKER WITH IPOD/IPHONE DOCKING STATION

By Benjamin Arnold

Music has become an essential part of everyone’s life. With the emergence of digital music downloads, portable music players have become a standard in almost everyone’s life substituting them for the disappearing cassette tapes and slowly vanishing CD’s. This has called for a variety of enhancements that come in the form of docking stations.

BUY METER

4.0

/5

SPECIFICATIONS: POWER ADAPTOR: Input AC 100V – 240V ~ 50 / 60 Hz; Output DC 15V 2400mA POWER SUPPLY FOR UNIT: DC 15V 2400mA BACKUP BATTERY FOR CLOCK & MEMORY: DC3V, CR2032 x 1 Lithium Battery REMOTE CONTROL BATTERY: DC3V, CR2032 x 1 Lithium Battery DIMENSIONS (W X D X H): 200 x 200 x 182 mm WEIGHT: 1286 g

WHAT’S HOT: • i od i hone docking station with recharging capabilities • igital clock with alarm • adio with up to station memory • line in • Good sound uality with speakers, subwoofer and Bass and reble ad ustments

WHAT’S NOT: • o way of selecting speci c music on an i od i hone • larm and clock options can only be set using the remote • o battery option

BOTTOMLINE: hough the use of the remote limits the playing of music on an i od or i hone the sound uality produced by the Lenco i speakers serve its purpose well.

The Lenco Spherical iPD4600 is a high powered speaker system intended for iPod and iPhone docking.

The design is fairly modern taking on the shape of its name quite well and is roughly the same size and shape of a fish bowl. It has two high powered speakers located at the front of the system with a subwoofer positioned in the back for a deeper bass effect. Situated on the top of the speaker is the docking port which features the standard iPod/ iPhone 30-pin connector and a LCD screen along with a few buttons for controlling various functions of the speakers including volume, tuning, mode adjustments and power.

The speaker also features 38

MAY 2012

a radio option which can be programmed to save up to 20 different stations of your choice. Reception for the radio stations is fairly good because of the extendable wire antenna but is also subjected to the radio reception of your area.

The system also features an AUX line in at the back of the docking station for other MP3 players making it a suitable speaker system for those who don’t own an iPod or iPhone.

An additional feature built into the system is a clock and an alarm (which can be programmed to have up to two separate alarms set at once.) The clock can be set to either a 12-hour clock or 24-hour clock with a few presses of a button.

Setting the alarm is just as easy with the use of the remote by adjusting the hours and minutes. The problem though with setting the clock and alarm is that the remote is necessary to make these adjustments— meaning if the remote gets lost or broken, the alarm clock become a significantly useless and unadjustable feature. The alarm clock does however offer three types of alarms—a beeping alarm (which unfortunately isn’t that loud,) a radio alarm or an iPod alarm.

The speakers come with a battery that maintains the time of the clock in case of power interruptions.

Speaking of batteries, for its size, one would expect it to have some sort of battery

option for portable music playing; unfortunately, this is not the case with the Lenco iPD-4600 as the speakers need to be plugged into a power source in order for it to work.

In terms of performance, the Lenco iPD-4600 has superb sound quality paired with the ability to adjust the Bass and Treble accordingly.

The spherical shape of the speakers allows a perfect spread of the sound throughout an area. The volume, which maxes out at 30, provides sufficient sound to fill a medium-sized room. The only problem is that there is no way of choosing a specific song or navigating the menu of the connected iPod making the option of having a remote

limited to adjusting the volume or shuffling through songs at random. If you wanted to choose a specific song or set up your iPod to play a certain album or songs from a certain artist, you still have to walk up to the speakers and adjust it yourself manually. The good part about docking the iPod on it is that the system also serves as a recharging station.

So if you are looking for a simple docking station with a minimalist yet modern look, then the Lenco Spherical iPD-4600 iPod docking station would make a perfect music enhancement speaker to get the most out of your playlist.

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gadgetslab TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

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www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

gadgetslab TRIED AND TESTED TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT

Panasonic Lumix DMC-S2

BUY METER

4.5

/5

DIGITAL CAMERA

By Michelle Callanta-Toledo Summer is finally here and what better time to capture great moments with family and friends than during the summer vacation, whether it be at the sunny beaches of Boracay or the cooler breezes of Baguio. And while cameras of all shapes and sizes abound to help you treasure these fun, memorable times, one should still consider portability and reliability so you’re sure never to miss a single moment.

SPECIFICATIONS: MEGAPIXELS: 14.1 Megapixels LCD: 2.7-inch TFT Screen SENSOR SIZE: 1/2.33-inch CCD sensor LENS TYPE: Lumix DC VARIO OPTICAL ZOOM: 4.0x INTELLIGENT ZOOM: 8.0x VIDEO RECORDING: HD movies 1280x720 pixels POWER: Li-ion battery 3.6V / 680 mAh OPTICAL IMAGE STABILIZER: Mega O.I.S. BUILT-IN MEMORY: 70MB BUILT-IN FLASH: Yes DIMENSIONS: 3.86x2.23x0.81 inch WEIGHT: 0.25lb with Battery and SD card

WHAT’S HOT: • ortable and powerful

WHAT’S NOT: • e uires a screen protector and carry-pouch as it scratches easily • oft kin mode isn’t as effective

BOTTOMLINE: f you’re looking for a camera to bring around without bringing you down, the Panasonic Lumix S2 is an absolute must-have.

When I first got my hands on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-S2 digital compact camera, I was a bit apprehensive. Aside from the fact that it was purple (a tad different from the black, more serious-looking cameras I’m used to), it was also incredibly light.

Perhaps a little too light and quite susceptible to scratches. But whatever my initial apprehensions were, they were quickly dismissed when I threw it in my purse and it didn’t weigh me down, and when I realized its glittery purple body added a nice pop of color to my normally dark and earthy wardrobe.

4x optical zoom, great for versatility and ease of image composition.

The Panasonic Intelligent Resolution technology also allows you to extend the zoom range up to a maximum of 8x Intelligent Zoom. A powerful image processor named the Venus Engine, boasts a high-speed and a high-performance, enabling breathtaking stills and video with higher quality signal processing.

In addition, the DMC-S2 features dramatically speedier focusing, allowing users to quickly focus on moving subjects when shooting sports and other fast motion scenes.

But this is not just some uber-feminine, half-packed gadgetry. The Panasonic S2 features 14.1-megapixels and a 28mm wide-angle Lumix DC Vario lens with

It was nothing short of impressive, especially when I took it along with me to a concert. Even though you’d think an SLR would be more appropriate to use at such

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an event with a crowd full of people, dancing and cheering, and a huge stage that’s quite the distance to get close-up shots, the Panasonic S2, for a small, compact, and affordable camera, delivered. I was able to zoom in on the performers and get a surprisingly clear shot from roughly 15 feet away. It was one of the things I noticed and found incredible aside from the fact that it really is super light, I didn’t find it a chore to carry around in my hands at all. Certainly, the S2’s nice rounded edges helped make for an easy grip. But more than that, I appreciated how the Intelligent Auto mode just made it so easy to shoot because the setting itself does all the work for you.

And personally, I liked how the S2 was able to capture and showcase my sunkissed, newly-acquired tan instead

of washing me out and making me look pale and pasty.

With the Panasonic Lumix S2, you can record 720p HD video (1280x720 pixels) and be amazed with the crisp results. You can enjoy high quality playback that perfectly fits a HD-TV for full-screen viewing together with HD pictures taken in 16:9 aspects. In addition, Lumix Image Uploader proposes an easy way of communication by uploading pictures or movies to social media websites like; Facebook or YouTube to show your content with friends or family without needing software for a Personal Computer.

The Panasonic S2 is equipped with an 2.7-inch TFT LCD display as well as a Mega Optical Image

Stabilizer which assures high correction performance against blur caused by a hand-shake. Other features include an Intelligent Scene Selector, Face Detection, Intelligent ISO Control as well as 15 different Scene Modes like Soft Skin (which I found didn’t do the job as well compared to other cameras and their “beauty” functions), Panorama Shot, and even Anti-Window Reflection. Color modes include Standard, Black & White, Sepia, Vivid (in normal/video), and Happy, which gives you a “higher level of color brightness and vividness” (only in iA Mode). It’s compatible with SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards and comes with a Liion battery pack which can take about 280 pictures on a single charge. Also included is the PHOTOfunSTUDIO 8.0 Lite Edition.

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DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY IN A SNAP

snapshots

Digitally Developed

Mix & Match

THE ABOVE IMAGES SHOW THE PROCESS OF TAKING AN ORIGINAL PHOTO (UPPER LEFT) AND EDITING IT IN SNAPSEED (LOWER LEFT) AND ADDING LENS FLARES WITH LENSLIGHT (RIGHT)

digital documentary of one’s life— that is what social networking sites are quickly becoming in this highly digital world that we live in.

Every post, update and upload is rapidly compiling a digital diary of sorts that can be easily shared and seen by anyone who has access to the internet through a computer or mobile device. Now, with that in mind, wouldn’t it be better if these life stories were visually stunning? www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

WORDS & PHOTOS BY BENJAMIN ARNOLD

With mobile devices now playing host to some of the latest photographic technology to be placed into pocket-sized smart computers, creating striking, interesting and beautiful images on the go has never been simpler. One can easily capture a fun moment, a delicious meal or a breathtaking sight and upload it straight to a favorite social networking site for friends, family and (if you’re lucky enough) fans to like, comment on and share—thus creating the imperative to produce the best images possible.

Developers have taken this desire to photograph the world—and pumped out some of the best devices and apps to help any user create images that make viewers stare in awe and admiration. With the use of powerful smartphones and tablets paired with a variety of app software for the taking, enhancing and sharing of photos, mobile photography has become a subset of its own.

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snapshots DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY IN A SNAP

Instant gratification with Instagram Instagram was developed by former Google engineer Kevin Systrom along with Mike Krieger who worked at Meebo as a user experience designer. The app stemmed from the idea of merging instant Polaroid photography with telegram style sharing producing one of the top social networking photography apps to be offered in the iTunes App store and most recently in the Android market.

Instagram allows anyone with an iOS or android device to take photos and instantly

apply quick and easy filters and effects—lomo style filters, instant and adjustable tilt shifts along with optional borders—that give any photo an additional level of personality and charm.

This can then be uploaded and shared straight to your Instagram news feed with an additional choice of instantly uploading the image to Facebook, Twitter or a host of other social media sites. As the name implies, Instagram is the ideal app for anyone who wants a quick fix for photo editing and sharing.

Instant Sharing

WITH INSTAGRAM, YOU CAN SHARE YOUR IMAGES STRAIGHT TO THE INSTAGRAM NEWSFEED

Photoshop Quality PHOTOSHOP EXPRESS PROVIDES QUALITY TOOLS ONE WOULD EXPECT FROM ADOBE

Harvesting more out of your images with Snapseed For those who want to put a little extra effort into getting amazingly beautiful and eye catching images, there is Snapseed which is available on iOS devices, Mac and Windows operating systems and soon in the Android Market. Brought to mobile devices by Nik Software, Snapseed came to be with the plan of making professional style photo editing available not just for the well seasoned photographer but for anyone with a smart mobile device.

Snapseed, like Instagram,

Grow your images

ENHANCE YOUR IMAGES WITH THE DIFFERENT TOOLS OF SNAPSEED

has a variety of built in filters that can be used to apply attitude and style to ordinary images—only with a little more flexibility. One can opt for automatic adjustments or delve deeper into the editing process by fine tuning an image—applying selective adjustments; straighten, crop or sharpen an image, apply a variety of filters that range from black & white, vintage, drama, grunge, center focus/ tilt shifts or frames—each one with their own individual adjustable settings.

Expressing yourself thru Photoshop Express For the mobile photographer who wants to stay true to his Adobe roots, Adobe Systems Incorporated offers

a variety of mobile phone and tablet softwares to fit into your on-the-go artistic workflow, one of which is Photoshop Express.

Photoshop Express is a free app that offers some of the basic editing options found in any Adobe Photoshop program. These options include cropping, straightening, rotating and flipping; exposure, saturation, tint, black & white and contrast; sketch, soft focus and sharpening; and filter effects that range from vignette blurs to white glows. If you feel like spending a little money,

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When you’re done editing an image, Snapseed provides trouble-free options for saving the image into a photo library, sending it via email or uploading it straight to a social networking site. All of this editing and uploading power, wrapped into a clean and easy to understand user interface, makes Snapseed the mobile imaging software of choice of big name photographer Xander Angeles.

you can choose to purchase app add-ons like the Adobe Camera pack that offers a noise reduction filter or the Adobe frame pack to apply a variety of high-quality frames to your images before uploading.

The quality of images Photoshop Express produces is phenomenal, something one would expect from Adobe. Just like Instagram and Snapseed, Photoshop Express offers uploading options of the final processed images thru Facebook, TwitPic, Flickr, via email or on Photoshop.com.

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Each flare and lens light is well designed and is easily adjustable with the use of

the intuitive multi-touch user interface. Giving life to ordinary photos becomes as straightforward as a few taps of a finger. The only down side to LensFlare and LensLight is the fact that it doesn’t provide an instant upload option. But if you are really interested in making images that catch the eye, LensFlare and LensLight are wonderful additions to your image editing process.

Broaden your horizons with Photoshake Another added twist to ordinary photos is the use of borders and frames, a new trend in mobile photography. Photoshake provides a fun process of merging multiple photos into a single image. The enjoyment comes from the fact that it can randomly merge the photos into a frame set of your choice with a few shakes of your mobile device. With it, you can merge multiple photos, create collages or piece together story boards into a single image.

Photoshake allows you to choose between a single photo image, thumb photo, multi photo, grid photo, wide photo or wallpaper images. These photos can be made either into a square, landscape or portrait style giving you a huge range of layout possibilities. It also offers simple filters similar to those of Instagram and allows you to share the framed photos straight to a wide selection of social networking sites, with the added option of opening the image up in Instagram itself.

Shake your creativity

FRAME UP YOUR PHOTOS WITH A SIMPLE FLICK OF YOUR WRIST

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Light up your images

LENSFLARE PROVIDES WELL DESIGNED FLARES TO ADD DEPTH TO AN IMAGE WHILE LENSLIGHT PLAYS WITH A VARIETY OF LENS LIGHTS TO ADD CHARACTER

Flip through your digital life with Flipboard After taking, editing and uploading photos, you can view them in style along with the rest of your news feeds in a beautiful magazine style layout through the use of Flipboard. Flipboard takes social networking sites that you choose to register, along with a few additional selected categories of your favorite websites or topics and merges them into clean and easy to navigate magazine boards that you can literally flip through to stay up to date on all of your favorite networks.

Flipboard simply segments your news feeds into individual sections that can be placed in any order you please while providing a cover story section which compiles the top stories from each of the feeds into a single thread.

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY IN A SNAP

LensFlare and LensLight are high powered apps that can add that extra icing on the cake. With the use of either of these apps, spot lights, lens flares, light leaks and a wide variety of light effects and textures can be applied to give photos that extra artistic edge.

snapshots

Shed some extra light onto your images with LensFlare & LensLight

Get flipped about your photos HAVE FUN FLIPPING THROUGH YOUR PHOTOS AND FEEDS

se one or use all—it really depends on your style and taste for enhancing the quality of your images. In the end though, you can choose if your digitally documented life will be a plain likeness of your existence or it could be a creative conduit of expression for many to view and admire through the use of these well-designed and superbly thought-out apps for photo processing and sharing. Develop and share your life the way you see fit.

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apps

THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT

Complied by Judith Martin

BARBACK iPhone/Android

GOOGLE BOOKS Android

TEXTFREE VOICE +VM iOS 3.1 or later

AH! PARTY PLANNER ON THE GO Blackberry OS

Get instant access to recipes for a wide range of drinks. Get all the information you need on ingredients as well as pouring and mixing directions to serve the perfect martini or cocktail even when you’re out with friends!

With over 1900 cocktail recipes listed in alphabetical order by ingredient and indexed by the name of the drink, you’ve got the best guide for professional and home use. Go ahead and mix drinks like a pro!

You can now read eBook on your mobile phones with the help of Google Books.

When you avail of this, you can start reading the three free books; Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice, and Great Expectations. Just tap the book cover to start reading. It has 3 million free eBooks you can choose from. You can even personalize the way it looks.

TextFree is an app that may have advanced the most during its time in the App store. It allows you to send texts for free including picture messaging, and other chat support. Its new release adds visual voicemail in prior to make it a full featured phone in a single app with calls, texts and voicemail all for free.

Your one-stop solution for great recipes.

Anytime is mealtime with 12,000 recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, beverages, desserts and more. A handy guide to world cuisine for both the novice and the connoisseur. Cooking was never so much fun!

Available at Apps store for Free

Available at BlackBerry App World for US $2.99

Available at Android Market for Free Available at Android Market for Php 126.23

AMAZON MOBILE iOS3 or Later

GROUPON Android

ANKIDROID Android

ALOQA Android

The Amazon Mobile App allows iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users to quickly search, shop, compare prices, read reviews, and make purchases on Amazon using a simple yet elegant interface. To make on-the-go shopping and price comparison even easier, the Amazon Mobile App includes helpful shopping features that allow users to scan a barcode, snap a photo, or type a search, to quickly compare prices and check availability.

Amazon Mobile is great for shopping for the full selection of products available from Amazon.com and merchant partners, shopping from a wish list, or adding items to your wish list even selecting “gift wrap this item,” using the Snap It functionality to take a picture to search for a product from virtually anywhere, watching movie trailers and listening to music samples (iPad only) and scanning a barcode to instantly search for a product while on-the-go (currently only available with devices running iOS 4 with autofocus camera).

Groupon features deals on the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in more than 500 cities and eleven fiefdoms around the world.

These unbeatable deals typically weigh in at discounts of 50-90%, ensuring a level of access to your city that’ll put the mayor in a jealous rage. Every deal is handpicked to ensure that customers can confidently embrace salsa lessons, hot air balloon rides, and hand-tossed pizzas. Daily deals are signed, sealed and delivered to your Android phones each morning, while thousands of deals on demand can be found in real-time, ready for immediate use with Groupon Now!

Memorize anything with AnkiDroid! AnkiDroid lets you learn flashcards very efficiently by showing them just before you will forget.

Study all sorts of things wherever and whenever you want. Make good use of idle times on bus trips, in supermarket queues or any other waiting situation. Create your own flashcard decks or download free decks compiled for many languages and topics (more than 6000 available). Add material through the desktop application Anki or directly through Ankidroid. The application even supports adding material automatically from a dictionary.

Aloqa Apps is a great help to keep yourself up-to-date. This helps you to see things based on your preferences on your phone, social graph, and users can easily see what things are going on in the local area just by glancing at the app startup screen. This GPS based app brings what the app refers as to channels right to your phone. These channels help you to find the nearest McDonalds, gas station, theaters, bars and night clubs, shopping centers, and Facebook friends in your local area.

With the Groupon Android app, you can buy and redeem deals directly from your Android device, keep track of all your purchased Groupons by location and expiration date.

Save ink, and avoid paper cuts by never printing another Groupon. Add the Groupon widget to your home screen so you never miss out on the next big deal.

Available at Android Market for Free

Available at Android Market for Free

Available at the Android Market for Free

Available at the Apps Store for Free

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gaming

WHERE PLAYING AROUND IS A GOOD THING

Ridge Racer

Unbounded

Developer: Bugbear Entertainment Publisher: Namco Bandai Games America

By John Nieves

Ridge Racer has always been one of those games that have managed to get through several console generations relatively intact – you race through a generic cluster of racetracks, using familiar yet futuristic cars and rely heavily on drifting to get you through the race. Unfortunately, that kind of racing has slowly lost its charm with the masses, and Namco along with Bugbear has decided to change the direction of the franchise for the better. The result is Ridge Racer Unbounded, and let us tell you – its one hell of a ride.

Ridge Racer Unbounded is a fusion of different kinds of racing games—the environmental destruction that’s present is akin to what I experienced playing Split/Second, while the takedown mechanics harkens back to the days of Burnout. And while the series borrows heavily from both games, it still manages to seamlessly integrate their game mechanics into the traditional drift-heavy racing style that is unmistakably Ridge Racer without the new features looking unwieldy or tacked-on.

Drifting is a bit trickier now – gone are the days of just letting your car drift without constant corrections. Now you have to be quick to adapt to the changes on the track and your car, correcting with steering and brakes to get you over that corner as fast as possible. The cars on tap aren’t licensed of course, but they bear enough resemblance to current-day supercars that you’ll know if they’re built to take a bit of punishment, or are merely there to go as fast as possible without getting scrapped.

Unlike previous outings, you can now take down opponents using boost that accumulates during the race. A well-timed shunt to the rear of an opponent www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

can send him careening of the track and the results are fantastic. Your boost also allows you to create shortcuts on the track—there’s nothing more spectacular (or rewarding) than bashing through a wall ahead of your competition.

The graphics are simply astounding, and the minimal HUD just shows you what your current speed is and how much boost you have. Everything else from track position to split times are cleverly embedded into the environment (much like how Splinter Cell: Conviction did it) which leaves you more real estate on the screen to admire all the pretty explosions and crashes that you made.

Adding to the life of the game is the robust multiplayer option and the ability to create your own tracks, which supplements the already varied offerings from the get-go.

Ridge Racer Unbounded may have borrowed heavily from other games, but the end result is an excellent racing game that breathes new life into the franchise. If you’re looking for a fast paced, action packed racing game that rewards massive destruction and mayhem – then Ridge Racer Unbounded is for you.

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tablets

TABLET BROWSING

A PORTABLE PERSONAL COMPUTER GAMES I have game apps that do not need Internet connection like Sudoku2, Crossword, Aces Traffic and my alltime favorite, Plants vs. Zombies. But online games provide a different challenge, like the time constraints of each task and the commitment to fulfill the goals in order to move up to the next level. So even when I am traveling I go online to check the status of my story games: Fashion Story, Restaurant Story, Bakery Story, Pet Shop Story, Zoo Story 2, Farm Story and City Story.

BY PRESY ALBA

Advances in Technology have spoiled us. We’re so used to being connected we sometimes feel lost when we don’t have Internet access.

Having data access on our phones solves this problem by having 24/7 connectivity even when we’re on the road.

Smartphones are great communication devices, but for when I need to do real work on the go, I prefer to use my iPad. Tablets like the iPad are designed specifically for mobile browsing.

They are lightweight, thin and even`smaller than netbooks, perfect for people who need to work on the go.

Tablets are more comfortable to work on than a mobile phone because of the larger screen, and while they do not offer the same capability as a laptop,

tablets have enough power to accomplish whatever work you need to do while traveling and at the same time acting as an entertainment center and communication device rolled into one gadget.

My iPad is a WiFi model, so I need a WiFi router to connect to the Internet. When I am away from home or office, I either turn on the personal hotspot on my iPhone 4S or bring along my Huawei E5 wireless broadband modem so I can connect on demand, although I usually check if there is free WiFi available first.

Having access to the web from anywhere is very convenient.

But the Tablet is only as effective as the apps loaded into it. For an all-around experience, here are some apps I have loaded into my tablet, which you might also want to consider:

READERS Having Kindle Reader, Newstand and iBooks allow me to access books and magazines both from Amazon and the Apple store, giving me a wider selection of reading material on my tablet. I also have PDF Expert so that I could not only bring along PDF files but also save changes, annotation and notes that I make on the documents.

MESSAGES, SKYPE, FACETIME AND THE SOCIAL NETWORKS What’s nice about having data connection is that I can keep in touch with my friends, family and colleagues through Messages and Skype. With a WiFi connection, I am always within when they send me messages via my gmail account which I have configured as my Receive At address in the messages section of the system preferences of my iPad. I don’t check my Facebook page that much, but when I’m traveling, I like to post pictures so having a connection is an advantage. My current iPad does not have Facetime but if you have an iPad2 or when the new iPad gets here, Facetime will be another invaluable communication tool for me.

WEB BROWSERS, SEARCH ENGINES AND WEB APPS I still like using Safari for web browsing. There are one or two browser apps that are able to play flash videos but it’s not really a priority to me whether I can watch a flash video on my browser or not, so Safari is still my web browser of choice.

For searching the web using my iPad, I use the Google app because it is more efficient than going to the Google website from my browser.

I like using Wikipanion if I need to search Wikipedia because it allows me to read the information even when I am offline. I also downloaded the free WebMD app on my iPad just in case I need medical information or at least first aid instructions.

Access to dynamic Maps makes traveling to new locales a lot easier.

Connected to the web, the Maps app can show me how to get from point A to point B. I find the maps app most useful especially when I am not familiar with the place I am in. As an additional security, before traveling, I always check if there is a transportation app specific to the city I am going to especially if I plan to take the train or bus. The transportation app is always a good guide for the location of the stops and the frequency and schedule of the train or bus.

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iCloud The best thing about having online access from anywhere is that with my mail, contacts, calendars, reminders, bookmarks, notes, photo stream, documents and find my iPad turned on in iCloud, any change I make on my iPad is automatically backed up and any change I make on my iPhone or MacBook is also immediately reflected on my iPad.

In the past year, I found that using a Tablet instead of a laptop is very practical especially when traveling on airplanes. Not only does it do everything that I described earlier, it is significantly lighter at less than 1-kilogram allowing me to bring other stuff in my carry-on luggage without going over the 7kg limit of the airlines, plus it conveniently fits into a medium-size handbag.

Another advantage is that I could turn it on and off in just seconds allowing me to use it up to when they announce boarding or landing. Also, the battery lasts much longer

than a laptop battery and I can recharge the battery in-flight via the USB port of my airline seat.

Like me, many of you have been browsing the web from a mobile device in the past year.

Soon, most of us will be using mobile browsers as often if not more than the desktop version.

Let’s help the developers improve the user experience by submitting reviews of what we like and don’t like about the apps that we use, so we can sit back and enjoy mobile browsing even more.

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everythingapple

GADGETS THAT DON’T FALL FAR FROM THE TREE

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mobility

THE HOTTEST MACHINES THAT GET YOU PLACES

All-new Ford Focus Linking the way we drive with the way we live Words by Mika Fernandez-David

The all-new Ford Focus was recently revealed to members of the ASEAN media who were flown to Thailand for the special preview at the Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprasong Hotel, a day before the March 26 media launch at the Bangkok International Motor Show.

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mobility THE HOTTEST MACHINES THAT GET YOU PLACES

“The all-new Focus represents the strengths and benefits of our global One Ford strategy in serving our customers across the region,” said Joe Hinrichs, president, Ford Asia Pacific and Africa.

“We’ve gone further in every aspect of this nextgeneration vehicle to give our customers quality, fuel efficiency, safety and smart technology beyond their expectations.”

QUALITY Available in a four-door sedan and a five-door hatchback, the all-new Ford Focus sports a striking front end, a dramatic rising beltline and an athletic stance. The dynamic design of the exterior influences the interior, with its modern cockpittype interior and stylish center console ensures that everything within reach of the driver.

Reduced cabin noise, a characteristic normally found in larger, higher-end vehicles, was addressed in the new Focus, by increasing the stiffness of the body structure by 30 per cent more than the previous model. This also resulted in a reduction of vibration and harshness (NVH) levels, improved driving dynamics, as well as better fuel economy.

(L to R) Trevor Worthington (Vehicle Programs Director, Passenger Vehicle and SUV programs, Asia Pacific and Africa), Saroj Kiatfuengfoo (Vice President, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford Thailand), Joe Hinrichs (Group Vice President, Ford Motor Company; President, Asia Pacific and Africa), Peter Fleet (President, Ford ASEAN), Rodney Phillips (Asia Pacific and Africa SYNC Engineering Manager)

Torque Vectoring Control System, which is now standard equipment, improved cornering agility and stability. The system acts like a limited-slip differential that constantly balances the amount of power and braking delivered to the front wheels.

This results in reduced understeer, improved traction and better turn-ins. Basically enhancing the feeling of cornering control for the driver.

“Each of these attributes on its own is impressive but together with higher quality materials and a strong design, Focus delivers a first-class experience. It’s all about craftsmanship and delivering a ‘great to sit in’ environment” said Trevor Worthington, Vehicle Programs Director, Passenger Vehicle and SUV programs, Asia Pacific & Africa.

FUEL EFFICIENCY The all-new Focus is fitted with a completely new Duratec 2.0-litre Ti-VCT GDi engine that delivers 170PS of power and 200Nm of torque – almost 20 per cent more power than the previous 2.0-liter unit – but still delivers a significant improvement in fuel economy. The 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine is paired with the latest six-speed Ford PowerShift automatic transmission, which is also offered with SelectShift Automatic functionality, allowing drivers to manually control gear selection.

A second option for potential buyers comes in the form of a Duratec 1.6-litre Ti-VCT engine that serves up 125PS of power and 159Nm of torque at outstanding fuel efficiency. This variant comes with either six-speed Ford PowerShift automatic transmission or a five-speed manual transmission.

SAFETY More that half of the all-new Focus’ protective shell is composed of high-strength steel that is exceptionally strong but lightweight. This helps the car meet stringent crash regulations across all markets, as well as contribute to fuel economy.

With the Ford Intelligent Protection System, the www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

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mobility THE HOTTEST MACHINES THAT GET YOU PLACES

car is fitted with reconfigured airbags for the driver and front passenger, plus side curtain airbags for both front and rear-seat occupants as well. The driver’s airbag was redesigned to lessen the impact on the driver’s chest and ribs in frontal crashes, while the innovative side airbags have unique shoulder vents that stay open and reduce pressure for smaller occupants.

SMART TECHNOLOGY While the Philippine market was lucky to have experienced Ford SYNC via the Ford Explorer early on, the system only made its debut in the Thai market at the recent Bangkok International Motor Show. The all-new Focus is the first vehicle built in the ASEAN to come with the technology.

Ford SYNC provides hands-free, voice-activated in-car connectivity, triggered by a click of a switch conveniently located on the steering wheel.

Powered by Microsoft, this award-winning system allows customers to connect almost any mobile phone or digital media player via Bluetooth and USB connection respectively. The driver is able to make calls, have his text messages read and play his favorite music all via voice commands, while keeping his eyes on the road and hands on the wheel. All this can be done seamlessly and effortlessly, and yes, the platform is upgradeable.

Parallel parking will never be a problem again with Active Park Assist. A touch of a button is all you need to activate sensors that will help locate a space big enough for you to park. According to the brochure, “It automatically steers you

in – totally hands free – while you control the accelerator, gears and brake following on-screen instructions and audible signals.”

Afraid of bumping into something and damaging your brand new car in crazy traffic? Fear not, because the Focus comes with a collisionmitigating system called Active City Stop. At speeds below 30 kph, the system detects vehicles in front that stop unexpectedly, and slows the car down even before you step on the brake pedal. Because the system is really smart, in speeds under 50 kph, it adjusts its intensity, making the intervention strong enough to avoid a collision. The driver, of course, still has the option to override this feature by stepping on the accelerator.

Another interesting feature is the Blind Spot Information System (BLIS). This is an orange light that appears in the side mirrors, when the radars on either side of the car detect a vehicle (or object) hidden in the car’s identified blind spots.

Now here is something I know the ladies will love. Gone are the days of having to rummage through your bag in search of your car keys. Smart Keyless Entry enables the driver to lock and unlock the driver’s door without taking the key out of a bag or pocket. Because the sensors around the car detect the presence of the key fob, all the driver has to do is grab the door handle, and viola.

To push the envelope a bit further, the all-new Focus also comes with the Ford Power Start

The impressive Ford stand at the 33rd Bangkok International Motor Show

The Philippine delegation headed by Ford Group Philippines president Randy Krieger and Anika Salceda-Wycoco, assistant vice president for communications

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As if all of the above is not enough, the all-new Ford Focus also comes with dual-zone electronic air-conditioning, rain sensing wipers, automatic headlamps, cruise control, powered sunroof and an auto-dimming rear view mirror that detects headlight glare and switches to a dimmed setting on its own.

LINKING THE WAY WE DRIVE WITH THE WAY WE LIVE Set to go on sale in the region by Q3 of this year, the dynamic Ford Focus will be produced at Ford’s new USD 450M, state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Rayong, Thailand, which will be supplying www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

the entire ASEAN region as well as other export markets.

Its funny how we expect affordable smart phones to do everything short of brew our morning coffee yet we don’t expect the same (and more) from the cars we drive.

The global scale of Ford’s C-car program and the One Ford strategy makes additional technologies and features, normally found in more expensive vehicles, economically viable for cars in this segment. The all-new Ford Focus has evolved from being the first-time buyer’s car, to the best car available in its segment – virtually creating a class of its own. It has successfully raised the bar for the compact car segment, which we can only hope other manufacturers follow.

The all-new Ford Focus is the second of eight all-new global One Ford vehicles that will be introduced to the ASEAN market by mid-decade. Developed in Europe and to be sold in 120 markets worldwide, all units will have an 80 per cent parts commonality across all its markets, with the remaining 20 per cent left for fine-tuning to suit the different regional preferences.

With the One Ford strategy, Ford is able to maximize its global resources and R&D costs— allowing them to bring technology from higher end vehicles to more segments such as that of the Focus.

Of the eight all-new global vehicles to be launched in the ASEAN program, only two have been launched so far—the Ford Ranger and Focus—although it’s been announced that the Mustang will be making its debut sometime Q3, while the EcoSport possibly sometime next year.

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THE HOTTEST MACHINES THAT GET YOU PLACES

button. As long as the key fob is inside the cabin, starting the car is as easy as pushing a button while holding down the clutch pedal for a manual transmission car or the brake pedal on an automatic.

mobility

ONE FORD STRATEGY

mobility THE HOTTEST MACHINES THAT GET YOU PLACES

Suzuki Philippines Takes the Scooter Field to the NEX Level

Suzuki Philippines officially unveiled the NEX115 scooter during its launch held last month in Manila. Hosted by brand endorser Ramon Bautista, the new addition to the Suzuki family was unveiled during a performance of 6CycleMind, one of the country’s well-known bands.

Among the executives of the company present at the event were Satoshi Uchida, president of Suzuki Philippines, who also gave the welcoming remarks; Eiji Kobayashi, general manager of the motorcycle sales and marketing division of Suzuki Philippines; and Catalina Calderon, managing director and treasurer of Suzuki Philippines. During the game show, participants were quizzed on the features and benefits of the newly released ride in order to receive special prizes.

“The launch of our second product this year—the NEX115, will strengthen our current line-up, and will further reinforce our campaign, ‘Bakit Di Ka Pa NakaMotor”, says Eiji Kobayashi.

The NEX115 boasts a whole wide range of features that make it more economical, convenient, sporty and affordable compared to other scooters out in the market today. Among some of these qualities are its fuel efficient CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission), its newly designed cylinder fins and fans for increased engine cooling efficiency, its light hollow core mag wheels that give better riding performance and also contribute to fuel efficiency, and its light and compact front disc brake for reliable stopping power.

Furthermore, it packs a pipe frame that makes for a more stable and comfortable ride, a small lightweight muffler that has reduced noise and emissions, a lighter power supply for increased fuel efficiency, a roller type rocker arm that reduces frictional losses, and a throttle position sensor that also helps fuel efficiency and prevents the carburetor from an oversupply of gasoline. It also has a comfortable foot board, a 4.5L compartment under the seat for stashing belongings, a clear and stylish speedometer that’s visible in any riding condition, and a sleek and sporty looking headlight.

The new scooter from Suzuki targets a whole wide range of people, including students, who want a convenient and affordable way to get around for their day-to-day activities. Made available in green, pink, and white variants, the NEX115 is priced at PHP 60,900. Those interested can visit www.suzuki.com.ph for more information.

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mobility THE HOTTEST MACHINES THAT GET YOU PLACES

Nano E Technology for cleaner air

Advanced instrument panel design with integrated display audio and back camera

Luxurious interior for an executive feel

*

CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE CENTER HOTLINE (CAC): (02) 819-2912 www.toyota.com.ph

www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

on CAMPI Report *Based as of December 2011.

Based on CAMPI Report as of December 2011

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Manila International Auto Show 2012

Photos by Patrick Ilagan

The Manila International Auto Show 2012, now in its 8th year and held last March 29 to April 1 at the World Trade Center, was undoubtedly the biggest and most anticipated event for car enthusiasts. Its theme was “Motorsports”, highlighted “Life in the Fast Lane” by showcasing the newest sports cars from different brands, as well the best concept cars, hybrid cars, and a lot more.

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mobility THE HOTTEST MACHINES THAT GET YOU PLACES

Over 88,600 people attended the event to see more than 400 cars on display from 500 exhibitors on a massive show area of 30,000 sqm. Among the focal points of the event were the Russ Swift Precision Driving Stunt Show, the motorsports exhibits, and the special demonstrations. Car launches from Ford, BMW, Chrysler, Subaru, Hyundai, Mini, Vespa, Piaggio, and APE took place as well. Also included at the event was the Top Gear exhibit that featured top-of-the-line car setups, the MD Juan World II re-enactment that made use of jeeps, and the Philippines’ most powerful car sponsored by Motul.

A Gala Night for the Car of the Year Awards Philippines 2012 competition transpired, hosted by the Car Awards Group, Inc., giving the title of Car of the Year to the Hyundai Elantra. The Manila International Auto Show also awarded BMW as the best booth and Subaru as the best in production, while the MIAS Classic and Custom Car Competition and car photography contest also went down. The importance of the Manila International Auto Show is in the fact that it boosts the local car industry, and buyers were able to get low interest rates during the show through BPI Family Bank’s Auto Madness.

The Manila International Auto Show is organized

by Worldbex Services International and coorganized by Alvin Uy and Jason Ang

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The tale of crowning the Philippines’ 2011 - 2012 Car of the Year Words and photos by Christopher Kho

Every 12 months, the Car Awards Group Inc. (CAGI) takes the liberty of crowning a new Car of the Year in the Philippines.

Seven vehicles have had the honor of receiving the coveted title since 2004; five of which were of Japanese origin, while the other two were Scandinavian and American. But this year, for the first time in history, a Korean automaker took top honors. I present to you the Hyundai Elantra, your 2011 - 2012 Car of the Year - Philippines (COTY-P).

Besting the other 35 nominees and 10 finalists, the Elantra, specifically its 1.8L GLS AT variant, was simply a cut above the rest and topped the Compact Car category in this year’s awards. But what really goes on in the search to find a new heir to the throne?

Putting it to the Test Unlike in other countries, CAGI does not select its Car of the Year though an eclectic panel of judges. Instead, it depends on its members to personally test drive and score all of the nominees. This way, the results are based on the collection of each individual’s evaluation as an experienced motoring journalist and not from the deliberation of a group. This is also primarily why pretty much no one really knows the results until the awards night.

Of course, a true winner should possess not only the right look and feel, but also great talent. A skilled set of drivers assesses each vehicle’s performance on track in terms of acceleration, braking, and handling to see just how good these candidates are in doing what they were truly meant to do.

Car of the Year After spending a total of eight test days toiling under the sun, several weeks of tallying score sheets, and countless sleepless nights in anticipation, the Hyundai Elantra came out as the clear winner. And why wouldn’t it? Simply by its looks, we were left dazzled by its elegant styling. Though it bears a striking resemblance to the Accent, Sonata, and Genesis Coupe, the Elantra by far is the best interpretation of Hyundai’s “fluidic sculpture” design philosophy. We also couldn’t find any fault with its interior and felt quite comfortable and relaxed resting inside. And while it doesn’t boast of any class-leading technological features, it does not fall short in providing its passengers with a lush city ride.

It came as a surprise to most that the Elantra actually drives much like a past Car of the Year awardee, the 2006 Honda Civic. With its crisp steering and excellent handling, this sedan is so much fun to drive. Its 1.8L 56

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D-VVCT engine and six-speed automatic transmission enabled it to achieve a 0 to 100 km/h time of 10.3 seconds which was well-within the top 10 in this year’s list and was the second-fastest through the slalom. And who could argue with its P938,000 price tag if you’re getting something this good?

The other category winners that were also vying for the title were the Kia Picanto (Basic Subcompact Car), Suzuki Swift (Subcompact Car), Kia Sportage 2.0 (Crossover), Volvo S60 T4 (Luxury Midsized Car), MINI Countryman S (Luxury Compact Crossover), Mitsubishi Montero Sport 4x2 M/T and GTV 4x4 A/T (Midsize SUV 4x2 and 4x4), Ford Explorer V6 AWD (Luxury SUV), and the Mitsubishi Strada (Pickup 4x2 and 4x4).

Hyundai’s hour As we stood on stage at the awards night held last March 29, 2012 at the 8th Manila International Auto Show, CAGI President Ferman Lao was handed an envelope that finally revealed the Philippines’ 2011 2012 Car of the Year. Accepting the distinguished award was Ms. Fe Perez-Agudo, President and CEO of Hyundai Asia Resources Inc. (HARI), who couldn’t have summed up the moment in any better way: “Hyundai has finally arrived. I’ve waited for this for 11 years and we finally made it as the Car of the Year. I would like to share this award to the motoring journalists and to the public who, in the past 11 years of Hyundai, overwhelmingly accepted our brand.”

This makes it the Elantra’s fourth Car of the Year award worldwide, winning the same title in Canada, North America, and South Africa. “The results are also a validation that CAGI’s COTY testing procedures are internationally up to par,” remarked CAGI President Ferman Lao. Presenting the award to the Hyundai Elantra once again proves that the title of Car of the Year Philippines is not for the fastest, cheapest, or most popular car in the market. Rather, it is an award for the car that offers the best value to the consumers. www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

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coverstory

IN-DEPTH TOPICS ON ALL THINGS TECH AND LIFESTYLE

MEET THE FUTURE OF MOBILE INTERNET: LTE

By John Nieves | Art by Patrick Ilagan

Almost all the newest phones that come out in the market today are advertised as 3G compliant, with some even boasting 3.5G capability. Devices like Apple’s iPhone 4S, HTC’s Sensation XE and Samsung’s Galaxy Note are all 3G compliant, which means that they have UMTS/HSPA capability—two key technologies that put the smart in smartphone. But like anything related to technology, the landscape of mobile internet is evolving, and another technology is coming that promises unparalleled speeds—LTE. 58

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In a country where the average download speed is usually 1 mbps, the potential increase in speeds is amazing.

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LTE stands for Long Term Evolution, a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals. It’s much, much faster than the current generation of mobile internet, with theoretical max speeds of 100 Mbit/s in the downlink and 50 Mbit/s in the uplink. Of course, those speeds are the theoretical max speeds (and are only achievable when conditions are perfect) which we all know never happens in reality. Still, LTE is significantly faster than current technology, which sometimes struggles to deliver speeds that are only a quarter of what LTE promises.

There’s currently only a few companies around the world that offer LTE to their customers, which include a number of carriers in the US and Europe.

The most notable of the current LTE operators are AT&T, NTT DoCoMo and Vodafone. While both telcos locally have expressed their plans to roll-out LTE in the Philippines, as of writing only Smart has managed to demonstrate their LTE service to select members of the press in a closed beta test that we participated in. We’ve experienced amazing download speeds as part of the closed beta group that evaluated Smart’s LTE offering, and have experienced 30 mbps download speeds during one outing, and have seen other members of the test experience speeds of up to 60 mbps. In a country where the average download speed is usually 1 mbps, the potential increase in speeds is amazing.

It’s also useful to note that the first generation LTE dongles lent to us during the test were only rated for 40 mbps.

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coverstory IN-DEPTH TOPICS ON ALL THINGS TECH AND LIFESTYLE

Unfortunately, new technology means that phones not designed with LTE in mind will not be able to experience the fast speeds that LTE promises.

Unfortunately, new technology means that phones not designed with LTE in mind will not be able to experience the fast speeds that LTE promises.

There’s also a matter of acquiring the neccesarry spectrums for the LTE service to work. To put it simply, spectrums are like pipes where data travels to and from an LTE device. Each telco will need to purchase a certain kind of spectrum for their LTE service to work.

That’s not to say LTE is perfect of course, and as it is a new technology, it still has certain limitations. One of the major limitations is bands and spectrums—an LTE device is usually made for a particular band or spectrum, and will not work in other LTE environments that have different bands.

If you take an LTE iPad that’s meant to work in the US to Europe for example, it won’t work, as the iPad is currently set to work only on 700 and 2100 MHz, while the 800 and 2600 MHz bands are more common in Europe. This is a sharp contrast to GSM 3G devices, which will work with almost all other GSM networks around the globe as long as they are quad-band devices. To put it bluntly, there is no “open-line” to LTE - it will only work on the band it was meant to work on. Which means when both carriers finally roll-out their service, there’s a big chance that the LTE devices that they’ll be offering will only work on their network, as the limitation is on the hardware, not software.

We’re expecting to see Smart’s LTE service roll-out this year in the second to third quarter. As of press time, we don’t have an idea when Globe is set to release their LTE offering. www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

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features

GeForce GTX 680—the fastest video card on the planet

By John Nieves

A few months ago we received an event invitation from the graphics and chip maker about an event that was going to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

A quick glance at the cover of the invitation and the lengthy NDA forms that came with it confirmed that we would be able to take a close look at the company’s long awaited release: the GeForce GTX 680.

The new GPU is based on NVIDIA’s new GPU architecture—codenamed Kepler—that uses the company’s new 28nm manufacturing process. NVIDIA says that the GTX 680 is not only the fastest graphics card that’s currently out in the market, it’s also the most power efficient. To put the improvements in perspective, the GTX 680 is 300 percent faster in DirectX 11 tessellation performance (when compared to AMD’s Radeon HD 7970) and up to 43 percent faster in games like Skyrim. Another point of comparison was a demo of Epic’s Unreal 3 engine. A year ago the demo required 3 previous generation GeForce GTX 580s running in SLI configuration to be render properly. During the unveiling of the new GPU, only one GeForce GTX 680 was needed to run the demo using the exact same settings a year ago.

The new GPU also brings a couple of new technologies to the table, the most exciting of which is GPU boost.

Put simply, the new tech allows your card to boost performance if there’s still available headroom in terms of TDP (thermal design power). Think of it as Intel’s turbo-boost technology but for GPUs. Obviously we’re oversimplifying it a bit, but in theory it performs the same way—as long as there’s enough available headroom when it comes to TDP, it automatically adjusts the clock speed based on the power consumed by the currently running app. The card automatically overclocks itself, basically.

Another new tech that comes with Kepler is TXAA. TXAA is a new anti-aliasing tech NVIDIA has developed that’s even higher than traditional anti-aliasing modes. TXAA combines the raw power of MSAA with sophisticated resolve filters similar to those employed in CG films. In addition, TXAA can also jitter sample locations between frames for even higher quality. In TXAA 1, gamers get the performance of 2xMSAA and quality that’s on par with 8xMSAA. TXAA 2 ramps that up even more, giving gamers the performance of 4xMSAA with quality even higher than 8xMSAA. The Fermi series of GPUs were much maligned due to their limited two monitor limit when using multiple monitors.

That’s not a problem anymore—NVIDIA’s new Kepler GPUs are now able to support three monitors for gaming, with an option to add a fourth one for web and IM. 62

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WHEN GORGEOUS GIRLS MEET HIGH-TECH GADGETS

mobile

mayhem

photofeature

Words by Michelle Callanta-Toledo

This month of May has just gone completely mobile mad and who better to usher us and the latest gadgets along than the fun and gorgeous Maja Salvador.

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Photographed by Dan Yusay-Harvey Make-up & Hair by Denise Go-Ochoa Art Direction by Benjamin Arnold Styling by MR Gavin Clothes by Petite Monde & Coexist Shoes by SO! Fab Shot at Art Movement Studios

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photofeature WHEN GORGEOUS GIRLS MEET HIGH-TECH GADGETS

SONY VAIO S SERIES (VPCSB) The Sony VAIO S Series (VPCSB) is the perfect companion for people looking for an affordable yet powerful notebook that they can take with them wherever they go. Armed with Intel’s second generation Core i processor and discrete AMD RADEON graphics, the Sony VAIO S Series (VPCSB) is able to plow through most tasks without a hitch.

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SAMSUNG NX200 Get the versatility of a Digital SLR without the bulk with the Samsung NX200. Able to take a myriad of other lenses for greater versatility yet still possessing a compact and lithe frame, the NX200 is definitely a camera for people who are serious about photography. Built around a large, new 20.3-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, the NX 200 is able to deliver breathtaking images that are sure to impress even hardened photography veterans.

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photofeature WHEN GORGEOUS GIRLS MEET HIGH-TECH GADGETS

HP FOLIO 13 The HP Folio 13 is an ultrabook like no other. Weighing in at only 1.5kg, the Folio 13 is one of the lightest notebooks ever made. But that doesn’t mean it’s not as capable as other notebooks—the Folio 13 comes with Intel’s second generation Core i processor, and is able to keep on truckin’ for 9.5 hours before needing to be charged.

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MajaMoves WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE GADGETS?

WHEN GORGEOUS GIRLS MEET HIGH-TECH GADGETS

iPHONE AND BLACKBERRY. Yung iPhone ko kasi ay may 3G plan sa Sun Cellular. Pwede akong mag-surf sa internet anytime I want kaya hindi ko na kailangan pang maglabas ng laptop. Mas madali rin mag search ng mga kailangan ko like store numbers etc. Sa Blackberry ko naman, it has BBM (Blackberry Messenger) for instant messaging. Kahit nasa ibang bansa yung friends at relatives ko, I can send them messages and share pictures with them.

MACBOOK. Actually yung mga first laptops ko ay gift lang sakin ng mga supporters ko kaya never pa ako nakaexperience ng ibang brands so nung lumaki ako, yun na yung nakasanayan ko. I’m also used to Windows but having Mac seems more

professional. Mas marami kang magagawa with it plus marami siyang software at mabilis.

GE CAMERA. Hindi lang dahil sa endorser ako ng GE, nakakatanggap ako ng iba’t ibang klase ng GE Digicam.

May built-in camera ang cellphone pero hindi sulit yung pixels nya that’s why hindi maganda yung quality ng pictures taken from it. Sa videos naman, there are times na kulang na yung memory sa phone mo kasi nandoon na lahat ng pictures, videos and messages mo, kaya dapat may digicam ka na dala-dala palagi. Also, there are times na may magandang moments na dapat i-capture using a digicam.

FAVORITE SITES TO VISIT? GOOGLE. Kapag wala akong dalang dictionary, with Google, dun ko nalalaman how to pronounce a word correctly.

Then sa Google din ako naghahanap ng store numbers na gusto kong hanapin.

CLICKTHECITY. In this website, nalalaman ko yung schedule ng movies na gusto kong panoorin sa mga malls.

YOUTUBE. Most of the time, dito ako nanunood ng ASAP and mga mall shows ko. Gusto ko kasi laging pinapanood yung sarili ko so that I would know what I need to improve on myself.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE GREAT THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT LIVING IN THIS AGE OF TECHNOLOGY? Sa dami kasi ng supporters na nagmamahal sa’ming mga artista, marami silang binibigay na regalo like gadgets, kaya hindi na ako bumibili. Pero minsan, nacucurious din ako sa mga latest Digicam and iPads. Nagbabasa ako ng mga reviews about them but never pa kong bumili unlike before, nung teenager ako, lahat ng latest binibinili ko.

Pati siguro yung difference between “snail mail” and email. Before, magsusulat ka muna saka ipapadala sa post office. Nowadays, just type the message then click ‘Send,’ makukuha na agad yung messages, even pictures and videos mo kahit pa nasa ibang bansa yung relatives and friends mo. In addition to this, pwede mo rin silang makausap through video call.

CREATIVE ZIISOUND D3X There’s no need to deal with wires in your audio set-up with the Creative ZiiSound D3X. This wireless soundbar allows you to enjoy your music via Bluetooth so you won’t have to perform messy cable management and gives you better flexibility when it comes to speaker placement.

Special Thanks to Camille Co of Coexist & Diana Go of Red Dot & GE

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SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFESTYLE DECISIONS

Php 278 Php 3,148

Php 3,098

Timeless EGF

by Tony Moly

Php 2,998

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EGF or Epidermal growth factor is a medical ingredient against diabetes, ulcer and burned skin. Now it’s on the Timeless line by Tony Moly that promotes epidermal growth cell regeneration. It helps skin resilience, smoothens wrinkles, protects, whitens and moisturizes skin. Your skin will be as smooth as a baby’s radiant and luminuous complexion.

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Php 1,900

Php 1,400

Hello Flawless and Sunbeam

by Benefit The Hello Flawless oxygen foundation is an oil-free brightening liquid foundation that leaves your skin luminous and healthy-looking. It has a broad spectrum SPF 25 PA+++ protection that is perfect for your summer adventures. It also hydrates the skin while protecting it from the harsh sun and comes in 9 shades. The perfect tan is easy to achieve with the Sunbeam golden bronze highlighter that gives your cheeks a natural, sunkissed radiance. Just blend over makeup on to the cheek and brow bones for a bronzed glow that will surely cause a heat wave this summer.

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lifestyleparade SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFESTYLE DECISIONS

ageLOC Transformation Set

by NuSkin Now you have the power to change the past, present and future of your skin.

The ageLOC line is the most advanced and complete anti-aging system that infuses your skin on a daily basis to target aging at its source. The ageLOC gentle cleanse and tone is a sophisticated foaming cleanser that combines cleansing and toning into a single step, while preparing skin to receive advanced anti-aging ingredients. The Future Serum provides scientifically tested ingredients that reveal younger looking skin. The Radiant Day SPF22 contains ingredients proven to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by 45% while it brightens, hydrates and fortifies skin with ageLOC, while helping to shield your skin from UVA and UVB-sun damage. Pamper your skin at night with the transforming night cream delivers a potent dose of aging and dramatically reduces the look of fine lines, wrinkles and pores so you wake up to radiant, supple skin.

Php 24,000

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Chunky Heels

by Das Finding the perfect shoes is very hard especially when you have a certain taste for the unique and unlikely. Luckily, Das got that covered; From Chunky heels, wedges and even heel-less, these limited-edition chunky heels will surely be a head turner—whether in silver, gold, purple or prints. Spice up your outfit with a splash of Das and you will be the talk of the town.

Prints www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

Prices available upon request

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SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFESTYLE DECISIONS

Since there’s no way of avoiding the sun’s rays especially this summer, enjoy guilt-free, outdoor fun by putting on protection. Banana Boat Sunscreen Lotion offers that, and more, with every drop. Formulated with AvoTriplex technology, a rub down of Banana Boat Sunscreen Lotion offers the skin a three-tiered protection from harmful UV radiation. The benefits of applying Banana Boat Sunscreen are defense against sunburn with its UVB protection and against long-term skin damage with its UVA protection. It also lasts longer than ordinary sunscreen. Banana Boat Sunscreen lotion ensures that whatever the sport or the activity might be, we’ve got you covered.

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Sun Screen Lotions

by Banana Boat

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Reflex

by Reebok RealFlex is an athletic shoe designed for men and women who want to escape the stiff feeling of a traditional athletic shoe. It is lightweight with the perfect combination of strength and stability. Designed with the natural foot in mind, RealFlex helps feet move and flex naturally while you run, jump and stretch. The upper component of RealFlex footwear is both extremely lightweight and eye-catching with its single layer mesh that also offers breathability and style.

Php 3,535

Plim and Carliana

by Crocs

Php 2,950

Heat up your summer with Crocs’ newest shoes to match the scorching weather. Girls can stroll on the beach or shop at their favorite malls on these cool Carliana peep toe shoes in citrus aqua. You will never hurt your feet with its Croslite technology that gives you a massage like feel. Boys will surely catch attention with the Plim in navy blue. It’s light on the feet with a footbed that is also made of croslite material.

This comfy footwear is from the Crocs Spring/Summer 2012 collection; ready for your summer adventures.

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910XT 610

iMagnum iPhone 4/4S cases

by Piel Frama While there’s a veritable cornucopia of cheap, plastic and fauxleather iPhone 4/4S cases out in the market today, nothing beats genuine leather cases. Piel Frama’s Classic and iMagnum series of iPhone 4/4S cases are hand-cut by Spanish artisans and are hand-made in the company’s home country, Spain. These cases use hi-quality cow leather and are designed for the best possible fit and give your device superior protection against the rigors of daily use.

Available from: www.pielframa.com

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SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFESTYLE DECISIONS

310XT

The Forerunner 310XT is a GPS-enabled sports watch that monitors weight, body fat, body water, and six other measurements, making it ideal for tri-athletes as it comes with running, biking, cross-country, and swimming modes. Another GPS-equipped sports watch, the Forerunner 910XT, includes detailed swim metrics, a heart rate based calorie consumption monitor, and a waterproof design up to 50 meters to name a few. The Forerunner 610 sports a touch screen interface and allows users to monitor their time, distance, pace, calories, and heart rate, all while keeping track of their training through GPS.

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310XT, 910XT, and 610

by Garmin Forerunner

beautylab

BEAUTY SECRETS REVEALED

RE

BEFO

AFTER

NU SKIN GALVANIC

SPA

&

TRANSFORMATION

SET

BY MICHELLE CALLANTA-TOLEDO

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, THE BEST COMPLIMENTS I RECEIVED WERE THE ONES ABOUT HOW I LOOKED “OLDER” AND “MATURE” FOR MY AGE. OF COURSE, WHEN YOU’RE A PRECOCIOUS AND REBELLIOUS 14-YEAR OLD WHO GREW UP IN THE STATES, YOU WANT NOTHING MORE THAN TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY BY YOUR ELDERS, TO MAKE YOUR OWN DECISIONS (AND TO BE ALLOWED TO WATCH R-18 MOVIES WITHOUT ANYONE ASKING YOU FOR AN ID).

In retrospect, I don’t think there was really anything wrong with wanting to appear older and more mature.

Surely, wisdom comes with age and who wouldn’t want to be considered “wise” while they were still young? But for many of us, while we may not mind the wisdom that comes with the years, we can totally do away with the wrinkles that accompany them. Hence all of the antiwrinkle, anti-aging creams and cosmetic services that pervade the market today, 78

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and why the elusive “fountain of youth” remains one of the most alluring myths people hope will someday become a reality.

Now, there may just be a product that can put the awesome powers of the magical fountain into the palm of your hands, quickly and painlessly.

Nu Skin, a company that combines innovative personal care products with ingredients that are

subscribed to the philosophy of “all of the good, none of the bad,” takes the science of anti-aging to a whole new level with the introduction of ageLOC. Nu Skin’s collaboration with leading scientists centered on anti-aging and genetic research paved the way for ageLOC science to discover the genetic origins of aging—internal sources that contribute to how people age.

Armed with this brilliant

discovery, ageLOC now addresses the problem with a different approach. It targets not just the signs of aging but the source itself by resetting Youth Gene Clusters back to its youthful patterns of activity. The result is younger looking skin visible in eight ways: youthful skin structure, smoothness, even skin tone, reduced fine lines and wrinkles, reduced appearance of pores and discoloration, increased skin radiance, and skin hydration.

And because of these youth-enhancing benefits, the ageLOC Transformation daily skincare system was hailed as the Best New Product of the Year by 2010 International Business Awards.

Of course, the whole “beauty from within” campaign is nothing new to the market. But this is more than just popping a few vitamins everyday. It’s a beauty regimen that will not only give you results

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Then there’s the Nu Skin Galvanic Spa, a machine that works using negative and positive charges, and the use of their several conductors (face, spot treatment, body, and scalp).

The facial treatment works in two steps: first, the PreTreat Facial Gel and second, the Treatment Facial Gel with ageLOC. During the first step, both the Pre-Treat Gel andthe Galvanic Instrument are negatively charged.

Since like charges repel each other, the negative charge of the Galvanic Instrument repels or pushes the PreTreat Gel into the skin.

The Pre-Treat Gel contains ingredients that soothe, calm, and purify the skin.

The purifying ingredients bind with impurities in the skin causing them to have a negative charge. During the second step, both the Treatment Gel and the Galvanic Instrument are positively charged. These positive charges repel each other, helping deliver the Treatment Gel onto the skin.

BEAUTY SECRETS REVEALED

The Nu Skin ageLOC Transformation set is comprised of four products: the ageLOC Gentle Cleanse & Tone, a foaming cleanser and toner in one; ageLOC Future Serum, which delivers the maximum concentration of ageLOC; ageLOC Radiant Day SPF 22, a moisturizer that helps shield the skin from UVA and UVB damage; and ageLOC Transforming Night, a night cream that works with the skin’s natural nighttime renewal process. The Gentle Cleanse & Tone, Future Serum, and Radiant Day regimen is for the morning while the Gentle Cleanse & Tone, Future Serum, and Transforming Night regimen is for before bedtime. This daily regimen assures longer-lasting effects of ageLOC to help you achieve those eight beauty results mentioned earlier.

beautylab

immediately after you use it, it’s a product that will constantly surprise you with the astonishing improvement of your skin.

The Treatment Gel contains ingredients, including the proprietary ageLOC blend, that help to slow free radical production in the epidermis, help skin recover from stress, and promote cellular energy. The positively charged Galvanic Instrument also attracts the remaining negatively charged impurities from the Pre-Treat cycle, drawing them out of the skin to give you a fresher, more vibrant look.

Unlike the Transformation Set, the Galvanic Spa can be used 2-3 times a week.

Now this may all seem a little too much to do what with our fast-paced, on-thego lifestyle, even for me.

And I have to admit, I’ve always been a no-nonsense, washing-your-face-withsoap-is-enough type of girl. You would never get me to put anything else on my face unless it was make-up for some special occasion. But after using these products religiously for just two weeks, I realized that this really is www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

one regimen you simply cannot pass up and must make time for. The results are not only astonishing, they’re quite addicting as well. Sure, it’s one thing to see a noticeably cleaner face after washing, but to see those fine lines less visible, those puffy eyes less puffy, and to actually feel your face so much softer after just one use is nothing short of incredible. Even after I completely baked under the sun for several days during my summer vacation and my skin was already beginning to show signs of unattractive peeling, I continued to use the Transformation Set as well as the Galvanic Spa. The next day, my face was no longer as flaky, blotchy, and rough as it would’ve had I allowed my face to peel all on its own.

But like most things that appear too good to be true but actually are, there is a catch and it’s quite the price to pay in order to keep your younger-looking skin

as long as you possibly can.

The Transformation Set will cost you Php 24,000 while the ageLOC Galvanic Spa II System Package which includes 1 ageLOC Edition Galvanic Spa II, 1 ageLOC Face Conductor, 1 Spot Treatment Conductor, 1 Body Conductor, 1 Scalp Conductor, 2 AAA Batteries (already installed), and 1 Carrying Pouch costs Php 21,500.

The ageLOC Galvanic Face Gels (8 ampules which can last you about two months) costs Php 2,500. It’s quite the investment to make in order to maintain that youthful glow and you may find yourself not wanting to use the products as often as you should. That’s why I suggest a well-balanced diet, regular exercise, and an overall healthy lifestyle is already in place so that you won’t necessarily need to rely on just this (or any other product) to keep you looking young. But until the fountain of youth is found, Nu Skin’s ageLOC technology is your next best bet.

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KNOW YOUTR GADGET’S FORTUNE

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home

TECH LIVING AT ITS BEST

A New Generation of Home Appliances

SAMSUNG UNVEILS LATEST HOME APPLIANCES AT SAMSUNG SEA FORUM

Perfect Fit Bottom Mount Freezer Refrigerator Samsung’s Perfect Fit Bottom Mount Freezer Refrigerator succeeds in minimizing space constraints through its width and large 430-liter capacity. Thanks to Space Max technology, the inner storage space is increased without affecting the refrigerator’s body size. The technology also reduces the thickness of the wall while maintaining incredible insulation performance, ensuring consumers can enjoy additional storage space and easier organization. The Refrigerator will also satisfy consumers’ expectations when it comes to convenience. The incorporation of an ergonomic door handle adds to the flushness of its design, as well as a foldable shelf that can be used as a full-depth shelf or tucked up against the wall to accommodate taller containers.

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ENERGY EFFICIENCY – The Perfect Fit Bottom Mount Freezer Refrigerator is environmentally friendly with energy efficiency up to three and half stars in Australia. This is made possible by Samsung’s Smart Eco System, which applies sensor technologies and an intelligent self-adjusting compressor operation tailored to every consumer’s usage conditions and behavior.

10 YEAR WARRANTY – The Digital Inverter Compressor in Samsung’s refrigerators enhances efficient cooling performance while increasing energy savings and optimal freshness, all the while controlling the perceptible noise to a low level. The Digital Inverter Compressor component is warranted for a period of 10 years.

BLUE LED DISPLAY – A blue LED Display at the top of the interior in the fridge graces the interior of the refrigerator with its enhanced design and usability.

The Perfect Fit Bottom Mount Freezer Refrigerator will be available across Oceania and South East Asia starting September 2012. Included will be brighter and upgraded LED lighting that uses less energy than conventional bulb lighting, while effortlessly illuminating the interior of the refrigerator for easy navigation. The Refrigerator will also come equipped with a twist ice maker to complete the overall look and feel of the appliance.

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home TECH LIVING AT ITS BEST

KEEP YOUR COOL WITH SAMSUNG’S NEW HOME AIR CARE SOLUTIONS

WiFi-enabled Smart Air Conditioner Samsung’s WiFi-enabled smart air conditioner comes equipped with a new Smart Control System. As a result, consumers can remotely connect to the air conditioner using a wireless router and a smartphone application regardless of their physical proximity. This is perfect come summertime as consumers activate the air conditioner to cool down their homes in advance.

In addition, the WiFi-enabled air conditioner is a smart energy saver with Double Saving thanks to Samsung’s advanced Inverter technology and Minimum Standby Power. What’s more, the air conditioner’s Smart Inverter allows consumers to save energy whether it is turned on or off.

When the system is turned on, increased control technology maintains the ideal temperature without constantly starting and stopping the compressor, which reduces the amount of wasted energy. When the system is turned off, an improved control board uses low dosages of energy that uses no standby power and saves consumers 90 percent more energy than conventional air conditioners. Moreover the WiFienabled air conditioner is not only a cooling system but also a heating system. Once a temperature is set, it automatically selects the cooling or heating mode to maintain the set temperature.

The WiFi-enabled air conditioner also includes Samsung’s enhanced Double Cleaning purifying system which can purify the air in two ways; firstly, the Full High Density Filter offers improved filtration by removing microscopic dust particles and purifies polluted air with up to 80 percent of dust collection. Secondly, an advanced S-Plasma ion completes the filtration process with an anti-bacterial.

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Air Humid Purifier As indoor biological pollutants become a growing public health concern, Samsung today unveiled its revolutionary air purifier with humidification to improve indoor air quality and enhance consumers well-being.

Samsung’s air purifier with humidification is a 3-in-1 multi-functional air purifier with humidifying functions and Samsung’s Virus Doctor(S-Plasma ion) technology. The air purifier with humidification automatically maintains an optimal humidity level of about 40 to 60 percent, and the optimized air helps skin stay moist and prevents the spread of influenza virus indoors.

The air purifier with humidification works by leveraging Virus Doctor Technology to generate activated hydrogen and oxygen ions that transform toxins from the air into harmless water vapor. Its cleaning properties have been recognized by authentication authorities across the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and South Korea, while the Seoul National University Hospital and Seoul Toxicology Lab have certified the technology as safe and non-toxic for humans.

Additionally, Samsung’s air purifier with humidification sports a modern design with a pure white color and rounded-edge shape. Simply touch the power button on the device, and silver lighting with brilliant LED will display the function indicators and menu for easy viewing.

Maintenance is also a breeze with the air purifier with humidification – without any tools consumers can easily assemble or disassemble the washable water tank and stainless water tray easily.

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home

NaviBot S

AUTO DUST EMPTYING

VISIONARY MAPPING PLUS SYSTEM – FASTER CLEANING

When the dust bin is full, vvNaviBot S returns automatically to the charge base for fully automated removal of dust from the robot. The dust gets sucked into a central 2-liter dust chamber in the charge base and is accompanied by a brush-cleaning action applied to the main brush for hair removal. Auto Dust Emptying also allows the robot to operate independently for multiple days without the need of human intervention. It further increases the amount of particles that can be picked-up in typically difficult cleaning areas like carpets.

The NaviBot S clever cognitive mapping technology uses two CPU control chips, which serve as the “brain” behind its intelligent navigation program, allowing it to remember where it has cleaned in spatial relation to objects and its charging base. Visionary Mapping Plus creates a virtual map that assists the device in deciding the quickest and safest route to take, and avoid obstacles along the way.

Samsung pioneered this technology.

NaviBot S uses its camera and sensor based navigation system to track cleaning progress if the robot needs a full charge before completing its cleaning. Once it is recharged, the auto maintenance features lets the robot to return where it had left off and finish its job.

Additionally, the NaviBot S: • Allows quick cleaning with a fast speed of 320 millimeters per second.

• Turns smoothly at the speed of 120 degrees per second.

• Ensures thorough cleaning with time efficiency, taking 11 minutes to clean an open space of 5 meter x 5 meter.

• Cleverly avoids obstacles with a newly upgraded suite of sensors.

DUST SENSOR CLEANING – SPOT CLEANING

QUIETLY EFFECTIVE

NaviBot S senses when it is collecting a larger than normal quantity of dust and debris, adjusting its program in order to concentrate on that zone until the area is complete. This includes a power boost to enhance pick-up in the affected area, making pick-up even more effective. Suction power adjusts to the amount of dust present, automatically shifting to Power Boost cleaning mode when needed.

Faster and quieter than its NaviBot predecessor, the new NaviBot S takes greater care not to disturb consumers around their home. This quieter cleaning means users can continue normal activities while the robot gets the job done with minimum involvement and fuss. Seven cleaning modes and HEPA high-grade filtration provide a variety of options to suit users needs, including a new floor cloth accessory that safely cleans all hard floor surfaces. When cleaning is completed, the robot simply empties, and is ready for its next use within only three hours of charging, perfect for high-traffic or larger cleaning areas.

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TECH LIVING AT ITS BEST

The NaviBot S takes the hassle out of household cleaning by allowing users to vacuum any room in their home simply with the touch of a button. For increased ease of use, the unit comes equipped with an Auto Dust Emptying function. Additionally, an upgraded Visionary Mapping Plus System allows speedy and smooth movements around the home. The system also ensures thorough and efficient cleaning, cleverly avoiding obstacles with a suite of upgraded sensors.

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listen

HIT THE RIGHT BEATS WITH THE LATEST SOUND TECH

Mobile Browsing for Music

By Jon Uriarte

Here’s the premise—you’re away from home without your laptop computer and the only gadgets you have on you are your smartphone and your tablet. You want to listen to some music and realize you haven’t transferred anything onto it yet, but luckily, you have an internet connection where you are and your device can browse the web. If you find yourself in a similar situation, we can help you out lest you run into problems since not all mobile devices are compatible with certain music streaming and download websites and apps, and not all of them provide support for the Philippines. For instance, music from the iTunes store, which is probably the largest collection in the world, is not available in the Philippines. You could always create a US account for the iTunes store, but that would require you to have a US-issued credit or debit card (or something similar) and a US billing address.

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listen HIT THE RIGHT BEATS WITH THE LATEST SOUND TECH

There are a lot of ways to find music on your mobile device, which includes online music search engines, online personalized radio players, online free music websites, and a plethora of apps. The aim of this article is not to cover everything that exists or give you a list of the “best” ones, but rather to provide you with some good ones that will give you an idea of the kind of sites and apps that are out there, which you can use this very moment. Today, Apple iOS and Android devices are dominating the smartphone and tablet market, so we’ve divided the rest of this article into 2 sections: iOS (iPod, iPhone, iPad) and Android—even though some of these can be accessed on either platform as well as on other operating systems as long as you have a browser with an internet connection.

iOS The thing with Apple iOS devices such as the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, is that they don’t support Flash, which is used by a lot of music streaming websites. Yes, there are some secret techniques to enable Flash on your iOS device (that you can find on the internet), but that’s quite a hassle, so we’d rather provide you with more straightforward options.

YOUTUBE.COM Here’s an obvious one. The YouTube.com player does run on Flash, but thankfully you can download the YouTube app for your iOS devices that will allow you to play stuff from the site using your iOS device. You might already know that you’ll be able to find music and videos from pretty much any major or up and coming artist as well as put together a playlist. You can’t download the songs directly from the site, however.

GROOVESHARK.COM Grooveshark Mobile is available on jailbroken iPhones, and all you have to do is download the app. This one has a really easy-to-use interface and music

search engine. You’ll be able to find the most popular commercial music as well as those from underground artists and it has an online radio.

HYPEM.COM Known as The Hype Machine, this site can be easily accessed through the browser of your device, whether iOS, Android, or Windows. It gives you access to some of the freshest blogged music. Every day, thousands of people all over the world add music to their blogs or write about it, and it all ends up on Hypem.com for you to stream.

The Hype Machine has a directory of blogs that make up the site, and it also contains a radio show that gives you updates on what’s

being posted on the world’s best music blogs.

WAPTRICK.COM Here’s a really straightforward site that can be accessed on almost any mobile device and lets you stream MP3s and videos. It has a search bar where you can type in a song, artist, or keyword, and it will provide you with matching results in the form of MP3s, photos, videos, and lyrics. As soon as you click on one, it will start streaming. There’s no way to download the files to your iOS or Android device, however, without a separate laptop that can view the full version of the website.

Take note that there are a lot of other “wap” sites out there as well.

Android Android devices support Flash, so you’ll have access to music streaming websites that use it. The older versions of Android don’t support it though, so you’ll have to make sure that both your device and your device’s browser are compatible first.

AMAZON.COM

LAST.FM

TINYSHARK

The music player on Amazon. com runs on Flash and the website has a large selection of music that you can purchase and download as well as a selection of songs that are for free, although your choices will be limited with the latter.

The great thing about Amazon, though, is that you can actually search for entire albums and preview the whole thing before choosing to pay for it.

Last.fm, which runs on Flash, is a great site to visit for streaming music as it has a lot of features including music and video streaming, custom playlist creation, uploading your photos, social networking, and such.

You can connect with people who have similar tastes and Last.fm will play similar artists and recommendations based on what you’ve listened to.

TinyShark is a free Grooveshark. com app for Android that gives you access to the Grooveshark database, import Grooveshark playlists, play individual songs, and store songs for offline playback. The app doesn’t need Flash for music playback and it works together with another app called TinyShark Downloader, which is used for downloading songs from the database.

So, what if your phone or tablet is neither iOS nor Android? Well, if it supports Flash then you can try any of the apps and websites that we already mentioned. Smart devices running on other operating systems also have apps that are compatible on them that allow you to listen to online radios and download songs. In the end, there are nearly a countless number of options and this article is only the tip of the iceberg—we’ve just set you in the right direction. If you have a smartphone or tablet close-by with an internet connection, you can try these right now.

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ARTISTS AND THEIR TOYS

Working Hard, Wong Fu Style

By Benjamin Arnold

When it comes to making an impression online, Wesley Chan, Ted Fu, and Philip Wang know their stuff.

Better known as Wong Fu Productions, a Chinese-American filmmaking group who started Sketchbook Media (a professional media company located in Los Angeles, California,) they have become highly viewed and featured YouTube sensations—without even singing or dancing for the attention.

They have produced a number of films some of which have been featured in a wide variety of internationally distinguished film festivals such as Cannes International Film Festival, Seoul International Extreme-Short Image and Film Festival, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and the San Diego Asian Film Festival. With more than 125 million views of their YouTube uploads (with a big chunk coming from the Philippines alone) Wong Fu Productions graced the shores of the Philippines at the Music Museum in Greenhills giving Gadgets Magazine an exclusive interview with Wesley Chan and Philip Wang.

class where we always saw each other’s work so we started to work together. First on our class projects and then we went into more serious stuff.”

handling the lighting in one hand and the microphone in the other. It was a challenge to juggle everything, but I think it gives us our individual style.”

Chan, who acts as the group’s resident graphic artist, initially planned on going into animation; Fu on the other hand showed an interest in electrical engineering but now serves as the main business man working on deals and finances; which left Wang, who actually considered a career in economics, in charge of the managerial side of the company.

“We have our own special way of doing things,” agrees Wang, “Which comes out in our work.”

Starting around 2003 at the University of California in San Diego taking up visual arts, they never really expected getting into film making—or even being where they are now. “We sort of fell into it,” says Wang, according to his recollection. “We started making things for fun. We never really thought of ourselves as video makers. It was just a hobby. It was really kind of a pass time. We were around the same age and in the same

“Technically, the only film related lessons we had, were taught in Art History class,” says Wang in relation to studying film making. “All the stuff we learned—how to write, direct, film and edit—were learned along the way.”

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Chan chimed in saying, “We stumbled, but it was fun.

We had to be resourceful with everything we did—

Getting to where they are now was no easy task. Wang recalls how hard life was after graduation, “When we graduated, all we had was a DVD of our work and a diploma from a school that no one even knew had a visual arts course. There wasn’t even YouTube back then so if we wanted people to see our work, we had to invite people for screenings at school. We had to take on some of the hardest and worst jobs ever to keep Wong Fu Productions afloat, such as video coverage of weddings and events—the worst of which was club events where people got drunk until 4 or 5 in the morning. Eventually, we started getting invites through email asking us to show our work which led to a small www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

featuredartist ARTISTS AND THEIR TOYS

one y r e v e o t e dvic “My best a o follow in our t who wants to not follow is footsteps otsteps in our fo rt

sta u o y t s e g g I su g your own.” creatin

tour where we actually got to meet with our audience.

Then YouTube came along and things sort of got easier.

But money was still a problem.”

From the ashes of trials rose the idea for a way to get money through the door without having to cover so many events. “That is where AreYouANiceGuy.com came along,” mentions Wang. “Wesley designed a shirt one time that I wore in one of our videos called ‘Just A Nice Guy.’ After the video was uploaded, we started receiving email after email asking us were we bought the shirt and how they could get their own. When we started to see that so many people were showing interest, we thought of starting the Are You A Nice Guy merchandise line.”

“From there we branched out into a variety of products, one of which is the Awkward Animal collection which I designed,” says Chan.

“It was because of these products and the success of our YouTube channel that allowed us to say goodbye to covering events,” says Wang with gratitude to their fans.

Starting off with a small budget, Wong Fu Productions had to improvise and work within their resources. “We usually start with a script,” says Wang. “I would show www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

it to Wesley and Ted and if they liked it, we move on to locations. We never asked permission when we shot on location. We would just go, usually shooting in the street or an ally—sometimes having guards coming up to us to tell us we couldn’t shoot there. We would then leave then come back and shoot another scene until we were told to leave again. That was typical Wong Fu power.”

Chan followed up saying, “Once we decided on where to shoot we would get our cast together—which usually consisted of good friends from whom we would call up and ask for favors to act in our films. Those were elements of resourcefulness that we still utilize today even if we have the equipment and crew to pull it off.”

With this wide pool of friends, Wong Fu Productions was able to organize a series of multidisciplinary concerts in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York known as International Secret Agents or ISA which featured well known singers, dancers, deejays and hosts such as prominent music group Far East Movement, YouTube artists Nigahiga, KevJumba and David Choi as well as Nick Cannon, B.O.B, Sean Kingston and Bruno Mars to name a few.

“We would love to take the ISA global though,” mentioned Wang when the idea of taking it around the

world came up. “With the success of the ISA and after doing this tour, it would be great to share the ISA with our Asia-Pacific audience as well as with the rest of the world. To be able to bring our friends over here would be huge. It would just be a matter of timing by getting everyone’s schedules to sync up.”

With all of their success, they do have some great advice that they urge others to follow. “My best advice to everyone who wants to follow in our footsteps is to not follow in our footsteps,” says Chan in his usual funny yet deep way of thinking. “I suggest you start creating your own. If anything, just make us a role model or an example to work hard for what you want.”

“What we do is a lot of work—hard work,” Wang says with a firm tone. “My suggestion is to know your goals and chase the right things. Don’t have your sights on popularity when you post something online. Focus more on coming up with good content or creating a message of something positive that you want to contribute to the world. If anything should be taken from our example, it would be the passion we have for working hard—I mean it took us 9 years to get to where we are now. It didn’t happen overnight. Just be sure to focus on the right things if you want to succeed.”

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GET OUR TAKE ON THE LATES TRACKS TO HIT THE MARKET

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events Samsung officially launches the Samsung Smart Camera WB150F

Samsung Electronics Philippines Corporation (SEPCO), one of the country’s leaders in digital media and digital convergence technologies, recently launched their 2012 Digital Imaging product line-up at the Rockwell Tent in Makati. Leading the featured 2012 line-up is the new Samsung SMART Camera WB150F which was officially introduced by Ariel Arias, Samsung Business Unit Head for the AV group.

The Samsung SMART Camera WB150F, the newest member of the WB line-up, features an impressive 18x optical super zoom that captures incredible detail of even distant subjects. With its outstanding 14.2MP resolution, images are captured with such clarity and can be easily viewed on its 3.0-inch LCD display.

Housed in a compact, light and durable body, the new zoom camera from Samsung makes it the perfect lifestyle companion this summer. Besides the advanced optical zoom and image quality that the WB range is known for, the Wi-Fi capability of the Samsung WB150F enhances and facilitates the sharing and saving of images—wherever you may be in the world. Of course, one of the best parts of discovering new places and cultures is sharing your experiences with friends and family back home.

Using the Wi-Fi capability of the new Samsung SMART Camera WB150F, the sharing and the saving of pictures are quicker and easier than ever before.

From any Wi-Fi hotspot, users can share them on social networking sites such as Facebook, Picasa and Photobucket or post videos on YouTube in a few simple steps. Or you can simply email your photos straight from the camera. Now you can easily share your pictures whenever and wherever you are in the Philippines or abroad. The new Samsung SMART Camera line-up also demonstrates digital convergence with other gadgets. Users no longer have to worry about unearthing a tangle of cables to transfer images over their PC by simply using the Auto Backup function. You can also share your photos instantly to your friends using the Mobile Link. Just download the Mobile Link app to your Samsung Smartphone and let the sharing begin. “Sharing photographs taken with friends and family is one of the most www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

enjoyable aspects of a photo experience. It’s more than about simply capturing memories – sharing is an integral part of the experience itself. Listening to our customers, we understood that being able to conserve memories by sharing images instantly was what was missing from the high-quality cameras that they trust. With this in mind, we added groundbreaking Wi-Fi functions to our zoom camera, building on the brilliant image quality that high-quality sensors and zoom lenses provide—now with the ability to share and save like never before,” shared Mr. Arias.

Share unforgettable scenes in High Definition Whether filming your grand summer vacation or your child’s graduation, the Samsung WB150F enables you to share your video in HD. The WB150F captures spectacular scenery shots with a fantastic 720/30p HD capture, ensuring that once-in-a-lifetime experiences are captured in all the color and vibrancy that you experienced them in.

Making it easy to get the best shot With this new long zoom camera, it’s up to you how you get the best shot. Using WB150F you can explore your own photographic skills with its A/S/M feature wherein you can choose among Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Full Manual Control. Now you can adjust based on the shooting and lighting condition you face and achieve your desired images. Another main advantage as well is its optical image stabilization (OIS) that can reduce blurring from camera shake. All these to help you get the best shot.

Live Panorama to get everyone in the shot!

the action, facilitating wide panoramic shots without missing any of the detail – from sprawling mountain peaks to large groups of friends. This function allows the easy capture of large scenes by simply holding down the shutter button and sweeping the camera across. Users can even preview the whole scene they have just captured via the LCD screen.

Fun features to add a twist to your photos Why not add some more fun by getting creative with your photographs? With Split Shot you can divide the screen using the preset layouts and create different photographs by simply blending them together to create a whole new view to your photos.

During the launch, the guests were in for a treat that night as Iya Villania hosted the event while Sam YG, Laureen Uy and Ashley Rivera (aka Petra Mahalimuyak) all demonstrated the Wi-Fi function as well as the unique features of the Samsung WB150F. Each ambassador showed how the Samsung WB150F complemented their different lifestyles using the various features of the SMART camera.

With the new Samsung Smart Camera, Samsung aims to deliver powerful optical performance and revolutionize the compact camera industry with the addition of built-in Wi-Fi technology to make sharing and saving of photos more convenient. Creating clear and crisp memories and sharing them with loved ones has now become a breeze with Samsung’s latest offering. Shoot Wow, Share Now with the Samsung Smart Camera WB150F. The Samsung SMART Camera WB150F is available nationwide and retails at Php 11,990.

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Jabra launches Unified Communications line of headsets Jabra launched a new series of headsets developed for the growing Unified Communications (UC) market and specifically for UC deployments.

Jabra UC Voice 250

Jabra UC Voice 550

All four headsets were designed specifically for companies looking for a cost-effective means of deploying headsets across an organization and to accommodate the different working styles and environments without compromising on quality.

In addition to headset solutions for light to heavy users, the Jabra UC Voice series features a portable headset developed for today’s virtual offices that is the industry’s first corded UC headset with a behind-the-ear wearing style and discreet form factor for video conferencing.

Jabra Voice 150

UC use is expected to increase 600% by 2015.

“Today there are approximately 7.8 million users of UC,” said Ralph Ede, Jabra Managing Director for South Asia. “By 2015 that number is expected to skyrocket to 49.5 million. Optimization of these investments by adding the voice dimension to the UC experience and attaching headsets that offer superior sound, comfort and build will have a tremendous impact when wanting to ensure the right ROI.” With so many new users coming from a traditional desk phone environment, the single most important factor for successful deployment and adoption of the technology is the headset, which completes the UC experience. With a series of easy-to-use UC headsets, Jabra paves the way for faster end-user adoption of the technology.

Jabra Voice 750

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And as more companies deploy UC there is a growing realization that audio plays a vital role in the success of the UC deployment. While the audio quality at both ends of a UC conversation is critical, there are many other factors that make a headset perform beyond expectations.

“A headset must be easy to configure, comfortable, and have a solid, quality feel,” added Ede. “The seamless integration between the soft phone and the headset is a key factor in employee adoption of a UC roll-out and thus, it’s overall success in terms of improved collaboration and productivity gains.”

Strategic Development With its new Jabra UC VOICETM series, Jabra builds on a long tradition of user-driven innovation and development of high-performance headset solutions. As the first company to have headsets optimized for Microsoft’s Office Communicator Jabra has a history of maximizing the benefits of UC with headsets that are comfortable, easy to use and at the forefront of the development.

“In essence, this is a whole new category of cost-effective headsets,” said Larsen Sandoval, Jabra Country Manager for Philippines. “The four headsets in the Jabra UC Voice series are both powerful and economical. They’re simple, durable, have superb audio and come from Jabra’s years of experience creating an award-winning portfolio.

Sandoval added that with its availability in the Philippines, the Jabra UC Voice can help deliver significant benefits to end users and their employers, including the ability to lower operational costs while increasing productivity, cut travel costs and headaches, shrink decision cycles and times to market, and take advantage of new business opportunities by collaborating with customers and partners. “It can really make communications work in a business environment.”

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events

SPYDER LEADS THE RACE TO A FULLY-CHARGED SUMMER SPYDER, the brand that brought top-quality and highperformance multisport and motorcycling gears in the country, launched its summer season campaign for more exciting, super active, and healthier summer activities with Spyder-Charge Your Summer 2012.

Spyder hosted the week-long Spyder-Charge Your Summer 2012 mall event where newbies were introduced to the discipline of multisport by offering the highest quality of products—helmets, shades, eyewear, and other protective gears, accessories and products to enable a fun-filled engagement.

The event featured a series of activities to invite the interest of mall-goers. A range of activities including hourly raffles, photo-ops on standees and photowalls, and trivia games were held throughout the whole week to spice up the event.

Spyder-charge was conducted against a stage resembling a mountain beach resort to capture that summer ambience.

Aside from the Spyder products on sale from March 26 to April 1, enthusiasts were also introduced to motorcycling, cycling, and running clinics. The clinics were held in partnership with the Safe-T-Ryders Training Center, Edmund Mangaser - Team Manager of the Philippine Cycling team for SEA Games, and three-time ultramarathon champion and Best Female Triathlete nominee Michelle Estuar, respectively.

Winners of Spyder-Charge Your Summer Blogging Contest were also awarded with cash prizes and premium items from Spyder and sponsors. Top blogs were featured on the Team Spyder website, with the grand winner winning a PHP 50,000 cash prize and an all-expenses paid beach vacation for two, courtesy of Spyder.

Spyder-Charge Your Summer is an event of Spyder Helmets and Optics sponsored by Skechers Go run, No Fear, Gatorade, Sun Cellular, Kawasaki, All Terra Cyclery, and supported by Total Fitness, Multisport, One Sport, Inside Racing, and Weekend Warrior Magazines: takbo.ph, swimbikerun.ph, motorcyclephilippines.com, clickthecity.com, and juice.ph.

Team Spyder checking out the hottest gears on display at Festival Supermall.

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Spyder Helmets & Optics is distributed in the Philippines by Roshan Commercial Corporation.

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Why You Shouldn’t Miss The Next Mad About Travel Event A delicious retreat spot, a fitness plan for the beach body, an excellent piece of luggage for half the price, a refreshing body massage; yes it could be the rising temperature causing the daydreams. But at the Mad About Travel 2012, these were no hallucinations. Last March 16-18, 2012, the fair was held at TriNoma Mall with invited attendees benefiting from discounts on premium items and a variety of offerings from event partners. The event focused on promoting Health and Wellness by means of traveling.

Guests were welcomed with cocktails as event partners namely Philippine Airlines, Filman Travel Agency, Allied Bank, Fitness First, El Nido Resort, Philltoa, Bellarocca Island Resort and Spa, Blue Water Spa opened their booths granting special packages and services. Brands Slendertone, Backjoy, Fitflop, Healthy Back Bag, Hedgren, Delsey, Travelon and Go Travel showcased their best product selections. Airline flights, hotel accommodations and gift certificates were raffled off simultaneous with exciting games throughout the fair. The Travel Club held their sale event, trading premium travel items at friendlier costs.

Celebrating its 20th year on December 2012, The Travel Club partnered with Allied Bank to release the first-ever The Travel Club Platinum Mastercard. Special privileges include discounts on Primer products; earning of Mabuhay Miles mileage points, Rebates, 0% Installment Payment Option, Balance Transfer, Free Purchase Protection Insurance and Free Travel Insurance just to name a few. Application forms for The Travel Club Platinum Mastercard were made available at the event.

Darwin Banez: AVP – Primer Group of Companies, Joni Lim: AVP – Primer Group of Companies, Robert Alejandro: Travel Enthusiast and Artist, Dinah Yau-Lim: AVP – Primer Group of Companies, Fol Rana Jr. - Allied Bank’s SVP and Head, Credit Card Dept

The Travel Club thrives on the goal of providing the most satisfying customer experience not only through product offerings but also through self-initiated events aimed at ensuring affordable, convenient and comfortable travel. The Travel Club is known for its wide selection of premium and international brands of luggage, bags and travel accessories namely Tumi, T-Tech by Tumi, Victorinox, Delsey, Ace, Mendoza, Zero Halliburton and World Traveller, Columbia, The North Face, Sea to Summit, Nalgene, Eagle Creek, etc. It has come a long way from its first store at SM Megamall in 1992 to 38 more at present. The Travel Club is the first-ever concept store of retail giant the Primer Group of Companies.

All these and more will be at the next Mad About Travel in Abreeza Davao on April 27-29, Ayala Center Cebu on July 22-29, and Glorietta on October 12-14. Mad About Travel is made possible by partners: Philippine Airlines, Filman Travel Agency, Allied Bank, Fitness First, El Nido Resort, Philltoa, Bellarocca Island Resort and Spa, Blue Water Spa, Manila Bulletin, Brushstroke Creatives, Dispatch and Travelife Magazines, Slendertone, Backjoy FitFlop, Hedgren, Healthy Back Bag, Delsey, Travelon and Go Travel.

The Travel Club is owned and operated by The Primer Group of Companies.

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Epson iF Design Award

Epson’s product design has again been recognized by the highly regarded iF Product Design Awards 2012 at the official awards ceremony held in Munich, Germany last February 10. Products across Epson’s range were selected for this year’s award, including its business projectors; label, receipt, airline boarding pass, retail and photo printers.

These Epson products now carry the coveted iF logo.

The Epson iF Design Award Winners are: Epson LabelWorks LW-300 / 400 Label Printer Epson ME Office 535 Epson EB-W02 / W12 Projectors Epson Stylus Pro R3000 Photo Printer Epson TM-L500A Boarding Pass and Baggage Tag Printer Epson TM-H Series Receipt Printer with Cheque-Clearing Function Hideto Nakamura, Country Manager of Epson Philippines Corporation (EPC) commented,

FirstCarbon Solutions unveils new corporate Website

“Epson products are not only characterized by precision engineering and elegant style.

Our global company goes the extra mile to emphasize usability based on scientific understanding of actual user situations.

In every Epson product, we incorporate measures to reduce environmental impact and improve user flexibility through smart, compact designs. We are glad to receive the good news on the global accolade for Epson products. The iF Award certifies the depth and consistency of design excellence Epson offers to our customers.”

The Epson TM-H Series Receipt Printer with Cheque-Clearing Function, the Epson ME Office 535, the Epson Stylus Pro R3000 photo printer and the EB-W12 projector are already available in the Philippines. The Epson LabelWorks LW-300 / 400 Label Printer and the Epson TM-L500A Boarding Pass & Baggage Tag Printer will also be launched in the Philippines within the first half of 2012.

Vision Petron recognized in Anvil Awards

ADEC Group member company FirstCarbon Solutions, a global industry leader providing managed energy and sustainability services, launched its enhanced corporate website, www. firstcarbonsolutions.com, in an effort to further drive innovative sustainability solutions to the market.

Through a unique combination of consulting, software, program management and extensive back office information processing capabilities from FirstCarbon Solutions, businesses are able to reduce costs, optimize resource use, and improve operational efficiencies.

Petron Corporation received four Anvil Awards for its Vision Petron National Student Art Competition at awarding ceremonies held last 24 February 2012 at the EDSA Shangri-la Hotel.

The Anvil Award of Excellence was given for: (1) Vision Petron 11 Collaterals in the external publications category; and (2) Brushstrokes from the Heart: 365Day E-calendar in the digital-internet category.

LakbayPinoy earned an Anvil Award of Merit for public relations programs directed at specific stakeholders - special interest groups category, while the Petron Wall Calendar 2011: Dynamic Partnerships received another Anvil Award of Merit in the external publications category.

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Vision Petron was the most eagerly awaited national student art contest and the LakbayPinoy contest theme garnered the biggest number of entries and number of school participation in 2011.

Over the years, Petron Corporation has been a consistent recipient of the Anvil Award, recognizing its high level of excellence in the practice of public relations to promote public interest, good values, and real public service.

The Anvil is awarded by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP), the country’s premier organization for public relations professionals, to outstanding PR programs and tools.

The new FirstCarbon Solutions website provides a wealth of information on energy management, sustainability and supply chain programs, as well as improved customer support features. “We collaborate with our clients in designing and implementing solutions to help achieve their energy, sustainability, and supply chain goals. Our new website provides organizations with clearer insight into how they can generate value through more sustainable processes, products and services,” said James Donovan, ADEC Group president and chief executive officer.

The enhanced website features an array of services and capabilities that allow organizations to focus on their core activities and strategic initiatives. Users may easily request for a demonstration or consultation through the website, which also provides access to case studies, industry-leading research, and a comprehensive range of multimedia resources. As an added service, FirstCarbon Solutions offers a free subscription to GreenWatch Newsletter, a monthly industry update with relevant articles on sustainability in key markets.

A recent report by the MIT Sloan Management Review-Boston Consulting Group found that over two-thirds of companies view sustainability as necessary to being competitive in today’s marketplace. The third annual Sustainability and Innovation Global Executive Study surveyed more than 2,800 corporate leaders representing major industries and regions of the world.

Two-thirds of respondents likewise reported that management attention to, and investment in, sustainability has increased in the last year.

FirstCarbon Solutions, one of five companies within ADEC Group, is recognized for its best practices and industry certifications. It operates in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, China, Philippines, and Singapore.

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McDonald’s supports riding safety advocacy

Continuing its safety awareness campaign, Safe-T-Ryders Training Center held its 2nd Club Meet-Up on the 24th of March 2012, at the Quezon Memorial Circle, with McDonald’s as one of the main sponsors “As part of the community and the everyday lives of Filipinos, McDonald’s is happy to support initiatives that champion their safety and wellbeing,” says Margot B. Torres, VP Marketing of McDonald’s Philippines.

Former LTO chief Alberto H. Suansing exchanged views with riders belonging to the Underbone Fury Riders Club from Malabon, Bright Lights Club of Valenzuela, as well as BayTor Riders, Manressa Riders Club, RJ Riders and Interstate Riders Club, all from Quezon City. During the discussion, Suansing stressed the potential benefits of the lane separators being installed along the Commonwealth Avenue.

A Safe-T-Ryders instructor conducted a

demonstration using the much talked-about “Fatal Vision” goggles to emphasize the very damaging effects of riding under the influence of alcohol, and its severe consequences resulting in serious injuries and even death. With the growing number of road crashes resulting from riding under the influence of alcohol, Safe-TRyders is mounting a campaign against riding motorbikes after taking alcohol.

According to founder Arnel Doria, “The Club Meet-Up program is part of our campaign to engage bikers club members in the active campaign to multiply the number of responsible and disciplined bikers. This will be a continuing program for Safe-T-Ryders Training Center and we invite corporate partners to join us in this road safety advocacy.”

The event was hosted by QC councilor RJ Belmonte who arranged for the spacious venue inside the sprawling Quezon Memorial Circle.

The 2nd Club Meet Up was also supported by

AVT Intelligent Car Media, Blaze motorcycles and Gadgets Magazine.

Safe-T-Ryders Training Center believes that a sound knowledge base as well as strong riding skills result in safer road users and enhance the enjoyment of motorcycle riders. It was established by Arnel Doria, a former automotive marketing officer, who was instrumental in setting up the country’s first integrated traffic education center. The training center is manned

by Julius Ballesteros, a TESDA-certified instructor who has just completed a two-year stint as a safety driving instructor of a large Saudi Arabian company, and Sulfikar Guiabel, an experienced LTO-accredited riding/driving instructor.

To find out about upcoming events, please contact Safe-T-Ryders (Tel No. 208-8035 / Mobile: 0932-872-3389); or visit its FB page (www.facebook.com/safetryders).

WD COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF HITACHI GLOBAL STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Viviti Technologies Ltd. (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies), effective Mar. 8, 2012, for $3.9 billion in cash and 25 million shares of WDC common stock valued at approximately $0.9 billion. Hitachi, Ltd. now owns approximately 10 percent of WDC shares outstanding, and it has the right to designate two individuals to the board of directors of WD. The new WD will operate with WD Technologies (WD) and HGST as wholly owned subsidiaries. Aggregated revenues of the two companies in 2011 were $15 billion. As chief executive officer of WD, John Coyne heads up the new office as the CEO, with Steve Milligan as president, Tim Leyden as chief operating officer and Wolfgang Nickl as chief financial officer.

“The completion of this acquisition is a truly momentous event in the 42-year history of our company,” said Coyne. “With ownership of two successful companies and the best talent available in the industry, we expect to accomplish great things as we build the new WD to be the world’s leading storage solutions provider with the industry’s deepest

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technology capability, broadest product portfolio and best-in-class execution. Similar to successful multi-brand models in other industries, the two subsidiaries will compete in the marketplace with separate brands and product lines while sharing common values of customer delight, value creation, consistent profitability and growth.”

A recently updated HDD forecast by IDC predicts industry revenue growth at a compound annual growth rate of 8.6 percent per year from 2011 to 2016. “The growth in demand for digital storage continues unabated driven by the expansion of digital content in consumer and commercial applications,” said John Rydning, research vice president, hard disk drives & semiconductors, IDC. “Mobility, cloud infrastructure, social business, and big data analytics are stimulating demand for digital content in new formats and new market segments, creating the need for an increasingly diverse set of storage products and technology capabilities from storage solutions providers.”

“With a significantly broadened customer base and expanded resources, the new WD is in a strong position to seize the growth opportunity in stored digital content,”

THE FUTURE OF RETAIL WITH AYALA MALLS 360°

said Coyne. “We have acquired a strong presence in the traditional enterprise market, substantially increased our presence in the industry’s fastest-growing segments—cloud and mobility—and improved our capability to address new market initiatives such as enterprise SSD, storage solutions for small business and low-profile HDDs and hybrid drives for Ultrabooks. As a result, WD is better positioned than ever for success.”

The cash portion of the purchase price was financed by a $2.3 billion, five-year term loan, short-term financing under a $500 million revolving credit agreement and existing company cash balances. The company expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to earnings per share on a non-GAAP basis, excluding acquisition-related expenses, restructuring charges and amortization of intangibles. In addition, the company expects to maintain a positive net cash position.

Supplemental information regarding the HGST acquisition can be found on the WD website at www.wdc.com/ wdproducts/library/company/investor/ SupplementalInformation.pdf. For additional information, please visit www. wdc.com/en/company/hgst/.

Ayala Malls, the premiere shopping destination in the country raises the bar in innovative and rewarding retail experience. Moving forward with the times is inevitable as modern technology sets forth developments that are more accessible and more mobile. In its continued pursuit to inform, involve and inspire new and loyal shoppers alike, Ayala Malls launches its comprehensive digital marketing program, Ayala Malls 360°.

Introducing its newest digital platform, Ayala Malls 360° shall become the source-of-it-all for information on anything Ayala Malls.

Available on various formats, Ayala Malls 360° shall empower the customers to be regularly updated with information that is relevant and immediate—from movie schedules to store hours; mall promos to weekly happenings in the mall.

Browse the revamped website, www. ayalamalls.com.ph, and navigate through its easy and seamless design. Foster new relationships through Facebook and Twitter and discover how your choice Ayala Mall can become your favorite social space as well.

Be on the move and still make the most out of your malling experience with its newest iPhone application. The application allows users to find their way around the mall and be updated with the latest news and promos in real time. The Ayala Malls 360° app is now available for iPhone users and will eventually be enjoyed by the rest of the smart phone users. Digital directory kiosks will also be deployed in all the Ayala Malls to help shoppers navigate the mall, enhancing their shopping experience.

The Ayala Malls is also taking the shopping experience beyond the physical space through www.A-Deals.com, its very own online shopping destination that provides extraordinary discounts, exclusive offers and exciting freebies on shopping, dining and entertainment.

Get ready as the future of the premiere shopping experience will now just be a click, slide, and tap away. With Ayala Malls 360°, be informed, be involved and be inspired with just one touch.

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The 1st Grand Draw, held last 20 December 2011, picked the following winners: For the Toyota Hi-Lux, the winners were Marilyn V. Pena of Biñan, Laguna (Luzon); Linda Pondavilla of Ubay, Bohol (Visayas); and Demetrio Berza Jr. of Davao City (Mindanao). For the Honda Civic, the winners were Concordia Sosa of San Luis, Pampanga (Luzon); Retchelio Polenio of Ormoc, Leyte (Visayas); and Michelle Burdeos of Butuan City (Mindanao). Yamaha Mio Soul scooters were also given away to Victoriano Palma of Novaliches, Quezon City (Luzon); Armando Itang of Ormoc City (Visayas); and Carmelo Concon of Davao City (Mindanao).

Victoriano J. Palma, a mechanic employed by a local airline, is the proud owner of a Yamaha Mio Soul scooter after being drawn as one of the lucky Doble Panalo Grand Draw winners. His regular patronage of Petron XCS earned him his winning raffle entry.

Other prizes awarded during the 1st Grand Draw were six winners of a 47-inch LED TV, six winners of a Samsung Galaxy Tab, and nine winners of an Apple iPad 2. In addition, there were 48 winners of a Petron

eFuel Card worth PHP 10,000 each.

The market acceptance and popularity of the promo resulted in a one-month extension of the promo to 29 February 2012 to give more customers a chance to enter the 2nd Grand Draw, which was moved to March 2012. Prizes for the 2nd Grand Draw include: Mitsubishi Montero (3), Yamaha Mio Soul motorcycle (3), 47-inch LED TV (6), Samsung Galaxy Tab (6), Apple iPad 2 32GB (9), and Petron eFuel Card worth PHP 10,000 each (48).

MSI-ECS outwins competition, bags 2 HP Distributor Awards

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A housewife wins a Toyota Hi-Lux, a sarisari store owner drives home a Honda Civic, and an airline mechanic is a proud Yamaha Mio Soul owner after being picked as grand prize winners in the 1st Grand Draw of the Petron Doble Panalo promo. The prizes were turned over at simple ceremonies held last 27 February 2012 at Petron headquarters.

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Petron turns over vehicles to Doble Panalo promo winners

In its biggest marketing promotion to end 2011 and start 2012 with a bang, Petron Doble Panalo gave Petron customers two chances to win prizes from Petron stations nationwide. First, with every P1,000 single or accumulated purchase of Petron fuels—Petron Xtra, Petron XCS, Petron Blaze, Petron DieselMax and Petron Turbo Diesel—a customer was entitled to “Pick a Raffle Coupon” with an instant prize from the bunot box. Instant giveaways included: free 1-liter fuel, Petron t-shirts, Petron stickers, San Mig 3-in-1 coffee, and Petron 2012 calendars. The same Raffle Coupon was then used to participate in the Doble Grand Draws, which had separate draws and separate winners for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

PETRON RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS CSR AWARD FROM MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES The country’s leading oil company Petron Corporation recently marked another milestone as it bagged two coveted distinctions from the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), including the Integral CSR Award for its success in making social responsibility an essential part of its business operations.

A feat unmatched by any other oil company, Petron bagged the prestigious Integral CSR Award at the 2nd MAP CSR Leadership Challenge for its “Growing. Greening. Giving Back: Making CSR and Sustainability a way of life in Petron” strategy along with the Best in Environment and Sustainable Development Special Award for its “Measuring, Managing and Minimizing our Environment Footprint in Bataan” program.

In winning the Integral CSR Award, the MAP recognized Petron’s relentless efforts to integrate social responsibility into its overall corporate strategy, as shown by the company’s commitment to care for the community and the environment, while achieving its economic objectives.

“Our leadership in the oil industry is also fueled by our commitment to create a positive impact on every Filipino whose lives we touch on a daily basis,” Petron Chairman and CEO Ramon S. Ang said. “This means conducting our business in a manner that places equal importance on our social and environmental commitments together with our business objectives.”

“We see the value of CSR in enhancing our

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Petron President Eric O. Recto (center), together with Petron Foundation Executive Director Marilou G. Erni (3rd from L), Petron Environment Manager Edith G. Cabrera (3rd from R) receive the prestigious Integral CSR Award and the Environment and Sustainable Development Special Award at the 2nd MAP CSR Leadership Challenge.

Also in photo are Petron Human Resources Management Department Head Ma. Rosario D. Vergel De Dios (far L), Petron Marketing AVP Ana M. Neri (2nd from L), SMC-Corporate Human Resources Head Ma. Cristina M. Menorca (2nd from R), and Petron VP for Supply and Operations Rowena O. Cortez (far R)

The MAP’s CSR Leadership Challenge aims to business and its role in ensuring the longterm success of our business,” Mr. Ang added. promote and recognize exemplary corporate social responsibility policies, programs, and Meanwhile, in winning the Special Award for practices of the Philippines’ premier corporate Environment and Sustainable Development, citizens. In giving out the recognitions, MAP recognized the company’s initiatives to MAP seeks to recognize companies whose management systems and programs clearly preserve and protect the environment and manifest their social vision. It also aims to promote sustainable development in the Province of Bataan, particularly in effectively ensure that companies who go beyond compliance and who are actively engaged managing its water use and consumption, waste generation, greenhouse gas accounting in addressing the country’s social and environmental issues are acknowledged and and air emissions inventory, as well as its emulated. leadership in implementing the Bataan Integrated Coastal Management Program.

MSI-ECS, the leading IT distributor in the Philippines, came out triumphant when it bagged the 2 much-coveted awards from HP Philippines, namely ESSN (Enterprise Server, Storage and Networking) and ISS (Industry Standard Server) Distributor of the Year in the recently concluded HP ESSN Channel Partner Kick-Off 2012 with the theme “Survivor - Outdo, Outsell, Outsmart” held last February 22 – 24, 2012 at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Cebu City. The event was attended

by HP distributors and partners. MSI-ECS’ Aida Elcano - Product Manager for HP ProLiant Servers and BCS accepted the awards presented by Ryan Guadalquiver - HP Phils.

Country Managing Director, Hans Bayaborda - HP Phils. ESSN Country Manager & Suresh Tampi - HP Regional Channels Director, OSEA.

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Suzuki Philippines reinforces Citibank Philippines launches brand with 6cyclemind suite of Mobile Banking Apps and Ramon Bautista as new for smartphones ambassadors

Internet sensation and comedian Ramon Bautista with (L-R) SPH Asst. GM for Motorcycle Eiji Kobayashi, SPH President Satoshi Uchida and SPH Managing Director Catalina Calderon

Japanese compact car and motorcycle manufacturer Suzuki Philippines Inc (SPH) is beefing up its roster of already noteworthy brand ambassadors after a strong and eventful 2011. SPH is now introducing OPM band 6CycleMind and comedian Ramon Bautista as its newest motorcycle brand ambassadors.

Mr. Satoshi Uchida, SPH president said, “We are proud to introduce our latest brand ambassadors because they are fun, active and sporty, which very much represents what Suzuki motorcycles are. We are very excited to see more of our new ambassadors to promote Suzuki this year”.

6CycleMind performed to a jam-packed audience last year in the Automoto Grand Invasion while Ramon Bautista was the host and the endorser during the GD110 Nationwide launch this January.

SPH has noted a substantial increase in the preference of motorcycles in the last four years, which it said can be attributed to soaring oil prices and declining traffic conditions. Its latest campaign “Bakit Hindi Ka Pa Nakamotor? Mag-Suzuki Ka Na!,” not only invites commuters to be riders themselves, but also sends across the practicalities of owning a motorcycle,” Uchida said.

DTI offers free seminars for budding entrepreneurs The Department of Trade & Industry’s Bureau of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development (DTI-BMSMED) is offering free briefing sessions for budding entrepreneurs.

Scheduled every Tuesday afternoon at the BMSMED Training Room at the Trade & Industry Building along Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue in Makati City, the briefing sessions for April and May are as follows: • pr BE Business Expense avings Training) Game • pr he B BE Barangay icro Business Enterprise) Law Integrated Business Licensing • pr ranchising and ood art Business Opportunities • pr kills raining cents ragrances (Cologne, Perfume, Linen Spray) • ay ow to be an Entrepreneur The BMBE (Barangay Micro Business Enterprise) Law • ay anaging our inances How to Enhance Your Business

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• ay ow to repare a Business lan Orientation on Shelf Life Testing and Nutrition Labeling • ay roduct rends and esign Expanding One’s Businesss Through Online Marketing For inquiries, contact DTI-BMSMED at telephone numbers 751.5076 or 897.1693 and look for Carissa Sapera, Imelda Gabriel, Edwin Pasahol or Corabeth Magkalas.

The country’s largest foreign bank recently unveiled a suite of Mobile Banking Applications for three platforms – Android, BlackBerry and iPhone. Citibank’s latest move enables both its credit card and bank clients to access their accounts and complete a range of banking transactions using their preferred smartphones.

“Technology has made banking services ubiquitous, resulting to unparalleled convenience. Our investment in these platforms is in line with our commitment to continue to drive innovation in the banking industry, where we already enjoy a strong track record of success,” related Sergio Zanatti, Consumer Business Manager for Citibank in the Philippines.

In the 1990s, Citi pioneered 24x7 banking in the country with CitiPhone, giving its clients access to bank products and services via phone. A decade later, it unveiled Citibank Online, its multi-awarded Internet platform. Recognizing the popularity of mobile phone with Filipino consumers, Citi Mobile Banking was introduced in 2009, the first user-friendly and purely browser-based mobile banking solution.

“This launch bolsters our claim that Citi services are available to our clients anywhere and anytime, now through whichever communication channel they prefer—be it landline or mobile phone, smart phone or Internet,” added Zanatti.

The Mobile Apps allow bill payments,

fund transfers, even Rewards points redemption. But Zanatti expects users to welcome the new features that include instant access to Citibank offers, exclusive dining and shopping deals in nearby establishments or at a specific location, as well as bank branches and ATM locator in the Philippines and around the world.

“We expect clients to be very excited about the real time offers that we can quickly upload and share with them using these Apps. We are investing in the latest technology to deliver relevant offers to our clients, as and when they need them,” Zanatti said.

To download the app on Android phones, go to the Marketplace application and search for Citibank Philippines. Select Citibank PH from the results list then click download. Once successful, the Citi Mobile icon will appear on the phone’s homescreen.

For iPhone users, go to App Store and search for Citibank Philippines. Select Citibank PH then click install. The Citi Mobile icon appears on the homescreen after installation. This can also be installed in the iPod Touch. All Citi Mobile Apps are free to use and download.

Zanatti said that as newer technologies are rolled out, banking becomes highly accessible and increasingly flexible for everyone. “Citi will be providing customers with the latest technology as we continue to enhance and facilitate service. We want to be the leading digital bank, here in the Philippines and elsewhere in the world.”

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ONE V 3.7-inch Capacitive touchscreen Android 4.0 and Sense 4.0 Single Core 1 GHz processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon chipset 120.3 x 59.7 x 9.2mm GSM 850 / 900/ 1800 / 1900 HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100 Php 15,990

SENSATION XE 4.3-inch S-LCD Capacitive touchscreen Android 2.3 with HTC Sense 3.0 1.5 GHz Dual-core processor, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm MSM 8260 Snapdragon chipset 126.1 x 65.4 x 11.3mm GSM 8501 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 HSDPA 900 / 2100 Php 31,500

ONE X 4.7-inch Super IPS LCD2 Capacitive touchscreen Android OS, v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Quad-core processor (1.5 GHz), ULP GeForce GPU, NVIDIA Tegra 3 chipset 134.4 x 69.9 x 8.9mm GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 Php 32,990

ADVERTISERS’ ROW

EEE PAD TRANSFORMER 10.1-inch LED Backlight WSVGA (1024x600) screen Genuine Windows 7 Starter Intel Atom N2600 dual core processor (1.66 GHz) 1GB/2GB DDR3 0.3-megapixel | 320GB HDD 262 x 180 x 22mm Net Weight 1kg Php 15,995

HTC

buyers’guide

ASUS

HP SAMSUNG

PA 238 PRO ART SERIES Wide Screen 23-inch Full HD Resolution 1920 x 1080 Audio 3.5mm mini-jack (for HDMI and Display Port) Adjustable stand Net Weight 5.5kg Php 16,400

EEE PAD TRANSFORMER PRIME 10.1-inch Super IPS+LCD Android Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A9 processor 8-megapixel camera, 1.2-megapixel secondary 32GB memory Php 32,999

ZENBOOK UX21 11.6-inch HD (1366x768) LED Microsoft Windows 7 Home Intel Core i5-2467m processor (1.6 GHz) 4GB DDR3 memory 1 year warranty parts and labor 120 GB SSwD Drive Net Weight 2.3lb Php 53,995

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G42-370TX 14-inch LED Intel Core i5 460M 2GB 1066DDR3 1 year warranty parts and labor 500GB HDD Php 40,990

G42-368TX 14-inch LED Intel Core i3 380M 2GB 1066DDR3 1 year warranty parts and labor 500GB HDD Php 39,990

FOLIO 13 13-inch LCD Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Intel Core i7-2467M processor 4GB RAM 19mm thin, 1.5kg 128GB SSD Php 55,990

C3312 DUOS 2.8-inch TFT touchscreen 102 x 55 x 12mm GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 Php 3,925

WB150F 3.0-inch AMOLED Display 14.2-megapixel resolution with CMOS sensor 18x optical zoom HD movie 720/30p recording 2.4 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches WiFi connectivity Php 11,990

GALAXY ACE S5830 3.5-inch TFT Capacitive touchscreen Android 2.2 (Froyo) 800 MHz ARM 11 processor, Adreno 200 GPU, Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset 112.4 x 59.9 x 11.5 mm GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 HSDPA 900 / 2100 Php 16,500

GALAXY MINI S5570 3.14-inch TFT Capacitive touchscreen Android 2.2 (Froyo) 600 MHz processor 110.4 x 60.8 x 12.1mm GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 HSDPA 900 / 2100 Php 10,690

GALAXY FIT S5670 3.31-inch TFT Capacitive touchscreen Android 2.2 (Froyo) 600 MHz processor 110.2 x 61.2 x 12.6 mm GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 HSDPA 900 / 2100 Php 12,890

GALAXY NEXUS 4.65-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen Android OS, v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), upgradable up to v4.0.4 Dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9 processor, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, TI OMAP 4460 chipset 135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9 mm GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 Php 32,500

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buyers’guide ADVERTISERS’ ROW

NIKON

COOLPIX AW100 16-megapixel resolution 3-inch LCD screen 1080p HD video 5x zoom Shock and water proof, GPS capable Php 19,999

D800E 36.6-megapixel resolution 3.2-inch LCD 1920 X 1080p HD video SD dual memory card slots EF-S 18-55mm f.3.5-5.6 IS II (Kit lens) 129.9 x 99.7 x 77.9mm Php 149,000

D4 16.2-megapixel resolution 3.2-inch LCD 1920 x 1080p HD video Compatible with XQD memory cards Built-in wired LAN features EF-S 18-55mm f.3.5-5.6 IS II (Kit lens) 129.9 x 99.7 x 77.9mm Php 289,000

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MAY 2012

COOLPIX S30 10.1-megapixel resolution 2.7-inch LCD screen 720p video 3x zoom Resist dirt, shock, and 3m water Php 6,950

COOLPIX P310 16.1-megapixel resolution 2.7-inch LCD screen 720p video 4.2x zoom f/1.8, 24mm wide-angle lens VR image stabilization Php 23,950

PENTAX WG1 14-megapixel resolution Wide angle 5x optical zoom 2.7-inch LCD screen HD movie 70p (1280x720) Water proof (up to 33ft), cold, shock, crash, and dust proof Digital microscope mode 5 macro LEDs Php 17,990

COOLPIX S9200 16-megapixel resolution 3-inch LCD screen 1080p HD video 18x zoom, 25mm wide-angle to 450mm super-telephoto coverage Vibration reduction, smile shutter, and 3D photography Php 17,950

1 JI 3-inch LCD with CMOS sensor Quick 10 FPS response, 73-point array 1080p HD video 106 x 61 x 29.8mm Net Weight 277g w/o body cap Php 31,999

COOLPIX S9300 16-megapixel resolution 3-inch LCD screen 1080p HD video 18x zoom GPS capable Php 19,950

1 V1 3-inch LCD with 13.2 x 8.8 mm CMOS sensor 10.1-megapixel EXPEED 3 dual image processor HD footage at 1080/60i-120 minutes 113 x 76 x 43.5mm Net Weight 383g w/o body cap Php 43,999

RS1000 14-megapixel 3-inch LCD screen 4x optical zoom HD movie 720p (1280x720) Interchangeable faceplate Php 4,990

RZ18 16-megapixel resolution Wide angle 18x optical zoom 3-inch HVGA display HD movie 720p Dual shake reduction Php 13,990

PENTAX Q 12.4-megapixel resolution Sensor shift shake reduction 3-inch LCD screen Film filters including infrared 5fps continuous shooting Full HD movie 1080p (1920x1080) Built-in pop-up flash with extra-high extension Php 34,990

PENTAX K 16.3-megapixel resolution with CMOS sensor Highest sensitivity 80-51200 ISO 1/8000 shutter speed 1080p HD video 3-inch LCD screen 77 segment metering system 18-55mm kit Php 74,990

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PANASONIC

LUMIX TS4 12.1-megapixel high speed CCR sensor 28mm ultra wide angle LEICA DC VARIOELMAR lens Full HD Video up to 1920 x 1080 60i Shock proof, water proof 103 x 64 x 27mm Net Weight 197g Php16 799.60

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POWERSHOT G1X 14.3-megapixel with 1.5 CMOS sensor ISO speed of 12 800 1/4000 shutter speed 4x optical zoom 28mm lens 3.02-inch LCD 3.2 x 4.6 x 2.6 inches Net Weight 1.2 lb Php 37,498

LUMIX S2 14.1-megapixel 1/2.33” CCD sensor 2.7” Intelligent LCD 4x Optical Zoom, Intelligent Zoom 28mm Wide-Angle LUMIX DC VARIO Lens 21mm thickness 1280 x 720p HD Video Sonic Speed Auto-Focus, MEGA O.I.S./ Optical Image Stabilization Php 4,621.70

LUMIX SZ7 14.1-megapixel sensor 3-inch LCD screen 1080/50p Full HD movie 10x optical zoom 25mm ultra wide angle LEICA DC VARIOELMAR lens Php 16,990

IXUS 230 HS 12.1-megapixel resolution 8x zoom 18.89mm thin High speed video (240 frames/sec) Php 16,998

EOS 1D MARK IV 16.1-megapixel resolution 3.0-inch TFT colour liquid-crystal monitor Type I or II CF card, SD memory card, MicroDrive 156 x 156.6 x 79.9mm Php 249,950 (body only)

LUMIX TS20 16.1-megapixel CMOS sensor 2.7” intelligent LCD 8x optical zoom 25mm ultra wide lens HD video (720p) 58.3 x 101.0 x 19.2mm Net weight 142g Php 7,560

IXUS 500HS 10.1-megapixel DIGIC 5 image processor Full HD Video recording Face detection technology Php 12,600

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IXUS 1100 HS 12.1-megapixel resolution 3.2-inch touchscreen 12x zoom Touch shutter function, touch auto-focus, Touch auto-exposure Php 19,998

IXUS 125HS 16.1-megapixel DIGIC 5 image processor Full HD Video recording Face detection technology Php 14,998

buyers’guide

CANON

EOS C300 1.23 megapixel color 16:9 rotatable LCD 320 to 20,000, 1-stop or 1/3-stop ISO 1/2000 shutter speed 1920 x 1080 images captured to SD card 3.5mm stereo mini-jack 5.2 x 7.0 x 6.7 inches Net Weight 1.43kg Price available upon request

LUMIX ZS20 14.1-megapixel CMOS sensor 3” touch screen display 20x optical zoom 24mm ultra wide angle LEICA DC lens 105 x 59 x 28mm Net Weight 206g Php 16,758

LUMIX GX1 16-megapixel Live MOS 3.0-inch, 460k dot LCD 1920 x 1080p HD video ISO: 160-6400 115.2 x 83.6 x 46.7mm Net Weight: 336g(body only) Php 46,990

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