RetroTech


THE Apple III went to market in May 1980 at an expensive price of $3800. It had a 2.0MHz Synertek 6502A processor and a maximum of 512k of RAM. Despite the better specs, the Apple III had technical problems from the start, thus creating a bad image. Only 65,000 units were sold and eventually pulled out of the market only after four months.


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tec Timesh A WEEKLY NEWS SECTION OF


D ecember 13, 2010 E dit or : Jing Garcia The Manila Times


jing.garcia@gmail.com


daily, according to an engineering vice president at the Internet giant.


Andy Rubin fired off the update in a terse “tweet” at microblogging service Twitter late last week. The news indicates that An-


Over 300,000 Android phones activated daily M


ORE than 300,000 smartphones running on Google-backed Android software are activated


droid smartphones are building momentum in the hot mobile market, where just a few months ago Google boasted that the rate


of Android handset activations averaged 200,000 a day. Google is fueling interest in An- droid devices with the release this week of a new champion on the mobile phone market battlefield, a “Nexus S” smartphone made by South Korea’s Samsung.


The Nexus S, the successor to the Nexus One launched about a year earlier, will be the first smartphone on the market powered by the lat-


»WINDOWS MOBILE 7 NOW AVAILABLE FROM SMART


MICROSOFT Philipipines officialy launched Windows Mobile 7 partnering with SMART for the subscription plans of the Windows 7-powered HTC Mozart smartphone. Photo shows representatives of Microsoft, Smart and HTC at the launched on December 7, from left: Andre Ngo, mobile technology specialist, Microsoft APAC; John Bessey, managing director, Microsoft Philippines; Mon Isberto, head of public affairs, Smart Communications Inc.; Mark Sergio, country manager, HTC Corp.; and Mae Rivera-Moreno, Windows Client product manager, Microsoft Philippines. TECH TIMES


Globe launches best in class BlackBerry plans


GLOBE launched two BlackBerry data plans for its postpaid and pre- paid subscribers.BlackBerry Mes- saging, which gives subscribers un- limited push e-mail on Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Outlook Web Access for cor- porate e-mails or other e-mail serv- ices, as well as instant messaging via BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), Ya- hoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Mes- senger, MSN Messenger, and Google Talk; and BlackBerry Social, which gives unlimited access to Twitter, Facebook and MySpace as well as instant messaging via BBM, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger and Google Talk. BlackBerry Messaging and BlackBerry


Social are priced at P300 each for 30 days, which is equivalent to just P10 a day. To avail of the BlackBerry Mes- saging or BlackBerry Social service, subscribers have to send the key- word BB MSG ON or BB SOCIAL ON to 8888.


Globe continues to offer unlim-


ited Internet surfing for the BlackBerry with Super Surf, which gives subscribers unlimited surfing using the BlackBerry browser for only P1,200 a month, while Super Surf for BlackBerry MAX allows us- ers unlimited surfing, down- loading and streaming for only P1,500 a month.


TECH TIMES


Smart brings ‘sachet’ BlackBerry service


SMART Communications Inc. on Friday launched an affordable and unlimited “sachet”-style for BlackBerry users. In a statement, Smart said


for only P35 per day, P100 per week, or P29 per month, BlackBerry users can access unlimited social networking apps such as Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) and other instant messaging services until January 2011. The BlackBerry Lite E-mail


Bundle, which offers unli access to push e-mail and instant messaging via BlackBerry applications, including BBM, is also avail- able at the same low rates. Smart was also the first mobile operator in the Philip- pines—a predominantly prepaid market—to offer the powerful BlackBerry solution on a prepaid and flat-rate basis, which it called BlackBerry Unlimited Data Plan, in 2010. “Through the lowest-ever


»GOOGLE’S NEXUS S


THIS handout image released by Samsung Electronics in Seoul shows views of the Nexus S. More than 300,000 smartphones running on Google- backed Android software are activated daily, according to an engineering vice president at the Internet giant.


AFP PHOTO


rates of our BlackBerry Lite Bundles, we are enabling Smart subscribers to get the most value out of their money, and to customize and choose the BlackBerry data plan which best suits their lifestyle, preference, and budget,” Danilo Mojica, head of Smart’s wireless consumer division said. Both Lite Bundles are open to all Smart subscribers using a BlackBerry handset, prepaid or postpaid. “We are excited to put the BlackBerry experience and a wide range of mobile Internet services—from business to entertainment—within reach of more individuals, beyond the corporate market, at the least cost. This strengthens our “Internet for All” advocacy of bringing the benefits of the Internet to more people,” Mojica added.


DARWIN G. AMOJELAR


TAIWAN’S QUANTA TO JOIN FOXCONN AS IPAD 2 SUPPLIER – REPORT


TAIWAN’S Quanta Computer will assemble Apple’s iPad when the US giant releases the second genera- tion of the popular tablet next year, local media reported. Foxconn is currently the sole supplier of the iPads, but that will change when Quanta—already the leading manufacturer of Apple’s MacBook series—gets a share of the coveted contract in 2011, the Economic Daily News said. Neither Quanta nor Hon Hai Precision, the Taiwan mother com- pany of Foxconn, would comment


on the report.


Chang Li of the Taipei Compu- ter Association expected Apple to unveil iPad 2 next month at the US International Consumer Electron- ics Show, the world’s leading con- sumer electronics trade show. “Considering the average lifecycle of about six months for consumer electronics, Apple is likely to unveil the improved version of iPad in January, most likely at the CES show,” he told Agence France-Presse. “In so doing, Apple would be able to keep its tablet products in


the limelight.” Kuo Ming-chi, of Taipei-based information technology product market researcher Digitimes, said he anticipated the new iPad to hit the US market in April, citing sources from several Taiwanese parts suppliers.


Apple has sold more than 8 mil- lion of the tablets since it went on sale in April but could have sold more if enough were produced, ex- perts say. The cheapest iPad costs $499 in the US while the top model is priced at $829.


DIGITAL CAMERAS There are so many digital cameras going around these days with old familiar names: Olympus, Sony, Canon, Nikon, Kodak, Polaroid, GE and Samsung. However, here at Tech Times, we currently use the Ricoh Digital GR III as our official digital camera with its superb image quality and excellent build. A bit pricey though but we recommend it. Now, when it comes to video cameras we can only recommend the easiest videocam you could use right now, the Flip Mino from Cisco. Should we even say more?


AFP


DIGITAL MUSIC PLAYERS For digital music players, people would often choose Apple iPods and that’s it. But there are actually hundreds of options out there, waiting for someone to check them out. If getting confused with brand names and specs not your kind of game, then Philips is a familiar brand you could immediately go for. And surprise, surprise! Philips has a music player for you, the GoGear Muse. Aside from music, this multimedia player runs videos and reads e-books as well. Attractively, it’s priced to go along with your Christmas budget.


TABLETS The most sought-after gadget of the year is of course the Apple iPad. Who wouldn’t want to receive this amazing digital device, which incidentally will be officially available in the Philippine market starting December 17. So if you got the cash, reserve one now. On the other hand, the success of the iPad spawned a number of copycats, yet none of them really came close to what Apple could offer. Nonetheless, as for the Google Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Tab, this device could stand on its own as another touchscreen tablet to beat. If the iPad is too cliché, then the Galaxy Tab is a perfect alternative.


NOTEBOOKS It turned out that full regular notebooks (bigger screen, better specs) are still irreplaceable. For this category, we decided on the Dell Vostro line of notebooks. Powerful specs are complemented by quality and head-turning design, which is what many people obviously want. Meanwhile, on the netbook side of portable computing, we go for the new models from Samsung, particularly the NF210 model with its eye-candy colors and outstanding battery life of up to 14 hours.


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SMARTPHONES No doubt, 2010 is the year for smartphones, particularly those powered by Google’s Android. Apple’s iPhone 4 is not such a bad contender either. But here at Tech Times, we’ll go for this year’s underdogs — Nokia Symbian^3 and Windows Mobile 7. We beg that you don’t ignore what the new and elegant Nokia N8 could offer, nor what Windows Mobile 7 could amazingly do on phones such as the HTC HD 7, Samsung Omnia 7 and LG Optimus 7. Great style and wonderful features are reserved for those in the know.


E-READERS We love e-ink technology. It’s comfortable to the eyes and has low power consumption (read: longer battery life). Price is cheaper than the iPad and Galaxy Tab too. Therefore, for e-Readers, the Tech Times team go for the Amazon Kindle and the Sony E-Reader Pocket Edition, two models than you could actually buy locally. Forget the allure of a colored screen, forget the usefullness of apps . . . er, that is, if all you want to do is read books.


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GEARS Want to get rid of the wires? Then the Creative Inspire S2 wireless speakers is your ultimate solution. Listen wirelessly to music from your desktop computer or portable notebook via Bluetooth and say goodbye to spaghetti wires. ‘Nuff said.


GIZMOS The photo on this page will not do justice on the actual size of this device. The Samsung SP-H03 is small. So small you could actually put it in your pocket. What?! A digital light projector that could fit in your pocket? Yup, that is why we chose this Samsung gadget as the gizmo gift of the year. With 30 lumens of LED power, the Pico SP-H03 can project from 9 inches to 80 inches of images on a screen or wall complete with multiple inputs for external sources. It even has built in SD card slot and for extreme convenience, it’s rechargeable battery-powered too.


est version of Android mobile soft- ware, “Gingerbread.”


The Android mobile operating


system surged past Apple’s iPhone and Canada’s BlackBerry in the third quarter to become the second big- gest smartphone platform after Nokia’s Symbian, research firm Gartner reported in November. Gartner said Finland’s Nokia sold 29.5 million smartphones during the third quarter of the year for a


36.6-percent share of the worldwide market, down from 44.6 percent a year ago.


Sales of Android-powered smart- phones soared to 20.5 million units, giving the Android plat- form a 25.5-percent market share, up from just 3.5 percent a year ago, Gartner said. Apple’s iPhone was next on sales of 13.5 million units for a 16.7-per- cent market share, down from 17.1


AFP digitallifestyle


HOLIDAY GADGETS GIFT GUIDE TECH Times’ holiday gift guide gives our readers what we think are the best gadgets, gears and gizmos they should see under the Christmas tree this year. Better spend that Christmas money wisely and buy only what you need, not to metion those we painstakingly listed below, of course. Happy holiday shopping!


GADGETS OF THE WEEK


percent a year ago. Canada’s Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, was in fourth position with sales of 11.9 million units. Its market share dropped to 14.8 percent from 20.7 percent a year ago. Microsoft’s Windows Mobile saw sales of 2.2 million units giving it a 2.8-percent market share, down from 7.9 percent a year ago, Gartner said.


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