Sony Ericsson Liveview watch review

Smartwatch is the next trend in consumer electronics and there's no better way to join the trend than to have one, I got my smartwatch in an online store known as Lazada in a very tempting price of only 1,489 pesos. Immediately seeing it as a good offer, without any hesitations, I ordered one, then in less than 48 hours it was delivered "talk about express delivery" I bought this product with a sole purpose in mind, to pair it with my Cherry Mobile W500 Titan, a large phone who is in dire need of the Liveview's services and guess what? it turned out fine.



The Sony Ericsson Liveview or some call it the Sony Smartwatch gen 1, is like an extension / remote of your android device and will only do just that, straight forward, you'll find it useful if you own a large android smartphone or tablet, but then, you need bluetooth in order to communicate with it, sadly, that's one thing my Arnova tablet couldn't provide, so it's basically of no use with my Liveview watch, though, the Liveview will make a good partner for my Cherry Mobile W500 Titan, the main reason why I bought it in the first place. The Liveview can connect with multiple device, however it can only do so one at a time, provided a liveview app is installed on each device, the Liveview app can be downloaded on Google Playstore for free.

Pairing it is easy all you have to do is turn your bluetooth on, start the liveview app and press connect, then your phone will automatically sync with your liveview watch, your phone's time settings, incoming messages, missed calls and even podcast will all show up on the Liveview's home screen.



The Liveview is no more than a remote controller to your android phone and a limited one, in deed, example, if someone sends you an SMS the Liveview will notify you by vibrating then you can instantly read the message on your Liveview watch without having the need to take your phone out, but replying to an SMS is out of the Liveview's boundary, the same thing can be said on incoming calls, the only way to do all that, is do it the old fashion way, take your phone out of your bag.

I find the Liveview quite amazing when using the phone's music player, it's like having a remote on your wrist with all the music info on it, imagine the comfort it could give on a daily commute, you can play, pause or skip your favorite tracks on a long bus ride without the struggle of pulling your phone out of your tight jeans.... Holding the right shoulder button for 3 seconds will take you to the Liveview's music player feature.



The Sony Ericsson Liveview is not for the outdoor seekers and adventurers alike, for one; you're pretty much stuck on its current brightness level, no display settings here! Under direct sunlight you can barely see what's on the screen, resistance to water is highly questionable too, but then again at 1,489 pesos we really can't complain.

You may have heard about the Liveview's disconnecting issues, almost all users do complain about that, to tell you the truth I do encountered it a dozen times but recently I noticed, it do happen most frequently if you insist to use plug-ins that doesn't work well with the Liveview watch, it seems that the only way to prevent it from happening is to stick with the Liveview's basic features, but where's the fun in that ! well in my case I only use plug-ins that works perfectly well on my Liveview watch, plug-ins like ringer mode and contacts call, a useful app, by the way; it allows you to call from your contact list directly on your Liveview watch.... By doing these simple steps you can minimize the chances of disconnections, except if it goes out of range. F.Y.I. the Facebook plug-in doesn't work with the Liveview watch, it's ironic to see that the liveview's internet photo ads has Facebook written all over it, marketing can sometimes be deceiving.



The strap that you see here is not the original strap that goes with it, I bought this one from Timex, an original replacement for their ironman watch series, I got it for 400 pesos, my Liveview watch looks good on it, so I think its worth all the penny I spent. Some of you may wonder why did I bother spending 400 pesos on a strap, well, because the strap that goes with it looks more like a Chihuahua strap than a watch strap, if you are the conscious type, you'd probably do the same thing, and honestly in my opinion the Sony Ericsson Liveview watch is not quite a looker, but it might be, with an extra add-on, that is.

All in all I find this device useful specially if you own a 5 inch android smartphone like I do.

Huawei Ascend Y200D Review and Specs.

Huawei a Chinese brand is starting to make a name for itself worldwide, infact it already had made its mark in the UK, the Huawei ascend Y200D in particular is beginning to gain popularity here in the Philippines, some local cellular network actually offers the ascend Y200D in one of their postpaid plans, luckily, I got mine free from my Sun Cellular subscription line. The ascend Y200D is not exactly an enticing phone, for one; it uses an older version of android (gingerbread) nothing wrong with it, its just that with the uprising of the ICS and Jellybean it somehow made the gingerbread inferior, but for someone who just wanted an android experience, gingerbread still has a lot left to offer and the Huawei ascend Y200D maximizes the gingerbread’s potential in a 3.5 inch screen.



The Huawei ascend Y200D is a dual-sim phone with dual standby feature and is powered by an 800mhz Qualcomm MSM7225A processor with 512 mb of ram, I was impressed the first time I use it to browse the web, it’s fast and responsive the way an 800mhz processor should be and the 512 mb ram allows you to open more apps, the best I’ve seen so far in its class, most android phones that fall in this criteria only have 256mb of ram. I have no idea on the exact price but I’m guessing it ranges somewhere in between 4,490 to 4,990 php competing with the Samsung Galaxy Y….. Advantage once again favor the ascend Y200D from its competitors, the 3.5 inch IPS capacitive touchscreen is something you don’t normally see to a phone falling under this criteria, it’s large, it’s sharp and it’s affordable. Huawei’s choice of hardware ensures system stability for the ascend Y200D, a thing that keeps them apart from the stigmata that Chinese brands are made out of volume not by quality.



In terms of design the ascend Y200D is a thing of beauty a master craftsman’s masterpiece, it is ergonomically designed to fit the user’s hand without stressing it and the materials used are high quality plastics. Huawei incorporates their proprietary Emotion UI in all their smartphones to make it distinct to other brands and even more so, to make navigation easier. The ascend Y200D handles the Emotion UI very well I’m guessing it’s the Adreno 200 GPU that kicks in to action, and I’m pretty sure it will handle games seriously, but to my dismay the ascend Y200D had a flaw, a very small internal rom, only 79 mb is available for use, so installing games in it seems near impossible, to make things worst it doesn’t come with a Facebook app, it needs to be downloaded via google play and will consume a lot from that precious 79 mb of realty, not to mention viber, skype, and IM+, who needs games when space is at a premium. It’s just a small blimp it might seem but it causes a domino effect, a large amount of points taken away from this would have been excellent phone.



The ascend Y200D features a 3.2 megapixel camera with fix focus lens, the first snapshot I took from it was clearly amazing, it’s sharp and vivid, another bonus you can get from this phone, sorry no front camera here, though it supports 3G connectivity, a deliberate move from Huawei to keep the phone glued to such a low price. The battery life, however is reliable even with moderate use it will last you for more than a day and a half, it also comes with a built-in power saving app, activate it and you’ll see a big difference in battery performance….. I’m beginning to speculate that this phone is designed for the business people, no games, long battery life, sizable screen and a clear call conversation courtesy of its dual-mic noise reduction feature, clearly the way a businessman would want it.



Bottom line: The Huawei ascend Y200D is one of the best in its class, however shortage in application storage prevents it from rising up, a good phone though, in relation to its price.

PROS: affordable, sizable screen, excellent built quality, good browsing speed.

CONS: low internal storage, slight lag on the home screen.


HUAWEI ASCEND Y200D SPECIFICATIONS:

3.5 inch IPS capacitive touchscreen 320×480
Qualcomm MSM7225A 800MHz processor
Adreno 200 GPU
512MB RAM
2GB ROM
HSDPA 14.4Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Dual-mic noise reduction
3.2MP camera, fix focus lens
proximity and light sensors
GPS w/ aGPS support
Bluetooth 2.1
Android 2.3 Gingerbread
1250mAh Li-Ion battery

Project Butter comes to Cherry Mobile (Omega)

Cherry Mobile has gone a step further into the android world, welcoming yet another new breed of android OS "the Jellybean" once again CM had made a ground breaking event as the first local brand to introduce Jellybean in the Philippine market and they did it the best way possible "Jellybean for the Filipino masses". No surprises there! for they were also the first local brand to release ICS (Cherrypad Paladin) in the local market and one good way of retaining a good name is to continuously be the first.

Project Butter comes to Cherry Mobile in the form of the "Omega" an android smartphone with a 5.2 inch capacitive touch panel and a 1Ghz dual-core processor which retails only at 6,699 Php. The Omega was such a success that during its first week of release it was almost completely sold out, who wouldn't be tempted to a phone with this caliber and with a price already bargained to the lowest point possible, affordability has never been this flexible. Watch videos of the Cherry Mobile Omega on my Video Bar for more tech specs.

CHERRY MOBILE OMEGA SPECIFICATIONS:

GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quad-band)
3G/HSDPA Capable (UMTS 850/1900/2100)
Dual SIM / Dual Standby

5.2" WVGA (800x480) capacitive display
179ppi with 5-point multi-touch feature

1GHz dual-core MT6577 Processor
Android 4.1.1 (Jelly Bean)
PowerVR SGX531 GPU
512MB of RAM

4GB of internal storage
microSD slot up to 32GB

5MP autofocus camera with LED flash
720p HD video recording
VGA (0.3MP) front-facing camera

Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n / Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth v2.1 / GPS with A-GPS support

microUSB 2.0 / 3.5mm audio jack
MP3 / Multimedia Player / FM Radio
Motion Sensor, Light sensor, proximity sensor

2,300mAh Li-Ion battery

PRICE: 6,699 PHP, AVAILABLE NOW.....

Cherry Mobile Fusion ice ICS tablet review

Cherry Mobile has launched, yet another low-end ICS tablet that's light on the budget but heavy on features, it sells at around 3,690php, now that's low-end at its lowest, a price tag that directly compete with the generic no name tablets that you can buy at your local tiangge.

The Fusion ice as CM named it is actually known as the Altina A600 in China, in fact the Opera app store still recognizes it from its former brand, a product originally manufactured by Ainol, which was then re-branded by Cherry Mobile then was reintroduce thereafter as the fusion ice........ I bought this tablet for my 4yr old son basically to aid him learn the alphabets, numbers, colors etc. until recently I found out that it was me who was reaching for it more. The Fusion ice is anything but flawless, something that you'd expect on a cheap device, the browser is a bit slow and it's not what you'd call a smooth web browsing experience, lags are visible too, but at such a low price it is almost forgivable.

CM Fusion ice, Arnova 7 G2 comparison

The CM Fusion ice and Arnova 7 G2 both clocks at 1Ghz, Fusion ice using A13 processor and the Arnova 7 G2 with Cortex A8 both having the same amount of RAM (512MB). Based on user experience and live side by side comparison, the Arnova 7 G2 out-perform the Fusion ice in almost all aspect, except gaming, the features highlighted the most was browsing speed, stability and responsiveness, the Arnova 7 G2 clearly was on top of the Fusion ice, but surprisingly, benchmark results using Quadrant Standard tell a rather different story; results shows that the Fusion ice have better overall performance than the Arnova 7 G2, scoring a total of 2,128 while the Arnova 7 G2 only got 1,021 barely half of what the Fusion ice had scored.

Fusion ice benchmark result

Surprisingly, with an emphatic lead over well known brands like HTC Desire HD and Samsung Nexus S, scoring a total of 2128.

Arnova 7 G2 benchmark result

Lags far behind the bottom position with a total score of only 1021.

LCD on the Fusion ice is sharp and is capable of playing HD videos up to 2160p, unfortunately it suffers from poor viewing angles, "a catch from the price" it's kind of cliche` to see a 7 inch screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio it became the norm for most tablets, however, the Fusion ice is unique, it is the only 7 inch tablet with 4:3 aspect ratio that I've seen so far. The square screen provides better room for your fingers to move around and give better visuals on your documents and presentations, it also did great in displaying web pages; in a tablet's perspective. Music on the other hand is great on the Fusion ice I was completely blown away by the audio quality that this cheap device could give whether on speakers or headset. The mono speaker at the back of the tablet is loud, loud enough to fill up a mid-sized room and is great in watching online videos and playing games without the hassle of a headset wire.

The battery life is a tablet user's must-know feature and has great effect on the device overall ratings, fortunately the Fusion ice dealt with it with flying colors, the 3700mAh battery lasted for more than 4 hrs of non-stop use and gave me at least 2 days of standby time, though charging time is frustratingly long, still, fare enough for such a cheap device.

Internet browsing may be full of disappointments on the Fusion ice but Skype on the other hand will greatly exceed your expectations for a device as cheap as this, I did a lot of Skype calls with this tablet and so far it handles it well, conversations between two parties are well understood, all features of Skype are in working order including video calls, I actually prefer using the Fusion ice for Skype calls rather than my W500 Titan mainly because of its bigger screen.

CM Fusion ice as a gaming console

The Fusion ice is quite a gaming machine, the combination of a 1Ghz A13 processor with mali 400 GPU and a 5 point touch panel did well in handling games of sort, but still not strong enough to handle games like Dead Trigger and the likes, but to everything else you'll find it amusing here on the Fusion ice.

Arcane Legends online RPG, I first had this on my Titan but later on I find the 5 inch screen a bit small for mmorpg games, so I decided to play it on the Fusion ice without any disappointments, honestly it did better on the Titan but the bigger screen put the Fusion ice on edge, you get to read the text and messages a lot clearer and see the mmorpg world in a bigger picture, more details on a sharp 7 inch screen.

Predators, not much of a game too much expectations from fans put this game down but still a nice game to play with, it runs smooth on the Fusion ice and the 7 inch screen with 4:3 aspect ratio added more spice to the game.

Call of Mini zombies, a zombie shooter game wherein you get to mingle with cute characters, even the zombies here are cute but not as cute as the zombie dogs, you'll have to fight your way a day at a time to finish a level, it is a fast pace full 3D shooter that feels almost at home on the Fusion ice.




Bottom line: The Cherry Mobile Fusion ice may have its shortcomings, but given a chance, it still has a lot of good features to offer. For those who just wanted an ICS tablet experience and doesn't want to burn holes in their pockets, this tab is for you.


PROS: very affordable, comes pre-loaded with useful apps i.e, viber, Kingsoft office, ES task manager, instagram, excellent multi media device, capable in gaming, works well with Skype, excellent slim design, decent battery life.

CONS: slow browsing speed, visible lags, screen is warped. long charging time.


CHERRY MOBILE FUSION ICE SPECIFICATIONS:

PROCESSOR: 1Ghz A13 with mali 400 GPU.

OS: Android 4.0 ICS.

DISPLAY: 7 capacitive screen, 5 point touch panel, 4:3 aspect ratio, 800x600 resolution, 16 million colors.

CAMERA: Front facing VGA 0.3 mega pixels.

MEMORY: 8GB(ROM), 512MB(DDR3), expandable via micro SD 32gig max.

USB: High speed USB 2.0, mini USB.

WIFI: 802.11 b/g/n.

BATTERY: 3700mAh.

Turn your DSi XL into an e-book reader (DsLibris)

The DSi XL is the 4rth iteration in the DS family, in 2004 Nintendo made waves when they release their first DS and now after a mere decade of gaming supremacy, the bell starts to toll on the DS's life, sadly Nintendo has plans of pulling out the life support on the DS anytime this year, infact according to my resources only a handful of DS games will be scheduled for release this 2013, after that its sayonara DS.

Cheer up! you can still make use of the DS by turning it into an e-book reader and what a fine e-reader the DSi XL can be, those massive dual 4.2 inch screen is an essential tool for book reading and no other e-reader could provide you with what the DSi XL could do; "you get to read it by holding it like a real book", but first you'll have to install the DsLibris homebrew app, the download link is in my DOWNLOADS AND EXTRAS, you'll also need an R4i (DSi/DSi XL) users or R4 (DS/DS Lite) users, after downloading the DsLibris zip file extract whatever is in there, then copy all the extracted files in the root folder of your sd card, when done insert the sd card back to your R4/R4i, turn the DSi XL on, press update and enjoy.

DsLibris MANUAL

E-book format = epub
E-book location = book folder

CONTROLS (in portrait mode)

Left D-pad = back
Right D-pad = forward
A button = forward
B button = back
X button = toggles screen mode day/night
Y button = brightness level
Touch screen left side = back
Touch screen right side = forward
Start button = back to main screen
Select button = bookmark
Up, Down D-pads = scroll trough bookmarks

Cherry Mobile W500 Titan Review

Cherry Mobile released their next generation line of dual-core android smartphones and somehow CM have managed to keep the price down regardless of the good feedback they got from these devices, one of which is the W500 Titan, the price is insanely low for a phone with this stature, at 6,500 pesos I got it just in time for the holidays.

After testing the Titan for more than 20 minutes I got impressed almost immediately, CM had redeemed itself from the negative impression that I had from their previous phone (the ultra crappy W50 Touch phone). The Titan feels sturdy and looks solid, it has a minimalistic design written all over it, in fact it only has 2 hardware buttons overall, the power button on top and the volume rocker on the right side. The Titan boasts a generous 5 inch capacitive touch screen with (480x800) resolution, it's not the sharpest 5 inch screen out there, however, considering the price, you actually get the most out of it. The processor is the Titan's major asset it sports a 1 GHz dual-core Mediatek processor (MT6577), as expected, it gets the job done; browsing speed is fast, it opens and closes apps at great speed, scrolling through web pages, pinching in and out is seamless, there's hardly any lag on this one, it also comes with a Power VR GPU (SGX531), this Power VR model may be outdated but it already had proven itself in handling 3D graphics well, in the later portion of this article I'll show you how the Titan handles 3D gaming.

What I do like about the Titan; it already comes pre-installed with useful apps such as Viber and Opera browser and out of the box it comes with a leather flip case that automatically sleep the device when closed you'll also get a screen protector as a bonus, nice move Cherry Mobile.

In order to keep the price down, obviously some sacrifices must be made, in the Titan's case it is only blessed with a 512 MB of RAM and it suffers from poor camera performance, don't get it wrong low RAM doesn't mean slow performance, it's just that you can't open apps as much as you want and some games that uses more than half of it will seldom crash and games with a requirement of a 1 Gig RAM is out of the picture i.e, Justice league and Avenger's Initiative. The camera on the Titan is terrible CM claims it's a 5 meg shooter but is it? The Alcatel OT918N's 3 meg shooter takes better picture, to make things even worst, the LED flash only covers a limited range, and the auto-focus feature is a bit messed up, but it's not too much of an issue for me, for I don't normally take pictures on a smartphone except for FB purposes, besides, all those numerous positive features will let your brain automatically ignore those few negative ones.

A smartphone ain't so smart if it's always out of juice, guess what? we're in luck the Titan runs ICS and some agreed that ICS is the most energy efficient firmware of android and to top it all, the Titan holds a battery capacity of 2,350 mah that will give you at least 3 days of standby time, more than a day and a half with wifi on and with moderate use it will surely last you a day, come to think of it, it's a smartphone with 5 inch screen, fare enough!

The Titan as a music player is great it comes with a built-in equalizer and sound effects like bass boost and 3D effect, if in any way you find yourself craving for more enhancements, then feel free to download 3rd party music enhancement app via Google Play or better yet, use Dr. Dre headphones, the Titan uses a 3.5 mm jack, which will allow you to choose from a wide array of headphone brands.

ShadowGun HD The Leftover (expansion pack)

Dead Space HD

Dead Trigger


The Titan is quite impressive as a gaming console, truly the Power VR GPU is on a league of its own, it delivers high definition 3D graphics with jaw dropping qualities. Here are the list of games I currently have on my Titan; Dead Trigger, ShadowGun HD The Leftover, Dead Space HD, Splinter Cell Conviction, Contract Killer zombies, Predators and Death Dome. These are graphic intensive games and demands a lot from your system, surprisingly the Titan handles it well, an example of what a dual-core and Power VR can do, Dead Space HD is by far the most impressive of all, it looks great on a 5 inch display, despite having limited screen qualities, the Power VR still delivers it well in a 480x800 screen resolution and not even a slight graphical details have been compromised, the PSVita suddenly have an alternative and a cheaper one too. Next on my list is ShadowGun HD The Leftover, if you got a 20k android tablet that runs ShadowGun, well I got my 6,500 peso version and it runs it just as good.....with the Titan you'll never need a pure breed gaming handheld.

BOTTOM LINE: Who would have thought that a device as affordable as the Titan can do pretty much everything we need, which most of as thought is only plausible on high-end devices, most consumers stay away from cheap devices as far away as they can because of the stereotype, experiencing the Titan, however, will change your perspective on that matter and will make you reconsider owning one. Cherry Mobile really do value our lifestyle.


W500 TITAN SPECIFICATIONS

OS: Android, ICS 4.0.4

PROCESSOR: Mediatek 1ghz dual-core (MT6577), Power VR GPU (SGX531)

SCREEN: LCD 5 inch capacitive touch panel (480x800)

ROM: 4GB/512RAM

MEMORY: micro SD up to 32 GB

NETWORK: GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900/UMTS 2100

CONNECTIVITY: WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1/ micro USB

CAMERA: 5MP back with LED flash/ VGA front

OTHERS: 2,350mah battery, 3.5 mm audio jack

my/phone A878 DUO android phone specs and price

Pinoy local brand phones are now on its prime, the news about the vast improvements of these local brand phones from then and now have reached far and wide, with the ever rising popularity of these affordable phones, local electronic consumers couldn't resist noticing it, "me included". What made these local brands popular was the release of their android line of smartphones, but in reality, to some average pinoy an android smartphone is a luxury that's hard to afford but with the local market now flooded with these cheap locally branded phones, an android smartphone is just arms-length away.

I'm aiming my sight to My/phone one of the pioneers of this industry owned and operated by the Solid Group of Companies, amidst the significant improvements in the quality and functionality of their phones affordability was never left out, thus making them the most popular local brand phone in the Philippine market and their designs are better than the rest too. I am particularly interested in one of their android phone, the My/Phone A878 DUO, last time I saw it, it was priced at 6,999 pesos just less than a month later the price dropped to 5,999 pesos and with Christmas fast approaching the A878's price is likely to drop again. The A878 is not your ordinary entry-level android phone, it boasts a generous 4.3 inch IPS capacitive touchscreen and its killer feature the 1Ghz dual core Mediatek processor. A 5,999 peso android phone with this stature is hard to come by, but yes! you can have it here "ONLY IN THE PHILIPPINES".

MY/PHONE A878 SPECS.
4.3″ WVGA (480×800) IPS capacitive display
1GHz dual-core MT6577 processor
PowerVR SGX531 GPU
Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich
512MB of RAM (483.6MB usable)
4GB of Internal Storage (2.56GB usable)
microSD up to 32GB
5MP autofocus camera with dual LED flash
720p HD Video Recording
Bluetooth v3.0 with EDR & A2DP / WiFi 802.11b/g/n and WiFi Hotspot
Dual SIM/ Dual Standby
1,800mAh Lipolymer Battery.

PRICE: 5,999 Php source: My/Phone booth River Banks Mall, Marikina city.

How to install Android Market on the Arnova 7 G2 without flashing.

Arnova 7 G2 is one good tablet that offers value for money, though as good as it seem, it lack something on its menu. The Arnova 7 G2 doesn't have an Android Market app, instead it comes pre-installed with Appslib a good for nothing alternative for the android market, that is why many Arnova users are finding ways of installing Android Market on their device, in which most of them often ended up flashing and opted using custom firmwares, however, flashing and custom firmwares has its drawback, to some, flashing comes a bit complicated, if not done properly it may cause some serious problems, and using custom firmwares has its limitations especially when it comes to updating your system not to mention bugs that could cause your system to lag, either way, both procedures are not in my options list, and so, I was forced to tirelessly search the web in hopes of finding other ways of installing Android Market on my Arnova 7 G2 until finally my endless search has come to a halt and my hard work paid off, I now have Android Market on my Arnova 7 G2 and I did it without flashing.....The procedures are listed below.

Download the file Market 3.4.4.rar (you can download Market 3.4.4 rar in my DOWNLOADS AND EXTRAS corner along the side bar) extract the APK files then transfer it in your SD card, and then install the following APK files in order 1.GoogleServicesFramework APK, 2.OneTimeInitializer APK, 3.SetupWizard APK, 4.Gmail APK, 5.Vending-3.4.4-signed APK, 6.Talk-signed APK(optional), 7.Maps APK(optional). After installing all the files don't launch the Android Market just yet, open the Gmail app first then log in make sure you are connected, after logging in you can now use the Android Market.:-)

Archos Gamepad

Archos has finally entered the handheld gaming arena, which for decades was mastered and dominated by Nintendo and Sony. Archos was not the first to try, Nokia also has taken a bold step in entering the gaming world, but eventually met its fatal demise; and so, Nokia's N-gage was short-lived, we do come to question the Archos gamepad, will it share the same fate as that of the N-gage?

For one, the Gamepad is powered by android which since its arrival has taken the world by storm, android powered devices are the hottest selling product on the planet, more than half a decade ago gadgets are all about brands and its model, now its all about what version of android you're running, this just showed how successful android is, in the consumer market, eventhough Apple won't agree with it, Android is here to stay along with its third party developer, and that is pretty much of an assurance that the gamepad will never run out of games and will easily fill-in a spot in the gaming world. Upon the Gamepad's entry, Sony will definitely have their hands full and Nintendo a lot to think about.

The Gamepad features button mapping, which is 100% customizable depending on the gamers preference, though most games will still show their on- screen control layout, but Archos promises to release games, optimized for the gamepad, that means taking advantage of the gamepad's built-in controller, which is by the way, strategically layed-out, and of course no on-screen control that will hinder your gameplay.

The gamepad resembles the Wii U controller, but the gamepad has a bigger screen at 7 inch and an obvious sleeker design.

The Archos Gamepad is powered by a 1.5ghz dual core processor with mali 400 quad core GPU, with ICS on board........ see videos of the gamepad on my video bar for more tech specs.

Samsung Chat 335 Review and Specs

An entry-level phone that will probably give rise to the term "cheap is cheap" at first you'll find it hard to believe for a qwerty phone with wifi and facebook integration to be priced at 3,490 pesos, but believe it, because basically, "you only gonna get what you pay for". The phone looks good no doubt about that and it's slim with dimensions only at 111.2 x 61.2 x 12 mm and weighs at 93g, it's compact enough to fit almost unnoticeable in your pocket and it has a metal bezel on the sides that gives it an elegant look. The Samsung Chat 335 at first glance and feel will impress you, but navigating its features is a different story, yes! it has a sizable screen at 2.4 inch, but resolution and viewing angles are poor, you just have to look straight in to get a good view or use the right kind of theme to get a cleaner contrast, I guess that's what LQVGA display means.

Qwerty phones are made for one thing, fast texting, but with the chat's keypads so squeezed in together people with large fingers will have a hard time texting, does this phone come in pink or red? coz it seems like only lady-fingers will fit in. Believe it or not it uses an optical trackpad but the phone is too slow you'll find it most of the time annoying, it skips, it lags and at some time not responsive, but a good feature to attract customers or should I say deceive them.

The Samsung Chat 335 has a built in wifi but the browser is so limited you'd probably won't use it to browse the web, it kind of reminds me of the DSi browser wherein you'll get sick and tired of reading the word "out of memory" but in fairness facebook and instant messaging works and to my amazement it plays youtube videos directly on its browser.

The Samsung Chat is also a multimedia device it has a built-in FM radio and plays MP3s and videos in MP4 and 3gp formats, one good thing about this phone is the use of a 3.5 mm audio jack, which allows you to plug in your headset of choice, you can also up size your memory up to 8gig using a micro sd card for more music and video storage. The phone also features a 2 megapixel camera but the pictures are extremely grainy, but then again, it might have something to do with the poor LCD maybe viewing it on a different screen or printing it, will the true quality appear, however, it is yet to be tested.

BOTTOM LINE: The Chat may not be the nicest entry level phone in the market, but it is still a good 2nd phone to have, it may not be effective in some of its features but nevertheless, effective in doing the basics "call and text" and the long battery life made it a reliable phone.





- Samsung Chat 335 Full Specifications -

2G Network: GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Dimensions: 111.2 x 61.2 12mm, 93 g
Keyboard: QWERTY
Display: TFT, 256 colors, 320 x 240 pixels, 2.4 inch, optical trackpad.
Sound: Vibration, MP3 ringtones, loud speakers, 3.5 mm jack.
Memory: Micro sd uo to 8GB, Internal 60 MB.
Phonebook: 1000 entries with photocall.
Connections: GPRS, EDGE, Wifi 802.11 b/g, bluetooth, micro USB.
Camera: 2 Mega Pixels, 1600 x 1200 pixels.
Features: SMS, MMS, Email, IM, WAP 2.0/xHTML,HTML, stereo FM radio with RDS, FM recording, java MIDP2.1, SNS integration, Music player, Organizer, Voice memo, predictive Text input.
BATTERY: Li-Ion, standby - 520 hrs, talk time - 12 hrs.