Unbox/Review: Cherry Mobile Stellar

A couple of months ago the Cherry Mobile Stellar debuted in the market, together with other spectacular Cherry Mobile products. Now, the kind folks at Cherry Mobile decided to loan us a review unit to try and make sense why they’re one of the Philippines’ top local brands.

The Cherry Mobile Stellar is a dual-SIM, mid-tier smartphone running on Android 2.3 with a Qualcomm 7227T 800MHz CPU. It’s perfect for those looking for an performer phone on the Android that is not too shabby and not too expensive.

Read our unboxing and review of the Cherry Mobile Stellar and see if you’ll want this phone on your pocket.

Design

The Cherry Mobile Stellar looks like your typical Android phone. On its face, the Stellar has your standard Android buttons coupled by a flashing LED and light sensors near the earpiece. The capacitive touchscreen panel is as wide as an iPhone’s and is responsive enough for everyday use.

The back panel is made of smooth plastic and carries the 5MP camera with flash designed with a chrome lining. Here’s also where the Stellar‘s speaker grill  is located. The grill would’ve looked nicer if the alternating dotted pattern was let go and was replaced by a uniform grill. The back panel is easily snapped and contains dual-SIM slots at the top area near the removable battery dock.

The earphone jack and the lock/power button is found at the top of the Stellar. The right panel meanwhile houses the microSD card slot, the shutter button, and the volume buttons. The physical buttons are soft to the press and are nicely located, save for the lock/power button which is very hard to press.

The Cherry Mobile Stellar is very light at 123.3g, already with a battery. Mind you, Motorola’s Droid RAZR weighs at 127g and even Nokia’s latest entry the Lumia 710 weighs at 125.5. With all its lightness, the Cherry Mobile Stellar may seem cheap at first glance.

Display

The Cherry Mobile Stellar sports a 3.5″ HVGA capacitive touch panel (320×480 resolution) with a decent viewing angle. The screen is nothing stellar (pun intended), just what you would expect from a mid-tier Android smartphone (not as ugly as the LG Optimus L3′s display, then again there’s no challenge on that).

The main screen on boot would greet you with a Cherry Mobile tone and logo followed by a Stellar boot screen. If you’re not a fan of company boots with quirky start-up tunes, as compared to clean quiet boots, this phone will irk you every time you turn it on. After the boot, a default Cherry Mobile wallpaper will serve as your home screen BG but is replaceable afterwards.

Most Android users will feel right at home with the user interface of the Stellar. Like most Android phones, you have a set of the most useful applications waiting for you on the home screen. Swiping it from right to left would reveal other apps and widgets such as the weather, calendar, appointments and the like.

If you’re constantly connected to the web, updates from applications such as Twitter would continually be fetched automatically and would be shown in a one-line format in the phone status area. A very nice addition especially if you’re multitasking.

One feature of the 2012 Cherry Mobile Stellar is its built-in SPB3 Shell, a feature which alters the home screen drastically and makes it look like a spinning panel of 3D app cards. At stand-by, each of these cards plays its own unique animation, the one pictured below playing a rotating Earth with green locator lines.

You can add or subtract cards to your heart’s desire. You can even alternate with the normal Android UI while the shell is active. The sad thing is, as it’s only an add-on, the SPB3 Shell fails to automatically load at boot and you have to activate it manually. Then again it’s only a minor annoyance.

Performance

The Cherry Mobile Stellar is great for everyday use, especially if you like to check your email, your Twitter and Facebook stream, and whatever takes place online. The only snag with everyday usage the Stellar hits is in its landscape keyboard feature. There’s only a certain area which the space bar would activate if it’s on landscape. You’ll be lucky if you’ll get a space on one try; the Stellar usually reads my space presses as Cs or Vs. There’s also the occasional accidental period press.

Powered by a 512MB RAM and a Qualcomm 7227T 800MHz processor(also from the makers of the Snapdragon processor), the Cherry Mobile Stellar sails past a barrage of lags with flying colors, as witnessed here while running the all new Angry Birds Space.

Surprisingly, the in-game sounds sometimes come late after the animation and moments later the phone itself would play catch-up and run normally. There’s also this thing with the Cherry Mobile Stellar not loading applications properly, which would lead it to bring to you a Force Close dialog box. Pressing the OK button fixes the problem. You can try and run the application after a force close. Another frequent Force Close recipient is the Google Maps app. For some reason it just crashes on its own.

Other applications such as Fruit Ninja run smoothly on the Stellar. Remember that 2.3 Gingerbread is supposedly optimized for gaming, so there’s that. Aside from that, you’ll have no problem running social networking apps. Oddly though, I can’t find the Temple Run app at the Google Play store while using the Stellar.

Video and Audio

Audio admittedly isn’t one of the strong suits of the Stellar. Music coming out of its loudspeaker, as one way of putting it, sounds “canny”. The whole back panel vibrates as you are playing songs, which of course might give you the palms.

Videos on the other hand, play wonderfully and smoothly, as long as they’re HD. Non-HD vids on the other hand makes the Stellar‘s screen look dated.

Kara playing on YouTube at the Stellar screen

Another issue I had with the Stellar is its lock screen-to-online video screen transition while buffering. If you have a video on buffering and leave the Stellar for a while, the moment you try to play it again you would be greeted by another Force Close dialog box. You have to try several times and press a couple of “Wait” buttons for the video to run again. So if you like watching videos online, just make sure you have a dedicated internet line that can handle such requests quickly.

With an expandable microSD up to 32GB, you’re sure to be able to load up with all the apps, videos, and audio files you can gather.

Camera

Didn’t have a chance to test out the camera as I don’t have a spare microSD. Yes, the camera won’t run, and the Stellar won’t even let you load Dropbox photos if you don’t have a microSD card installed. But with the Cherry Mobile Stellar‘s 5MP camera paired with a LED flash, you’ll be sure to capture enjoyable images even in the dark.

Battery

The Cherry Mobile Stellar would last up to, give or take, 84 hours on stand-by on my tests. This drastically changes if you have background apps continuously running even if you’re not connected to the internet, in this case your battery would go from a hundred to zero in 9 to 10 hours without usage, even faster if you leave your phone connected. The phone would last throughout the day with average use of apps, surfing, videos, etc.

Another interesting feature of the Cherry Mobile Stellar is its battery indicator. Once the battery reaches a low enough level, the battery indicator would blink red. Plugging it to the wall would give the indicator a steady red which means it’s charging; the indicator would turn green when the battery’s full.

Battery is replaceable.

Box

The Cherry Mobile Stellar box contains the phone unit itself, a charger and a USB cable, stock earphones, an instructions manual, and a warranty card. No Cherry Mobile logo sticker here.

Verdict

For P6,999.00 (with a free bluetooth headset), the Cherry Mobile Stellar is really shines against other smartphones in its price range. You can get yourself a Samsung Galaxy Y or an LG Optimus L3, but with a grand more you’ll be able to own the Stellar and ultimately do yourself a favor by avoiding small screens, over-saturated colors, below average pictures, a cramped screen, and an underpowered device.

So there you go. Share this Cherry Mobile Stellar review on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, especially if you have friends looking for mid-tier phones.

The Cherry Mobile Stellar was formerly priced at P9,999.00, now 30% off at P6,999.00.

‘Till my next installment.

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Unbox/Review: Cherry Mobile Stellar

Torque Droidz Sport and Droidz Force, two sub-P3k Android phones

Pinoy mobile company, Torque, just released a couple of new dual-SIM Android phones for the budget-conscious out there.

What’s new in their Droidz series is the dual-SIM Sport and Force. Both really don’t have current-generation specs but it comes with Torque’s new Droidz Flex Technology, a software optimization that will maximize the hardware capability of the device so you can do more with less.

The Droidz Sport features a 3.5” HVGA 320×480 capacitive display with a 165ppi pixel density. It uses a 1GHz single-core Spreadtrum SC6820 processor with a Mali-400 GPU. RAM is limited at 256MB and internal storage is at 512MB with support for microSD. With those specs, this device runs only on Android 2.3.6 (Gingerbread) OS.

It also sports a 2-megapizel fixed-focus camera (no front-facing camera), 3.5mm stereo headset, FM radio and multimedia player, Micro-USB port, motion sensor and a 1500mAh Li-Ion battery. This dual-SIM budget phone retails for just Php2,599.

The Droidz Force on the other hand, is more or less a bigger version of the Sport with its 4-inch WVGA display, that’s 800 x 480 resolution for a 233 ppi pixel density. It also uses the same 1GHz single-core Spreadtrum SC6820 processor, with 512MB RAM and 512MB internal storage plus microSD support. Rest of the specs are similar: Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread, 2-megapixel fixed focus front camera, VGA rear camera, FM Radio, and a 1500mAh Li-Ion battery.

The Droidz Force is basically an entry-level 4-inch dual-SIM phone that retails for just Php2,999.

Torque Droidz Sport and Droidz Force, two sub-P3k Android phones originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog – The Philippines" Longest-running Technology Blog on June 10, 2013.

Torque Droidz Sport and Droidz Force, two sub-P3k Android phones

Western Digital Blue now the world’s thinnest 1TB hard drive

Western Digital just launched their latest and highest WD Blue capacity topping at 1 TB during Computex Tapei 2013. The WD Blue now becomes the world’s thinnest 1 TB hard drive measuring just 7mm thin.

This new 7mm slim 2.5-inch hard drive will now allow OEMs to further shave some thickness off their systems while still offering high-capacity storage.

"Users with large portfolios of content no longer need to sacrifice capacity when buying an Ultrabook or upgrading to a thin and light notebook," said Matt Rutledge, Vice President and General Manager for client storage products at WD. "This most compact 1TB hard drive to-date offers manufacturers of systems an upsell path for their customers who will now be able to choose systems offering both sleek design and high capacity.

Depsite adding more capacity to an already skimpy drive, Western Digital still manage to cram enough features to make the WD Blue a reliable and robust drive. Features include:

• Shock Tolerance – WD’s ShockGuard™ technology protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks.


• Cool and quiet – WD’s exclusive WhisperDrive™ technology enables quiet performance.


• StableTrac™ – The motor shaft is secured at both ends to compensate for system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking during read and write operations which enables consistently higher performance.


• Dual Stage Actuators – Leveraged from enterprise-class drives, dual stage actuators utilize two actuators to improve positional accuracy over the data track(s). The primary actuator provides coarse displacement using conventional electromagnetic actuator principles. The secondary actuator uses piezoelectric motion to fine tune the head positioning to a higher degree of accuracy.


• Reliable – WD’s SecurePark™ parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down, and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface resulting in improved long term reliability due to less head wear, and improved non-operational shock tolerance.


• Compatibility Tested – WD performs tests on hundreds of systems and a multitude of platforms in its FIT Lab™ and Mobile Compatibility Lab to give customers confidence that drives will work in specific systems.

The new 1 TB WD Blue 7 mm 2.5-inch mobile hard drive is covered by a two-year limited warranty and has an MSRP of Php6,990.

Western Digital Blue now the world’s thinnest 1TB hard drive originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog – The Philippines" Longest-running Technology Blog on June 10, 2013.

Western Digital Blue now the world’s thinnest 1TB hard drive

Unbox/Review: The House of Marley Smile Jamaica Headphones

The House of Marley, a Bob Marley-inspired brand of audio products, recently launched officially in the Philippines. Now, the guys over at the House of Marley were kind enough to give us a pair of their entry-level Smile Jamaica headphones.

The Smile Jamaica series, the lowest in the House of Marley in-ear headphones echelon, are one of a kind, with all its funky Rastafari colors and all. With its supposed Earth-friendly materials, it brings green and quality audio technology to a whole new level. And what better way to know if the Marley brand stands up to its name than to review it.

Read our unboxing and review of the House of Marley Smile Jamaica headphones and see if its perfect for the green audiophile in you.

Box

In line with its Earth-friendly theme, the House of Marley’s Smile Jamaica comes in a packaging made up of recycled pulp, plastics, and paper. Tipping the front cover open reveals the headphones in a standard boxed arrangement i.e. one resting higher than the other.

On the side of the box lies a QR code which, when scanned, leads to a 404. The back meanwhile contains information on the features of the product and the social network URLs of the brand.

(Related: House of Marley PH Launch)

Unsheathing the packaging’s contents reveals the Smile Jamaica itself, two pairs of different sized ear tips of your chosen color (shown is the Curry variant), an information leaflet, a warranty leaflet, and a Rasta-inspired pouch specially designed for the headphones.

Design

The Smile Jamaica comes in four funky color patterns: Curry (yellow tip, green aluminum, ring light-colored sapele and beech wood), Fire (red tip, silver aluminum ring, dark colored sapele and beech wood), Lily (pink tip, gold aluminum ring, dark colored beech wood), and Rasta (blue tip, bronze aluminum ring, dark colored beech wood). Earthly colors if I’d say so myself.

Each base comes with a painted-on House of Marley logo.

The silicone ear tips are soft to the touch and has a matte-like finish. It’s not your ordinary rubber or plastic tip that loses its ability to stay snug in your ears once it gets coated in bodily fluids.

The in-ear design carries a 18Hz-20kHz frequency response that offers deep bass. Inside the FSC-certified wood head is an 8mm driver and a 16-ohm impedance dynamic micro speaker equipped with a neodymium magnet for better sound quality (sound quality also depends on the music format being used).

The cord of the Smile Jamaica series bears the color of the Rasta (see: Ethiopian flag) and is made of a 52″ fabric that helps reduce tangling when in and out of use. It’s also specially engineered to cut down on static noise so you’ll always get that clear sound. The only downside in having a fabric-covered cord are the loose threads that may arise from too much use or getting snagged in pointed objects that, of course, would totally ruin the headphones’ looks.

The Smile Jamaica comes in a standard 3.5mm jack. The connector itself is gold plated to ensure better conductivity, resist corrosion, and—although I’m still skeptical about this part—significantly improve data transfer rates from the music device to the earphone heads (the key aspect of every gold-plated data delivery product). The connector’s angle also turns at a right angle (as against to the common vertical jack) which could prove helpful or annoying depending on the user. If, for example, you love pocketing your iPod, having a right angled-jack would put more strain on the connector ending than a vertical jack.

Performance

The Smile Jamaica definitely is one of the better entry-level in-ear headphones out there. At a small sum, you’ll be experiencing noise-cancelled deep bass with throbbing eardrums to boot.

We tested it with bass-heavy music from Skrillex (dubstep), Armin Van Buuren (trance), Tiesto (house), and a little rock from Avenged Sevenfold and Sum 41 (all in 386kbps .mp3 format) and it all boiled down to one conclusion: Awesome. Trying to spare nothing, we also played 3D music on the set and got the same results. Listening to 3D music on the Smile Jamaica was like being in a noisy crowd with someone whispering directly in your ears. Then again, most decent headphones nowadays would offer the same effect, albeit with minor or major differences.

The House of Marley’s Smile Jamaica was also pitted against a Pioneer SE-CL07 in-ear headphones, and although they might sound the same, the Smile Jamaica scored a few points higher than the latter in my score sheet. (To Pioneer’s credit though, their products are incredibly tough. Even water won’t stop the SE-CL07 from running, and to think that it’s not designed to be waterproof)

The only downside (or upside, depending on how you view it) of all in-ear headphones are its noise-cancellation technology. With the Smile Jamaica, you won’t hear a thing from the outside, which may lead you to accidents.

Verdict

At P1,399.00, the Smile Jamaica probably might be the best in-ear set at its price range. Mind you, higher-priced audio products doesn’t necessarily mean better sounds, just more bass (looking at you Dre). The only culprit in this otherwise perfect pair are the funky colors of the fabric cord and the susceptibility of the cord and earphone head itself to damage and wear and tear. Other than that, it’s a total buy.

One more thing, with every purchase of the House of Marley products, a part of the proceeds goes to the Marley family’s charitable institution, 1Love.org. You’re not only buying a world-class audio product, you’ll also be helping the world’s youth.

Smile Jamaica Technical Specifications

Frequency Response: 2 Hz to 20+kHz
Driver: 8-mm neodymium
Impedance: 16 ohms
Connector: 3.5mm, gold-plated
3 sets of silicone tips
52″ fabric cord
Cotton carrying pouch
Recycled material

Smile Jamaica Availability and Price in the Philippines

House of Marley products are available at selected National Bookstore branches, Anson’s stores, Power Books bookstores, Duty Free Puregold establishments, and at S&R membership shopping warehouses (one located in Taguig and one in Pasay). Being the lowest at the House of Marley in-ear products, they sell for P1,399.00.

‘Till my next installment.

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Unbox/Review: The House of Marley Smile Jamaica Headphones

Cherry Mobile Titan and Titan TV to Receive Jelly Bean Update on 4/15

The folks at Cherry Mobile just gave everyone what they were asking for from the getgo: A Cherry Mobile Titan Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update. But—as the late Billy Mays would say—wait, there’s more! The BIG TIME phone, the Cherry Mobile Titan TV, would also get the Jelly Bean treatment. That’s right, two Jelly Bean updates for two titanic phones!

Both devices’ updates would start rolling out on April 15, 2013, that’s just a few days from now. We’re really not sure if it’s going to be the service center way of update, or OTA. Based from experience though, we should expect the former.

It’s safe to say that all Cherry Mobile Titan and Titan TV in the coming weeks would already be on Jelly Bean, unless they’re very old stocks (which I doubt).

The Titan is still a powerful smartphone, so if you’re interested in having one we have a Cherry Mobile Titan review right here.

Cherry Mobile Titan and Titan TV to Receive Jelly Bean Update on 4/15

QUIRKS Mighty Wallet and Undercover Mini Sleeve Review

Remember when you were a kid and you see something on a spy show, like a super secret envelope, and you were all like “I want one of those!” A recently established novelty store in the Metro will bring your childhood dreams to life.

Enter QUIRKS, a novelties and curiosities store that sells random-looking stuff that are actually useful. Envelope wallets, gumby wall hooks, maple leaf door stoppers, this store has got you covered.

The kind folks at QUIRKS sent us items to showcase that you will absolutely love. Here’s two of their best sellers: the Mighty Wallet and the Undercover Mini Sleeve.

The Undercover Mini Sleeve

A one-of-a-kind pouch, the Undercover Mini Sleeve brings your spy on. It looks like a harmless envelope sleeve from afar, complete with stamps and all, but open it up lo and behold it becomes a pouch for whatever you want it to hold.

The sleeve is well-made, with straight stitches covering the sides and corners. It looks like paper, but it’s not. Plus it’s waterproof.

Red velcro is the locking mechanism of choice. What I still don’t get though is the use of the excess velcro. Perhaps you can use it to let the envelope stick to other velcro-responsive materials. That’s for the spy in you to find out.

Like I said, it’s a pouch for whatever you want it to hold. In my case, I put my phone in it. A perfect fit.

The Undercover Mini Sleeve, produced by LUCKIES of LONDON, is an imported product from the United Kingdom. It sells for P840.00 and is exclusively available at QUIRKS.

Dot Matrix Pi Mighty Wallet

What looks like an innocent sheet of folded print paper with random dot-matrix numbers on it is actually a full-fledged wallet, complete with extra pockets for cards and another two pockets for cash.

Apparently the Mighty Wallet is made from Tyvek, a super-tough microfiber material that’s also found in express mail envelopes. It’s water-resistant, so if you have sweaty pants this paper wallet won’t crumple. It’s also tear-resistant, unless you decide to cut it with scissors.

Sadly it doesn’t have a key holder inside, but what the heck. Who needs in-wallet key holders when you have a wallet this cool and quirky?

The Mighty Wallet, available in over 20 different designs, is a Dynomighty brand product imported from the USA. It sells for P780.00 exclusively at QUIRKS.

Bonus QR code. Scan time!

As with everything quirky, QUIRKS sells a plethora of other items that’s sure to pique your interest. And if you’re looking forward to purchasing their products elsewhere, don’t be mistaken: QUIRKS is the only go-to place for these goods as they hold the only exclusive distribution rights locally.

QUIRKS branches are located at:

Stall 320-a, Level R3, Power Plant Mall, Rockwell, Makati City
Units K-516 to 517, Level 5, Shangri-La Plaza, Mandaluyong City

(Shipping is for free for items P1,500 and above)

QUIRKS social channels:
www.facebook.com/QUIRKS.NoveltiesAndCuriosities
www.quirksph.com

So whether you want to put some twist into your everyday life or just simply share the magic of smile and humor to an otherwise grumpy person, QUIRKS is the place to be.

‘Till my next installment.

QUIRKS Mighty Wallet and Undercover Mini Sleeve Review

Samsung Galaxy Mega, a tale of two sizes

Yesterday, Samsung Philippines just launched two new screen sizes that will break the norm for Android phablets. Under the Galaxy Mega name, there’s the Mega 5.8 and the Mega 6.3.

The launch was held at the first Samsung Experience Store in the country, which is also the largest, located at the 2nd floor of SM Aura at Fort Bonifacio. For the latest technology release from Samsung, you can definitely see and experience it here. If you want to get a feel for that Samsung gadget that you’ve been wanting to buy, this is the place for you to go. If you want to get an accessory for that premium Samsung phone you own, this store has them too.

The store has experienced Samsung personnel to answer your questions about their products or teach you how to use the features on their cameras, phones, laptops, etc. It’s a one-stop shop for everything Samsung.

Now on to the Galaxy Megas and their all-too familiar design which you can see through most Samsung Android phones of today.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8

The Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 sports a 5.8-inch screen with a qHD 540 x 960 resolution, amounting to just a 190 ppi pixel density. It runs on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and a 1.4GHz dual-core processor. It also has a 1.5GB RAM along with 8GB internal storage plus a microSD slot. There’s an 8-megapixel autofocus camera at the back and a 1.9-megapixel in front and has some of the cool camera features found in premium Samsung phones. Battery is at 2600mAh.

What’s interesting with the Galaxy Mega 5.8 is that it supports dual-SIM, although not LTE like its bigger brother. If you’re looking for a dual-SIM phablet the size of the Galaxy Note 2 but don’t need the stylus, the Galaxy Mega 5.8 can be a nice and affordable option for Php18,990.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 Specs:
5.8″ 16M-color qHD (540 x 960) TFT LCD capacitive touchscreen, 190 ppi
Dual-core 1.4 GHz Broadcom processor
VideoCore IV GPU
1.5GB RAM, 8GB internal storage, microSD up to 64GB
Android OS v4.2.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz UI
HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps
Dual-SIM
8 MP front camera, 1080p @ 30fps video recording
1.9MP rear camera, 1080p video recording
Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct and DLN
Bluetooth 4.0, MHL
2,600 mAh battery
9mm thickness; 180g
SRP: Php18,990

Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3

If 5.8-inch is still small for you, there’s the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3. It doesn’t have dual-SIM like the 5.8 but it supports LTE, NFC and has an IR-port and retails for Php23,990.

The 6.3-inch screen of the Mega 6.3  has a 1280 x 720 resolution for a slightly respectable 233 ppi pixel density. This phablet uses a far more powerful chip than its smaller brother – a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 1.7GHz dual-core processor. It also has a 1.5GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, with microSD support. There’s an 8-megapixel camera at the back and a 1.9-megapixel at the front. The battery is rated at 3200mAh.

It boasts of features found on the Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy S4 such as Air View, Smart Stay, Smart Rotation, S Health, and multi-window for split screen multitasking.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 Specs:

6.3″ 16M-color TFT capacitive touchscreen, 720 x 1280 pixels (233ppi)

Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, 1.7GHz Krait CPU

Adreno 305 GPU

1.5GB RAM, 8GB internal storage, microSD up to 64GB

Android OS v4.2.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz UI

HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE

8 MP front camera, 1080p @ 30fps video recording

1.9MP rear camera, 1080p video recording

Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi hotspot

Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, IR, MHL

3200mAh battery

167.6 x 88 x 8mm

199 g

SRP: Php23,990

Samsung Galaxy Mega, a tale of two sizes originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog – The Philippines" Longest-running Technology Blog on June 8, 2013.

Samsung Galaxy Mega, a tale of two sizes

Quick Review: Alcatel One Touch Tab 7 HD

Alcatel recently has been stepping up its game by delivering quality Android devices to the market. Their current lineup looks solid especially their One Touch Idol handsets but slightly in the background might be another good find in the form of their One Touch Tab 7HD.

From the name itself, you can safely guess that it’s a 7-inch tablet with an HD display. Looking at the front, it doesn’t look that appealing with its well-rounded corners and thick bezels. It just look like any other cheap China tablets out there.

However, flipping it on its back you will be greeted by a pleasant smooth matte finish with a glossy portion on top to house the camera. This alone immediately added class to this device in my opinion. Nice design that you don’t want to hide with a case.

Looking at the ports and buttons, there’s the tiny Power button on the right side beside the volume rocker. While on top you’ll find the microUSB port and the 3.5mm audio jack. That’s it basically.

You might be wondering, is there a microSD slot? Yes there is. It’s located underneath the glossy plastic covering of the 2-megapixel rear camera at the back. Peel it off to see the microSD slot. Sadly, it would be nice if this phone has a microHDMI port so you can project contents to a larger screen.

Turning it on you will appreciate the beauty of its 1280 x 800 IPS display giving you a somewhat decent 216 ppi pixel density. That’s more than the iPad mini and same as the Google Nexus 7. Although the display is not too bright, the screen looks sharp enough from a comfortable viewing distance and you also get some nice viewing angles with it.

Powering this device is a relatively unknown chip called the Rockchip RK3066 which has a 1.6GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 processor and a Mali 400 MP4 GPU. For comparison, that Mali 400 MP4 GPU is also being used by Samsung’s Exynos 4 SOC which in turn is being used by the Galaxy S II and the first Galaxy Note. This WiFi-only device is also equipped with 1GB RAM and 4GB internal storage.

The One Touch Tab 7HD runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean which seemed to be unaltered as you can find other Google apps that are not available in our region such as Play Books, Play Music, Play Magazines, and Play Movies & TV.

There’s a 2-megapixel camera at the back which you probably won’t use much as the quality is not that fabulous and focusing is a bit slow. Still, it’s there when you need it. A VGA front cam lies on the front so it’s possible for you to video chat with this tablet.

There’s a 3300mAh battery giving life to this tablet which is a bit sub-par considering most 7-inch tablets have at least 4000mAh battery intsalled. Using it with WiFi always on, random surfing, a few YouTube videos here and there, and downloading apps,  I was able to get about 4-6 hours from it which is so-so for a WiFi-only tablet.

Verdict

The Alcatel One Touch Tab 7HD is a solid WiFi-only tablet for its price of Php7,490. Design is simple yet classy (I’m talking about the back) and the display is something you would appreciate for the price you paid it for. It’s direct competitor would probably be Starmobile’s Engage 7HD which costs just a little bit higher but with an HDMI and a 4000mAh battery. But if you’re after simplicity in design on an affordable package, the Alcatel One touch Tab 7HD should be considered.

Alcatel One Touch Tab 7HD Specs:
7-inch WXGA 1280 x 800 capacitive touchscreen IPS display
1.6GHz dual-core Rockchip RK3066 Cortex A9 processor
Mali 400 MP4 GPU
1GB RAM, 4GB internal storage, microSD up to 32GB
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi hotspot
2-megapixel rear camera
0.3-megapixel front camrea
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
Bluetooth 2.0
3300mAh Li-ion battery
191 x 125 x 9.1 mm
350g
SRP: Php7,490

Quick Review: Alcatel One Touch Tab 7 HD originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog – The Philippines" Longest-running Technology Blog on June 9, 2013.

Quick Review: Alcatel One Touch Tab 7 HD

Unbox/Review: Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N

Dual-SIM phones are fairly popular in the bar phone category, but would the introduction of the concept in the smartphone market prove successful? That said, the good folks at Alcatel Philippines loaned us one of their latest Android dual-SIM smartphones, the One Touch Glory 918N, for a test run. Let’s see if this dual-SIM Android is worth its price in the market.

The Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N is an entry-level Android running Gingerbread 2.3.5 powered by a 650MHz MTK 6573 chipset. And as “old” as it looks, would this be the solution to your network provider dilemma?

Design

The Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N looks somewhere pulled out of the premium line and put onto the affordable class. It’s available in both black and white colors, but its design pattern would be more visible in the latter. Nothing extravagant here: Simple yet elegant as they say.

The face of the phone shows the rather small (by today’s standards) 3.2-inch screen, three standard Android buttons (haptic-feedback capable), and Alcatel’s trademark home button. Aside from the well-put brand logo on the screen, the lower part of the phone shows the diamond pattern which doubles as a grip improver.

At the left side of the phone is the USB charging port. The other side meanwhile carries the volume buttons and power/sleep/wake button, so well-placed that it flows with the chrome plastic lining perfectly, not to mention the ease of access when trying to increase or decrease your phone’s volume or waking it up.

The back panel of the Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N is where the 3.0MP camera (no flash) and the speaker grill are located. The camera portion is raised by a few millimeters from the body of the phone and has the words “3.0 MPXL” written next to the lens itself, which of course the phone would be better off without design-wise. The One Touch section of the back panel is bare and is, like the camera portion, raised by a few millimeters. Constant putting down of this phone on all types of surfaces will inevitably wear the logo out.

The headphone input is located at the top center of the phone. The bottom portion of the Glory 918N is totally void of any input mechanism.

As for the feel, this small thing weighs enough, the right kind of heavy.It also doesn’t feel as plasticky as it looks, and the diamond pattern of the phone really feels great on the hand.

Display

The Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N sports a 3.2-inch HVGA touch capacitive LCD panel with a 320×480 resolution. For its price range, there are phones out there that offer larger screens and better display specs on paper. In contrast, the Glory 918N offers less on paper but more once you turn the phone on.

The 3.2-inch hands down is small, but the display is amazing for its price. Regardless of the screen protector you’ll put on the display (one is already included in the box by the way), you’ll enjoy decent colors and decent viewing angles.

The home Android UI of the Glory 918N is the straightforward no nonsense type. Its app icons are of the circlish square category, imagine Nokia’s MeeGo (now called Tizen) on the N9, but on Android. More on games and videos later.

The only problem with the display is its seeming lack of sensitivity to touch. This problem seems to be prevalent in entry level Android phones. Typing messages on the Glory 918N proves to be a challenge with the small screen coupled with sensitivity problems. Otherwise, the phone display is passable. 

Performance

Running the Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N is a 650MHz MTK 6573 processor coupled with a 256MB RAM. What seems to be an underpowered phone initially would impress even the toughest of critics (to be fair, it really is an underpowered phone when compared to high-tier smartphones, but a tough competitor in its bracket).

The single-core Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N scores a last-place but respectable 876 on the Quadrant Standard. But don’t let the numbers fool you.

Screen transitions, even at full animation enabled, brings no trouble to the Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N. Standard must-download games such as Angry Birds Space, Fruit Ninja, and Basketball Shoot doesn’t show any sign of slowing down or lagging, albeit a longer initial loading time. Websites render quick and fast (website loading time also depends on your internet connection speed). And unlike my experience with the Cherry Mobile Stellar, videos being watched at the Glory 918N get streamed flawlessly, even if you let the phone sleep. No hangs, no force stops.

Audio and Video

For a smartphone its size, the One Touch Glory 918N sure packs a punch with its well-made loudspeaker. Located just beside the camera, the sound waves go around your hearing range and not towards where it is pointed. It doesn’t lose its integrity and doesn’t degrade quickly. Even with something blocking the loudspeaker, it still plays at an audible manner.

For a more personal space in music, the Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N provides stock headphones. Don’t expect too much from it though.  It’s stock.

The videos meanwhile, render wonderfully in the 3.2-inch screen. YouTube videos, those of Flash, and most video formats, especially in HD, play flawlessly. No lags. And as previously mentioned, games look awesome on the tiny screen.

The Glory 918N is microSD expandable up to 32GB, so if you have plans of filling up this device with pictures, HD videos, audio files, and games, you’ll have no problem.

Camera

As previously mentioned, this phone carries a 3.0MP rear camera. Lacking a flash LED, the Glory 918N is a no-performer in low light conditions. But give it some light and it produces one of the most brilliant photos in the low-tier phone market. See samples below:

As seen above, photo quality is excellent even with just a 3.0MP camera thanks to the enhancing technology on Alcatel’s cameras. And that’s without autofocus lens. This dwarf of a smartphone can definitely go head to head with high-tier smartphones in the photography department.

Filters are non-existent in the Glory 918N, obviously because of limited computing power. This is why you should move all apps immediately to a microSD.

Battery Life

Something smaller doesn’t necessarily use lesser power. Moderate use of Twitter or Facebook probably, plus texts and a couple of minutes of casual gaming, all on medium brightness, would give you 16 hours of juice before recharging the phone’s 1300mAh battery. Playing, surfing, and doing activities on the Glory 918N continuously i.e. nonstop would give you 6 hours tops before going for the plug.

Turning off automated fetch requests from apps, setting the brightness on medium, turning off the WiFi when not in use, and putting the sound on an enough audible level would help extend battery life.

Battery is replaceable and is accessible through the removable plastic back panel.

Verdict

It is what it is: The Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N is truly an entry level dual-SIM Android to watch out for. Running an old configuration of the Android leaves you with limited possibilities, but if you’re after that then you’d better go fetch something else because what the Glory 918N ultimately offers you is your ability to be at two networks at the same time. That plus its power points, such as its display and camera makes this Android smartphone a total buy.

Davids still exist in this era of Goliaths.

The Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N sells for PHP5,999.00 but might be lower by a few hundred bucks depending on the store you’re buying from.

So there you go. Share this Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N review on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, especially if you have friends looking for entry-level phones.

‘Till my next installment.

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Unbox/Review: Alcatel One Touch Glory 918N