Gadgets and Tech in the Philippines

Google announced during this week's I/O conference that it was releasing it's popular Chrome web browser for iOS .  The fast and efficient browser is a welcome addition to the iOS application list and according to Google, Chrome will be available for download starting today. True enough, I checked in the iTunes store and found that the browser is indeed available for free download: Google Chrome for iOS will feature most of the features on the desktop version we've come to love and of course tabbed browsing comes as a standard feature. Related articles Google Releases Chrome 20 Stable for Linux Google Chrome for Android leaves beta, now available in Google Play Google Chrome for Android exits beta; Play Store on the web is improved, too New MacBook Air Crashing? Blame Google Chrome, Probably [Chrome] Google Chrome goes mobile

Today (last night for us in the Philippines ), Google released the much rumored Nexus 7 tablet.  As noted earlier in my Nexus 7 post, the Nexus 7 is a 7" tablet powered by the latest Android operating system , 4.1 Jelly Bean . As noted also in my earlier post, the Nexus 7 is manufactured by Asus, which was also the company that manufactures the earlier tablets, the Transformer and Transformer Prime. The Nexus 7 will have a 1280x800 high definition display .  The Nexus 7 will be powered by a fast Nvidia Tegra 3 quad core processor .  It will have a front facing video camera for video calls.  The tablet will weigh about 340 grams. The Nexus 7 will be the first device that will come with the Google Chrome browser already installed.  The tablet will also feature Google offline maps, which seems to be the hot application lately, Apple also announced a competing product which will be available in iOS6. Pricing of the Nexus 7 will be $199 for the 8 GB v...

Apple has finally opened up its iTunes online music store to 12 new countries, including the Philippines . The other countries in the list are Brunei , Cambodia , Hong Kong , Taiwan, Thailand, Laos , Macau , Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka , and Vietnam. The Apple store was launched with 200,000 songs available and was launched together with a new version of the iPod in 2003.   This is good news indeed for us, we can now purchase directly on iTunes and save it to our iDevices.   Related articles iTunes store arrives at 12 Asian countries, lets users buy music and movies Apple launches iTunes Store , iTunes Match and iTunes in the Cloud in 12 new countries in Asia Apple's iTunes Store Goes Live in Hong Kong, Singapore and Ten Other Asian Countries Apple opens iTunes Store in Hong Kong, Taiwan and 10 other Asia-Pacific territories [Rumor] First 7 Asian countries to have access to full iTunes Store revealed

Google is scheduled to have their I/O conference this week, the I/O conference is Google's version of the recently concluded Apple WDC, similarly, this conference is mostly for application developers to learn about new platforms and technologies they could build their applications on. If you're wondering what Google will be announcing in the I/O conference this week, one of the most talked about rumor is that Google will release the Nexus 7, Google's latest tablet competitor, again, a tablet that's said to be an iPad challenger.  This according to the Gizmondo Australia , a well known gadget blog.  It seems that in every release of a new tablet, people are comparing it with the iPad, I guess that's the price Apple has to pay for being the best tablet. The Nexus 7 will be 7" and will be built by Asus .  The Nexus 7 will be powered by a 1.3Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, GeForce 12 GPU and will come in 8GB and 16GB variants. The selling point of...

Nintendo is set to release an update to it's 3DS portable gaming console .  The latest release will have a larger screen (thus the XL in the name).  Nintendo caught everyone by surprise by not announcing the update  in this year's E3 which was just concluded 2 weeks ago. The upper and lower screens will both be larger, the upper screen will now be 4.88 inches while the lower screen will be 4.18 inches. The Nintendo 3DS XL will be priced at about P8,557 and will be released in the States starting on August 19.  The 3DS XL will come in black, blue and black and red and black. Related articles Nintendo introduces larger 3DS XL Nintendo Has Unveiled a New Model of the 3DS. Here's Everything You Need to Know. [Nintendo] New 3DS XL Revealed At Nintendo Direct Nintendo Announces a New, Bigger 3DS. Meet the 3DS XL. [Breaking] Nintendo unveils super-sized 3DS XL game machine

It seems this week is Microsoft's big announcement week, last June 18 we received the very exciting news about Microsoft's entry into the tablet space with the announcement of the Microsoft Surface .  Last night, Microsoft again came out with a major release to its mobile operating system , the Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system. The announcement came after Apple also announced the near-completion of it's major upgrade to the iOS mobile platform, iOS 6.  So what's in the Windows Phone 8 upgrade? Here are some of the most notable updates: - Support for Multi-core processors .  Most new phones and tablets coming out already have quad core processors, it's about time that Microsoft supported it. - Bigger, sharper screens.  Again, the defining factor in today's phones and tablets are the resolutions, HD is almost becoming standard on mobile gadgets.   Microsoft Windows Phone 8 now supports two new resolutions, 1280x768 and 1280x720. - More flex...

Just got my hands on the new Samsung S III today, and yes, it is truly designed for humans.  At first glance, the S III looks very wide but not bulky, the phone is actually very thin, 8.6 mm to be exact.  The first thing you will notice is the wide screen Super AMOLED capacitive touch screen .  I tried watching an HD YouTube video and was really awed by the crispiness of this phone, definitely a competitor to the Retina display .  At first I was having hesitations in holding the phone as it felt quite slippery and took some getting used to. Running any application is a breeze, thanks to the powerful Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9 processor.  Temple Run was the first game I played and the Samsung S III never showed slowing down, the game played very smoothly and was a joy turning and jumping all around.  You know that the display and the phone is good when even the basic applications like the calculator are amazing to use and look very attractive...

Today, Microsoft officially entered the tablet market with their announcement of the Surface tablet.  Not too much details yet but it definitely looks very interesting. Based on the pictures and video on Microsoft's Surface website, the tablet will already come with a keyboard and a case which doubles as a stand, quite similar to the current Apple Smart cover which attaches to the tablet by magnets.  Microsoft's case is called VaporMg (pronounced as Vapor Mag), includes Magnesium parts and can be molded to as thin as .65mm thinner than a credit card.  This makes the case almost non-existent and the tablet still feels very thin as compared to leather cases which add significant thickness to the tablet. Microsoft isn't calling the Surface a tablet, instead, they are calling it "A New Family of PCs for Windows".  Also, according to Microsoft, Surface will be the ultimate stage for Windows. Surface will come with front and rear facing HD cameras. One in...