Asus today announced the mid-range smartphone that completes its PadFone range – the new Asus PadFone E.

The smartphone hybrid features a 4.7-inch 720p display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chip with a 1.4GHz Cortex A7 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 13MP LED-enabled camera at the back and a 1820mAh battery.

The device will run on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and just like the PadFone Infinity and PadFone Mini will come with a dock that transforms the smartphone into a tablet. The PadFone E’s dock boasts a 10.1-inch 720p display, a 1MP front-facing camera and a 5000mAh battery.

The Asus PadFone E will come in either Black or Pearl White for $560 starting in Taiwan. 

Google is reportedly planning to release the second generation of its 7-inch tablet – the Google Nexus 7 by July of this year according to reports from Reuters.

The Nexus 7 which was Google’s first entry to the now highly competitive tablet market has received mostly positive feedback from consumers thanks to its very capable Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset that packs a 1.2GHz quad-core Cortex A9 processor and ULP GeForce GPU. However, its most striking feature is its price.

The Nexus 7 was the result of the collaboration between Google and Asus. And unlike other Android tablets from Asus, Google’s influence on the Nexus 7 was not isolated on the software used by the tablet but rather the competitive pricing of the device.

Google was one of the few manufacturers who dared to challenge Apple’s iPad not only in terms of hardware specifications and software but also in the pricing category. With its $199 initial price it’s almost half the cost of an iPad mini of the same capacity and specs. So it’s very interesting how Google will follow this act.

For starters, reports suggest that the new Nexus 7 will ditch the Nvidia chipset in favor of a Qualcomm Snapdragon. Furthermore, the new tablet may also have a higher resolution display and a smaller bezel compared to its predecessor. And of course, in true Google fashion, the release of this new tablet may also coincide with a new Android version - Key Lime Pie.

In terms of pricing Reuters say the Google might choose to sell the new Nexus 7 for $199 at the same time giving a discount to the old model; or they might sell the tablet for around $149 which will effectively kick the old model out of the market. The next generation Nexus 7 is rumored for launch on July 2013.

Any thoughts about this rumor? Share them with us by leaving a comment below. For other Filipino lifestyle stories, subscribe to our blog or follow us on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook or Google Plus.

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The eyes of the world especially the eyes of mobile phone fanatics are all on Barcelona, Spain these past few days for the 2013 Mobile World Congress – the largest exhibition for the mobile industry where manufacturers, vendors, mobile operators, technology providers and content owners from across the globe.

And this year, MWC has gotten a lot more interesting with the entry of other brands such as ZTE, Huawei and Alcatel adding a bit more variety into the mix. But of course big names such as Nokia and LG were also there too. So here’s a list of the handsets these manufacturers are going to release in the very near future.

Nokia Lumia 720 and Lumia 520 – Nokia is standing by its commitment to support Windows Phone 8 not only for their flagship models but also for their mid-range and entry-level product lines. Having said this, the Finnish company has unveiled their latest Windows Phone devices at MWC. The Lumia 720 designed for the mid-range market segment and the Lumia 520 for the entry-level market.

Both phones feature dual-core processors and Nokia’s super touch technology, as well as other Nokia apps such as Nokia Drive and Nokia Maps. The Lumia 520 has a slightly smaller screen and smaller camera sensor, but with all things considered, both phones share relatively the same specs and features. The Lumia 720 and 520 is scheduled to hit the shelves by Q2 2013.

LG F, G, L and V phones – Another big name that graced MWC this year was LG. And unlike other brands who limited themselves by announcing 1 or 2 devices, LG went all out by announcing an entire product line at the event – 6 devices to be exact.

These include their two premium devices the LG Optimus G Pro and the Optimus Vu II, their upper tier phones – the LG Optimus F7 and L7 II, their mid-range handsets – the Optimus F5 and L5 II and their budget friendly Optimus L3 II.

HP Slate 7 – After HP announced that they are discontinuing the production and development of their WebOS, HP is jumping into the Android bandwagon with the HP Slate 7. This 7-inch tablet features Android Jelly Bean, a 1.6GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and a 3.15MP camera.

Asus Fonepad Infinity and Padfone – Taiwanese brand Asus on the other hand focused on tablets this year, well sort of. This year they announced their Padfone budget tablet that runs on Android Jelly Bean and is powered by an Intel Atom processor.

Also on Asus’s booth is the Fonepad Infinity, the newest revision in the company’s Fonepad series. Following in the footsteps of the Fonepad 2, the Fonepad Infinity improves on the shortcomings of its predecessor, most notably the screen resolution which is now at 1080 x 1920 pixels.

The Padfone Infinity runs on Android Jelly Bean and is powered by 1.7GHz quad-core Krait processor complimented by 2GB of RAM. It also has a 13MP camera at the back and an Adreno 320 GPU.

Huawei Ascend P2 – Huawei’s pride and glory this year is their Ascend P2 smartphone. The company claims that they have made the world’s fastest smartphone in terms of connectivity. Through its Cat 4 LTE, the phone will have data transfer speed of up to 150Mbps download speed.

This handset will run on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and will be using a 1.5GHz quad-core processor with 1GB of RAM. And similar to other superphones in the market today, the Ascend P2 will pack a 13MP shooter at the back with autofocus and LED flash. Screen size is at 4.7 inches with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels at 312ppi.

ZTE Open and Grand Memo – ZTE is another Chinese brand that made news this year with the Firefox OS-powered ZTE Open and its Grand Memo phablet.

The ZTE Grand Memo features a 5.7-inch screen. It will have 16GB of on-board storage and 2 GB of RAM. It will be powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core Krait processor on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset. There’s a 13MP camera at the back of the device and a 1MP front facing camera for self-portraits and video calls.

The ZTE Open on the other hand is a budget smartphone that runs the new Firefox OS. It has a 1GHz Cortex-A5 processor with 256MB of RAM and 512 MB of internal storage.

Alcatel One Touch series – another brand that went all out this year was Alcatel. This year they introduced the Firefox OS-powered OT Fire, and a slew of Android devices including the OT Snap/Snap with LTE, OT Idol X and OT Scribe Easy.

So which handset got your attention? Do tell us by leaving a comment below. You can also subscribe to our blog or better yet add us up on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus for other tech news and Filipino lifestyle stories.

We all know that Asus was the company that made Google’s recent 7-inch tablet. The Nexus 7 was one of the first devices in the market that boasts considerable performance without the steep price. And Asus is at it again with a new tablet made for the extremely budget conscious.

The Nexus 7 is currently priced at around $200 and its younger brother, the Memo Pad is priced almost $50 lower. Of course the lower price tag meant it had to throw away some things in terms of performance though.

For starters, unlike the Nexus 7, the Memo Pad is not powered by a Tegra 3 chipset, but rather by a VIA WM8950 chip. Moreover, this device had to make do with a single core 1GHz processor instead of the Nexus’ quad-core Cortex A9 processor. Storage options have also been reduced from the minimum of 16GB to just 8GB.

It is also a few millimeters thicker than the Nexus 7 and its display has been downgraded to an ordinary LCD panel as opposed to the IPS display that the former has. Resolution has also been downgraded as the tablet has a native resolution of 600 x 1024 pixels with a pixel density of 170 ppi. The Corning Gorilla Glass panel is also most likely to be replaced by an ordinary glass panel and battery life is expected to be lower in capacity compared to the Google tablet.

On the other hand, some things that will remain the same would be its Wi-Fi capabilities, Bluetooth, Android Jelly Bean OS, accelerometer, microSD cardslot and its messaging and browser features.

The Memo Pad is expected to be released before the month ends or early to mid-February in the Philippines. 

Last week, Apple and Microsoft took center stage and announced their newest line of products. Apple made headlines last Tuesday when they introduced the iPad mini alongside the 4^th generation iPad, the new iMac, Mac Mini and the 13-inch MacBook Pro with retina display. A few days after, Microsoft stayed true to its promise and released the Microsoft Surface tablet and Windows 8 & Windows RT.

Google was supposed to hold a special Android event Today (October 29, 2011 – PST) in New York City, but was cancelled due to hurricane Sandy. But lo and behold, the power of a hurricane isn’t enough to stop Google from announcing their newest set of Nexus devices to compete head to head with what Apple and Microsoft unveiled last week.

Here is a quick rundown of the specs of each device starting with the Nexus 4, followed by the Nexus 10 and the upgraded Nexus 7.

LG NEXUS 4

The Nexus 4 will be manufactured by LG and is based on the LG Optimus G. It will feature a 4.7-inch True HD IPS Plus capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 768 x 1280 pixels, will have a pixel density of 318 pixels per inch, protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 2.

The phone’s internal memory is set at 8GB or 16GB and there is no expansion card slot. In terms of connectivity, it will have speeds of up to 21 Mbps (HSDPA), Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP and support for NFC.

It will have a rear 8MP camera capable of capturing images with a maximum resolution of 3624x2448 pixels and will have autofocus, touch focus, geo-tagging, face detection, photoshere and LED flash. The phone will be powered by a 1.5Ghz Quad-core Krait processor – Qualcomm’s APQ8064 Snapdragon chipset with Adreno 320 GPU and will run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

The Nexus 4 will also have an accelerometer, gyro sensor, proximity sensor, compass and barometer. It will also have A-GPS with GLONASS support, HTML 5 support for the browser and active noise cancellation with dedicated microphone. This device will be in direct competition with Apple’s iPhone 5 and other Microsoft Windows Phone 8 devices like the HTC 8X and the Samsung Ativ S.

SAMSUNG GALAXY NEXUS 10

Created by Samsung for Google, the Nexus 10 will directly compete with the 4^th generation iPad and the slew of Windows 8 tablets. It is expected to be available by November 2012 and will sport as the name implies a 10.1-inch Super PLS TFT capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 2500x1600 pixels, will have a pixel density of 299 pixels per inch and will be protected by a Gorilla Glass panel.

Just like the Nexus 4, this device will not support card expansions and will have an onboard internal storage of either 16GB or 32GB. It will have of course support for Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n with Wi-Fi direct, Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0 and NFC.

There’s a 5MP camera at the back capable of capturing images with a maximum resolution of 2592x1936 pixels. The camera also features geo-tagging, touch focus, autofocus, face detection and a LED flash. There’s a 2MP front facing camera for video conferencing and the back camera can capture videos at 1080 pixels at 30 fps.

This tablet will run Android 4.2 Jelly bean and will be powered by a 1.7Ghz Cortex A15 Dual-core processor – Exynos 5250 chipset and Mali-T604 GPU. Sensors available on the tablet include an accelerometer, a gyro sensor, a proximity sensor and a compass.

NEXUS 7 HSPA+

Google also unveiled an upgraded version of the Nexus 7 tablet. This time the device will have additional connectivity options, HSPA+ connection to be specific. Specs-wise this new version of the Nexus 7 will share almost identical features as the original Nexus 7, namely: the 7-inch IPS LCD capacitive display, Nvidia Tegra 3 chipset with the 1.3 Ghz Quad-core Cortex-A9 processor and ULP GeForce GPU.

Google has also announced that they will be slashing the prices of the existing Nexus 7 tablets with the 32GB version now at $249 and the 16GB version at $199 while the 32GB HSPA+ version will retail for $299 once it’s released next month.

So, which Nexus device caught your eye? Tell us by leaving a comment below. You can also add us up on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus or subscribe to our blog for more Filipino lifestyle stories about gadgets, technology, fashion, travel and food.

In a few days from now, Microsoft is scheduled to release the very much awaited update on its operating system – Windows 8. Based on the consumer preview that Microsoft has made public a few months ago, this new operating system promises a fully revamped architecture and user interface design that works well both on laptops and desktops but as well in tablets.

Although Microsoft is also set to release their own surface-branded tablet, we are already seeing a lot of devices from other manufacturers slowly making an appearance to coincide with the launch of the new OS. In this edition of Tech Tuesdays at TFL, let’s breeze through some of those devices.

Samsung Ativ Tab

Samsung was one of the first manufacturers to announce a Windows 8 powered tablet. Their Ativ Tab measures 6.61” tall, 10.46” wide and 0.35” thick and weighs around 1.2 pounds. The device also has a 10.1-inch HD LCD display.

It also has USB and Micro-HDMI ports, a microSD card slot, NFC, and Wi-Fi & Bluetooh 4.0 capabilities. In terms of performance the Ativa tab will be powered by a 1.5GHz dual core processor on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chip, and 64GB of internal storage. It will also feature a 5MP rear camera with LED flash while the front will have a 1.9MP camera.

The Ativ Tab will come with a trial version of Microsoft Office 2013 plus a few extras from Samsung such as ChatOn, and Samsung’s music portal and photo editor.

Asus Vivo Tab

Asus’s Vivo Tab looks pretty much like the Asus Transformer Android tablets. The Vivo Tab will come with an 11.6-inch Super IPS+ panel with a resolution of 1366x768 pixels and will have support for 10-finger multi-touch. The device will be powered by the next generation Intel Atom processor (possibly from the Clover Trail Family) and will have 2GB or RAM plus 64GB of on-board storage. In terms of connectivity, the Vivo tab will have support for Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0.

Moreover, it will feature a G-sensor, a gyroscope, a light sensor and e-compass as well as an 8MP autofocus camera with LED flash at the back, a 2MP front facing camera for video calls and conferencing and a 1024-level Wacom digitizer stylus.

Acer Iconia W700

The Acer Iconia W700 will come in three versions on October 26: Two models will have 64GB of storage and will run on an Intel Core i3 Ivy bridge processor while the third model will have an Intel Core i5 processor with 128GB worth of storage.

The Acer Iconia W700 will feature an 11.6-inch screen with support of up to 10 touch points. It will have an IPS display with a resolution of 1920X1080 pixels, a USB port and a micro-HDMI output. The W700 can be used with a wireless Bluetooth keyboard together with a tilt-able cradle dock which will provide an additional 3 USB ports when used with the tablet.

The W700 will also have an Intel HD Graphics 4000 chipset with 4GB of memory plus a Dolby Home Theatre v4 audio-enhancing technology. At the back of the device is a 5MP camera capable of recording 1080p HD video while a 1MP camera can be found at the front of the device.

Sony Vaio Duo 11

Another big name to announce a W8 tablet last week was Sony with its Vaio Duo 11. Unlike other tablets in our list, the Vaio Duo 11 features a full slide-out keyboard. The Duo 11 also has a HDMI and USB ports and surprisingly a full-sized VGA port.

The Vaio can come with an optional battery extension that doubles operating time but puts additional girth into its already chunky profile. The built-in keyboard is slightly more compact than most notebooks and features a trackpoint-style navigation nub in the middle.

As for computing power, the Duo 11 will have an Intel Core i7-3517U processor with 4-8GB of Ram and up to 256GB of SSD storage. The 11.6-inch display of the Vaio will have a resolution of 1080p and according to reports provide incredibly bright and crispy images.

HP ElitePad 900

HP on the other hand announced its business oriented W8 tablet – the ElitePad 900. The ElitePad 900 is a 10-inch tablet that runs on an Atom-based Intel Clover trail processor with up to 2GB of RAM. It has a Core i5 processor and comes with either a 32GB or 64GB eMMC drive.

The screen is 400-nit IPS display with Gorilla Glass and has a resolution of 1280x800 pixels. It also has an 8MP rear camera and a 1080p front facing camera. As with other tablets these days, it will have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support. However, the ElitePad is lacking a USB port, and instead only has a micro-SD card slot and a USB adapter.

But HP is offering a host of extras for the ElitePad 900. For starters, users can get a dock for the tablet that offers a lock slot, an additional 4 USB ports, HDMI and VGA connectors, a line-out jack and Gigabit Ethernet. HP will also be selling those so-called “Smart Jackets” which are tablet cases that have additional features such as USB ports, HDMI output and optional battery slice.

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2

And last but definitely not the least is the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2. The ThinkPad Tablet 2 is the Windows 8 version of the first ThinkPad tablet was released last year and ran on Android 3.1 Honeycomb. The ThinkPad Tablet 2 now runs on Windows 8 with a 1.86GHz Intel Atom processor from the Clover trail family.

The screen is around 10.1 inches with a resolution of 1366x768 pixels. There will also be an optional dock that comes with an Ethernet port, 3 USB ports and an HDMI output. There’s a fat chance that the ThinkPad Tablet 2 will come with the full version of Office 2013 and will cost around $799 with the keyboard.

It’s Tuesday once again and it’s time for another weekly roundup of news about gadgets and technology. In this week’s edition of Tech Tuesdays, we’ll be talking about updates on two very influential social networking sites, alleged patent infringements from two popular brands and news about two smartphones.

If you’re ready, let’s begin.

Social Networks

Twitter’s fender bender a few weeks ago was the storm before the rainbow as the company announced a slew of improvements to its user interface. These new features include Smart search, related search and narrowed search.

Smart search acts very similar to Google’s instant search that autocompletes a query even before the user has finished typing. Related search on the other hand is also now available in the social network. According to company engineer Frost Li, people can now use search queries that match multiple terms and Twitter will provide relevant suggestions where the majority of those terms can be found in conversations happening on Twitter. Lastly, the site now also allows narrowing search results which will now be seen next to the regular search filter options.

On other social networking site news, Facebook has been reported to roll out a new mobile advertising strategy which makes use of a software that tracks the apps that are installed on consumer’s phones. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Facebook engineers have created a software that can track apps that a user has downloaded. By using this information, the company seeks to improve its mobile revenue by serving consumers with targeted ads based on their app purchases and downloads.

However, unlike existing advertising strategies employed in the past by Facebook, users will receive ads regardless if they liked the brand or not. If Facebook is indeed developing this software, it can possibly  get the social networking giant in a very precarious position as the implications of the development of such an app-tracking software can be very controversial since it may put consumers at risk in terms of privacy and security.

Infringements

Apple has been waging a patent war against almost all the big brands in its sphere of operation. Just recently, Apple paid Shenzen Proview Technology, a Chinese company, $60 million for the name iPad. And if that’s not enough, another Chinese company is claiming that the Cupertino Company is infringing one of its trademarks and is asking Apple approximately $80,000 in damages.

Jiangsu Xuebao is a Chinese household chemicals manufacturer that holds a registered copyright for the Chinese translation of Snow Leopard which is also the name given to Mac OS X version 10.6. Aside from the financial compensation that the Chinese company may receive if they win the case, they are also asking for a formal apology from Apple. The Xuebao’s case against Apple will be heard today – July 10, 2012, in Shanghai.

Nokia on the other hand has accused ASUS of using one of its patents on the recently announced Google Nexus 7 tablet without a license. According to Nokia, ASUS used the patent for IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standard to include the said feature on the Nexus 7. The Finnish company also said that the licenses for the patents were given to around 40 mobile device manufacturers and Google or ASUS were not on the list.

However, unlike Apple, Nokia is not pushing any legal actions towards ASUS or Google. Instead, Nokia took the less expensive route and just offered the two companies to sign up for a license.

Smartphones

Android has once again proven itself as the top platform choice for manufacturers. The latest brand to jump into the bandwagon is Amazon. A report from Bloomberg talks about Amazon partnering with China-based factory Foxconn to build the new device.

Amazon has also been reported to have started acquiring patents related to wireless technology, possibly to protect itself from being legally attacked for copyright infringement. Furthermore, unconfirmed reports surfaced that the retail giant is developing its own mapping service with the acquisition of UpNext for an undisclosed amount.

The new device will be most beneficial to Amazon as this will strengthen the company’s Kindle line of 

products. The new phone will allow Amazon to reach more consumers for all their virtual goods and can even boost sales of Kindle Fire tablets and e-readers as users will then be able to seamlessly transfer content from phone to tablet and vice versa.

From good news to (sort of) bad news, Meego developers have left Nokia’s camp which is definitely not good for the only Meego device in Nokia’s arsenal – the N9. It is still unclear why the Meego team has left Nokia but the good news is that a startup company in the name of Jolla, will be taking over the Finnish company’s efforts in developing the platform.

And that’s all for this week’s episode of Tech Tuesdays on TFL. For comments and suggestions, the comment box below is always open for everyone’s voices. For more news and updates in the world of technology, tune in again next week! 

The tech world is such an ever dynamic place and each day is filled with new technology and new stories that can greatly affect how we live our lives. And since technology is very much intertwined with our lives and our lifestyle, it’s very important that we keep up-to-date with the latest trends, news and innovations about the tech industry.

For this reason, I have decided to put up a special section in our blog that will feature technology news and trends that are most relevant to the common Pinoy. And today marks its first episode! So if you’re ready, let’s begin.

A New Screen: A YouTube video has recently received a lot of attention from the tech savvy community. The video shows a new tactile display that has buttons that rise out of the screen when needed. According to its creators – Tactus Tech, the protruding buttons are made possible with the use of microfluidic technology. It’s a special layer of fluid within the display stack that is activated by pressure causing the protrusion of buttons when needed.

At present, Tactus tech is currently planning to partner with device and component manufacturers to integrate the tactile layer into next-generation devices of mobile phones, tablets and other devices that makes use of touch screens.

Breach: Probably the most important news in the past two weeks was about LinkedIn. The password theft that happened last week shocked the entire LinkedIn community. Around 6.5 million passwords were apparently dumped in a Russian hacker forum, compromising the social networking site’s reputation.

And although passwords were the only ones that the hackers took from the site, experts say that these passwords can be reverse engineered to decrypt other sources of information. During the past few days, LinkedIn has been bombarded by criticisms on how they protect data from their members. And although it still hasn’t affected the performance of their stocks in the market, the world has yet to know the full story and full extent of the damage as the company is mum on the details of the breach.

A New Breed of Asha: It seems Nokia hasn’t given up on Symbian yet. They recently released three new Asha models. The Nokia 311, 306 and 305 will all pack touch screens and as the conventional naming convention suggests, the higher the number will mean that the device will have the higher specs. Prices for the new Asha models will start at 68 euros and will sport the usual set of multimedia and connectivity options like Bluetooth, WLAN (for 311 and 306), 3.5mm audio jack and accelerometer.

Event: One of the most talked about event from last week was Asia’s premier technology and consumer electronics trade show – Computex. Now in its 32^nd year, Computex is now attended by over 120,000 global participants from IT corporations, analyst firms and media outlets, and showcases not only the latest gadgets and technology in the market but also the future of consumer electronics headed to Asia.

This year, the event’s stars were Intel and Microsoft. Intel has created some buzz a few weeks back when they announced the release of their Ivy Bridge processors to the public. And lo and behold, those Ivy Bridge processors were everywhere. Microsoft on the other hand made some noise a few days before Computex when they announced the release preview of Windows 8. In fact Windows 8 was featured in several devices at the event such as the dual display laptop/tablet Asus Taichi, the Acer 5600U and 7600U all-in-one PCs, the MSI slider S20 as well as new versions of Ultrabooks such as the Acer Aspire S7.

And that’s just about it for this episode of Tech Tuesdays. Until next week!

If you have any comments and suggestions, please do leave a message in the comment box below. Thanks!