iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display launching on December 19 in the Philippines

On December 4, we reported that the iPad Air is going to be available today, December 8 — which obviously didn’t happen. According to our source, the new release date at Apple Authorized Resellers in the Philippines is now pegged on the 3rd week of the month, specifically, on December 19 or 20. Apple and its channel partners should have an official announcement by tomorrow.

Still, no pricing and release date has been announced for both iPads. The iPad Air could see its pricing starting at around P23,990 while the iPad mini could start at around P16,000 to P18,000. Our source also confirmed to use that Globe will offer the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display as well with their data plans. As was the case last year, Smart most likely join the party as well, though our source cannot confirm this yet.

The iPad Air features a new design, similar to that of the iPad mini. It is 20% thinner at only 7.5mm, 28% lighter at just one pound, and still can go for up to 10-hour of video playback time. The iPad mini with Retina display, on the other hand, now packs a higher-resolution display, just like the Air. Both models have the new A7 CPU with M7 motion-coprocessor, 2x faster Wi-Fi, and improved LTE with support for even more bands as well as MIMO.

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iPad Air to be available in the Philippines on December 8 (update)

Apple greatest and latest 9.7-inch tablet, the iPad Air, is arriving in the Philippines on December 8, according to our anonymous source. The supposed release date — which falls on a Sunday — is for Apple Resellers in the country. There is also a chance that the iPad Air could be available in stores as early as Friday, December 6. The pricing hasn’t been announced yet, though if Apple follows its previous pricing for the iPad, the 16GB Wi-Fi model would start at P23,990.

It’s smaller 7.9-inch counterpart, the iPad mini with Retina display, however, is not yet coming. It could follow after a few weeks, though there is really no information about it at this time.

The iPad Air features a new design, similar to that of the iPad mini. It is 20% thinner at only 7.5mm, 28% lighter at just one pound, and still can go for up to 10-hour of video playback time, which is normally how Apple rates battery life. It packs the new A7 CPU with M7 motion-coprocessor, 2x faster Wi-Fi, and improved LTE with support for even more bands as well as MIMO. The display stays the same at 2048x1536, equating to 264ppi.

UPDATE: The release date has been moved to 3rd week of December.

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Smart Prepaid LTE SIM card poses for the camera, launching tomorrow for P40 (update)

UPDATED: 5:10 PM August 9, 2013

Have you been wanting to get a prepaid Smart LTE SIM card but always find them to be mostly non-existent at Smart Stores and don’t want to shell out a few hundred or even thousand of pesos for one? Well, your dilemma is about to end real soon.

Smart’s real prepaid LTE SIM card has just been pictured. The SIM card, which bears a P40 price tag, was reportedly purchased at a Smart Store in SM Iloilo. It comes with a dual-cut SIM card for use on devices with a micro and mini SIM. A standalone nano SIM will be available for P100.

The main difference between the Smart Prepaid LTE SIM and the Smart Broadband Prepaid LTE SIM is that the latter does not allow registrations for call and text promos, which is important if you call and text a lot. The regular Prepaid LTE SIM does not come with a free 7-day LTE subscription, as with all other SIM cards sold for P40.

For those living in the south, you can snag one by going to the said Smart Store and ask for the Smart Prepaid LTE SIM — the one for phones (a store employee will ask about this).

For everyone else, you can wait for a few days before it becomes available. You can try checking out your nearest Smart Store, but I cannot guarantee that you will find one. Smart will formally launch the Prepaid LTE SIM card on August 6, that’s tomorrow!

Thanks Amy!

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HTC Butterfly S to come with LTE support after all (Bonus: Press photo of the dual-SIM version)

The recently-announced HTC Butterfly S was initially reported to not have an LTE support, which was disappointing considering that it packs quite a punch.

That turns out not to be true at all. Jason Mackenzie, President of Global Sales at HTC, has confirmed this to us. In some Asian (and perhaps European) markets like Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Singapore, the HTC Butterfly S will come with LTE with support for bands 1 (2100MHz), 3 (1800MHz), and 7 (2600MHz). Globe and Smart’s LTE networks operate on 1800MHz and 2100Mhz respectively.

Announced in June, the HTC Butterfly S sports a 5-inch 1080p Super LCD 3 screen, a 1.9GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor (the HTC One has the same chip clocked at 1.7GHz), 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage with microSD support, the same UltraPixel camera, IR blaster, and a ginormous 3200mAh battery. It runs on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with the HTC Sense 5.

With that in mind, I’m thinking that the HTC Butterfly easily beats most smartphones out there today in many aspects like battery. Now it’s time to pick one: the very stunning HTC One or the HTC Butterfly S with slightly better specs?

And, the bonus… Dual-SIM HTC Butterfly S for China. Looks like it’s set to be announced on July 18th. Perhaps along with the HTC One Mini?

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HTC Butterfly Sense 5 and Android 4.2.2 OTA update leaks out

Owners of older HTC smartphones like the Butterfly, Droid DNA, and One X may have been feeling a little bit left out since all of HTC’s attention is now aimed at their new flagship, the HTC One.

Apparently, that isn’t entirely true. Today, we have managed to snag a copy of the pre-release update that will bring Sense 5 and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean goodies to the HTC Butterfly. The update brings the refashioned interface which now looks flatter and more easy to the eye.

The HTC BlinkFeed, one of the features the manufacturer are heavily promoting, is also present here. Now I remember when the HTC One reviews came, most of the reviewers said that the BlinkFeed cannot be disabled in its entirety. In this Sense 5 build, it looks like they added an option to switch to the traditional home screen style which only displays widgets and shortcuts alike. I am not sure if the reviewers just missed that option as it is buried deep inside the Settings app. Either way, this is a good news particularly for those who don’t use BlinkFeed at all.

Another major feature, but from Android 4.2.2 this time, that comes with the update is the quick shortcuts and toggles in the notification center. This feature in specific is really hand as it allows the users to activate some settings and actions without the need to leave the app or screen they are on. As opposed to stock Android, tapping on a toggle on Sense 5 will activate that said, well, toggle, whereas on stock Android it will only take you to the page of that toggle in the Settings app. Quick shortcuts and toggles can be accessed by swiping your two fingers down from the top edge of the screen or by tapping the icon in the notification center.

Unfortunately, the HTC Zoe seems to be not coming to other devices aside from the One, as the feature is nowhere to be found in this build. It could be that or HTC hasn’t just really added Zoe in this pre-release version. I hope it’s the latter.

The overall smoothness and performance of this update is really good, with some minor quirks like the crashing of the Sense 5 launcher. But other than that, it seems that the update is almost ready for release. Insiders say HTC will release it this Month.

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BlackBerry 10 devices coming in March 6 in the Philippines

Are you eagerly waiting to get one the new BlackBerry 10 devices? Guess what, it’s coming here in the Philippines sooner than expected. Our anonymous source has provided us what seems to be the invite image that you see above.

The invite confirms that the BlackBerry Z10, and possibly the Q10 too, will be launched in the country in March 6. No other details such as the exact pricing were provided.

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These are the Globe iPhone 5 plans (update)

This post has been updated to reflect the final Globe iPhone 5 plans and pricing details.

Globe Telecom has finally revealed their iPhone 5 plans and pricing today. You pay the cashout fee with a credit card for 24 months, so if we’ll take the Plan 1799 as an example, then you're going to pay P1,999 (P1,799 MSF + P200 cashout/month) monthly. You will also get 4 months subscription worth P1,596 for their new phone insurance program called Gadget Care. It allows you to get a new phone in a case of theft and damage at a discounted price. Aside from that, you also get a 1 year subscription of the Globe GCash American Express virtual card, and 50% off on iPhone 5 accessories.

iPhone 5 16GB
Plan 999 – P19,200 cashout
Plan 1799 – P4,800 cashout
Plan 2499 – FREE
Plan 3799 – FREE
Plan 5000 – FREE

iPhone 5 32GB
Plan 999 – P23,976 cashout 
Plan 1799 – P10,800 cashout
Plan 2499 – P4,800 cashout
Plan 3799 – FREE
Plan 5000 – FREE

iPhone 5 64GB
Plan 999 – P30,000 cashout 
Plan 1799 – P15,096 cashout
Plan 2499 – P10,080 cashout
Plan 3799 – P4,800 cashout
Plan 5000 – FREE

No contract pricing (Prepaid)
iPhone 5 16GB – P35,400
iPhone 5 32GB – P40,800
iPhone 5 64GB – P46,300

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Globe to slash P12,000 off iPad 3 pricing

Just received this info from a source. Globe will soon slash off as much as P12,000 on the pricing of the iPad 3 Wi-Fi + 3G model on it’s Tattoo Plans. This might be in line with the imminent arrival of the 4th generation iPad. If you’re planning to get an iPad with a cellular data connection then this might interest you. Check out the new pricing matrix below.

New Pricing
Plan 999 (unlimited data)
16GB – P14,990
32GB – P17,990
64GB – P21,990
Plan 499 (50 hours)
16GB – P19,990
32GB – P23,990
64GB – P26,990
Prepaid
16GB – P23,990
32GB – P27,990
64GB – P31,990

Old Pricing
Plan 999
16GB – P21,990
32GB – P25,990
64GB – P30,990
Plan 499
16GB – P28,990
32GB – P33,990
64GB – P38,990
Prepaid
16GB – P29,990
32GB – P34,990
64GB – P39,990

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Samsung GALAXY Camera goes on sale in the Philippines this November 26

Mister Jonjon has exclusively learned that Samsung Philippines is planning to launch the product of their first foray in the camera-phone hybrid market, the Samsung GALAXY Camera, this coming November 26 in the Philippines. It will reportedly sell for P23,990 and will come in both white cobalt black.

The Samsung GALAXY Camera is an Android-powered digital compact camera that boasts of a 16 Megapixels BSI CMOS sensor with a 21x optical zoom. It runs on the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, has a 4.8-inch HD Super Clear LCD, runs on a 1.4GHz quad-core processor, and includes 3G/4G/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connectivity. For more, check out our quick hands-on with the device over here.

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Viber for Windows and Mac in the works

EXCLUSIVE!

Viber is planning a version of the software for Windows and Mac and I got hold of screenshots for that.

The user interface of the Viber for Windows and Mac looks to be reminiscent of that of Skype’s, with a handy toolbar available at the bottom when using the full-screen video calling mode. The interface for the messaging view, however, looks similar to that of iMessage with two panes available for easy navigation.

It is unclear as to when will Viber release both version of the software. But given that they have already finished the development of the apps for Bada, S40, and Symbian, it is more likely coming in the next few months.

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Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 will be also available on Smart, Globe, and Sun Cellular

EXCLUSIVE!

A little birdie told me that the freshly launched Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 will also make its way to the country’s three carriers aside from being sold unlocked and contract-free.

That’s right. Smart, Globe, and Sun Cellular will launch Samsung’s latest flagship tablet and phone hybrid in the country, and for sure, they will bundle it with their respective plans. This makes sense as the three already offer the Samsung GALAXY S III. All we can do is to wait but hopefully they will reveal more info not too long from now. The Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 retails for P32,990.

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