Tom Rodriguez + Dennis Trillo in Note 3 launch

A few nights ago, I attended the Manila launch of Samsung Galaxy Note 3 + Galaxy Gear which I’ve already written about in this post. The affair at SM Aura wasn’t really that star-studded but it WAS, in a way, because of two hot guys playing gays in local TV’s most talked-about show, “My Husband’s Lover.”

Presenting “Vincent”, “Eric” plus “Lally” 20 years later. hehehe.

Tom & Dennis

In my personal opinion, Tom Rodriguez had star factor. I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy will go places. And to think he just recovered from dengue fever in this pic.

Tom Rodriguez

Imaginary conversation -

Tom & Dennis

Vincent: Look beh, we should be able to communicate easily with this Note 3. Just scroll around with the S Pen and it will take you from one app & icon to another. Just don’t get jealous if I keep photos of Lally and the kids. After all, they’re still a part of me.

Eric: ummm…. yeah…amazing!

Other stars seen:

Erwann Heusaff with Samsung Corporate Marketing Head, a slimmed-down, gorgeouser Chiqui Torres with Samsung Business Advisor Mike Cheon -

(L-R) Corporate Marketing Head for Samsung Mobile Chiqui Torres with Brand Ambassador Erwan Heussaff and Samsung Business Advisor Mike Cheon in the SM Aura Samsung store during the Note3 launch last Sept 26

Campus basketball biggies, the brothers Jeric and Jeron Teng

Jeric & Jeron Teng

Len Rivera and Coco Domingo of Samsung Product Marketing show off the Note 3 and Galaxy Gear smart watch

(L-R) Product Manager for Samsung Mobile smartphones Ien Rivera with Product marketing Head for Samsung Mobile Coco Domingo showing their new Note 3 phones and Galaxy Gear watches

We didn’t know that there were these gorgeous male models in Manila, but I guess you can spot them in the right places :)

Models

Samsung Galaxy Gear + Note 3 unveiling

Sometime on the first week of September, I had the extraordinary experience of checking in at the club floor of the Dusit Thani Manila in Makati. The funny thing is that my three year old daughter enjoyed the hotel room more than me. While she slept soundly on the heavenly bed, mommy was working at 2 am to catch the live broadcast of IFA, Europe’s biggest consumer electronics show in Berlin.

What I stayed awake for: the grand reveal of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 & Galaxy Gear, on sale starting Sept. 25 in some global markets like the US and India.

Samsung Unboxed 2013

And here was Lucy happy in the room with her yaya. Nothing like a new environment to excite a kid :)

Lucy in Dusit

Anyway, all I can say is that the new Note 3 is The Bomb! Even the tech writers can’t help but exclaim ooh’s and aah’s about Samsung’s newest offering. If you already own a Note, there is the usual upgrade on features but it is really on the software innovations that Samsung impresses. More after the jump….

Note 3

Appearance-wise, the new Galaxy Note 3 looks really attractive with its faux leather cover at the back & nice stitching details on the side. There’s also the choice between these colors: black, white and pink!

And here are its worthy assets: a 13 megapixel camera, 5.7 inch Super AMOLED display, 2.3 GHz quad core processor, thinness of only 8.3 mm and official weight of 168 g.

But probably this smartphone’s most outstanding feature is Air Command which is more like a launching app best used with the built-in stylus or S Pen. Just hover the pen on the screen or even just jot down or doodle on it and you will have access to relevant apps like Action Memo, Scrapbook and the S Finder.

This official Samsung video is quite long, but will give you an idea what the new gadgets (Note 3 + Galaxy Gear) can do. Useful if you’re eyeing for an upgrade or would like to have these for Christmas…yay!

As for me, am really excited about the Galaxy Gear because I like the idea of wearing my gadget and knowing Samsung technology, I can also sync it with my present phone (or rather, phablet), the Galaxy Mega.

Galaxy Gear

This device is expected to retail for US$299 but am loving what it can do: enable hands-free calls on your watch with the built-in speaker and you will also be able to draft memos or messages and set alarms with simple voice recognition. Not to mention, it has a fitness tracker and other apps.

The Galaxy Gear smart watch has 4-gigabyte internal memory, 512 megabytes of RAM and weighs 74 grams. It comes in a range of eyecatching colors like Rose Gold, Oatmeal Beige, Jet Black,Mocha Grey, Wild Orange and Lime Green.

Hands-on at IFA: Samsung Galaxy Gear

Probably the most talked-about device that came out in this year’s Consumer Electronics Unlimited event (IFA) here in Berlin would be the Samsung Galaxy Gear, a companion smartwatch to the Galaxy Note 3.

Considering that the Galaxy Gear isn’t even near the first smartwatch to be introduced as a companion to the smartphone (Sony has had 2 generations of Live View smart watches before and Motorola has the MotoActv), the media and public has huge anticipation and expectation as to what Samsung is going to come up with.

Add to that the wide rumors about Apple getting into the smartwatch market and you get a very hyped-up and eager segment of the public.

Samsung’s Galaxy Gear is an attempt to make a smartwatch that both addresses form and function. This is evident with the use of stainless steel with the face of the watch and a metal band clasp. The strap is made up of some rubber-like polycarbonate mix that’s both tough yet still flexible.

The watch itself is actually an Adroid device, albeit heavily modified so that it shows only the basic features and compatible apps (due to limited screen size). The integrated chip (800MHz processor and 512MB RAM) allows it to power most of its built-in features, like the apps, the camera and the connectivity to an Android smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy Gear specs:
1.63-inch Super AMOLED display @ 320×320 pixels, 278ppi
800MHz Exynos single-core processor
512MB RAM
4GB internal storage
1.9MP BSI camera
720p recording @ 30fps
Bluetooth 4.0
2 microphone, noise canceling
315mAh Li-Ion battery
IP55 rating, water and dust resistant
Android Jellybean

Samsung claims that Galaxy Gear’s 315mAh battery will last for about 25 hours and we guess this is it’s peak performance since it will always be connected/paired with your phone all the time.


Ignore the silver metal clasp near the body of the watch here since it’s just part of the security cord.

Once paired with a Galaxy phone via Bluetooth (they skipped NFC), you’re also able to use the phone fucntions of your Galaxy smartphone — like checking messages, taking calls and making commands on S Voice. Sensors are built into the unit so even the gesture of your hand towards ears activate the “make a call or answer call” function.

The 1.9MP camera is positioned along the strap and facing outwards when you wear the watch. This orientation lets you take photos and videos fairly quick although we learned that video recording is maxed out at 10 seconds only.

The media files are stored into the device’s 4GB internal storage but can be easily transferred to the smartphone storage with a quick handshake or sync.

There are 3 contact pins at the bottom side for charging on the cradle. The watch has an IP55 rating for dust and water resistance but this does not cover submersion into water for any given length of time.

The watch will only be initially compatible with the Galaxy Note 3 and then the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. With a firmware update, it will later on be compatible with the Galaxy S4 and the Galaxy Note 2 as well.

The Galaxy Gear will be available in 6 color variants — Jet Black, Mocha Gray, Wild Orange, Oatmeal Beige, Rose Gold, and Lime Green. Samsung will sell the Galaxy Gear for $299 and should be out by September 25.

The Galaxy Gear is a pretty decent start for a smartwatch considering this is just the first iteration for Samsung. There’s some hits and misses with this model — like higher battery life or better water resistance, but over-all we think it’s a good start that could help push innovation in this front.

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