ABS-CBN will start High Definition broadcast

ABS-CBN announced through their Facebook page that the TV network is going high definition.

ABS-CBN_HD

SKY and Destiny Cable subscribers can now enjoy ABS-CBN shows in HD starting this Saturday, October 3. That is channel 167 for Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, and San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan or channel 700 for Cebu, Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo, and Baguio.

Only subscribers with an HD plan, e.g. SKYCable Dual Def, can have access to the said channel.

The post ABS-CBN will start High Definition broadcast appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines News & Tech Reviews.

Torque Droidz Slate HD Quick Review

Local smartphone brand, Torque, offers a good-looking 5.5-inch smartphone with a slim profile, MediaTek octa-core CPU, and sub-Php6K price tag, but are these enough to lure consumers especially now that we have a lot of options within this price range? Read our quick review of the Droidz Slate HD to find out.

Design and Construction

When it comes to its physical attributes, we would give a thumbs up to the sleek physical design of the phablet and its good plastic build. The whole front is dominated by the 5.5″ IPS LCD with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels. Thanks to the IPS panel, viewing angles of the device are wide though colors are not as vibrant as we like it to be but it has good clarity thanks to its acceptable pixel density of 267ppi. Brightness levels are average with sub-par sunlight legibility. We noticed that the display turns bluish when completely dimmed and the ambient light sensor feels like it’s having a hard time adjusting.

Below is a unique home capacitive button together with the usual back and menu keys. The back panel has a matte plastic cover that is removable to give access to the battery, microSD and dual SIM card slots.

On the right side of the device is the power/lock button and on the left is the volume rocker. The top side features the micro-USB port for charging and data connectivity and the 3.5mm headphone jack. While the microphone sits alone at the bottom edge of the device.

The sides are surrounded by a chrome frame with black lining that adds a distinct look and feel to the device. In terms of looks, the Slate HD can definitely stand out.

Camera

Equipped with a 13-megapixel rear and a 5-megapixel front cameras, the phone may appear competitive if you base it on numbers but when it comes to actual image quality it doesn’t stack up against its competitors.

Even under broad daylight, the primary 13MP shooter captures soft and uninspiring images. It generally has trouble with focus and color reproduction. We find the camera to be a slouch for quick snapshots. In case of dark scenarios, you can fire up the dual LED flash. The front camera, on the other hand, struggles with indoor lighting. You may check out the samples below for your own judgement:

Upon further checking, we found out that the front camera has an aperture of f/2.8 only, which explains the lack of light. Both cameras can also record videos with the same quality as those of the still images up to 1080p full HD.

Performance and Benchmarks

The device runs Android 4.4.2 “KitKat” with no indicated future with 5.0 “Lollipop.” Overall, it runs smoothly with little to no lag during everyday use. The 1GB of RAM can handle simultaneous apps well as long as you keep things light and steady.

Torque’s skin on top is very similar to stock Android but with white backgrounds and imported icons from other themes. We personally dislike the pale icons, good thing 3rd party launchers and icon packs are available for download through the Play Store.

Benchmarks of the device reveals the following scores:

    Antutu 5 – 18,240
    Quadrant Standard – 6,974
    Nenamark 2 – 51.6 fps
    Vellamo – 1262 (Multicore), 678 (Metal)

Call Quality

It’s worth noting that the earpiece of the device is soft and tinny. We were surprised to hear such bad output from the it since most modern smartphones today already has quality phone calls, making the Slate HD not suitable for everyday cellular talking. And also, the loudspeaker doesn’t do justice to media playback.

Battery

Despite its large display, only a 2,200mAh removable Li-ion battery powers the device. Its juice lasted for only 3 hours and 19 minutes during our routine battery test which involves playing a 1080p file in loop using its native video player as MX Player has an issue with the device causing it to crash.

Conclusion

The Torque Droidz Slate HD is priced at Php5,499 and offers good looks with some compromise. This phablet is okay for light gaming and multimedia consumption thanks to its large display. However, it has a terrible earpiece for calls, mediocre camera, weak loudspeaker, and poor battery life. For its asking price, one might just consider shelling out an extra Php1K and get a better performing device instead.

Torque Droidz Slate HD specification:
5.5-inch IPS LCD @ 1280×720 pixels, 267ppi
MediaTek MT6582 1.3GHz quad-core processor
Mali-400 MP GPU
13-megapixel primary camera
5-megapixel front-facing camera
1GB RAM
8GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD card
3G/HSPA
Dual SIM / Dual Standby
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
GPS with aGPS
Li-Ion 2,200mAh battery
Android KitKat 4.4.2

What we liked about it:

  • Decent to good looks
  • Responsive large display
  • Tap-to-wake function

What we didn’t:

  • Terrible earpiece
  • Quiet loudspeaker
  • Mediocre cameras
  • Small battery capacity

The post Torque Droidz Slate HD Quick Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Torque Droidz Slate HD Quick Review

Local smartphone brand, Torque, offers a good-looking 5.5-inch smartphone with a slim profile, MediaTek octa-core CPU, and sub-Php6K price tag, but are these enough to lure consumers especially now that we have a lot of options within this price range? Read our quick review of the Droidz Slate HD to find out.

Design and Construction

When it comes to its physical attributes, we would give a thumbs up to the sleek physical design of the phablet and its good plastic build. The whole front is dominated by the 5.5″ IPS LCD with a resolution of 1280×720 pixels. Thanks to the IPS panel, viewing angles of the device are wide though colors are not as vibrant as we like it to be but it has good clarity thanks to its acceptable pixel density of 267ppi. Brightness levels are average with sub-par sunlight legibility. We noticed that the display turns bluish when completely dimmed and the ambient light sensor feels like it’s having a hard time adjusting.

Below is a unique home capacitive button together with the usual back and menu keys. The back panel has a matte plastic cover that is removable to give access to the battery, microSD and dual SIM card slots.

On the right side of the device is the power/lock button and on the left is the volume rocker. The top side features the micro-USB port for charging and data connectivity and the 3.5mm headphone jack. While the microphone sits alone at the bottom edge of the device.

The sides are surrounded by a chrome frame with black lining that adds a distinct look and feel to the device. In terms of looks, the Slate HD can definitely stand out.

Camera

Equipped with a 13-megapixel rear and a 5-megapixel front cameras, the phone may appear competitive if you base it on numbers but when it comes to actual image quality it doesn’t stack up against its competitors.

Even under broad daylight, the primary 13MP shooter captures soft and uninspiring images. It generally has trouble with focus and color reproduction. We find the camera to be a slouch for quick snapshots. In case of dark scenarios, you can fire up the dual LED flash. The front camera, on the other hand, struggles with indoor lighting. You may check out the samples below for your own judgement:

Upon further checking, we found out that the front camera has an aperture of f/2.8 only, which explains the lack of light. Both cameras can also record videos with the same quality as those of the still images up to 1080p full HD.

Performance and Benchmarks

The device runs Android 4.4.2 “KitKat” with no indicated future with 5.0 “Lollipop.” Overall, it runs smoothly with little to no lag during everyday use. The 1GB of RAM can handle simultaneous apps well as long as you keep things light and steady.

Torque’s skin on top is very similar to stock Android but with white backgrounds and imported icons from other themes. We personally dislike the pale icons, good thing 3rd party launchers and icon packs are available for download through the Play Store.

Benchmarks of the device reveals the following scores:

    Antutu 5 – 18,240
    Quadrant Standard – 6,974
    Nenamark 2 – 51.6 fps
    Vellamo – 1262 (Multicore), 678 (Metal)

Call Quality

It’s worth noting that the earpiece of the device is soft and tinny. We were surprised to hear such bad output from the it since most modern smartphones today already has quality phone calls, making the Slate HD not suitable for everyday cellular talking. And also, the loudspeaker doesn’t do justice to media playback.

Battery

Despite its large display, only a 2,200mAh removable Li-ion battery powers the device. Its juice lasted for only 3 hours and 19 minutes during our routine battery test which involves playing a 1080p file in loop using its native video player as MX Player has an issue with the device causing it to crash.

Conclusion

The Torque Droidz Slate HD is priced at Php5,499 and offers good looks with some compromise. This phablet is okay for light gaming and multimedia consumption thanks to its large display. However, it has a terrible earpiece for calls, mediocre camera, weak loudspeaker, and poor battery life. For its asking price, one might just consider shelling out an extra Php1K and get a better performing device instead.

Torque Droidz Slate HD specification:
5.5-inch IPS LCD @ 1280×720 pixels, 267ppi
MediaTek MT6582 1.3GHz quad-core processor
Mali-400 MP GPU
13-megapixel primary camera
5-megapixel front-facing camera
1GB RAM
8GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD card
3G/HSPA
Dual SIM / Dual Standby
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
GPS with aGPS
Li-Ion 2,200mAh battery
Android KitKat 4.4.2

What we liked about it:

  • Decent to good looks
  • Responsive large display
  • Tap-to-wake function

What we didn’t:

  • Terrible earpiece
  • Quiet loudspeaker
  • Mediocre cameras
  • Small battery capacity

The post Torque Droidz Slate HD Quick Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Cevo 4K by Toshiba is latest in TV technology

Toshiba is one of the oldest, if not the oldest TV brand we know.That is why I was glad to be apprised by them of the latest in TV technology in a launch recently. As a Pinoy, am one with the rest in believing that the bigger the screen and the brighter the picture, it’s okay already. The experts would advise buyers to be more concerned with the nitty gritty. They actually think the picture quality of the TV is a better gauge than the brightness component.

“Televisions are being made to create a wow feeling, the bigger the screen, the more excitement,” said Yuuji Motomura, brand manager for Toshiba Japan’s TV Division. “The problem though is that with bigger screens, even images shot in full HD can look pixelized. It is not enough that the TV screen is big – it also has to be equipped with the technology that maintains the high picture quality to enhance the viewing experience.”

Yuji Motomura, TV Brand Manager

For its new generation of TVs, Toshiba has launched Cevo 4K, its core technology for television which upgrades TV image quality, restores precision, and enables superior picture for contents like Blu-ray, HD TV and 4K video. It is an enhancement of the 4K video format first introduced by Toshiba in 2011. The big deal about 4K is its resolution that’s four times the pixels of full HD. To the regular viewer, this means onscreen images appear closest to the way they look in real life!

Abe Olandres & Paul Soriano

No less than noted commercial director Paul Soriano and top tech blogger Abe “Yuga” Olandres are saying positive words about Toshiba’s latest innovation.

Said Paul: “It isn’t easy to show true images on a television screen that best match real life color and consistency. Toshiba’s CEVO 4K technology is topnotch in terms of precision. The sense of detail and sharpness is excellent and the way it captures natural light and skin tones. If you’re the type who likes to watch videos in Blu Ray and TV programs that are broadcast in HD, it’s definitely something you’d want your TV to be equipped with. It will be a waste not to enjoy the full benefits of HD broadcast if your TV set is not at its optimum.”

On the other hand, Yuga who owns a Toshiba TV himself, said: “I can see how the CEVO 4K models will appeal to a set of consumers who expect a lot from their TV sets and enjoy the reality feel when watching. Those who have a strong appreciation of video technology will definitely want to get a hold of this.”

According to Toshiba people, most content currently available for the general public, such as commercial TV broadcast by global media outfits and movies distributed internationally, are shot in full HD, and 4K has begun to catch on.

In the Philippines, local TV networks still broadcast in standard definition but are expected to go into full HD in the next couple of years. These developments signal a shift, if not a mass migration, to more advanced TV models that will give justice to the hi-tech formats that they are produced in.

For more information, log on to www.toshiba.ph