Category: reviews

Starmobile Bright Review

Louie Diangson Leave a comment

Starmobile is getting a lot of attention lately because of their affordable feature phones with dual-SIM capabilities. One of them is the Starmobile Bright. Read our full review after the break.

Starmobile Bright

Design and Build

It’s starting to make sense that Starmobile gets its inspiration from other manufacturers in the design department. If the Starmobile Astra we reviewed a few weeks ago resembles the HTC Sensation, this time the Bright looks similar to the Nokia Lumia 610 with rounded corners and the bottom having a tapered edge.

Bright_ps

On the front is the Bright’s 3.5-inch capacitive display, an earpiece and a front-facing camera. Down below is the microphone and four soft buttons (Home, Options, Return, Search) which are used to navigate the Android Gingerbread UI. Right on top are the headset jack and Power/Lock button. Nothing to be found on the left side but on the right is the volume rocker. At the back are the 3 megapixel camera and speaker grill while at the bottom is the microUSB port.

Speaking of the microUSB port, we found something odd about this part of the phone. The port is set too deep inside the device that an ordinary microUSB cable won’t be able to reach it. As a solution, the Bright comes with a special microUSB cable that has a longer tip. This is somewhat of a disadvantage as you can’t simply replace it with an ordinary microUSB cable in case it gets broken or lost.

Ordinary microUSB (left) Starmobile Bright microUSB (right)

Ordinary microUSB (left) Starmobile Bright microUSB (right)

The Starmobile Bright is solidly built and doesn’t look and feel cheap. It is made of plastic but of three different textures. The bezel is of black glossy plastic, the surrounding sides of the phone has a gun-metal look, while the rest of the body is of matte finish. To sum it up, it’s a simple looking device yet feels good in the hands.

Display

The Bright has a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 320 x 480. Pixels are evident, the screen throws a lot of glare and there’s no IPS so viewing angles are limited.

Bright_display

However, even with a low resolution the display is very decent. Colors are good and icons and texts retain a good amount of detail. If your planning to watch movies or videos the display won’t give you much satisfaction but it will suffice when browsing stuff in the internet.

OS, Apps and UI

The Starmobile Bright runs Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread out of the box. Starmobile didn’t touch the UI so you get a stock Android experience. You still get five different home screens and 4 x 4 grid of apps.

Bright_UI

For the apps, the Bright doesn’t have bloatware but come pre-installed with useful apps such as Viber, WhatsApp, Instagram, Skype, ES Task Manager and File Explorer. There are also web shortcuts to Inquirer, Job Market and Starmobile’s website. For anything else, the Play Store is available but since you’re running Android Gingerbread expect some apps to be incompatible like the Chrome browser.

I also would like to mention that the Bright only has 185MB allotted for apps. So you’ll frequently encounter a “not enough memory” error if you download a lot of apps. The best solution is to move some of the apps installed in phone memory to microSD.

Multimedia and Camera

The Bright is equipped with a 3 megapixel camera with no flash. Photos taken are of below average quality with images appearing out of focus and washed out but still useful when uploading to SNS like Facebook and Instagram. Other camera features include, geo-tagging, up to five continuous shots (1 shot per 3 secs), and 4x digital zoom. As for the front-facing camera, it has VGA resolution with a tiny sensor so expect low quality and very grainy portrait shots.

Bright_sample photo

As for video recording, you can record videos up to a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 or VGA quality. It doesn’t pack much features but you get to use six filter effects to go along with your creativity. It’s funny that video recording has this feature and not the image capture.

Bright_movie

Multimedia playback on the Bright is not a problem. Movies of high-quality are very watchable but you will have to deal with the small display and poor viewing angles. As the case for most Android phones, not all video formats are playable so I still suggest downloading a third-party player. As for sound quality, the Bright has a large speaker so sounds are very audible and clear. Still I would recommend connecting it to an external speaker or use headphones.

Performance and Battery life

The Bright is equipped with a 1GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM and an Adreno 200 GPU. The UI is quick and transitions are fast and fluid. As for games, swipes register accurately so Temple Run and Angry Birds are very playable. There are occasional lags but doesn’t hinder gameplay. For benchmark scores, Antutu gave the Bright a score of 3809 while Quadrant Standard gave it a score of 1314, landing at the bottom of both charts. As for GPU prowess, Nenamark gauged its Adreno 200 GPU a 14.1 fps.

NenaMark2_2012-12-11_1831

For the battery life, we used WiFi and SMS heavily on the Bright with an average usage of 20 mins per hour on Facebook and 10 to 15 sent text messages per hour. With that kind of usage the Bright’s 1500mAh battery lasted 14 hours. Moderate use should give you a little over a day.

Bright_battery

Conclusion

To conclude, the Starmobile Bright performed as expected of an entry-level dual-SIM smartphone. It’s an Android handset that can run basic tasks like internet surfing, texting, calling, and some games without any issues. The only drawbacks are the microUSB port, the camera quality, low app storage memory and battery life. Other than that, everything works fine.

Bright_rear

The Bright has an SRP of Php4,990 which is really affordable for a capable dual-SIM Android handset. However, I still think that it will have a hard time dominating other handsets of the same caliber offered by the likes of Lenovo, Cherry Mobile, and O+.

Starmobile Bright specs:
3.5″ capacitive touch screen (320 x 480)
1GHz processor
Adreno 200 GPU
512MB RAM
4GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD (4GB microSD card included)
3 megapixel camera
VGA front camera
HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
WiFi
Bluetooth
GPS
1500mAh battery
116 x 60 x 12 mm
Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread

What we liked about it:
*Good build
*Decent display quality
*Free 4GB microSD card

What we didn’t like about it:
*microUSB port was set too deep
*Below average battery life
*Small phone storage for apps.

The post Starmobile Bright Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

48 Hours with Windows 8

Bob Freking Leave a comment

Microsoft’s new OS has been out for quite a while and ever since, people had been giving out mixed reactions. Today, we’ve decided to give you not a list of new features but instead, our experiences with Windows 8.

Touching vs. Clicking

First thing you’ll notice is the new Start screen. Love it or hate it, it’s there and it won’t go away. Some might argue that the Desktop is still accessible, but honestly, you’re going to end up using the Start screen more as the Desktop lost several functions.

With the taskbar barely available within the UI, you’ll immediately start thinking about how to work certain things – like shutting down, accessing applications, seeing options and multitasking.

The Charm Bar is found on the right side, while options usually come out on the top and bottom, while multitasking emerges in different ways.

It’s true that Windows 8 is designed for the touch, but to be honest, if we didn’t view any tutorials on how to use the new OS, we would be so lost in the touch interface. That’s where the traditional cursor and keyboard comes in.

We had an easier time learning Windows 8 with the help of a trackpad/mouse. Just by dragging the mouse to the four corners of the screen, we were able to find clues on how to work the system.

Sometimes, you wouldn’t even figure out that certain elements had certain options; you’d just find out through a right-click.

Windows 8 is full of gestures. You’re going to need as much as 2 days to master almost all the touch gestures. Some of these gestures work well with its cursor counterpart, but some just turns out to be inconvenient.

For example, once you are within the new UI, you’re going to have to drag the whole application from the top to bottom just to close it.

All these touch gestures have their counterparts, some might even have keyboard shortcuts – but surely it would take time for you to learn it all.

Fashion vs. Functionality

The operating system’s new UI looks beautiful, there’s no denying that. It’s elegant. It’s clean. It’s definitely a challenger to the Mac’s design.

However, that comes at a price. There are tons of wasted space to give way for Microsoft’s fashion statement.

The new tiles take too much space, especially if you’re using the keyboard and mouse. You’d be hovering through large buttons all the time. Ideal for touch, but not the other way around.

Also, there’s the multitasking feature. Windows wouldn’t be Windows without it. It looks clean but gone is the option to have more than two windows open.

The availability to switch apps easily is also quite a hassle. It’s there, but you need certain gestures to make it appear.

Microsoft’s Store isn’t well filled either. You’ll barely find apps that will take advantage of the new interface. It looks like some of you would be sticking to opening the desktop frequently.

Verdict

That’s it. There is so much to cover, but I’d wanted to give only a quick glimpse as I have never really went deep into Windows 8 before.

Windows 8 isn’t crappy. It isn’t that great either. It’s something like an hybrid; two strong ideas that can hardly work together.

I had this experience with the Samsung Series 5 Ultra, so I had the chance to witness the touchscreen and the trackpad’s role in Windows 8.

Microsoft did a good job with pushing manufacturers to produce hybrid computers; the problem is that they can’t push it to the consumers at lower prices.

We would not appreciate Windows 8 without the touchscreen, and we wouldn’t learn it as easily without the trackpad/mouse and the keyboard.

Truly, we have mixed emotions about Windows 8. Maybe it needs more time to mature. Have you tried Windows 8? What do you think? Hit or miss?





****** A word from the fine folks of Sun Cellular ******

Sun Cellular launches BlackBerry Prepaid!

Get the Sun BlackBerry All Day 50 for all-day unlimited mobile internet, unlimited social networking, unlimited instant messaging, unlimited BlackBerry browsing and unlimited BBM for only Php50.

Follow @suncelltweets for more info.

The post 48 Hours with Windows 8 appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Xtreamer Prodigy Review

Bob Freking Leave a comment

Even when several people are planning to get a Smart TV, some still want their traditional TV; just by adding a Smart TV box, they can already indulge on some features that Smart TVs offer. Now, we get a chance to take a look at the Xtreamer Prodigy. Check out our full review after the break.

Design and Construction

Due to the use of plastic and brushed metal materials, the streamer itself feels like it’s somewhere in between heavy and light. It’s manageable as it can be easily carried, but you won’t be comfortable doing that for long periods of time.

The brushed metal material covers the top and the sides with a very clean and premium look, while the rest is made out of black plastic. It looks classy to look at, but hold it for long periods of time, you might get the impression that it’s made out of cheap materials.

On the front you’ll see the power button, the volume controls, an SD/MMC card reader, the IR and a tray for an HDD drive.

On the back you’ll find a ton of connectivity options. You’ll find 2 USB 2.0 ports, a USB 3.0 slave, A/V output ports, an HDMI & Giga LAN port, Optical/Coaxial ports and the power switch.

The Remote

The streamer’s remote was very light and easy to hold on to. However, it was quite long. Reaching from top to bottom was quite a hassle, but other than that, there were no problems at all.

There was quite a learning curve on how to use some features through the buttons on the remote. We didn’t end up using every button, but it was okay to have the rest as extra.

Buttons felt tactile and there were low cases of accidental presses. In fact, the remote is quite good – there was just one big major problem though — there was no keyboard.

It was a major problem to have no keyboard. It would take so much time to type things on the internet; you had to navigate through the letters on the screen using only up, down, left, right and delete.

OS, Apps and UI

The streamer runs on a much customized Linux platform, including Android 2.2.

We have to admit, we had quite some trouble learning on how things work from the homescreen. There was a lot of programs installed, and some even didn’t seem to have any use. For example, they had a YouTube app which wouldn’t work (we weren’t sure if we did something wrong) and there was another YouTube app called ‘YouTube XL’, which worked and was good in experience.

Bloatware didn’t end there, it was also found on the Android OS that it came with. Android felt like it wasn’t needed – except for the app support of course, but other than that, it just stood up there in one corner, doing nothing.

It even had the game “Fruit Slice” pre-installed, and we had no idea how to make use of it — there was no touchscreen! Truly, the experience didn’t make as much sense as we’d expect it to be.

There is an option however to add a USB mouse and keyboard, but of course, that takes away the whole point of it being a TV. Instead it becomes an under-powered PC.

Performance and Multimedia

Inputs through the remote registered easily as the light on the TV box would indicate it, but the experience was slow. It took almost a second for a single press to move the indicators on the UI.

Loading apps and navigating through the homescreen was somewhat slow as well.

If you’re going to use internet based applications, you might get inconsistent results. Sometimes, it was slow in rendering videos but there were moments when everything played back smoothly.

Loading and rendering times were usually the slowest, but once you’re up and running, you might not be able to encounter any problems at all as video was clear and sound was rich. Additional to that, it supports tons of codecs.

Conclusion

People get a Smart TV because they want to sit back and relax while accessing content from the internet and from other sources. The idea presented by the Xtreamer Prodigy is firm, but it won’t seem to be a relaxing experience once you’re using it.

Waiting for inputs to register & navigating through the UI is already a hassle and the lack of a physical keyboard proves to be quite inconvenient. Sure, you can add some accessories through the USB ports, but it won’t still be convenient – might as well get a real computer.

It’s a decent product, but it isn’t quite there where we want it to be yet.

Xtreamer Prodigy specs:
750 MHz Realtek 1186 Chipset
512 MB RAM
USB 3.0
Internal hard disk drive (3.5” SATA up to 3TB), SD Card support
Wi-Fi
Android 2.2 & Linux
Video Codecs: MPEG-1 / MPEG-2 / MPEG-4 SP/ASP/AVC (H.264 | x264) / XviD / DivX / WMV9 (VC-1) / RealVideo 8/9/10 (up to 720P)
238 x 207 x 64 mm
2.5 Kg

What we liked about it:

  • Multimedia playback
  • Premium look
  • Lots of connectivity options

What we didn’t like about it:

  • Inconvenient navigation
  • Slow UI
  • Tons of bloatware





****** A word from the fine folks of Sun Cellular ******

Sun Cellular launches BlackBerry Prepaid!

Get the Sun BlackBerry All Day 50 for all-day unlimited mobile internet, unlimited social networking, unlimited instant messaging, unlimited BlackBerry browsing and unlimited BBM for only Php50.

Follow @suncelltweets for more info.

The post Xtreamer Prodigy Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

iPod Touch 5th Gen Review

Louie Diangson Leave a comment

One of the devices Apple unveiled a couple of months ago was the 5th generation iPod Touch. It is better-looking and more powerful than its predecessor. Some say it’s the iPhone without the phone. Let’s discover the truthfulness in that by reading our review after the break.

Design and Build

The iPod Touch 5th Gen is hands-down, a sleek looking piece. Its body is made of anodized aluminum which is the same material used for the iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini. The front is mounted with glass that coveres the 4-inch display and the 1.2 megapixel FaceTime HD camera while down below is the famous home button. On the left side are the volume buttons while the right side is devoid of any buttons. Right on top is the lock button while at the bottom are the headset jack, Lightning port and speaker. Flip it on its back and you’ll find the 5 megapixel camera with flash and a microphone in between, a provision for a wrist strap and a black patch that covers iPod Touch’s WiFi and Bluetooth radio.

Apple’s designers and engineers were really thoughtful in making the iPod Touch 5th Gen. Compared to the iPod Touch 4th Gen, the entire body was remodeled to make it more friendly to the hands. Gone were the tapered sides found on the iPT4 and decided to go for a more rounded design to make it easier for a user to press the volume and lock buttons. The edge surrounding the bezel is chamfered with glossy glass-like finish. This makes the iPT5 easier to grip and more aesthetically pleasing.

It is also lighter and thinner than the iPT4 and thanks to the larger display it is also taller. The added height is more of an advantage since your hands will receive more surface area so you can hold it better. But because it is so light and thin you’ll still get a feeling that it’ll slip from your hands if you’re not careful. Apple designers probably have felt the same way and decided to include a provision for a wrist strap to prevent accidental slips. True enough, the wrist strap saved the iPT5 from falling a lot of times in my two weeks of use. As for the wrist strap itself, it’s made of synthetic leather and is quite durable. I did quick pulls and minor stretching on the strap and it didn’t show any quick sign of wear and tear.

As for the anodized aluminum body, it made the device tougher and more resistant to light scratches compared to previous iPT models. I tried scratching it with my fingernail and it didn’t leave a mark. However it’ll surely won’t resist scratches from other hard materials like keys and other sharp objects. And no, I didn’t and would never try doing a scratch test on this device (you can check YouTube for those) and I highly suggest buying a protective case as a precaution. Although resistant to light scratches it is still prone to smudges and fingerprints. I have sweaty hands so I find myself wiping it every now and then. Another irk is the surrounding edge on the black patch where the wireless radios are. Somehow it collects tiny bits of grime and dirt. It’s not that noticeable but once you see it it certainly looks dirty. But overall, the 5th generation iPod Touch has an outstanding design and high-quality build.

Display

The iPT5 has a 4-inch “Retina” IPS display with a resolution of 1136 x 640 which calculates to 326 ppi. It has the same LCD panel as the iPhone 5 so icons look like they’re floating on top of the glass and it is clearer and more vibrant too. In fact, the display on the iPT5 is even better compared to the one on the iPhone 4S. The display also has an aspect ratio of 16:9 so movies and games look great on it. Viewing angles are excellent with good sunlight legibility. However, you might want to crank up your brightness in Settings as this device doesn’t have an ambient light sensor, meaning there’s no Auto-Brightness feature. Why? According to Apple’s VP for worldwide marketing, Philip Schiller, the iPT5 is so thin that a light sensor just won’t fit. The interior is so cramped that Apple engineers just have to let it go.

OS, UI and Apps

The iPT5 has iOS 6 running out of the box. I had the 6.0.1 update installed right away to remove some of the bugs. Everything else is pretty much standard except for the taller UI. You can now browse more content online and view media in a much larger perspective. You also get the 4 x 5 app grid instead of the usual 4 x 4. To speed you up on things you can read our overview on iOS 6 here.

Apps are not an issue anymore as developers are quick to optimize their apps for iPhone 5 and the iPT5′s taller display. In fact, I don’t see any letter-boxing in any of the apps I have installed.

Camera and Multimedia

This is one of the areas where the iPod Touch receive a sizable upgrade. From a 0.7 megapixel on the iPod Touch 4th gen, it now has a 5 megapixel iSight camera with flash and an aperture of f/2.4 with auto-focus. It also has backside illumination, touch-focus, and can shoot HDR and Panorama. Shots taken indoors with abundant lighting produce clear images with good amount of detail. Shots taken outdoors are also clear but somehow appear washed-out. In low-light, the flash works best when the subject is three to four feet away. Any further than that and image noise will be evident.

As for the front facing camera, at 1.2 megapixel it is obviously better than the one found on the iPT4. It’s good for FaceTime HD and Skype video calls and some decent self-portrait shots.

Take a look at the sample pics taken by the rear camera below:

The iPT5 can also record videos at 1080p resolution at 30 fps with video stabilization. Watch the sample video below and don’t forget to switch it to 1080p.

Like what was mentioned earlier, playing videos and games on the iPT5 is a treat thanks to a larger and high resolution display. Sounds coming from the speaker are audible but a bit weak to my preference. Placing it on a flat solid surface amplifies the sound a bit but I still recommend using a good pair of headphones or external speakers.

Performance and Battery life

The iPT5 is powered a dual-core ARM Cortex A9-based Apple A5 processor clocked at 800 MHz, the same processor found in the iPhone 4S. It has 512 MB of RAM and a PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU. Gaming performance is way better than the previous iPod Touch and in my opinion is up to par with the iPhone 4S.

It is also equipped with a 1,030 mAh battery which Apple claims 40 hours of music playback and 8 hours of video. In my use which is constant WiFi connectivity, social media, web browsing and a few hours playing music, the iPod Touch lasted almost a full day. The only time the battery suffers is when I play games and movies. With that usage the battery only lasted for 4 hours.

As for connectivity, the iPT5 doesn’t have an on-board GPS so that’s a bit of a downer but good for battery life. However, you get a dual-band WiFi radio and Bluetooth 4.0.

Conclusion

Calling previous iPod Touches as iPhones without the phone part is an exaggeration. The iPT5 is more worthy of that statement thanks to its high-quality build, excellent design, amazing display and a very capable camera. With that said it’s easy to sum up its capabilities – the 5th generation iPod Touch is the REAL iPhone without the phone functionality. If you want to take advantage of iOS and the App Store but not ready for a full iPhone experience, I definitely recommend getting this.

iPod Touch 5th Gen specs:
4″ IPS widescreen display (1136 x 640) @ 326 ppi
dual-core Apple A5 processor (800 MHz)
512MB RAM
PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU
5 megapixel camera with flash
1.2 megapixel front-facing
WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n (802.11n 2.4GHz and 5GHz)
Bluetooth 4.0
1,030 mAh battery
32/64 GB internal storage
123.4 × 58.6 × 6.1 mm
88 grams
iOS 6

What we liked about it:
• High quality build
• Excellent design
• Larger, high-res display
• Good camera
• Thin and light
• Available in different colors (black, silver, blue, yellow, pink, red)

What we didn’t like about it:
• So-so battery life
• No ambient light sensor
• Smudge and fingerprint magnet





****** A word from the fine folks of Sun Cellular ******

Sun Cellular launches BlackBerry Prepaid!

Get the Sun BlackBerry All Day 50 for all-day unlimited mobile internet, unlimited social networking, unlimited instant messaging, unlimited BlackBerry browsing and unlimited BBM for only Php50.

Follow @suncelltweets for more info.

The post iPod Touch 5th Gen Review appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.


iPod Touch 5th Gen Review

Louie Diangson Leave a comment

One of the devices Apple unveiled a couple of months ago was the 5th generation iPod Touch. It is better-looking and more powerful than its predecessor. Some say it’s the iPhone without the phone. Let’s discover the truthfulness in that by reading our review after the break.

Design and Build

The iPod Touch 5th Gen is hands-down, a sleek looking piece. Its body is made of anodized aluminum which is the same material used for the iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini. The front is mounted with glass that coveres the 4-inch display and the 1.2 megapixel FaceTime HD camera while down below is the famous home button. On the left side are the volume buttons while the right side is devoid of any buttons. Right on top is the lock button while at the bottom are the headset jack, Lightning port and speaker. Flip it on its back and you’ll find the 5 megapixel camera with flash and a microphone in between, a provision for a wrist strap and a black patch that covers iPod Touch’s WiFi and Bluetooth radio.

Apple’s designers and engineers were really thoughtful in making the iPod Touch 5th Gen. Compared to the iPod Touch 4th Gen, the entire body was remodeled to make it more friendly to the hands. Gone were the tapered sides found on the iPT4 and decided to go for a more rounded design to make it easier for a user to press the volume and lock buttons. The edge surrounding the bezel is chamfered with glossy glass-like finish. This makes the iPT5 easier to grip and more aesthetically pleasing.

It is also lighter and thinner than the iPT4 and thanks to the larger display it is also taller. The added height is more of an advantage since your hands will receive more surface area so you can hold it better. But because it is so light and thin you’ll still get a feeling that it’ll slip from your hands if you’re not careful. Apple designers probably have felt the same way and decided to include a provision for a wrist strap to prevent accidental slips. True enough, the wrist strap saved the iPT5 from falling a lot of times in my two weeks of use. As for the wrist strap itself, it’s made of synthetic leather and is quite durable. I did quick pulls and minor stretching on the strap and it didn’t show any quick sign of wear and tear.

As for the anodized aluminum body, it made the device tougher and more resistant to light scratches compared to previous iPT models. I tried scratching it with my fingernail and it didn’t leave a mark. However it’ll surely won’t resist scratches from other hard materials like keys and other sharp objects. And no, I didn’t and would never try doing a scratch test on this device (you can check YouTube for those) and I highly suggest buying a protective case as a precaution. Although resistant to light scratches it is still prone to smudges and fingerprints. I have sweaty hands so I find myself wiping it every now and then. Another irk is the surrounding edge on the black patch where the wireless radios are. Somehow it collects tiny bits of grime and dirt. It’s not that noticeable but once you see it it certainly looks dirty. But overall, the 5th generation iPod Touch has an outstanding design and high-quality build.

Display

The iPT5 has a 4-inch “Retina” IPS display with a resolution of 1136 x 640 which calculates to 326 ppi. It has the same LCD panel as the iPhone 5 so icons look like they’re floating on top of the glass and it is clearer and more vibrant too. In fact, the display on the iPT5 is even better compared to the one on the iPhone 4S. The display also has an aspect ratio of 16:9 so movies and games look great on it. Viewing angles are excellent with good sunlight legibility. However, you might want to crank up your brightness in Settings as this device doesn’t have an ambient light sensor, meaning there’s no Auto-Brightness feature. Why? According to Apple’s VP for worldwide marketing, Philip Schiller, the iPT5 is so thin that a light sensor just won’t fit. The interior is so cramped that Apple engineers just have to let it go.

OS, UI and Apps

The iPT5 has iOS 6 running out of the box. I had the 6.0.1 update installed right away to remove some of the bugs. Everything else is pretty much standard except for the taller UI. You can now browse more content online and view media in a much larger perspective. You also get the 4 x 5 app grid instead of the usual 4 x 4. To speed you up on things you can read our overview on iOS 6 here.

Apps are not an issue anymore as developers are quick to optimize their apps for iPhone 5 and the iPT5′s taller display. In fact, I don’t see any letter-boxing in any of the apps I have installed.

Camera and Multimedia

This is one of the areas where the iPod Touch receive a sizable upgrade. From a 0.7 megapixel on the iPod Touch 4th gen, it now has a 5 megapixel iSight camera with flash and an aperture of f/2.4 with auto-focus. It also has backside illumination, touch-focus, and can shoot HDR and Panorama. Shots taken indoors with abundant lighting produce clear images with good amount of detail. Shots taken outdoors are also clear but somehow appear washed-out. In low-light, the flash works best when the subject is three to four feet away. Any further than that and image noise will be evident.

As for the front facing camera, at 1.2 megapixel it is obviously better than the one found on the iPT4. It’s good for FaceTime HD and Skype video calls and some decent self-portrait shots.

Take a look at the sample pics taken by the rear camera below:

The iPT5 can also record videos at 1080p resolution at 30 fps with video stabilization. Watch the sample video below and don’t forget to switch it to 1080p.

Like what was mentioned earlier, playing videos and games on the iPT5 is a treat thanks to a larger and high resolution display. Sounds coming from the speaker are audible but a bit weak to my preference. Placing it on a flat solid surface amplifies the sound a bit but I still recommend using a good pair of headphones or external speakers.

Performance and Battery life

The iPT5 is powered a dual-core ARM Cortex A9-based Apple A5 processor clocked at 800 MHz, the same processor found in the iPhone 4S. It has 512 MB of RAM and a PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU. Gaming performance is way better than the previous iPod Touch and in my opinion is up to par with the iPhone 4S.

It is also equipped with a 1,030 mAh battery which Apple claims 40 hours of music playback and 8 hours of video. In my use which is constant WiFi connectivity, social media, web browsing and a few hours playing music, the iPod Touch lasted almost a full day. The only time the battery suffers is when I play games and movies. With that usage the battery only lasted for 4 hours.

As for connectivity, the iPT5 doesn’t have an on-board GPS so that’s a bit of a downer but good for battery life. However, you get a dual-band WiFi radio and Bluetooth 4.0.

Conclusion

Calling previous iPod Touches as iPhones without the phone part is an exaggeration. The iPT5 is more worthy of that statement thanks to its high-quality build, excellent design, amazing display and a very capable camera. With that said it’s easy to sum up its capabilities – the 5th generation iPod Touch is the REAL iPhone without the phone functionality. If you want to take advantage of iOS and the App Store but not ready for a full iPhone experience, I definitely recommend getting this.

iPod Touch 5th Gen specs:
4″ IPS widescreen display (1136 x 640) @ 326 ppi
dual-core Apple A5 processor (800 MHz)
512MB RAM
PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU
5 megapixel camera with flash
1.2 megapixel front-facing
WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n (802.11n 2.4GHz and 5GHz)
Bluetooth 4.0
1,030 mAh battery
32/64 GB internal storage
123.4 × 58.6 × 6.1 mm
88 grams
iOS 6

What we liked about it:
• High quality build
• Excellent design
• Larger, high-res display
• Good camera
• Thin and light
• Available in different colors (black, silver, blue, yellow, pink, red)

What we didn’t like about it:
• So-so battery life
• No ambient light sensor
• Smudge and fingerprint magnet





****** A word from the fine folks of Sun Cellular ******

Sun Cellular launches BlackBerry Prepaid!

Get the Sun BlackBerry All Day 50 for all-day unlimited mobile internet, unlimited social networking, unlimited instant messaging, unlimited BlackBerry browsing and unlimited BBM for only Php50.

Follow @suncelltweets for more info.

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