YugaTech Christmas Gadget Guide 2014: Smartwatches

You’ve seen our Christmas Gadget Guide for smartphones and tablets. This time we’re gonna walk you through our Gadget Guide for Smartwatches. After all, 2014 is the year for these high-tech wearables. So if you’re on a lookout for something to put on your wrist that does more than just tell you the time then read our guide below.

For this guide, we will divide the list into three different segments – officially available in the country, available through online stores (unofficial), and the yet to arrive.

Officially Available

Misfit Shine

The Misfit Shine launched last August via Power Mac. This smartwatch functions as an activity monitor and sleep monitor, is waterproof up to 50 meters, and has a battery that can last up to 6 months on one full charge. It works with iOS, Android, and Windows. SRP: Php6,850.

Garmin Vivofit Smartband

Like the Misfit Shine, the Garmin Vivofit Smartband is an activity tracker that can measure your steps, distance traveled, calories, and heart rate. But unlike the Shine, the Vivofit has a small display so you can easily check your data. SRP: Php8,450.

LG G Watch

The LG G Watch is a smartwatch powered by Google’s Android Wear. It has a 1.65-inch display and a square design. Unlike the two smartwatches mentioned earlier, the G Watch is more like an extension of your smartphone and displays information such a SMS, E-mail, and social media notifications. SRP: Php8,990.

LG G Watch R

The G Watch R is the better looking smartwatch from LG. It also features Android Wear but this one sports a circular look that resembles a traditional but classy timepiece, and is water and dust resistant as well. SRP: Php13,990

Sony SmartBand Talk (SWR30)

The Sony SmartBand Talk (SWR30) is a wearable that features a 1.4-inch black-and-white E ink display. It’s also an activity tracker which works with Sony’s Lifelog Android app. What makes the SmartBand Talk unique is that it features a microphone and loudspeaker so you can accept calls from it. SRP: Php8,990

Sony SmartWatch 3 (SWR50)

The SmartWatch 3 arrived in the country together with the SmarBand Talk. It features a 1.6-inch Transflective display, runs Android Wear, and IP68-certified. Like the SmartBand Talk, this device also tracks your activities and movements and syncs to the Lifelog app. SRP: Php11,990 If the SmartWatch 3 is not within your budget, you can also get the SmartWatch 2 for Php9,150.

Samsung Gear Fit

The Samsung Gear Fit is a fitness tracker that features a 1.84-inch Super AMOLED display. Like most smartwatches with displays, this one also shows notifications from your smartphone as well as data from your physical activity. In addition, the Gear Fit is dustproof and water-resistant. SRP: Php8,990

Samsung Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo

The Gear 2 was announce along with its brother, the Gear 2 Neo. Both feature fitness monitors (heart rate monitor, pedometer), music players, IP67 bodies, IrLED sensor to control your TV, and Tizen OS. The only difference is that the Gear 2 has a 2 megapixel camera. Gear 2 SRP: Php13,490. Gear 2 Neo SRP: Php8,990

Samsung Gear S

The Gear S has a 2-inch curved Super AMOLED display, GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, UV detector, barometer, heart rate monitor, and its own 3G modem. Meaning you can put a SIM card in it and it will connect to the Internet. Like the Gear 2 smartwatches, the Gear S also runs Tizen OS. SRP: Php15,990

Via Online Stores

Samsung Gear Live

Samsung is not just banking on its Tizen OS as it also has its Android Wear-powered smartwatch, the Gear Live. The Gear Live has a 1.63-inch Super AMOLED display, a slew of sensors including a heart rate monitor, and a dust and water resistant body. Price: Php12,415 + shipping (via Galleon)

Moto 360

The Moto 360 sports a classic timepiece look like the LG G Watch R. It is powered by Android Wear and comes with a slew of sensors to monitor your heart rate, steps and distance, calories burned, and analyze your activity. Like its Android Wear rivals, it can also pull notifications from your Android smartphone. Price: Php16,500 (via Widget City)

Pebble

The Pebble smartwatch that sports a youthful design and works with Android and iOS. It features a 1.26-inch e-paper display, Bluetooth, a water resistant body, and Pebble OS. It doesn’t boast much in terms of fancy sensors but it has its own Pebble appstore so you can download and install watchapps and watchfaces for Pebble. Price: Php6,425 + shipping (via Galleon)

Pebble Steel

Now if you don’t like the polycarbonate Pebble, there’s the Pebble Steel which, as the name suggests, made of steel (marine-grade stainless-steel, to be exact) and a more classy design. It also comes with a 1.26-inch e-paper display, Bluetooth 4.0, 50 meter water resistance, and runs Pebble OS with access to Pebble appstore. Price: Php14,238 + shipping (via Galleon)

Microsoft Band

The Microsoft Band is a simple looking wearable with a 1.4-inch TFT display. But under the hood is a bunch of fancy sensors like the optical heart rate sensor, skin temperature sensor, and UV sensor. Although promoted to work with Windows Phone 8.1 devices, the Band is also compatible with Android and iOS. Price tag in the U.S. is just $199 but not yet officially available here in the Philippines. But if you have cash to spare you can get it for Php17,178 + shipping from Galleon

Hotly Anticipated

ASUS Zenwatch

The ASUS Zenwatch made its debut at this year’s IFA. It is made from premium materials and features an exquisite design. It also sports a 2.5D curved glass, soft genuine stitched-leather strap, and quick-release clasp. It is powered by Android Wear and features a Wellness Manager to monitor steps taken, calories burned, activity duration, heart rate, exercise intensity and relaxation level. SRP: US$199.99

Apple Watch

Apple tries to reinvent the wrist watch with the Apple Watch. It features a Retina display with sapphire or strengthened Ion-X glass, Taptic Engine, Digital Crown, and its own Watch OS. The Apple Watch comes in three variants – the stainless steel Apple Watch, the anodized aluminum Apple Watch Sport, and the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition. Price starts at $349.

Razer Nabu Smartband

Razer is mostly known for producing high-end gaming computers and gears, but that didn’t stop Min-Liang Tan’s company from entering the smart wearable market with the Nabu Smartband. The Nabu sports an OLED display, can display notifications, and track activities like steps, calories burned, floors climbed, distance traveled, hours slept, and places visited. In addition, it is also social as it can communicate wirelessly with other Nabu Smartbands. Price: $99.99

Got something to add to this guide? Feel free to share by writing it down the comments field below.

The post YugaTech Christmas Gadget Guide 2014: Smartwatches appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

YugaTech Christmas Gadget Guide 2014: Tablets

Unlike in the smartphone segment, consumers have lesser options when it comes to tablets. Nevertheless, we rounded up our list of best tablets that you can reward yourself or buy for your techie significant other this holiday season.

ChristmasGuide2014-A2480

7-inchers

If you’re on a tight budget, you can easily find a decent 7-inch slate that costs around three to four grand. Apart from the ones you can see on booths of some unknown brands, Cherry Mobile also has a few tablets (Fusion Breeze 2, Fusion Aura and Superion Radar) that costs less than Php3,000.

Cherry mobile tablet

Have an extra grand or two to shell out? If you’re looking for a tablet from a reputable brand, we highly recommend these two: the Acer Iconia B1-730 and the ASUS FonePad 7 (FE170CG).

acer-iconiab1

When it comes to bang-for-the-buck tablet, I think we can all agree that the Acer B1-730 takes the cake for its ridiculously-competitive price tag (Php4,488) and pretty decent features you don’t usually see in a tablet at this price point.

Now if you want phone functionalities with your tablet and you don’t mind shelling out a little extra on it, the ASUS FonePad 7 FE170CG should be a good choice. Priced at only Php5,995, this tablet offers strong battery life, great sound output and it can also double as a dual-SIM smartphone for your voice call and SMS needs.

5

Tablets running on Windows 8 are slowly becoming more and more affordable. Sadly though, most of them have not made it to our shore. Luckily, there are a few like the HP Stream 7 which currently retails for Php7,999 that are locally available for consumers who wants full Windows experience on their tablet PC.

hp-stream-7_stream-8

Now if you’re into graphics intensive games, then the Cherry Mobile Tegra Note 7 should be a good candidate. As its name implies, this Php9,999-worth slate (non-LTE variant) is powered by a 1.8Ghz quad-core processor from NVidia with 1GB of RAM, as well as a 72-core NVidia GeForce GPU.

Cherry_Mobile_Tegra_Note_7_4

Despite of being the oldest in the group, the 2nd Gen Google Nexus 7 is still a worthy consideration if you’re looking for a sub-Php10K, 7-inch slate. If you know where to look, you can get the 16GB WiFi-only variant of this tablet for under Php10,000 which is quite a steal considering that it has full-HD display, Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU paired to a 2GB of RAM.

nexus7-2013-review-philippines

8-inchers

Folks that want to complement their existing Apple devices with iPad Mini 3 (available in some online stores). Or you can settle with the iPad Mini 2 if you want to save a few bucks.

If you’re not into the iOS platform though, here are some non-Apple options that you can choose from.

CM 8-inch Tablet

Much like in the previous category, Cherry Mobile offers budget-conscious buyers with a set of affordable 8-inch slates that ranges from Php3,699 (Fusion Storm) all the way to Php7,499 (Superion Odyssey).

Starmobile also has a couple of 8-inchers namely the Engage 8 Quad+ (Php6,990) and the Engage 8 3G (Php9,990). These are slightly more expensive than CM’s offerings, but both of them feature aluminum bodies which makes it easy to justify the price difference.

acer-iconia-tab-8_2

For those of you who don’t mind not having data connectivity on your tablet, the Acer Iconia Tab 8 should be an interesting proposition. Priced at Php10,990, this tablet sports a IPS display with WUXGA (1920×1200) resolution, quad-core Intel Atom processor with 2GB of RAM and an expandable 16GB of internal storage.

Acer also has something for the Windows lover out there. The Acer Iconia W4-820 has a “Zero Air Gap” IPS display with HD resolution, slightly the same internal configuration, but it runs on Windows 8.1 and it comes with a bundled wireless keyboard. These minor improvements do cost extra though, extra eight grand to be exact, which may be a little too hard to justify.

Samsung-Galaxy-Tab-S-8-Specsweb

On the other hand, if you don’t mind splurging a bit for your 8-inch tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 should be worthy investment. The combination of its flagship specs, and its sub-Php18K price tag (see listing here) makes it a real must-have.

But if you want a slate that can handle a good amount of water, the new, but pricey, Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact is a good choice. The IP68-certified tablet has a price tag of Php31,990.

9-inchers

Unlike last year, the Apple iPad Air isn’t the only note-worthy candidate in this year’s Christmas Guide.

Nexus-9

It’s now joined by the Google/HTC Nexus 9 which has unofficially made available locally though Kimstore.

The Apple iPad Air will set you back Php20,490 while the Nexus 9 can be had for Php18,999.

10-inchers

Consumers have fewer options to choose from in the 10-inch department, but the Cherry Mobile Alpha Morph is a little hard to beat because it combines decent specifications with super competitive price tag (Php11,999).

CherryMobileAlphaMorph2

Now if you want more storage and significantly better build, then look no further than the ASUS Transformer T100T. It costs two times more (Php23,995) than the Alpha Morph, but you get a more respectable keyboard with 500GB of storage built-in, a more pixel-packed display, and a more powerful processor.

The 10-inch variant of the recently launched Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 should also be on your shortlist, especially if you’re looking for an Android slate with a 10-inch display. It’s currently being retailed for Php19,999, but the first few buyers will get an instant Php1,800 off on its SRP when bought from any of the Lenovo Exclusive Stores nationwide.

12-inchers

Now if you really want to go big, we have a couple of impressive slates here running Android and Windows. As expected, these two don’t come cheap.

For Android lovers, we have the Samsung Galaxy Note PRO 12.2 with an introductory price of Php36,990 for the WiFi-only model.

But if you want a portable workhorse, you can get the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 which is now available at Villman for Php69,999.

There you have it guys! That’s our Christmas Gift Guide: Tablets for this year. We hope our list helped you out in picking the right tablet for you. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let us know in the comments field below.

The post YugaTech Christmas Gadget Guide 2014: Tablets appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

YugaTech Christmas Gadget Guide 2014: Smartphones

It’s that time of the year again. If you’re looking to give gadget gifts to people you know or maybe even just to reward yourself this Christmas, you’re in luck as we have you covered! Here are the smartphones you should get, from budget-oriented ones to the flagships!

ChristmasGuide2014-A480

Budget Oriented

If you’re on the tightest budget, the best & most affordable smartphones that you can get for their price are probably in the form of two Cherry Mobile devices but with varying operating systems – the CM Flare Lite running Android and the CM Alpha Style running Windows Phone 8.1 (Php2,699 & Php2,999 respectively). The first one runs Android and decent specs to begin with, but the Alpha Style takes it a step higher with a quad-core CPU and the smoothness of WP 8. If you wish for something with TV and a lower price tag of Php1,899 (and lower specs of course), there’s also MyPhone’s Rio Junior TV.

Asus-ZenFone-5

From here, you can now check out the Xiaomi Redmi 1S & the Asus ZenFone 5 – both phones being the cream of the crop at Php5,599 & Php6,495. We doubt you’ll want anything else, but if you do, you can easily just check out local manufacturer flagship phones running octa-core Mediatek CPUs and the like. For more than Php9,000, you can also check out the impressively made 2nd-Gen Motorola Moto G which is probably only available online.

Mid-Range

Just like with the higher class of budget oriented smartphones, this area is once again ruled by Xiaomi & Asus. The Xiaomi Mi 3 was the company’s flagship phone that launched in the Philippines for just Php10,599! It has a full HD display, a Snapdragon 800 CPU with 2GB RAM and a lot more to satisfy your needs. If you want a bigger 6-inch alternative, the Asus ZenFone 6 is around for Php11,995, but it doesn’t match the Mi 3’s specs.

mi3_10

If the person you’re giving a smartphone to wants to be around water a lot, you can take a look at Sony’s waterproof Xperia M2 Aqua which also has LTE radios for faster data. This ranges around Php12-15k depending on where you’ll buy it. If, on the other hand, getting a good Android experience with high-end specs is what’s important, you can still find a Google Nexus 5 which now runs Android 5.0 Lollipop. This is priced at around Php16k. Finally, if Android doesn’t suit your style, the Nokia Lumia 830 is your best bet at Php18,990.

Xiaomi’s latest flagship phone, the Mi4, is not officially available yet around the country, but some online retailers have it for around Php15-17k.

The Best Smartphones

When you’re up high in this price range, it’s a lot harder to find a bad smartphone than a good one. For people who would want to take the best underwater selfies with the best specs, there’s the HTC Desire Eye for Php22,500. If huge phones aren’t your thing, the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact is available online for more or less Php20k.

Then there are this year’s early flagships – the Samsung Galaxy S5, the HTC One M8, the Nokia Lumia 930 & the LG G3 – which will all cost you Php23k and above, lower if you’re lucky, depending on where you get it. All of them are equally great, having distinct features from each other. Some of these features include better speakers, water resistance, better cameras, Windows Phone, a 2K display & more. It will all now depend on your taste.

note4-gaming

And finally, there’s the Galaxy Note 4, the Xperia Z3 & the iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus. The Galaxy Note 4 is the Android flagship phone to get with beastly specs from the internals & the display to the camera (plus don’t forget the size & the stylus). This will cost you around Php35k. The Xperia Z3 on the other hand is one of the most polished phones around, beating everyone else with a 20 megapixel camera and high waterproofing certifications, and will cost you Php25-30k. If you have always wanted iOS, then there’s no contest; the best time to upgrade is now with new larger iPhones. The only question now is which size – the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 or the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus? Your call, but there is a huge price difference. You can get the iPhone 6 starting at Php38k, but the latter will cost you Php5k more at Php43k.

iphone6yugatech

And if you want a BlackBerry, the Passport is at Php35,790.

That’s about it for our Christmas Guide on smartphones this year! We’ll have more up soon in the following days, so stay tuned for that. If you have any more to suggest, feel free to leave them in the comments section down below.

The post YugaTech Christmas Gadget Guide 2014: Smartphones appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

YugaTech Christmas Gadget Guide 2014: Smartphones

It’s that time of the year again. If you’re looking to give gadget gifts to people you know or maybe even just to reward yourself this Christmas, you’re in luck as we have you covered! Here are the smartphones you should get, from budget-oriented ones to the flagships!

ChristmasGuide2014-A480

Budget Oriented

If you’re on the tightest budget, the best & most affordable smartphones that you can get for their price are probably in the form of two Cherry Mobile devices but with varying operating systems – the CM Flare Lite running Android and the CM Alpha Style running Windows Phone 8.1 (Php2,699 & Php2,999 respectively). The first one runs Android and decent specs to begin with, but the Alpha Style takes it a step higher with a quad-core CPU and the smoothness of WP 8. If you wish for something with TV and a lower price tag of Php1,899 (and lower specs of course), there’s also MyPhone’s Rio Junior TV.

Asus-ZenFone-5

From here, you can now check out the Xiaomi Redmi 1S & the Asus ZenFone 5 – both phones being the cream of the crop at Php5,599 & Php6,495. We doubt you’ll want anything else, but if you do, you can easily just check out local manufacturer flagship phones running octa-core Mediatek CPUs and the like. For more than Php9,000, you can also check out the impressively made 2nd-Gen Motorola Moto G which is probably only available online.

Mid-Range

Just like with the higher class of budget oriented smartphones, this area is once again ruled by Xiaomi & Asus. The Xiaomi Mi 3 was the company’s flagship phone that launched in the Philippines for just Php10,599! It has a full HD display, a Snapdragon 800 CPU with 2GB RAM and a lot more to satisfy your needs. If you want a bigger 6-inch alternative, the Asus ZenFone 6 is around for Php11,995, but it doesn’t match the Mi 3’s specs.

mi3_10

If the person you’re giving a smartphone to wants to be around water a lot, you can take a look at Sony’s waterproof Xperia M2 Aqua which also has LTE radios for faster data. This ranges around Php12-15k depending on where you’ll buy it. If, on the other hand, getting a good Android experience with high-end specs is what’s important, you can still find a Google Nexus 5 which now runs Android 5.0 Lollipop. This is priced at around Php16k. Finally, if Android doesn’t suit your style, the Nokia Lumia 830 is your best bet at Php18,990.

Xiaomi’s latest flagship phone, the Mi4, is not officially available yet around the country, but some online retailers have it for around Php15-17k.

The Best Smartphones

When you’re up high in this price range, it’s a lot harder to find a bad smartphone than a good one. For people who would want to take the best underwater selfies with the best specs, there’s the HTC Desire Eye for Php22,500. If huge phones aren’t your thing, the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact is available online for more or less Php20k.

Then there are this year’s early flagships – the Samsung Galaxy S5, the HTC One M8, the Nokia Lumia 930 & the LG G3 – which will all cost you Php23k and above, lower if you’re lucky, depending on where you get it. All of them are equally great, having distinct features from each other. Some of these features include better speakers, water resistance, better cameras, Windows Phone, a 2K display & more. It will all now depend on your taste.

note4-gaming

And finally, there’s the Galaxy Note 4, the Xperia Z3 & the iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus. The Galaxy Note 4 is the Android flagship phone to get with beastly specs from the internals & the display to the camera (plus don’t forget the size & the stylus). This will cost you around Php35k. The Xperia Z3 on the other hand is one of the most polished phones around, beating everyone else with a 20 megapixel camera and high waterproofing certifications, and will cost you Php25-30k. If you have always wanted iOS, then there’s no contest; the best time to upgrade is now with new larger iPhones. The only question now is which size – the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 or the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus? Your call, but there is a huge price difference. You can get the iPhone 6 starting at Php38k, but the latter will cost you Php5k more at Php43k.

iphone6yugatech

And if you want a BlackBerry, the Passport is at Php35,790.

That’s about it for our Christmas Guide on smartphones this year! We’ll have more up soon in the following days, so stay tuned for that. If you have any more to suggest, feel free to leave them in the comments section down below.

The post YugaTech Christmas Gadget Guide 2014: Smartphones appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

YugaTech Christmas Gadget Guide 2014: Smartphones

It’s that time of the year again. If you’re looking to give gadget gifts to people you know or maybe even just to reward yourself this Christmas, you’re in luck as we have you covered! Here are the smartphones you should get, from budget-oriented ones to the flagships!

ChristmasGuide2014-A480

Budget Oriented

If you’re on the tightest budget, the best & most affordable smartphones that you can get for their price are probably in the form of two Cherry Mobile devices but with varying operating systems – the CM Flare Lite running Android and the CM Alpha Style running Windows Phone 8.1 (Php2,699 & Php2,999 respectively). The first one runs Android and decent specs to begin with, but the Alpha Style takes it a step higher with a quad-core CPU and the smoothness of WP 8. If you wish for something with TV and a lower price tag of Php1,899 (and lower specs of course), there’s also MyPhone’s Rio Junior TV.

Asus-ZenFone-5

From here, you can now check out the Xiaomi Redmi 1S & the Asus ZenFone 5 – both phones being the cream of the crop at Php5,599 & Php6,495. We doubt you’ll want anything else, but if you do, you can easily just check out local manufacturer flagship phones running octa-core Mediatek CPUs and the like. For more than Php9,000, you can also check out the impressively made 2nd-Gen Motorola Moto G which is probably only available online.

Mid-Range

Just like with the higher class of budget oriented smartphones, this area is once again ruled by Xiaomi & Asus. The Xiaomi Mi 3 was the company’s flagship phone that launched in the Philippines for just Php10,599! It has a full HD display, a Snapdragon 800 CPU with 2GB RAM and a lot more to satisfy your needs. If you want a bigger 6-inch alternative, the Asus ZenFone 6 is around for Php11,995, but it doesn’t match the Mi 3’s specs.

mi3_10

If the person you’re giving a smartphone to wants to be around water a lot, you can take a look at Sony’s waterproof Xperia M2 Aqua which also has LTE radios for faster data. This ranges around Php12-15k depending on where you’ll buy it. If, on the other hand, getting a good Android experience with high-end specs is what’s important, you can still find a Google Nexus 5 which now runs Android 5.0 Lollipop. This is priced at around Php16k. Finally, if Android doesn’t suit your style, the Nokia Lumia 830 is your best bet at Php18,990.

Xiaomi’s latest flagship phone, the Mi4, is not officially available yet around the country, but some online retailers have it for around Php15-17k.

The Best Smartphones

When you’re up high in this price range, it’s a lot harder to find a bad smartphone than a good one. For people who would want to take the best underwater selfies with the best specs, there’s the HTC Desire Eye for Php22,500. If huge phones aren’t your thing, the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact is available online for more or less Php20k.

Then there are this year’s early flagships – the Samsung Galaxy S5, the HTC One M8, the Nokia Lumia 930 & the LG G3 – which will all cost you Php23k and above, lower if you’re lucky, depending on where you get it. All of them are equally great, having distinct features from each other. Some of these features include better speakers, water resistance, better cameras, Windows Phone, a 2K display & more. It will all now depend on your taste.

note4-gaming

And finally, there’s the Galaxy Note 4, the Xperia Z3 & the iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus. The Galaxy Note 4 is the Android flagship phone to get with beastly specs from the internals & the display to the camera (plus don’t forget the size & the stylus). This will cost you around Php35k. The Xperia Z3 on the other hand is one of the most polished phones around, beating everyone else with a 20 megapixel camera and high waterproofing certifications, and will cost you Php25-30k. If you have always wanted iOS, then there’s no contest; the best time to upgrade is now with new larger iPhones. The only question now is which size – the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 or the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus? Your call, but there is a huge price difference. You can get the iPhone 6 starting at Php38k, but the latter will cost you Php5k more at Php43k.

iphone6yugatech

And if you want a BlackBerry, the Passport is at Php35,790.

That’s about it for our Christmas Guide on smartphones this year! We’ll have more up soon in the following days, so stay tuned for that. If you have any more to suggest, feel free to leave them in the comments section down below.

The post YugaTech Christmas Gadget Guide 2014: Smartphones appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.