Relatively fresh from the purchase of an Omnia smartphone just 3 months previously, I felt I had enough of an education in high-end phones in general and touch-screen phones in particular to be able to tell whether a cellphone had some enterprising and iinovative stuff to offer a common cellphone consumer. Thus once I got my hands on Nokia’s 5800 XpressMusic and browsed through some of its capabilities, I could immediately tell that this phone was going to be a hit, regardless of the many negative nitpicks you could skim off the net regarding its features.

Attachments and upgrades are part and parcel of the serious photographer’s experience, and these additional gear can range from the simple (UV light filter for additional lens protection) to the extreme (400mm “wildlife” long-range zoom lens anyone?). In between there are the countless useful add-ons that nonetheless are extreme in their own way – one example is Nikon’s Fabre Photo EX Stereoscopic Microscope attachment.

DDR3 RAM modules have been enjoying moderate success and acceptance in the desktop field, primarily due to the release of the new X58 chipset and Core i7 platform. Other than this platform however, DDR3 is still less common than its DDR2 counterpart. Same goes for laptops and portable, though the divide is more indistinct here, with Centrino 2 laptops proving popular with consumers and thus pushing more and more DDR3 SO-DIMM modules out into the mainstream. While hardly the newest example of its kind, one of these DDR3 modules is Kingston’s HyperX DDR3 SO-DIMM 4GB memory kit – and it looks to be the most accomplished of the memory brands we’ve seen locally available.

Asus has a hit with their light and essentials-only Eee PC line, but Asus can do heavy and capable too, as seen very clearly with their rendition of the mid-high range multi-use 15” laptop – the Asus N50V. Specifically, the Asus N50V has a 15.4 WXGA LED-backed LCD screen, the LEDs being only one of many technologically advanced features that can be found in the N50V. We look at the rest of the goodies next.

As someone who came from the retail side of the computer business, it’s easy to forget that Epson isn’t just dot-matrix printers and entry-level inkjets. Truly, Epson is one of the most visible brands in our DIY-enamored local PC market, and its most popular products are the entry-level and the utilitarian imaging products. The launch held on January 30, ’09 at the Robinson’s Crowne Plaza Hotel was centered on something very much unlike those printers available for a few thousand bucks at Greenhills. The Epson Stylus Pro 7900 and 9900 were the stars of the show, and they display a totally different side of Epson we rarely get to see.

Large format for the large business - the majority of the attendees were from large companies.

SSD technology continues to improve beyond recognition – from the early SLC (Single Level Cell) drives exhibiting very poor capacity to cost ratios and the tendency of early Jmicron controller-equipped drives to stutter and pause, to current SSD technology as represented by the Silicon Power 64GB SSD showing off performance that exceeds regular mechanical hard drives’ in certain situations, while improving on the cost to capacity ratio.

There's not much to say about a plain black box - all the action is inside.                        

Yesterday, Sony Philippines opened their office doors to the media to introduce the latest addition to their popular, fashion-friendly VAIO PC line. Dubbed the VAIO P, the 2009 CES showstopper weighs just around 600 grams and can potentially slip into one of your pockets. But no, it’s not a netbook, at least according to Sony.

The sexy Sony VAIO PC line goes even sexier with the addition of the new P series.

Keen on mixing up performance with what’s supposed to be “green” cars, many car manufacturers have turned to electric power to build performance vehicles that can give regular petrol-powered cars a run for their money. For the buyer’s money as well, seeing how stratospheric the prices are for these electric exotics.

Asus wasted no time in greeting the new year with two new products – namely the Asus Eee Top and the Eee PC Model S101. Rumors have swirled around the internets for a long time regarding these products, with some hoping that these latest “Eee’s” will have something better up their sleeves than specification changes and an added feature here and there to differentiate them from the rest of their Eee brothers. Not to worry, as the Eee Top and the S101 both bring something very new to the computing paradigm, while still maintaining the major tenets of the Eee line – especially Ease of use.

                                              Asus is putting the letter "E" to good use - for new releases, a new "Emphasis" on fashion and ease of use.

Once upon a time a launch event centered around printers wouldn’t have gotten a lot of interest from this editor, but times change, and people learn. The recent Brother launch event was a double-punch knockout consisting of brand-spanking new digs at the Marajo Tower at the Bonifacio Global City, and the release of a handful of new multi-function copiers with A3-sized printing capability.

                                             Brother's brand-new showroom located at the Marajo Tower, Bonifacio Global City.

The usual impression we get from HP is that of quality and a certain level of “premium-ness” – be it when discussing features or price. Rightly so, as HP has spent years building up their reputation to the point that most customers will choose HP over other products, even if price premiums are somewhat of a burden. This is however not particularly true when it comes to expensive consumables, and the Philippines have long been a hotbed of vendors hawking “refill” and fake cartridges that proliferate among cost-conscious yet uninformed customers.

It’s that time of year again when one of the biggest computer technology events has come and gone, leaving in its wake a whole slew of must-have products. Better yet, some of these products are already available for order locally, or are nearly so. We have in our offices two of the most exciting products we could have asked for – the Asus branded GTX 285 and 295 graphics cards. We take a quick look at these card’s specifications and their positioning in the high-end market.

Nokia got together with a select group of media people last January 15 in a combination launch and round-table discussion. It was centered on Ovi, Nokia’s consumer brand for Internet services that is meant to connect the PC, phone, the internet, and thus the user him/herself to an interconnected web wherein information is easy to access and manage.

                                             The Ovi launch was held at Makati Shangri-La.

It’s been a trying time the past few weeks. I’ve been itching to finish up the three-way SLI rig that’s been tempting me from the corner of the eye all that time, only to be distracted by other, more pressing matters, as well as being sidelined due to “technical difficulties”. Nevertheless, I’ve been able to get some results, and the quite messy collection of power supplies, cables, and video cards have been humming along nicely.

                                            The whole, messy afair that nonetheless worked beautifully.

It’s always a fine and dandy thing to ramble on about specifications, features, and performance when the topic turns to laptops, but it does get a bit repetitive, unless the manufacturer hides a trick up its sleeves and delivers a truly unique product. In the case of Asus, they did this by going back to their production process and inserting something very natural and very unique – producing the Asus Bamboo U6 laptop as an end product.

                                            How's that for "green" advertising?