Recently, Canon Philippines launched the world’s lightest and smallest DSLR with an APS-C sensor, the Canon 100D. This camera is made for beginners who don’t want the bulk and weight of DSLRs in the market, but still want the DSLR experience.

This camera is quite compact and light (without feeling cheap) for a DSLR but it can still use Canon’s full range of EF-S and EF lenses. It also offers external controls of its bigger brothers and the dial/button layout of mid-range EOS’s has been retained here. What has been added is the 3-inch ClearView touchscreen LCD panel at the back which also supports multi-finger gestures.

The Canon EOS 100D offers an 18-megapixel 63-zone metering sensor with a Hybrid CMOS AF II system and its 9AF points. It uses the DIGIC 5 processor capable of doing up to 4fps burst shooting. ISO can go up to 12800 and this baby can also do Full HD video recording in 24/25/30 fps.

This DSLR features Canon’s “Creative Auto” mode which gives novice users access to some interesting pre-set modes, filters, and Picture Styles. Things that you often see in their point-and-shoots.

The Canon EOS 100D is an interesting proposition considering that the company already had their range of entry-level DSLRs. But for those who are still intimidated by the size of current DSLRs, maybe the EOS 100D will be an easier transition. This camera retails for Php36,998 and comes with an 18-55mm kit lens.

Canon EOS 100D, world’s lightest and smallest APS-C DSLR originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog - The Philippines' Longest-running Technology Blog on June 20, 2013.

Samsung recently launched their dual-SIM mid-range phones and one of them is the Galaxy Win, a size smaller than the 5-inch Galaxy Grand and a tad larger than the 4.3-inch Galaxy Core.

Aside from being a dual-SIM phone, the Samsung Galaxy Win is the only quad-core phone in this line. It sports Qualcomm’s latest entry-level quad-core chips, the Snapdragon 200 which is based on the ARM Cortex A5 CPU and has an old Adreno 203 GPU. It does have 1GB RAM and 8GB of internal storage with support for microSD. It also runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

The 4.7-inch display has a sub-par 480 x 800 resolution for a measly 199 ppi pixel density. From afar it looks like the S3 but with a silver metallic band running along the sides. It has a 5-megapixel autofocus camera at the back with LED flash and a VGA camera in front while battery is at a decent 2000mAh.

The Samsung Galaxy Win is already available with a retail price of Php14,990, 2k less than the Grand.

Samsung Galaxy Win, 4.7-inch quad-core, dual-SIM Android for P14,990 originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog - The Philippines' Longest-running Technology Blog on June 19, 2013.

One of our top 5 games announced in the E3 2012 last year is finally here. Action-adventure game The Last of Us by Naughty Dog (creators of Uncharted series) makes its local premiere on the PlayStation 3 thanks to X-Play Online Games, Inc.

Touted as “gaming’s Citizen Kane moment”, The Last of Us is considered as the finest game that Naughty Dog has crafted and an easy contender for the best game of this console generation. The game allows the adventurous gamer to embark on a unique journey of survival, blended with genre-defining experience and action elements that tells a character-driven story about a population decimated by a modern plague.

This is not your average action-adventure game though, it’s survival mode as its finest as you play Joel, a violent survivor, who is hired to smuggle a 14-year old girl, Ellie, out of an oppressive military quarantine zone. In the journey you will come across infected humans running wild and survivors killing each other for food, weapons, whatever else they can get their hands on.

Learn how to survive day-by-day by scavenging for vital resources, crafting weaponry out of environmental objects, and competing with other survivors for limited supplies and ammo.

This highly-anticipated game has also been gaining ground in the gaming scene, garnering rave reviews from respected gaming magazines and blogs. Sites like Eurogamer, GamesRadar, Joystiq, IGN, and Machinima are just a few of the many that bestowed The Last of Us with a perfect 10. It also has a Metacritic average of 95.

X-Play Online Games, Inc. is giving the first 60 buyers who will avail of this game in select Netopia branches the Sights & Sounds DLC Pack which includes:

• Official Game Soundtrack by Academy Award winning musician Gustavo Santaolalla
• PS3 Dyanamic Theme
• PSN Avatars: Winter Joel & Ellie

The Last of Us (SteelBook Edition) is now available at the following Netopia branches for Php2,595:

• Robinson’s Manila
• Robinson’s Galleria
• SM Mall of Asia
• MRT Guadalupe
• Greenbelt
• SM North EDSA
• SM Megamall
• Lucky China Town Mall
• SM Batangas
• Shoppesville, Greenhills
• SM Iloilo
• Robinson’s Bacolod

Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us now available in select Netopia branches originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog - The Philippines' Longest-running Technology Blog on June 19, 2013.

It’s not surprising anymore when you ask gamers what brand they associate with pure gaming performance. NVIDIA is always on the top of their head and why not? NVIDIA has always been in the forefront when it comes to delivering the best PC gaming experience out there.

Their current graphics cards, the GeForce GTX 680 which has been a gamer’s choice for quite a while, GeForce GTX 690, and also the recent monstrosity which is the GTX Titan, are considered by many to be the kings of the crop when it comes to GPUs.

Now, they’re topping themselves again with the release of the GeForce GTX 770 and GeForce GTX 780, two new graphics cards that will bring even more power and performance boost compared to current top-of-the-bin cards in the market today.

The GeForce GTX 770 boasts of the fastest memory for a graphics card ever at a whopping 7GBPS, that’s 1GBPS faster than current graphics leaders. It also gives at least 10% boost in performance when compared to the current graphics king which is the GeForce GTX 680 mainly due to higher GPU clockspeeds, memory clockspeeds, voltages and TDP.

The GeForce GTX 780 on the other hand will give you at least 35% boost in performance compared to the GeForce GTX 680. Thanks largely in part to its 2304 CUDA cores and 3GB/384-bit memory. It’s like the mini GTX TITAN having been produced in the same GK110 GPU mold.

Here’s a chart showing how the GTX 780 scores against the GTX 680 and the competitor’s HD 7970 when running popular games and benchmark tools at Full HD and high settings on a Core i7 machine:

These new graphics cards are equipped with NVIDIA’s latest GPU Boost 2.0 which gives your rig the graphic processing power only when it needs it. GPU Boost 2.0 will automatically boost the clock speed, power-draw permitting, during those critical graphics-intense portions of the game so you don’t have to worry about your system bogging down in the heat of the action. Of course, it will take into consideration the thermals so it’s within the GPU’s safe limits. Consequently, it will lower the clock speed when it’s not needed to save on power.

GPU Boost 2.0 also features advanced controls including manual adjustment of the GPU core voltage. Since overclocking works better in cooler rigs, the GPU Boost 2.0 is optimized for systems with water cooling.

GPU Boost 2.0 brings more stable fan speed fluctuation

The GeForce GTX 770 and GTX 780 also feature a new adaptive temperature controller that minimizes fan speed fluctuations for a more stable performance. This also allows for whisper-quiet operation, about 15% more silent than the GTX 680.

To further maximize the gaming experience you can get from these beastly cards, NVIDIA has the GeForce Experience. This piece of software will do the thinking for you with regards to tweaking in-game settings depending on your card so the game can squeeze every ounce of power from it to deliver that delightful gaming experience, all in just a single click of a button.

Curious on how this works? When you click that button, you will be connected to NVIDIA’s supercomputer which tests thousands of different hardware configurations to determine the optimal settings for your machine for a particular game (as long as it’s listed). You can also explore each setting made for you via screenshot so you can understand how a particular setting affects an aspect of the game.

GeForce Experience also takes care of delivering the latest GeForce drivers to your desktop so you don’t have to manually look for it on the web to download and install. It will select the right driver for your card based on your hardware configuration. Optimus, SLI, and game profiles are also automatically downloaded and installed so you are always ready to play the latest games.

With the support from game publishers of triple-A titles, the GeForce Experience will surely deliver awesome performance and PC gaming experience with the simplicity of a game console.

Experience pure gaming performance with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 and GTX 780 originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog - The Philippines' Longest-running Technology Blog on June 18, 2013.

Known for its ultra-affordable decently spec’d phones, Cherry Mobile, just announced the availability of their most affordable quad-core phone, the 5-inch Cherry Mobile Thunder 2.0.

The Cherry Mobile Thunder 2.0 sports a 5-inch FWVGA (854 x 480) display and runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. It is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor from a Mediatek MT6589 SoC made for low-cost quad-core devices which supports HSPA+. Downer here would be its 512MB RAM which might run into some lags with Jelly Bean. Internal storage is at a staple 4GB with room for a microSD slot.

There’s a 5-megapixel camera at the back with a VGA one at the front, while battery is rated at a decent 2100mAh.

Overall, it looks like a basic quad-core phone with a relatively low price of Php6,299 which I’m sure people would easily compare with other quad-core phones moving forward.

Cherry Mobile Thunder 2.0, 5-inch dual-SIM, quad-core phone for only P6,299 originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog - The Philippines' Longest-running Technology Blog on June 18, 2013.

Earlier we saw one of Samsung’s mid-range offering which is the Samsung Galaxy Core, which goes in between the already released 5-inch Galaxy Grand and the 4.0-inch Galaxy S Duos.

The Samsung Galaxy Core is a dual-SIM phone that has a 4.3-inch WVGA (480 x 800) display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM and 8GB worth of internal storage with microSD support. It also has a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a VGA front-facing one. Battery is rated at 1800mAh.

It runs on Android Jelly Bean with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI and carries some built-in Galaxy apps like Motion UI, Smart Stay, Smart Alert, and S-Voice.

This phone bears resemblance to other Samsung Galaxy phones released this year but with a chrome siding and that glossy plastic shell and its patterned design.

The Samsung Galaxy Core is already available for just Php11,990.

Samsung Galaxy Core, 4.3-inch dual-SIM dual-core Android for only P11,990 originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog - The Philippines' Longest-running Technology Blog on June 18, 2013.

In anticipation of the release of Despicable Me 2, Gameloft just released Despicable Me: Minion Rush game for the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android devices. And to the delight of all minion-lovers out there, this beautiful 3D game is free!

Play as a Minion and compete with others in order to impress your boss, (former?) super-villain Gru! Jump, fly, dodge obstacles, collect bananas, be mischievous, and defeat villains to compete for Minion of the Year!

It’s basically a running game taken from the mold of Temple Run but with different stages, obstacles, and styles/angles of running gameplay. What’s nice is that everything is done with humor here like in the movie, and you can also customize your Minion with unique costumes, weapons, and power-ups with your collected bananas.

Download for Free! [iOS] [Android]

Gameloft’s Despicable Me: Minion Rush, free for iOS and Android originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog - The Philippines' Longest-running Technology Blog on June 18, 2013.

As digital point-and-shoot cameras are getting slimmer and more compact, shape has been pretty much the same through the years. Well Canon just launched their new PowerShot N featuring an innovative square design.

The Canon PowerShot N has a 12.1 megapixel CMOS sensor with an 8x optical zoom lens and uses DIGIC 5 image processor.

Having a square design, the PowerShot N is easier to slip in and out of your pocket, or sling it over your neck. And because of its compact square form, there’s really no space for the usual dials and buttons. There’s only the power switch on one side, while the other side houses the Mobile Device Connect button, Creative Shot button, and the Display button. There are also prominent lugs on both sides for you to use the supplied strap.

It has a tilting 2.8-inch touchscreen at the back that should take care of your usual menus for modes and creative shot selection, as well as WiFi options such as sharing photos to your smartphone or uploading them to your social network. The tilt function does not extend all the way to the front nor your can tilt it sideways.

What’s interesting here are the thin dual control rings in front near the base. The first ring is actually the shutter button which you can press downward although you can also use the touchscreen to focus and take the shot if you’re more used to that. The second ring is actually the zoom ring to extend the camera’s 8x zoom lens.

This camera uses a microSD card and has a small removable battery which you can also charge directly from the unit via a miniUSB cable.

The Canon PowerShot N is quite a novel-looking camera but still a regular point-and-shoot with WiFi capability on the inside. It’s already available with an SRP of Php16,998.

Canon PowerShot N, redesigning the pocket camera originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog - The Philippines' Longest-running Technology Blog on June 17, 2013.

We posted about the Starmobile Knight about a week ago and it garnered a lot of interest from our readers. Why not? It’s pretty loaded for a locally-branded phone. Yesterday, it was featured on a TV show, Rated K, where the price was also revealed – Php11,290.

Does the price reflect the specs you would be getting from this phone?

The Starmobile Knight packs a 4.7-inch HD display protected by Gorilla Glass and runs on Android Jelly Bean. It is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor with 1GB RAM and 4GB internal storage.

However, the attention-getter would be its 18-megapixel rear camera and 8-megapixel front camera, both having BSI or backside-illuminated lens for decent low-light shots.

So, will you get one for Php11,290 when it becomes available by mid-July? Or is it still expensive for its class?

Starmobile Knight gets a retail price of Php11,290 originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog - The Philippines' Longest-running Technology Blog on June 17, 2013.

Earlier this week, Google Inc. completed a deal that brings Israel-based crowd-sourced mapping and navigation app, Waze, to their fold for $1 billion, away from rivals Apple and Facebook.

What makes Waze a unique navigation app is that real-time traffic and road status information is possible since it is crowd-sourced from the Waze community in the area. Once you start using Waze for your turn-by-turn navigation, you already contribute to the traffic situation in your area based on the speed you are going. It’s a very useful tool especially here in Manila where roads are often congested from traffic or road works.

It’s also a powerful navigation tool since locations and points of interests are gathered from various sources including Foursquare, another crowd-sourced location app.

According to Google’s Vice President for Geo, Brian McClendon, this acquisition aims to enhance Google Maps with some of the traffic update features provided by Waze, and in turn, enhance Waze with Google’s search capabilities.

Waze CEO, Noam Bardin, assures the Waze community that the brand, service and organization, responsibilities, and processes will remain the same.

It’s still unclear whether Google plans to fully absorb Waze into its own mapping service or keep it as a separate product.

Waze is a free app that works on both Android and iOS.

Google buys Waze social mapping and nagivation app for $1 billion originally appeared on Pinoy Tech Blog - The Philippines' Longest-running Technology Blog on June 15, 2013.