The MiLi Power Prince

Review: MiLi Power Prince

MiLi has grown to be a respected and trusted brand here in the Philippines. In fact most of the top Apple resellers and gadget shops already carry their products. Unlike other mobile charger brands, Mili has a variety of products with different designs and price points. This strategy broadens their market which is probably one of the biggest factors for their success.

We currently have with us a demo unit of the MiLi Power Prince. It’s a compact and heavy duty mobile charger that’s meant for people who have multiple devices that need charging while on the go. I personally call it the “blogger’s best friend”. It packs so much juice without consuming too much space in my bag and it can pretty much power anything!

Read on for our review!

The Power Prince comes in your usual printed carton box. If you open it and pull the plastic tray out you’ll find the Power Prince, several cables, the various charging tips, a black carrying pouch and several manuals and cards.

We initially thought that the actual battery pack would be huge because of the big box but that’s not actually the case. The Power Prince is roughly the size of an external hard drive or a full sized mouse. Here’s a side-by-side photo with my Razer StarCraft II Mouse:

This size makes it easy to slip the Power Prince in your everyday work bags, shoulder bags, or messenger bags.

Despite the form and size, the Power Prince actually packs a lot of juice! It has 5,000mAh which is good enough to charge a mobile device three times over (or a tablet once). Note that if you have mobile devices you can actually charge up to two of them at the same time with the Power Prince due to the dual charging ports.

Different tips for various devices!

Black carrying pouch! Yay.

A Blogger’s Best Friend

We decided to put this device through the paces since we had several events lined up last week. Like what I said earlier this is literally a blogger’s best friend! Both my Smart Rocket WiFi Plus and iPad ran out of battery in the middle of a press launch. It gave both my devices “life” and I was able to do live tweets, Facebook updates, and even do the blog entry on my MacBook Pro because of the Power Prince.

By the way on the way home it still had some juice left so I charged my FiiO E17 Alpen while I was on my way home in the car, hehe.

Pricing and Availability

Almost all of the top gadget stores and Appler Resellers have this on stock. SRP is Php4,800. You can also order online via their Multiply Page.

Two thumbs up for the Power Prince! Reliable, looks sleek, and can occasionally save you from a lot of stress.

No battery? Charge your phone using your... bag. Whut? Lol!

Powerbag coming to the Philippines

You know tech is going mainstream when there are bags being made that can charge your mobile devices! It might sound farfetched but it’s actually in international markets already and it’s coming to the Philippines soon. Aptly name the Powerbag, this product line from Ful is a range of different types of bags with built-in chargers with multiple connectors. The usual battery pack each bag has is around 3,000mAh which is already good for at least 150% additional battery life for smartphones.

Here’s a short video about the Powerbag:

There are different models ranging from messenger bags, backpacks, and even briefcases!

We’re currently communicating with the local distributor and it looks like the bags will be sold within Php6,500-7,500. We actually have a review unit so expect a full review soon.

First stores to carry stocks will be Mobile 1 and Ansons The Link.

PS: Thanks to Jayvee for hooking us up with the distributor. Read his review on the Powerbag here.

Focal Bird System

We just confirmed that the Focal Bird Speakers are now available in the Philippines! This new product line from Focal focuses on innovation and ease-of-use without compromising the excellent sound quality that the brand is known for. Trust us when we say that these babies will sound good. We’ve reviewed the Focal XS Multimedia Sound System before and we were completely blown away!

The new Focal Bird speakers are all about maximization, optimization, and simplicity. They are high performance yet come in a relatively small and stylish body. The speakers actually look like medium-sized desktop lamps, hehe. To make them easy to use, one can purchase the Kleer iTransmitter which will let you stream your music from your iPod, iPad, or iPhone to the Focal Bird System without sacrificing audio quality.

Here’s a quick video explaining what the Focal Bird System is all about.

The Focal Bird System is now available at Audio Visual Driver Int’l, 4th Floor Shangri-la Plaza Mall. We’re trying to secure a loaner review unit so let’s all keep our fingers crossed!

FOCAL Little Bird 2.1 System – Php 53,950
FOCAL Bird 2.1 System – Php 60,700
iTransmitter – Php 6,000

Get your financial house in order so you can actually afford stuff you want!

Steps to Financial Peace Conference

Most of the time we end up buying tons of stuff that we can’t really afford. We keep buying the latest smartphone, tablet, game, car, or TV and suddenly we find ourselves already at 35 years old without any savings. Sad to say this is the situation of a lot of professionals in the country. While we here at Unbox showcase a lot of awesome products, most of them are pretty expensive. That’s why we always try to put in some personal finance tips every now and then to balance things out. With that said I’m happy to announce that Unbox is supporting an upcoming personal finance seminar featuring Randell Tiongson, Chinkee Tan, and Jayson Lo called Steps to Financial Peace!

Steps to Financial Peace

The organizers were kind enough to give us FOUR tickets to raffle away here at Unbox. Each ticket costs Php1,200.

How to win free tickets

Simple! Just leave a comment below using Facebook sharing a money saving tip that you have. We will pick the winners Wednesday evening (around 9PM).

UPDATE: HERE ARE THE WINNERS

Abigael Tan
Mon Lao
Francis Dator
Raani Paras

Please just proceed to the event and show your ID. I’ve already passed your names to the organizers.

It's here!!!

Diablo 3 Standard Edition Boxes now available in the Philippines!

Here’s awesome news for all the Pinoy Gamers out there — Blizzard’s highly anticipated Diablo 3 is now in the shelves of official distributors! It was supposed to start selling at 3:00PM but stores are actually selling it now in Greenhills for Php3,150. In fact we were already able to get ours! Allow me to share with everyone our unboxing!

Typical awesome Blizzard packaging! Diablo 3's front flap opens up to reveal plot line as well as a preview of the playable character classes.

What's inside? CD, Diablo 3 Guest Passes (3), Notepad , Manual, and a World of Warcraft Guest Pass

Yeah, you read that right — Notepad! Lol. Thanks Blizz.

Diablo 3 will be playable here in the Philippines starting 3PM. You will need internet connection to play. You will also need to register on BattleNet. Boxes are now available in Datablitz and Digital Walker stores. If you haven’t gotten your box yet I suggest you call Datablitz Podium since they are the most “tago” branch.

See ya’ll in-game!

Mutewatch coming to Manila soon!

Mutewatch headed to the Philippines!

We just confirmed that the critically acclaimed Mutewatch is coming to the Philippines soon! Developed in Stockholm, Sweden, the Mutewatch is a straightforward but very modern take on the watch. Rather than me describing what it does though you guys should just watch this video. It’s worth the download time, believe me!

No word yet on the pricing or availability but it should be in Manila later this month or sometime in June. We’ll keep you posted.

PS: Click here to go to the website of Mutewatch.

Samsung Galaxy S3 to be offered by Globe

As reported by Techie.com.ph, Globe will be offering the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S3. This sets up another massive marketing and sales clash between the two telcos in the country since Smart announced earlier that they would be accepting pre-orders come May 23. The last time we saw the two telcos go head to head was the Nokia Lumia launch. Prior to that it was the iPhone 4S. Wonder what they have up their sleeves for the S3?

Anyway, to get you guys more psyched up here’s the Samsung Galaxy S3 TVC.

Interesting that there’s no mention of the specs in the TVC right? Looks like Samsung is following Apple’s track of going for an emotional and human connection with the market versus raving about technical specifications.

PLDT VP Patrick Tang talks about the TelMeHow App and the PLDT TelPad

To give more value to potential TelPad customers, PLDT launched the TelPad exclusive TelMeHow App. This new application basically has a lot of “How-to” videos featuring experts and celebrities. There are different categories including Travel, Food, First Aid, Fashion, and even Photography. You can only access the videos through the PLDT TelPad.

Here’s a video of PLDT VP Patrick Tang sharing more details about the TelMeHow App.

Here’s the PLDT TelPad TelMeHow TVC:

PLDT’s new strategy of focusing on exclusive content and not just the actual hardware is a step in the right direction. Hopefully we’ll see the app evolve and become bigger and better in the next few months. Note that it was also mentioned in Patrick’s speech that eventually it will become an e-commerce platform.

Here are a few more photos of the event:

PLDT VP Ariel Fermin

Some of the content partners for the PLDT TelPad

Sarah Meier was the host for the event. Can I just say she's so tall? Lol.

IMPORTANT: For more information on the TelPad, click here to go to their official website. We’ve also already unboxed a unit of the PLDT TelPad. Click here to read all about it.

Apologies for the blurry pic!

We spotted this Samsung Tablet running Windows 8 in a convention last week. It’s a pretty slick device though a bit big. It felt like it was bigger than the 10.1-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab but I’m not really 100% sure. It just had one home button below the screen.

Here’s a quick hands-on video that we took:

Windows 8 ran pretty smoothly on the Tablet interface. It felt like a giant Windows Phone but that’s not really a bad thing since the Windows Phone OS is intuitive, stylish, and easy on the eyes.

Anyway, no word on the pricing, availability, or even specs. We’ll post an update though as soon as we get one from either Microsoft or Samsung.

Arguably one of the classiest cases ever made for the new iPad

Spigen SGP Diary Case for the New iPad

This is probably one of the most elegant and classiest cases you’ll ever find for your new iPad (iPad 2 or iPad 3). It’s made from genuine leather, comes in chestnut brown or black, and has a minimalist design and theme. This case is actually handmade with a single piece of quality leather and you won’t find any stitching or glue anywhere. It may not have all the fancy folding and magnetic smart cover feature but this case just screams luxury which makes it a good buy for professionals and executives. Read on for our review.

Packaging

Spigen SGP Diary Case new iPad packaging

The case comes in a printed carton box with a transparent plastic side to showcase the color and the make of the leather. Opening is easy, just pop the box open from the top and slide out the plastic compartment holding the case and the instruction card.

The Case

The moment you life the case out from the plastic compartment you’ll immediately know it’s made from quality leather. It just feels sleek and your fingers will effortlessly glide through the smooth exterior. If you open it up you’ll find the a more rougher leather lining which is there for better grip and protection.

Just align the iPad via the camera slot and press down on the adhesive jelly tape.

Cut-out for the camera of the iPad.

Magnetic snap-on enclosure to keep it closed.

You can use the front flap as a stand just in case you want to prop up the iPad for viewing or browsing. To do typing though you might have to slide something beneath it like a wallet or something so that it’s not flat on its back.

To get a better feel for the case, here’s a video we found on Youtube of a user unboxing it and reviewing it. Note that this isn’t a video by Unbox. This is just something we found online.

Pricing, Availability, and Verdict

The Spigen SGP Diary Case for the new iPad sells for Php3,690 in AppleWerkz stores (got mine in Katipunan branch).

As for our final recommendation… the case might not have all the bells and whistles of other smart cases but that’s not what this was really made for. This case is meant to make a statement more than anything else. If that’s what you’re after then this is definitely for you.

PS: Click here to read our review of the new iPad

Nokia Amazing Everyday Event Coverage by Unbox

Well we didn’t really unbox a helicopter but we did get to ride one!

Nokia Philippines invited selected bloggers and press to an “Amazing Everyday Adventure” which highlighted their newest smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 610. We were asked to pick between an underwater adventure, a helicopter ride, or a degustation lunch with a cooking class. We picked the aerial adventure because it’s not everyday you get to play around with an award winning smartphone (the Nokia Lumia 610) while riding on a helicopter!

We arrived at Delta Hangar around 11:30am being the 2nd batch of media and bloggers to take our turn on the chopper ride. Everyone in the group was pretty psyched! This experience was obviously on the bucket list of a lot of people in our group.

Nokia Corporate Communications Manager, Nikka Abes, welcomed us in the hangar. She loaned everyone a Nokia Lumia 610 for us to capture our aerial adventure.

Nokia Lumia 610

After eating we boarded the helicopter (it could accommodate 4 including the pilot). I can still remember the butterflies flying wildly in my stomach as we started to lift off the ground! We circled around Makati-Fort-and Roxas Boulevard for around fifteen minutes. Here are some of the shots taken aboard the helicopter.

The highlight of the flight was definitely when the pilot purposely made a few sharp turns in succession. I remember thinking to myself “OMG did I get life insurance?!” It’s the same sensation you feel when you do those ridiculous turns on a giant rollercoaster.

Solid ground! <3

After the ride we all gathered again in one of the rooms and Nokia Philippines raffled away a Nokia Lumia 610. We didn’t win that one but we did get a shiny Nokia watch!

Thank you Nokia Philippines for this amazing experience!

The Nokia Lumia 610 is now available in stores with a suggested retail price of Php10,980. If you want to read more about this amazing smartphone please do read our review.

PS: Click here to read Noemi Dado’s entry on the Cooking Class and Degustation Lunch (one of the other options)

There’s a huge debate now going on regarding which is the top Android smartphone. Is it the Samsung Galaxy S3 or the HTC One X? Both are amazing smartphones and they also have monstrous specifications. Both phones have their pros and cons but one major deciding factor are the accessories that will enhance your experience with the phone. In this aspect the Galaxy S3 trumps almost all other smartphones in the market today. Here’s a quick rundown of all the official accessories for the Galaxy S3:

S Pebble

Samsung Galaxy S3 Pebble MP3 Player

The S Pebble is a beautifully designed MP3 player that connects directly with your Galaxy S3. This is the ideal companion for people who want to listen to their music during activities that they can’t bring their smartphone with them (jogging, gym, etc). Samsung is claiming also that it has battery life of 17 hours. Unfortunately we don’t have the official SRP yet so we can’t say if this is an awesome deal yet or not. If they price this properly though I’m sure this will sell like hotcakes.

AllShare Cast Dongle

AllShare Cast Dongle

This is another one of my favorite accessories for the S3. The AllShare Cast Dongle will let you stream your media (even 1080p video) to your TV wirelessly. All you have to do is connect the AllShare Cast to the TV (via HDMI) and be on the same network with your Galaxy S3. No pricing yet but again this has so much potential. Looks like a cool set-up is to have the AllShare Cast Dongle hooked up to a Samsung ES8000 Smart LED TV and you have the Galaxy S3 as your media source.

Flip Cover and C Pen

Galaxy S3 Flip Cover

The Galaxy S3 takes a page out of the Galaxy Note playbook with it’s own Flip Cover and C Pen. The Flip Cover looks pretty much like what the Note has except that it’s custom made for the S3. I’m not sure yet if this is magnetic and it automatically sleeps and wakes the phone but I sure hope that they eventually come out with covers like those in the future.

The S3 also has a stylus that you can buy called the C Pen. It has a 3 mm rubberized tip and made from aluminum giving it a very premium feel. In terms of performance it’s touted to be almost as good as the Galaxy Note’s S Pen.

Docks, Chargers, and Cables
Just like all other previous flagship Samsung smartphones, the S3 has a wide accompaniment of docks and chargers. You have the Premium Audio Dock, Desktop Dock, and the Universal Vehicle Dock. For charges you have the Battery Charger Stand and a new product called the Wireless Charging Kit. There are still only a few details about the Wireless Charging Kit but we’ve heard that you’ll need to buy a new backplate for it to work.

These are definitely very good accessories from Samsung and I’m even more excited to see what third party companies will come up with in the next few months. If it boils down to the extras Samsung definitely has a head start.

We’ll update this page once we find out availability of the said accessories in the Philippines as well as their local SRPs.

Other related posts about the Samsung Galaxy S3 on Unbox:
Samsung Galaxy S3 Announced
Smart Samsung Galaxy S3

Unboxing time!

Unboxed: The Audio-Technica WS55 Headphones

The Audio-Technica WS55, known for delivering solid bass without compromising too much on the midrange or treble clarity, is now available here in the Philippines. We currently have a review (loaner unit) which was sent to us by Audio-Technica Philippines. We’ll try to have the full review out in a week but for now we’d like to share our unboxing and initial impressions.

Packaging

The ATH-WS55, much like other Audio-Technica headphones, comes in a carton box with transparent plastic that showcases the design of the ear cups. The unit we got had a glossy red outer face and a black padded headband. It definitely was a looker even from the outside of the box. You got to hand it to Audio-Technica for always striking a balance between style and function with their products!

ATH-WS55 packaging

Unboxing is pretty easy. Just remove the tape from the top and pull out the internal compartment. You’ll find the cans as well as the manuals inside. Sadly there’s no carrying pouch included (which I think you should be a staple already in ALL headphone packages).

Time to unbox!

Hardware and Sound Quality Initial Impressions

The major feature of the WS55 is the Double Air Chamber technology that Audio-Technica developed to enhance bass. I can’t explain it myself since it’s very technical but apparently they constructed the ear cups in a specific way so that the “air flow” will drive better and stronger bass response. The proof though is in the pudding and after using it for a few days now let me be the one to tell you that this is definitely a bassy pair of cans!

ATH-WS55 unboxed!

As you can see from the photo above and below the actual ear cups are actually a bit thick. This is probably the Double Air Chamber system that Audio-Technica was talking about. The ear pads are made from comfortably cushioned faux leather.

Side view of the ear cups

The headband is padded as well to make sure that it’s comfortable to wear.

Beautifully made headphones!

So what about sound quality? Based on our initial use it’s definitely leaning on the bass side. However not to the point wherein you sacrifice the quality of the midrange and the treble (which is the main problem with Beats headphones, hehe). We’ll spend a few more days with these cans and burn ‘em in so we get a better idea of the sound signature and report back when we do the full review.

Pricing and Availability

The ATH-WS55 is reasonably priced at Php3,799. You can get them already in stores carrying Audio-Technica products. Click here for the list of branches

PS: Our good friend and fellow blogger JAM already wrote a review on the ATH-WS55. Read it here.

Smart's photos of the Samsung Galaxy SIII

Smart to offer the Samsung Galaxy SIII

It’s confirmed — Smart will carry the Samsung Galaxy SIII. They posted a photo of the SIII on their Facebook and Twitter accounts to let people know that they are indeed going to bring it to the Philippines.

As for when it will hit the market it looks like we’ll be seeing it within the next few weeks since the caption in their photo said “Coming very soon”.

Check this space again for more updates on the Galaxy SIII!

The Samsung Galaxy S3 on Unbox:
Samsung Galaxy S3 Announced
Samsung Galaxy S3 Accessories

HP Envy Spectre XT launched in Shanghai

HP Envy Spectre XT Ultrabook

The HP Envy Spectre XT is probably the first Ultrabook that has seriously gotten my attention. It’s reasonably priced, looks amazing, and it’s packed with a lot of great features. It comes out in mid-June for $999 USD (roughly Php44,000) and it has the following features:

• All aluminum design (looks awesome)
• Has all the necessary ports: USB 3.0 (x2), HDMI, Ethernet, SD Card, Audio Jack 3.5mm
• 0.6-inches thin
• Glass Touchpad
• Backlit keyboard
• Beats Audio – really good speakers.
• Comes with 2 year Norton Anti Virus license
• Comes with Adobe Photo Shop, Premiere Elements
• 3rd generation core CPU
• Up to 7 hours battery life

If Ultrabooks get a little more cheaper (like this one) and still pack the same specs then they will definitely be a serious contender to the Apple MacBook Air.

Beautiful!

Here’s a quick hands-on video that we found from Laptop Magazine:

This will probably be my first Ultrabook.