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It looks like LG’s hard work is finally paying off as they are now the world's 3rd largest mobile phone manufacturer. Shipping 100 million handsets last year, LG managed to edge out the likes of Motorola and Sony Ericsson making them now part of the big three in the mobile phone industry. Not surprising is Nokia who is still no. 1 with 470 million units sold while Samsung is sitting pretty at no. 2 with 200 million phones. Motorola came close at no. 4 with 99.9 millions phones sold while Sony Ericsson was at fifth place with 96.6 million units shipped. It’s still a long way to go for LG if they seriously want to overthrow Nokia from the top spot, but if they continue to release phones like the LG Cookie and Renoir, I'm optimistic of their chances and 2009 will no doubt be another fruitful year for the company.

Asus can be credited for the huge success of netbooks in the market today thanks to their groundbreaking Eee PC laptop, and it seems that they’re once again poised to set a new trend this year with the unveiling of the Eee PC T91 and T101H. As their name implies, both new netbooks belong to the continuously growing Eee PC family, but unlike previous releases, these two feature a touchscreen display allowing it to function as a tablet PC as well. The T91 comes with an 8.9-inch display and an Intel Atom Z520 processor. The Eee PC T101H, on the other hand, comes with a bigger 10-inch screen and a new keyboard design that greatly resembles that of Apple’s Macbook laptops. Aside from the details mentioned above, further information regarding specifications and more importantly, price and availability were not disclosed just yet. Considering that Asus has decided to out not just one but two tablet netbooks this early on in the year, the question on my mind is; will tablet netbooks be the next big thing as far as netbooks are concerned? If these two pioneering models become successful when they're released, I have no doubt that tablet netbooks will indeed be the next phase in the continuing evolution of the netbook.

Sony has officially joined the netbook bandwagon with the announcement of the new Vaio P laptop. It sports an 8-inch display, Intel Atom Z530 1.33GHz processor, 2GB RAM, WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth, 3G WWAN, GPS, webcam, Windows Vista OS, and 60GB HDD, 64GB SSD and 128GB SSD storage options. It also does away with the usual trackpad and features a pointer instead to save up on space. The Sony Vaio P also boasts of being the lightest netbook weighing only 1.4 lbs and has enough juice in its battery to last up to 4 hours which is still unheard of as far as 3-cell battery-running netbooks go. It’s expected to start shipping in February in 5 colored variants (garnet red, emerald green, onyx black, crystal white and classic black) with a starting price of $900. Here's a hands-on video showcasing the Sony Vaio P courtesy of Engadget. With such a steep price and awkward design, I doubt the Sony Vaio P will actually draw much attention from the usual netbook-buying public. I personally find an 8.9-inch display already too small, and I can’t even begin to image how people will get their work done on a smaller 8-inch display. Anyway, for what it’s worth, the Sony Vaio P is indeed a technological wonder cramming in all those features in an ultra-small form factor, but as far as practicality and functionality are concerned, it’s still got a lot of room for improvement.

While it’s obvious that Nokia’s popularity in the Asian region goes without question, the company seems to find it a bit more difficult penetrating the US market. Nevertheless, this isn’t preventing the Finnish company from putting up a good fight; and with the help of Verizon Wireless and a caped crusader, they might just have a winner in there hands.   The Nokia 6205 Dark Knight limited edition phone is being released as part of the marketing hype of the movie franchise. The phone itself isn’t as flashy as the latest units available in the market today, but it does come loaded with a trailer and the movie logo at the back. Loyal Batman fans might be enticed to get one as a collector’s item though I highly doubt that it will amount to much in the long run since greater value goes to those old-school paperback comics of yesteryear. However, take nothing away from this flip phone. It does come with a 1.3-megpaixel camera, external music controls on the cover, and 58MB internal memory. The promotional packaging is quite a treat as well with loads of goodies fan boys will surely appreciate. Unfortunately for us in this part of the region, all these are only available in the US. I’ve been a comic collector for the greater part of my younger years and I wouldn’t mind getting myself one of those sweet Dark Knight memorabilia.

While Sun Cellular still remains unmatched in their unlimited calls, that doesn’t mean you can’t make long phone calls without saving a buck or two on rival networks. For those not aware of it, Smart and Globe both have budget-call promos that offer long you conversations on your mobile phone at a more affordable price.

Smart recently launched their Low Hello promo that offers subscribers a P1 per minute rate in excess of the first 3-minutes which is charged the regularly. To avail of this, just dial *901+11-digit Smart number and you’re good to go. This promo will run until October 31, 2008. So, how much do you actually save? Let’s do the math. For a 15-minute call, you’ll end up spending P31.50 on this promo as opposed to a regular rate which will amount to P97.50. That’s a total of P66 in savings.

Globe, on the other hand, has two offerings. The first is for those quick calls that are usually less than a minute. Dial 232+10-digit Globe number and you will be charge P0.10 per second, a total of P6.00 in a minute. That’s P0.50 cheaper than the P6.50/minute regular charge, but more importantly, if you use up less time, you end up saving more. For longer conversations, you can dial 235+10-digit Globe number. Here, you will be charged P10 for the first 3-minutes and a regular rate for every minute in excess of. So, let’s go back to our 15-minute call computation. Using this promo, it’ll cost you P88 as opposed to P97.50 on the regular rate. You’ll end up saving P9.50 at the end of the day.

It’s clear that the new promo of Smart offers more savings for lengthier calls, while Globe gives you that option to be charged for your exact usage time. Enticing as they are, they do come with a catch. It's limited to Smart-Smart or Globe-Globe calls only. So the next time you make a call, don’t forget to append these few numbers so you can save more while talking more on your phone.

If you think that knock-offs are limited to mainstream units only, you’re sadly mistaken. Veptu, a Chinese company, is taking a bite out of, not only Vertu’s design book, but a piece of their market as well. With various handsets emulating the luxury line of Nokia, this Chinese upstart offers opulence at a more enticing price. Gold-plated and accented with diamonds, in terms of materials, they do measure up to what luxury is all about. However, I doubt that they even come close to the craftsmanship and build of the real thing. Fortunately (or not), they do offer a bit more in terms of features, but then again, those who prefer the Vertu aren’t really after the high-end functionality. This is probably good news for social-climbers and wannabes who can’t afford the real things, but for the rest of the mobile community, this just goes to show that nothing is out of reach for the talented cloners of the world.

Hands down, Apple is probably the most popular all-in-one desktop computer manufacturer to date, but that doesn’t mean other PC manufacturers won’t try to steal some of the thunder from Steve Job’s empire. Unfortunately, the competition isn’t reaping much of a success in their endeavor. Now comes the F-A50. Probably trying to pull one out of Apple’s old think-tank, Fujitsu has come out with their new all-in-one desktop. This latest desktop solution from Fujitsu looks like a throwback to those early and bulky iMacs of yesteryear. The F-A50 comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1 GHz processor with 2GB RAM, 250GB SATA storage, Intel X3100 graphics and a 16-inch widescreen display. Connectivity is provided with Wi-Fi (b/g) and Bluetooth. For more pics and details, head on over to Akihabar News. While it is indeed a step forward design-wise for Fujitsu  (especially when compared to their prior model), it's still no match to the current crop of iMacs Apple has out in the market today, both design and specification-wise. Oh well, you can’t blame them for trying.

We reported a while back about Tag Heuer going into the mobile phone business. While the idea of them making a mobile phone of their own was dead on, the concept model we provided was a far cry from what was actually made. Trying to pull a Vertu on their maiden unit, the Meridiist does a good job in matching the steep price, but fails miserably in providing an equally beautiful and sophisticated design. Clothed with either leather or rubber accents, it features a 1.9-inch QVGA screen, an OLED diplay at the top, a 2-megpaixel camera, and Bluetooth.  As expected, feature-wise, there's nothing impressive about it, but how we wished that at least it looked snazzy and worthy of carrying the Tag Heuer name. It's a good thing though that they didn't skimp out on materials such as the scratch-resistant glass sapphire for the display and stainless steel for the body which helped jack up the price, but design-wise, they could have done a better job. Admittedly, the Vertu is no powerhouse either, but at least it looked worthy of its hefty price tag and has managed to create a name for itself in the competitive mobile phone industry. Tag Heuer, on the other hand, already has a reputation for quality craftsmanship and design in the watch industry; but, sad to say, is a great disappointment when it comes to mobile phones. I guess it's a bit unfair comparing the Meridiist with Vertu considering it's Tag Heuer's first attempt in making a mobile phone, but Vertu has set the standard in luxury phones, and they've set it pretty high. If Tag can’t match or outdo Vertu when it comes to design, it’s best that they stick to watch making (or at least lower the price and offer more features).

The possibilities are indeed endless. Some dudes have managed to run the popular first-person shooter game Quake 3 on the iPod Touch which allows for on-the-go gaming madness. Thanks to the Touch's built-in Wi-fi feature, you can likewise play two players on it (provided of course you can find someone with a Quake-running iPod Touch which I highly doubt). Navigation through the game makes us of the accelerometer of the Touch  and shooting is done by tapping on the screen. It'll be a bit tricky at first, but I pretty sure, once you get the hang of things, it'll surely be addictive. I don't expect this to become available through legal channels anytime soon, but with this proof of concept, maybe Apple would want to tie-up with id Software in the near future as this could be a lucrative partnership in the long run.

I guess it really pays to be David Beckham. Not only are you married to one of the hottest babes of the most popular girl group of the 90’s, earn millions from endorsements, and play the sport you love; you also get a one-of-a-kind iPod Touch on your 100^th cap. While other athletes get to bask in the limelight for a few seconds for their record-breaking achievement, David Beckham gets to go home with something more useful than just a commemorative plaque. Given to him by his teammates, this 32-GB Touch is customized in gold with the England logo and his name engraved at the back. It’s said to have cost around £600 which is probably just pocket-change for such professional athletes. It makes me wonder, though, if he’ll ever carry it around with him considering that with the crafty and sly hands of thief, he can loss not only an iPod, but more importantly, his 100^th cap gift as well. Oh well, with all the money he’s making, he can just order another one if he wishes. Heck, he can probably get one to bring with him everyday and keep that one at home.