December 2009 Archives

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.NET

MANILA, Philippines -- Taiwanese computer manufacturer Acer is ending the year with a bang. In its biggest launch yet, Acer last week launched seven new noteb ook and desktop computers.

Among the most notable of their product lines are the new Aspire G7750 "Predato r" gaming PC and the 5738DG, which is the first notebook in the market to have an iMAX-like 3D technology.

Acer Philippines General Manager Manuel Wong said the new products should cater to the same market of users as previous products, though he said there is also a growing segment of users who are into innovative technologies, particularly the 3D capabilities of the 5738DG.

"We're getting the market to be interested in these technologies not just as en thusiasts but also for business productivity," Wong said.

The Predator is a follow up to Acer's first official gaming PC, the G770. This time, the new Predator has nearly twice as powerful due to its use of an Intel Core i7 950 processor running at 3 Ghz. It also has 3 slots for DDR3 memory mod ules, an ATI Radeon HD5850 1 Gb graphics card, a 1 Terabyte drive, and a Blu-Ra y optical drive.

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.NET

MANILA, Philippines â Fi lipinos are no stranger to novelty phones. But these devices come and go, most often without a successor model (think the Smartphone by Smart Communication se veral years back). Still, there is a market for novelty phones as they have a c ertain catchiness when being shown by their owners.

One new novelty phone is the modu (spelled with in small caps), offered in the Philippines by Globe Telecom a few months ago. The modu, created by Israeli fir m modu , is identified as the worldâs lightest phone by the Guiness Book of World Records. The compan y has been making its rounds worldwide and reaching the Philippines through Glo be.

Globe introduced the modu primarily as a fashion phone. No wonder since all of the accessories, officially called âmodu express jackets,â are essentially face plates with different designs. More on the express jackets later.

Size does not matter The modu is exactly 72.1 millimeters long, 37.6 mm wide, and 7.8 mm thick. It a lso weighs approximately 40 grams. Itâs half the size of a credit card and is j ust as thick as plastic case for CDs. Because of its small size, the number of keys that operate the modu are greatly reduced. There are only seven keys and e ach one having at least two types of functions.

A SIM card slot is on the left side of the modu, which can be mistaken for a mi croSD (unfortunately, not available⦠yet). Once a SIM is inserted, it will be hard to pull it out. To do so requires pushing a tiny button on the right side of the modu using the tip of a pen or paper clip. The SIM is pushed out a bit u ntil it is easy enough to be pulled out with the userâs fingers.

Even the screen is small at only approximately 36 mm by 33 mm, or just about th e same size as the screen of an LCD wristwatch. Whatâs good about the screen th ough, is use of OLED technology, which is double the brightness compared to ord inary LCD screens.