LG G4 Leaks

Since February, countless leaks about LG's next flagship are circulating around the web. But one thing's for sure, it should be called LG G4.

Latest leak from @OnLeaks shows the initial design of the smartphone. The famous "rear-key" of the G line is still present but what is really obvious about the supposed looks of the next flagship is that the smartphone curves from the bottom to the top assuming that the next flagship should have a curved display like LG's own G2 Flex.

Looking at the rumored specs of the smartphone, we can expect that this phone would be running on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 chipset, watching movies and playing games wouldn't be also a problem because it is also rumored that G4 would pack a rather large 5.3" IPS+ Display with a QHD resolution.

To give more idea about the upcoming smartphone, here is the partial list of the rumored specifications of LG G4 :

SPECIFICATIONS (Rumored)

- 5.3" QHD (1440x2560) True HD IPS+ LCD Display w/Corning Gorilla Glass 4 Protection
- Qualcomm MSM8994 Snapdragon 810 chipset (Quad-core 1.5Ghz ARM Cortex A53 and Quad-core 2Ghz ARM Cortex A57 processors)
- Adreno 430 GPU
- 4GB ramps
- 16GB/32GB expandable via MicroSD up to 128GB
- 16MP camera with laser autofocus/phase detection, OIS and dual-tone LED flash
- 5MP front camera w/1080p video recording @ 30FPS
- Android 5.0 Lollipop

Like other smartphone of this caliber, it had the usual sets of connectivity features like LTE, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, etc.

No words on the battery capacity as of this moment.

What's unusual is that LG, according to the leaks decided to include a stylus to the LG G4, so we assume that this smartphone is a direct competitor to Samsung Galaxy Note 4 or the upcoming Note 5 rather than the recently unveiled Galaxy S6.

This smartphone is expected to be announced Q1 of this year and be released Q2 of this year.

That's it folks, LG G4 Leaks. Stay tuned for more updates about LG's new flagship smartphone.

Meizu M1 Note : Zenfone 2's Rival

Nowadays, smartphones are getting cheaper and cheaper. And if there would be a smartphone that has the best price-to-spec ratio it would be this - the Meizu M1 Note

The chinese company behind the famous monster phone MX4 shocks us again by releasing another monster, but this time for those consumers who can't afford the MX4.

Powerful Inside

Meizu M1 Note is a phablet by all aspects having a 5.5" Full HD IGZO Display made by Sharp. IGZO displays should look like your usual IPS panel but is more battery efficient. It is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3

It is powered by the high-end MediaTek MT6752 Chipset which utilizes the 1.7Ghz octa-core ARM Cortex A53 processor with a Mali-T760 GPU to give you a very powerful processing power but with an efficient battery life. Good for hardcore gamers !

For multitasking, it has 2GB of RAM. Not the largest out there but it can keep your apps running at the same time

Mobile photography lovers will be glad to hear that M1 Note has a 13MP Camera which is a Samsung Lens with f/2.2 aperture, 5-element lens, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Protection and a dual-tone LED flash.

Selfie lovers will also be glad to hear that this phone has a 5MP camera which is an OmniVision OV5670 sensor that has 4-element lens, 69° wide angle lens, FoToNation's face beautification features and more.

In top of that, it has a 16GB internal storage which is sad to say, not expandable and you have to divide the tiny internal storage for your music, apps, photos, etc. They should have made it atleast 32GB.

Powering the monster phone is a rather large 3,140maH battery which maybe enough for a whole day moderate to light usage.

Colorful outside

Meizu M1 Note is not the thinnest smartphone out there having dimensions of 150.7 x 75.2 x 8.9mm , but it is light for a large smartphone with only 145 grams  of weight.

It's obvious that Meizu M1 Note got some of it's design elements from iPhone 5C. It has 6 different colors available which is also inherited from iPhone 5C. In-fact, it's like an iPhone 5C with a 5.5" screen.

It is a unibody smartphone made from a polycarbonate plastic similar also to iPhone 5C

On top of it is Android 4.4.4 KitKat with Flyme OS, a custom UI made by Meizu which also inherited some of it's elements from iOS disabling the app drawer and integrating it to the homescreen.

FULL SPECIFICATIONS

- 5.5" Full HD (1920x1280) IGZO Display w/Corning Gorilla Glass 3
- MediaTek MT6752 Chipset (1.7Ghz octa-core ARM Cortex A53 processor, Mali-T760 GPU)
- 2GB RAM
- 16GB ROM (not expandable)
- 13MP AF Samsung sensor (f/2.2 aperture, 5-element lens, 4x digital zoom,  blue glass IR Filter, 300° panorama) w/dual-tone LED flash
- 5MP OmniVision OV5670 sensor (68° wide angle, 4-element lens) front facing camera
- Single Micro SIM
- FDD-LTE, 3G HSPA, 2G
- Wi-Fi, FM Radio, Bluetooth 4.0
- GPS w/A-GPS
- 3140maH Battery
- Android 4.4.4 KitKat w/Flyme OS

PRICE : Php. 7,990  ($190+) (White variant)
               Php. 8, 699 ($200+) (Other colors)

Final Say

Truly, it is a rival to ASUS' Zenfone 2 (the 5" variant) and comparing them would not be appropriate because M1 Note would win on all aspects. Congratulations to Meizu for making this kind of device.

(The white variant is made available yesterday, March 10 while the other colored variants will be available soon. - you can avail Meizu M1 Note through NovoTech7 PH kiosks and concept stores nationwide)

Clash of Clan Mania

If there would be a game that make the world go round, it would be this game. Whether on Apple App Store or Google Playstore, this game is always on the top list - presenting, Clash of Clans !

Created by Supercell, a Netherland based app developer. It is made available on late-2013 but didn't made any noise until mid-2014. It's like a sudden fame.

Basics of Clash of Clans

Basically, Clash of Clans or COC for short is an online strategy game where players attack each other or they may join a group called "clans".

Each player starts with a single town hall and a single worker (builds buildings, defense, walls, etc.) At first, you are tasked to build a barracks (where troops are trained) an elixir collector (collects elixir for troop related upgrades) a mine (collects gold) and storages for elixir and gold. You are also tasked to build a cannon and an archer tower to defend your buildings and town halls from attacks.

At first, players are encouraged to take the goblin missions to earn golds and elixirs but as the player levels, he/she can now attack other players for a loot (gold and elixir) and trophies.

As the player proceed through the game, the player should upgrade everything so that he/she will not be left behind.

Basic Elements of the Game

Town Hall - This is the heart of your base,  you cannot build other buildings without leveling it to the needed level.

Gold - it is the currency of the game, it is used to purchase defensive buildings. It is also used to upgrade buildings related to elixir.

Elixir - it is used to purchase troop related upgrades and also for upgrading buildings that collects and stores gold.

Dark Elixir (Not available until TH8) - used to purchase dark troops.

Walls - are used to add defense to your base, different types of layout are used for a higher chance of winning against attacks. Upgrade them to increase their HP.

Thropies - are gained by making 50% and above damage to a specific player during an attack. It's number defends on the available loot that the defensive player has.

Final Say

I think what makes people go loco with COC is the fact that the game features a war between clans. Players also liked experimenting with different base layouts for an effective defense or troop combination for an effective offense. Also, players liked to compare their trophies with their friends. This game is so famous that other game developers made a game so similar to this.

Are you also a COC addict ?

MacBook 2015 : Thinner than ever

Thinner than ever !

Apple Watch trio is not the only highlight of Apple's recent Spring Forward event. The Cupertino company also introduced a new member of the MacBook family, which maybe the thinnest ever.

The MacBook 2015 is said to be the thinnest having 13.1mm thickness. To achieve this, Apple re-engineered the components of the MacBook. They used a new layout for the keyboard, called the butterfly mechanism that's 40% thinner than the previous layout of the keyboard. They also made some changes on the 12" Retina display. It is reported to be 30% more energy efficient than the previous Retina display for MacBook line. Why ? Because they made the battery staggered to lower the dimensions which means that they lessened the battery capacity in order to achieve the thickness of their new device. Finally, the motherboard is also dramatically shrinked which is 67% smaller than the previous one. (WOW !)

Price, Price, Price !

Don't expect the new MacBook to be cheaper, not only because they re-engineered the device to become a lot thinner.

The new MacBook will be available with two SKUs, both which uses Intel's Core M processor which is said to deliver a whole day usage even with the smaller battery capacity. The cheaper SKU has a 1.1Ghz Intel Core M processor with 8GB of storage (WAT?!) and 256GB of SSD drive will retail for Php. 57,500 ($1299) while the other one will have 1.2Ghz Intel Core M processor with the same storage buth with a higher 512GB of SSD drive will retail for (Drum Rolls) a staggering price of Php. 70,800 ($1599).

Pricing here in the Philippine is not yet final because taxes are not yet included for the price, so will you give all your money for a more thinner MacBook ?

Zenfone 2 Price : A bang for the buck !

ASUS' Zenfone line made a hit especially the 5 inch variant. Then, lately they unveiled a successor to their cheap offering, the Zenfone 2 which is unveiled during the CES 2015 last January.

It may have a cheaper than usual price tag, but cheaper price doesn't mean short performance especially when one of the variants of this phone comes with a 4GB of RAM, yes ! 4GB of RAM ! (WOW !)

So here it is, Zenfone 2 SKU's with their respective price tags and specifications :

Let's start with the cheapest one.

ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE550CL

- 5" HD (1280x720) IPS LCD Display w/Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
- Intel Atom Z2560 dual-core chipset
- 2GB RAM
- 16GB/32GB variants expandable up to 64GB via MicroSD
- 8MP Autofocus camera w/LED flash
- 2MP Front-facing camera
- 3G, HSPA
- 4G LTE
- Single SIM
- Android 5.0 Lollipop w/ZenUI

Price : Php. 7000+ ($175+)

ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE550ML

- 5.5" Full HD (1920x1280) IPS LCD Display w/Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
- Intel Atom Z3560 chipset (Quad-core 64-bit processor @1.8Ghz)
- 2GB RAM
- 16GB/32GB variants expandable up to 64GB via MicroSD
- 13MP Autofocus camera w/Dual-tone LED flash
- 5MP front-facing camera
- 3G, HSPA
- 4G LTE
- Single SIM
- 3000maH Battery
- Android 5.0 Lollipop w/ZenUI

Price : Php. 8500+ ($210+)

ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE551ML

- 5.5" Full HD (1920x1280) IPS LCD Display w/Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
- Intel Atom Z3560 chipset (Quad-core 64-bit processor @1.8Ghz) for the 2GB RAM variant
- Intel Atom Z3580 chipset (Quad-core 64-bit processor @2.3Ghz) for the 4GB RAM variant
- 2GB RAM/4GB RAM
- 16GB/32GB variants expandable up to 64GB via MicroSD
- 13MP camera (f/2.0 aperture w/5-element, autofocus) w/Rich Dual-tone LED flash
- 5MP front-facing camera (f/2.0 aperture w/85° wide-angle lens) w/Selfie Panorama
- 3G, HSPA
- 4G LTE
- Dual-SIM
- 3000maH Battery
- Android 5.0 Lollipop w/ZenUI

Price : (2GB RAM) Php. 9800+ ($250+)
              (4GB RAM) Php. 12700+ ($310+)

So all of the SKU's would come with 4G LTE. I have no words for availability yet here in the Philippines. But I believe that it will land here on mid-April to May this year.

The two cheaper SKU's would come with a matte back cover while the other one would come with metallic brush finish back cover that has different designs to choose from.

Really bang for the buck right ? I'm hoping to get my hands on it.

MyPhone Rio Grande : Largest Rio Ever.

BIG BROTHER OF RIO

MyPhone had been successful with their colorful Rio line that they released another member after another. This time, in phablet category. Meet the Rio Grande.

Yesterday, MyPhone launched the phone in a sale which slashes Php.500 from its SRP of Php. 4499.00 . It's only for one day so the crowd gathered on their participating kiosk like an angry mob just to purchase the phone. So why is it special ?

THE SPECIFICATIONS

Rio Grande is a phablet in all aspects. It has a huge 5.5" qHD IPS LCD Display with a pixel density of 200ppi, not the sharpest out there but for the price it is a value for money.

Running inside is a quad-core Mediatek MT6582 chipset with ARM Mali-400 dual-core GPU. The only compromise about the hardware is it's 512MB of RAM. Well they had to cut some corners to give way for the price. But if they decided to make it 1GB. It would be a steal.

Being a phablet, it needs a lot of juice to run for the whole day. Thankfully, MyPhone is generous to provide it with 2800maH battery which is more than enough for it's hardware that will surely make you use the phone the whole day.

To finish this off, here is the other specifications :

• Android 4.4.2 KitKat
• 4GB ROM
• 2G/3G Connectivity
• Dual-SIM
• 5MP Autofocus back camera w/     LED flash
• VGA front camera
• SRP : Php. 4499.00

It's good because they didn't remove the 3G connectivity like their previous cheaper phones.

FINAL SAY

I can say that this is a value for money except the lackluster 512MB of RAM. Well, you can still play high end games because it has a quad-core processor but the RAM limits the gaming capabilities. So expect lags and frame skips while playing high end games.

But given that it has a large screen and huge battery, it can be a media sidekick to watch videos or browse the web. Charging wouldn't be a problem.

This is the MyPhone Rio Grande

Three Faces of Watch : The Apple Watch !

Apple Inc. recently unveiled their new smartwatches during their Spring Forward event.

But Apple has a different approach in mind while they're planning to release this set of smartwatches. Instead of sticking to a single smartwatch, they decided to make three smartwatches namely, Apple Watch Sport, Apple Watch (Classic) and the Apple Watch Edition

APPLE WATCH SPORT

- The cheapest of the trio is the Apple Watch Sport which is available in 38mm and 42mm variants will retail for $349 and $399 respectively. It is made up of a special kind of alloy which is 60% tougher but is still lightweight. It also comes in different youthful colors hence the name Watch Sport.

APPLE WATCH

- The second of the trio is the Apple Watch (Classic) it is made from stainless steel and comes in 20 different stainless steel bands to choose from. The 38mm variant may range from $549 to $1049 while the 42mm variant will range from $599 to $1099 depending on the stainless steel band you prefer.

APPLE WATCH EDITION

- The most expensive of the trio. It is made up from mouth watering 18k (carats) of gold and comes in different leather bands. Obviously, it is targeted for luxury type of users. Pricing starts at $10,000 for the 38mm variant and $12,000 for the 42mm variant. I believe that Apple Watch Edition will be sold at chosen Apple Stores so it should be just a limited edition of the trio.

According to Apple, you can pre-order any of the trio starting on April 10 , shipping will start on April 24 depending on your location.