Cloudfone Excite 400d - Cheapest Jelly Bean Smartphone

Introducing the Cloudfone Excite 400d

I thought that Cherry Mobile was the only smartphone company that could dish out affordable yet highly functional Jelly Bean Smartphone devices and yet here I am proven wrong.  Early this year Cloudfone had been quite busy at creating a follow up to their former budget flagship phone called the Cloudfone Thrill 430x, and have now just released its successor the Cloudfone Excite 400d. 

This drop dead priced budget phone is priced at just under Php 4,500 and yet it packs a dual core processor(1Ghz), Stock Android Jelly Bean(version 4.1.2) and is at 4" with a front (.3MP) and back(5MP) camera. 

The Jelly Bean firmware coupled with the dual core processor is the backbone as to how smooth it is to navigate through the Cloudfone Excite 400d. Storage is expandable to 32GB and what I love about it is that you can pick either the microSD card as the primary storage or the internal memory. I am pretty sure you'll be using the external memory as the main storage area as the internal memory would only have about 500Mb left.

Camera-wise, the Cloudfone Excite 400d isn't something to be too excited about but it does the job with well lit situations but once you hit the dark room, even with it's flash be ready to get grainy low quality pictures. Same goes with the front facing camera which works well for skype calling and other video chat apps, but once you get to a dark place all they'll get to see is your silhouette. 

Sound quality is pretty good and is quite pleasant to listen to and you can download almost unlimited media files such as movies to watch on it's 4" TFT screen, which though low compared to the current ppi values being released in the market, is quite pleasant to watch from. 

Another plus factor is the fact that you have interchangeable back covers. You'll get the default black casing and one of three other colors with the packaging. The colors are quite similar to that of the Nokia Lumia series. 

The only down side to the Cloudfone Excite 400d is the battery which is at 1400mAh and would merit that you bring an extra power source of carry around your charger and plug in when you feel that you need the extra juice. 

Cloudfone Excite 400d Spec Sheet

• 1GHz Dual-core Processor, MediaTek MTK6577 chipset
• 512MB RAM
• 4GB internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 32GB
• 4.0-inch 800 x 480 resolution TFT capacitive touchscreen
• 5.0-megapixels rear-facing camera with autofocus and LED flash
• VGA front-facing camera
• WiFi a/b/g/n, WiFi Hotspot, Bluetooth, 3G, GPS with A-GPS
• Back Cover Colors: Blue, Yellow, Pink and Black
• Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean
• 1,400mAh Battery

Overall, the Cloudfone Excite 400d is quite a breakthrough at least in terms of the pricing scheme and could even rival those of the other more popular budget smartphone brands. The overall feel of the phone, the software and hardware, all make it quite an attractive package for just under the Php 4,500 marker. It is something to consider if you want to enjoy the full benefits of an Android Smartphone running on the latest firmware version called Jelly Bean. Its smooth and easy to use and light for anyone's budget. 

I can't wait to get to see what Cloudfone shall be dishing out next. 

Till Next Time...

-Metz

Is HTC ONE the One or is the Samsung Galaxy S4 for You?

With both the power house smartphone makers Samsung and HTC fighting for smartphone supremacy which for them equates to marketability and end user desirability it is undeniable that the flagship smartphones the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4 are to be talked about and pitted against each other in a seemingly unending battle of who's who in the world of smartphones.

To help with the choice of whom to go with will eventually weigh in on the consumer's overall preference and what once would consider vital or important to have versus that of course of cost. Here, we'll try to get things spread out for you to understand and hopefully help you make that choice.

Design

Upon first glance of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One you'll get to see the marked difference in terms of design and build. Once you pick it up you get to see how much more premium one feels compared to the other, considering that they are both flagship devices.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is somewhat still identical to its predecessor, with just a minor difference in bezel size with the Samsung Galaxy S4 sporting a much smaller bezel. It is also slightly thinner. The Samsung Galaxy S4 uses polycarbonate plastic, which has proven to be tough at protecting the phone from scratches but unfortunately feels a bit too plasticky in the hand. It also is a magnet for grease and dirt. One thing that is good to note about the Samsung Galaxy S4, is that due to its build quality it is light and wont weigh you down much once you put it in your pockets.

The HTC One has migrated far from the polycarbonate build and decided to go with a fully aluminium construction and just a tinge of polycarbonate accents. It has been compared to that of the iPhone 5 feel and look making it aesthetically pleasing to the general public. It is this reason that HTC One gives of a more premium feel as compared to that of the Samsung Galaxy S4. 

In terms of thickness the HTC One is slightly thicker and heavier at 9.33mm and 143g compared to the Samsung Galaxy S4 which is at 7.9mm in thickness and a weight of just about 130g. Upon handling, you will most likely not feel the difference between the two. 

Screen

The Samsung Galaxy S4 sports a 5in 1080x1920 Super AMOLED touchscreen. The HTC One has chosen to use a 4.7in 1080x1920 Super LCD3 display. Samsung's pixel density is at 441ppi and HTC's is at 469ppi. Between the two you will most likely not spot the difference in terms of pixel quality, but you will get to notice a difference in terms of brightness and deep black colors which is quite notable with that of the HTC One as compared to that of the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Performance

This is where the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One are quite at par with each other. Considering that the Samsung Galaxy S4 has a Quad Core (1.9Ghz) and and Octa Core (quad core 1.6Ghz and quad core 1.2Ghz) Version versus that of the Quad Core (1.7Ghz) Version of the HTC One. Quadrant scores between the Quad Core Versions HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 are pretty much at par but the Octa Core Version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 edges it a little over the 13000 marker.

Both the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One proved to be very quick, with apps opening instantly, video playback encountering no issues and multitasking working smoothly. 

Software

With both the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One running on Google's Android 4.2 Jelly Bean mobile operating system one would presume that using the two smartphones' software shouldn't be markedly different. 

The Samsung Galaxy S4's Touchwiz UI is similar to that of the older Samsung model's UI. Making a migration from lets say Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or a its predecessor Samsung Galaxy S3 wouldn't be tough as the interface is pretty much the same. Some people find it a little over complicated though, but with time shouldn't be too bad.

Samsung has included several new features to make the Galaxy S4 more attractive so to speak. These include the feature known as Eye Scroll, a feature that enables users to scroll down web pages and documents by simply using their eyes. This doesn't pan out well as much and from a user standpoint, I highly doubt that this would be used by the general public unless of course you're on a device like Google Glasses (wonder if this is just a teaser and Samsung is planning to compete with Google in this new technological arena). Another software feature is Air Gesture, which enables the user to swipe through pages and images by waving a hand in the air over the screen. I still dont see where this can be useable unless of course you'd be too obsessive compulsive about not leaving a finger print mark on your screen. I still prefer being able to physically touch the screen, though again I wonder if this is a teaser tech for something like that of the Google Glasses. 

The HTC One has revamped their UI  and aptly called it the Sense 5.0. They have stripped it down and is quite easier and elegant to use even compared to the old Sense versions.  HTC's Sense 5.0 user interface introduces Blinkfeed, which reminds me of Flipboard. This makes information on the go quite fun and easy to read. HTC hasn't bundled many apps onto the HTC One at least in terms of bloatware, thus leaving more space for the things that users would want in terms of applications. 

Camera

This is where things get a little tricky as the two smartphone giants have taken a completely different route in terms of technology. The Samsung Galaxy S4 features a 13MP rear-facing camera, while the HTC One features a 4MP 'Ultrapixel' camera on its back.

The Samsung Galaxy S4's camera is typically good. The 13MP excelled at taking photos in well-lit surroundings, producing images full of natural colours and detail. 

Samsung has configured the Galaxy S4 with some custom camera tools, including Eraser, Animated Video and Sound and Shot modes, expanding on the traditional Android camera interface.

The HTC One's 'Ultrapixel' camera was expected to be the "next big thing" at the handset's launch and with new features like the ZOE HTC is hoping to get to capture the market's interest. 

Both these units performed quite well in well lit situations but in low light, you'll get to see where the HTC One excels, just be careful though to keep a steady hand when taking low light shots. Picking out which to choose at this stand point is certainly a matter of preference. The flash of the Samsung Galaxy S4 does compensate at times when there is little to no light so night shots shouldn't be much of a problem and HTC One's performance is pretty much at par with the picture quality of that of the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Battery and storage

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is powered by a 2,600mAh battery, while the HTC One features a slightly smaller 2,300mAh battery.

The time with which Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One gets fully drained at least with general use, but with the Samsung Galaxy S4 having a removable battery, gives it a slight advantage over that of the HTC One. I personally can attest to this need as when my HTC One X's battery had to be replaced, I was advised to contact the HTC Service center to have it done versus just dropping by a store to buy new ones for my Samsung Galaxy Note 2. 

In terms of storage, the Samsung Galaxy S4 boasts either 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, and this can be expanded with an additional 64GB using a microSD card. The HTC One on the other hand comes with either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, with no capability to expand this further.

This is again where it gets a little tricky. Most people really want to have an external memory option, however with Jelly Bean, most buyers dont realize that you wont be able to migrate applications to an external microSD. This makes whatever internal memory you've got as the only space for installation of applications. Thus, the microSD is only used for media files and if you get the 16GB models of the Samsung Galaxy S4, you'd only have around 10+GB of useable memory for applications. I would veer away from the Samsung Galaxy S4 16GB options if you are the type that loves to gather as much application as you can, otherwise opt for the the 32GB and 64GB versions. HTC One however has had that issue in their foresight. Additional storage space though does help out a bit when you like to store lots of media files, making the choice of having an external card option as a matter of choice.

Both of these manufacturers have also included cloud storage services to compensate a bit more for memory space though the general market would still prefer a larger storage capacity or at least the option to extend it a bit more.

Overall

Making a choice between flagship devices is definitely not an easy choice. It'll be a battle of functionality, features, and aesthetics. which you'll choose is entirely a matter of preference and deciding on which you feel best suits your need and lifestyle.

Between the two though, I would pick the Samsung Galaxy S4 for the following reasons:

1. The battery is easily replaceable, if anything does go wrong with this part of the phone I can easily drop by a gadget shop and buy a replacement. I don't need to call service or customer care to get an appointment and go out of my way to have my battery "fixed"

2. MicroSd Card option, let's say you're on a budget and yet wants a high end phone. Getting the 16GB model is definitely going to be the cheaper end of the spectrum for the flagship but with the microSD card slot you'd have places to store those pics, videos and other media files without having to eat up on your main memory. Though a little scrimping on the number of apps you can install is sacrificed but the overall fun you can have with the phone isn't.

3. Accessories are easy to find. Prior to the release of the Samsung Galaxy S4 to the general market, you'd find that there are already several accessories available once you do grab the phone. My experience unfortunately with HTC One series is that accessories are few if not hard to find and not many are able to accentuate the beauty of it's design making it look quite bland and bulky at times.

I guess you can say that I am pragmatic in terms of my choice. I personally like to grab a device that can work well with me long term with out too much of a hassle and still provide me with a great end user experience. Again, this reflects who and what I am. I'd be quite happy to hear what your thoughts are on these two and which shall be your choice?

Till Next Time...

-Metz

Travel Recommendation: Kahuna Hotel, Cafe and Restaurant - La Union

With just days left before we hit the sands and surf of La Union we had the privilege to get the chance to stay are a pretty amazing resort that is fully packed with amenities and is guaranteed to make our stay more than just pleasant. 

Kahuna Hotel, Cafe and Restaurant is situated in the heart of the most privileged surf destination in the Philippines, San Juan, La Union. Kahuna is a boutique resort and spa with Balinese-inspired cottages that peer out directly into the beach. The calming sounds of rolling waves, beautiful sunset and great ambience are available for our guest to bask in.

Its charming 31 rooms, bar, restaurant and pool face an ocean cove and sandy beach. The architecture resembles a fusion of Filipino and Balinese-style beach houses with white stucoo walls and native grass roofing, old world charm, with the latest hi-tech features. Well thought-out decorative details and functionality guarantee our guest a stimulating and unique experience in a world class facility.

Here are some of the things that got us interested with Kahuna Hotel, Cafe and Restaurant:

So far everything looks to be in order, I can't wait to get to do a full review of the place and share some of the fun photos that we'll be taking of our experiences there. One thing though to take note of, Kahuna Hotel and La Union in general is a 7 hour road trip from Metro Manila. I'd suggest to get a rental van or have a driver that can stand the long hours. Bringing food into the hotel is not allowed so if you did pack something either get it finished prior to your arrival or simply leave them in the vehicle. Unfortunately pets are not allowed so you'd have to leave Fido and Garfield home for this destination. 

Booking price for the place could vary depending on season and thus is best to give them a call. You might even get lucky to get promo rates or group rates. 

If you do want to make a reservation simply call the following numbers:

Kahuna Hotel, Cafe and Restaurant
National Highway, Brgy. Urbiztondo
San Juan, La Union 2514

p: +63.72.607.1040
f: +63.72.607.1017

e: info@kahunaresort.com
w: www.kahunaresort.com

For corporate functions and group bookings, contact our Sales and Marketing Department:

Glynis S. Balagot
Sales and Marketing Manager
m: +63.917.885.6566
e: glynis.balagot@kahunaresort.com
BBM 28b70748

Till The Next Time...

-Metz

Is the ASUS MeMO Pad a Tablet that's Worthy of being a Travel Partner?

I bet you might not have gotten the chance to have heard of the brand called MeMO PAD. Asus is the builder of this new tablet and with the Google Nexus Tablet under Asus' belt, there are many expectation with regards to this new release. Let's go over some of the things that I feel would be most important for your decision.

Design

The overall look and feel of the MeMo Pad seems to have gotten its roots from its Asus Google Nexus 7 counterpart, especially with how the textured back was designed. The main difference that one would notice though is that with the Nexus 7, you'll get a soft touch material coating as compared to the hard plastic feel of the MeMO Pad. The MeMO Pad also comes in multiple colors which include black, white, gray, and cherry pink. 

The ASUS MeMO Pad measures 7.7 x 4.6 x 0.4 inches and weighs 12.5 ounces. This makes the MeMO Pad tablet slightly larger and heavier than its Google Nexus 7 counterpart. 

The MeMo Pad's power button and volume controls are located on the top left edge of the device, with a headphone jack at the top and a microUSB and microSD slot on the bottom. The ASUS MeMO PAD tablet has an expandable memory. The speaker is located on the back, an inch-wide grille on the bottom left.

Display

The screen resolution on the MeMO Pad, 1024 x 600. This falls short compared to the competition. The Google Nexus 7 has a 1280 x 800 pixel displays, providing crisp and clear text and images. 

The screen limitations were especially apparent when we were browsing several different websites. Smaller text was harder to read than on the Google Nexus 7. Viewing angles tend to be a bit limited, making it difficult to see content clearly.

Audio

You would be happy to hear that we were pleasantly surprised by the audio quality of the ASUS MeMO Pad. It played loud and clear music during playback and it makes it quite a good alternative to bringing portable speakers when traveling. 

The MeMO Pad's speaker is enhanced by SonicMaster Audio Technology and the Audio Wizard app, which includes preset audio levels for different categories of media. 

Keyboard and Interface

The main advantage of the ASUS MeMO Pad is that it runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which includes features such an enhanced notification drawer and a series of performance enhancements dubbed "Project Butter" which allows for an extremely smooth user experience. 

The ASUS MeMO Pad includes has two keyboards to choose from. These are the Android keyboard and the ASUS keyboard, although additional keyboards can be installed through Google Play. The ASUS keyboard, which has light gray keys against a darker gray background, features a full number row along the top, and has slightly more space between each key than its Android counterpart. 

Both keyboards support voice typing, but the ASUS keyboard requires Internet connectivity, whereas the Android keyboard works offline. Users can also input text using Google voice typing, which also works without an Internet connection. Though in a general sense this feature would most likely be left unnoticed by the general user. 

Apps

ASUS MeMO Pad tablet has a been nice enough to only put in features that can be considered as useful and not flood the unit with too much bloatware.  There is SuperNote, which a scribbling and note-taking app, the MyPainter drawing app, ASUS Studio for managing and editing photos, Zinio and MyBitCast for syncing notes with your ASUS WebStorage account. ASUS also includes App Backup, App Locker, ASUS Story and Studio and the BuddyBuzz chat client.

Another great thing to take note of about the ASUS MeMO Pad is that it also has access to the Google Play store, which currently contains a countless number of applications that one can download and use. The MeMO Pad also includes Floating App, which allows certain applications, such as the browser, video, a stopwatch and certain settings, to be displayed as a floating window on top of the currently running application. This feature I find quite neat and have found it quite useful when multitasking is needed.  

Performance

Here is where things get a little tricky for the ASUS MeMO Pad. One thing that you have to keep in mind is that the ASUS MeMO Pad is built for Media Consumption and not for games that contain heavy graphics. The reason for this is that the ASUS MeMO Pad only uses a single core 1-GHz VIA WM8950 processor with 1GB of RAM. I personally would have wanted double the core at least or double the RAM. It is here that you'll get to notice a slight lag in terms of transition effects such as going from portrait to landscape mode. 

The MeMO Pad has three power settings, Performance, Balanced and Power Saving. If you wish to have your applications to load faster, such as a game like Angry Birds, you'd have to keep it at Performance. Placing it at Power Saving could have you on wait time for much longer than you would want to. 

One thing that surprised me if anything was that the graphics looked great and played flawlessly with "Riptide GP." But, there was a delay between tilts and the in-game steering, which made the vehicle quite a challenge to handle. Games like Angry Bird and Fruit Ninja all played quite smoothly. 

Webcam

The ASUS MeMO Pad is equipped with a VGA Front Facing Camera (.3MP). This is pretty ok for webcam applications like skype. Just bear with the slight yellow hue and some rather apparent resolution issues. 

Battery Life and Wi-Fi

With continuous use the ASUS MeMO Pad has the capacity to last a little over 6 hours to 7 hours, much less though if you are watching movies and playing somewhat high graphic games (at least those that can run on the provided specifications). 

Verdict

The ASUS MeMO Pad Tablet is an OK tablet as a travel companion for three simple reasons:

1. Its cheap and easy to pack

2. It can be an awesome Multimedia Companion - from eBooks to Sound Blasting your boredom away.

3. Its on Jelly Bean giving you a somewhat buttery smooth performance. 

Right now the ASUS MeMO PAD is selling at less than Php 6,000. Though do check out other retail outlets such as those in Greenhills in San Juan, Philippines and St. Francis Square beside Megamall. 

If you ask me personally though, I would check out the Cherry Mobile Tablets first prior to making a choice on this one. You might have to decide on what you can afford versus specs.

Till Next Time...

-Metz

Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 Jelly Bean Review

Time to break from the temporary Hiatus from Sidestrip with a bit of good news. As promised, Samsung has released the latest firmware update for the Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 to the general public here in Asia, specifically the Philippines. They were able to meet the time frame of rolling everything out before the 2nd quarter deadline was over. With that aside, let's take a closer look as to what one will expect to experience and how to troubleshoot some of the little things that I have encountered with the firmware update to Jelly bean 4.1.2.

The software update came just as the Samsung Galaxy S4 started hitting the local market which I believe was done so that people would be able to see the marked difference between the two units even with the upgrade. Though had they rolled this firmware out people would have most likely stuck with the N7000 rather shifting to the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. The logic I believe behind it is due to the fact that now people have something to upgrade to that is more desirable, so to speak.

For those that are still using the Samsung Galaxy Note N7000, there are many things that have been provided for in terms of functionality. If you have had the chance to play around with the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and had envied the features such as pop up play, multi-window, and smart stay, you are quite in luck as these features are now fully integrated and functional with the latest JB update. The writing accuracy and overall feel of the S-Pen has also been improved. I am also happy to report that the battery life seems to be better managed with the new firmware as compared to the previous ICS.

With all the buttery smooth functionality that Jelly Bean has promised, you might get a little dismayed upon the first installation of the JB Device. The reason for this is that in order for you to have a smooth transition from ICS to Jelly Bean, you'd have to wipe clean your Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 prior to the update. This is avoid any low memory issues that may occur as you install the new firmware. You also wont be allowed to install Apps to an external SD with Jelly Bean 4.1.2 thus any application that have been working to and from the internal and external SD could cause an issue. So to avoid having to go through the trouble of hard booting your system and wiping it from the start like I did, it would be best to back up your applications and data, then do a full reset of your phone's data and information prior to proceeding with the installation of the Jelly Bean.

If you had unfortunately already done what I have and installed the Jelly Bean Firmware without doing what I mentioned above, you would most likely encounter a glitchy and an extremely lagging UI, that would probably make you want to through the poor thing out the window. Good news is that you don't have to do that, all you have to do is simply do a full reset and just reinstall your applications one by one. I would also recommend to test each app for any compatibility issues with the new firmware. Applications such as Addons Detector and Google Play Music would prove to be quite glitchy. I would also disable Talk Back in the Applications Manager as this too doesn't seem to function well with the new firmware.

Once you have updated it and have cleared past those little bumps, you'll find a rather smooth operating system, giving your unit a brand new feel to it. The Nature UX is pretty impressive and can seemingly perform almost as well as the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, which is again most likely why they delayed the release of the update to the Samsung Galaxy Note N7000. With both of the units at hand, I still have to attest to the difference in terms of speed and overall performance of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 over Samsung Galaxy Note. But with this new update, the difference isn't so bad so those that own a Samsung Galaxy Note may opt out of upgrading to the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and simply wait for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 which should be out sometime by the last quarter of this year.

Till Next Time...

-Metz