26 January, 2012

TechPinas

TechPinas


Download Video Recorder App for Android - lgCamera, It's the Best Out There!

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 11:23 AM PST

The Android Market has a lot of hidden gems; Apps that don't get much of the spotlight but are actually better than some that do.

One of them is my recent discovery: lgCamera by RubberBigPepper

lgcamera
I stumbled upon it while looking for a video camera application that has macro or close-up shooting mode.

If you're tired of the limited features of the default camera app on your Android phone, then I'd suggest you give this one a go. Here's a clip I recorded showing how lgCamera's interface looks:



As you can see, it has 2 modes; still camera and camcorder. lgCamera supports all resolutions for both photos and videos that your phone can give you by default; For example, if your phone can shoot 8 MegaPixel photos and 1080p Full HD videos, lgCamera - just like the default cam app - will give you those.

But it does a lot more than that. In still mode, there's an anti-shake feature, forced autofocus before shooting as well as time and date overlay; some stuff you won't get with the default app. In video mode, it allows you to choose the frame rate, the audio and video bitrate and lets you record with torchlight on.

But for me, what's totally cool about lgCamera is that it gave my LG Optimus 2X's video camera a macro or close-up mode! As a tech blogger, that feature is important to me. You see, LG Optimus 2X comes with an 8 MegaPixel autofocus camera and oddly enough, a fixed focus video camera. So, by default, the still camera can take close-up shots but the camcorder cannot. I thought, 'They share the same lens! There has to be a way to get around this.'

And lgCamera offered the solution. RubberBigPepper developers are the best, I tell you.

Android fans, you can get lgCamera for free via the Android Market. The Pro version sells for only Php 85.17.


New RIM CEO is Thorsten Heins : What are his Plans for BlackBerry?

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 11:19 AM PST

Research In Motion (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry smartphones, recently announced a change of leadership.

Thorsten Heins replaced Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, as the new CEO and President of RIM. This is an effort by the company to regain stockholders' confidence in the face of dwindling sales and market share in North America. Thorsten Hein has been with RIM for four years. He has worked for Siemens prior to his stint with the Canadian company.

thorsten heins

In his interview released on the internet a few days ago, he gave credit to the two former CEOs who have preceded him. He said that the company has grown but it was still comparably smaller than the market leaders. Now with his new leadership, his goal is to make RIM belong among the top 3 mobile phone companies worldwide.



Heins acknowledges that the strength of their market reach is within the enterprise clients, but he also did not fail to include their growing consumer market. Likewise, he plans to give complete customer satisfaction to these two different groups.

He is quite optimistic about their new mobile platform, the BlackBerry 10, and the BlackBerry Playbook 2.0. He says that the company shall release these products on time. But as of the present, the company shall continue to pursue a major marketing campaign to promote their current line of BlackBerry 7 OS devices.

Here's my personal view: Other tech sites have been quite unoptimistic about this change of leadership, saying that he is part of that RIM culture which failed to keep pace with the emerging market trends. But let's give him a chance to prove he can change the direction of the company's fortunes. The BlackBerry 10 OS seems to be a promising new platform as it was built from the ground up.

TP Contributing Writer Profile: Mon Arguelles is a graduate of Environmental Management, a joint program of the Ateneo De Manila University and University of San Francisco. He's currently taking up his MBA. He is a part-time professor and environmental researcher but considers being updated about the latest technological trends to be one of his favorite pastimes.

Mark of TP: TechPinas congratulates Mr. Heins and wishes him the best for his new position as RIM's CEO. TechPinas is a BlackBerry fan (We root for BB!) and the TP team is hoping for nothing but the best for the brand under his leadership. Right now, we're excited to try out and review the BlackBerry 10 platform. Also, we long to have a meaningful conversation on BlackBerry's plans for the Philippines with Mr. Heins soon.


HTC Explorer Philippines Price, Specs, In the Flesh Video!

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 01:16 AM PST

I think HTC Explorer is slightly more expensive than its seeming rival, Samsung Galaxy Y, for three reasons.

htc explorer

1. It has a bigger screen with higher resolution.
2. It has more RAM. You get 512 MB of RAM with HTC Explorer vs 290 MB with SGY.
3. It flaunts a higher resolution autofocus camera; 2 MegaPixels fixed focus with SGY, 3 MegaPixels autofocus with HTC Explorer
Read TechPinas' Complete Samsung Galaxy Y vs. HTC Explorer Specs Battle feature via the link.

Of course, we can quote other reasons -- like the amazing HTC Sense experience and that HTC handsets have always been on the premium side. But let's save those for another post, shall we?

htc explorer

As of writing, there are some stores in malls which sell SGY for around Php 6,000 to 6,500 (Yes, higher than the SRP because of high demand). On the other hand, you can get HTC Explorer from online stores like TP-favorite, WidgetCity, for Php 8,800.

For those who are curious about the handset and are wondering how it actually looks like in the flesh, here's a clip showing the hardware of the cutie, HTC Explorer:


Overall, it looks like a shrunk HTC Desire S. The back has a matte finish - like that of BB Curve 8520 - which helps prevent the phone from slipping from your hand.


To wrap this up in true TP fashion, here are the complete specs of HTC Explorer:

TechPinas Smartphone Technical Specs Table (TSTST)
Name HTC Explorer
Type Slate Form Factor (Full Touchscreen)
Price Category Entry Level
Dimensions102.8 x 57.2 x 12.9 mm
Weight 108 grams
Available Colors Active Black, Metallic Navy, Active Navy, Metallic Black, Metallic Orange, Metallic Purple, White
Operating System Android 2.3 Gingerbread
Display 3.2-inch, 320 x 480 pixels, TFT, capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors
Processor 600MHz Scorpion CPU, Adreno 200 GPU, Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset
Camera 3.15 MegaPixels, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus
Video Capture Yes, QVGA 15 frames per second (to be confirmed, definitely non-HD)
Audio and Video Playback MP3/eAAC+/WAV/WMA player, XviD/MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player
Ports microUSB 2.0, 3.5 mm audio jack
Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, EDR, 3G HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
Network 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, 3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100
Memory 90 MB storage, 512 MB ROM, 512 MB RAM, supports up to 32GB
Sensors Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Proximity
Battery 1230 mAh
Uptime Standby of up to 485 hours on 2G Standby of up to 445 hours on 3G Talk time of up to 7 hours 40 minutes on 2G Talk time of up to 7 hours 33 minutes on 3G
Value-Added FeaturesHTC Sense UI v3.5, SRS surround sound enhancement, Google Services Suite, Low price tag
Announcement Q1 2012
Availability January 2012
Price Php 8,800 in online stores