12 March, 2012

TechPinas

TechPinas


BoostCase Offers Permanent Solution to iPhone 4 and 4S Short Battery Life Worries! Unboxing! Where to Buy it and What's the Price?

Posted: 12 Mar 2012 04:05 PM PDT

TechPinas Quick Review of BoostCase

I'm happy to report that I've permanently fixed my iPhone 4S' short battery life issue!

And nope, I didn't do it by deciding to just forever keep the phone in standby mode or by simply avoiding to turn on Wifi, Bluetooth or Mobile Data henceforth. Why would anyone wanna do that to a phone this great?

Anyway. My most recent purchase from Digital Hub offered the lasting solution --

BoostCase, which promises to double the battery life of Apple iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, is composed of two parts; We have the Snap-on Case...


and the 1900 mAh Extended Battery Pack.


What does it do exactly? Well basically, BoostCase can charge your iPhone on the go (even while it's inside your pocket) with one press of a button - while also protecting it from bumps and scratches. In effect, it gives you peace of mind in knowing that your iPhone won't go out on you while you're still on the road, far from an electrical outlet.

Watch me unbox my unit:




Here's what my iPhone 4S looks like with the snap-on case. How to put on the case, you ask? You start sideways -- not from the bottom. Slide one side of the phone - the one with the volume buttons - into the case. Then, ever carefully push the other side down using your thumb. Easy.


The snap-on case has a hole at the back for the camera and the LED flash, and another for 'hooking it up' with the extended battery pack's knob.


BoostCase extended battery pack has a connector which fits the port at the rear of iPhone 4 or 4S.


Just slide the iPhone down to connect it to the battery pack and to lock it in place.


Aside from its main functionalities, I also love BoostCase's design. I mean, I think it looks really cute. I got mine in Sky Blue.

So how do you use it?

The first thing you need to do is to make sure your iPhone and BoostCase are both fully charged before you leave the house.

BoostCase has a microUSB port at the rear for charging it (and the iPhone at the same time) using a standard microUSB charger (and for connecting the iPhone to a Mac or PC with the BoostCase on). The iPhone will charge first and when it reaches 100%, BoostCase will start charging. From my experience, it takes around 2 hours to fully charge the handset and another 2 and a half hours for the case.

There are LED lights at the rear of the extended battery pack which blink while the device is plugged in. You'll know when the 1900 mAh pack is fully charged when all LED bulbs are lit and have stopped blinking.

When you're not charging the pack, these lights indicate the amount of juice left in it; The more lights the better. To check, just quickly press the power button found at the bottom of the device.



Go out and use your iPhone as you would on a regular day. Once you notice that the handset is low on battery just long press the button at the rear of BoostCase to start charging on the go.

Note that the extended battery pack is turned on by default. This means that as soon as you connect the iPhone to it, it will start charging the handset. You'll have to turn it off to save juice by holding down the button at the rear of the device for around 2 to 3 seconds -- unless you actually want it to constantly charge your phone to 100%. You also turn it on this way.


Performance

BoostCase promises to 'double the battery life of iPhone 4S' and from my experience, that's what it does exactly. Without the pack, my iPhone gives me around 8 hours of uptime. Now, with BoostCase, it stays on and does its thing for around 16 to 20 hours. I'd say I absolutely made the right decision to get it.

Pricing and Availability in the Philippines

BoostCase is now available at all Digital Hub and Beyond The Box stores in Mega Manila. The official retail price is Php 3,550, which I think is not bad at all considering all the benefits that an iPhone with long battery life can give its owner.


Samsung Galaxy Pocket Philippines Price Guesstimate, Complete Specs, Release Date

Posted: 11 Mar 2012 10:44 PM PDT

Didn't I tell you Samsung is serious about dominating all smartphone price categories?

As if Samsung Galaxy Y is not enough to make the brand the leader in the entry level Android smartphone category this year, the Korean company recently announced Samsung Galaxy Pocket, which has almost similar specifications as the former but has a slightly smaller display.


Looking like a shrunk version of Samsung Galaxy Y Duos or Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus, Samsung Galaxy Pocket - as a true entry level release - has modest technical specifications. It runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread with just an 832 MHz single core processor, and handles multitasking with but a measly 124 MB of RAM. Imaging and video capture are covered but only via 2 MegaPixel fixed focus camera with no flash and a QVGA recorder. The good thing though is that users can enjoy Wifi and 3G connectivity on this handset for easy access to online content and favorite social networking sites.

Photos and specifications of this handset were fed to tech blogs from around the globe earlier this month. However, pricing and exact release date were left out. As yet, TP hasn't received word from Samsung Philippines regarding this handset but I'm guessing that it will land here in time for back to school season with an SRP of around Php 5,000. Obviously, this phone is made for young consumers, so kindly share this post with them.

Finally, like what we always do, I present the complete technical specifications of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Pocket --

TechPinas Smartphone Technical Specs Table (TSTST)
Name Samsung Galaxy Pocket
Type Slate Form Factor (Full Touchscreen)
Price Category Entry Level
Dimensions103.7 x 57.5 x 12 mm
Weight 97 grams
Available Colors Black
Operating System Android 2.3 Gingerbread
Display 2.8 inches (~143 ppi pixel density), 240 x 320 pixels, TFT capacitive touchscreen, 256K colors
Processor 832 MHz Single Core
RAM/ROM 124 MB RAM
Camera 2 MegaPixels, 1600x1200 pixels, no front camera
Video Capture QVGA at 15 frames per second
Audio and Video Playback MP4/H.264/H.263/MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player
Ports microUSB v2.0, 3.5 mm audio jack
Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP, 3G HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps; HSUPA
Network 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, 3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100
Internal Storage 3 GB, expandable via microSD, supports up to 32GB
Sensors Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Proximity
Battery Li-Ion 1200 mAh
Uptime TBA, TP Guesstimate: Standby of up to 330 hours, Talk time of up to 5 hours
Value-Added Features Entry Level price, SNS integration, Google Services Suite
Announcement March 2012
Availability Q2 2012
Price TP Guesstimate: Php 4,500 to Php 5,000