New iPods. Soon.

I have no idea why I’m starting to title my posts like that. But anyway, that’s not what this post is about. Ok so I just stumbled upon news about the next iPods that might come out of Cupertino. And this is how it might look like:

The New iPod Nano. Soon?

Any comments? Personally, I think it looks more like a cellphone than an iPod. Except for the click-wheel, of course. But I don’t know. There’s no confirmation yet. But I would think this would come out as close to the real deal as possible. The source of this tidbit? Kevin Rose. I’m guessing he’s credible enough. Head on over to his blog for the full story.

Rogers BlackBerry Bold, Today

If you’ve been paying attention to the BlackBerry blogosphere, you should be pretty excited about today. It’s August 21st, and it’s been confirmed that the BlackBerry Bold will be coming out of Rogers… yes, today (am I even right?).

We’ll see what we’ll find out about the news today as the Canadians should be able to get their hands on a BlackBerry that has been through a lot of delays, after delays, after delays. Stay tuned…

Globe Telecom & iPhone 3G on August 22nd

So the news is out, Globe Telecom will be releasing the iPhone 3G on August 22nd. That’s good news for iPhone fans all over the archipelago. Yup, the Philippines is finally part of something big at least in the tech world scene as the date also marks batch #2 of iPhone releases slated in other countries as well. 

Head on over to the Globe iPhone 3G page for more info about the subscription plans and how much they cost. The one thing that I didn’t like with all the pricing hoopla was the fact that there wasn’t any unlimited data plan at all. Postpaid plans start at 1,599 with these allocations: 100 local minutes, 350 text messages, 20 Wiz Wi-Fi hours (available only in Metro Manila for now, I think) and a measly local mobile internet airtime of only 40 hours–don’t forget: there’s 720 hours in a month. With that plan, the 8GB variant would cost PhP 16,800 while the 16GB would be at PhP 22,300. You need to be on the 4,999 plan to get the iPhone 3G 8GB for free (PhP 5,500 for the 16GB) and you get 750 minutes, 650 SMS, unlimited Wiz Wi-Fi hours and 100 hours of internet data. The usual 24-month lock-in period applies.

If you find the subscription plans appallingly expensive, you can always get the prepaid kits on installment at 0% interest up to 12 months with most banks’ credit cards. With PhP 41,889, you get the 8GB. PhP 48,899 would get you the 16GB model. Now the question is? Am I going to be getting one for myself? Answer: I will just pass for now. I am extremely satisfied with my BlackBerry 8320 along with my current Globe BlackBerry data plan, so that’s why. 3G isn’t even widespread where I’m at, much less EDGE.

But we’ll see what happens as we move forward as the iPhone is a really great gadget to have. Read the ongoing discussion about this development over at PhilMUG, specifically in this thread. Be informed.

*Photo courtesy of myGlobe iPhone.

BlackBerry Bold gets some serious competition?

I think I found this out too late: a new smartphone from the Nokia E-series, the E71, is already out in retail stores, at least locally. I was at the mall yesterday afternoon doing some window-shopping when I spotted a BlackBerry-Curve-looking phone in one of the Nokia business centers here. I thought it was one of those usual mess-ups with mobile display galleries but I was wrong. So I checked it out and recognized that it’s the real E71, the upgrade from the notorious E61, E61i and E90 E-Series variants. When I went out to check the web (yup, you guessed it: using my neighbor’s Wi-Fi, thanks to Globelines), this new addition to the business phones from Nokia came out so loud on the blogosphere and in many other forums. It seemed almost everyone over at PhilMUG who had an older E-Series phone wanted to take home an E71 soon after it hit the shelves, check out this thread. I think it hit the stores just last week, on a Friday perhaps? But please read on. 

All the hype aside, let’s move on to its specifications. If you go and hit up this page from the Nokia-Asia site, you’ll find out that this phone has got every connectivity option available: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA, HSDPA, Wi-Fi b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, AND Infrared (yes, Infrared!). It’s also got integrated and assisted GPS and a 3.2 megapixel camera. That’s quite a slew of features, I must admit. 

I’ve only read two full reviews so far, one from the Boy Genius himself and from allaboutsymbian.com, and it’s clear that this smartphone has gotten nothing but praises due to its super-slim design and functionality. While I was able to play with a demo unit at the mall yesterday, one thing I could remember that I didn’t like though was that the keypads seem so tightly-squeezed into each other, there’s like no air in-between keys. It’s so different from the perfect keypad spacing I have on my BlackBerry Curve. 

Right now, I am not sure if the E71 would come in as serious competition for the BlackBerry Bold. We know the BlackBerry’s forte is push-email and top-of-the-line security but if you’ve checked out the specs of the E71, it’s got the Nokia Intellisync feature and some security too. So I’m not sure if that could match up to what the BlackBerry has been doing (and doing perfectly good at that) since 2002. We’ll see for ourselves. 

Now let’s all wait until the BlackBerry Bold comes out. It’s been delayed since forever! The latest feed from BlackBerryNews, hints that it may come out from Australia on July 29th and then UK, hopefully. Hopefully… 

*Photo courtesy of AllAboutSymbian.com.

I got mentioned in a newspaper…

I just found out I got mentioned in an article written by Jose “Butch” Dalisay on The Philippine Star. It came out last June 22nd in the Sunday Gadgets’ Section. The online version of the full article can be found here.

Here’s the paragraph where I was mentioned:

As a Web browser and mp3 player, the iPhone is “light years ahead” of the BlackBerry, as even local BB guru Ric Pacana acknowledges. The iPhone’s Safari browser is the only real usable phone browser out there that comes close to the desktop experience, and the iPhone’s ability to automatically reorient images (horizontal or vertical) and to resize them with a two-finger “curtain” effect is matchless. However, Ric prefers his BB for its strengths: push email, long battery life, better security, and multitasking.

Butch Dalisay’s blog > http://penmanila.net/

BlackBerry Updates

The BlackBerry universe has been so loud lately. First, there’s news about the coming of the BlackBerry 9000 a.k.a. BlackBerry Bold. Then there was the big BIS upgrade to BIS 2.5 which now supports HTML email, Hotmail integration and etc. This was rolled out in Asia Pacific first on the first weekend of June. Please check the thread I started on BlackBerryForums about BIS 2.5. The Americas will be getting their BIS upgraded next weekend as well. Aside from that, leaked pictures of the BlackBerry Javelin also started to come out on the web last week. Just today, Jibi from BlackBerryForums wrote an article on BlackBerryNews that the BlackBerry Javelin will have the BlackBerry 9300 as its model number. And it will come out stocked with handheld OS version 4.6!

Software-wise, the BlackBerry Desktop Manager version 4.5 has also come out. Read more of it here, courtesy of JSanders. It is confirmed that this version of DM is clean, good and should be issue-free as compared to 4.3. An ongoing discussion about this software can be found here as well.

The June-July period will see a lot of news and updates for the BlackBerry line. And it’s all about the number 5! Why? Remember the BIS upgrade to 2.5? Then there’s Desktop Manager 4.5. So the only missing piece then would be the device software version 4.5. Everything else would then be covered. I guess 5 is the new 8.

Stay tuned…

Twittering via IM

It’s a rainy Friday out here. It’s been pouring down since early AM. I’m just too preoccupied right now updating this page’s layout, fixing widgets’ locations and how they appear plus there’s twitter. And I think it’s fun. The only issue I have right now is I can’t seem to get through twittering from my GTalk IM account just yet. GTalk on my iChat is still stuck at “waiting for authorization.” I guess I would have to use my brother’s PC later on today just so I could isolate if it’s a Mac thing that’s holding me back twittering via IM. I couldn’t wait as it’s pretty much like blogging on Blogger via email…

I just signed up on Twitter!

Okay so I just took the plunge and signed up for Twitter. Thanks to mi amigo JayPads for the suggestion so I should now be able to begin twitter-ing in no time! Just so you’d know, all my twitters should be available over at twitter.com/ricpac. Go check that out will ya?

Now twit me, and I’ll twit you back–no big deal, right?

Experiencing some local issues with my laptop

So I have had this baseline MacBook Pro for over a month now and have had no issues until I updated my OS X to 10.5.3 when it became available via software update. You know Macs are never meant to be shut down, you just let them sleep, wake them up and they’re back in action–exactly as you’ve left them.

Now here’s the story: there was that one morning in May I’ll never forget. What happened was… I just let it sleep the night before some disaster happened. I just closed the lid and let it snore. I woke up early the next day and thought I’d get online first before the usual morning rituals. And then I saw this after I opened the darn thing (BTW I call this a post-sleep nightmare):

I took that photo just for documentation purposes. Ok, so then I forced reboot it and that somehow seemed to have fixed that issue. So I posted this experience on the two Mac forums I know and frequent – PhilMUG and MacRumors. I then found out I wasn’t the only one who has experienced this ugly phenomenon. Some have commented it most likely is a video card or worse, a logic board issue and that I needed to have that replaced, much less checked up on by a certified Apple service guru ASAP. The problem I have now is that there’s only one authorized Apple Reseller and Service Center in the city–Lifestyle Quality Appliances. I doubt their technician could even handle this thing but I am going to give it a shot no less especially that it happened again last night! Check the photo below:

I just woke it up after moving it from the living room to the bedroom. What triggered it this time though was when I opened PhotoBooth to take photos of my baby boy. And boom it happened again! The only line that crossed my mind when that happened was this: “If it happened two times, then a third time is absolutely guaranteed!” Now that just doesn’t sound right. I guess I really have to start thinking about bringing this in and have it checked up on. All I’ve got to do now is back-up and make a few phone calls before actually visiting the service center myself. Good luck to me and I hope I can have this covered soon.

BlackBerry Bold to come out of Rogers first?

According to the BlackBerryNews feed, HorizonWirelessOnline has posted up on their website that the BlackBerry Bold may finally be coming out this month. The big BUT is that it would have to come out of Rogers wireless. Target release date: June 25th. It will supposedly come with HH OS 4.6, 4.6.0.60 to be exact.

And while it may not come as good news to some BlackBerry addicts like me, that shouldn’t come surprising enough at all. I mean with RIM based in Canada, I think it’s only fitting that the Canadians would get their hands on them first before the rest of the world does.

So I am really, really excited now.

*Photo courtesy of BlackBerryNews.