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.

Online BUT Stuck!

If you examine the photo above, you should be able to tell that I’m online now. I’ve got my weather updates in (too bad there’s none for CDO) along with my WAN IP as well. The Globelines folks have finally hooked me up at the new apartment late yesterday afternoon. But that’s just the good news. News always comes in twos. Now the bad news is–the connection has been so slow ever since! To make matters worse, I only figured that out when the install crew had already left the area. 

So did you want to know how slow this thing is? Well, it’s way under the considerable speed even for dial-up! You may want to check the image ^^ again, click it. It’s really ADSL eh? Take a closer look at the download versus upload speeds, there you go. Now I got those values from Speedtest and from my #1 widget, iStat Pro (get the latest version here). The download speed, the most important, is not even in 3 digits!

I guess it’s just not my time these past few days BUT I’ve got to bounce back. With that said, I already gave the Globelines tech support guys a call early this morning and I got a reference number for the record. They said there could be something wrong with the facility or the main center where my line comes out from. At least he agreed there’s something wrong! I just hope they would act on this no sooner than a month! Remember “the wait” I had to burn candles for just for the installation? It now appears the pain wasn’t worth it at all.

Stay tuned…

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.

Globelines suck!

The story: I submitted my application to get hooked up via Globelines (or Globe Broadband) last June 27th, a Friday. And up until now (running 3++ weeks), I am still Internet-less at the new apartment. I moved in June 25th and, like many other professionals out there, I cannot live without the Internet. Without it, I don’t think I feel confident enough to talk to people. I mean what would I talk to them about? News? Local news ain’t enough. I need to know what’s going on with the world! And I would need the Internet for that, don’t you think?

I think I’m gonna have to give them yet another call today and complain this time around. You know I’m the type of person who rarely complains about stuff and services BUT I think this is way over ridiculous right now that it’s not even funny. I will update you guys about this whole mess/ordeal. I NEED THE INTERNET!

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/

Rylee’s First Bday in 6hrs

I’m still internet-less here at the new house I rented so I might need to up my blog’s post count via BlackBerry for the time being. Nobody from Globelines dropped by today so that’s disappointing. Hopefully, someone will be here tomorrow so they can start surveying and would probably get me hooked up in no time. I’m crossing my fingers. I can’t wait until next week. I’d be losing a lot of time for sure… 

Rylee’s First Bday is almost here with just under six hours left. He’s on a late afternoon powernap right beside me on the king-sized airbed I bought as our temporary bed. He’s healthy, as always, and will transition to a “higher” formula beginning tomorrow. The milk brand or make is called Gain Plus. I just wonder why milk for 1 year olds are a lot cheaper than milk for 6-months and up. Any ideas?

Anyhow, as you can see on the right side, I haven’t been updating my Twitter a lot lately. Twitter via GTalk still doesn’t work for me. I think I really need to use the real GTalk client for it to sync. I should be able to use JiveTalk on my BlackBerry by then. We’ll see what happens later this week.

One cool thing I found out today was plurk over at plurk.com. Some people said it’s way better than Twitter so I gave it a shot… AND boy were they right! It just looks like fun over there! I will probably add a widget on here later so I could link my plurk updates. I love plurk’s timeline feature and the karma system, too.

More updates later…

Pac-Man Wins, TKO in 9

Great game. After nursing a big cut up his right eyebrow since Round 4, David Diaz finally dropped like a body bag with under 40 seconds left in Round 9. Classic finish in Pacquiao-esque fashion. w00t!

Go Manny Pacquiao!

End of Round 4

I saw blood on Diaz’s right forehead or eyebrows, whatever you may call it. I think Pacquiao is going to win this! Stay tuned!
——
Sent from my BlackBerry

Pacquiao vs. Diaz

The game is on! Another big fight in the works.. Stay tuned. Go Manny! I wanna see your new Nikes!
——
Sent from my BlackBerry

Rylee’s First Bday Coming Up!

Baby boy Rylee’s first birthday is just around the corner! w00t! Can’t wait for it. He will be a happy 1-year old on Tuesday, July 1st. MJ and I are still trying to decide where we’re going to celebrate his birthday. It won’t be all about kids for now as he still doesn’t have any friends yet–although he enjoys watching and interacting with them whenever he sees some play around.

Above: photo taken during Rylee’s post-baptism photo session. He used to be small… but he’s all big now and can actually walk! He can only say a few words for now though especially the local translation for milk, “dede” and I think that’s cute. Babies are just awesome and they provide so much fun. They can help you de-stress but only sometimes.

There will be more updates as we progress towards his first big day!