Author: Chris Eilers

Xperia Z5 Premium is Sony’s proud beast that was launched in IFA last September. The flagship comes with many of the most proficient features found in smartphones nowadays. We are no stranger to the fact that Xperia Z5 Premium is the first smartphone in the world to sport amazing 4K display.

However, there is one concern we have heard over and over again. Any tech geek and smartphone lover would easily notice that, the more density the display has, the faster it is to exhaust your smartphone battery. So being the first 4K display smartphone, will Xperia Z5 Premium manage to last decently with a capacity of just 3430 mAH?

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium battery: capable of 2-day usage

It is good that Sony also notices the need of a good battery among smartphone users these days. In order to best prepare for Xperia Z5 Premium release set in November, Sony has officially confirmed about the Xperia Z5 Premium battery, in order to clear any misconception.

In a previous public announcement, Sony explained how the device will automatically save battery by only switching to 4K mode for specific contents to maximize users’ experience (Read more here). For most feature, the Xperia Z5 Premium battery only needs to power at normal 1080p resolution display.

By explaining how the newest flagship work to both offer the best enjoyment for users and exhaust the least battery possible, Sony emphasized that, under normal use, the Xperia Z5 Premium battery will last an average of 2 days. Also you can turn on STAMINA mode, which is pre-installed in any recent Xperia smartphone to save even more battery.

To give you a fuller comparison, I am using the Xperia M4 Aqua myself. And with only 2,400 mAH capacity, my Xperia M4 battery can provide me full day heavy usage (loading Facebook and PricePony blog continuously, non-stop Skype calling, Google searching, excessive picture-taking) or up to 2 days when I don’t need to “abuse” my device.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium – promising flagship for November

To make their device more compelling to potential buyers, Sony promoted that, 4K resolution is 4 times more density than the common full HD we use today. This means users will have a more realistic and richer viewing experience on the device.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium full specs

With the best 23MP camera in the smartphone world, first 4K display, and a decently long-lasting battery, Xperia Z5 Premium is definitely that next BEAST that is going to make a BOMB in our market for the last quarter of 2015. Who are also saving for this Xperia Z5 Premium launch?

Xiaomi Phones, and Xiaomi Philippines has been a lot in the news recently. And of course everyone will be proud of the things they created and may brag a bit to others that they are they best. But, in case of Xiaomi, the maker of the very succesful Xiaomi Redmi 1 and Redmi 2 they just cannot easily tell the world so!

Reportedly, Xiaomi Phones is under investigation since they have violated a newly passed legislation in China, saying that it is forbidden to use superlative wording in advertisement. This also means Chinese companies can no longer claim their products are “the best” or “the most advanced.”, according to Digitaltrends. For any violation of the law, penalties start at $31,000 (about 15000000 PHP) and perhaps stricter penalties will possibly be brought into play if the severity of the violation increases.

As for the Xiaomi’s situation, it was said that a rival phone maker called Cong had reported Xiaomi to the authorities when Xiaomi announced their phone featured “first-class” and “the king of screens”, which could help the company gain more fame in the smartphone market. In addition, Cong CEO Tan Wesheng was also concerned such phrases could misled consumers into really believing it.

However, we should be careful because previously, another rival of Xiaomi was fined $23,500 (about 1095000 PHP) for making false statements about Xiaomi company. And this time, we cannot exclude the possibility that Cong was just trying to grasp some attention. Don’t you think?

In fact, we all know that Xiaomi Philippines, and everybody who sells things will use those familiar superlatives. Now they are banned, and we guess that new strange ones will be created. Like Apple, they constantly uses the words “magical” and “amazing” for marketing their machines. So, would Apple have trouble when putting ads up in China? Would that get the firm in trouble in China?

Will it affect Xiaomi Phillippines?

Well, we wonder how Xiaomi Philippines is going to deal with this issue and whether it affects much the Xiaomi Phones sales in the near future. The next big thing for Xiaomi will be the Xiaomi Mi5 and we also hope to see the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 soon in the Philippines! Let’s wait and see!

A recent discovery showed that many Android devices are at risk of allowing attackers to hack their device by accessing media files online. The attackers will then trick users into visiting maliciously-crafted Web pages. This comes from a flaw in the security system of Android OS, known as Stagefright.

By the beginning of this October, security experts have sent out a warning, stating 2 new Stagefright errors. With these new risks, hackers can get access to your device by mp3 and mp4 files that contain “poisonous codes”. With media files being available everywhere over the internet, it can’t be easier for hackers to harm your smartphones in just a blink. What is more terrible? The vulnerabilities can lead to remote code execution on almost all devices that run Android, from the first 1.0 version to the latest 5.1.1 OS. (Since Android 6.0 is not fully updated yet).

Researchers at Zimperium zLab have estimated that around 950 million Android users will be affected if this error is not solved quickly. Zuk Avraham founder of zLabs, even claimed that the potentially affected users can go up to 1,4 billion.

Even though no one says all Android devices will be affected, the chance for you to be is quite high with that estimated number. Taking advantage of the mentioned flaws, hackers can easily trick users into downloading the malicious code. “Just listening to a song or watching a video clip can bring trouble to your device” – Drake wrote on his blog to warn Android users.

In response to this wide-spreading matter, Google confirmed that they are working hard to launch the fixed patch for those Android OS, especially with their upcoming Nexus smartphones, set to out on October 5th. Other big smartphone producers like Samsung, LG, HTC, Motorola, Lenovo and Huawei also joined in fighting back with the incident, claimed they are working to provide the fixed version as soon as possible.

As this Stagefright malware is more dangerous and widespread than ever among Android devices, we hope Google make it quick this time and win back the trust from users. For we are now living in very competitive market, you users can always switch to another OS that offer them safer systems.

Though there are still some people doubting Sony Xperia Z5’s ability of taking pictures, recently DxOMark (the trusted industry standard for camera and lens image quality measurements and ratings) has graded this flagship’s camera and the result is very good. 

The Sony Xperia Z5 launch happened not long ago and has caused many discussions about its true abilities, especially the camera. Most think that the shooter is not as good as what the company says. However, the latest announcement of DxOMark may change your mind.

Yes, they ranked Sony Xperia Z5 as the number one smartphone in the list of devices capturing the most beautiful photos. As we know, Z5 has a 23 mega-pixel rear snapper whose sensor measures 1/2.3 inches and sports a maximum light sensitivity/ISO of 12800 and 192 Autofocus Points. Though, it seems like Sony forgot to equip their product with OIS – an optical image stabilizer. What a serious mistake!

Sony Xperia Z5 23MP camera scores 87 DxOMark points to become best of the best!

Nonetheless, when it comes to the DxOMark ranking, Sony Xperia Z5 camera was able to score 87 points, becoming the best smartphone used in taking pictures. It even left the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge behind by 1 point distance and some other well known handsets such as Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. That is cool!

Explaining for this, DxOMark said that they based on the phone’s super-fast autofocus, good exposure, pleasant white balance and preservation of details in low-light. In terms of video, DxOMark highly evaluated the impressive stabilisation using SteadyShot with Intelligent Active mode with good autofocus despite no OIS.

Of course, it is quite sure that Sony Xperia Z5 will once again be compared the new Apple devices: iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus in the near future. Yet, with such a high score, Sony can totally feel safe and confident of their flagship’s ability of taking pics this year. Let’s wait and see!

Anyhow, what is your thinking about Sony Xperia Z5 camera? Is it worth the first place?

Apple has recently launched their latest operating system, the iOS 9. I bet by now, many iPhone users have already updated for their devices. However, I am not sure if everyone knows about this. There is a new feature people who want to save data need to know about. Because turning it off will save you a lot.

Sounds like a thing you need to know right now? Well, I won’t keep you waiting any longer. The feature that Apple add in their iOS 9 is called “Wi-Fi Assist”. If enabled, the Wi-Fi Assist will automatically switch to use the mobile data for internet browsing if it finds the Wifi signal around is not good enough. I admit it is awesome when you need to make sure you stay connected during a needed period of time. But by switching to mobile data when you don’t really need it will eat up much more.

To make it simple and frank, if you are using an iPhone with iOS 9 and have limited data, remember to turn off Wi-Fi Assist and only activate it when really necessary.

Here are simple steps to turn off the app

1. Enter Setting apps on your iPhone

2. Choose the Cellular menu.

3. Scroll to the bottom of the Cellular menu

4. Look for the “Wi-Fi Assist” below your apps. It is set to be on by default. So you need to turn it off.

Now you are saved from being eaten out a lot more data than you really  need to use!

Today is the first day of October and we are already filled with news about upcoming smartphones around the world: from BlackBerry to Lumia, from Google Nexus to different Chinese devices. However, not many of them are realistic to buy and affordable in price. That is the reason why we came up with this list of the best smartphones for October, with a price tag of humble PHP 20K and below. If you are looking for a new smartphone to get, or simply want to have an idea how much technology these days costs, this list is dedicated for you to browse.

Top 6 Android smartphones October 2015 for sub PHP 20K

1. Meizu MX5

Meizu MX5 is not a strange name among our smartphone lovers anymore. A very decent Chinese-made smartphone with great look, strong cores and beautiful camera sensors. Who would not love to give this Meizu MX5 a try?

Meizu MX5 price in Philippines starts from PHP 17K

2. Sony Xperia C5 Ultra

I am sure this Sony Xperia C5 Ultra is the star lately. We talked about it on PricePony and everyone seems to love it. This next generation of the Xperia C4 and C4 Dual is dedicated to make your selfie experience better than ever. One more detail to notice is that, the C5 Ultra is the first Sony Xperia to come with as huge as 6” display. Awesome!

Sony Xperia C5 Ultra price in Philippines is PHP 17,990 

Sony Xperia C5 Ultra full specs

3. Asus Zenfone Selfie 

Asus Zenfone Selfie is already way too famous 🙂 Especially when we know it has just arrived in our local market. The Asus Zenfone Selfie price in Philippines for September is officially PHP 12K for 32GB ROM variant. If you are Asus fan, you surely don’t want to miss this.

Asus Zenfone Selfie price in Philippines is PHP 12K

Asus Zenfone Selfie PH specs

4. BlackBerry Venice aka BlackBerry Priv 

BlackBerry Venice or BlackBerry Priv is said to be BlackBerry’s first Android-based smartphone. Such movement makes users everywhere curious and excited. The device with 3GB RAM, 18MP and unique design with BlackBerry’s signature keyboard and slider. However, we don’t know for now the BlackBerry Prive price yet. The reason why we put it in this category is that, we are guessing this smartphone will cost around PHP 18K – PHP 20K. If we are right this time, then the Priv is a perfect member of our list.

5. Lenovo Vibe Shot

The idea of this Lenovo Vibe Shot as a smartphone + camera hybrid is so brilliant! The Vibe Shot is a smartphone by nature, but it looks no different from a professional and elegant camera thanks to the design. Suggested by its name, the Lenovo Vibe Shot is truly a photo-centric device with 16MP camera and many premium features. Check out Lenovo Vibe Shot full specs:

Lenovo Vibe Shot price in Philippines is PHP 17K

Lenovo Vibe Shot specs

6. Huawei P8 Lite

Smaller and “less premium” version of the Huawei P8, the P8 Lite is welcomed more happily by many users for its affordable price. This Huawei P8 Lite is actually a very decently-build handset with good camera and strong processor. Huawei also uses their own Hisilicon Kirin 620 chip for their babe.

Huawei P8 Lite price in Philippines is PHP 11K

Bonus: Sony Xperia M5 

So this category is about smartphones that cost less than PHP 20K money. However, if you are willing to pay a bit more than 20K, then we have another good recommendation for you. Also from the giant Sony, we have the Xperia M5 Dual. It is the upgraded version of the Xperia M4, which belongs to the waterproof product series.

If you have been following our post on PricePony about the Xperia M5, you may remember that we call this beast “crazy Xperia M5”. Despite not being a selfie-centric smartphone like the C5 Ultra, Xperia M5 camera is even more premium, with 21.5MP rear and 13MP front. Besides, it is water-proof, dust-resistant and is the first Xperia to have beautiful golden color.

Sony Xperia M5 price in Philippines is PHP 22K

Sony Xperia M5 specs

Conclusion:

If you have around PHP 20K, would you consider buying any of the smartphones we introduced in this list? Are you using any of them and want to share your experience with us? And if you have any better device in mind that fits this sub PHP 20K category, let us also know about them 😉 Because smartphones are what we all love to know about, aren’t they?>

In the smartphone industry, we know that it is important for manufacturers to produce the most beneficial devices for both the company and consumers. That means a smartphone project needs to meet certain criteria in order to be produced, and sometimes those tend to lack creativity. That is where many aspiring smartphone designers come into the game and show to the world their awesome concepts.

Lumia 888 design – mind-blowing and elegant

Smartphone concepts are sometimes just concepts for forever. But many times, those are appreciated and recognized by producers, and made into reality. Such consequences are the best motivation for more and more amazing smartphone concepts to be designed and introduced.

This time, we would like to bring to you the mind-blowing concept of Lumia 888 with very unique feature and appealing design. The most noticeable detail about this Lumia 888 is its beautiful neon light edges that shines on your hands.

Looking at the design, you can also spot a see-through Home button which looks a bit similar to an angel’s halo. In this concept, the Microsoft Lumia 888 camera also features the famous Carl Zeiss brand with dual LED Flash. You can also detect a side sensor that supports interactions via simple swipes. To increase volume, swipe up. To decrease it, swipe down. Or triple tapping to turn on Cortana. The handset has minimal to no bezels and the case seems metallic.

Lumia 888 specs

The Lumia 888 concept does not mention any further about the smartphone specs. However, it would be nice to include some in order to give people an idea of how good it can be in the big picture. What do you think should be good Lumia 888 specs for this concept design? If I am the person to design, I would add in some decent but not impossible specs to make the phone more optimal.

Base on the brand, Lumia 888 should be running on Windows 10 OS, and ideally powered by the popular 4GB RAM. With high-quality Carl Zeiss lens, it would be perfect if the Lumia 888 camera goes with 24MP or above. And of course, it should not miss the signature Pureview sensor Nokia and Lumia love to have in their premium flagships. What else would you add in if you can decide this Lumia 888 specs?

Lumia 888 concept – Gallery

October is coming close. So it is the perfect time to reveal which are the top smartphones that will either be launched or hit the shelves this month! Don’t forget to vote for your favorite!

1. Elephone Vowney

Chinese smartphone Elephone Vowney is say to be launched in October 2015

Elephone Vowney specs

2. Google Nexus 6P

Huawei-made Google Nexus 6P specs

3. Xiaomi Mi Edge

Although Xiaomi has not confirmed a bit yet about whether they are going to launch this Mi Edge smartphone or not, our previous leaks claimed that the device will be debut in October. What makes people notice this device is the rumored curved screen that look like Galaxy S6 Edge from Samsung. That also explains why the device has this name as Xiaomi Mi Edge. Together with trendy curved screen, Xiaomi Mi Edge will also please their users with beautiful 2K display resolution and powerful 4GB RAM.

4. Microsoft Lumia 950XL

Next month, on the 6th of October 2015, Microsoft will officially launch their new devices, including 3 Windows 10 smartphones, a band and a tablet! Two of them are the Lumia 950XL.

In terms of Lumia 950XL specs, there will be an up to 5.7-inch Quad HD (aka 2K) screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC processor, and 32GB of expandable storage. Moreover, it sports an Iris scanner, a USB Type-C port and 3,300mAh battery equipped with Qualcomm QuickCharge support and Qi wireless charging. Besides, a 20 mega-pixe PureView camera with triple-LED flash and a 5 mega-pixel front-facing shooter will be on-board as well.

5. BlackBerry Venice

Or BlackBerry Priv for the official name as we spotted from online sources. This is the first ever Android smartphone that BlackBerry produced, making people very curious about what it will have to offer. This movement, together with the beautiful design and signature keyboard helps make the BlackBerry Priv one of the most awaited devices in the market lately. Although some leaks suggest that the device will not be launched earlier than November, we still hope this beast will come in October 2015 so we can start getting excited by now!

Some of the BlackBerry Priv specs we know until now include: 3GB RAM, latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS, 18MP camera.

Google’s big event just happened last night, September 29. Together with Chrome cast, Google launched their long awaited Nexus smartphones: Nexus 5X made by LG and Nexus 6P made by Huawei. Let’s see what they have to offer

The Nexus 5X has a plastic casing with flat and smooth back side, full body, non-removable battery. Meanwhile, the Nexus 6P is Google’s first full metal device. The Nexus 5X is more affordable, or in other words, less premium in terms of specs. With a higher price tag, the Nexus 6P

Design-wise, both Nexus smartphones come with the logos of their company and signature “Nexus” elegantly printed on the back cover. Both devices looks very classic and beautiful on the hand, which can be a very nice selling point for Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P

Now let’s move on to see Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P specs:

LG-made Google Nexus 5X specs

Huawei-made Google Nexus 6P specs

Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P price

I will leave the specs there for you to consider and compare with other flagships on our market nowadays. What we want to mention in this post is how Google decided the pricing for their latest flagships. Take a look at this table telling Google Nexus 6P price around the world:

As you can see, the Nexus 6P price in the US is USD 499. But the same device is sold for around USD 730 (EUR 649) in European countries (France and Germany). Also that exact same device is priced at USD 604 in Hong Kong and USD 620 in Japan. This means many European and Asian users will have to pay up to 1.5 times more expensive than those in the US.

Wow, this obviously does not make many users happy. I wonder what Google thought when they decided the price list that way? Should it be that other parts of the world are not as of priority as the US? Give us a decent and convincing explanation for this, Google!

Symetium, a company based in Sweden, is starting a very ambitious smartphone project. They are raising a $1,250,000 fun in order to manufacture a product they call “the no-compromise smartphone PC”. Before getting to know about this brand new Symetium smartphone’s special features, let’s see what the device has to offer in terms of specs.

Symetium smartphone specs

Symetium smartphone display is expected to sport a handy 5-inch 1080p OLED display with tough Corning’s Gorilla Glass 4 on top. The Symetium smartphone specs include powerful Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 829, a 4000 mAH battery, USB Type C and 4G LTE support.

What is more amazing? The handset will possibly feature gigantic 6GB of RAM in tow, together with generous 64/128/256GB ROM. If you have read about Samsung working to bring 6GB RAM for smartphones, you will know that this is totally doable. The Symetium smartphone cameras will be 24MP and 5MP for rear and front camera respectively.

To catch up with the trend many users love from Sony Xperia series, the Symetium will go with water proof and dust resistant thanks to IP67 certification. By the time it will be launched, the Swedish smartphone will definitely ship with Android 6.0 Marshmallow pre-installed. The company is said to be developing their own SymetiumOS to place on top of Android 6.0.

Symetium project: A smartphone – PC device

So what is the Symetium special feature that we mentioned earlier? Indiegogo, one of the most famous out-sourcing platforms, have mentioned that the phone would be about to connect to multiple screens at once. To make it even more appealing to customers, the Symetium smartphone can be turned into a PC in a blink. If you connect the phone to an HDMI screen via its Type-C USB 3.0 port, the mouse and keyboard mode will be activated immediately. The SymetiumOS would offer both portrait and landscape modes, and you can start working on you “PC” now.

Here is how the Symetium smartphone turns into a PC. Amazing!

The project about this dream smartphone has been designed by Jonathan Gustafsson, who has spent 3 years on it already,

“With Symetium, I want to go past mobile operating systems and join the two together. It is time for phones to stop being phones as they are much more than that and have been for years,” Jonathan said.

– and “In my eyes Symetium will always be a 5 inch portable computer that can make calls and that’s how it was built. This means that there will be no limitation when it’s used without a SIM card”.

We hope Jonathan collects his money soon so we can try this amazing idea one day!

The electronics giant – LG, has just introduced for the first time their premium line of laptop. Named as the LG Gram series, the lightweight laptops are not hitting the shelves, coming with Windows 10 operating system. The devices are only available in the US market for now, at Microsoft stores and on Amazon.com.

The name of this very first LG Laptop series suggests the key feature LG want to focus: “GRAM” for “lightweight”. Potential customers that LG target this time are those who seek a portable, ultra-thin and light but still of high-quality laptops. The 14” LG Gram only weighs 2.16 pounds (almost 980 grams). This is the lightest and thinnest laptop in the 14-inch category found in the market nowadays. The reason why the LG Gram is being called “MacBook Air rival” is that, the 14-inch LG Gram is even lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Air, which is about 3 pounds in weigh.

“This is an extremely competitive category,”

said David VanderWaal, vice president of marketing, LG Electronics USA, in a statement. 

There is no doubt that David having a very solid trust and confidence in the attractiveness of their product. For the first laptop ever made by LG, it is hard to tell whether users will find it compelling to buy and give it a try. Only time will tell if the LG Gram can make a hit in the US and any more markets it is about to hit.

LG Gram specs

In terms of LG Gram specs, each of the laptops in the Gram series carries an Intel Core processor — either a Core i5 or Core i7 — and supports the latest connectivity standards, including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. LG Gram laptops support micro-USB, USB 3.0, and a micro-SD slot, and comes equipped with a built-in HDMI port. The LG Gram battery is also made to last up to 7.5-hour capacity for heavy users.

LG Gram pricing and availability

The LG Gram will be available in 3 models: 13”, 14” with Intel Core i7 and 14” with Core i7

The LG Gram 13 with 13” and Core i5, 8GB RAM and 128GB storage pricing is $899, which is around PHP 42K.

Xiaomi Mi4c is the latest device produced by Xiaomi, one of the smartphone giants in China, on September 22, 2015. As we know, most Xiaomi phones aim at those who want a machine equipped with good specs but priced at an affordable level. And it seems like Xiaomi can always find a way to do that. Xiaomi Mi4c is also not an exception at all.

Recently, the firm’s president and co-founder, Lin Bin, has used Weibo to show people how great the Xiaomi Mi4c’s 5 mega-pixel front camera is on Weibo. Let’s check it out!

Xiaom Mi4c vs Apple iPhone 6: Front camera comparison!

Yes, he did post a photo on the page and we can see that there are two selfie shots taken by Xiaomi Mi4c and Apple iPhone 6. It is like a rookie vs a more aged flagship. Interesting?

We are all aware that Mi4c’s selfie snapper features an 85-degree wide angle, equivalent to 24mm wide angle camera, and enables users to cover 6 or 7 people in just one shot. Meanwhile, iPhone 6‘s secondary shooter is only capable of 1.2 mega-pixels. Obviously, iPhone 6 cannot beat the new Xiaomi Mi4c when it comes to taking selfies, or we can easily notice that clearly with just the pics Mr. Bin posted.

For more details about other Xiaomi Mi4c Specs, please have a look at the following table:

(Source: gsmarena)