Am a newbie to netbooks. But when my beloved Mac underwent major repairs recently (all free courtesy of the AppleCare warranty), I had to get a standby, supplementary laptop. My choice is the pretty & dainty HP Mini by Studio Tord Boontje. Never mind if it’s not the newest model in the market. I like its all-white, feminine form, the tactile keyboard, Windows 7 Starter pack and amazing six-cell battery life. It’s a reliable baby, and I’ve learned the meaning of carrying your lappy for mobility’s sake. It’s so light at 1.06 kilos

However, I’ve also attended a few events recently introducing new netbooks which leads me to believe that it must be hard for consumers to make a choice these days. For example, if I didn’t have my Mini, I’d surely choose the new Samsung N220 and N150 line of netbooks for two reasons: 1) the brand is reliable and 2) the prices, ranging from 22 to 25K (in pesos) is reasonable, considering its features.

Both models promise from 8-12 hours battery life, anti-reflective screen, scratch-free casing and the latest Intel Atom N450 processor. Add-ons like the YouCam puts special effects to your video chats and recorded videos. Of course, wi-fi is a given

If I remember right, ASUS Eee is one of the pioneers when it comes to netbooks in the Philippines. Now, they’ve come up with their fashion-oriented range, the Eee PC Seashell Karim Rashid collection. Almost the same specs as the Samsung models. Express Gate operating system boots up in seconds and allows users to make Skype calls, surf the web, browse photos, play online games, engage in instant messaging, and more.The line-up is available only in two colors, matte brown and hot pink. Of course, we prefer the latter. It’s certainly attractive, don’t you think?

This is a rather delayed post on the Sony Vaio launch event we attended last week to welcome their Spring 2010 collection of new laptops. Some revelations: this brand remains posh, with its high-end Vaio Z model priced at Php 150,000 (more expensive than the Mac!). We figured it is worth it since the lean machine runs on Intel Core i5 processor.

However, did you know that they have the Vaio W that’s priced at Php 29K as well? That’s more like it in terms of affordability, considering the low, low prices of netbooks these days. The Vaio W (pictured below) comes free with a carrying case, instead of a carton, when you purchase. This is also the most eco-friendly line-up in the bunch since some parts, like the top panel and bottom housing, are made from recycled materials.

Of the laptop models on display that night, I actually liked the 8-inch Vaio P since it is something that can fit my smallest of bags. It is really very handy.

Also something that a woman can love about the VAIO laptops: most of them come in the most delicious pink colors!

Here’s the rest of the Vaio line-up:

VAIO Y

VAIO S

VAIO X

VAIO CW

Anyway, the launch was held at the newly-opened Spasso Italian Tapas and Wine Bar in the Fort. We enjoyed our meal that night of arugula salad, salmon risotto, tenderloin steak and tiramisu. Hubby and I promise to come back and write a separate food post

Mobile phone fanatics who prefer their smartphones to do more, other than offer seamless connectivity and push emails have something to look forward to with the soon-to-be launched Sony Ericsson Xperia X2. It’s a Windows Mobile QWERTY touch phone that also appeals to your artistic side by boasting of an 8.1 megapixel camera, WVGA video recording and a 3.2 inch high resolution touchscreen that provides DVD quality viewing.

Get a discount of one thousand pesos when you reserve the Xperia X2 prior to its commercial availability. The phone’s special introductory price is at P28,500 when you purchase the handset from February 1-12, 2010. For inquiries, visit the nearest Sony Ericsson Experience shop, participating dealers or call the Customer Service Hotline 789-1860.

Some specifications of this smartphone:

- signature 3D panel with 3D effects, zoom and music playback controls.

- 14 preloaded Xperia panels and 16 more to download. New panels include CNN, YouTube™, Facebook™, Skype, Google™ and other support panels.

- X2’s TV out cable can show MS Office presentations on the big screen. Users can open and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents right from the phone

- a SlideView feature provides quick access to frequently used mobile phone activities.

- Colors available in Elegant Black or Modern Silver

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Having lost big and small things like jewelry and a 21-inch TV to rogues in the past, I’ve gotten the impression that am quite the alluring magnet to bad elements. That, or it’s just the hassle of living in the city where even policemen steal for a living. That’s why it was quite a breath of fresh air when my cellphone, which I thought I had lost, was returned to me over the weekend. It makes me believe that kind souls still abound in Manila after being cynical about this place for quite some time.

I was about to pay some purchases at the SM Department Store in the Mall of Asia that Sunday afternoon when I realized my slim cellphone wasn’t in my wallet, as it usually was. So we hurried back to the Kenny Rogers resto where we ate 30 to 40 minutes before, just to try my luck at asking if they found it. I was already prepared for the worst, but somehow regretting the fact that my friends and contacts would have to find me again. I don’t subscribe to a postpaid line because I hate paying the surcharges and I only maintain one phone because am not a text and call addict either. But with the frequency that I lose my mobile phones, I’ve gotten into the routine of changing my phone number every six months or so.

Imagine my relief when the Kenny Rogers staff told me to wait, because they were retrieving my phone in the vault. This was after I told them the table where we sat, previously. Raymond, one of the managers, told me that a customer was trying to grapple with him to get the phone. My cellphone itself isn’t too expensive, but like everyone, I have my contacts there and it still had a load of P1,300 … LOL. I was profuse with thanks to them and even gave a little reward, but more so because being reunited with my phone again wasn’t something I expected.

The last time I encountered a Good Samaritan was when I was a tourist in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia where I didn’t know anybody. I was going around this mall and left my wallet in the toilet. Worst thing was that my wallet had all my trip pocket money and bank cards in it. God knows I would have been washing dishes in a restaurant just to take my taxi ride to the airport. But yes, somebody was good enough to keep my wallet and wait for me to claim it.

My little experience reminds me of the Global Cellphone Honesty Test conducted by Reader’s Digest in 2006. In this study, the magazine staff deliberately lost cellphones in 32 cities and found out that people returned more than half of them, or a return rate of 68 percent. Manila tied with Mumbai, India and New York City to land in the fifth place!

When I posted about my cellphone incident in Facebook, some of my friends were quick to share their experiences too. Stuff they lost in the past were also returned to them. So yes, all’s not hopeless in this world after all

During my birthday last year, the hubby gifted me with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. This has been on my wishlist for quite some time, especially after we both agreed to retire the Verzio M700 digicam which I got as some schwag from a presscon. It helped that a number of bloggers already own the Lumix LX3 and gave positive reviews about it.

More than two months after holding the Lumix, I do find that it is the perfect camera companion for a lazy SLR user like me. Mine is a sleek black, and it doesn’t look too attractive from outside. But you’ll surely appreciate how, even with its small size, it functions as a workhorse. In fact, your mini SLR personified.

I do give the thumbs-up towards its ease of use, while giving one a host of options if you happen to be a professional camera user. Among others, it’s a 10.1 megapixel cam with lens from 24mm to 60mm that can be set in any of the three aspect ratios 4:3, 3:2 or 16:9. There is an ISO 3200 option, files can be saved in RAW format, and I have yet to tinker with the slideshows that can be viewed complete with music.

The Lumix LX3 allows you to shoot videos and to choose from different settings, as you would an SLR. There’s Manual, Shutter and Aperture Priority. For easy operation, there’s always the Program Mode and the Scene Mode. You can even set the cam to Film Mode with color and black & white options like you’re still using film, for greater drama in your pictures.

Here are some Lumix test shots taken during our recent trip in Tagaytay.

Tagaytay sunset, captured from the view deck of the Taal Vista Hotel.

Portrait of a grandma. She was really holding the flowers when I took this photo.

That’s right. One of my 2010 New Year’s resolutions is to buy a new mobile phone, after having decided that the last Christmas season was a bad time to buy one (prices were high and thefts were on the rise). Unknown to friends, am only using a basic phone and have two other high-tech phones just hidden in the drawer, tee hee. The plan is to give the basic phone to my son (it’s time he has one since he’s on the verge of high school) while am gonna trade in the two others for a single phone with good video capability. Any suggestions out there?

Anyway, mobile phone fanatics are all agog about the just-launched Google Nexus One smartphone. I mean, whatta way to greet the beginning of 2010. The only caveat is that it’s not available in the Philippines. But nothing’s preventing our newspaper, the Manila Bulletin Technews lab from reviewing it. Watch out for the review soon!

In the meantime, here’s everything you need to know about the Google smartphone, in case you insist on buying it from abroad:

Processor: Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz
(versus only 600 Mhz on the iPhone 3GS, Motorola Droid and Palm Pre)

Google GPS and wi-fi positioning

Bluetooth, wi-fi and HSDPA at 7.2Mbps

Voice-enabled keyboard so that you can just dictate your text message or Facebook update instead of typing it

5 megapixel camera, and video recording at 720 X 480 pixels, with instant uploading to YouTube

Easy synching between your business and social contacts, even from sites like Facebook

Internal memory at 512 MB RAM, and expandable memory up to 32 GB

Talk time: 10 to 7 hours on 2G/3G respectively

Internet time: 5 hours on 3G and 6.5 hours on Wi-Fi

Weight:130 grams with battery

Major drawback: no multi-touch capability, because multi-touch is patented with Apple. However, expect Android hackers to solve the problem soon.

Wellllllll, I definitely want the Nexus One! Too bad, I live in the ‘Third World’ Presently, the smartphone ships to the US, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore only, with the unlocked version selling at $529.

With Christmas just around the corner, demand for mobile phones is skyrocketing again. It’s certainly out there as one of the most in-demand holiday gifts. Parents, youngsters as well as young professionals are all saving up for the shiny new phone they can parade around just in time for Christmas.

Like most people, I’ve tried almost all cellphone brands. It was a long time ago since I’ve owned a Samsung. ’twas a slider phone to be exact. I had a great time being reacquainted with this brand again over the weekend. They had invited the media for an event launching three new phones of their Samsung Corby line which is geared for the youth and young professionals. They’re colorful, they’re sleek, they look hip and they’re all affordably priced, which is what matters most of all.

One thing that these phones have in common: they have feature sets which allow easy users easy access to their favorite networking sites. The communities application enable the capturing of photos and instant uploading to Facebook, Friendster, Flickr and other popular online sites.

Likewise, the multi IM feature allows contacts from different instant messaging portals like Google Talk and AIM to be pooled into one chat session. MP3 player and FM radio complete the whole bundle.

Anyway, am now the proud owner of a Samsung Corby B3410 (pictured above) due to the fact that I won this phone in the night’s raffle…. tee hee. Thanks Samsung! Both the B3410 and the Corby TXT (B3210) have QWERTY keypad, 2 mp camera, Bluetooth, EDGE and expandable memory via a microSD slot. Their prices range from only P6990 to P7590.

The high end of the line is the CorbyPRO (B5310) with 2.8″ QVGA full touch-screen, slide -out QWERTY keypad, 3.2 mp camera, Bluetooth, expandable memory and HSDPA at 7.2 mbps. Suggested retail price is only P11,990 and this will be available in January 2010.

The HP Mini 1100 Vivienne Tam Special Edition has been hugely successful that I hear a Version 2 is in the works. Ever since I’ve written about it here before, I’ve been eyeing the netbook as a suitable companion to my aluminum Macbook which I don’t take out of the house too often, due to my tendency to lose things – even the most valuable ones, ahem.

A netbook also appeals to me because it is simply nifty to bring around wherever you go. This probably explains the growing fashion phenomenon of selling laptop bags and sleeves, in different patterns and colors. I like the fact that you can carry the netbook with a firm grip on the handle or close to your chest. Its extreme portability simply means that there’s no reason to leave the house without it.

Anyhoo, HP seems to be setting the trend for tapping well-known designers to design their laptops and the latest to work for them is Dutch-born Tord Boontje. He’s probably not as familiar to us as Vivienne Tam (Vivienne is into fashion, Tord is into product design), but his bio lists him as having made chandeliers for Swarovski and assorted products for Alexander McQueen, among others.

The new HP Mini by Studio Tord Boontje should delight lovers of white. Its pristine, lace-like effect stems from the first-ever three-dimensional PC surface technology called the HP Imprint 3D. This gives the HP Mini an edge over the classic white Macbook or those of other brands.

I do like how the floral pattern extends to the notebook’s palm rest and touchpad. There’s nothing quite like it

Photos taken from the launch party. When this HP Mini was offered to Asia-Pacific media at a 50 per cent discount, prior to its release later this month, I couldn’t help but sign on the dotted line. Prayers heard. It was as if the forces of the universe conspired to help me get this netbook at the least pain on my (wailing) wallet

Here are more specs of this wonderful HP Mini:

Weight – 1.06 kilos

Memory – 1 GB for Windows XP and 2 GB for Windows 7

Display & Camera – 10.1 Diagonal HD LED Anti- Glare Widescreen Display; webcam with integrated microphone

Wi-Fi with Bluetooth, HSPA Mobile Broadband (configurable)

5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for SD cards, MMC, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro or xD picture cards, 3 USB 2.0, VGA, Headphone-out, Microphone-in combo

92% full-sized keyboard, Touchpad with dedicated vertical Scroll Up/Down

Kensington MicroSaver lock slot, Power-on password

3 or 6-cell battery

Fast access to the internet with HP QuickWeb, even without booting up

Built-in tools like Windows Live Writer for blogging and Seesmic social networking desktop client for quick access to popular social networking sites

15 wallpapers designed by Boontje and a customized Stardock MyColors desktop theme

Prices: Windows XP edition starts at US$549 from September 2009 onwards, and with Windows 7 Starter Edition at US$599 from October 22, 2009 onwards

Why do I have a feeling that the new Nokia 6700 is a blogger’s best friend? Okay, make it food blogger!

Recently, we were invited to the launch of Philippine Tatler’s Best Restaurants 2009 and one of the things on showcase was a life-size gallery featuring delicious photos taken by society photographer Alex van Hagen using the Nokia 6700. See the pics behind the lovely ladies.

Too bad I was too busy with my old Verzio cam (incidentally my favorite for portability) and failed to test shoot the Nokia 6700. A camphone that’s excellent for taking food photos certainly appeals to me. I would have wanted to take pictures of the yummy hors d’ oeuvres that was in full array that night.

Anyway, the event was also a good venue for people watching. I rarely do that these days. Mostly because ever since becoming a blogger, I’ve increasingly become anti-social, hehe.

Premier chef Margarita Fores, executive chef Godfrey Laforteza of the Establishment in the Fort, and Ms. Korina Sanchez

China Cojuangco. Yay! I love her wide belt.

Tatler Online editor Mario Villamor, Mitch So of Nokia and Nokia PR Nikka Singson-Abes.

a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/annalyn/3755387366/” title=”Tatler-Nokia event by annalyn, on Flickr”>

Photo is blurred ( a criminal offense), but yes, that’s me with Lori Baltazar of one of my favorite dessert blogs, Dessert Comes First.

One week to go and Globe Telecoms will be making available the iPhone 3G S to its postpaid and prepaid subscribers. Am making special mention of Globe because the last time I asked at the cellphone tiangge in Robinsons Manila, they gave no indication that they’ll have it handy before Globe’s July 31 release to the public.

Am certainly very interested in getting the new iPhone and studying my options at the moment. That is, do I subscribe to a Globe plan or just buy an unlocked unit? I’ve remained a prepaid subscriber all these years because I hate paying monthly bills and it enables us (rather, the husband) to budget cellphone bills effectively. The only downside I see in this is that I change my phone number every time I lose my cellphone which is OFTEN, hehehe.

Looking at the Globe site, it was kinda weird to see that the iPhone 8GB and 16GB will be a lot more expensive than the iPhone 3GS (both 16 and 32 GB) when the latter is made available. For example, cash out for the iPhone 16GB at Plan 2199 is at P15,350 while for the iPhone 3G S (32GB!), it’s only P13,150. At Plans 399 to 2199, cash out for the old iPhone is from 20-40 percent higher than the 3G S.

We don’t know the reason for this. Perhaps this is all part of Globe’s marketing plan to push sales of the 3G S. It should all be good since Globe’s pricing will also dictate that of the gray market. Which means the unlocked, jailbroken new iPhone will be priced competitively, if not more affordably.

Anyway, my MB editor has pointed me to the direction of the Apple Store in Hong Kong for the latest iPhones. The 18GB 3G S is at HK$ 5388, or P33243.996 using a conversion rate of P6.17. That isn’t so bad as well, and what’s good is that the Apple Store offers free shipping within 24 hours!