Apple is making the MacBook Pro with Retina display faster and more affordable with updated processors and lower starting prices.
Available from today (suggested retail prices indicated include GST).
The MacBook Pro with Retina display features flash storage that is up to four times faster than traditional notebook hard drives, and delivers improved reliability, instant-on responsiveness and up to 30 days of standby time.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display now starts at S$1,988 for 128GB of flash, and S$2,288 for a new 2.6 GHz processor and 256GB of flash.
The launch event will be held simultaneously in London and New York – and is widely believed to be for the launch of the M7 (also possibly to be named HTC One).
Invitations have been sent out for the HTC launch event in London and New York.
Stay tuned to the webcast URL which I’ll be posting here so you can follow it live.
Samsung has launched the compact version of its flagship smartphone GALAXY S III in Singapore.
The 4-inch compact Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) smartphone will be available in Pebble Blue and Marble White from tomorrow, 2 February 2013 (Saturday) at S$568 (without contract).
The GALAXY S III mini will be available in Pebble Blue and Marble White from 2 February 2013 at S$568 (without contract).
The GALAXY S III mini sports a 4-inch Super AMOLED display (480 x 800), 5-megapixel camera that records movies at 720p@25fps, 8GB internal memory (microSD slot for up to 32GB ext memory), and a 1,500mAh battery.
Running on a 1 GHz Dual-Core processor, the compact smartphone features Samsung’s “Smart Stay” and “S Voice” features.
“Smart Stay” recognizes how the phone is being used – the front camera identifies the eyes and maintains a bright display for continued viewing – as long as the user is eyeballing the screen.
“S Voice” is the natural language user interface, to listen and respond to words, allowing information search and basic device-user communication through voice commands.
Below are the specifications for the GALAXY S III mini I8190N.
Research In Motion (RIM) President & CEO – Thorsten Heins – launched the new QNX-based BlackBerry 10 operating system and unveils the full-touchscreen Z10 and physical keyboard-equipped Q10 smartphones.
RIM is also renaming itself as BlackBerry from today.
Shareholders’ response to the launch inside. All images in this article were screen-grabbed from webcast of the event.
The first manifestation of the new BlackBerry 10 – the full-touchscreen Z10 (left) and physical keyboard-equipped Q10 (right).
The basic premise of the new “BlackBerry experience” is about extending connectivity to everything around users – connecting the phone to the car, sound system, healthcare system etc.
Availability of Z10
Jan 31: UK
Feb 5: Canada (C$149)
Feb 10: UAE
Feb 21?: Singapore
March: USA (pre-orders without pricing from today)
* Q10 may be 1 month behind.
Three overarching innovations to enable this are the BlackBerry Hub, Peek and Flow.
Hub is akin to the People Hub of Microsoft Windows Phone operating system and consolidates all people related and social network information and updates in one place.
Apple is increasing the maximum memory of the iPad with Retina Display to 128GB (from the current max. of 64GB).
The 128 GB versions of the iPad with Wi-Fi (SG$1,048) and iPad with Wi-Fi+Cellular (SG$1,218) will be available from 5 February 2013. Prices include GST.
Apple increases the memory of the iPad with Retina Display to 128GB (from the current max. of 64GB). This photo is from Apple’s website.
Microsoft has released prices for Windows 8 after 31 January 2013 – when the current promotional prices expire.
The new prices are much higher, so if you’re planning on upgrading to Windows 8 – get it before the end of this month.
An auspicious 88 days for Windows 8. Click to enlarge.
88 days have passed since the global launch of Windows 8, with 60 million licenses sold, (as of 8 January).
Top eight Windows 8 apps developed locally. All of them are free apps.
Advanced English Dictionary
DBS
MerlionWords
Parts of a Computer
SG Deal
SingAdventure
The Straits Times
WeGo Travel
Since the opening of the Windows Store the number of apps has quadrupled and globally Microsoft recently passed the 100 million app download mark – just two months after general availability.
In Asia-Pacific, the number of locally-developed apps is currently being added to at a rate of 50 per day and the developer community itself has swelled by 82% since the October launch.
In Singapore, more than 4,000 developers have been trained to develop apps for Windows 8 since launch.
Below are the prices for the various upgrade editions for Windows 8 from 1 February 2013.
The HTC Butterfly will be available in Singapore in Fervour Red and Glamour White starting 26 January at M1 and StarHub. Recommended retail price: S$928.
HTC Butterfly will hit the shelves in Singapore from this Saturday (26 Jaunuary) for S$928.
The HTC Butterfly will be the first smartphone to have a full HD 1080p display, with a 5-inch screen that boasts a high pixel density of 440 pixels per inch.
HTC Butterfly
OS
Android (Jelly Bean) with HTC Sense 4+
Screen
5″ super LCD 3
Resolution
1980 x 1080 Full HD
Battery
2,020 mAh, built-in
Processor
Qualcomm S4 Pro 1.5GHz, Quad-core, 2GB RAM
Camera
Rear: 8 MP
Front: 2.1 MP
Video
1080p HD
Memory
Int: 16 GB
Ext: 32 GB microSD
Size /mm
143 x 70.5 x 9.08
Weight
140 g
Price
S$928
It is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, featuring a quad-core 1.5 GHz CPU, high-performance GPU and a full 2GB of RAM to enable the seamless use of multiple apps simultaneously.
The smartphone is run on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and HTC Sense 4+, including Google Now.
The HTC Butterfly has a 2,020 mAh battery and power saving software and an expandable SD card slot in addition to 25GB of free Dropbox cloud storage (two years free).
The 8-megapixel rear-camera has an f/2.0 28mm wide-angle lens, 5-level automatic flash, backside illuminated sensor (BSI), and superfast autofocus.
HTC VideoPic allows you to capture video and still images at the same time. (more…)
The new laptops that Dell unveiled today are thinner and have been optimised for better performance and improved battery life.
The Inspiron 14 (starting from S$599), Inspiron 15 (S$649), Inspiron 14R (S$899), and Inspiron 15R (S$999) are available from today.
The new Dell Inspiron laptops are thinner, more powerful and have longer battery life.
The new Inspiron family features increased battery capacities for the 6-cell versions of the laptops, utilising the ultra-low voltage versions of Intel’s Core i processors.
“Our customers told us they want better battery life without sacrificing on overall performance, and they want thin and portable laptops,” shared Deepak Wagh, general manager, Consumer Business, Dell Singapore.
Requiring only 17 watts to run, the new energy-efficient processors use less than half the power requirements of those installed in last year’s Inspiron laptops, resulting in longer battery life.
The redesigned Inspirons are 15% lighter than the previous generation, and 17% slimmer with the 4-cell batteries, making them under 1-inch thin.
The laptops are available with Intel’s Core i3, i5 and i7 processor options, and support higher-end features like 3×3 dual-band wireless support based on the latest Wi-Fi N standards, Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI 1.4a.
Side view of the Dell Inspiron 14R.
They are built with stereo speakers with Waves MaxxAudio 4 processing that was introduced in the high-end XPS laptops.
“The new Inspiron portfolio delivers both power and performance, packed in lighter and smaller full-featured laptops that are perfect for everyday computing needs of families and students,” said Wagh.
They also come preloaded with Skype and H.264 enablement for HD video chats or calls.
With the Intel wireless card, all these systems support Intel’s wireless display standard.
Beyond these hardware and software enhancements, these laptops all have touchpads that are optimised to take advantage of multi-touch gestures in Windows 8.
Philips attempts to redefine portable music with portable speakers that are small in size but explosive in sound. Check out the SBT30 (S$89), SBA3210 (S$69), SBA3110 (S$59), and SBA3011 (S$49).
The new Philips SoundShooter portable music speakers are small in size but explosive in sound.
The Philips SoundShooter range of speakers sport Neodymium speaker drivers, and are light and powerful.
These handy speakers come in a myriad of shocking, playful colors and stylish metallic tones to suit your mood and make a great conversation piece and addition to any party!
