Moto X (2014) now official with 1080p AMOLED screen

Motorola officially launches the 2014 Moto X (rumored to be Moto X+1) which is accompanied by impressive specs. It flaunts a 5.2-inch 1080p AMOLED display that’s reinforced with Corning’s Gorilla Glass. Inside, a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM, and up to 32GB of internal storage run the show.

Moto X (2014) specs:
5.2-inch AMOLED display @ 1920 x 1080, 423ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor
Adreno 330 GPU
2GB RAM
16GB/32GB internal storage
13MP rear camera with f/2.25 lens and ring flash
4K video recording
2MP front camera
Full HD video recording
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, hotspot
HSPA+, 4G LTE
GPS, GLONASS
NFC
2,300mAh battery
Android 4.4 KitKat

The new Moto X carries an aluminium frame and as a new offering, a ring flash is embedded around its rear camera to soften the light as it hits its subjects. It also comes with a “splash guard” coating that protects it from minor liquids. As of now its starts at $499 and will be available later this month in Asia.

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Acer Liquid Jade in the flesh

First announced during in June at the Computex 2014 in Taiwan, Acer Philippines finally released the Liquid Jade in the country last August in an attempt to capture the mid-range segment of the handset market.

This 5-inch smartphone is perhaps the nicest-looking Android handset Acer has ever made with an all-glossy treatment that doesn’t look or feel cheap. The rounded corners and curved back reminds us of the iPhone 3G, only slightly larger yet retains a thinner and lighter profile.

The all-glass front panel is covered with Gorilla Glass 3. The glass is cut along the same contour as the phone and the edges slightly curves outward as it hits the frame.

A silver trimming surrounds the entire body with a thin polycarbonate strip in a polished steel appearance. Perhaps that’s what inspired the handset designers from Acer to call it the Liquid Jade.

Aside from the Acer logo at the bottom corner of the front panel, the speakerphone looks very prominent with that circular metal piece that shines like a little Swarovski ornament.

Camera
At the back side, the 13-megapixel rear camera is prominently featured and protrudes from the curved body. Just on the left of it are the LED flash and noise-canceling microphone. On the other end, is the circular speakers that seems to have been done more for form rather than function.

The power button is at the top end along with the 3.5mm audio port. The volume controls are on the right side. The SIM card cradle and microSD slot are tucked along the left side. The Liquid Jade can accommodate 2 nano-SIM cards. The phone is perhaps one of the very few ones that uses a nano-SIM, along with the iPhone and the HTC One M8.

Acer also created a multi-purpose cradle that allows for a single tray to hold two nano-SIMs. The unique design of the tray allows for the 2nd SIM tray to be used by a microSD card, positioned horizontally to fit the smaller slot for the nano-SIM.

So yes, it’s a dual nano-SIM but when you need a microSD card, you cna only use one SIM tray. It’s an acceptable trade-off considering the size and thinness of the device.

Acer Liquid Jade S55 specs:
5-inch IPS ‘Zero Air Gap’ display @ 1280×720 pixels
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
MediaTek 1.3GHz quad-core processor
1GB RAM
8GB storage (expandable up to 32GB via microSD)
13MP rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, 0.3-second autofocus
1080p video recording
2MP front camera
3G/HSDPA, Dual-SIM capable
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
2100mAh battery
Android 4.4 KitKat
140.5 x 69 x 7.5mm (dimensions)

The most interesting feature in the list above for us would be the 13MP rear camera with an f/1.8 aperture

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ASUS ROG Crossblade Ranger

AMD’s Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) has been around for quite some time already, but it’s only recently that ASUS released the Crossblade Ranger – the company’s first Republic of Gamers (RoG) motherboard that supports both A88X chipset and FM2+ socket. Head past the break to check out our full review of this gaming-centric MoBo.

In terms of the overall design, the Crossblade Ranger looks very similar to some of the Z97 boards under the ROG lineup, particularly the ROG Maximus VII. The FM2/FM2+ processor slot in the middle and is flanked by four (4) one-sided RAM slots on the right and a neatly designed Extreme DIGI+ III VRM on the left which comprises of eight (8) alloy chokes neighbored by 10K Black Metallic capacitors and NexFETTMMOSFETs tucked underneath the two heat sinks.

Other features

Before we reach the end of our review, we want to highlight some of the additional features that come with the Crossblade Ranger which you wouldn’t normally get on a non-ROG motherboard or competing boards in the same class.

This board inherits some of the features that are already present on some ROG boards, particularly those on a higher tier. One of which is the fancy Intel Gigabit Ethernet that’s equipped with ASUS LANGuard, which primarily protects the board from electric surge and improves the overall throughput, as well as GameFirst III which allows user to optimize how the data is being transferred to the PC and allocate more bandwidth if needed.


ASUS RoG Crossblade Ranger specs:
Form Factor: ATX (30.5 x 24.4cm)
Socket: FM2/FM2+, supports AMD A-Series APU
Chipset: AMD A88X
Support for RAID 0 / 1 / 5 / 10 and JBOD
DIGI+ III VRM
10K Black Metallic Capacitors
Alloy Chokes
NexFETTMMOSFET
Memory: 4x DIMM, up to 64GB DDR3 2400MHz (OC)
GPU: supports up to 3-way CrossfireX Technology
Storage: 8x SATA 6Gbps, RAID 0/1/5/10 support
Audio: SupremeFX Formula 2014 (RealTek ALC1150)
Expansion slots: 2x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16, 1x PCIe 2.0 x16
I/O ports: 6x USB 3.0 (4 on the back & 2 mid-board)
8x USB 2.0 (2 on the back & 6 mid-board)
1x HDMI, 1x VGA and 1x DVI-D
5x Audio Jacks + 1x S/PDIF plus 1x TOSLink
1x PS/2 combo port
1x Intel® Gigabit Ethernet with GameFirst III and ASUS LANGuard

The only thing that may disappoint potential buyers is its price. The ASUS ROG Crossblade Ranger is being sold locally for Php8,990 which makes it the most expensive FM2+ motherboard currently in the market. But if you have extra cash to burn, we think that this board should be a good investment.

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Moga Pro Power Controller Review

Are you a Hardcore andorid Gamer?? then you need this Controller

The Moga Pro Power is a Bluetooth gamepad designed for serious Android gamers.
Features


The Moga Pro Power features:

- 2 full-sized analog sticks
– A directional keypad
– 4 action buttons
– 2 shoulder buttons
– 2 analog triggers
– 2 function buttons (Start & Select)
– SMRT Lock Arm
– Tablet stand
– 2200 mAh internal battery
– Micro USB charging port
– Full-sized USB port for charging of external / other devices
– Bluetooth connectivity
– Multiplayer support

Design

With its ergonomic feel and familiar button configuration, it actually looks like an XBox 360 controller.

Although it’s made from plastic, it feels solid and well built.

the Controller SMRT lock, with clamps fitted with a sticky rubber –like substance, can securely accommodate small phones (like the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact – at 4.3 inches) to bigger phablets (like the Starmobile X1 – at 6 inches).

Performance

First person shooters (i.e. Dead Trigger 2) and dungeon crawler RPGs (i.e. Dungeon Hunter 4) immensely benefit from this device. As you no longer have to rely on on-screen controls, you can see the battle field in all its glory. This also assists you make quicker decisions on the fly, helping you enjoy the games better.

For those who are used to on-screen controls, you may initially have some difficulty with the accuracy. Fortunately, the learning curve is not steep. You could master the controls in under an hour of continuous play.

Battery

The full-sized USB port allows the Moga Pro Power to power external devices. The internal battery’s capacity isn’t much, but it can be very useful if you don’t have a phone charger handy.

With its 2,200mAh battery, the Moga Pro Power can easily last a week on casual gaming. But this can be reduced to 3 days or less if you play for about 4 hours a day, and occasionally use it to charge the phone.

Connecting with the controller

Connecting your device with the Moga Pro Power is very easy. Just install the Moga Pivot App (available in Play Store), switch on the controller, run the Moga Pivot App (which turns your device’s Bluetooth on and pairs it with the controller), and you’re good to go.



Conclusion

The Moga Pro Power did indeed transform my Android devices into “mobile gaming systems with its precision controls and console-style comfort.” The controller certainly makes gaming on your Android device more addictive than usual. In fact, what used to be minutes of casual gaming turned into a couple of hours of daily hardcore play.

If you have Php4,490 to spare and are a serious gamer (or are interested in maximizing the gaming potential of your Android device), this is definitely a good buy (see listing on Widget City here).

Pros:
– Solid build
– Ability to charge your phone like a power bank
– Familiar gaming console layout and feel

Cons:
– Not compatible with Apple devices

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Sony outs SmartEyeglass Developer Preview Kit

Google isn't the only brand that makes wearable tech glasses.Sony also entered in the game with their wearable glass,they named it Smarteryeglasses

Features
The SmartEyeglasss comes with :
accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, brightness sensor, and microphones, WiFi and Bluetooth to pair with your Android smartphone.

But what set this Smart glasses apart is that there’s a tiny monitor attached to the glass hovering in front of you, Sony’s SmartEyeglass uses the glasses are also the screens.


But as of this moment the glasses are only available for developers.so it is not yet for sale.they released it for developers so they can create apps for it run.

Impression

the Smart eyglasses is a bit bulky and a bit sophisticated compared to Google's "Google Glass". I hope when this product of Sony will be released in the market it will improve on the Design.and i also hope that Developers can create fun and Helpful apps for this device.

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The Asus Zenfone 5

Asus is an eye catcher with their latest flagship phones.the Zenfone 5 a phone that is not to big nor not too small .but if you're thinking that this phone has nothing to say about,well think again. we'll start off with the display

Display

the Zenfone 5 rocks a 5 inch display with a resolution of 720x1280 producing 294 ppi.the phone produced sharp and accurate colors.

OS and Ui
the Zenfone 5 is runs on android version 4.3 jellybean,but is upgradable to the latest version of kitakat.Asus has done a good job in putting a skin on the stock android with their ZEN UI Apps are more organized and clean.

Camera and Multimedia
the Zenfone's music quality is good,i liked how they had put in a equalizer to customize your feel gor the music.

The 8 megapixel camera here works great, especially for its caliber. It’s fast and it gives timely suggestions on what photo mode to use in a specific situation, and the modes themselves are really good just like the rest of the software in the ZenFone.the only thing to complain to is its shutter speed
it takes a while for the camera to take photo,but this can be fixed with sofware updates.

Another feature of the camera is its "Low light mode"which takes 2mp photos.the reason behind this feature is an algorithm together with hardware and software tweaks.

Battery Life

Charging the battery takes the usual time here, maybe even slower, but we’ve noted that as we tried using the bundled charger on other phones and it will take so long before we even get to half a charge.

Conclusion
This phone is one of those premium phones with affordable price.you wont go wrong in buying.it value for your money.

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