Author: Jayvee Fernandez

I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again — wearable tech is going to be the most pragmatic thing this decade. Apart from smartwatches, there has not been a lot of effort in mass producing other wearable devices. Just in the first half of this decade we saw wearable rings and smart glasses make their debut: local brand mWell has their ring while Samsung, although they already announced their own smart ring, won’t make it to Philippine shores. Ray-Ban is currently on their second iteration of the Wayfarer — and though not officially in the Philippines, has…

The PhilSTAR Tech team just got back from a huge product unveiling for the 6th generation Fold devices from Paris, France. As sponsor of the 2024 Olympic Games, Samsung has really gone out of its way to showcase the new hardware with a lot of fanfare. Samsung Galaxy Fold 6: A Productivity Powerhouse The Samsung Galaxy Fold 6 is designed with productivity in mind, featuring incremental hardware upgrades from its predecessor. However, Samsung has placed a significant emphasis on the AI software capabilities that set this device apart from the competition. One of the standout features of the Fold 6…

Touring Paris over the summer, I chanced upon an outdoor exhibit by the Notre Dame Cathedral restoration. Part of the signage reads: FACES OF THE RESTORATION WORKSITE This exhibition celebrates the men and women who, through their exceptional skills and dedication, have been making this high standard restoration possible within the set deadlines. For a week, Studio Harcourt Paris, high-quality portrait photographers whose timeless signature service is the creation of black-and-white portraits, set up its studio at the site headquarters to take 100 individual and group portraits of nearly 500 people and partners involved in the cathedral’s restoration. These portraits…

This is a long term review of a device that I initially found rather awkward to carry, but slowly fell in love with its quirks.

If you’ve been on a plane out from the Philippines these past few months you will notice something different at the immigration line: the lack of paper immigration forms. This has been in implementation since 2023, but many Filipinos are still confused with the process. As someone who witnesses this whenever I go to the airport, I see anxious Filipinos trying to figure out how to register online (many don’t have data on their phones). For outgoing (and incoming) passengers, you will need to fill out an eTravel form via the website or through the eGov app or website. I…

I sometimes get messages from friend asking for affordable tablet recommendations. They fall under the following categories: a simple tablet for Google Docs at a shop or a Netflix / Disney+ media consumption device. The biggest factor would be price — anything below P10,000 will do. So here I am recommending the TechLife Pad because at launch, it sells for only P8,999. For those unfamiliar, TechLife is a sub-brand of realme focusing on affordable mainstream devices. No “flagship killers” here. What you get are robust devices for the budget conscious. I have a realme Pad 2 at home and I…

I recently attended an online briefing for OPPO’s AI strategy. Oh how things move so fast. Back in the pandemic, ChatGPT was introduced as an awkwardly fun service that had scary implications. Today, we are witnessing the dawn of AI built into hardware. Microsoft had recently announced Copilot built into their new line of AI PC’s with the debut line from Snapdragon. OPPO has done the same with the first wave of AI phones — not a special set of phones, but wanting AI tools — including generative AI, to be present in all of their units. I quote: With…

Happy Father’s Day! If you’re looking for a fun Father’s Day gadget to gift to your father (or father figure), you might want to go for the Jisulife Handheld Fan Ultra1, dubbed as the World’s Number 1 Portable Fan brand. Not only is it meme-levels strong, it’s quite handy, practical and nerdy that will definitely appeal to millennial, gen X, and boomer tech dads. Not only is it super strong to keep you cooled down during hot days, it also functions as a blower with the included attachments.The fan’s speed can be adjusted with a wind speed gear which, when…

UPDATE (06/20/24): We finally have the price of the realme GT6. Dubbed as the “Flagship Killer” our predictions were spot on with the price of P34,999. This is a decent debut price for a phone that tries to sit with the Snapdragon 8 family of flagship phones, albeit clocking in slightly lower (it has a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip). This is a huge step up in terms of performance from the realme 12 Pro+ but also more affordable than the Xiaomi 14. The pre-selling price is even better with P5,000 off.  TikTok June 28 – July 4 Lazada June…

I’ve been in the tech industry for roughly two decades. At a time when I thought I was done with “firsts,” this opportunity came rather unexpectedly. In the span of almost 20 years I’ve been to Mobile World Congress, visited a number of factories and manufacturing plants, and have been to startup innovation summits across the globe. In my previous role I sat with tech titans to help with the regional Google Newslab efforts and the Facebook Journalism Project. But 2024 brought about a first — my first ever Computex in Taiwan, the Mecca of Silicon, the true showcase of…