Nokia N78 Review finished, hardware edition

The title says it all. Read my Nokia N78 review like it isn't old news on Electronic Pulp. Yes, it's a gadget blog.

[Nokia N78 review]

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Huge storm + PAG-ASA = FAIL

I've been wondering, just what good does PAG-ASA do to the Philippines? I mean, what good is it for, what is its real job, and do we really need it?

See, come storm after storm, all they do is give out "updates". Updates which we clearly do not need. Just look how much the updates on PAG-ASA's web site helped the passengers and crew members of the sunken ship MV Princess of the Stars.

When the weather is sunny, the government agency is nowhere to be found, and is rarely heard from. They report of upcoming calamities right after a storm (like how they report this time that there are at least 14 more typhoons heading our way after Frank - yeah, right), and during a storm, they really can't offer anything of help to us because they're only human too.

If I see that the flood outside of my house is already neck-deep, and the winds of the storm has already blown off my neighbor's roof, what can PAG-ASA do to help? Even their so-called weather updates often appear to be nothing but lies. I remember back in elementary school that I had been assigned to do a weather report the next day. I cited one from PAG-ASA which said there will be a very huge storm in the upcoming week. Well, guess what, the storm never came. They are all a bunch of liars, I think.

So when I hear about them in the news, I cringe, knowing that these people get paid to do absolutely nothing but turn the loose nuts in the heads of the Filipino public who don't know any better. It's a good thing that majority of the people do what I'm already doing - which is ignoring PAG-ASA - but with the recent tragedy of over 700 lost lives, I wonder even more why the government agency still exists. Surely you notice this yourself, too, right? Don't you?

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The Shameful State of the Nation, Part I

Note: I couldn't be bothered to go outside of Starbucks to take this photo, but take my word for it - the tree you see in the background had a fellow tree standing right next to it just five minutes ago that got blown down by the storm. And the flood is more than knee deep.

It's raining. At any given time at any random point in the world, I'm sure there's some place where it's raining very hard, too. But in that place, does it also flood so deep that you can actually drown a grown man in it? Or whole houses, for that matter? This is one of the many things out government has overlooked, all while doing stuff that I don't even know what are.

I mean, look outside your window. Or don't, just tune in and watch the news on your TV. Oh wait, you can't, because there's no electricity. The power to your house just died because the power lines MERALCO has built are too weak to even withstand a Signal #1 storm. Is there where you let all your taxes go? OK, it's your taxes, after all, so I won't bud in.

But look, just look. Is this the Pearl of the Orient? Is this the place that you so proudly portray in commercials, DOT? How come I never see these floods in the commercials? Or the countless beggars and homeless folk? How about the thieves, kidnappers and terrorists? You are definitely doing it wrong, homeboy. This is not the right way to humiliate a country, no.

Whether you like it or not, the Philippines is garbage. Garbage citizens, garbage politicians. garbage children, garbage. We reek of corrupt senate members and congressmen, not to mention the shady businessess that manage to stay alive despite being explicitly against the law. The president is a joke, the people are stupid, this country is clearly headed nowhere but the dumps.

I may only be 20, but I have seen enough of this country to know that it absolutely and positively is a failure as a whole. If you want to go on living like this, well be my guest. I'm not gonna stop you. I'm happy enough with my life as it is. Right now I've officially just lost all hope on this country's "recovery."

We Filipinos now are a disgrace to our name. We're an embarrasment to our ancestors and a failure in front of the world. I'm not angry because of what's happening, I pity the country because it can't be helped. No amount of help can save it. And if you plan on asking for mine, screw you. I'd rather be sitting here and drinking hot choco.

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Nokia N78 now available in the Philippines

I was windowshopping the other day and remembered that I'm going to buy a Nokia N82 this coming weekend, so I went on to SM San Lazaro's 3rd floor cellphone stores to see the phone I'm going to own soon for one more time. To my surprise, right beside the Nokia N82 was the Nokia N78 sitting nicely in black, and suddenly I felt like rethinking my shopping plan.


Will I or will I not buy the N82? And more importantly, should I get the N78 instead? Yesterday I scoured the web for the best N78 reviews I could find, and found that the N78 was a rather satisfactory device, as long as you're not overly conscious about the megapixel count on your cameraphone. And since I could score an extra half-Benjamin from writing a review of this phone, ah, I've decided that I'll get one of these on the weekend instead of the N82.

What bothers me, though, is that the N78, although much less feature-packed than the N82, is a thousand and two hundred pesos more expensive. I still haven't satisfied myself as to a reason why, and I refuse to believe that they're going to let this on just because the N78 is a new model. Anyway, I'll see in a couple of days if the N78 is really worth the extra thousand and two, and prepare a review of the said device soon as possible.

Read [Electronic Pulp]

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iPhone 3G coming to Philippines, finally!

In case you missed it, Apple CEO Steve Jobs just unveiled the much-rumored iPhone 3G in his WWDC 2008 keynote. It now has 3G network support, built-in GPS with A-GPS, longer battery life and sleeker overall design.

It will be available in black and white models, with 8GB and 16GB models that will sell for $199 and $299. It's cheaper than most high-end Nokia's, which means that more people will be able to afford it.

The official worldwide rollout date is on July 11th of this year, but unfortunately, the Philippines won't be part of that initial rollout. More info on this later.

Read more about iPhone 3G here and here.

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BREAKING: It's official - Globe Telecom is the official carrier of iPhone in the Philippines

Globe Telecom will be the first official carrier of the Apple iPhone in the Philippines, according to various sources around the Internet. Globe Telecom will offer the Apple iPhone in the Philippines along with a few other Asian carriers for the very first time as soon as September, according to sources.

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. is actually the one who got exclusive rights to market Apple's iPhone here in Asia, but because Globe Telecom is one of its mobile associates, the Philippines can get in on the cake.

And also according to a one-sentence statement released by Globe Telecom Today,

"Globe, SingTel, Bharti Airtel and Optus today announced that they have signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to the Philippines, Singapore, India, and Australia later this year."

They say more information will be released at a later date. But that's all fine, and what's important is that the Philippines will now get official Apple iPhone support! Rejoice!

Read [Reuters] and [Inquirer]

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Taking back what's mine, plus extra rice

After making me wait for nearly a thousand years, the money that I transferred from Paypal to my local bank account finally arrived. I finally had enough money to take back the Nokia E50 from the pawn shop, so I did. Now I have a smart phone (Nokia E50), an Internet device (iPod Touch), and a creative human mind. Meaning, I'm all set for a writing business!

But I'm already in business, so anyway... Because I just want to write with no particular topic in mind, let me go ahead and talk about, say, the apparent shortage of rice in the Philippines. Game.

I'm a big fan of rice, but you don't need to be one to notice that there's been a lot of controversy about it lately.

People are saying that someone must be hiding all the rice, while others insist that its just because of overpopulation in our country.

Personally, I think the reason why there's a shortage of rice here in the Philippines is because Gloria Arroyo took it all. She stole Fernando Poe Jr.'s votes. She keeps stealing the taxpayer's money. What's to stop her from stealing all the rice?

Maybe she ran out of things to steal from honest people and decided she'd try out rice. Your thoughts?

Sent from my iPod

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