Author: Jayvee Fernandez

Pricing: *Early bird price is from November 26 to December 9 2025 Last April, I said that I can highly recommend the POCO F7 Ultra. This was because it was a true flagship device that was also quite affordable if placed side by side with your Samsung and OPPO flagships. As the first phone with the ‘Ultra’ label, you got a great all around camera with superb zoom, a fast Snapdragon Elite processor, and great battery management. Well guess what? Seven months in, POCO has now launched its second Ultra phone, the POCO F8 Ultra. It didn’t take a year…

With the official launch of Google Wallet in the Philippines, millions of Android users will now have more convenient access to seamless payments via Tap to Pay. But many netizens have asked what are the real benefits of Google Pay since we already have QR payments via mobile phones? Here’s a quick explainer: Google Pay works without Internet connection Have you ever tried paying via QR code and there’s no signal? Well, Google Pay is the convenient solution. The transaction makes use of wireless NFC communication, similar to when you tap your credit card onto a payment kiosk. This time,…

We go through several iPhone 17 accessories including cases, power banks, and wallets. Many of these are magsafe compatible which means you can also make them work on other compatible devices or compatible cases. Casetify Cases (introducing the new Glaze Case!) Casetify has released their Bounce Case, the new Glaze Case (the blue to yellow hues), and Impact Case (sticker prints) for the iPhone 17 series. Pictured here are the ones that fit the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The Bounce Case (P4,290) can be customized with text for up to 8 characters. This is the orange case with the four…

For most of his life, Jehremiah “Jehri” Asis thought his path was already written. A top student from Philippine Science High School and the University of the Philippines, he had the makings of a corporate lawyer: precise, analytical, and efficient. But as fate would have it, his career would one day flow toward something more elemental: water. Today, Jehri is leading one of the country’s most successful public-private partnerships in wastewater management. Through his company, JCA 1221 Holdings, he conceptualized and led the implementation of the Puerto Princesa Sanitation Project, the first city-scale facility in the Philippines to integrate septage…

At the recent VST ECS CXO Summit in Boracay, IT leaders from across the Philippines called for the fast-tracking of a digital sovereignty law, a legislative move that would require personal and enterprise data to be physically hosted within the country. Across Asia, countries such as China, Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia already have similar laws in place. These frameworks ensure that citizens’ data — from financial transactions to healthcare records — remain within national borders. In practice, such laws compel hyperscalers like Google, Microsoft, and AWS to invest in local data centers, creating new jobs in infrastructure, cybersecurity, and cloud…

Forget the buzzwords and FOMO. AI is all about accuracy, cost, and flexibility. At this year’s VST ECS CXO Summit in Boracay Island, I spent some time talking to Dennis Sze and Lemuel Low, two of the three co-founders of ReN3, an Agentic AI company that I’ve been covering since last year. As a treat, Sze sat me together with Scott Albin, APAC General Manager for Groq. ReN3 has been testing their AI models with Groq for more cost-efficient deployment per token — a critical detail in a world where the cost of compute dictates who can actually afford to…

Jimmy Go is a man from the future. When you have oversight over the distribution of more than 100 IT brands from Apple to Zoom, there’s a foresight you develop across several decades in the tech space. We are at Shangri-La Boracay for the VST ECS CXO Summit, a yearly event bringing together the actual do-ers in the IT space. Where we leave behind the smartphones and action cameras and instead put agentic AI solutions and server racks forward. In a short interview with Go, he said there’s no doubt that everyone has taken the AI plunge. The difference this…

I spent some time with the new 2025 iPhone releases in my latest trip to the Apple Store in Singapore. I got to fiddle with the iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Pro, the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and the new iPhone Air. Typical of iPhone release cycles, reactions could be either hills or valleys depending on the year of release and the phone you own. For many, the jump from the iPhone 15 to iPhone 16 was not very significant in value proposition. But this year, I’m making the case that the iPhone 17 line seems to be quite an…

When browsing for the best value iPhone, the side-by-side spec sheet shows that the iPhone 17 and the iPhone 17 Pro are the best deals. This is because you’re either interested in a base model iPhone, or if you’re a power user who wants a triple camera, you may want to choose the iPhone 17 Pro (or even the Pro Max if size is your thing). The iPhone Pro and Pro Max both come with the A19 Pro chip. But guess what, so does the iPhone Air. The A19 Pro chip is the beating heart of the iPhone Air, allowing…

“When you play the game of phones, you win or you lag. There is no middle ground.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by PhilSTAR Tech (@philstartech) realme is bringing Westeros closer to home with the launch of its latest crossover innovation, the realme 15 Pro 5G Game of Thrones Limited Edition. Created in collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products and inspired by the legendary HBO series Game of Thrones, this release is set to captivate Filipino fans with a smartphone that combines epic storytelling and flagship performance. We were lucky to have scored the realme…