Author: Jayvee Fernandez

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…

As a tech journalist I have had a long career following HUAWEI and the products it has launched in the country. I remember how they made the first LTE dongle for SMART when it debuted 4G in the Philippines back in 2011. I was there when they released the most affordable Windows Mobile phone ‘Ascend‘ for less than P10,000 in 2013. In 2018 I got to experience HUAWEI’s Innovation Lab summit which also coincided with the launch of the P20 series. I got that phone for myself that same year and it has lasted me through the pandemic. The P20…

The preorder comes with a HUAWEI Gift box worth P1,999 and HUAWEI FreeBuds SE2 worth P1,599. It’s rather insane that with the freebies, the upcoming HUAWEI Watch Fit 3 is roughly now the same price as the famed HUAWEI GT4, a watch that I have raved about in a previous review. It’s so good, I actually got one for myself (the green strap). HUAWEI wearables are top of class and I’ve been a fan of the GT series, especially the latest iteration that came out last year. The Fit 3 is in a way, the little sibling: it’s more affordable…

I’ve learned the hard way that setting up your home WiFi system might be a little trickier than expected. In fact, the only time you know that everything works perfectly is when you don’t notice it’s working well: your movies are streaming, your downloads are working, your games have great ping. But once your connection chokes, it’s as if you’re on a bus and the driver makes a sudden stop, hurling you into one big inconvenience. I believe, at the end of the day, it’s really about time. Saving time. It’s the balance of enjoying life versus adulting. Any gamer…

It has definitely cast its spell on the industry. To talk about HONOR, we have to talk about its origins with HUAWEI. It’s been roughly a decade since HUAWEI’s offshoot line was launched and though HONOR focused primarily on mid-range devices, it soon found itself at a serendipitous moment because of the banning of its parent company by then president Donald Trump. As a direct result to consumers outside the USA (where the phones are banned), HUAWEI could not directly carry the Google Play Store, and not have access to other Google apps natively installed on Android. Let’s admit that…

The first Huawei smartwatch I bought for myself was the green GT4 last year from Abenson. I was enamored by the fact that it didn’t look like a typical smart watch, and that it had a round bezel (the main reason why I’m not a fan of the Apple Watch). My fascination for the Huawei GT4 has officially extended to the Huawei Watch 4 (yes the nomenclature can be confusing), which is essentially the same device but with support for eSiM, WiFi, and ewallets. The Watch 4 is presented with a 46mm bezel, available only in one color, which is…

Like many Filipinos, I recently took a trip to Japan over the Holy Week. Not to see the cherry blossoms’ first bloom, but to dwell into an irony that many travelers have observed in their sojourns to the Land of the Rising Sun. That is, as high-tech and quirky the Japanese can be with robots, high speed trains, and fast Internet, they seem to be struggling with cashless payments. Unlike the Philippines where mass adoption of QR payments and cashless e-wallets from GCash, Maya, GoTyme, and the like are so ubiquitous, it isn’t as prevalent in Japan. To be clear,…