I broke my reliable, 1+ year old Ericsson W960i phone last January during our Boracay trip.  I forgot that it was in my pocket when I boarded a banca (boat) and waded in the waste deep water. Stupid me! Anyways, that’s the price of being careless.

After a few days of using my old phones I decided that it’s time to get me a new phone.  For the past 6 months or so, I’ve been noticing and considering the IPhone after seeing it in action when I visited my sister’s place.  It was indeed the Gadget of the Year.  First of all, it stands out from all the rest due to the large amount of applications (free and cheap) available in the App Store.  It was indeed a toy with a phone feature.  It is essentially the same as the IPod Touch but the latter has no possibility of 3G internet and phone of course.  IPod touch is half the price but knowing myself, I didn’t want to carry (and be responsible for) more than 1 gadget.

I visited a Globe Telecom store in Greenhills and was told that they are out of stock and I would need to be signed up in a queue.  She said it would take not days but months to even get one! Sheesh. Frustrating.

For days, I tried to find out ways how I could get one.. I can buy one from the US or Canada but those would be locked.  The HongKong online Apple store seemed perfect: it sold factory unlocked phones but I had no idea how to ship it here. There’s also some online stores such as the KIM Multiply store.  My hubby did not think it was wise to buy from those online stores so I scrapped the idea.  I did call them up though.  I found out their store was located in Tayuman.

And so how did I end up having one?  While browsing computer shops in Megamall I ran across two stores that sell factory unlocked phones. These are obviously gray market stuff. I was not so sure if I would trust these stores.  One managed to show a demo unit for me.  Everything seemed to be ok and authentic. The price was a bit more than Globe’s (3,000 more) but not that high.  In the end, I decided to go home first and research more about it before I make a final decision.   Also, I have to make sure I am getting the real thing  and to know that I have to know the product a bit more.

After a few days, I knew I was ready to go back to the store.  To my surprise, the sales guy wasn’t there and it was another person who seemed not to remember me from last weekend.  She told me they had no more stocks of the 16GB but only the 32GB.  So I went home quite disappointed.  At least I was able to get the phone number of the other store.

That weekend, I first called that other store and found out that they had it.  A few hours later I was there. I brought my laptop so we could activate the phone right there using my ITunes account.  Fortunately, I had been a US ITunes User for several years already. No need to create one.  I was able to download apps with no problems. While I was there, the guy from the other store found me and was so regretful seeing me buy the phone there.  I told him he wasn’t there when I came back a few days later and that they had no stock then.  So I went here instead.

Since I had my phone, I have already downloaded so many apps.. I even bought one: Plants and Zombies which was the best selling app during that time.  There’s so much cool stuff one can play with I can’t even begin to enumerate.  Maybe the next few posts I will talk about IPhone-related stuff.  Stay tuned. Gosh! I love my IPhone!

I visited two stores last night. First, is the Western appliance store. I went there because I found out that they had the Sony KLV 32W400 in stock. When I got there, they were 30 minutes from closing. I was also glad that the unit was on display, although it was on a higher spot and mounted. Therefore I could not checkout the back. First thing I asked them was to demo it by showing a movie. It was quite disappointing that all they had was a pirated disk which will never do justice to any TV set they are selling. I tried it nevertheless. It was an action movie. Nothing spectacular but everything was fine. Next, I found the other model which was the Samsung 32B530 also on display and standing at a much nicer level than the Sony. They played another so-so pirated movie and I wasn’t so impressed by it. They told me that it’s probably the player that makes a difference. I doubt if they are telling the truth. I have learned not to believe any sales person when it comes to giving technical advice in retail store such as this.

Next stop was Sights and Sounds in Shangri-La. I took the elevator straight to the 4th Floor. After walking for sometime, I doubted if it was in the right direction. Before I finally gave up finding it, I tried walking further and there it was finally! The store was about to close also in a few minutes. Right in the middle of their store was the the LG Scarlet LH70!! People were also comparing it with the Samsung 32B530 at that time. They were playing “BlueRay quality” Batman playing from a very expensive harddrive player. Samsung seemed to be too washed out. LG had deeper blacks. It was already getting obvious that LG shows a more lifelike effect. I don’t know how it does it. This same lifelike effect can also be seen in the more expensive units in their place. At this point I have already decided to purchase the LG. However, they were about to close and I still have to withdraw from an ATM. I decided to spend a little bit of the remaining time to demo their Pioneer DVD player.

Today, even though I am feeling a bit sick with a fever and still planning to revisit the stores again but this time I will bring a DVD I own and play it again on both TV sets.

We are now in the market for a new LCD TV.  After doing a bit of research about the merits of 1080p, HD Ready, and Full HD I have come up with my top 3.  We chose to shop for one with the a native resolution of 1920×1080. We wanted to purchase something that would take advantage of blueray technology and the latest in gaming consoles and would not be obsolete too soon.  As you would probably notice I am a total newbie when it comes to HD technology and even home theaters in general.  I have not shopped for anything like this since I bought myself a DVD player in 2005 or something.  Also, our budget of 40,000 pesos was able to give us more choices in the 32 inch category.  As far as I know prices of LCD has continued to be slashed down lately, also in time for the holidays.  Buying during the holidays may or or may not be good though as most people are probably thinking of buying one. So maybe, we might have trouble finding stocks.  And so, after reading forums and googling.  Here’s my top 3 choices and bullet points of their features and specs:

SONY BRAVIA KLV32W400

Street Price (Western)40000 PHP,

• 24P True Cinema™ (24 frames per second), NTSC 3.58, PAL, SECAM, NTSC 4.43 (AV In), PAL 60 (AV In)
• HDMI inputs = 3
• PC inputs = 1
• Headphone input= 1
• PIP 1 TUNER
• 3000:1
• 178/178

According to Sights and Sound (a retailer),  KLV32W400 received a 5 star award competition and the best LCD TVs from What HIFI magazine review.  Also, this model was the previous top of the line for this category.  Prices was slashed big time because it was already phased out.  Some stores of Western do not even have this.  The one in Greenhills claimed to have one.   I am visiting them tonight.

LG LH70

Street Price (Sights and Sound) : 30000 PHP

• 24P
• Bluetooth
• CONTRAST 100,000:1
• VIEWING ANGLE 178/178
• RESP TIME 2.4MS
• HDMI = 3
• PC = 1
• USB = available but was locked (some said it could be hacked though)

• SIMPLINK – through infrared other LG with Simplink active can connect to each other wirelessly

• DIVX – can play divx recorded videos directly

• headphone=using bluetooth

• SMART ENERGY SAVING – it has a self adjusting backlight sensor

• TruMotion 120Hz

SAMSUNG LN32B530
Street Price: 31000 PHP (Sight and Sounds)

• CONTRAST 70000:1
• HDMI = 2
• 24P
• PC=1
• HEADPHONE=1

We actually do not have a DVD player now.  It’s one of those things that we had to lose while moving from place to place.  It is good to know that DVD players now offer 1080p upscaling which means your can view your old DVD’s in a new light (or quality so to speak).

Here are some DVD players with 1080p upscaling:

PHILIPS DVD DVP-3360K ( HDMI )
PhP 4,490.00 (Abensons)

PIONEER DV-410V-K BLK (HDMI)Multi-Format DVD Player Featuring HDMI®,1080p Upscaling, USB, and DivX®/WMV Playback PhP 4,990.0 (Abensons)

In my opinion.. first I will take a look at the screens but eventually..i think LG is ok since we still want to spend on an upscaling DVD player such as  the Pioneer dv-410.  But why LG over Sony?  Of course, $$$ $peaks louder but eventually my eyes will decide.  Is saving an additional 10k important to us?
As far as I can see, both the Sony and the LG have practically same features on paper.
LG uses bluetooth and that seems nice plus the writeups/reviews with photos were impressive for LG
So I guess the demo will be the dealbreaker. Hubby has let me decide which to buy among the two whether paying 10k extra for a slightly older Generation but reputable Sony Bravia is worth the extra bucks.  That model used to be very expensive.

Samsung is quite behind on features but if it’s there of course I will take a look at it and compare it with the other two.

With regards to contrast only my eye can judge i think and with proper calibration.
On another note I was surprised that the TV’s in the US are even internet capable now
They can even stream content from Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and even YouTube.

Tomorrow I will share with you my visit to Western Appliances and Sights and Sounds.

Here are some helpful links about HDTV:

HDTV: Everything You Need to Know

Understanding Resolution