The JAC TECH Store is now open!

With the help of my friends in AMAZON, I am now able to offer tech stuff and books that I have personally picked out.

In time I will attempt to post reviews for all these items.

So please come in and stay a while.

I will be updating and reorganizing the store constantly so if you have any requests just send me an email and I'll try to get it on board the store.

A long overdue report about gadget updates

Sometime in the last couple of months, some serendipitous events magically occurred and the following things happened:

I gave up:

My SE P1i to my significant other

My SE W850i to my eldest son

My Samsung E250 to my eldest daughter

My W810i to a buyer on Ebay

My 3120 to a sale in my village

My 6120 to a buyer on Ebay

I gained:

A Nokia E71 through the generosity of my mother

A Nokia 5800 Xpress Music from the sale of my 2 Nokias

An SE P990i as a swap from my son for the W850i


I always post my gadget wishes and pipe dreams here so here's what I have realistically ( i think) planned for myself as far as upgrades are concerned:

The following info is formatted as follows:

Current phone / Line (Network) / Upgrade path

Nokia E71 / GPS Business line (Sun) / E72, will retain E71 to replace K810

Nokia 5800 XM / Personal Line (Sun) / No upgrade planned

SE K810i / Ebay Toy Business Line (Sun) / E71, (see above)

P990i / Business Line (Globe/Duo) / Xperia

Samsung C5212 / Business Line (PLDT Landline / Smart) / A dual sim phone with 3G that has a longer standby than the C5212


I also plan to get a robust phone with long battery life, good GPS, wlan etc. to bring along on my mountain biking trips. Will be backed up by another phone carrying a different sim with a very long battery life, maybe a Philips. It may sound like overkill but believe me, in the places where I ride, signal can get spotty and the weather can change rapidly. I already got stuck on the trail once with just one phone with no signal while my riding companion had one phone with signal and low battery. This was right in the middle of heavy rain on a muddy trail with no lights. So I can assure you its NOT overkill.

Of course I will only carry 2 phones when riding but during my workday, I wish I could carry less phones but I need to segregate my businesses and I also need to carry my office with me. My Globe and Smart lines are prepaid and are loaded with the barest minimum except for the Superduo service which I find indispensable.

So thats the update for now. Obviously I need to post several reviews soon from the the hardware to the service.

Watch out for them and thanks for reading.

Sony Ericsson Satio : First Impressions

I have to admit that the Sony IDOU or SATIO was one of the handsets that I declared that I WILL BUY.

However, like many dreams in this world, reality shows its not all that its hyped up to be. Again like some dreams, it may have been better left as one.

I had the chance to see the mockup in the Sony Ericsson Shop in Trinoma. The sales people were certainly eager to please with their canned responses but once I started asking some slightly technical questions theirs eyes glazed over and they starting mumbling over and over again that they were not informed of the technical specs with nary a glance at their product catalog which I suspect had the information I needed.

Anyway here are my first impressions based on the mockup and the brochure:

GOOD:

- The phone looks really classy in person, it certainly can hold its own with the Iphone 3GS

- It feels good in my hands, it imparts a feeling of solid build and quality.

- The form factor is excellent for men but it may not be as comfortable for the women. It is significantly larger than my Nokia 5800 Xpress Music

BAD:

- The 12 megapixel lens juts out from the back. It may be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective. For appearance, its a big no no because it looks bulky from the side. For handling purposes, the bulky thing rests the phone securely in your hands.

- Price, it costs much more than my Acer Core2 laptop. Essentially for the price you can buy an E71 and an Asus Netbook.

- The phone runs on the Symbian OS which is the same one used on the Xpress Music. Turn it on and several screens look so much like the Nokia. Which is not a bad thing except that you could buy two 5800's for the price of the Satio and have money left over to buy a good set of earphones and a bluetooth headset.


MY VERDICT:

The Satio is an undeniably good looking phone and it does have a 12 megapixel shooter. The form factor is better suited for men though women do tend to favor touch screens. As a touch screen phone, the appearance of this phone is top notch and oozed quality. In a way I could say that its a businessmans touchscreen phone. More business like than the Iphone.

However there are reports starting to crop up on the net about mass recalls and returns of the Satio due to unspecified software issues. It is a bit alarming considering that there were other SE phones that had software issues but were not returned by these outlets.

So based on the preliminary impressions and these reports, I would personally wait and see first. Beyond the bragging rights, it seldom pays to be an early adopter because you will actually be the beta tester of those products at a much steeper cost which will send you crying when you learn the market price 2 to 3 months after launch.

But if you have the dough and the courage and patience to handle latest and greatest with the aforementioned cons then go right ahead. You'll have a phone that will trump the Iphone on looks alone.

For myself, I'm sticking to my E71 / 5800 combo until the smoke clears and the bugs ironed out. Besides the X10 is starting to tickle my fancy too.

DISCLOSURE: To dispel notions of favoritism, let me share the following information. I personally carry 5 phones right now, 2 Nokias (e71 and 5800), 2 Sony Ericssons (p990 and k810) and a Samsung C5212.