If you’ve been infected by that spirit of giving going around these days, here are some gadgets guaranteed to draw a smile (or a scream of joy) from the lucky recipient. Now if you’ve been extra nice all year and want to reward yourself, this gift list should also come in handy:
The gadget: iPhone 5S
Perfect for: The Apple fanatic
Why Yule love it: Features a faster processor, better camera optics and the new Touch ID system that reads fingerprints to unlock your phone and authenticate purchases from the App Store/iTunes Store.
Get it from: Smart stores/Jump Experience Centers. Subscribers on their Freedom Plans will get to enjoy free 250mb worth of data every month for the entire first year of subscription.
The gadget: iPad Air/iPad mini
Perfect for: Your Candy Crush/Plants vs Zombies/magazines/Facebook obsessed mom/dad
Why Yule love it: Tablet becomes more portable and powerful as it packs faster processor chips under the hood while shrinking in size.
Get it from: Power Mac Center, Beyond The Box
The gadget: Samsung Galaxy Note 3 + Gear
Perfect for: The busy bee/Inspector Gadget fan
Why Yule love it: Everyone’s favorite “phablet” gets a supercharged overhaul with a 5.7” full HD screen, multi-windows and more pen functionality to make multitasking a breeze. The Note 3 also comes with a new awesome friend: the Galaxy Gear, a tiny smart watch with huge capabilities—you can receive phone notifications, take photos, answer and make calls, and create voice memos—a must-have for anyone who’s ever dreamed of becoming an Inspector Gadget (it can’t help you scale buildings though; at least not yet)
Get it from: www.samsung.com/ph for the complete list of retailers
The gadget: LG G2
Perfect for: The couch potato
Why Yule love it: LG’s most powerful smartphone becomes more user-friendly and indispensable with awesome features like the Quick Remote, an app that allows you to use your smartphone as a remote control for almost every appliance you own, making us closer to living The Jetsons’ dream. The unique placement of the power button and volume controls, which have been moved to the back panel underneath the camera lens, means the phone has been designed with a “near zero bezel,” making it look like a solid touch panel perfect for watching HD videos.
Get it from: www.lg.com/ph for complete list of retailers
The gadget: LG Pocket Photo printer
Perfect for: The selfie fanatic/scrapbooker
Why Yule love it: With “selfie” being named word of the year by the Oxford dictionary, it’s time to accept that there’s no shame in enjoying it. This photo printer is the perfect companion for the selfie-obsessed as well as the old-school scrapbooker. The printer is as small as a smartphone, but can print around 10 business-card sized photos in one go. It also uses Zink or Zero Ink technology that has the ink built into the paper; it then reacts with heat to create images. This makes the device (and photo paper) very economical, costing some P20/print. The companion app comes with cool filters and cute frames that new parents can also use to document baby’s milestones.
Get it from: www.lg.com/ph for complete list of retailers.
The gadget: Kobo Glo
Perfect for: The e-bookworm
Why Yule love it: While Kobo Glo and its sibling e-readers have been around for quite some time, National Book Store has made e-reading accessible to Filipinos, thanks to its recent partnership with Kobo. The digital bookstore gives you access to millions of books, while the Kobo Glo can store tens of thousands of books in one device. The E Ink display looks exactly like a page from a book, so readers won’t experience eyestrain common among those reading from backlit tablets.
Get it from: Select National Book Store branches. Visit www.nationalbookstore.com.ph for a complete list of branches.
The gadget: Globe Tattoo LTE Pocket WiFi
Perfect for: The Internet addict
Why Yule love it: The Philippines was named social networking capital of the world, proof that almost all of us are glued to our smartphones 24/7. Globe’s LTE Pocket WiFi is the social networker’s BFF. Not only can the portable modem allow you to connect 10 devices at a time, it can also deliver up to 42MBPS download/upload speed. The new pocket WiFi models also double as a power bank, allowing you to recharge your smartphone on the go.
Get it from: Globe Business Centers. Visit https://tattoo.globe.com.ph.
The gadget: MiLi Power Nova
Perfect for: The smartphone addict
Why Yule love it: Never run out of gadget juice again with MiLi’s latest power bank. The Power Nova contains 10,000 mAh worth of zap, which can charge your smartphone to full around five times with a single charge. The best part is that the Power Nova comes in an ultra-slim body, with a thickness (or thinness) of 0.3 mm.
The gadget: Nokia Lumia 1020
Perfect for: The mobile “phoneographer”
Why Yule love it: The Lumia 1020 seems more like an ultra-portable camera with smartphone features. The camera boasts of Carl Zeiss optics, a 41 megapixel camera sensor, HD video recording and Nokia Rich Recording for crisp audio capture. You can easily adjust shutter speed, white balance and other features with its user-friendly controls.
Get it from: https://www.nokia.com/ph-en/phones/phone/lumia1020 for a list of retailers.
The gadget: Gionee ELIFE E6
Perfect for: The selfie Instagrammer
Why Yule love it: This sleek Android smartphone is the first to have White OGS (One Glass Solution) technology, which allows users to enjoy HD display with crisp and vibrant colors while reducing sunlight reflection. The 1.5GHz quad-core processor will let you multitask with ease. Users will love the camera’s smile and “V” detect feature, with the camera automatically taking a picture once it detects the subject smiling or holding out a “V” sign (a popular pose among kawaii Asians everywhere). The best part? This smartphone retails for only P18,999, cheaper than most smartphones offering the same specs.
Get it from: www.gioneemobile.co for a list of retailers. •
