Remember the CRT iMac G3? Instead of being particular on its specs, people seemed to be buying this monitor for its hip, modern design particularly its back. It was transparent for crying out loud! People were used to seeing boxy, all beige computers. Hence, when the iMac G3 emerged, people were wowed by its design and color.

photo from maclife.com

iPod classic. Now, this has worked wonders. This was the start of my being an Apple addict… Probably most people out there too got hooked into Apple because of this product. The wheel was a genius! iPod was so easy to navigate because of this. No mp3 player in the market came close to the iPod.

photo from apple.com

The iTouch was amazing. I remember how much I needed to get this gadget (Here goes the techy side of me!). Listening to music with just a touch of a screen, how cool was that?!

What about this white laptop with a small Apple sign at the center? It was because of this MacBook why I bought a white laptop of another brand before. I was scared to be an Apple convert then since I thought I would have a hard time getting used to its interface.

photo from apple.com

When the MacBook Pro was introduced, more and more people were becoming a convert. Now, seems like in every coffee shop I’ve been to, a MacBook is always present. I, for one, add to the MacBook users in the shop while I take a drink of my brewed coffee. Yes, I eventually became one of the converts, and now a self-confessed Apple addict.

Everyone went crazy over the iPhone. It was and still is a must-have to most gadget savvy people. They wait and fall in line outside the stores just to buy this device. They take pride for being the first few people to acquire such gadget.

The iPad. When this went out of the market, people were itching to buy one…or even 2! Thanks to the iPad, I’m now an expert in plants vs zombies and angry birds. LOL!

As I use my MacBook now, I know its creator is already gone but his legacy will continue forever. Thank you, Steve Jobs. Definitely a Jobs well done. iSalute you.

Last July 6, 2011, the two formally signed the contract via the HTC Flyer tablet in the presence of celebrities, bloggers, and everyone else who were at Opus that night. Who would have thought that there will come a time wherein you can sign and save important documents on the spot?! How? HTC tablet has HTC Scribe Technology, wherein people can rediscover the natural act of writing. It introduces a wave of integrated digital ink innovations that make it easy to take notes, draw, or sign contracts, which they  demonstrated! Amazing!

I liked how they advertised/ marketed the event. They used social media sites like Tweeter and Facebook as a way to raffle the gadgets they were giving away. Atendees of the event must check-in in their Facebook accounts or tweet about the event to be part of the raffle! Well, unfortunately I didn’t win! If I’m not mistaken, they gave away about 8 mobile phones! Why can’t I be fortunate when it comes to raffles?! Haha!

One of the lucky winners is my dear friend, Hannah! Wee! Congrats hunnie!

Aside from the announcement of partnership between the two industry giants, they launched the new HTC ChaCha.

To the Facebook addicts, this is for you! HTC ChaCha is the real Facebook Phone! How? Why? Well, it has a dedicated Facebook button that polsates when the phone feels that there’s something worth sharing on Facebook!

Can’t imagine how it works? Watch the video below.

Features:

• Processor- 800 MHz
• Operating System- Android with HTC Sense
• Memory- ROM 512 MB; RAM 512 MB
• Display- 2.6-inch touch screen with 480 x 320 resolution
• Internet- 3G: Up to 7.2 mbps download speed and up to 384 kbps upload speed; GPRS: up to 114 kbps download speed; Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
• GPS: internal GPS antenna
• Connectivity: 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, standard micro-USB (5-pin micro-USB 2.0), Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth 3.0 with FTP/OPP for file transfer
• Camera- 5.0 megapixel color camera with auto focus and LED flash; VGA front camera
• Expansion Slot- microSD memory card

Here are more photos during the event. Thank you to Smart and HTC! It was indeed one successful and fun event!

performers during the event

fashion and beauty bloggers in the house!

I miss hanging out with these girls! It has been a while…

Hannah, Kristel and moi

YOU! Yes, YOU! Hehe!

And as for my outfit that day, stay tuned for my next post!

What is it? Hint: It’s the techy geek in me again! Ugh! Read on…

Let’s take a look first of the newly launched K Series Laptops…

Yes, they’re available in multi-color aluminum textures!  It has the IceCool Technology, which lowers temperatures to maintain a comfortable palm rest feel, preventing unwanted heat build up. It now has the multi-touch touchpad, which allows you to easily scroll through web pages and pinch-zoom in and out of images. At the same time, the Palm Proof technology-equipped touchpad distinguishes between the contact surfaces of the palm and fingers to prevent inadvertent cursor movements during typing.

Asus K Series Notebook is powered by the 2nd generation Intel® Core^TM processors. You can choose from i3 (2.10Ghz dual-core), i5 (2.30Ghz dual-core), or i7 (2.00Ghz quad-core). It’s also packed with NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 520M with 512MB/1GB DDR3 VRAM to boost multitasking, multimedia and gaming experience.

Price points are the following:

K Series K43SJ (PHP 29,995)

K Series K43SV-VX120 (PHP 32,995)

Get a closer look of the new K Series Laptops in the video below.

And now, what really caught my eye that I can’t get over until now? It’s another latest gadget from Asus- the Eee Pad Transformer! Seriously, when I saw it and laid my hands on it, I wanted to bring it home!!! I’m seriously considering giving up my current tablet for this! Why? It transforms! It can be a 10-inch tablet and a notebook! Now, how brilliant is that?! Let’s face it, typing with a keyboard is way, way easier than with a touchscreen tablet alone. A blogger, like me, would definitely agree with me. I attempted to blog using my tablet once and I never wanted to try it again. I simply use it to play games and surf the net. With Asus Eee Pad Transformer, you can easily attach the keyboard to make it like a normal notebook and just type away! On the other hand, if you simply want a tablet for presentation, gaming or surfing purposes, just bring the pad!

This 10-inch Eee Pad Transformer has a dimension of 271 x 171 x 12.98 mm. With a super slim profile of only 12.98mm thick in a frame that weighs only 680g, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is comfortable to hold from any position. The unique textured pattern offers a better tactile sensation, so it won’t feel as if it will slip out of your hands.

The Transformer makes the Eee Pad unique. The optional docking station provides access to a full QWERTY keyboard, turning the tablet Transformer into a notebook. The docking station also extends the Transformer’s 9.5 hours of battery life up to 16 hours! That being said makes this a real winner for me! Hehe!  But there’s more to this amazing gadget.

An IPS Panel made from durable and scratch-resistant glass (we really tested it with a key, as seen below!!!) is viewable at angles up to 178°, and produces a crisper and more accurate color range by up to 50% when compared to other tablets in the market.

A touchpad, 3.5mm audio jack, two USB ports, SD Card reader make this a versatile media hub. It also has a dual camera (1.2 mega pixel front camera and 5 mega pixel rear camera).

Preloaded on the Transformer is Polaris® Office® 3.0, a professional mobile office Solution which enables users to edit various types of office documents including documents (.doc), spreadsheets (.xls) and presentation (.ppt) files, making the Transformer very attractive for professional use. It runs under Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system with Adobe® Flash® 10.2 support. It’s powered by the NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 1.0GHz dual-core CPU for excellent multitasking & 1080p video playback. It can also connect to a HDTV and 5.1 surround sound system through its HDMI 1.3a port.

Now, here’s Lush Angel wanting to take home the Eee Pad Transformer!!! Waaaah!

Now, how much???

Eee Pad Transformer TF101 (PHP 22,995)
Eee Pad Transformer TF101 with Dock (PHP 29,995)

Not so bad, eh???

Here’s a video of the Eee Pad Transformer…

Before the event ended, they introduced their new brand ambassadors- Valerie Chua, Vince Golangco, Crissey Si and Arbie Won. Asus felt that these 4 brand ambassadors best represent the sophisticated, active and multifaceted lifestyle of this generation, where Asus gadgets can definitely fit in.

from left to right: Valerie Chua (graphic artist); Crissey Si (fashion icon); Vince Golangco (blogger/ radio DJ); Arbie Won (club DJ)

Asus also raffled a K Series Notebook and an Eee Pad Transformer to those who attended the launching event. As always, I don’t have luck in such kind of raffles! Ugh! How I wish I was able to take home that Eee Pad Transformer! Hehe! See, now you know how much I can’t get it off my mind!!!

And as for my outfit for this event, you can check out the details in this outfit post.

Beautify them! How? I change the case every now and then and I feel like it’s brand new again. Haha! I don’t know if I’m just weird. I know that it’s exactly the same thing with a different casing, but I use the gadget as if I just bought it. I suddenly love using it again! Call me weird now! Haha! It doesn’t even have to be a brand new casing, by the way! Just 2 cases for a gadget and just rotate using them every month, I’m good. LOL! Maybe this trick would work for you too if you’re like me who gets tired of a gadget easily. Who knows, this may also stop you’re urge to have an upgrade?

And to make me feel that my iPhone is for keeps, I bought a bling-bling for it. This is another loot from Shanghai. Well, it’s not just something to make me love my iPhone more. It’s fashionable too, don’t you think? Hehe! I know these bling-bling iPhone cases are being sold just about anywhere, even in tiangges. I just love the way these studs were designed and the price, of course. Hehe!

Now, how much???

The guy said RMB 80 or PHP 520. I said, RMB 30 or PHP 195.

And yes, I walked away with a RMB 30 iPhone case. LOL! I’m not really sure if I can get it any cheaper here in Manila, but the fact that I was able to bargain more than 50%, I’m a very happy shopper already. LOL!

Yes, this casing may not be the best quality, but it can still serve its purpose to protect the phone from scratches. The downside, I don’t think it can handle those huge and bad impacts when you drop it. Eeeek! But I can’t resist the bling-blings! It’s no swarovki crystals, yet it’s fashionable. Zebra design it is! My friends who have seen it, loved it. Well yeah, some of those blings come off easily. I actually know about that even before I bought it. I used to put those kind of stickers at the back of my mobile phones. Haha! Well, now that the studs are placed in a different casing and not on my mobile phone itself, I can glue all I want. I don’t have to worry that the studs would stick on my phone forever! Haha! I just use a strong adhesive to keep the stones in place. Now, I’m loving my phone so much! I walk in style and literally shine with it!

There has been a lot of iPad 2 resellers around since it came out in other countries last March, but the gray market almost always sell this in-demand gadget at a higher price. Now that it will be available in authorized Apple retailers here in the Philippines, that means we can finally get iPad 2 at its real price. No need to pay premium or additional shipping fees to the gray market. This is definitely good news to those who are planning to get one here in the Philippines. And for those who are wondering how much the Apple stores would sell the iPad 2, here’s a sneak peek of iStudio‘s rates:

iPad 2 Wi-Fi

16GB – PHP 23,990

32GB – PHP 28,990

64GB – PHP 33,990

iPad 2 Wi-Fi with 3G

16GB – PHP 30,990

32GB – PHP 35,990

64GB – PHP 40,990

iStudio is located in High Street, V-Mall Greenhills, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Gateway, and SM Manila.

If you’re interested, you can also get from me. Don’t worry, I’m no gray market! LOL! I’m getting it from an authorized Apple retailer too, so I might even get you some discounts. I just want to help my dear readers out there. Just drop me an e-mail at admin@lushangel.com

The event started off with a nice dinner and a short introduction of the newest Samsung Smart TV from the host, Cerah Hernandez.

Can I just say… the salmon was really, really good!

Then, Ms. Jan Roma, product manager of Samsung Philippines, gave us a quick demonstration of the latest Samsung Smart TV.

Some of its key features are the following:

For convinience of the users of the Samsung Smart TV, they created the Smart Hub. It’s like a home page where you can access the web browser, Search All feature, movie recommendations, etc.

I mentioned the “Search All” feature above. Wondering what it is? Users can now search for movies or shows they want to watch. They can search for related content on the web or other devices, like mobile phones or computers.

You can also synchronize the content of your other devices with the new Samsung Smart TV through the wireless  technology. That means you can view pictures, watch videos or simply store files from your computer or mobile phones to the Smart TV.

With the internet connection, you can basically do everything that you normally do on the web, like chat, watch videos, search information, update status in Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, etc. All these you can do while watching television and with just a few clicks on the remote control. You can also use any gadget powered by android to navigate the Smart TV, and that includes the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

It was the first time I laid my hands on the Galaxy Tab and I almost turned my back away from my iPad. Haha! I just love its size! I can easily slip it inside my bag. In terms of compactness, the Galaxy Tab is definitely a winner.

Thank you When In Manila for the photos! See Lushangel.com is on TV! LOL!

You can now connect to Samsung’s app store too and get a lot of free applications for your television! Awesome, right?!

Besides all these features, the techy geeks would surely love it’s sleek design!

How thick is it? 5mm! Woot! Impressive!

The new Samsung Smart TV is indeed smart. You can now do almost anything with it. I cannot imagine what else it cannot do!

For more information about the Samsung Smart TV, visit their website.

Some photos from the event… Again, thanks to Vince of When In Manila for these photos!

With Cerah and Hannah

With Tel and Hannah… Awww, I miss these girls! It’s been a while since we’ve attended an event together!

*video from Engadget*

Well, who would have thought that iPad would be this successful?! Even I, myself, didn’t ever imagine to own one! It has become like a mobile phone already! Even my 7 year-old and 4 year-old nephews have them! When I was a kid, I remember playing dolls with my cousins, while the boys with their matchboxes. It was like chaos all over the place! When I had a family reunion last Christmas and Chinese New Year, my nephews and nieces looked so behave. All of them were just sitting down, each have a gadget of their own. One holds a Samsung Galaxy, while the others have the iPad. Geeesh! What’s happening to the world?! But iPads are not all about games. I also saw first hand how useful iPads are while at work. During my last shoot in China, the production team had iPads scattered everywhere- looking at the photos after every set of shots. The pegs were all in there too, making it easy to see what the ad agency wanted. Even if everyone seemed to have an iPad already, I don’t think people would stop from buying one, especially if they knew that the iPad 2 has these:

Dual Core Processor A5 chip

Up to 2x faster CPU compared to the original iPad

Up to 9x faster graphics compared to the original iPad

Video cameras (both front and rear)- meaning FaceTime is now possible in iPad 2!

33% thinner- from 13.4mm (old iPad) to 8.8mm (iPad 2)!- Even thinner than the iphone 4, which is 9.3mm

Lighter- from 1.5 pounds (old iPad) to 1.3 pounds (iPad 2)

Same 10 hour battery life as the old iPad

HDMI mirrored video output

Up to 1080p

Available in white and black

And so, when will Apple start shipping iPad 2? Save the date, March 11, 2011! For some other countries, it would be on March 25, 2011! As for the price? Good news, it’s still the same, starting at $ 499 16GB WiFi. So, are you digging it?

As for me, it would have been perfect if it had that retina display. Aside from the camera, it’s what I’ve been waiting for. Well, at least it’s a reason for me not to upgrade. Whew, my money is safe! LOL!

My Christmas wasn’t that bad, despite my sickness. A dream of mine several years back came to reality last Christmas. It’s nothing biggie. It has just been in my “want” list ever since. And what is it?

That is to make all my gadgets all out Apple. And yes, it finally came true! Meet my Apple family…

My first ever Apple gadget was the first gen iPod Nano. All of us was so amazed with its thinness when it first came out. After a year or so, it vanished inside my car!

Last year, I got my next Apple gadget, the MacBook Pro. I didn’t regret switching to Mac. It’s one of my best buys in gadgets. I enjoy using Mac applications, making me crave for more Apple stuff! Huhuhu! I sense money goodbye… LOL!

For some reason, my parents thought of giving techy gifts this year. They made my dream come true! Thank you mom and dad!

First, the iPhone 4, which was given to me a month earlier.

Then, during my last trip to Singapore, my mom suddenly bought an iPad! I don’t have any idea how she learned about the gadget. She’s getting too techy these days. Well, I really didn’t dream of getting an iPad. For quick surfing, I can always use the iPhone. For blogging or longer hours of surfing the net, I have my MacBook Pro, which I always bring wherever I go. These leave me no interest to get an iPad at all. For me, iPad is just a big iPhone. But when mom got it and said it’s mine, who am I to say no?! LOL! It was only last Christmas when I started using it. I never thought I’ll enjoy using it sooo much! Well, I use it more for games and for quick internet surfing. I still enjoy blogging using my MacBook- nothing compares!

Mom’s surprise didn’t end there! She’s sooo amazed with Apple, I guess, that during Christmas Eve she gave me another box. When I opened it, I was surprised to see the new iPod Touch! Yup, the one with a camera in front, which means- the one that can do facetime! LOL! I guess she realized how her iPhone drains battery too fast that it’s impossible to use the iPhone as an iPod. Haha!

Again, meet the whole family…

Yay! Big thank you mom and dad! I never thought of going all out Apple this soon. It really is a dream come true!