Starmobile Engage 7 TV (Price: P5,290)
What's hot: The Starmobile Engage 7 TV's rear is made of plastic, although it has a metallic surface—something you rarely find on a wallet-friendly product. It has a built-in analog TV antenna and an ISDB-T digital TV tuner, making it the ideal choice for avid watchers of free-to-air channels. What's more, it comes with an app for streaming local TV shows via WiFi. There's 1GB of RAM onboard for handling multiple tasks in the background, plus a generous selection of ports and a front-facing cam for video chat. All told, the device offers good value for its price.
What's not: Despite the hand-friendly design, the hardware itself is bulky and larger than what its screen size suggests. Much of the Engage 7 TV's silicon is underwhelming: single-core CPU, Android Ice Cream Sandwich, 800 x 480 resolution. A slim selection of digital channels (usually just ABS-CBN) and online programming (only two).
Specs:
- 1.2GHz single-core CPU
- 1GB RAM
- 4GB internal storage
- microSD card slot (up to 32GB)
- 7-inch display
- 3-megapixel rear camera
- VGA front camera
- ISDB-T digital TV tuner; analog TV antenna
- 3,000mAh battery
- Android Ice Cream Sandwich
Starmobile Engage 7 3G (Price: P7,490)
What's hot: The Starmobile Engage 7 3G boasts a dual-core Snapdragon chipset and a SIM slot for voice calling and texting, as well as wireless Web surfing over 3G. Its 3G radio is dual-band, so it should work with most carriers. Granted more free-to-air digital channels hit the airwaves soon, the integrated ISDB-T tuner is a potential plus because digital TV broadcasts deliver better picture quality than their analog counterparts. The hardware, with its brushed-metal finish on the rear, is well-designed and feels exquisitely made.
What's not: Android Ice Cream Sandwich and the rest of the tablet's insides: Adreno 203 graphics, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal memory. Given its telephony capabilities, we're not too optimistic about the mileage you'll get out of the 3,000mAh battery.
Specs:
- SIM slot for voice calling, texting, 3G
- Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8225 chipset
- 1GHz dual-core CPU
- Adreno 203 graphics
- 512MB RAM
- 4GB internal storage
- microSD card slot (up to 32GB)
- 7-inch display
- 3-megapixel rear camera with LED flash
- VGA front camera
- ISDB-T TV tuner
- 3,000mAh battery
- Android Ice Cream Sandwich
