SMART Evolution (4G LTE)

So how much is it per month?

The actual price is still fluctuating though depending on what part of the world you’re at. In the US, Verizon Wireless charges $80 USD (Php3,520) for 8GB of data. In Australia Telstra charges 30 Euro (Php1,650) for 8GB of data. According to the study the average monthly price for LTE is somewhere around the middle of this range, somewhere around Php2,500-Php2,700. That’s thrice the amount that you pay for Unlimited Data for postpaid plans here in the Philippines today.

Bottom line is…

If you’re the type that downloads a lot of stuff with your internet connection, stick to your DSL. Mobile internet, specifically 4G LTE, wasn’t made for that kind of use unless you’re willing to burn cash like there’s no tomorrow. This type of technology really is more for people who want to have reliable and fast internet connection while on the go.

Is there any chance that the cost will go down? Yes. Analysts say that LTE price will drop by 60% to around 20 Euro or Php1,200 for 8GB of data monthly in 5 years (around 2016).

References: MobilePricing.com and BGR

What’s Evernote?

In a nutshell Evernote is a multimedia notebook that’s hosted on the cloud. This means that this syncs across ALL OF YOUR DEVICES. There’s Evernote for BlackBerry, iOS, Android, Mac OSX, and Windows. You can upload photos, videos, and audio on your notes as well making it truly a multimedia experience.

What do I use it for?

Evernote is what I lovingly call my “Idea Net”. I get tons of ideas everyday for different aspects of life. This can be for work, blogging, personal, finance, or whatever. Most of time these ideas just fly away unless we have mechanisms to “catch” them and store them for review later on. I’ve made it a habit to constantly use Evernote each time I have a good idea. Remember that Evernote can be accessed anywhere as long as you can use your laptop, phone, or tablet.

Make Apps work for you

There are a lot of good apps available in the market today. Most of them are probably apps that will kill your time and productivity. However you need to maximize the investments you’ve made in technology so that you reap more benefits from it that just pleasure and enjoyment. Make the apps work for you so that your investment actually pays off.

I highly recommend Evernote. Download it today (it’s free) and try to figure out how you can use it and maximize it for everyday use.

MVP’s speech at the Ad Congress

And here are the five gems that I picked up.

1. Switching to the Cloud. “Go and SIM no more.”
This technological advancement is something that I definitely look forward to. If we switch to the cloud then we can really say goodbye to SIM cards, text messaging fees, and even roaming charges (well if you have internet via WiFi or ethernet). Communication will be done over the internet on our mobile phones: messaging, calls, and media sharing.

We’re actually seeing the initial baby steps on this with the SMART Netphone.

2.Pay for online content via Meralco or Maynilad
One of the biggest problems with e-commerce in the Philippines is the low credit card penetration. However this can change if there are more payment methods available. MVP mentioned that “it pays to be more than a TV network” and he’s definitely correct. The different delivery and fulfillment networks at his disposal (tollways, offices, homes, hospital beds, etc) can make a huge difference in the way content can be accessed, distributed, and enjoyed.

3. “Content to follow the user on demand, like e-mail. Primetime is out, anytime is in.”
While most people watching his speech were trying to absorb what the “bombs” he was dropping, I’m sure a lot of people in TV5 and in different MVP companies were thinking that his speech can also be considered “marching orders”. That’s what I felt anyway, haha! Especially with the two sentences above.

4. Pay for Performance in Traditional Media
I just found it funny that digital publishers want to get away from the whole “cost-per-click” philosophy while traditional practitioners want to get into it, hehe. Note that there’s nothing wrong with this idea though and I think it’s only a matter of time before we really do move towards this kind of advertising especially with the stiff competition.

5. Tone of Humility
What I liked the most about MVP’s speech was that he decided to take a humble tact. This guy owns a lot of big corporations and companies and he could have easily went the high road. However instead he decided to be a little more laid back, relaxed, and funny. In fact he even took jabs at himself several times including the highly applauded “Undisputed Number 3″ comment.

It was fun and refreshing to see MVP go up stage and deliver a talk like this one. Many many many thanks to the organizers of this year’s Ad Congress for being able to put all three big bosses together on one stage. It was definitely one spectacle that will live on even in history books.

National Broadband Plan by 2015?

Cayetano also stressed the need to fast track the development of broadband technology here in the Philippines so that the costs would go down which means more Filipinos can enjoy the benefits of the Internet. He also mentioned that the UN is pushing for all countries to have a National Broadband Plan by 2015.

1.73 Mbps? Really?

Personally I found the 1.2 Mbps believable because I know that the USB dongles by Smart and Globe tend to pick up speeds during the evening and during lean hours. Sometimes plug-its can go up to 4-5 Mbps while the HSPA+ versions can go all the way up to 9 Mbps.

They should benchmark this study though on internet speed during the day. If that was the study I think our average would be around 600 kbps, hahaha!

Anyway, I applaud the move to have a National Broadband Plan. I just hope it’s not mired in corruption like the NBN-ZTE scandal that rocked the previous administration.

Source: InterAksyon

New Smart logo!

Here’s the video showing the new Smart corporate logo:

Btw, they also changed their corporate website design. It’s a bit too simple (for my taste) but it’s lightyears better compared to their old site.