The ongoing pandemic forced the country’s educational institutions to conduct online classes for their students. While this is a good idea, the concern is a lot of Manila’s students could not afford a tablet or a laptop, not to forget a decent internet connection in their homes. Last June, Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso of Manila pledged tablets and laptops for the city’s students and teachers requirements for online learning. After two months, Mayor Isko or “Yorme” as he is fondly called by his constituents, posted on his Facebook page that these gadgets are now ready to be delivered.
“Magsisimula na po ang delivery next week ng ating mga tablets at laptops para sa mga minamahal kong mga guro at estudyante bilang paghahanda para sa nalalapit na pagsisimula ng blended distant learning. Kasama po dito ang pocket wifi para sa teachers, at sim card na mayroong 10GB data allocation monthly para naman po sa mga estudyante. This effort of your city government is to help every student and teacher to continue studying and adapt to the new normal of education. Ito ay tulong na rin natin sa mga magulang para maibsan ang kanilang hirap na mapaaral ang kanilang mga anak,” said Mayor Moreno.
Producing these gadgets were made possible with the help of our friends in Cherry Mobile. The homegrown mobile phone company is very supportive of “Yorme’s” efforts to rejuvenate the city since he took his oath in office. Also, “Yorme’s” son Joaquin Domagoso is a brand ambassador.
So what tablets and laptops did Mayor Isko and the City Government of Manila purchased for the lucky students and teachers?
TABLETS – CHERRY MAGNUM 8 / MAGNUM 10
Cherry Mobile has been producing great affordable tablets for ten years. Recently, Heart Evangelista, another endorser of Cherry Mobile donated 500 Cherry Mobile Flare tab to students. Now, the students of Manila will have a brand new tablet called the Cherry Mobile Magnum.
The Cherry Mobile Magnum comes in two sizes: a Magnum 8 with an 8-inch display and a Magnum 10 with a 10-inch display. Both tablets are powered by a 1.6 Ghz Octa-Core processor with 64GB of internal storage (expandable up to 128GB) and 4GB of memory. They are equipped with a 5 Megapixel rear camera while the front camera has 2 Megapixels. The Magnum 8 has a battery capacity of 4,000 mAh while the Magnum 10 has a bigger 5,000 mAh.
As seen in the picture, the blue colored tablet has the seal of the City of Manila placed in the center. These tablets are already pre-installed with apps like Google Classroom, Google Sheets, Google Docs, Google Slides and Manila Learning Modules Ebooks.
The Cherry Mobile Magnum 8 and Magnum 10 are only exclusive to Manila’s students and will NOT be sold in the retail market.
Also Read: Recommended Gadgets for Online Classes (as seen in Unang Hirit)
LAPTOPS – AVITA LIBER 12.5″
Avita is not made by Cherry Mobile, but we were told that they will start selling these laptops soon. Students and Teachers of Manila will receive the Avita Liber 12.5, an entry-level laptop that is suitable for online learning.
The Avita Liber comes with a 12.5″ screen with a Full HD resolution and powered by an Intel Celeron 4000 processor with built-in Intel UHD Graphics 600. Instead of a hard disk drive, the Liber has a 256GB SSD which should boot up the notebook faster. RAM is 4GB which again is ought to be enough for apps related to school work. The laptop is housed in a slim and lightweight aluminum body and even has a fingerprint scanner for added security.
We don’t have an official price of the Avita Liber 12.5 yet, but we will be able to see this in retail outlets soon.
