My|Phone. My|Own.

CEBU, Philippines - Every My|Phone model is all about convenient consumer experience.

From basic phones to TV phones, from music phones to fashion phones - the ultimate goal is to provide consumers handsets of high value but tagged in a manner sensible to varied markets.

The 125th My|Phone kiosk in malls all over the Philippines opened at SM Consolacion last June 1 graced by Mytel Mobility Solutions, Inc. president Jaime Alcantara. From him, it was learned that My|Phone handsets are made affordable, the cheapest being P799, so those who are not really into the WiFi + TV phones and smartphones would still find a unit suited to their needs.

For example, the B88 Duo (priced at PhP888) already has a fake money detector feature aside from being dual band (Dual SIM), a camera, and wireless FM/MP3 player. With the help of ultraviolet light, the money reader can, in a way, prevent further circulation of bogus bills/tender.

"Consumers can already enjoy colored LCD and wireless TV/FM radio features priced below P1,000 with provision of Pinoy content if they buy the Pinoy Phone app SD card," Alcantara said.

Pinoy Phone is a software exclusively created for My|Phone with a gamut of data such as recipes, jokes, and even prayers. It has over a hundred audio prayers (rosary, novenas, praise/worship songs), complete Bible, Pinoy trivia, Philippine History trivia, Pinoy recipes, to name a few. However, micro SD card is sold separately.

The B16 TV Duo (Dual SIM TV) at P1,699 with an expandable memory stretched to eight gigabytes is a good buy. It already has a sound recorder. The glitch though is the playback. If you're a reporter or feature writer, it would be impossible not to rewind and fast forward parts of interviews for transcription purposes, so this is its weakest point. However, the Internet service and Bluetooth features compensate the flaw.

Another interesting product is the Touch Screen phone TW1 Duo - WiFi touch with trackpad. It has cool new features like an answering machine that allows mobile phone to record voice messages every time you miss a call. It has a Push e-Mail feature which allows you to receive and send electronic messages using your mobile phone. It also is capable of threaded messaging which displays text messages in a chat-like format.

Hot new model is the TS1 Duo - Dual SIM Android 2.2 Phone. This is tri-band with a 3.2-inch resistive touch screen, a 2.0 megapixel camera, and all the other interesting features you would crave for in an Android phone - what with its thousands of free applications online. Suggested retail price reads P3,999.

A one-year warranty is guaranteed and you can get a temporary service phone while your mobile phone is being repaired. That's what you call zero downtime!

The SM Consolacion kiosk is Mytel's way of creating presence in all malls where there's substantial population to be able to bring these good affordable mobile handsets even closer to the masses: something they can truly call their own and proud to keep because it stands for the Filipino heart wrapped in the Philippine emblem, aside from an impression of the Philippine archipelago.

So, wherever consumers are, they can touch the Philippines!. (FREEMAN)