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ARTICLE SERVICES   Print this article      Reprint this article     Send as an e-mail     Feedback   RELATED STORIES Style spoofing Pandas fed chicken soup for health The week that was GALLERY 1 2 Next   Zoom    Read Full Story LEARNING traditional Vietnamese dances Zoom    Read Full Story ACCOSTING locals at the market. PHOTOS taken with the Innov8’s 8-megapixel camera Advertisement OTHER STORIES Turning ‘Brapanese’ Face to face with Dexter Can’t get enough Dexter? 24/7 Super Radar One heck/hack of a ride I was inside ‘CSI New York’ Meet the cast of CSI New York Make-or-break kid lands big break Not squemish about creepy-crawley things Eddie Cahill comes to his own She’s a mom first and a CSI second Autopsies not exactly his cup of tea V animated Exploring the Twilight zone A tribute to the past Super Radar Race of their life Welcome to the OC He lives on the edge–literally Hear the world Super Radar Peter’s picks Furnishing your space on a tight budget The key to Peter’s apartment Goodbye, ‘Rent’ ARTICLE SERVICES    Sponsored by: INQUIRER   Print this article      Reprint this article     Send as an e-mail     Feedback

MANILA, Philippines—The year is 2008, and war has broken out in Vietnam. Okay, it was more of a battle, really—a friendly battle between Southeast Asian frenemies in a race around the city of Ho Chi Minh for the Samsung Amazing Challenge tour.

Each team, composed of journalists from five different countries around Asia, were armed with nothing save for one weapon of mass distraction: the Samsung Innov8, the latest smartphone on the infotainment scene. Truly, this phone is a lot smarter, and perhaps even much better-looking, than any of us.

And what better way to roadtest the Innov8 than allowing us first-time Vietnam visitors to dodge armies of motorcyclists on the streets and navigate the new city with it—thus putting the “mobile” in the mobile phone.

Team Philippines channeled our inner Amazing Racers as we zipped around the largest Vietnamese city without maps, and only using the phone’s built-in GPS system.

True to Amazing Race tradition, each pit stop posed a challenge for us to get to know Saigon. Thankfully, it didn’t include having to eat exotic eight-legged insect delicacies.

Instead, we assembled rickshaws, learned traditional Vietnamese cultural dances, brewed authentic Vietnamese coffee, created mosaics out of shattered egg shells and accosted a few locals at the Ben Thanh market to take their photos.

After taking a photograph of one friendly old toothless bystander, he attempted to exchange his old mobile phone for my “Transformer.” It’s perhaps the best nickname for the Innov8. Its most outstanding feature is its built-in eight-megapixel digital camera.

Eight megapixels! It perfectly captured Ho Chi Minh’s vibrant street life, with its ultimo advanced features such as an image stabilizer, auto-panorama shot, wide dynamic range and face detection. Other features of the Innov8 “Transformer“ that would have driven James Bond mad with technolust include Wi-Fi for easy web surfing, a video cam, Real Player and a DivX feature that can store dozens of DVD movies.

Now that is pure awesomeness.

Next pit stop: the Ho Chi Minh City Museum for the Guiness Vietnam Record for the biggest photo taken by a mobile phone.

Renowned and well-decorated Vietnamese photographer Hoang Trung used the Samsung Innov8 to make history with the “Dang Xua” (“Old Shape”), captured at Vietnam’s ancient landmark, Ngo Mon. At a special unveiling ceremony in the Ho Chi Minh Museum, the award-winning photo was revealed to have an impressive size at 0.86m X 1.15m.

Although Team Philippines ceded the Amazing Challenge top spot to Team Malaysia by a mere two minutes, we were practically Vietnam vets after the whirlwind mobile photo tour. Picture message sent!