Tech This Week: GCash Unveils Latest Innovation & The Launch of Samsung Galaxy A Series

Hello everyone! A few days before the long weekend break, I attended two awesome tech events in Manila. Held at Whitespace Manila, GCash unveils its latest offerings in an impressive "Futurecast" theme. At Marriott Manila, Samsung launches the Galaxy A Series in the Philippines.

GCash is the country's #1 Finance Super App with over 79 million users who enjoy fast, safe, and convenient transactions online. Based on Data.ai, a reputable 3rd party platform, GCash is the #1 Finance Super App in the country with the most downloads, the highest Monthly Active Users, and even the highest Daily Active Users, as GCash is now part of their daily routines.

At this year's #GCashFutureCast event, GCash ushered in the future of Fintech through 10 ground-breaking innovations for every Filipino. Tools for financial freedom GCash has made wealth management products like savings, insurance, and investments easy and accessible. Now it introduces products to help people grow their wealth and to help them protect it.

GStocks PH is AB Capital Securities, Inc.'s (ABCSI) online retail securities trading services made accessible through the GCash app. Its user-friendly and simplified trading interface was designed through a collaboration with the Philippine Stock Exchange. Through GStocks PH, users can now trade stocks of over 280 local companies. GStocks PH will be available to more users soon.

GCrypto allows users to discover and explore the world of Crypto and NFTs. Users get access to curated NFT collections, like The House of Ohlala by Filipino contemporary artist, Reen Barrera, on the GCrypto NFT Hub. Buying and selling Crypto is also made easier with an exchange powered by PDAX, the Philippines' leading homegrown cryptocurrency exchange.

Ginsure Online Shopping Protect insurance offers users 60 days of coverage up to P20,000 for all their online purchases for just P34. The insurance covers scenarios when orders are not delivered, are accidentally damaged, are not as described, or are stolen. The insurance product, powered by Chubb, is embedded in the user's online GCash payment journey across 1,500 online shops and platforms.

GCash goes global 

Traveling Filipinos can now go cashless globally using GCash's newest services. For overseas Filipinos, they can now use GCash to send money and support to their family back home. GCash Global Pay allows Filipino travelers to do cross-border QR payments at Alipay+ merchants in Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Germany, Italy, France and the United Kingdom. This eliminates the hassle of paying with cash, or withdrawing money at ATMs where you can incur high service fees. It offers real-time Forex charging, with no service fees.

GCash Card gives travelers the advantage of real time Forex charging at low exchange rates and no service fees. With this, users can access their funds in a single tap or swipe at over 100 million shops across 200 countries and territories around the world through VISA's expansive network.. This enables travelers to enjoy hassle-free shopping and dining experiences wherever they may be. The new GCash card will be available later this year.

GCash Overseas allows overseas Filipinos in Japan, Australia, Italy and the USA to download GCash using international SIM cards. Now they can send money, buy load, and pay bills for their loved ones back home. They can enjoy the convenience of sending money for free with GCash to GCash transactions, saving them the cost of remittance fees. GCash also announced that it is now available in the UK and Canada. GCash Overseas is currently on Beta and is limited to a number of users, but will expand to more users soon. 

Borrowing made easier 

GGives supports Filipinos with the ability to buy now, pay later with zero credit cards, zero additional documents, zero down payment, and now with zero interest at select merchants. GCash users are now free from the barriers normally associated with installment plans, for both in-store or online purchases. 

GCash has taken steps to make transactions safer and more seamless through two new features: GChat is a new, user-friendly messenger feature that makes it easier to chat and transact with contacts, share receipts instantly, and trace transaction histories. The feature makes it easier to search for conversations with friends, merchants or customers, while the Gigi and Advisories features allow users to get help anytime in real-time. GChat will be rolling out to users in the next few months.

DoubleSafe is the latest GCash security feature that prevents fraudsters from taking over accounts. It provides an additional layer of security on top of the 2-Factor Authentication and mobile pin (MPIN). DoubleSafe will be activated for every first login to a new mobile phone, and will use facial recognition to secure an account should the user inadvertently share their MPIN and OTP to fraudsters.

 

Launch of Samsung Galaxy A Series

After the GCash event, me and some blogger friends went to Manila Marriott Hotel for the Samsung "Awesome Together" event. Samsung has transformed several features in its latest Galaxy A series to make content creation more enjoyable.

In a program hosted by content creator and singer Renee Dominique, Samsung shared a walkthrough of the A Series’ awesome innovations, from amazing photography and videography features, including improved Nightography, video stabilization and editing tools to make content creation a breeze, Super Smooth 120Hz refresh rate, to its sleek design and aesthetic made with eco-friendly and recycled materials; Samsung’s newest A series was designed to make great experiences into awesome memories for life.

Julia and Claudia with Samsung Philippines Team

Style icons and it-girls Claudia Barretto and Juliana Gomez led guests on an experiential journey to the Awesome Zones revealed by an upbeat performance from Upeepz, that actualized the feeling of awesomeness the Galaxy A series could give as the Gen Zers’ new best friends.

Awesome Content

The spectacular lime-green Awesome Content Factory Zone allowed guests to capture, customize and print their amazing photos, letting them play with the awesome editing tools and personalization features of the Galaxy A54 5G and the A34 5G like the photo remastering tool, object eraser, custom stickers and even built-in Snapchat AR filters.

Delicious cake from Marriott Hotel

Awesome Interactive Zone

Guests also experienced the style, power and durability of the Galaxy A Series in the deeply engaging and amazingly fun violet hued Entertainment Hub! At the Awesome Vibes Only station, guests were invited to take a mirror selfie using the Galaxy A54 5G to see how the phone’s awesome design instantly elevates their style while the Awesome Champions station had guests battling it out on fun mobile games, proving the awesome speed of the Exynos 1380 processor for Galaxy A54 5G and MediaTek Dimensity 1080 processor for Galaxy A34 5G.

The new Samsung Galaxy A54 5G and Galaxy A34 5G come with AMOLED displays, 6.4-inch on the Galaxy A54 5G and 6.6-inch on the Galaxy A34 5G. With 5G connectivity and super-fast charging - get up to 50% at only 30 minutes of charging and get more than 2 days of power with a single charge – they are also perfect for uninterrupted video playback and gaming sessions.

The Galaxy A54 5G retails at P26,990 for the 256GB variant and P24,990 for the128GB variant and comes in three trendy colors: Awesome Graphite, Awesome Lime, and the online-exclusive Awesome Violet. Meanwhile, the Galaxy A34 5G retails for P21,990 for the 256GB variant and P19,990 for the128GB variant and comes in two colors: Awesome Graphite and Awesome Violet.

Wearing SHEIN blazer, Uniqlo Stretch Pants and Melissa Platform

Get your Galaxy A54 and A34 5G with awesome offers like flexible payment deals from Home Credit and 0% Credit Card installment plans. If you want to trade in your old device, you can also enjoy savings of up to P10,150. Bundle deals are also available with other Samsung devices – get 50% off on the Galaxy Buds2 Pro and Galaxy Buds2, and 30% off on the Galaxy Watch5 Series. And you’ll also continue to enjoy a Free Travel Adapter together with their devices. 

The Galaxy A54 and A34 5G is available through samsung.com, Samsung Experience Stores, Authorized Samsung Stores, Lazada, Shopee, Abenson.com and MemoXpress Online. For more information, visit https://www.samsung.com/ph/.

It was a fun afternoon 'till evening affair with GCash and Samsung. Follow their pages for more updates and promos. Make sure to download and update your GCash app to enjoy these new features. And for vivid photos and nightography shots, get yourself the new Samsung Galaxy A Series.