Just several days before the scheduled start of the new school year (August 24, 2020), two giants are teaming up to offer a convenient and affordable e-learning bundle made right for schooling in the new normal.
The country’s giant mobile data network, Smart Communications, Inc. and the country’s leading consumer and gaming laptop brand, Acer Philippines jointly aim to provide an easy online learning solution for students and teachers who are gearing up for the upcoming online classes.
This partnership has officially introduced its learn-from-home essentials dubbed as Smart School Bundle—consisting of an Acer Aspire 5 laptop and a Smart Bro LTE Pocket WiFi.
The Acer Aspire 5 is a 14-inch laptop with an Intel Core i3 -813OU 2.2 GHz Base Speed with Turbo Boost up to 3.4 GHz, am 8GB DDR4 memory, 128 SSD +1TB HDD. Each unit already includes a Windows 10 Home OS (for this bundle) and other features that can help students cope with their school requirements.
The Smart Bro LTW Pocket WiFi can help students connect to Smart’s fast Long Term Evolution (LTE) network across the country whenever they attend video conferences or submit their homework online.
Moreover, these gadgets are compliant with the Department of Education’s minimum specifications for distance learning. The DepEd has released guidelines for students, parents, and teachers in preparation for the new school year, which will come amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
“We believe that e-learning is an important building block under the new normal—where education will be driven largely by digital tools and products,” said Smart’s Head of National Key Accounts and FVP Precy P. Katigbak. “We hope that through this partnership, we can help students make a smooth transition to distance learning, and help make sure that no learner is left behind.”
Smart LTE continues to provide the best mobile data experience, particularly for video, to customers across the country. Based on the latest (April 2020) Philippine Mobile Network Experience Report released by independents mobile analytics company Opensignal, Smart has surpassed competitors in most metrics, including video experience—where Smart posted a score of 55 versus the competitor’s score of 39.8.
“We have invested billions of pesos in our mobile phone network over the last few years and this has enabled [us] to serve our subscribers well, especially during this pandemic,” said Smart’s SVP and Head of Consumer Wireless Business at Smart Jane J. Basas. “At the end of the day, our goal is to make sure that our customers have a good experience with us, and that our network can help achieve their goals in school or at work.”
For its part, Acer Philippines upholds its mission to enable students by providing them the tools that they need in their education. “With this partnership, we hope to give them not only the means to do their schoolwork, but also the connectivity through Smart’s network, so that students can continue to learn amid the pandemic,” said Acer Philippines Managing Director Manuel Wong.
The Smart School Bundle is available at all Acer concept stores and distributors nationwide. It can also be purchased via the Acer PH Online Store. The special promo price is P29,999.