Sony has been making headlines with their latest series of Xperia devices. The new Xperia Z and Xperia Z Ultra has been one of the user favourite devices. Both device have stunning design and eye catching features like water and dust resistance. The Xperia Tablet Z is no exception. With its unique crafted omni-balance design, its one of the irresistible Android tablets in the market. And the company has also succeeded in making it water and dust resistant. Yes you can take it to the pool or tub !!
Xperia Tablet Z was announced a few months back at Mobile World Congress held at Barcelona this year. And you must have seen our coverage on the blog. This 10.1 inch LTE capable tablet is also the thinnest tablet in the market at just 6.9mm and weighs only 495g. The tablet has a really eye catching design. Just as they mentioned in the ad, the tablet really blends to its surroundings. The highly reflective screen just blends to the environment around it and one can’t deny that it is a very fashionable device. The tablet in portrait orientation may look a little taller than other conventional tablets. Personally, I haven’t been a fan of this awfully long design. But it did become quite useful while reading long articles on certain websites and Instapaper. Holding the tablet Z is quite comfrotable in hands. The weight is very negligible and the thickness is way less that it feels smooth and comfortable in hands. A lot of friends and family who saw this device really fell in love with simple thin design of the Tablet Z. Most of them also agreed that it has a better design than the iPad. People particularly appreciated the even distribution of the thickness throughout the design against the iPad which has a curved back. Check out the photos below.
The tablet’s display is powered by the Sony Mobile Bravia Engine 2 which gives one of the best in class display in the market. The display is one of the best features of Tablet Z that makes it stand out from the crowd. Photos and videos look stuninng on the display. I copied several videos on to the tablet Z and found them really mind blowing on the display. The colour production is so great and vivid. The display also stood up very well against outdoor usage or in environments with more light sources. Moreover, you already know how stunning the Bravia display looks on the Sony TVs and now its on your tablet too as Mobile Bravia Engine 2. The high resolution screen also displays the websites perfectly and text looks very sharp and crisp. If you’ve liked the retina display on the iPad, then you’re gonna love this one. Book lovers will also love the tablet as the tablet offers great reading experience. Kindle and Google Play books are a must have on this tablet. The surrounding bezel on the screen is little too wide. It would’ve been more eye catching if it had thinner bezel as thinner bezels make the screen look bigger. But that’s in no way a turn off for a potential customer. Its just one of the things we like to see improved in the next version hopefully. Towards the top left of the bezel, you’ll notice the Sony branding and towards the centre you’ll find the front facing camera which is 2MP. Even though the device looks all elegant and premium, its still designed to survive tough conditions. Lets recall our worst nightmares for a device. Say spilling water over it or dropping it to the pool Or even lots of dust over it. Well, the tablet Z can withstand all these without any trouble. It has IP55 & IP57 certifications which makes it water and dust resistant. It can stay underwater for 30 minutes up to a depth of 1.5 metres. So next time you drop your tablet in the tub or pool, remember to dive and swim with it. And for this very reason, the device has a completely sealed design. i.e. all ports are to be covered when not in use. There are plastic caps that should be placed on ports when not in use. And these caps are not detachable from the tablet either. It can be a little annoying for having to remove these caps each time from the ports when you want to connect them to the charger or earphones.
The left hand side of the Tablet Z houses the 3.5mm headphone jack, stylish power button, charging dock connector, notification light and the single piece volume button. The design of the power button itself tells how much the company wanted this device to a fashion statement as well. And yes, as mentioned above, the headphone jack also has the plastic cover which can be used to cover the port when not in use protecting it from water and dust. The charging connector ports are only useful if you have a dock as it auto charges the device without the need of a separate cable. Below is the picture of the tablet Z being charged via the dock connector. The single piece volume button is decently long enough. Usually, the designers put smaller volume adjusters that you confront with some difficulties while adjusting volume without actually looking. Say, while watching a video and you don’t want to take your eyes off.
The notification led has different colours to indicate different situation like a dark red for low battery, green for full charge and white for awaiting notifications. The needle sized notification led does light very brightly grabbing quick attention. Trust me, you won’t go to bed without getting that light to turn off. And the last item on the left hand side of the tablet is the speaker. There’s one on the other side as well. Speakers are very loud and you can adjust the sound output by fiddling with the equaliser settings. Since speakers are on two different sides, you’ll always hear alerts and sounds even if one of the speaker is covered due to the position you’re holding the tablet. It’s surprising to see so many ports on such a very thin device. The amount of engineering that has gone to this device is amazing. The engineers behind tablet Z has been very kind that they’ve installed some high quality high performing hardware to keep the tablet working smoothly. The 1.7Ghz Quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor will ensure all your tablet apps are running fine and smooth with the aid of the 1GB RAM that comes in it. The Adreno 320 GPU will also ensure that gaming and other graphics intensive apps run smoothly giving you the best experience. We tried playing the Real Racing 3 game on iOS. The graphics was not the finest and there were some stuttering as well. But many other games with less graphics performed just fine. I’ve previously reviewed and used many Android tablets. What frustrated me with them was the intermittent stuck screen and unresponsive menus. Sometimes the device would just stop performing or accepting any inputs as its still stuck in the last operation. Luckily, I encountered none of that with the Xperia Tablet Z. The hardware really keeps up and performs smoothly. We also loaded plenty of apps and media to the tablet that it was almost full. However, the tablet showed no sign of slowing down or any delay in loading any selected item.
Some interesting things to note about Tablet Z when it comes to gaming is that the device supports Playstation controllers. i.e. you can play games with it. So if you’re a frequent PlayStation gamer, this should give you same or similar performance. Not to mention the convenience of not having to hold something as big as a tablet up close. Controls were smoothly. I didn’t face any issues with it. The gameplay went smooth as it should be.
And for those who wish to go a little tough on their tablet, the will come in handy as they indicate that the tablet is water and dust resistant. You heard that right. The tablet can stay under water up to 30 minutes up to a depth of 1.5m. These features are getting a lot of attention these days. Life is getting busier by the day and we can’t always be very cautious about our devices. Sometimes we spill some water or wine over phone or tablet. Or our little ones give the device a lovely bath in the tub or pool. And that’s one of the most tragic thing to happen as these devices carry almost everything that’s important to us in it. All our emails, files, photos, videos, apps and what not. Losing them can’t be a nightmare. And setting them back on a new device from your back up or the cloud isn’t that easy either. But all that’s not a worry on the Sony’s Tablet Z. I gotta say it, I wasn’t really excited about this feature first, but now I realise how much it means to me as I recently had a device that got damaged and lost everything. And I’ve decided that my next purchase will definitely have water and dust proof features in top priority.
The tablet runs Android Jelly Bean 4.1 with additional Sony exclusive services. Sony has also incorporated an infrared sensor to the device that lets you use your tablet as tv or dvr or home theatre remote. The tablet can also store over 7-8 configurations of several devices you wish to control with it. If you think that’s awesome, then you will surprised to hear about the NFC capabilities of the device. Anything that you’re currently viewing on the tablet can be instantly streamed on to your supported tv just by tapping the NFC capable remote on to the tablet. The camera quality is decent with the 8.1MP camera at the back and 2MP camera on the front.
I really enjoyed my time with Xperia Tablet Z. It has very good battery life, amazing display, great fashionable overall design, additional eye catching features like water and dust resistance, plethora of Sony exclusive apps and above all, the timescale UI is really beautiful and stylish. if I were in the market for an Android tablet, I would definitely pick this one without any second thoughts. And I think you should too.
Nokia has been doing a tremendous job with Windows Phone. Whether you like it or not, Windows Phone is picking up in sales and overall adoption. Its outselling iPhones in some countries which is pretty good achievement knowing the iPhone fever among the customers today. Nokia has been doing their best to make this platform appealing to the customers. I don’t need to go down the Nokia services lane again as you’re aware of Nokia exclusive services like Nokia Drive, Nokia Music etc. In Windows Phones, Nokia has not only created the services mentioned above, but also some impressive utility apps for which you can’t thank Nokia enough. You know how terrible the process of switching phones can be. And these utility apps make it a bliss. When I switched to Lumia 925 from my iPhone 5, the Transfer data app transferred all my contacts from iPhone in less than 2 minutes over bluetooth. Just like that !!
But with Lumia 925, Nokia has improved what is best about Lumia phones. The eye catching design of Nokia Lumia devices are well appreciated around the world. All of us have at one point or other have really wished if our phones had those funky red, yellow or the green shade. Not to forget, even the white and black are also interesting. For some, the plastic built was a turn off. Besides, the market is getting filled with Aluminium built phones and Nokia as usual has stepped up to the competition with an aluminium built phone to give the premium feel one want in a phone. Holding this phone in hand definitely feels great. It feels stronger and more sturdier now. And yeah, the shiny metallic look on phone is a die for.
Lets go in detail. The front of the the Nokia Lumia 925 is gorgeous 4.5 inch AMOLED with 332ppi which is amazing for reading books, browsing the web or even watching videos. I usually stick to 4 inch screens. But this was no hassle to use. Holding the phone in hand felt good. Both the combined feel of Aluminium with a not too big not too small screen was perfect. If you’re wondering, the screen resolution is 768×1280 pixels which is more than enough. People blindly wish for 1080p displays when the difference doesn’t make any changes to what you see on a small screen like on the phone. Full HD displays only matter when we’re dealing with huge displays like the TV. Apart from the screen, you’ll notice the the three standard buttons below it. The back button, the windows button aka menu button and the search button. On top, the Nokia branding as usual, the earpiece and the front facing camera. And through out the sides, you can see the gorgeous Aluminium running through all the side of the phone. The unit we have here is the white unit and the aluminium has a silver colour which gives it even more classy look.
On the left side, you won’t notice any buttons. Its a plain design. In other words, its just pure aluminium running top to bottom on that side.
However on the right side of the phone, you can see the volume rocker button which is a single piece button. Some of you may not be a fan of single piece buttons, but this worked fine and is not something you should worry about. Right below it, you can see the power/sleep button. For a phone with 4.5 inches, it may be a little difficult for a few users to get to the top of the phone to put it to sleep or permanently turn off. Hence, Nokia has wisely put it on to the side which easily accessible for any user. And way towards the bottom, you can see the dedicated camera button. It would be a shame if these Nokia didn’t have a dedicated camera button being a great camera phone.
The top of the phone has a 3.5 mm headphone jack, the microUSB connector for charging and data transfer and a micro sim card slot which can only be accessed by ejecting with the help of an ejector pin that comes in the box. There’s also a microphone next to the headphone jack. In case if you’re wondering, its the tiny needle hole you’re seeing in the picture above. The bottom of the phone again is plain and clean with no ports or buttons.
The back of the phone is a plastic case. Ugh !! I wonder why. The phone so far as we’ve seen features the beautiful aluminium and for the back, the designers decided to go with plastic. I’ve never been a fan of plastic. It has a cheap look. And I would never want it in an expensive phone. However, considering the price at which the Lumia 925 sells now, one can’t argue much about it. But not to forget, the Lumia 925 launched with a hefty price tag to the market at first. The good news is, it doesn’t look as bad as a all plastic phone with the presence of aluminium all around it.
The back is all flat with the Nokia and Pureview branding. There’s also a carl zeiss branding which you can see in the picture above. The lens is well fitted to the back with out any disturbing protrusion. This helps the lens from attracting the scratches from daily use. Besides, it keeps the design neat and clean. The lens at the back is accompanied by the dual led flash. The camera is 8MP and the pictures it delivers are breathtaking.
Towards the bottom of the phone, you’ll notice three wireless charging points. And don’t get confused here, the wireless charging does not work until you put a wireless charging case over it that supports the technology. Personally, I’m not excited for this technology in its current way of implementation. The idea of wireless charging is to avoid the hassle of connecting and removing cables. But then, that should not come with an added task of putting on an extra case to make it useable. Remember, the idea is to make things easy, not difficult. So, when Nokia says the phone comes with built in wireless charging technology, that’s when I’ll hop and scream yay !!
Speakers are the bottom of the case. A few dotted holes represent the speakers. I gotta say it, I love this no nonsense design. At first, I couldn’t really believe that they were the speakers until it started blasting off my music very loud and clear. That’s right, the sound quality is fantastic. Being a person, who likes to enjoy his music very loud, the speaker on this phone is a blessing.
Lumia 925 isn’t just about the built quality of the phone, the camera has also gotten better. Yeah, as if you didn’t see that coming in a Nokia phone 😉
Camera has always been better on Nokia phones. And with the advent of PureView technology, they’ve been making huge leaps. Nokia Lumia 920 was the first Windows Phone feature with the PureView technology and now Lumia 925 comes with the same technology but only better. Nokia added a 6th lens to the phone’s camera unit which should supposedly take better, brighter and sharp images. You’ll see them as the review advances.
The lens unit is a simple design. Its a small lens with a dual led flash. Even though the unit is all powerful, it just stays there like an innocent guy unlike the Lumia 1020 camera unit or even the Galaxy S4 Zoom device. The camera and the LED flash is accompanied by the PureView and Carl Zeiss branding followed by the Nokia brand name. The camera takes stunning pictures. The PureView continues to amaze me especially in the low light. One can’t just ignore this phones camera power. And since Windows Phone is very social device, sharing these great snaps are very easy. I like phones with great camera, but I’m easily turned off if getting a good picture requires lot of effort like adjusting ISO, exposure, white balance etc. Mostly because, I have no idea about them. And I’m sure I’m not alone. Lumia 925 camera delivers very good pictures which I will put in par with iPhone 5/5s or other high end Galaxy devices. But, if you know how to play with those camera settings well, then you get a lot more high quality images with great clarity.
Videos shot with Lumia 925 were also very good. Full HD videos looked really good. Low light videos didn’t shine as good as the low light photos.
Battery life of the Lumia 925 was also good. I could squeeze up to 9 hours with 3G on. But if you’re one of those guys who checks Twitter and Facebook every ten minutes, I would deduct two hours. But still, the battery holds up pretty well. My previous iPhone 5 would only last 6-7 hours where Lumia stayed up to 8 or 9 hours. Call quality was also excellent. There were no distortions or noise. Lumia 925 came to the market in a bad time. In many ways, its similar to Lumia 920. But its improved design puts it in a different league. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look that different to average eyes. Plus, its thunder was immediately stolen by the Lumia 1020. However, the price it sells for keeps the Lumia 925 still in the game.
After a long hesitation, I finally decided to install iOS 7 on my iPhone 5. Today afternoon, as I downloaded the OS, my only concern was how many of the apps will run properly in iOS 7. And to top it all, the question, how I can put up with the new ugly icons was killing me. If not now, its going to be the end of September. One or other day, these icons will find their place in my iPhone and I’m just gonna have to deal with that. So, I thought no more. I went ahead and did the necessary to get iOS 7 up and running in my phone.
iOS 7 is a complete overhaul over the existing iOS. Make no mistake, this still doesn’t support widgets on home screen or other features you wished it had. But its a lot closer now and in some cases even better than what you thought it would be.
The Icons:
The icons haven’t really got a make over to be honest. Instead they look more vivid, less solid than before and cartoonish as I would call it. It’s a lot similar to the Touchwhiz icons on Samsung phones. Many people like the new icons, at the same time there are a bunch of people like me who’re not really happy with it. The Settings icon, the iTunes Store icon, the AppStore icon, the Safari icon etc look horrible while others are tolerable.
But one thing I noticed here is that, once you install all your third party apps and rearrange icons according to your preference, you’ll find the icons ok. The total outlook changes which is a good thing. And from the look of things, we’ll see a lot of major changes in the UI in the upcoming betas as well. The current look and finish just doesn’t look as if its quite ready.
Control Center:
Controls like Airport Mode, WiFi, Bluetooth, Music Widget, Torch light or adjusting brightness are features you use frequently, but not always. And for that very reason, they don’t have to be in your notification centre all the time consuming space which otherwise could be allotted to notifications from apps and the OS itself. And this doesn’t mean that they need to be buried deep under the OS either. Apple has wisely found a way to place them all in one place called “Control Center”
Control Center is located on the iPhone screen regardless which app you’re on. A swipe from the bottom to top calls up the Control Center menu which brings up a nonsense menu with all the necessary controls one might quickly want to access. This includes Airport Mode, WiFi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, Lock Orientation Control, Brightness Slider, Music Player, Air Drop, Torchlight, Clock App, Calculator and Camera app launcher. This is in fact much better than what you see on Android. And like I said, it does not eat up the space in the Notification Center. The only option I wished they added was the 3G/4G option. And some of you may also wish if you could add the Cellular Data switch as well. That aside, Control Center is one of the exciting features in iOS 7.
Notification Center:
Notification Center is pretty much the same with a slightly revamped drawer. The drawer is now translucent and shows a blurred view of the icons beneath it. So if you pull the drawer down while you are in any app, it then gives you a blurred view of those items. Another thing new in the notification centre is the three new tabs- Today, All and Missed. Today of course shows all the notifications due for that day, All will show all the notifications that are due today and in the upcoming days. And finally, the Missed tab will shows all the missed notifications like Calls, Messages etc.
The weather is now shown as a description. Again, not a big fan of that. One has to really look into it to see the weather whereas previously a quick glimpse revealed the weather level. You can also configure stocks to see as a list of stocks you’re tracking in the notification centre. And that’s pretty much about the Notification Center in iOS 7.
Multitasking Menu:
iOS handles background running apps in a decent way currenty. But it has its on demerits. First, you have to double click home button. This brings up the multitasking screen with icons of the apps running in the background. Next you have to press and hold until each icon gets a quit icon on them. The problem here is that, you only see the app icon. You may remember what you were doing on one or two apps. But there will be a lot of apps open and you can’t really remember exactly what you were doing or where you left of. So if you’ve paused a game or a video, that’s lost when you quit it. However, with the new multitasking menu, we can see all the apps in resized window which gives you glimpse of what you were doing.
To quit apps, you just have to swipe up and its exited. This procedure also saves time as the whole process is limited to double clicking Home button and then swiping up on the apps you want to quit.
Phone App, Messaging & FaceTime:
Phone app is pretty much the same except for the dialler which has got a small UI makeover. The numbers are now bigger and rounded in shape and the call button is long flat button than the previous tiny rectangular call button. Trust me, it makes things a lot better now. Another thing I noted in the dialler was, when you press each number it becomes translucent to give you a blurred view of the background. Not something huge, but a tiny little neat feature. Because, that can be considered as an indication to whether the number was pressed or not.
Its apps like messaging that makes you feel that Apple used cues from Windows Phone OS to develop the iOS 7 UI. It looks a lot similar. So is the case with the multitasking UI discussed above as its rip off of the Palm OS multitasking menu. As usual, the blue box indicates iMessage and green represents Messages. Luckily, now you can block contacts and also see avatars of people in group chats. What shocked me the most was, the photo transfer speed. Photos actually went faster now than before. And its a remarkable improvement. Its surprising to see that Apple took this long to speed the process of photo transfer. I often use Whatsapp with people who I share photos frequently even though I know that it kills quality. But from iOS 7 onwards, I guess I don’t have to switch often.
FaceTime is now a separate app on iOS. It has been so on Mac for a while now and its not that surprising to see the same change in iOS. The only use so far is that you get to see the list of recently FaceTime’d contacts now. As you can see in the screenshot, the window has live video background. I’ve got to say it, features like these makes the OS looks so advanced and stylish.
Music Player:
Remember when you were wowed each time she you tilted your phone to landscape mode when in Music Player ? The amazing Cover Flow is now history. Its been replaced with three rows of music album art of all the music in your library. Tapping on each album art zooms that album with all the available tracks in it.
The Now Playing screen has also received its fair share of UI changes. For some it may look like black over white against the previous white over black UI. But if you look carefully, some options have been moved here and there. And Yay to continued lyrics support. Note, lyrics were added manually.
Portrait view is the same as you see above whether you’re in Artist tab, album tab or Songs tab.
Safari:
Apple has finally learned. Bookmarks are now on Safari’s launch screen instead of dedicated menu inside Safari. Apple has its on strengths in app design, but sometimes they come with the most stupid design. The address bar is now also the Google search bar thus making it one big long box on top. A pretty welcomed change.
Tab view is now more graphical and three dimensional. And the limits on tabs have been removed. You can also see that private browsing option is now inside Safari which previously was hidden inside Settings. Again another example of how stupidly Apple designs certain apps.
Camera:
Camera now has filters inbuilt. So for all those die hard Instagram fans, this is going to be a really lovely feature. Come on, there has been times when you wished if you could apply some filter on to a photo but not post it online. Unfortunately, Instagram does not allow that. Well, that’s solved now.
If that’s not enough for you, you can now take photos in Square resolution as well. That’s just perfect for taking photos for your profile picture.
iOS is not like you know it anymore. While the basic actions/operations continue to be same, the new UI and some controls may put you in doubt. iOS, which has been famous for its simplicity is now a little advanced for normal people. Its however far from being Android complex, but its still not as simple as it used to be. But the good news is, its just a matter of getting used to. With 3-4 days of continued use, one may master it.
So that’s pretty much everything new in iOS 7. Not to forget, these are some visible changes. There are even a lot more changes within the OS. Well, I will let you discover them as you start using the OS hopefully by end of September.
It all started with RIM being rebranded as Blackberry. That’s right. The Blackberry maker will now be known as Blackberry and not RIM. The rebranding was announced during the Blackberry 10 launch on January 30th. It hasn’t been a good time for Blackberry in the market so far. They were kind of having a Nokia situation. You know, being the uncool kid in town. As iPhone and Android sales surged due to apps, variety of phones etc, Blackberry boys felt the heat than anyone else and had to switch.
Blackberry was quick enough to understand their mistakes and immediately made plans for a better OS that would live up to the demands of today’s users. And that’s Blackberry 10. Blackberry is undoubtedly famous for their email and instant messaging service. It has been attracting youths and corporates a lot. So how would an iPhone like device with Blackberry services and decent amounts of apps at start do ? Well, the answer is Blackberry Z10.
I was really excited to try the Blackberry Z10 mostly because I’ve never been a Blackberry fan myself and always hated the dated UI on its phones. However, I was quite intrigued when I saw the Blackberry 10 OS. It had everything Blackberry has been missing out so far. And it did feel like a worthy OS that needs our attention. The best thing what I like about Blackberry is that, instead of abandoning the platform, they actually went back to their desks and made a much better version of the OS showing what it’s capable of. This not only makes it appealing to new customers but also existing customers who are using the previous versions of Blackberry OS. Or else, the existing users would feel abandoned and cheated. Here in Dubai, the sales have been astounding. From day one, I started seeing Arabs and a few others walking around with Z10. That really surprised me.
Design:
The Blackberry Z10 comes with a very appealing design. We’ve got the white here for review and I gotta say it, its one good looking device. At 137.5g, the phone is neither too light nor too heavy. And the 4.2 inch screen doesn’t make the phone any harder to hold and use with one hand. The phone is fully touch based and has no buttons on the front. Not even a home button as seen on the rival phones. The OS is all gesture based and it works flawlessly. The front of the phone is mostly the 4.2 inch screen with Blackberry inscription at the bottom of the screen. On the top you’ll find the ear piece, front facing camera and the proximity sensor.
The left side of the phone has the ports for MicroUSB cable and Micro HDMI cable. The top of the phone has a power button placed right in the middle, 3.5mm headphone jack and a microphone for noise cancellation. On the right you can see three buttons. Two of which serves the purpose of volume adjustments while the third positioned between the volume rockrs acts a play/pause button.
The bottom of the phone is plain with no ports but just a microphone and the speakers. On the rear, you’ll find the 8MP camera with LED flash and the Blackberry logo. The back case of the phone is removable unlike most of the smartphones in the market today. The case is very thin. In fact, it reminded me of the rear case seen on the Galaxy SII which is so thin that you fear you may break it while removing it. The case also has a rugged back so you can boldly keep it on it surface without fearing marks or visible scratches on it.
The back case opens up to reveal the battery which obviously is removable, the sim card slot which by the way is micro sim card slot and the microSD card slot that can read cards upto 32GB. I wouldn’t say the phone feels completely premium in hands. But its nothing short of being a decent phone. Perhaps its the plastic casing that kills some of its premium feel, but it does no injustice to the look of the phone. The phone looks classy and is appealing.
Software:
Blackberry Z10 is loaded with latest Blackberry OS iteration called Blackberry 10. Its a really refreshing experience in a world where you’re stuck with iOS, Android and Windows Phone. And the best part is, even the existing Blackberry users find the Blackberry 10 as a completely new experience. And that’s a good thing. Blackberry 10 has some amazing set of new features like the Blackberry Hub and the peak which are two of my favourite features. If you’re a smartphone user, you would know how many times you pull down that notification centre in just 5 minutes to see whats happening with your social networks. Now think of notification center which is always there just a swipe away. So what makes it special ? The interesting thing is that it does not just cover up your entire screen to show whats happening. Instead it just puts up these tiny little icons to let you know if somethings new. So if you see a twitter bird, you know that there’s a new twitter activity, similarly Facebook logo denote Facebook activity or the phone icon denotes a missed call and so on.
Now if you really decide to see what that is, you just have to completely swipe to the right from left to unveil the hub which includes all the notifications from all the apps on the phone. Your phone calls including missed, received and dialled, your text messages, your emails, your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare etc are all there in just one place. A further swipe from left to right reveals a quick access menu where you can choose to individually view the notifications from a particular app. For e.g. you can choose to see just the phone calls, BBMs, Facebook notifications, Twitter, LinkedIn or in short every group of notifications that makes its way to the Notification hub. Tapping on each notification takes us to the corresponding app so that you can act on it. You can also individually delete any notifications that you don’t want to be on the hub.
We already have notification centre on iOS and Android. But everything there lasts only for a while unless you either check that pending event on the notification centre or clear manually to get more space in there or to have even more important things to take the top position for immediate attention. Whereas on the Hub, you have a completely dedicated pull out notification window that can accommodate everything in a single group rather than sorting it app by app.
The overall Blackberry 10 OS structure is similar to iOS and Android where in which you swipe through apps. You get a 4 apps a row layout spread as in four columns. At the bottom, you can see the Phone icon, Search lens and the Camera icon. These three apps stay docked when you swipe though different apps list. Again, similar to what you’ve seen on iOS. However, Blackberry 10 takes a different direction with the multitasking interface. The open apps are shown as live windows that gives you a preview of the app page. A swipe that begins from the bottom of the screen towards up reveals the apps running in the background. In a single view you get to see upto four background apps in the window. If you scroll up from the there you can see more apps that are running in the background. Each window also has an immediate close button to quit it immediately if required. Tapping on any of these windows zooms you in to the app making the task of app switching a breeze. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll really start loving switching apps, peeking for notifications or jumping right into the Blackberry hub. It definitely saves a lot of time as you don’t have to take your hands off the screen to access any hard buttons.
And everything works just smooth. I would really put it next to or in par with iOS. Surprisingly everything is just so smooth and lag free. And I always felt I was using iOS on a different hardware. It was that smooth and a lot better in many situations. The developers have really thought this through before they started developing Blackberry 10. It acknowledges almost all the disappointments you have while using a touch based OS like the multitasking enabler where you always have to rely on a hardware button which interrupts your workflow, a full on notification centre rather than a temporary space that clears up with time or usage. And the multitasking app thumbnails than the app icons in the multitasking interface reminds you what exactly you were doing in an app before you switched which helps you a lot to prevent digital distraction. Come on, we’ve all been there. Everyday.
The Appstore known as the Blackberry world is not at its finest hour. However, one can’t deny that they’ve started of pretty well. You’ll see some familiar icons there like Angry birds, Asphalt racing game, Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook etc. And apps like Whatsapp, Instagram and Skype are about to launch or some of these may have already launched by the time you read this. The layout of Appstore is also well thought. You can quickly jump through categories and featured sections. Weirdly, the store does not ask you to enter your password while downloading apps or updating them. The initial sign in that you do when you set up your Blackberry qualifies as a license to every app including BBM. I would definitely want Appstore to ask for confirmation by entering password at least when an app is downloaded for the first time. Looks like people at Blackberry didn’t think so. The app updates page is also little far to reach. Its buried under the hidden options that’s only revealed when you perform a swipe from left to right. Its strange that they just didn’t bother to place that next to the categories tab when there’s so much room left in there.
As you would expect, each apps also have a reviews page that you can look at. The Appstore also loads very fast and works without any hiccups. In supported countries, mostly European countries can purchase and download songs, videos and ringtones. However, UAE is not one of the supported countries and hence I couldn’t check them out.
Camera:
The Blackberry Z10 comes with an 8MP camera on the back with LED flash. And a 1.3MP front facing camera for video calls and self portraits. The camera was never a biggest selling point of Blackberry so far. And it doesn’t seem to have changed much. In my test, the 8Mp camera did some decent shots. The performance was not a let down, but that didn’t cheer me up either. However, under extreme sunlight, it did deliver some great results. But under lowlight ?? Not so much. Macro photography was good. Videos again were decent. The phone shoots videos at 720p by default. But if you dive into the settings, you can change it to 1080p. Let the samples talk for themselves. Check out the gallery below.
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But the exciting feature of the camera is the Tilt shift feature which comes very handy when you take a picture of a group of people or playing baby. its always hard to get the best shot where everyone’s paying attention or giving a smile than a funny face. But Tilt-shift just lets you get the best shot as it takes multiple shots at a time.
The Blackberry World already has a couple of picture editing apps that will let you further enhance the pictures and videos you shoot. And not to forget, Instagram for Blackberry 10 is on the way.
Battery:
Blackberry Z10 lasted decent through our tests. I had to charge only every 1.5 days with data and 3G off and all activities limited to WiFi. But on a 3G connection, we found it to last till the evening after a full charge. Even after watching a video or playing a game, the drop in battery percentage was comparatively less than that of other contenders in the same segment. However, the only turn off was that you can’t tell the battery level exactly as it doesn’t show you battery percentage. Come on, Blackberry this is 2013.
The battery on the Blackberry Z10 is removable and has a capacity of 1800mAh. That seems a tad less compared to 2000mAh+ standard that we see today. So if battery life is one of your biggest priorities, you may want to think again. But mind you, battery life could get batter with more software updates that bring more optimisations to the software. Blackberry seems to be really hard at work. We’ve seen two round of updates already. So, things can only get better. And for those who still look for removable battery option, you may rejoice because this one does have it. So if you’re comfortable with switching battery when one of them is out, you should love this. Changing/Removing battery is as easy as removing the back casing which by the way is very thin. That said, opening the rear casing will also unveil the micro sim card slot and the MicroSD card slot.
To conclude, Blackberry Z10 was one of the finest devices I’ve ever used. Its got a good design, a fresh new OS for those who want a break from iOS and Android, besides it understands your work life and helps you switch seamlessly between work and personal life. The Blackberry Z10 is also “that” iPhone like Blackberry device you’ve been craving for. It may not have the most gorgeous design of all the devices in the market, but its nothing short of elegance. If you’re on the verge of switching, I definitely think you should give Z10 a try. And who wouldn’t like to stand out from the crowd. Blackberry Z10 retails officially for Rs 43,190/-. Before you walk away, do check the prices with your nearest retailer as most of them are selling the device for Rs 38,500 or less. In the Middle East, the device is available for AED 2399 approximately.
Our urge to always try something new never ends. Nokia’s Lumia series especially the Lumia 920 isn’t just about a Windows Phone experience. It is far beyond that. While you get all the new features in Windows Phone 8 like the resizable tiles, kids corner and many other little new features, you also get the best of Nokia which obviously includes a phone with tough build quality. You know, unlike the phones that sheds their skin even while shipping 😉 Nokia has added a lot of their exciting services to Windows Phone. Now you get Nokia Music with a year long subscription that gives you access to unlimited music downloads, their excellent Maps app that can take you to your favourite destinations with turn by turn voice navigation and it doesn’t end there. Nokia has also developed many other useful apps like Nokia City Lens, Creative studio, Transfer my data app, Photobeamer and more. Finally, Nokia has always been a pioneer in one more thing. That is the Camera. Nokia has included the Pureview technology in the camera for Lumia 920. This means, you get stunning photos and videos everyday from your phone’s camera.
To be honest, when I first got the Lumia 800, I got really bored of it quickly. Within a day or two, I ran out of features and exciting apps to check out. And it just remained as a regular mobile phone to me. However, Lumia 920 with the new Windows Phone 8 OS and the special Nokia apps with this stunning hardware continues to keep me amazed and excited.
The first thing you note about this phone is the huge screen. The phone comes with 4.5″ screen with Puremotion HD display. When I first heard of it, I really took it granted for a fancy name that these manufacturers come up with. However, its more than that. The screen is really crisp and sharp, thanks to the Clear Black Display. And the PureMotion HD+ display delivers a very bright screen with extra high touch sensitivity. This means, your phone can respond to your touch even when you’re wearing gloves. That’s pretty impressive.
And when you’re using the Lumia 920, you sure know there’s something about the camera that makes this phone special. So yeah, I immediately fired up the camera app after I was done checking out the display and home screen. Lumia 920 has a dedicated camera button to launch the camera app. The camera is 8.7MP to be precise and comes with Pureview technology. I took a few pictures and found them good but not blown away to be honest until I took it for a party. The party was at night and oh boy, you wouldn’t believe the results. I usually take iPhone 5 with me everywhere and we all know it takes good pictures. But the phone always fails to take good shots in low light. I usually end up with poor pictures that has more grains and uneven light distribution caused by the flash. But Lumia 920 really delivered great pictures. It has this feature called focus assist and when that’s turned on, you get some really amazing photos. Be sure to read our full review with samples.
Lumia 920 comes with 32GB memory. Yes, let’s say goodbye to the old 16GB base model phones. I think its really high time that we move to 32GB and higher for the base models. Phones these days shoot and play 1080p videos, apps and games always a few hundred megabytes and some even hit gigabytes in size. It would really be foolish of companies to not provide enough storage to fit them all in the device. It only proves how much less they know about their own product. Overall, the phone is really smooth. The Windows Phone OS is butter smooth and the accompanying hardware of the phone really makes the experience lag free. The phone also gave us impressive battery life. After all, its not that easy to use up the entire 2000mAh battery. On a decently high usage, we squeezed up more than 1.5 days where the device used WiFi all the time for internet connectivity. The phone weighs 185g. Some people call it overweight. I felt it decent. Most of all, the weight gives you a solid feel in the hands.
I’m continuously using the phone more and more to discover and experience everything that this phone has to offer. Windows Phone OS may alone won’t be tempting to many of you out there, but a Windows Phone built by Nokia is really worth considering. Nokia really completes the Windows Phone OS to a great extent. Be sure to check out our full detailed review and videos which will be published soon. Got questions ? Give us a shout out below in the comments section.
Android has always been my second choice to iOS. I find Android equally good as iOS or even better when it comes to customisability and a few other advanced features. But I never used an Android device as my primary device for a long period. I remember the time when I tried switching to a Galaxy SII and Galaxy Note. But it didn’t workout well. I give a lot of importance to the quality of things I use. And that’s exactly where me and Android couldn’t work things out. So we broke up. There are plenty of Android manufacturers out there in the market. I’ve lost the count. You can get Android devices at any price range. An Android device running Ice Cream Sandwich with decent hardware is now available for as low as $200. Its a good thing. But the problem is when you go high end. Even when you pay prices as high as $600-700 what you get is almost the same. Of course, there’s a bump in the hardware packaging, but there isn’t much leap forward in terms of style and build quality. I think people tend to consider all these things as we climb up the price range. We won’t be ready to compromise much at this price point. Besides, we need a differentiation. That’s why we shell out more. Same was the case with me. I wanted a device with great build quality, impressive design and performance. Although, Galaxy SII and Galaxy Note gave me the performance boost I wanted, they failed to give me the quality I wished for. That’s when I came across the announcement of the Sony branded phones. Yes, they make phones of their own now. Ericsson is no more a part of it. I saw the Xperia ION on the website and was seriously impressed with the device. It had the style I wanted, build quality looked great and the hardware was great too. So, here, check out my full review below.
Box Package:
The Xperia ION comes in slim but big package. It doesn’t follow the current style of packaging that others follow. It’s not something one should worry about anyway. The box package contains the smartphone, a microUSB data cable, a power adaptor and in-ear microphones. You’ll also find a lot manuals in many different languages that you can’t speak. Don’t worry, English manual is also included although you wouldn’t really need one to set up your phone. Sony suggests that you charge your phone at least 30minutes before using it for the first time. I would recommend a straight 2 hours charge though.
Design:
Sony’s Xperia 2012 line up has got one of the best designs of all time. I really liked the look and feel of the device in hand. And as I mentioned earlier, this is the design and quality I’ve been expecting from a high end Android device. The front side of the phone is mostly the display. Its LED backlit and measures 4.55 inches. Sony also claims it to be scratch resistant. I dare you not challenge it. You’ll also notice the front facing camera and the Sony branding on top. Towards the bottom, you’ll find the default Android soft buttons like Menu, Home Back and Search. These days most Android phones only have 3 soft buttons including its little brother Xperia S. This, however, came with four.
The top of the phone is clean with just one 3.5mm headphone jack. The power button, volume buttons and the dedicated camera button are located on the right side of the phone. The volume buttons looks a bit smaller than usual. On the left side we have the microUSB port and the micro HDMI port. They are covered with a small plastic cover so that they don’t collect dust or other particles when not in use. Its a little hassle to remove it each time when you want to charge your phone as the phone also charges through the same microUSB port. At the bottom of the phone, you’ll find nothing more than a tiny microphone. And at the back of the phone, you’ll see an aluminium casing which gives slight brushed metal look. There’s a 12MP camera on the back. Right below it you’ll notice the LED flashlight and the speaker. Towards the bottom, you’ll find the Sony Ericsson logo which is a bit confusing as Ericsson is no longer a part of Sony Mobile.
The phone feels really good in hands. In fact, it feels much better than the Xperia S which has plastic casing at the back. The aluminium casing at the back gives it a premium feel in hand. And the way they’ve designed the back is also very appealing. Its hard for someone to be unnoticed when someone walks by with this phone. It definitely is an eye turner and drool worthy. The only problem is that, Sony is making a lot of variant of these designs like Samsung did with the Galaxy. So sometimes you may feel inferior when a lower priced device looks almost the same as yours. Also this causes confusion to a lot of consumers.
Display:
One of the eye catching features of the Xperia ION is the dazzling display. It features the Sony Mobile Bravia Engine which can be assumed as the little brother of the original Bravia display seen on their range of TVs. The Bravia Mobile technology is a stand out display technology and looks amazing on this huge 4.55 inch display. With 720×1280 resolution, there’s nothing more you can ask more from this department. Pictures and videos look so amazing. I love watching videos on this display. Its so vivid and lovely. If you watch a lot of videos on the phone including movies and those from the internet, this huge screen and the Mobile Bravia Engine is going to be really useful to you. Photos look great too. With this level of clarity on the display, even the minute detail in the photo are very visible. And when you browse the internet and read tonnes of content from various websites, you’ll really thank the inclusion of 323ppi. That’s close to the Retina Display on iPhone. Reading the sharp non fuzzy text is something you can’t get tired of. I don’t usually read on small screens but I found this 4.5 inch display comfortable enough. It had the clarity and quality I wanted. And the size of the screen wasn’t too small or too big as far as reading was concerned. Plus, with Apps like Amazon Kindle, Instapaper, Flipboard and Pocket, you get a fine reading experience on the phone.
While the display quality did quite well, there were a few hiccups with it as well. The display is glossy which means you’ll see a lot of yourself on the display when you try to look at it in the sunlight. Its sometimes very annoying as you can’t concentrate on what’s on the screen. However, you can correct it to a good extend by turning on the backlight using the widgets or from the display menu under settings. But if you still find it difficult, you may just have to deal with it. Another problem, I’ve confronted with the display is that it attracts finger prints and smudges very well. There isn’t a oleo phobic coating on the Xperia ion which usually prevents the finger prints to some extend. The smudges and finger prints are notable only when the display is off. They never cause a problem when the display is on. And its not any serious problem that a soft cloth can’t solve. But its worth noting though. Sony also has a scratch resistant film on the screen. The phone ships with the film by default and it’s hardly noticeable. It’s a good addition it can prevent direct scratches on the screen to a great extend.
In short, the display is really great. It serves well for videos, web browsing and regular reading. And the Mobile Bravia Engine really lives up to the name.
Camera:
When its a phone from Sony, you really look forward to the Camera of the phone. Sony was an often spoken name in the past when it came to camera phones. It looks like they still have got the magic. The camera on the Xperia ion delivered great quality both in stills and videos. If you’re a geek who likes to fiddle around with different settings, then you’ll love the camera UI. There’s a lot of menus to customise depending on the scene you’re planning to snap. I’m no expert in the camera segment, but taking great pictures felt simple and good. There’s also a dedicated camera button on the ion. So you can immediately launch the camera using that button and use the same for snapping pictures. When you launch the camera using this button, it immediately snaps a photo automatically to ensure that you don’t miss what you want to shoot. Its a nice addition. Sometimes great moments waits for none. The camera also supports Panorama feature which is nice. It does Panorama in 3D as well. Taking Panorama photos are limited to landscape mode. When selected, turn the phone to landscape mode and start sweeping the phone from left to right by default or change the direction of sweeping to up, down or right.
When you take photos in 12MP clarity, they have a ratio of 4:3 which will look letter boxed on widescreen TVs and displays including your phone. So, you can choose to snap photos in 9MP clarity which takes photos in 16:9. So your photos look great as they fill up the entire screen of the aforementioned devices. Here are a few photos we took with the Xperia ion. The clarity and detail is amazing. I didn’t have to dive in to camera settings much to achieve this quality. Everything was set to default and focus was set to Touch to focus for close-up shots. I’m really impressed with the clarity. They also looked good on the big screen.
The phone also does great full HD videos. The videos recorded are at 30fps and obviously at 1080p. The quality is great. The audio clarity on the videos also require special mention. The audio sounded pretty good when I took a sample outside the house where the surroundings was a little noisy. The video is embedded below for your judgement.
While recording video you get the option to shoot using the front camera or the back camera. You can also choose different scenes, adjust exposure levels and keep flashlight on if situation demands it. These settings have to selected before you begin to capture. The video sample here is the same place where we shot our iPhone 5 camera sample as well. If you would like to see how good that is, click here.
Software:
Xperia Ion runs Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box and is scheduled to get Jellybean in early 2013. Ice Cream Sandwich powered with Sony’s Timescale UI gives you a very good experience with the phone. The Timescape UI is very rich and gives more standard look to the software. It also brings a few customisations and some apps in the package. You’ll find apps like the smart connect, Track ID, Play Now and more. These are extra software additions that are exclusive to Sony devices. Icons and animations in the Timescape UI is also eye candy. Sony has also integrated major social media services in to the Timescape UI to give you a much better experience. If you compare it with Touchwhiz UI on the Samsung Galaxy series, the Timescape looks far more superior in style. However, if you try to compare it side by side with the number of features, then Touchwhiz UI may have some lead. But that may be negligible to many. As for apps, you can enjoy all of the great apps that are available from Android’s Play Store. Apps run quite fast on this Xperia hardware. I didn’t experience any kind of lags or much delays while multitasking either. With Android’s Play Store matching Apple AppStore in the total number of apps, you will hardly find yourself returning from the Play store without finding a new app to try out.
As I mentioned above, the Timescape UI really makes the Android experience stylish. The theme of the UI is elegant and there a couple of themes you can choose as well to match your mood and style. Timescape has given the music player a massive facelift compared to Google’s stock music player. The music player on Xperia Ion lets you switch between songs by swiping the album art left/right. The album arts are beautifully stacked and the music player’s background adjusts its colour to match the most dominating colour on the artwork that’s being played. You can also easily choose Play On feature to wirelessly play the music to your home theatre system. This feature uses DLNA technology to stream music to other devices. Hence, make sure you’re connected to the same WiFi network as the device to which you’re streaming. The Gallery app is also beautiful. It displays all your photos as thumbnails beautifully arranged and some thumbnails really stand out of the collection. The size of thumbnails can be adjusted by pinching in and out from the gallery value which is really cool. As usual, you’ll also find a plethora of options to share your photos or edit them using another app.
There’s also a dedicated app for accessing all your social content like Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare etc. It pulls all the updates from all these networks and shows them in one place in a stacked UI. In landscape orientation, they beautifully re-orients to form a cover flow like UI. Other apps inlcude Back Up and Restore app that creates back up of the phone contents to restore later at any case of data loss and wipe off. Sony also has a software, something I would like to describe as an intelligent software that can act according to certain situations if preset. For example, you can assign it to run the music player when you connect the earphones. Or you can set it to run the Back Up and Restore app when you connect it to a charger etc. The app is called LiveWare manager and works flawlessly. Sony also has included the Track ID app that works pretty similar to Shazam or Soundhound. The app can listen to music and then fetch you the song details in seconds. It also provides link to the purchase the song online which is cool. Talking about music, if you fall in to any supported countries of Sony’s Music and Video unlimited service, then you can enjoy great collection of song and videos right on your phone. It’s really interesting to see what Sony has done to Android using Timescape UI. The phone is expected to get Jelly Bean soon in early 2013 as Sony is now customising the same with Timescape.
Sony also has a PC client and a Mac client to sync your phone with computer. We used it with a Mac and the client Sony Bridge for Mac worked quite perfectly. You can easily sync music from iTunes, sync photos from iPhoto or even import the photos from your phone to computer. You can also explore files on the phone using the app. During our period of review, we also received a firmware update via the client and the phone was updated easily without any failures or other hassles.
To conclude, we loved the Xperia Ion. It’s got a gorgeous design, a big feature set and perfect software that can give you a smooth experience, plus some Sony exclusive services. However, if you’re not a fan of big phones, then this may not be the one for you. Its got a 4.5 inch display which may not suite everyone. Not to mention, the audio output from the speaker was also underwhelming. It wasn’t really clear and there were a lot of noise during playback. That aside, the phone is great considering the Mobile Bravia display, 12MP camera and decent battery life that can easily get you through a day easily. Sony Xperia Ion is priced at Rs 30,000/- approximately.
Apple unveiled the iPhone 5 on September 12th along with the line of new iPods. iPhone started shipping to customers on September 21st. While iPhone 5 was no big surprise to us, thanks to the leaked photos that were circulating on the web. However, Apple managed to yet “Wow” us with the performance improvements they brought to the phone. iPhones are now just more than being a smartphone. Its a fashion statement for some while a luxury item for others. Over the years, iPhone has managed to create of class of its on and people are crazy about it. That’s right, because numbers don’t lie. The iPhone 5 has made huge improvements over the last iteration and they never fail to do that. Its looking a lot more gorgeous now. But, while taking a leap forward, they did compromise on some features. And I’m not happy about it. Well, most customers aren’t. Lets take a quick run down on all iPhone features and see where they lost the magic. Don’t worry, I’m not going to make you read pages and pages of same old boring stuff. Let’s focus on what’s new and changed.
Box Package:
iPhones always come in a simple no nonsense package. Its pretty handy and very helping when you pack it up for a trip. That exactly is what Apple thought too. The small packaging helps Apple ship more units in bulk from the factories to their stores and other distributors. An iPhone box package basically includes the phone, the USB data cable which in this case is the new lightning connector, a power plug and earphones which now is dubbed as Earpods. You’ll also find Apple stickers, a manual in which you can find a sim ejector pin. Oh and the iPhone 5 uses a Nano sim. Get ready to have more fun cutting your existing sim if your existing operator doesn’t issue nano sim card. And before you get started you may want to check out this guide as well. That’s basically the box. Same, simple and compact.
Display: It Just Got Better:
iPhone 5 now has a 4″ screen from the previous 3.5″ screen. The screen is only taller than before but not wider. The same resulted in the resolution shifting from 640×960 to 640×1136. The iPhone 5 display is also much superior to that of 4S’. It now has 44% more colour saturation than 4S. And I’ve got to tell you, its a phenomenal screen now. Everything looks much better now. The icons, the text, videos and everything. I really didn’t expect a big change in the display but it blew me away. Its more like the HD Super AMOLED screens that the Android phones have these days. But not as much as deeper colours on the screen which I think is nice. It really shows a difference when you watch photos and videos or browse the internet. Everything feels more live and vivid. I’m really sold by the display. In short, the screen is now absolutely stunning !!!
Apple has maintained the same amount of pixels per inch on the iPhone 5 as well. i.e. at 326ppi. They’ve previously claimed that anything beyond this would hurt the eye. I’m not sure of that, but the point where we are at is perfect. The advancements in the display really improves your app experience. I love using the Facebook app more and more these days. And luckily it’s one of the few popular apps that were updated for the iPhone 5 screen at the earliest. That’s right, apps now have to be specifically designed for the iPhone 5 to give you the best experience. Or else they would look letter boxed on the screen. Thanks to the increased screen resolution. The advantage is that, in one view you can now see more information which avoids the need of scrolling on and on repeatedly. Plus, now you can watch HD videos(16:9) in full screen without any black bars on top and bottom. If you watch a lot of videos, you’re gonna love it. The sad part is that photos now have the black bars on both the sides as they are 4:3. On some phones, you can take photos in 16:9 ratio, but definitely not on iPhone.
I’ve used the Galaxy SII and the Galaxy Note. And I tell you they are not handy. Its just too big that you can’t easily access all the corners of the phone. Plus, if you have a small palm, it would be very difficult to fit it in the hand. iPhone 5 however is just perfect. Its still the same old handy phone, but with a taller screen. Although, some of you may have a little problem handling it. I have a big hand and it wasn’t a problem for me. Chances are that most of you won’t find a problem with it.
It’s A6, It’s 1Gigs and It’s Faster:
Apple has developed a custom A6 chip which they’ve used in the iPhone 5. It’s definitely faster. And before you ask it, let me tell you, its not quad core. Its a dual core processor clocked at 1.3Ghz. Apple always under clocks their processors on all devices. So this could actually be even more faster. The reason why Apple under clocks processor is for battery life. When processors work at higher clock speeds it produces more heat and uses a good amount of battery. Apple definitely don’t want that. Either way, its very fast. As you know, I was an iPhone 4S user and I’ve always felt it to be really fast. And iPhone 5 is even more faster. But its not something to drool on. It may be milliseconds faster when you run native apps and reasonably higher when you run big games. Apple has finally doubled the RAM on iPhone from 512MB to 1GB. I really expected this upgrade when Apple announced 4S, but Apple didn’t think so. The addition of 1GB RAM module is just perfect. iOS 6 is big in terms of memory consumption. And having a 1GB RAM to offer for the apps is a good thing.
Apps are lightning fast now. Loading is a history among native apps(Not that there was much earlier). Launching apps, switching apps are all lightning fast. It’s like they are always waiting in the background waiting for your tap. Games are better too. Graphics performance are noticeably better. At the time of writing, there are not many graphics intensive apps on the app store that are optimised for the iPhone 5. However, I tried a few of them including Metal Storm, Solar Walk and and Jetpack Joyride. And I tell you, if you love playing games, you’re gonna love the iPhone 5. Everything is pretty smooth. Not to mention, the improved screen does make the experience much better. Playing games via Airplay using Apple TV are all super smooth now. Just make sure you have strong WiFi signal. When it comes to speed there is nothing more you can ask from the iPhone. Its top notch. And its not just about playing games or running graphics intensive apps. There are many other simple little things which benefit from having a faster processor and RAM. For example, having more RAM helps you open a lot of tabs on Safari and then switch to some other apps. These tabs tend to reload the pages again when you switch back to Safari as it may have ran shot of memory while you were using other apps. So this whole procedure consumes more data and most of all your valuable time. But with higher RAM, there will be enough memory for these tabs to use up even while you fiddle with other apps. This is just one example. There are more. But this is most common scenario you may encounter.
One other notable improvement about the processor is its battery management. iPhone 5 has the same or nearly the same battery used in iPhone 4S. However, iPhone 5 can keep you going more than iPhone 4S with A5 processor. The processor intelligently manages it quite well that you get 10 hours of WiFi browsing, 8 hours of LTE and 3G browsing. Impressive, right ? Real life performance is nearly the same provided you don’t play or watch movies in between.
Lightning Port: It’s Reversible, But Not Sensible:
Apple has made some bold moves like introducing the micro sims instead of the normal sim cards. Or the nano sims for that matter. But, switching to lightning port on the iPhone 5 was one of the worst moves. Its not that I hoped to have the 30 pin dock forever, but Apple may have switched to the lightning port a little too early for the following reasons:
1. Lightning dock isn’t anyway a huge improvement over the 30 pin connector.
2. Lightning port is not supported by any 3rd party accessories manufacturers.
3. Apple itself did not release any accessories for the connector including a dock. Seriously ?!! (Minus the lightning to 30 pin and microUSB).
4. A lightning to 30pin dock connector is $29(WTH !!) and if you choose the same with a cable, its $39.
5. Apple has included a chip that prevents 3rd party access unless they are onboard with Apple for the same. Means lesser accessories in future.
Lightning port looks a lot a thinner than the 30 pin dock connector. That’s a welcomed change. But that’s about it. I didn’t find any difference in speed while loading apps, music or videos. And charging time is almost the same as well. So Apple may have took advantage of the extra space they got when they replaced the port, but for end user, there isn’t anything much to talk about. Or there is just one thing which I like. It’s reversible. But definitely not worth the sacrifice we’re doing here though. I remember going in to friends and family’s house. Suddenly my iPhone battery dies and then I can use any of their iPhone charger and have my phone back up again regardless which generation of iPhone/iPod they use. Now its a dilemma. I have to make sure I carry the charger unless there is one user who has upgraded to an iPhone 5. Also, most accessories connect to your phone through the 30 pin dock connector. None of them would now work with your phone unless you have a connector which itself may not solve the problem in some case. These are silly things. But they happen too often in your life that its a matter of serious thought. There were two ways for Apple to go with the change. One, offer a free lightning to 30 pin dock or two, offer them at an incredibly cheap price.
At the bottom of the phone you’ll notice the 3.5mm headphone jack near the lightning port. Apple has had it on top of the phone since the original iPhone. Most people liked this decision. Mostly because when you place the phone in your pocket and when you pull it out, the display is always facing you which previously was upside down. But some of you may find it annoying depending on your use case scenario.
Camera:
Since the introduction of the iPhone 4S, Apple has made huge improvements in the camera segment. We all have to agree that its got one of the best cameras on a smartphone yet. What makes it even better is that in most other phones you may have to fiddle around the plethora of camera settings to take a great shot. Eg: Nokia Pureview 808. And this requires you to have a great background knowledge what each setting means. But on the iPhone, all you have to do is just Touch-To-Focus and snap. Its as simple as that. It helps anyone to be a great photographer.
iPhone 5 uses the same camera lens and technology as in iPhone 4S. However, Apple has updated the camera lens. It now uses a sapphire crystal lens. Hence, its now less susceptible to scratches from daily uses. This ensures that you are able to take great pictures all the time as scratches may deflect the light entering the lenses causing uneven lighting in the image. Image quality is almost the same and slightly noticeable. Images look much better on the new display as it has a better resolution and colour saturation. Apple has also revamped the camera UI on the iPhone 5, but its nothing to get excited about. I would still prefer the look of iPhone 4S camera soft buttons on my iPhone. And finally, we now have a panorama mode on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 built right into the camera app. Panorama photos were limited 3rd party apps all this time. Its a nice feature. But if you’re one of those with a shaky hands, then don’t count much on the quality. Whenever I’m at an open place say beach or hill top, I start taking pictures in panorama mode. Its fun. iPhone still has the dual LED flash on it. And you will find a small microphone resting between the rear camera and LED flash on the back. It helps in noise reduction during calls and improved audio while taking videos as it can collect audio from the subject you’re shooting. Now that’s a brilliant idea. The front facing camera is new. Its now a 1.3MP camera that can do 720p videos. This means you can do FaceTime calls with much better clarity. And did I mention that FaceTime calls are now possible over 3G/4G ? Now that’s what I would like to call as real video calling facility, although limited to certain Apple devices.
I’m sure you’re definitely craving to see some camera samples from the iPhone 5. I’m no expert in photography, but I did shoot some pictures. You can take a look at them below. I’ve also uploaded a 1080p video sample on to Youtube which is also embedded below.
PS: I don’t take pictures of the sun usually, so I’ve never faced purple tint issue.
iPhone Camera has always impressed me. Especially since the iPhone 4. The pictures are always very good. But if I were to ask some improvement on the camera, then I would love some enhancements to low light photography. Apple may have to work a bit more there. Phones like the Nokia Lumia 920 has made huge advancements in the camera segment, especially in the low light photography. Apple may want to concentrate a bit more there.
Build Quality:
Faster isn’t stronger. Apple iPhone 5 has received a lot of bad press due to its poor build quality. Especially, the black model which has been losing paint and receiving scuffs while being shipped. That’s right, even before user lays his hands on it. I’m not sure how many of you can receive a scuffed phone with a happy face. Anyway, I ordered for a white phone seeing the issues with Black device. A lot of users had issues while many received without any fault. A few friends of mine who are still using the black claimed that its perfectly fine even after a month of using it. White iPhone 5 looks really gorgeous. The back aluminium casing and the white glass casing on the back is an absolute beauty combination. I never get tired of looking at it. I loved it on my iPad and love it on iPhone 5. But, that isn’t all. From my experience, I found the iPhone 5 to be much much weaker. Its not as strong as iPhone 4S or iPhone 4 were. The aluminium metal enclosure on the phone is much weaker now.
If you slightly(accidentally) hit it against the desk, wall or a small gadget thats on the desk, it gets scuffs very quickly. You know, thats not something you would like to see when you pay up to $1000 for a phone. I don’t mean to say that my phone should survive being run over by a bus, but its gotta be same or better than previous generations. Especially for an Apple product who always preaches about how much a product they are announcing is better than the same device from previous generation. I really take care of my phone very well, but I think I’ve spotted a minor scuff on it already. And I’m not happy about it. So if you’re one of those guys with a lose hand, then you may want to rethink your decision about getting the iPhone 5 unless you’re ready to put one of those monster case on it for protection.
Battery:
Battery life is pretty strong on the iPhone 5. I wouldn’t recommend you to upgrade to iPhone 5 from a 4S citing battery life as its strongest selling point, but its got better. I used to get around 7-8 hours of battery life on iPhone 4S when using 3G network. I use twitter all the time and I often check emails. I also play a lot of games on the iPhone. Mostly turn based low graphics intensive games. Yet iPhone 4S gave me 7-8 hours. With same activity going on iPhone 5, I can squeeze up to 9-10 hours or even higher on some days. And if you rely on WiFi for internet, then you may get even better battery life. Its surprising considering that Apple hasn’t improved the battery physically. But all thanks to the A6 processor and new iOS 6 which I hope also has its fair share in the enhanced battery life.
iOS & Apps:
iOS 6 has packed a lot of Siri improvements and other software enhancements including Facebook integration. What I like the most in iOS 6 are the ability to make FaceTime calls over 3G, integration of phone number and Apple IDs in to one account for iMessage, Facebook integration, Ability to insert photos and videos right from mail app, iCloud tabs on Safari, Reading list etc. Some of these features may not sound new or revolutionary to you if you’re on Android and Symbian, but its the first time they’re being introduced on iOS 6. And its good to have them. iOS 6 is smooth just like any previous iterations of iOS. It works flawlessly on the iPhone 5. And of course the A6 processor and the 1GB RAM is doing its job perfectly under the hood.
Apple maps needs no introduction. You’ve pretty much heard everything about it. So I’ll just talk about it in three words. It Still Sucks !!
Third party apps continue to do their best on iOS. They’re still amazing. They never cease to amaze me. Even after having over 5,00,000 apps on AppStore, developers are still introducing innovative and interesting apps daily. And may I say how gorgeous they look on the iPhone 5 display !! Its always pleasure to use these apps. With the updated hardware, apps are way faster on the iPhone 5. And a good amount of apps have been updated to support the new screen resolution on the iPhone 5. Other apps run letter boxed at the moment. Even though the screen size is increased by a small amount, you totally get a different experience with the apps. A few days of using iPhone 5 made me feel like previous iPhones have way smaller screens. Not to forget, the improved resolution does make things feel better. Sometime you do wish if the screen was a little wider.
Final Word:
iPhone continues to be the amazing phone it used to be since the original iPhone. It may not be a compulsory upgrade for existing iPhone 4S users(unless you need the big screen and the new look), but I recommend iPhone 4 and lower users to confidently upgrade to the iPhone 5. Keep in mind it isn’t stronger as you may expect it. So be more careful and have a good case in hand if necessary. It will not discourage you as long as speed and performance are considered. Battery life will also please you well. There many other alternatives in the market. But you can consider iPhone 5 as one of the best ones available in the market right now. After all, an iPhone is an iPhone !!!
Nokia is not going through the best time of theirs. But Nokia isn’t taking that as an excuse to not bring great devices to the market. Nokia was once a game changer. They did have some great devices in the market that were first of its kind. I remember the time when I was so thrilled to try out the twist and turn 3250 or the Nokia N93. Those were the good times. Looks like Nokia is bringing back the best again. And they’ve started off with the Nokia Pureview 808.
We all know that Nokia Pureview 808 is not just another Symbian device. Infact, its the kind of Symbian phone we all have been waiting for a while now. So what makes this gorgeous phone so special ?? Let’s find out. First, lets take a quick run down through the specification. The Nokia Pureview 808 comes with 4 inch ClearBlack Display, a 1.3Ghz ARM 11 processor, 512MB RAM, a 41MP Carl Zeiss Camera, 16GB internal memory, MicroSD card, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and 1400mAh battery.
The Box Package:
The Nokia Pureview box package contains the following items:
Nokia 808 PureView
Nokia AC-50 MicroUSB Charger
Nokia Charging and Data Cable CA-190CD
Nokia stereo Headset WH-209
NFC info card
Nokia Wrist Strap Black
Quick Guide, User Guide and Product information leaflet
The Nokia Pureview 808 comes in a very slim package. The included earphones is the in-ear type. I’m not a big fan of it but, most people prefer it over conventional type of earphones. And of course you’ll find plenty of manuals about phone, many Nokia services like Nokia Music, Nokia Maps, tips and tricks etc. The wrist strap is also a handy included accessory in the box especially for girls.
I’ve left Symbian years back for iOS. And I never cared to look back again. Not that I had everything I wanted on iOS, but it gave me good software/hardware performance with little or no performance hiccups. Lets face it, every one of us who’ve used Symbian has confronted irresponsive touchscreen while quickly switching through multiple tasks or services. And remember when you had to tap and tap on and on to get something working on the phone ?? Annoying, right ?? That was the case then. But now its changed. A lot. When I first got the 808, I was only excited for the camera as it was the main highlight of the device. But it looks like its just more than that. The phone has not only improved in terms of the camera but in terms of the overall performance as well. Back in 2011, if I’m not wrong, I got the Nokia N8. No, I didn’t buy it as I was using my iPhone 4 then. But I won it through the Nokia Pocket Dance competition. And oh boy !! The camera was amazing. I had this feeling that I had the best camera touch phone then(iPhone 4). But Nokia N8 blew my mind. Long story shot, later after a few days of use I realised that even if the device had a great camera, the hardware wasn’t powerful enough to give the best performance. And the software wasn’t well optimised either. Remember, it was immediately after the N8 launched. So it was running one of the early versions of the N8 firmware. I found the gallery very laggy and annoying. It was a shame to have to wait for the photos to load on the same device with which it was taken. While the images were really crisp and sharp, the device gave me a bad experience that really affected my overall experience with the device. And in 2-3 months, that phone found a new owner. End of story.
Since then I promised not to go back again to Symbian again. And we all would agree that someone at Nokia was really against the idea of more RAM in a phone at that time. But then I saw the Pureview 808 being announced and I decided to give a shot when I saw that the hardware has been improved very well to perform quite well the amazing features that the phone is packed with.
To start, the Nokia Pureview 808 comes with 4 inch ClearBlack display with 360×640 resolution. Although screen size is just perfect, we’re not a big fan of that tiny resolution considering the standard resolution that comes in other smartphones of the same budget. Nokia has also added Corning Gorilla Glass which will help you keep your phone scratch free to some extent. There’s also a 1.3Ghz processor and 512MB RAM combo that really makes a difference in performance from its predecessors. On the Pureview browsing was a pure bliss. The gallery was almost instant and browsing through photos was a breeze. Pureview’s overall performance and the camera of course really impressed me well. Besides, Nokia has been continuously updating the software to give the best performance. I’m not much of a camera expert but I was still excited about the camera on the phone.
The camera on Pureview has 41MP sensor and it uses Pureview technology to create stunning images with far less the usual size of the photos with same clarity. In simple words, the camera captures a large amount of image data using this high quality lens and it keeps the resolution down to 5MP or 8MP depending on what you’ve set. This results in creation of photos with stunning clarity and weight. So, that helps you share these photos via email or social networks to your friends and family without taking a big hit to your data usage. This is some impressive work from Nokia. I think this is pure innovation with Camera. Although it sounds a lot technical, there’s nothing users have to worry about. All you need to do is snap photos and rest the phone takes care of. I’m sure you’ll be dying to see some pictures taken with this camera. Like I said, I’m no camera expert, but here are a few shots I took with the phone. You can also head over to Flickr to see more photos from experts.[nggallery id=18]
The photos looked really good. And the details are just amazing. There were pictures into which I zoomed up to 8x and still could read the name boards that were in it. That shows the level of accuracy in details of the pictures it takes. Oh and if you’re camera enthusiast, then there are probably a lot of things you may wanna know about the camera. The camera menu has a lot of settings from simple tweaking exposures and focus levels to complex options. I may not be an expert to talk about them all, so I recorded a video from MWC 2012 where a Nokia expert itself walks you through the entire camera details. Here, take a look at the video embedded below.
Apart from camera, Pureview also has great other features like the Nokia Music and Nokia Maps. These are some of the stand out Nokia services that you get to enjoy when you either buy this phone or any other eligible Nokia device. Nokia Music boasts over 5 million tracks on their music online store that covers a wide variety of genres in different languages. When you buy a qualifying device, your phone gets registered to the service for a year and you can download unlimited music for the same period. The unit we trialled unfortunately had issues in getting the service activated. However, we’ve tried this service on many other models and they’ve worked well. So wherever you go, no matter what you can download latest music anytime. Another stunning service from Nokia that really caught our attention is the Nokia Maps. Nokia Maps lets you move to any place with their amazing data powered by Navteq. Nokia Maps also provides turn by turn voice navigation making it easier to use while driving. You can also download maps to certain locations using WiFi at your house and save on data costs while using it outside. Nokia Maps also provides walking directions and public transit lines in certain countries along with live traffic details. The service is just amazing. We couldn’t possibly think of a better maps app than this. Nokia continuously develops the app adding more and more features periodically.
When you have a lot of music and pictures, its natural that you will have an urge to share them with your friends. Although, we’re familiar with social sharing like posting to Facebook or Twitter or even email for that matter. Nokia Pureview also has something else. Its DLNA support. This isn’t a new technology and it has been here for a while. But with our big screen TVs and home theatre systems getting WiFi functionality, people are starting to look for this feature in their phones. So what’s DLNA ?? Well, if you’ve heard of Apple’s Airplay feature, then this is going to be easy for you. Airplay is DLNA in disguise. Meaning, DLNA does exactly what Airplay does. So, Yes, you can share your music, videos and photos to your big screen wirelessly from your device. This feature is so great that I recorded a video demo for you. Check it out below.
With a great camera, amazing music service and mind blowing maps app the Nokia Pureview 808 is a stunning device. The only downside here is that it runs Symbian. However, its good to see Symbian still being developed and the latest update Belle does bring Nokia Pureview 808 to the forefront with its new enhanced UI and other features. Its also good to see the improved processor and RAM that really adds up to the performance. Some developers still continue to develop for Symbian actively which is an indication that this platform is still up and strong. If you’re planning on buying this device then you may don’t wanna miss the Swiss Army knife of social apps- Gravity app. Some of you may be so tied up to the Symbian UI that you may don’t wanna consider a switch to other platforms. If so, then this is one of the best choices you have on this platform. And for Camera enthusiasts, think no more. The Nokia Pureview 808 retails for Rs 33,899/- on their online store. Offline retails store prices may vary.
In a bold attempt, Aircel has decided to bring down the price of iPhone 3GS to Rs 9,999/- if you are willing to pay Rs 3000/- more in addition to Rs 9,999/- price tag. The extra amount you pay qualifies you to enjoy their 2GB 3G unlimited(Speed will be stripped down to 128kbps after 2GB) internet for 12 months if you’re in their 3G circle or 1000 minutes of local and STD calls, 2500 local and national SMS and unlimited 2G internet connectivity for 6 months if you’re in their 2G circle. The offer is limited to postpaid customers. But this is an offer worth signing up for.
Apple released iPhone 3GS in 2009 and it still continues to be in the market. iOS 5 brought features like iMessage to the 3GS keeping it in the game and now iOS 6 is about to add a host of new features to it when it will be released this fall. iPhone 3GS currently runs iOS 5, it has 3.5″ screen like any other iPhone, a 3.2MP camera with no flash, 3G connectivity, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, Compass etc.
iPhone 3GS have been retailing in the market for Rs 19,990/- so far and it didn’t sound like a good buy considering the Android alternatives at the same price range. But now, in its new price segment, it is definitely the best option you have. Click Here to know more.
Sony hasn’t been quite active with their Android smartphone portfolio lately until they announced the Sony NXT series. This new series comes with a handful of Android phones that is targeted at all budgets. So there’s one device for every segment. The Sony Xperia U is the cheapest of the all. Other models include Xperia Sola, Xperia P and the Xperia S. We’ll be covering all the reviews here starting with Xperia U today.
Hardware:
The Sony Xperia U comes with a 3.5inch LED backlit display with a resolution of 480×854 pixels. The screen has approximately 280 ppi which is a lot more than many Android phones out there in the same segment. The display is also powered by the Sony Bravia Engine which will make your pictures look really good in the display. We really enjoyed the quality of images on the display. The color depth in the image was very impressive. The 3.5 inch display may turn some buyers off from this phone. Today, everybody is running behind large screens which are even difficult to carry when you consider certain models. If you are not crazy about phones with large displays, you’ll find this phone as one of the best. The phones size perfectly fits in hands. When you hold it, you know you have a good grip and control over it that can avoid accidental slippery leading to disasters.
On the right side of the phone, you’ll see the power button, single piece volume rokr button and the dedicated camera key. The three buttons are equally placed away from each other. Some you may find the volume rokr a bit to hard to control as its at the centre of the phone. But once you get the hang of it, its no longer a problem. The inclusion of a dedicated camera button is well appreciated. Let’s face it, having to fire up the display and then launch the camera app is tiresome and may also be the reason why you miss some great shots. However, the designers at Sony seems to have addressed the issue. And they’ve also included a special feature called the Quick Launch Mode where in which you can quickly target the camera to the object even when the display is off and perform a long press on the camera dedicated camera button and the camera app launches instantly and auto snaps whatever is in the frame. So, there’s no more excuse to missing that special moment again. I found this feature pretty useful.
On the left side close to the top, you’ll notice the the micro USB port for charging and data transfer. That aside there’s nothing else on the left side. At the bottom you can see the strap hole if you intend to use a hand strap and then there’s the main microphone as well. Sony does not provide any hand straps in the box, so you may have to buy them separately. On top we have the 3.5mm headphone jack to connect the headphones that comes in the box or any other standard headphones available in the market. You will also find a second microphone on top along with the headphone jack.
The new Xperia phones have an eye catching design. The inclusion of a transparent glass between the body close to the bottom not only make it look gorgeous but also increases the antenna performance. And if you really look closely, you can see the default Android action keys like the Home, Back and the Menu icons there. Right above them the three white dots can be see which is where you should tap so that the intended function is performed. And the most amazing thing is this glass cut piece gloss in different colors. It glows with a certain colour when you get a call. It glows when you press the action keys and it adjusts the color of the light to whatever colour is dominating the display. So if you are watching the picture of a green forest, it turns green, red for strawberries or whatever colour is being displayed on the screen. Its interesting to see how much Sony has concentrated on bringing a great design. While most manufacturers try to pack high specifications over great design, Sony has taken a different step this time. They’ve given equal importance to everything.
Sony has included an 5MP camera with LED flash on to the phone. The phone takes very good pictures once you try a hand with the exposure levels. Photos looked a bit washed out without adjusting the exposure levels. However, the video wasn’t very impressive at all. It takes 720p video and the quality of it is quite underwhelming. There’s also a front facing camera which is VGA for self portraits and video calling. Watch the samples from the back camera we’ve posted below.
[nggallery id=16]
On the Inside, Xperia U sports a dual core 1Ghz A9 cortex processor with 512MB RAM. And we’ve gotta say it, the processor and RAM does their job quite well. We never really experienced any lag on the phone. Everything was quite smooth from launching apps to playing games. The phone currently runs Android 2.3(Gingerbread), however a planned upgrade in third quarter this year will bring Ice Cream Sandwich to the device. Currently, only Xperia S has got the Android 4.0 update. The only downside of the phone that we couldn’t put up was the storage. Sony, for some reason has only added a 4GB ROM into it with no external card support. Thats right, if you listen to lot of music or if you watch a lot of movies, then you’re gonna find this storage very insufficient. Not to forget, all the photos you take, videos you shoot and the apps install also go to the same space. If its any compliment, the phone supports USB OTG i.e. USB On The Go. So you can have your contents loaded from a pendrive which can’t stored on the hard drive. Coming to connectivities, the phone is equipped with WiFi b/g/n with DLNA support. You’ll also find Bluetooth support, GPS, FM Radio etc. The phones bottom cap is interchangeable. You can put white, Pink, Blue or Yellow caps. Xperia U has a 1320mAh battery to support all your activities on the phone. While this may not sound very pleasing to many heavy users out there, taking into account the size of the display, I think this is pretty neat. The phone didn’t last for an entire day(which phone does ?!!), but it got us going till the evening on 3G which is not bad. Not to mention, we were on 3G network, switched to WiFi for a few hours, push was enabled for email and twitter. The best part is, these device charges very quickly. If you use the supplied power plug and the data cable, it charges pretty quickly. Most phones usually takes hours to charge via the microUSB connecter. But Sony has addressed that issue with the new line of Xperias including the Xperia U.
Software:
Sony has also worked a lot on the software side. Besides just loading the Gingerbread on to the phone, they’ve also added an overlying software called the Timescape UI. If you’ve used Sony Ericsson Android phones before, then you might be familiar with this UI. To be honest, I found this software to be way better and intuitive than any other overlying softwares from the competing manufacturers. The Touchwhiz UI from Samsung packs a lot of features, however the overall look and feel of the software is really underwhelming. And when such a poor looking software is powered by a hardware as good as an AMOLED screen, you really get an awful experience. But Sony has done a great job here. They’ve beautifully designed the Timescape UI. The software has a grey theme everywhere. The icons look good. The transitions are neat and the level of access for menus are well placed that it doesn’t take a lot of steps to get things done. Sony has also integrated all the social networks in to this software to give you a unified experience. So every contact of yours will not only fetch you their phone numbers or email, but their social networking statuses from various sites which you’ve linked.
There’s also a dedicated app called the Timescape which is one stop place for accessing all our social content like Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare etc. It pulls all the updates from all these networks and shows them in one place in a stacked UI. In landscape orientation, they beautifully re-orients to form a cover flow like UI. Other apps inlcude Back Up and Restore app that creates back up of the phone contents to restore later at any case of data loss and wipe off. Sony also has a software, something I would like to describe as an intelligent software that can act according to certain situations if preset. For example, you can assign it to run the music player when you connect the earphones. Or you can set it to run the Back Up and Restore app when you connect it to a charger etc. The app is called LiveWare manager and works flawlessly. Sony also has included the Track ID app that works pretty similar to Shazam or Soundhound. The app can listen to music and then fetch you the song details in seconds. It also provides link to the purchase the song online which is cool. Talking about music, if you fall in to any supported countries of Sony’s Music and Video unlimited service, then you can enjoy great collection of song and videos right on your phone.
So to sum it up, Sony has provided a gorgeous looking new design powered with a good hardware, the amazing Android OS Gingerbread with a planned upgrade to ICS in the next quarter and of course with a lot of Sony exclusive apps and services. The phone feels great in hands, its not too big not too small and it lasts decently long enough. The exchangeable bottom caps are a plus for those fashion minded youths and the glowing glass piece is an eye turner. The Xperia U stands out as a classy device at its segment. If the limited storage doesn’t bother you much, then this is the perfect device at this price range. Its trendy, its handy and value for money. That said Sony Xperia U now retails in the market for around Rs 16,000/-. Online dealers like Flipkart and eBay have various offers going on at the moment which will let you buy the device even at lower price point. If you cant wait any longer, you can always walk up to Sony dealers close to your place.
