Sony's New Flagship Smartphone: Xperia Z Review, Part I

Before I got my current iPhone 5, I was using Sony Xperia S, which is the flagship smartphone of Sony by then. The reason I chose it is simple. The design is unique compared to other Android phones, both exterior and interface wise. However, in the end, I am not quite satisfied with the phone as it became really slow after use for a while. The short lasting battery could be another reason I gave up on Xperia S (though iPhone 5 is not much better). Now, the latest Sony Xperia Z is just released and it's an upgrade from Xperia S. Let's see what it has got to offer.

First, Xperia Z comes in even bigger size now. The phone has a 5-inch screen with a massive resolution of 1920*1080 pixels. That brings the pixel density to 441 ppi (pixel per inch), which is even higher than iPhone 5's retina screen, 326 ppi. The display is sharp and bright, and the contrast is high. I have to say, it is a pleasure to look at the Xperia Z's screen.

Compared to my iPhone 5, though Xperia Z is much bigger due to the screen size, it is almost as slim as the former (7.9mm vs. 7.6mm). 

Xperia Z is beautifully and well built in its exterior design: ports are covered so that they are hardly noticeable in daily use.Front and back are made of glass that is supplied by Corning. It is durable and resistant scratch. However, rather strangely Sony has put another layer of protector above the glasses of front and back. And that piece of protector is NOT scratch resistant, in fact, not at all. I have already seen small scratches on the protector. 

On the left side, there are metal contact point, which is used for connecting the dock accessories, micro SD slot and microUSB port. Xperia Z has an internal storage of 16GB and can be extended up to 32GB through microSD. As I said, the ports are well covered that even I took a while to figure out where the microUSB port is.

On the right side, there are volume control buttons, power key and the SIM card slot. The power key position is a bit different from Xperia S, and most other smartphones, which is on the top of the phone. However, it is quite comfortable no matter I grip the phone using my left or right hand, as it naturally falls under my index finger or thumb.

On top of the phone, it's the 3.5mm audio jack. I heard that the earphones that come with Xperia Z is good, but I have not tested that out yet. 

The camera has been upgraded from 12 megapixel to 13 megapixel. I will have a detailed review on the camera performance in the next post.

Front camera has also been upgraded to 2.2 megapixel. Now it's capable of shooting a 1080p video. 

As we have seen that all the external ports of Xperia Z are covered under the phone, it's all because of serving the great feature of dust proof and water resistant. By water resistant, but not water proof I mean, the phone may not be able to go scuba diving or swimming with you, but you can trust that normal splash or a quick dip in the water won't do any damage to Xperia Z. So I did a small test. I put Xperia Z under the water from a water tap, for quite a while. It is still functional, just as advertised. 

In summary, Xperia Z has made a step further in its hardware design: it's sleek and slim with water resistant and dust proof feature. The screen is large and such a pleasure to look at. Though the protectors at the front and back are something mysterious, they are neither resistant to scratch nor to finger prints. Other than that, I love Xperia Z and I am just feeling good when I grab it in hand.

Technorati Tags: Review, Smartphone, Sony, Xperia Z

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Cybercrime: Time to Get Prepared

Image Credit: The Verge

Suddenly it seems that the technology world is more vulnerable to hacking now than ever, at least it appears to be. We've heard the story that Twitter has been hacked, and then it's Apple and Facebook. And now Evernote, the software that provides online note taking and archiving, has just fallen victim to the hackers as well. Though companies have assured that there is no sensitive information leaked due to the hacking, it is hardly convincing for the customers to believe that their information is still securely stored at the server end.

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Typesetter: Add Text to Your Photos

If you are obsessed with sharing photos on the go , you may sometimes find yourself in the need of adding text to the photo. Today I am introducing a great app that helps you on this. It is called 'Typesetter'.

The functionality of this app is straightforward, adding text on the photo. It provides some customization so that your ordinary photo could turn into some really artistic piece of work! Oh did I mention that it's free of charge? 

 

Upon the launch screen, you could see a few sample photos that this app has produced. You can opt for taking a new photo or choosing an existing one to start your workflow.

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Firefox OS: the Newborn Mobile System Is Coming

 

In the smartphone space, while iOS and Android are still fiercely fighting against each other, Firefox just joined the battlefield. Mozilla, the company that is famous for its internet browser, Firefox, announced that they'll launch their own mobile operating system, Firefox OS in about a year's time. 

In brief, Firefox OS will be an open source system, which is the core spirit of Mozilla. However, unlike Google's Android, Firefox OS is based on HTML5 web platform. It will be backed by hundreds of thousands applications out there on the web. Firefox OS will be highly customizable and also make smartphone even more affordable. Many manufacturers have shown their interests in this newborn system, such as ZTE, Alcatel and even Sony. In the coming year, we'll probably see more Firefox powered smartphones in the news. 

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Close-Up Pictures Taken by Sony RX1: Flowers at Gardens By the Bay

I took my Sony RX1 out last Saturday on a photography outing with a few friends. The place is Gardens By the Bay, which was just launched last year in Singapore and I have never been there before. So I feel it may be good to pay a visit and also see whether I can grab some good photos using my RX1. To be honest, Sony RX1 isn't the perfect candidate for shooting macro photos. The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 35mm F2 on RX1 is not a macro lens. Though it indicates as macro if you turn the focus ring to 0.2-0.35m. The magnification factor is only 0.26x (A typical macro lens would have a magnification ratio of 1, or at least 0.5).

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Lenovo's Ideapad Yoga 11 Review: Part 2

In my previous post, you got a brief idea of how Lenovo's Yoga 11 looks like. You may notice that I didn't put much focus on what the specifications are, like CPU, RAM, hard disk speed, etc. That's because, to be honest, I don't really care about what's the clock speed of the CPU or the benchmark scores. At the end of the day, all that matters is that whether the system is smooth or sluggish, controls are convenient or awkward and whether it's a breeze or hassle to get your daily things done. Apple does not offer the highest specs in its iPhone and iPad compared to other competitors, but it manages to provide the best experience to its customers. After all, what makes an individual buy the product is that he/she simply likes using it.

In this part 2 of the Yoga 11 review, it will be a mix of Yoga 11 and Windows 8 experience since I haven't really used Windows 8 before and it may also give you a glance of how it looks like. In one of my previous blog posts, I talked about what's the flaw in the Windows 8 design. So in this post, I'll also pay a little more attention to whether the experience is affected in Windows 8.

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Google Glass: Bringing You the View into Future

Innovation has always stayed at the center of Google. You may previously happen to know about its project on driverless car. That is probably still distant from being deployed by the masses. However, Google just brought its latest project to the public (Okay, or a lucky few!). It is the Google Glass. Below is a Youtube video released by Google, demonstrating how it is used. 

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Lenovo's Ideapad Yoga 11 Review: Part 1

A hybrid laptop isn't something new. Many years back, HP and IBM already supplied laptops with rotatable screen so as to make the annotation easier. However, that was pretty much about it. Windows 7 is not specifically designed for touch/stylus use, so the use is very limited. With the advent of tablet era, Lenovo has come up with something really cool, yet not forgetting the traditional laptop form factor. It's the latest Ideapad Yoga series. 

Ideapad Yoga comes in two sizes, 11.6 inch and 13 inch. Besides the apparent size difference, the most major one would be the operating system. The latest generation of Windows has two versions. Yoga 11 is running Windows RT while Yoga 13 is Windows 8. Windows RT looks very similar to Windows 8, but it's notably different. The difference one would probably be most concerned is that Windows RT isn't compatible with desktop programs like Windows 8 does. Therefore, only Windows Store apps could be installed on the system. In other words, it works just like Android/iOS tablets.

In this review, I will share my thoughts and experiences with Lenovo's Yoga 11 and it will be two parts: part 1 will be most about the design of the gear and part 2 is how this performs in daily use.

To be honest, I have never really used a Lenovo product before, neither I have used Windows RT/8 on a daily basis. So in this review, I may have some fresh findings compared to those who are more used to this. Okay, now let's take a look at what Lenovo has got us.

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A Few More Photos Taken by Sony SEL1018

After last time I posted some photos taken by this little beauty, Sony SEL1018, I have been asked to upload more photos to see how this lens performs in daily use. I took the lens back when I travelled back home during Chinese new year. But the weather was pretty awful, so that I really don't have many chances to shoot with the lens. I was back in Singapore yesterday morning and today I brought the lens to take a few more photos before I return the lens. 

This is the photo I took back in China. As you can see the smog/haze was pretty bad, it is really not a good time to take any landscape photos. 

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What to Expect in Apple's 'iWatch'?

(Source: MacRumors.com)

Suddenly there is a rumour circulating around the Internet, saying Apple is designing an "iWatch" and this rumour has been confirmed by a few credible sources including Bloomberg. As expected, Apple hasn't responded to any of these external claims. However, it is very plausible that Apple would be working on such a product.

Strategically, Apple needs to enhance its existing ecosystem. The current iOS ecosystem has been great so far, but it could be improved further by introducing new product lines to tap new market segmentation. Probably inspired by previous generation of iPod Nano and Nike's fuel band, iWatch would be something with 'cool' factor, just like Google's unreleased Google Glasses. It doesn't have to be that much useful, instead, it will be something that geeks or Apple fans would want to have. 

Here I am taking a few guesses on Apple's smart watch's features.

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