Tag: sony xperia z1

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We recommend: The best camera phones in the market today

Our tech writer lists the five best camera phones you can buy in India, and what makes them so great.
by Manik Kakra

Cameras on phones have come a long way. From using them once in a while upon finding something interesting, to using them pretty much every hour to click a thing, ourselves (selfies, yeah), or anything we find amusing or worth sharing. The technology used on cameras on our phones has evolved by leaps and bounds – camera phones today have better and bigger sensors, improved performance under low-light conditions, they are faster, come with accessories, and more.

Here’s my list of the best camera phones available in the market today:

Samsung Galaxy Note 3: Samsung’s Note series has done a great job of proving that many people do want bigger screens on their phones, and has been consistent about improving cameras used on these devices. The Note 3 has a 13 MP (AF) camera that can shoot 1080p videos at 60 FPS. Its camera can take some seriously detailed images, and videos look very nice (and heavy sized). You’re pretty much sure with a Note 3 that its camera performance is going to be good most of the times, and plenty of editing options are in place in case you require any.

Sony Xperia Z1: Sony’s past efforts with cameras on its flagship handsets haven’t been very impressive, but with the Xperia Z1, especcialy after its latest update, the company has a really good camera performer. Its 20.7 MP camera can take some detailed and sharp images, and the camera app provides loads of shooting and editing options for later. The camera is quite smooth, takes less noisy images after the last update, and provides good video recording quality, too.

Nokia Lumia 1020: Bet you saw this one coming as soon as you read the headline. The Nokia Lumia 1020, with its huge 41 MP sensor, is pretty much the king of camera phones today. Whatever you want from a camera phone – daylight shots, low-light shows, change focus of an image after clicking it, settings not found on any other company’s phone camera (focus, ISO, etc. Xenon + LED flash, RAW [DNG support]), this Lumia is a one-fit-for-all photography enthusiasts.

LG G2: The G2 has probably the fastest camera of all these. Its camera takes an image the fastest, but without compromising on quality. The 13 MP shooter on its back can take some rich, sharp images, and can also shoot high quality full HD videos with decent audio in place. And thanks to its OIS feature, you need not worry much about getting blurry images due to your hands shaking while taking a photo.

Nokia PureView 808: This is, in my opinion, the best camera performer of the lot. It’s hard to find this Symbian phone today, but it definitely deserves to be named here. The 41 MP, with loads of settings in its camera app, fantastic image quality, great video quality, is really Nokia’s answer if anybody asks about their imaging technology in place. Last officially available for under Rs. 20,000, you could buy one as the last legacy Symbian device that’s equipped with a stunning camera.

Other than these, there are a few that need to be mentioned: Samsung’s Galaxy S IV’s camera is pretty much the same as the Note 3’s. HTC’s One, with its 4 MP ‘Ultrapixel’ can also not be ignored because of its impressive low-light performance and making the OIS feature more common in smartphone cameras today. Also, Apple’s iPhone 5s can take some seriously good photos, videos, is fast in snapping photos and has some decent editing options.

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Review: Sony Xperia Z1

What does the Xperia Z1 have that the earlier Xperia Z doesn’t? We do some checking and look for answers.
by Manik Kakra

Sony has been trying to get its phone division better converged with its music and camera divisions in order to get ahead in the smartphone battle. Its Xperia Z left a bitter taste in some people’s mouths, and the company aims to find its mojo back with the Xperia Z1. So, let’s check out this new Android smartphone from Sony.

Hardware and design

Sony Xperia Z1Sony’s Xperia Z1 (C6902) follows the same rectangular slap design that we have seen with the Xperia Z, and ZR. Handling one for the first time, you may realise that it’s a bit bigger than the Z, but isn’t different from it when it comes to looks.

The phone sports a 5-inch full HD screen, which also carries the three onscreen keys. On top are placed the usual speakers with LED fitted underneath the grills inside. Just below the screen, even though there is nothing placed, the bezel space is noticeable and pretty big for a space having no real estate.

On the left sidepanel, you have the microUSB port, memory card slot and two-pin charging points for charging using a dock. On the right side, there’s the SIM slot and the familiar circular metallic Power button – looks nice to me – and plastic volume rockers. All these slots are flapped and, though the Z1 is water-proof, these flaps, which seem quite fragile, have to be put on Sony Xperia Z1when you are trying some water adventures while carrying the device. On the back sits the 20.7 MP camera with an LED flash. The back is made up of thick plastic material with coating, which fits quite well in the hand, but both front and back are dust and fingerprint magnets. It becomes a bit frustrating seeing dust all over the screen after pulling the phone out from your pocket.

The top gets the 3.5mm headset jack. The loudspeakers, like the iPhone 5’s, are at the bottom. Round edges, aluminium-mixed front.

Screen

Talking about the phone’s 5-inch 1080p screen, Sony’s Z was mainly looked down for its ordinary screen quality, but did the Z1 come out winning? The Z1’s seemed much better to me than the Z. Colours look nowhere as washed out as on the Z, and it is crisp. But when you use it after seeing the LG G2 or even the HTC One, it does rank below those two. Sony mentions the use of BRAVIS Engine for the display, but while there is certainly a lot of improvement from what it was like on the Z, there is still some work needed when it comes to viewing angles and contrast.

Sony Xperia Z1Camera

The Xperia Z1 boasts a 20.7 MP f/2.0 (mainly 20) MP camera with BIONZ image processor. The trick here is that the camera does oversampling, giving out 8 MP images. I tried the camera a bit, and was pretty satisfied with it. Sony’s camera UI is neat, straightforward and doesn’t require too many adjustments for every shot. On the down side, I did notice some over-processing from the software. You take a shot expecting something, but the result you view later seems a bit different, usually sharper than how it should have been. The camera performed well in decent conditions, but there’s definitely a lot of noise once you try it in a dark room or under such difficult conditions. See sample shots here.

Audio

Let’s now talk a bit about the audio quality. It’s Sony, so you expect a good audio experience, and that’s exactly the case here. In-ear sound is clear, quite loud and you shouldn’t be hesitating to use your favourite headphones with the phone. Loudspeakers are also loud and usually don’t distort when played on high volume. I was quite happy with their performance while gaming, barring muffling them with my hand while holding the phone when in landscape mode. Also, Sony’s music player is really nice. It has got some beautiful colours for backgrounds and works smoothly, too.

The call quality on the Xperia Z1 is top notch, and there’s no network reception issues any time during my usage.

Software and peformance

The Xperia runs on Android 4.2.2 with Sony’s UXT UI on top. Overall, there are hardly changes here from we have seen and used on the Xperia Z. Under the hood, there is a quad-core Sony Xperia Z12.2 GHz (Krait 400) Snapdragon 800 SoC, along with 2 GB of RAM. The whole look and feel is identical. The phone hardly ever lagged during my usage, and was mostly smooth, responsive and didn’t do any random reboots on its own. You can play full HD videos, go back and forth, and won’t notice any major performance issues. Having five home screens by default, four icons – Sony LIV, Mucis, Messaging and phone in dock, and below sit the on-screen buttons –Back, Home and Multi App View.

Thanks to the placement of on-screen buttons, you lose some screen estate to them in most of the apps you will use. The UXT UI gives you similar app launcher as other OEMs do. Here, you also get a different screen, when swiped from left, to uninstall apps, go to the Play Store, Sony’s app store, and arrange apps in various orders.

I usually got around 21 hours of battery life from, the phone’s 3,000 mAh battery, on a single charge – auto sync on, half an hour of gaming, some music and lots of Twitter and Web surfing.

Sony also provides users with music downloading and streaming service – SonyJive. You et free downloading and streaming for first six months. Don’t get excited. The app is very sluggish, full of bugs, the service has average collection and you get DRM protected content. Yup, it is really bad. I would rather have no such service than having one which may give such an awful experience – definitely the worst part of the whole device.  LIV is a service that allows you to stream content from various Sony channels, without any extra cost. There is also Big Flix app from which you can stream Bollywood movies – pretty decent collection this time. And you also get six movies free (can only be watched on the device itself) six movies from Priviledge, just wish they had given HD qulaity, too.

Summing up

The Xperia Z1 is definitely Sony’s best offering right now. Great performance, coupled with decent camera and looks, the phone does seem a good choice. There is no doubt Sony still needs some work on the display side, and maybe just put (or leave it out completely) a better music streaming service for Indian users. All in all, the phone shows that the company might well be on the right path.

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Tech

What’s happening at IFA?

The ongoing Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin trade fair has seen a lot of launches. Here’s a lowdown on all that mattered.
by Manik Kakra

The ongoing IFA trade fair, which is being held from September 6 to 11 this year at Berlin, has revealed a few good things. Here’s presenting a few:

SAMSUNG   

Note 3Note 3: We already knew Samsung’s new Note (see pic on left) is going to be unveiled at IFA, and so it was. Running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, the Note 3 features a 5.7-inch SAMOLED full HD screen, but its size is almost same to the Note II (5.5-inch screen) thanks to that slim bezel. This Samsung device is powered by 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chipset (having Adreno 330 GPU) or Samsung’s own 1.9 GHz Exynos octa-core chipset –depending on your market – along with, not 2 GB, but 3 GB of RAM. That’s beefy, right?

On the back, there is a 13 MP camera with dual LED flash, capable of recording full HD videos (60 FPS), while the front boasts a 2 MP camera. Other features include WiFi a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS, and microUSB 3.0, yes, it has 3.0, not 2.0. The phone comes in 32 GB and 64 GB storage options (expandable via microSD), and 3,200 mAh battery. The phone is expected to be launched in a number of markets, including India, within the next two months.

Galaxy Gear smartwatch: Wearable tech is suddenly becoming mainstream news. We have seen quite a few smartwatches (Sony Smartwatch and Pebble) and leaks from various companies. Samsung, too, has come up with one (see pic on right). The Galaxy gear smartwatch is a watch that can wirelessly connect with your tablet or smartphone to give you instant information. This watch Galaxy Gear smartwatchfeatures a 1.63-inch SAMOLED screen, and can be paired with Samsung’s Note 3, Note II, SIII and S4. It gives you notifications right on your palm, so you don’t have to whip out your phone every time. Other functionalities could be detailed once the product is on sale and gets some apps as well.

Note 10.1  2014 Edition: This was probably the least exciting launch from Samsung. The tablet looks a lot like the previous 10.1 tablet, and there isn’t too much to talk about Android on tablets right now. It is powered by the same 1.9 GHz Exynos SoC with 3 GB of RAM. The screen is SAMOLED with a resolution of 2560×1600. Coming in 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB variants, this tablet features an 8 MP rear camera, and 2 MP front-facing camera.

SONY

Xperia Z1: This was yet another smartphone, information about which leaked before the event, and was eagerly awaited by many. The Sony Xperia Z1 runs on Android 4.2, and is powered by the last Snapdragon 800 quad-core chipset, along with 2 GB of RAM. This water-resistant and dust-proof smartphone features a 5-inch full HD TFT screen, and a 207 MP camera (Exmor RS), which is really the USP of this device. It would be interesting to see how it performs as compared to other flagship smartphones from this year.

QX100 and QX10: These are two detachable lenses that can be attached with your iPhone and Android phone. While the QX100 has a 1-inch 20.2 MP Exmor RS sensor, the QX10 has got .2-inch 18.2 MP. Both have Bluetooth and NF connectivity options. Sony has also released their Sdk for better support and uses. We have seen a few such attempts, but not much from a phone company. Would you like a separate lens to get much more out of your smartphone, for those crisp images?

4_SmartWatch_2_Xperia_Z_1Smartwatch 2: Sony’s original Smartwatch didn’t get too many good reviews, but the Smartwatch 2 might just change that. With a 1.6-inch LCD, fully water-proof, the company promises 3 to 4 days of battery life. Connectivity-wise, there is Bluetooth, NFC, and microUSB.

Lenovo Vibe X: This phone sports a 5-inch HD screen, and with its polycarbonate material looks quite different from what we have seen from the Chinese giant so far. Powered by MediaTek’s quad-core chipset and 2 GB of RAM, this Lenovo phone runs on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. We are still not sure if this phone would make it to other markets.

Toshiba Encore 8.1 Tablet: In a bid to compete against the iPad mini, Toshiba is launching its new Windows 8.1 tablet – Encore. Featuring an 8-inch (1200 x 800) screen, the tablet has got the usual Windows 8 plus new functionalities. Under the hood, there is Intel’s new Bay Trail Atom chip, this tablet does seem competitive as we have not seen many Windows tablets in this form factor.

What are your thoughts so far on what’s being unveiled at IFA? Is it a hit or miss? Anything more you were expecting? Tell us in the comments section below.

(Featured image courtesy Reuters)

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