January 25, 2012 by Tap
Sony’s Xperia S is likely to win the hearts of many users simply down to its camera. At 12 megapixels it is one of the top specs on the market. So that gives an opportunity to review the best smartphones cameras on the market, and how the Sony Xperia S measures up.
The improvement on camera phones has largely been blamed for a decline in the digital camera market. As camera’s have come with a higher specification, better features and the easy ability to upload to social networking sites directly from the smartphone, many have felt they don’t want to carry a camera in their pocket. As many Android phone contracts are cheaper than a digital camera and allow you to do so much more it is no wonder that digital cameras are joining devices like mp3 players, portable radios and handheld games consoles in the realm of obsolete gadgets.
Sony, unsurprisingly, has been keen to show of the HD features of the Xperia S. The pixel resolution on its 4.3 inch Sony BRAVIA screen is 720 x 1280 pixels. It has a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera for video calling as well as a 12 megapixel offer on the back. It comes with an Exmor R sensor, featured on previous Xperia smartphones, which improves imaging characteristics. It allows users to take high quality pictures with a bright colour contrast, even when the light quality might be poor. There is a 3D panorama sweep feature, which appeared as an update on other Xperia devices in late 2011. The device is capable of recording 720p video recording.
For those wanting to pick a device based just on the camera there are others to choose from. The Apple iPhone 4S showed a marked improvement in terms of the camera from its earlier incarnation. The 8 megapixel camera was a big upgrade from the iPhone 4’s 5 megapixel camera. It also boasted improved optics along with built in editing. The camera has 3264 x 2448 pixels, comes with an LED flash, autofocus, touch focus, face detection and geo-tagging. There is also video recording at 1080p HD with image stabilisation. The iPhone 4S has such a good camera on board that it was in fact blamed by camera makers for damaging the digital camera industry. Being such a high profile device, mobile phone deals for the iPhone 4S will set you back a lot more than they will for the Xperia S – even though it is a newer phone.
The Samsung Galaxy S2 has also been famed for its camera. The resolution was boosted from 5 megapixels (from the original Galaxy S) to 8 megapixels also. There are several manual settings to increase or decrease the aperture and shutter speed, as well as changing the White Balance. Auto-focus and face detection make it easier to take pictures on the move. For those looking for a more automated offer there are settings including Smile Shot, Action and Cartoon for those who want to point and snap. HD video comes in at 720p and 1080p at 30fps which is smooth and also offers good colourisation.
The only device really challenging the Xperia S in terms of camera specifications is the Nokia N8, which remains a popular device. Although now fairly run of the mill its camera did make it stand out with 12 megapixels and Carl Zeiss optics. It comes with Xenon flash and face recognition software along with auto-focus. There is geo-tagging, a pinch zoom feature as well as an on-board photo editor. The video shoots in 720p and 25 fps.
The Sony Xperia S is one of the first major smartphone announcements for 2012. Launching with an impressive camera will undoubtedly win it fans as a disappointing camera, as Samsung found with the launch of the Galaxy Nexus, can switch more people off than manufacturers might expect. Although there are higher resolution video cameras available on smartphones 720p still offers a decent enough quality – and the Xperia S more than makes up for this in other areas. As a long-time producer of digital cameras – this is one area of the modern smartphone where Sony is miles ahead of its competition.
April 22, 2009 by Tap
After being out of the news for some time now (certainly as far as Android is concerned) this seems to be Sony Ericsson's week in the spotlight as more Android-related news comes to light.
After last weeks quote by Sony Ericssons' CEO seemed to put the breaks on the company's Android plans, a short post by DigiTimes claims that according to the Chinese Commercial Times newspaper, Orange will be launching a Sony Ericsson Android phone in time for the 2009 year-end holiday season. While some see that as pure speculation it does actually make sense and backs up a similar report which first surfaced last month. Looks like we can't rule Sony Ericsson out of the Android phone race just yet.
Source: DigiTimes
April 21, 2009 by Tap
Back in December last year when Sony Ericsson joined the Open Handset Alliance, the company’s head of Creation and Development, Rikko Sakaguchi, had this to say: "Sony Ericsson is a strong supporter of open operating systems and we believe the Open Handset Alliance offers an exciting opportunity for a new and unique user experience only Sony Ericsson can deliver."
A few months on and we are still waiting for this unique experience which it seems won't be coming any time soon. That's according to Chief Executive Hideki Komiyama who, in an interview with Reuters, said that Android "does require a lot of evaluation, as well as a lot of testing, a lot of acceptance from a consumer viewpoint, and there is still some time to go."
So does that mean Sony Ericsson is actually working on a new Android phone or is the company too busy fire fighting just to stay afloat? I understand the need for evaluation and thorough testing but that doesn’t seem to have stopped HTC from releasing two phones already - granted they have been OHA members a lot longer. As for acceptance from a consumer viewpoint, I think T-Mobile's successful launch of the G1 phone should go a long way to confirming that.
Given Sony Ericssons' financial woes of late it's not surprising that they haven't been too keen to take a risk on Android but let's hope they finally bite the bullet. Of course I'm speaking entirely as an Android fan and it's not to say that releasing an Android phone is going to turn things around for the company, it's just that I'd like to see something like the X1 running Android.
Source: Reuters
March 25, 2009 by Tap
Rumours of HTC's Android Hero phone surfaced in the middle of February this year when HTC's supposed 2009 line-up was revealed on ppcgeeks. We haven't heard much about it since but it looks like the Hero has finally been picked up by Orange.
Orange France has already released the G1 as the HTC Dream (they couldn't use the G1 branding as T-Mobile has exclusive rights to that) and now, according to Mobinaute, they will be following that up with the HTC Hero. But that's not all - they reckon that the Hero will be followed by another Android smartphone a few weeks after that. Orange is definitely on a mission here and is keen to capitalise on what they see as the revenue potential of the Android Market.
Even more interesting, although this could be speculation, is that by the end of this year, Orange, in addition to HTC, plans to have Android phones from Motorola, LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. That last one especially comes as a welcome surprise as Sony Ericsson, although a member of the Open Handset Alliance, seems to have been very quiet on the Android front this year.
On the OS front, word is that Orange will be releasing the cupcake update for the HTC Dream by the end of April and a second "major update" a month later. Sounds mighty interesting.
Source: Mobinaute