The official Sony Ericsson blog just announced they have a small but important software update to all XPERIA X2 owners. But as it turned out, they are not quite ready in posting it over at the official Sony Ericsson update center.
Ok, we won’t hold it against them – a software update “that will add stability and improved performance throughout the device” is definitely some good news to share in the first place. Who cares you still can’t get it online. Read more »
Adobe recently posted a new video demo of the upcoming Photoshop CS5. Remember – the new version (along with the rest of the Creative Suite 5) should be unveiled next Monday. The new video clip shows another ground-breaking new feature and I really enjoyed being amazed by the thing. I certainly hope you will too.
The new feature is rather funnily called Puppet Warp and it allows you to move parts of still objects as if they are physically in front of you. Well, it’s got more mundane applications as well – such as fixing distortion in photos. But heck, photo distortion is boring – see the Puppet dance for you. Read more »
Since I shoot exclusively in RAW, I was thrilled to learn that the latest Lightroom 3 beta actually comes with a revamped RAW processing engine. The guys over at Adobe have done some serious work on revealing more of the fine detail and taking care of image noise.
Friends of mine that have taken the time to re-process some of their older photos tell me it’s like they’ve used another camera body. The changes are impressive.
Since I didn’t have time to experiment on my own shots, here’s a sample that I snatched off dpreview.com. It was shot in RAW with the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV at ISO 102400 (yes, that’s a six-figure ISO sensitivity). The shot was processed with the current version of Adobe’s Camera Raw and the latest Lightroom 3 beta 2 RAW processor.
100% crops processed by Adobe Camera Raw v5.6 • Lightroom 3 beta 2
And here’s another couple of comparative crops. Impressive, indeed…
We just got our hands on the HD-totting Sony Ericsson Vivaz and you can bet you’ll be getting a review. But before then, we’ve got a quick video demonstrating the cameraphone in action plus an HD camera sample.
Sony Ericsson Vivaz held in hand
It’s sleek and thinner than what the photos so far suggested. The Vivaz is actually quite quick to snap them 8 megapixel photos, but its key selling point will definitely be the 720p HD video recording. The Vivaz is the second HD-recording cameraphone and all hopes are that it will do better than the pioneering Omnia HD. From what we’ve seen so far, the prospects are quite good. At least it doesn’t duplicate any frames and delivers all 24 frames worth of HD footage.
Sony Ericsson Vivaz vs. Samsung Omnia HD
We’re yet to put these two head to head, but for now check out Read more »
We have a little something that we’re working on right now and we just couldn’t keep it all to ourselves. It’s a phone with a screen so gorgeous that it easily puts to shame the current best. Blacks are immensely deep, the colors are vivid and the viewing angles are mind-boggling. Here’s it compared to the iPhone 3G (both screens set at maximum brightness):
We can’t tell you what phone it is just yet but it surely has one hell of a display. We haven’t seen anything like that.
Update: that’s actually the Samsung Wave display up there. You can check our full preview of the thing here here.Read more »
Hot on the heels of the Google Nexus One announcement, Google released the first demo and instructional videos about their new phone. Here’s my selection of the available videos – I’ve singled out only the most interesting and entertaining ones here.
First off, it’s the Google Nexus One promo video, showcasing its main new features including:
The Cooliris 3D gallery with Picasa integration
The new News and Weather widget
The upcoming Google Earth for Android app
3D spinning main menu (a.k.a. application launcher)
I broke two of my own rules today when I got myself a new ultra cheap netbook. It’s a viewbook actually or at least that’s what Viewsonic is calling their VNB102. But whatever Marketing is naming it, it’s a plain netbook that’s hardly exciting enough to write home about. Yet I’m writing about it here as it made me break my two top buying rules.
I’ll probably remember 2009 as the year of my total surrender to Web 2.0. I’ve practically moved all my personal stuff up there in the Google cloud of web applications. I’ve got my calendars, my contacts, some of my documents, family photos, family videos, and my primary email account all sitting nicely in Google’s control. They all sync and play nicely with my smartphone, I have access to them wherever I go and best of all, it’s all free.
I’m already way beyond the “just trying how things will work out” phase and I have committed fully to this relationship.
And then you stumble into one of those funny videos. And it just makes you think – what if…
Now do you go for LCD or plasma? For 720p or 1080p? For 60Hz or 600Hz? And how do you know when more is not necessarily better? Oh, and I’ve got an even more serious one for you – what’s the best technology your money can buy right now – OLED, LED or LED-backlit TVs?
HDTV’s have been around for quite some time now – so much that they’ve successfully replaced the older CRT variety on floor stands quite successfully. Unfortunately, few of their ground-breaking features actually make sense to the general public. I myself have been involved in advising numerous HDTV buys so I know that personally. That’s the reason why a good primer on HDTV technologies and features such as the one below didn’t escape my attention. Read more »
The official Sony Ericsson product blog has put up a live demo video of their customary Timescape UI running on the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10. We already have a hands-on preview of the smartphone, but it’s nice to see Sony Ericsson staff do the talking.
When things come slightly smaller, our test subjects start feeling good… Really, really good – the Nokia Human Research Department concludes in one of their latest test researches.
This post is not about reporting about any serious scientific proof of anything. The Nokia Human Research Department is about good old fun and we hope you enjoy those “mini” sized bites. The reactions of the innocent by-standers certainly call for a laugh or two as well.
If you haven’t got it yet – here are two viral video ads of Nokia N97 mini that you most probably won’t see on TV.
Perhaps you’d be happy to hear that we have a little treat for you ready to be published tomorrow. After the successful HTC HD2 preview we did last week, we are now ready to push out the full-featured N900, oops… HTC HD2 review tomorrow. Sorry about that lapsus over there, my mind was off to a different thing altogether. Just forget I mentioned N900 up there, alright?
The HTC HD2 next to Apple’s iPhone
So anyway, I thought you guys (our avid blog readers) deserve a little taster of what’s coming, so here you go. Oblige yourself with a new HTC HD2 UI video. It will be up here at the blog exclusively – it’s the little things that count. We’re really impressed by how snappy this thing is. Check out the clip after the break and stay tuned for our full featured review tomorrow evening (CET).
“Ladies and gentlemen, you’re not in Kansas anymore, you’re on Pandora…”
The Avatar movie promises action packed combination of real actors and CGI and the new movie trailer is definitely worth a look.
James Cameron’s Avatar is the director’s first movie after Titanic. Yeah, it’s been some time, I know. The story behind the movie is simple – humans have found a distant planet, source of some precious minerals and there is an indigenous tribe of blue humanoid creatures that stands in the way of harvesting the minerals. Read more »
Today HTC launched their brand redesign choosing “Quietly Brilliant” as a slogan in favor of their old “HTC Innovation”. The new HTC brand identity is more easy-going with light-colored backgrounds and handwritten fonts. The thing that I enjoy the most is that their once pitch-black film-noir website color scheme is redesigned as well with a more lively feel in mind. I would have liked it even better if they went for something more colorful instead of simply switching from black to white overnight, but I’ll take it as it is.
HTC will use the new “Quietly Brilliant” brand message as a part of their world-wide advertising campaign that puts “YOU” (the user) in the center of the advertising message. The slogan in all marketing materials will be something along the lines of “You don’t need to get a phone. You need a phone that gets you.” Read more »
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