Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Cybershot WAR : DSC H-50 vs. DSC HX-1

Now that most of the companies have replaced their Ultra zoom compact cameras, or Bridge cameras, Sony has introduced a new one but didn't replaced the old one.

I 'm asked a lot of times that what the difference between HX1 and H50 apparently they look the same and have the same value of megapixels, but HX-1 is considerably expensive.

Well that what i m here for, I went to "Sony World" and checked out the new HX-1 and then i compared it to my H-50 and now i ll explain all that here and in the end i ll give you my verdict.

First of all lets talk Sensor.

Sensor & Processor:
H-50 has a HAD CCD sensor with BionZ processor and HX-1 has a CMOS sensor with Exmor technology and of course a BionZ processor.
SO whats the deal with CMOS, well CMOS consume less power than the CCD and has better responsiveness too compared to the CCD, Plus CMOS sensors have double the sensitivity of CCD, which means less noise and better low light quality.

Lens and Zoom:
H-50 has a Carl Ziess Lens with 15x optical zoom, whereas HX-1 has a G Lens(Professional lens by Sony) with 20x optical zoom, HX-1's lens is both wider and tele than H-50's.

Performance:
H-50 is not a fast camera in any respect, But the use of Cmos has given sony the opportunity to increase the speed considerably. H-50 takes photos at about 1.4 fps HX-1 blows it away with 10 fps at full resolution. Plus the boot time of HX-1 is considerably less than of H-50.

Focusing:
Both cameras have 9 point auto focus and both performe the same in various conditions, which in my thought is pretty slow.

Movie Mode:
H-50 can record video in VGA(640x480) @ 30fps or @ 15fps whereas HX-1 has a monumental victory in this sector over H-50 by offering HD. HX-1 records at 1440x1080@30fps and also at 1280x720@30fps or the VGA mode as well. Not just the video that's been improved, the sound is not captured stereo unlike the H-50's mono and the mics are placed on the head to cover the whole surrounding rather than H-50 single mic on the left shoulder.

iAuto:
Intelligent Automode in the HX-1 can determine the automatic settings for the Auto mode much faster and much more accurate when compared to the H-50 so it's a heaven for the newbies and novice, by being a lot more forgiving than the simple AUTO in the H-50.

Misc.
HX-1 incorporates nearly all the features of H-50 and Raise them to a New level. The head line is the sweep panoramic mode which allows you to just sweep your camera accross 224 degrees and then it interlaces then into a 224degree panoramic photo. Then there is the blink assist and lots more.

Verdict:
At the end of the day HX-1 is a better camera but is it worth the money????
The Answer is Yes, Quality of both the video and images is better and the camera responses much faster than H-50 and it's a joy to use the HX-1, I 'd say buy it, Its worth the extra cash.

If you have a question, leave it in the comments or email me:
mahamza86@hotmail.com

Monday, June 29, 2009

Samsung Star Review

This is the review for my Samsung Star or Tocco or GT-S5233



I have used this phone for a month now and here is what i would like to say about it.

PROS

Pretty good phone for its price
One of the best touch screen operation
The smallest, lightest and most usable Touch screen device i have ever seen.
Easy to manage OS

CONS

Unusable Screen in Direct Sun Light
It doesn't allow you to set your own message alert
Loudspeaker quality is OK but not loud enough
NO 3.5mm jack only the proprietary port with rubbish headsets
T9 word selection is rubbish at best

If you have time to spear than lets look at some of the details.

Details
I was browsing through mobile phone at my friend's mobile shop and i suddenly spotted this phone, the package was open but the phone was brand new(Some guy returned it after 4 days claiming its too fragile for him) When i asked the price I was amazed to know its price and i decided to buy this phone because I love Touch Screen Phones, Plus i got 10% discount due to open package, Best deal huh

External Features
First thing i noticed was it looks a bit like OMNIA(optical pointer is replaced by "back" bottun) but its lighter and smaller, making it more usable and practical.
On the front we got 2 bottuns for handling calls and one for going to the previous menu.
One one side volume bottun and a hatch for the port for attaching the accessories and data cable
The otherside we got camera shutter and keyguard bottun
The back of the device is cheap plastic and looks absolute cheap
The screen is surrounded by Chrome steel

Screen

The screen looks amazing indoors however move outside and it seems like there is not screen at all, That's because of the flexible plastic screen instead of glass one which are useless in sunlight.
However the screen is easily big enough to be very user friendly and high res to deliver sharp graphics and the touch operations are very good for this price range.

Home Screens & Widgets
OK its a Samsung so expect Touch and Drag operation accompanied by Widgets.
First thing first what the heck are widgets?
Widgets are small icons that represent a software and they can turned into usable buttons when dragged onto the screen and some of them provide some control without going to the whole program, like Music Player and FM Radio, Cool ain't it,but it takes a lot of space and after a widget or two you are out of space, Don't worry, Samsung gave us 3 home screen which can be accessed by flicking the home screen sideways, so there is plenty of space for all your widgets.
Nice

Menu
The whole Menu is so thumb friendly, offering big icons.

Media Manager
In Menu you see "My Files" thats the file manager for the phone, again this is very thumb and user friendly, all the settings are visible and easy to understand. This mode also takes advantage of Accelerometer or Auto-Rotate function
Tilt the device horizental and it turns the video and images in landscapre mode and if you are to lazy to flick scroll through the images, just tilt the device to either side and the images will slide by, altough this is not as smooth as it sounds

Messaging and Text Input
Biggest problem with any touch screen is the input method, without the physical bottuns its too easy to push the wrong bottuns on screen, Well in case of Portrait mode and using the standard mobile phone keypad(12 bottuns) there is no problem at all, the bottuns are very large and its hard to press the wrong one
However turn the device in Landscape mode and viola it turns into full QWERTY keyboard, not so viola when you use it, the keys are small and extremely easy to hit the wrong one, when you press a bottun it pop-ups but on the right or left side instead of upwards, So you can't really see what you hit, In my opinion this method is extremely useless
When sending a message you can only add 10 contacts ..... Why??? I want to add the whole phonebook .... I should be able to ... right, I mean i can do that in my cheap nokia phones.
C'mon Samsung give us a bit of freedom

Music and Sound
Lets move to the Music player, Press the play bottun and first impression is, This is as loud it can get? The sound is very low, not usable even in slightly noisy situation, OK i 'll put on my head set to listen to the tunes, WTF, why can't they stay in my ears, I have average size ears but these are ment for APES with huge ears, even if you have huge ears the ear pieces are not ergonomic enough to stay there for like 10 mins, TOTAL FAILURE, top of all that, if you cut your ears to set the ear phones, the stuipid mic with call attend bottun is stuck in your collar and there is no way to hold the wire on your shirt, there is no clip, and in the end you show the fingure to Samsung's headset and buy a Samsung to 3.5mm adaptor.
And oh yeah one more thing, the earphone on the handset for listening to calls is also the loudspeaker for playing music and other alerts and of course calls on loudspeaker, Once i pressed the call accept bottun and put it near my ear and the call was not accepted so the tune played right into my ear!

The Organizer is a typical Samsung with a calculator, converter, memos and all that birthday anniversary stuff

The Application section has some cool apps pre installed, like GOOGLE MAPS and a dice game which is useless and some cool games require cash in order to show their party piece(Trial versions)

Camera
Last but not least, the 3.2 Megapixel camera, It has no flash side to it, the picture is under-exposed a lot(Means its darker)
A lot of featues at in the camera section, Smile mode, panoramic, frames, burst shooting and monisac??!!
There are a lot of settings for the white balance
The video shoots at QVGA(320x240) @ 15fps, rubbish.
There is also 3x digital zoom
By reading this section you must have understood that i don't take cameras in mobile phones too seriously, that because i don't, I like to use proper camera.

Thats That for my review of Samsung Star/Tocco
If you guys have any question or require my help, Please leave a comment or e-mail me at
mahamza86@hotmail.com



Thursday, June 18, 2009

Short Review of Sony DCR-SR 47



This is the review for my DCR SR-47, the Standard Definition Camcorder by Sony.
It has
1/8" CCD HAD Sensor
60X Zoom, Carl Ziess Vario Tesser Lens
60GB HDD
Ability to take VGA Photos
This is my impression of this camcorder in video format. IF you like it please follow me and subscribe on my youtube channel

Comparison: Sony HX1 vs Canon SX1S


I am always asked, which is the better camera, Canon SX1S or Sony HX1.
So instead of replying to everyone i decided to post it here.
Here it goes.

-Both sony and canon has same size of Sensor ,nearly(Sony's 1/2.4" vs Canon's 1/2.3"), both sensors are CMOS, but there is a difference, Sony has 9.1 Megapixel and canon has 10.1 Megapixel, That could be a crucial difference, you see the surface of the sensor is of same size, but canon has one million pixels more than sony which means the size of the pixels on sony is bigger than the ones on canon, that is a good thing, that means the pixels are bigger and more sensitive to light, that result in better low light performance and better colour saturation. SO Sony has this won BUT..

-Canon has the ability to shoot RAW pictures, Where as Sony takes only JPEG, that could be a good thing for a keen photographer, you see Jpegs are compressed so they loose a lot of detail, but when you have RAW files you can choose which detail to keep and vise-versa.

-Thirdly is the movie mode, both cameras do 1080p but there is a crucial difference. Aspect Ratio. Sony does 1440x1080p and Canon does 1920x1080p. Which means Canon does widescreen Full HD video and sony does letterbox Full HD video. Both cameras do stereo sound.

-Fourthly Speed. Sony is much faster. Sony can shoot 10fps on full resolution, Canon does 4fps.

-In terms of other features, Sony seems to have Canon Nicked. Sony has Panoramic sweep mode which is amazing, you can sweep the camera 224degree and it would lace all the pictures together automatically, Sony has anti blink function, smile detection,NightShot and many others, where canon has fully articultaed widescreen and.... thats it, Sony has better set of features.

_Both models have 20X zoom and built in pop-up flash, but Canon has Hot shoe for connecting extrnal speed Guns.

My Verdict:

If you are a keen photographer who want something closer to DSLR then go for Canon.
But if you are ordinary user who want more control and fun, then Sony is the best option.

If you have any question leave a comment.
or email me at mahamza86@hotmail.com

Olympus Pen Camera Reborn!


In 1959, Olympus changed the face of photography by pursuing one simple idea: create a camera as easy to use and carry as a pen. Designed by renowned style guru Yoshihisa Maitani, the Olympus Pen triggered a camera boom that would last through the end of the 1970s. Today the legend comes alive again in digital form with the release of the E-P1. This first groundbreaking Olympus Micro Four Thirds model comes at a time when mirrors are no longer a necessary component for digital cameras with interchangeable lenses. Incredibly small size, retro style, and ease of use are a nod to the Pen’s past. However, D-SLR quality and a host of new features place the E-P1 at the leading edge as Olympus innovative technologies reimagine the future. Now everyone can have the best of both worlds: high-end design and D-SLR performance. The E-P1 will be available for purchase in July 2009 at a retail price of £699.99

When he originally designed the first of many Pen cameras, Maitani could not have suspected that he was starting a revolution. Selling over 17 million units, the Pen became one of the most trusted, popular, and successful camera series ever. The removal of the mirror box in the 21st century has brought the legendary series back. Mirror-less construction is the foundation for both the Olympus Pen E-P1’s stunning new design and its remarkably compact size. Everyone will fall in love with the camera’s irresistible retro-look. It is reminiscent of the classic Olympus Pens, which were cherished for their compactness, usability, and affordable price.

Five decades later, the E-P1 promises to honour the memory of its famous forefathers. It hails the beginning of the next generation of the digital era. In addition to all the advantages of Olympus imaging technology, the new ultra-compact hybrid device can even record HD quality movies with sound and stunning creative effects familiar from still photography. In addition to the application of Art Filters, it includes the ability to vary depth of field, angle of view, and autofocus during recording.

The Olympus Pen E-P1 reinvents high-end stylish photography for the new millennium. The new model and its two accompanying Micro Four Thirds lenses will hit stores in July 2009

BMW's Answer to Audi R8?

(from Idries Noah) I grew impatient waiting for BMW to bring out an R8 rival, so I decided to design my own version of it. The recipe was simple. It needed to look Aggressive, Sleek, Agile and totally different from anything on the road today.

Usually I’d study legendary cars and draw inspiration from that. When designing the Ferrari F250 Concept e.g. I drew inspiration from cars like the Dino and 250GTO. This time however I needed
to clear my head and come up with something totally unique while still keeping some BMW details.

So elements like the trademark grille and hockey stick pillar remain. My inspiration for this design however came from nature. More specifically water and the way it flows and ripples. The side
detailing was inspired by what’s called in surfing terms “ a Barrel or Tube”. It’s where the wave is hollow when it breaks.

Dimension wise the car is roughly the same as the R8 and would be powered by a tweaked version of the 5L V10 found in the M6. It should be good for 400kw plus. If this car had to go into production in today’s day and age it would probably lose most of its aggressiveness and bold design features
And that’s sad because imagine pulling up next to an R8 in this….

Istock

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