Showing posts with label Phone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phone. Show all posts

Xperia Z3

Thursday, December 18, 2014
Secret War Journal[10 December 2014]
It has been a little past one year since I had gotten my phone Xperia V. [See here for my thoughts on Xperia V]

I know it has been a short time but it really felt that a lot of time had passed by. In fact, I just gotten a new phone today. (Wow)

Introducing the latest Sony Flagship phone: Xperia Z3.

Specifications

Copper Bronze Version
Weight
152 grams

Dimensions
146 x 72 x 7.3 mm

Battery
3100 mAh
Talk time: up to 16 hours
Standby time: up to 920 hours
Music listening time: up to 130 hours
Video playback time: up to 10 hours

Display
5.2" Full HD (1920x1080 pixels)

On the inside
Google Android 4.4 (Kitkat)
Snapdragon 2.5 GHz Qualcomm Quad-core

Camera
20.7 MP camera with auto focus
2.2 MP front-facing camera
ISO 12800

Durability
Waterproof and dust tight (IP65 and IP68)

Initial Thoughts

The thought process to getting this phone this holidays was really quite nerve-wrecking. Xperia Z3 was released just last month, November. As such, one would imagine the price to be quite hefty. Of course, it is not as expensive as the new Samsung Galaxy Note (I am a bit surprised by that.)

The price tag did make me reconsider if I should get this phone at a later time. However, for some reasons or another, I decided to spend a bit more this time to get it.

The overall monthly mobile subscription is lower, for which I am glad. I may not be getting another phone for the next 2 years if my plan succeeds.

Review

Battery Life
I believe one of the most important features of modern smartphones are its battery life. Initial test with full brightness allowed the phone to last slightly over 24 hours. I am planning to continue to use full brightness throughout though it is unlikely that it will last the whole day if I start to play the more graphically intensive games.

tl;dr: Definitely will last >1 day for casual use

Camera
With a 20.7 MP back camera, few phones can compete with this power house. Using the camera gave very sharp and clear images. The numerous different camera modes available in the Sony arsenal helps to differentiate itself from other smartphones. This allows for a variety of entertainment to you and your friends when taking pictures together or of things.

(One funny thing that happened to me but worth mentioning was the fact that I actually forgot to remove the plastic wrapper covering the back cover, including the rear camera. As a result, the initial images I took were very grainy and poor in quality. I was very shocked then, not aware of my mistake, and I was almost convinced that the phone was defective since the showcase model camera took very clear images. Just as I was about to give up, I realised my mistake. Imagine my relief. Hahas.)

However, the front camera leaves much to be desired. While it is an improvement from previous models, a 2.2 MP front camera is not very useful for taking selfies. Compared to their Samsung Galaxy counterparts, for selfie lovers, it would be better if you consider an Iphone or Samsung Galaxy S5 instead. The pictures taken from the front camera were not as clear, obviously, and are kind of grainy and blurred. It responds poorly in poor lighting as well.

In conclusion, it is a phone that is best for taking pictures of beautiful moments and group pictures. It is not as ideal for taking selfie though it can get by with that reasonably.

tl;dr: Good rear camera, bad for selfie due to front camera's low MP.

Weight
Weight is less of an issue nowadays as all the phones are of similar weight. If you must, this phone is very light, weighing only around 100g. For first time users who are never owned phones of similar weight, it will take some time to accustomise yourself to remember that you are actually holding an phone due to its light weight.

Extras
Unique to Sony Xperia series, though less not with the newer phones from other manufacturers, the phone is waterproof and dustproof. This is useful in the event water seeps into your phone and your prized possession malfunctions as a result.

I had a friend whose phone's motherboard was toast when sweat entered the phone (incredible but it happens). This is why it is better to invest in a phone which is waterproof to prevent such things from happening. (Waterproof does not protect the phone from sweat but the design to allow the phone to be waterproof would prevent sweat from seeping into the phone's inner working. Hence, it is protected.)

With that, I hope I gave you some pointers to consider what phone to get this Christmas. Sony Xperia series may not be the first choice among consumers but it is one of the good phones out there. If you must, I would recommend to only consider between Iphone, Samsung Galaxy series, and Sony Xperia series. See ya!

Xperia V

Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Secret War Journal[7 March 2013]
It has been a year since I changed to HTC Wildfire S (I just realised I did not post about this. I am so sorry about this.). Granted, it was a little premature to change a smartphone just a year after you changed phone (it can be really costly). In my defence, I needed to upgrade my mobile plan to include mobile data. I survived without mobile data for so long, so why the urgent need to acquire it? As it turns out, there is no wifi in my workplace (the horror! Hahas!) and I require the use of internet to utilise the application known as 'whatsapp'. My colleagues (and boss) uses whatsapp to disseminate information because of the useful chat function that legacy SMS seems to be lacking in. (Now you know how to kill whatsapp. Hahas!)

Since I was going to upgrade my mobile plan, I could get a new phone as well. However, since the original plan was to replace my phone next year, it was not within my budget to get a high-end phone. It did not make much sense to bring a high-end phone to my workplace anyways, until I am sure that there are no more thief cases in the compound (which is almost impossible to conclude, by the way). As a result, I chose a mid-range smartphone. In doing so, it is unlikely that I would be getting a high-end phone any time soon (judging by the amount of time required to allocate a sufficient amount of cash for it).

Specifications
Xperia V

General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100
4G Network LTE 800 / 850 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600
SIM Micro-SIM
Announced 2012, August
Status Available. Released 2012, December

Body Dimensions 129 x 65 x 10.7 mm (5.08 x 2.56 x 0.42 in)
Weight 120 g (4.23 oz)
- IP57 certified - dust and water resistant
- Water proof up to 1 meter and 30 minutes

Display Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.3 inches (~342 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes, up to 10 fingers
Protection Scratch-resistant glass
- Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine 2
- Timescape UI

Sound Alert types Vibration; MP3 ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes

Memory Card slot microSD, up to 32 GB
Internal 8 GB, 1 GB RAM

Data GPRS Yes
EDGE Up to 237 kbps
Speed HSPA+ (DL 42 Mbps/ UL 5.8 Mbps); LTE Cat3, (DL 100 Mbps/ UL 50 Mbps)
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth Yes, v4.0 with A2DP
NFC Yes
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0 (MHL)

Camera Primary 13 MP, 4128x3096 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Features Geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, 3D sweep panorama, image stabilization
Video Yes, 1080p@30fps, video stabilization
Secondary Yes, VGA

Features OS Android OS, v4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), upgradable to v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean)
Chipset Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon
CPU Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait
GPU Adreno 225
Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email
Browser HTML5
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
Colors Black, White, Pink
- TV-out (via MHL A/V link)
- SNS integration
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV player
- MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV player
- Document viewer
- Photo viewer/editor
- Voice memo/dial
- Predictive text input

Battery Li-Ion 1750 mAh battery
Stand-by Up to 300 h (2G) / Up to 400 h (3G)
Talk time Up to 7 h (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G)
Music play Up to 18 h

Misc SAR US
0.86 W/kg (head)     0.73 W/kg (body)    
SAR EU
0.95 W/kg (head)    

Tests Display
Contrast ratio: 1.792:1 (sunlight)
Loudspeaker
Voice 65dB / Noise 61dB / Ring 66dB
Audio quality
Noise -81.6dB / Crosstalk -81.9dB

Disclaimer. We can not guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.

First Impression
It was a last minute decision to change the back cover colour from white to black and despite what others may say about it, I did not regret it. The white back gave too great a contrast to the black front, making it look a bit too attention-seeking.
The overall design is sleek. I like how Sony refrained from making the phone looking too rigid. The round corners helped prevent the phone from appearing too squarish.

Performance-wise, the dual-core processor works like a charm on the Xperia V. Tasks are completed promptly and there is minimal waiting time for applications to load. The touchscreen is sufficiently sensitive, I do not have difficulty using the touchscreen.

The phone is also very light, weighing just 120g, sometimes it is hard to remember that you are actually holding something. In addition to that, the size of the phone is akin to a card, the phone is not very thick, measuring 10.7 mm. To me, it gives the phone a very stylish look.

However, the phone is a let-down in battery life. Using the phone, I can almost see the battery level decreasing by the minute. It might be the energy consumption from the usage of LTE network is too high. I would update you guys at a later date if that is the case.

Looking towards the future, I am quite worried about the dust covers for the USB ports and audio jacks. It is the rubber flap design which potentially suffers from wear-and-tear from excessive use. Eventually, it may break or tear off, damaging the overall design of the phone (and possibly it's waterproof feature)
--
In a glance
  • Sleek Design
  • Fast processor
  • Responsive screen
  • Lightweight
  • Thin
  • Poor Battlery Life
  • Waterproof
  • Dustproof

Full Review [17 April 2013]
It has been a month since I got this phone. While some things such as the specifications never change, a longer period of usage should reveal the phone's true nature.

Firstly, I am happy to note that the weak battery life initially observed was due to the fact that the battery stats file was not calibrated yet. (That is a lesson to all who owns an android phone, if you just updated the OS, flashed a new ROM or reset your phone, your battery stats file would need to be re-calibrated.) In addition to that, I realised Xperia's backlight consumes an enormous amount of battery. Reducing the screen's brightness to around 7% greatly improved the battery life. Now, the phone can survive normal usage (Mobile Data LTE, casual internet surfing, messaging) without requiring re-charging for a day. That is a pretty decent for a modern day smartphone.

However, I do wish to highlight that the drawback from using a screen at low brightness setting would be the glare from the sunlight. Unfortunately, Xperia V does not seem to come with a anti-glare screen. Thus, it suffers from glares from the sunlight when a low brightness setting is used, resulting in a drop in visibility of the screen. This can be rectified with a higher brightness in the display setting, at the cost of battery performance, of course. That said, if you have portable chargers handy at all times, feel free to set at a higher brightness setting to take full advantage of Xperia V's vibrant screen.

Secondly, while the Walkman application is good, it seems to drain a fair bit of my battery. This is interesting because, in general, you would associate listening to music as an activity that would not drink up a large portion of the phone's battery. Even though when compared to more CPU-intensive applications, it does not drain that much battery, it uses up battery significantly faster than its counterparts in other phones.

There is one more strange issue with Walkman that I am not yet sure why. With the screen off, it would play a number of songs before stopping. At first thought, you would think that the phone is lagging but once you turn the screen on, it plays the next song. This is kind of strange in that, it does not play songs continuously in the playlist (note that it stops playing the playlist in the middle, not at the last song). It does damage the overall music experience but I must admit it is useful when you listen to songs and sleep.
(Another note: Even though it stops playing, I noticed that it will play the next song after a long pause if you leave the screen off. This is really strange.)
(This is fixed with the recent patch 9.1.A.1.1.40. Hooray! :)

Shopping Spree!

Friday, October 8, 2010
Secret War Journal[June 2010][Long Post]
Hey, some forepost here. June Holidays is almost over. So this is really going to be a long post(hence going to take a really long time to finish this). Perhaps the longest post ever. Maybe not. Hahas! As the title goes, this holiday, I bought lots of things. ^^

Motorola DEXT
MOTOROLA DEXTYep! First up, I got a new phone and yes. Rather shockingly, it's a Motorola. It's been eons since it produced a noteworthy phone and when they started to produce smartphones, I'm such a kind soul to support them. ;)

It's not bad though it's pretty reliant on internet usage since its the phone with 'socialising skills'. Hee!

Full Tech Specs here

Since I got the phone, I've been spamming. Now I wonder would the keyboard there break....Well, I hope not. Hahas!

P.S: First month: 1.4k SMSes. Did I spam too much? Hahas!

Laptop -- Inspiron 14R
I bought it early this holiday so right now I'm not right sure of the technical specs anymore. I mean hell, I'm not even sure if the model name is even correct! Hahas!

Well, it's best suited for surfting the net but I realise it is installed with Microsoft Office 2007. Not only that, it comes with the installation disc. Woots! Maybe I should install on my desktop when the beta for Microsoft Office 2010 ends this October. :)

With this laptop, I don't need an external hard disk for my backups anymore. Hahas! I just need to sync the laptop with my desktop work documents. Woots! Now there is lesser consequences when my desktop dies. ^^

However, this laptop is largely for my step-mum. Hee, I want to get a more heavy duty laptop for my gaming, and to replace my desktop of course (but only when it dies. :)

Karate Kid, 4D Class Outing
Ah, a Class Outing for the June Holidays just completes the Holidays experience. Hahas!

This time, we went to watch a movie called "Karate Kid".  The main character is cast by Will Smith's Son, Jaden Smith. Jackie Chan looks very old in this movie, maybe time has caught up to him? Hmm... but I think is just the movie because his character is supposed to be sort of depressed and introverted, I guess. :O

Overall, the movie was okay, not really nice nor bad. Just okay. I like the part where Jaden Smith goes with Jackie Chan to drink some sacred water before he could begin his training. That part was fun and cool.;)

It's great to meet classmates again. We will complain about how JC life is tough, how we miss each other and of course, arguing whether JC or Poly is more tough. Hahas! But I think slowly, by slowly, everyone is adapting to our new school. :) At least, that's what I believe anyway. Hahas!

This time is a bit special, I think. We met straight away at Plaza Singapura instead of Compass Point. I felt a bit weird going towards there alone to watch a moive. In the past, I don't like to go to Plaza Singapura alone because of the confusing exits from the MRT Station. (They still are confusing, but I'm getting better okay? Hahas!)

So basically, class outing was for us to catch up with each other, as always. Hahas!

Infocomm Graduation Day 2010
No, don't get the wrong idea, I had already graduated from Infocomm Club last year. ;)
This picture above was taken near the venue. ;)

Before I begin, I'm sure you people must be wondering. If you had already graduated, where are you attending this ceremony then? Well, for starters, we love Infocomm Club! Hahas. Secondly, the Club is using our prize money that we won during our service to Infocomm Club. During the ceremony, Mr Goh even showed us a financial report of how the funds were used. Hahas! That made my day. :)
Thirdly, our batch didn't really had a graduation ceremony partly because there so few of us. 

Alright, let us begin. This graduation party was organised by our juniors, Secondary 3. We're having at Mr Goh's house. So cool! (Coincidentally, Ponti's house is nearby. Hahas! She totally freaked out :)

For this party, I brought along Johnston and Lera. Everyone from my batch came; Keller, Qi Xiang, Christopher, Zi Ying, and Jian Zhong all came. Yay!

I really like to thank the organisers for letting us to have such a fun time there. Good job guys and girls! :)

I remember the first game as that we split into groups and we're supposed to go treasure hunting for fragments of a photo puzzle and we're supposed to piece them up.

We, seniors sort of cheated because we have a larger than allowed group size. In our group, all seniors(that's 5, christopher was not here yet), Johnston, Lera, Mr Goh's Children (that's 2). That's a total of 9 people. Mwuhahas!

So naturally, we're one of the winning team, with the help of juniors of course. Mutual Win! :D

We had more bonding games and I'm sure Lera enjoyed her time there as well. Hahas!

Finally, we watched movies and held the graduation ceremony and many other graduating people were surprised (and touched?) followed by buffet for dinner! Wohoo!

Photo Time! ;)
Johnston and I

Johnston and I. We're going to kill this bunny if you don't comply with our demands. ROFL.
*Note: No animal were harmed in the process. XD*
Group Picture!

Group shot! Everyone's in here! Try to find Zi Ying. (No offence! :D)
Qi Xiang, Leroy, Keller

The Epic counter-attack of the Balloon Strike - Another Balloon strike. Hahas!

Not to mention a funny video that Keller has so kindly to help star in this video. Enjoy! ;)



I would also like to thank Johnston and Marcus for their wonderful birthday present. =]

Leroy, John, ZiYing, Qi Xiang, and Keller

I would like to thank Qi Xiang, Keller, and Zi Ling for buying for my Birthday. Really appreciated!

That's the end of this long post. See ya! :)

P.S: Sorry, for this super duper late post! I know it's October now and these were supposed to be post by June. Please understand that I had examinations after my holidays which really robbed of my time to post this. Well, anyway, hope you enjoyed this long post. Hahas!

Cramped Up here.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Secret War Journal[22 September 2009] -- First Post
I'm so sorry for yesterday. I was planning to post something to greet everybody during the public holiday but my eyes prevented me from doing it in the end. I'm so sorry.

My eyes are slightly better now so I hope to make up for the lost time yesterday.
--
P.S:
I'm separating today's post from supposedly-yesterday's post or else it would so long. :o

New phone until after "O"s
Whoop ee! A fully motion-sensed phone! Here's a 3600 of how it looks! :D


This is a phone that was totally alien to me. Woah, first time handling a motion sensed phone without a stylus pen. It's so hard to navigate and I accidentally called for paid services when surfing through my contacts to see which of my contacts were lost during the transition. (My $$ T.T)

It will take some time to get used to.

In addition, the phone don't allow me to type SMS shortcuts such as "ur" and "LOL". Irritating but yeah, I'm using proper english now! ;)


Key Features

  • Dolby Mobile for Music
  • 5 Megapixel Camera with Schneider -Kreuznach-Certified Lens
  • Impressive Screen Resolution
  • Touch Connectivity




Details
Arena 3D View
Get a closer look
5 Megapixel Camera with Schneider -Kreuznach-Certified Lens
Enjoy ultra high-resolution mobile phone pictures and advanced digital camera functions, including image stabilisation and ISO800 for great pictures in low light.
Touch Connectivity
Explore a world of media with the touch of your fingertips, from wi-fi web browsing and advanced camera functions, to GPS navigation and Dolby Mobile.

Fitting for a King
This occasion happened last week, Friday.

Background Information: Refer to post dated [18 September 2009 -- "Self-Treat']

Okay, this happened while we were about to enter KFC for lunch.

Just roughly 3 steps from entering the Fast Food Restaurant, the fire alarm nearby sounded.

*Shocked*

All of us halted, turned our bodies to stare at the red bell which was ringing.
(Did I mention that the sound was deafening?)

Now that's what I call a GRAND ENTRANCE. O.o

The moment we managed to attract numerous stares from people who were in the KFC restaurant, the alarm stopped.

Great, what a great way to attract attention for the wrong reasons.

I can probably guess those people who stared at us figured we were the ones who caused the alarm to ring. (not to mention the fact that we were in school uniform...so humiliating.)

Shock and shame aside, that announcement that we're here is not bad. Makes you feel like loyalty. So fitting for my name. ;)

Now that's what I call life. ;)

Johnston called yesterday. Had a great chat until 11pm. That's when I realise that tomorrow(which is today), I would be a living dead. Turns out to be much worse.

My sore(or blood-shot) eyes made things worse(ouch!). barely could open my eyes wide for more than two seconds before shutting it for a moment of time.

Of course, things turned for a better after the first lesson, after mass napping during reading session and CME lesson(which was the first lesson I had today)

Opps? Sorry teachers! No offence intended! Just too tired!

Lookie at the time! I'm just in time for dinner! Alright mateys! Will post the second half after my dinner!

Until then.

~Over and out.

New Phone!

Monday, August 31, 2009
Secret War Journal[31 August 2009]
Wohoo! I got a new phone at last! The previous one was spoilt. (and had poor functions after mother traded with uncle..:o Hahas)

New Phone Model: SGH-F400

It's a music-player phone. :D
Somehow, I got a feeling this is only a temporary phone...:o But who cares. I shall enjoy it while it last. >=D

Tested the music, not bad quality. :D
Only problem with this phone is that I can't disable Internet. Ahh! Need to be careful or else parents would kill for bursting the phone bills. :p

Quality of Camera should be acceptable. Let your eyes be the judge:
New Phone!!

From Left: Leo, Lera, Leroy
New Phone!

From Left: Leo, Lera, Leroy

P.S: Yes, the background is the kitchen..Hahas...

Erm..wait, uh-oh, where's my contacts?!!!! Oh great....

Update: Someone asked for the picture of the phone so...

I provide a video instead...


And of course, the official walk-through cum Showcase!