Google Nexus S review

Look:
Technology:
Performance:
Value for money:

Good: android 2.3 performance, super AMOLED screen, Pure Android, Good screen size, number of usability updates
Bad: No micro-SD card slot, low quality video camera, no HSPA, no HDMI/DLNA
Recommend: Yes

Googles Nexus S has already created much hype in the market just like other products of Google which are the talk of the town as soon as their announcement is made. Manufactured by Samsung, Nexus S has continued the legacy of Google for developing pure Android phones. As the market is already saturated with Android phones with even the manufacturer Samsung having developed a series of Android phones it really becomes difficult nowadays to review and differentiate these Android phones. But we can still say that Nexus S is definitely a different phone in many ways. Being a Pure Android mobile it is a blessing for developers and looks like Google intended it so rather than making a mainstream focus OS. Nexus S does not need to shout out loud about its power, the power shouts out itself, the phone is powered by a 1 GHz Hummingbird CPU, a 4 inch, 800-480 curved super AMOLED display, 512 MB of RAM, 16 GB storage, dual cameras- at the back of 5 Megapixel and at the front a VGA camera. But the bigger attraction than the hardware is the latest Android Operating system, Android 2.3 or the Gingerbread. This new android has some updated UI features.

Hardware of Google Nexus S

The design is quite inspired by Samsung Galaxy S. The frame is curved and sits nicely in the hand.If you see the front screen and glass properly you would notice a small concave curve which is given to give a natural and nice feeling when touching the mobile to your face.There is a small chin sprouting at the lower half which is given so as the handset adjusts properly in your hand.

Like all the Android phones except Motorola Charm is display is all screen except for the earpiece space.A closer look at the screen reveals the light and proximity sensor along with the VGA camera. On the bottom of the phone is the headset socket & the micro-USB port, on the left side is the volume rocker and on the right is the power button.Though it was unnecessary but looks like the developers have gone out of the way trying to make Nexus S sleek and different from other android mobiles even if they had to shift the ports away from its common position. Nexus S has been filled with different techs and their supports.Inspite of having  a small frame (2.48 inches by 4.87 inches and 0.42 inches thick)the handset is no small performance due to its 1 GHz Hummingbird processor. During general use we found the speed extremely fast and the Neocore benchmark has been clocked at 55.6fps.The 16 GB internal memory is enough for most users and being a flash memory in a latest Android phone the space usage is properly optimized but some would have definitely preferred a expandable memory option.

As the pictures tell you the Super AMOLED touchscreen looks nice though a bit of yellow. The resolution of he screen is 800x480 (235 ppi). There is also a digital compasss and gyroscope in it in addition to the regular high end Android phones of accelerometer, Wi-Fi, radio etc. What Samsung forgot is the blip system notification for a new email.

The display is mostly good with a few defects reported in th panel when introduced against certain colors specially solid gray colors. This problem might no be common and is maybe limited to some handsets only.

The NFC is write protected and thus you will only be able to read on smart-enable objects.

Audio of Google Nexus S

The audio is one of the best in the mobile phones we have reviewed. Music experience of the speaker is loud and clear and the sound quality and loudness on the earphone is unmatched. The sound is not only loud it is crystal clear so as that it will carry far even in noise. The call quality and network coverage we found were descent. On US networks the download speed can vary upto 2Mbps.

Camera of Google Nexus S

The photo quality was not as we expected. The camera is definitely not high quality with washed out and grainy images when the background was well lit. May be it is a defect in the ISO settings or possible that white color balance is not properly set.

In fact the images were better when the background was in low light with high detail. This was better than many smartphones we have reviewed.

We definitely didnt expect this but the video quality is not at all good, moreover the is no HD option. the highest quality video i was able to shoot was of 720x480 pixels. This is really a big disappointment.

The front camera being VGA I didnt expect much and was neither disappointed. The images were grainy and had extremely low resolution.

Battery Life of Google Nexus S

Nexus S has a 1500mA battery having a good 20 hour of life when used continuously like I did to review it. You can consider it will run more when compared for call time and even much more for standby time backup.

Software of Google Nexus S

Nexus is not making headlines because of its hardware it is the buzz because of its latest operating systemAndroid 2.3 Gingerbread.  Dont think that I mean a total new OS. Androids are upgraded not changed. Not all is changed in this latest Gingerbread Android. Also these changes are background changes which will improve more of your mobiles performance rather than for beautifying it. But there are definitely some notable upgrades and changes worth looking at.

User Interface of Google Nexus S

Google has made some changes for the cleaning up of the Android and has also added some tweaks which are appreciable. The display screen, more specifically the icons, windows shade and some other applications have been given a more mature and sophisticated look. The shades are now mostly black and grey colored them with a green highlight. Google has worked to improve the user experience as well. If you sync your Gmail account with your Nexus S then the status bar icon will go from green white color to green.

Another update is that when a list is more than one page long then when you will reach the end of the page the screen shows a burst of orange color. The menu has been made quite transparent making it look like glass on the background. You will be able to graphically monitor the processes going on your phone using the task manager and the battery meter is also graphical. Google has also added a menu option just on the task manager may be due to the popularity on third party apps to kill processes. If you are in a hurry it is quite a shortcut method to navigate.

Google has also provided with new live wallpapers but I personally recommend not using these on either your smartphone or even your PC as they eat up on the performance which could had rather fastened up your work.

One of the biggest changes Google has one is on the onscreen QWERTY keyboard, adding number of new functionalities like word suggestion, selection, copy and paste. Also, late then never, the company by use of a new threading technology has finally added the functionality for multi-touch behavior. This functionality will allow you to complete a word and slide your finger to the spacebar.  Maybe Google developers forgot one thing that after adding a symbol most people usually return to the ABC option so they should have automatically set this functionality which is present in other Operating Systems but here it just maybe slipped out of their minds! You would have to toggle to get back to the QWERTY again.

Nowadays all companies have made improvement in word suggestion during typing then how can we expect Google to remain behind? There are some good improvements in word suggestions including new markers to select from the various text options. But it still has a long way to go. Moreover the text selection option varies at different places. Like in the browser you have t first press for long to bring up the anchor, then drag to select and click in the middle to copy but when you want to edit text you need to first long press, then wait till the contextual menu pops up and then you have to click on select word. If you try to select in the messages then only the whole text will be selected and in Google reader it is worse, you just cant select!! If you thought the worse was over then wait, I am coming to it. In your email for selecting a text here is the process:-

• click the menu key,


• select "more,"


• select "select text,"


• finally drag a small cursor to select text

I have no doubt about the power of the new OS, it is just amazing but the finishing just need a bit better finishing.

New Apps for Google Nexus S

Not much has been added in this category but there are a few worth noting.
Tags which is a NFC app records all the links that you have collected at a single place. Just like email in Gmail you decide to whether to star it or delete it.
Another one is Download which collects the info about anything you have downloaded from the browser at a single place so that you can see it source, time or some other information later if you want. It is just similar to a download manager without the ability to download but with the ability to keep the info about all the download through the browser.

Under the Hood

As previously mentioned the most improvements in Android 2.3 or Gingerbread in not on the display but in the background.

First of all there is a integrated support for VoIP/SIP calling provided by Google through which you can access your favorite service directly from the native menus.  Though less people use it but there are those who will be impressed.

But what excites me the most is that it looks like Google has worked to make Gingerbread a full power gaming gadget. It has improved the OS with some new APIs and development tools which improve the support native code and it will ultimately lead to higher level games.

Sharp LC-46LE700UN Complete Review

Look:
Technology:
Performance:
Value for money:

Good: Low price for a LCD with LED backlit display, excellent energy saving capability, live help, internet access, good built in support, wide range of useful widgets
Bad: black level not deep enough, inaccurate grayscale, ambient color reflecting glossy screen
Recommend: Yes

Sharp has released a completely eco-friendly television which is extremely energy efficient without compromising on picture quality and even keeping the price affordable. The LCD also tells how much energy is being saved with time. The screen is LCD with LED backlighting. Video processing can separate antiblur and dejudder functions. LC-46LE700UN can be connected to internet which gives access to a number of exciting widgets from Aquos Net and can also be used to connect directly to live help. Other connectivity option are 4 HDMI ports, two component jacks, a RV cable input, an RS-232 connection, a USB port, and Ethernet cable.

The picture quality what the basic LCDs introduced, the screen is quite glossy which reflects ambient light, back levels are not deep enough and the grey scale too is not accurate.
The remote control for this LCD is almost the same as of previous versions of Sharp’s LCD. You can connect your USB and upload your images to Picassa from your LCD itself. Overall the LCD is good and and satisfying for most parts (especially the reflection from the glossed screen) and inspite that it still can’t be termed as a path breaking technology the LCD is good and available at a affordable price.

Nokia E5 Technical Review

Look:
Technology:
Performance:
Value for money:

Good: Nice design, low price, good battery life and nice QWERTY keypad
Bad: Equipped with quite basic functionalities, old interface of S60, no autofocus in camera, no support for video calling
Recommend: No

Nokia has definitely decided to make its E-series a worth to remember series just like the N series now is. The newly released E5 series has as good and advanced features as E63, E71 or E72. E5 was launched in August 2010 after being announced in April 2010.

Powered on Symbian 9.3 OS it is available in 5 colors: Carbon Black, Chalk White, Sky Blue, Copper Brown, and Silver Grey.

The design of E5 completely resembles a E-series mobile with the same build and a stylish plastic with a fingerprint resistant body. The display is of 2.36 inches and has a QWERTY keypad below it. Above the screen is a small ambient light sensor and built-in ear mic. On the metallic plate between the display and QWERTY keypad is a set of six keys with a big D pad in the middle.

The QWERTY keypad is similar to E63 with the space button acting as a LED flash or torchlight. The QWERTY keypad is fun type on for messaging or even during online surfing. The left side and the bottom is clear of any ports, the right side has the volume button and there are three ports on the top from left to right: charging port, 3.5mm jack audio port, and microUSB port.

Camera is of 5 MP surrounded with a thin metallic cover, on the left camera module is the LED flash and on the right a small speaker. The slot for micro-SD card is located beneath the battery. There is no dedicated camera button and the volume key on the right is a bit hard.

Screen display of Nokia E5 supports 262K colors and 320x240-pixels resolution. The picture quality is appreciable though the camera lacks auto-focus. The maximum resolution of E5s camera for images is 2592 x 1944 pixels and for video clips it is 320x240 pixels (QVGA@15fps). Video clips are stored in mp4 format. All in all the camera is average compared to other mobiles in the market even from Nokias other mobiles.

E5 lacks any preloaded games but supports Java MIDP 2.0 applications so you can install games. For mobile gaming and multimedia experience E5 supports the latest version of Adobes Flash Lite 3.0 that enables the accelerated development and delivery of rich graphical mobile content in addition to streaming capabilities and audio playback.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Complete Review

Look:
Technology:
Performance:
Value for money:

Good: 8 MP camera, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 4 inch screen, Timescape
Bad: Virtual keyboard dosnt work during messaging, some faults in Timescape application, uneven data perfromance
Recommend: Yes

Long after being announced in November 2009 and now finally releasing, much is being expected from Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10. Powered by Android 1.6 Xperia X10 is really a pure beauty both outside and inside with its superb specs. The large display of Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 might just be too large for some people but it is still impressive. The user interface is simple except maybe in the Timescape feature and the multimedia quite rich in options. Some of its highlighting or I would say monstrous features are its 8 MP camera, 1GHz Snapdragon processor and the 4 inch screen of Sony Ericsson Xperia X10. Adding of Timescape and Mediascape for personalization are also two inpressive features

Design and Display of Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

The display is definitely too large to my liking.but if you prefer touchscreen you might like it. It is bit larger than iPhone at 4.7 inches long by 2.5 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep so if you had no problem with iPhone then you have nothing to complain about this too. The weight of 4.8 ounces is not as heavy as you might expect due to its size. Like most high end Sony Ericsson mobiles the ace of this handset is curved so as to match the natural curve of a human hand, it might feel good n hand but will wobble if you try to use the touch screen while keeping it on a flat surface.
The large size has its advantages too. The display is amazing with excellent resolution of 854x480 pixels and supporting 65,536 colors. You would definitely enjoy watching videos and images on its screen. The touchscreen is quite responsive both while scrolling as well as while clicking. The display is clear in direct sunlight too.
For personalization there are three customizable home screens but being a Android your options are quite limited to backlight time, wallpaper and brightness. The front is of highly glossy plastic which makes it highly susceptible to smudges from fingers or any other oily object. The display has a accelerometer but proximity sensor is absent.
Below the screen are the Home button, back button and menu control button. On the left side are the volume rocker control and the camera shutter button. On the top is a 3.5 mm audio jack, the power button and the micro USB port for both charging and syncing purpose. The memory card slot is behind the battery place.

Virtual Keyboard of Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

The virtual keyboard of X10 has all the standard features of the Android but also has some added unique features. In landscape view, due to the big screen size you get enough room for the keyboard to work on. The keyboard consists of three rows with the first two containing all the alphabets and the third one having all the numbers and the punctuations. One speciality of keyboard that really impressed me is the pop up keyboard above the alphabetic row which contains smileys and some less used symbols which are absent on normal keyboards.
X10s autocomplete and dictionary is has been made more user friendly. The autocomplete feature not only provides one option while writing but gives you multiple options to choose from. Moreover you need not enter new words to the dictionary because if you use them during writing they will be automatically added.
But not all is goody-goody here. The landscape view is not available during message writing. You would have to use the good-ol-portrait keyboard and add to the disadvantage of not having the autocorrect feature during messaging.

UXP Interface of Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

The OS is Android 1.6 which now is a bit old as compared to the Android 2.1 of Nexus One and HTC’s imminent Legend and Desire. That is a disadvantage of announcing the launch so soon before its actual launch but even then it is no reason why the company could not have provided a updated OS.
May be the reason is Sony Ericssons User Experience Platform (UXP) which the company is bringing out the first time in market. Formerly known as Rachel, it sits above the Android OS and the company has crossed it to X10 mini and X10 mini pro too. Though many would question the addition of Rachel over a Android but still it has its own advantages.
UXP syncs your messages, contacts and alerts into Timescape. You can change the skin of the Android with UXPs own typography and color backgrounds. There is also a different font for UXP called Soma. The changes will be visible in music player, phone dialer and the calculator. You can access the menu from a thin bar at the bottom of the screen which is not standard in a Android.
Dont consider the UXP totally different from Android. Most of the appearance and functionality of the Android remains the same.
If you decide to update the Andoroid you can say good bye to UXP. And ultimately Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is updated to Android 2.1 Enclair.

Timescape of Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

As mentioned before the main importance and usefulness of UXP is Timescape of Sony Ericsson Xperia X10. After you set up your email accounts and your social networking accounts it will display the alerts in a flowing design (including sms, email and updates from friends) like a deck of cards.You also have the default setting that all of your updates will be visible on your home screen though you can change this setting.

Timescape of Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 it a pretty useful feature. Tapping on a card of these updates will show you the message with the full source i.e. the website and also the image of the contact.You can also see all the history communications you had with the contact by clicking on a infinity button shown in the upper right corner. You can set your status or post a tweet from just here by a touch control at the bottom of the screen.

Camera of Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

Whatever might be said about the features of Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mobiles but one thing is clear that there is very less competition against its camera mobiles. It has a mind blowing 8 Mega Pixel camera with professional features like digital stabilization, GPS tagging, auto-focus and a clear 16x zoom. Also are smile detection and face recognition on Sony Ericsson Xperia X10. The shutter is automatically triggered as soon as the subject cracks a grin. As for the face recognition feature after a bit of tweaking it works fine. Once you link a photo with a contact the face recognition system automatically looks for that face in your other photos and tags five such i.e. four more photos along with the tab mentioning their contact record.
As compare to general Android mobiles the photos from X10 have much more detail, color and depth in them. There is a LED beside the camera but it is not a flash rather it is just a photo light. In fact it is better if you are trying to take photo in low light because you can avoid the image blindness the flash sometimes creates. The big screen is also a advantage as it helps you getting a more accurate frame.

Nokia C5 hands-on review

Look:
Technology:
Performance:
Value for money:

Good: Sound quality, high performance processor, access to Ovi maps, easy interface
Bad: Absent Wi-FI, small display, just 15 fps video recording, bad visibility in sunlight, lacks accelerometer
Recommend: Yes


Nokia C5 is another mobile handset of the C series equipped with the Symbian S60 3rd edition operating system. The look of C5 is quite decent and is equipped with most of the latest features excluding Wi-Fi.

Design of Nokia C5

The looks of Nokia C5 are moderately attractive with quite simple looks but a good build body. The body has been assembled with a number of metal parts. Measuring 112mm tall, 46mm wide and 12.3mm thick and weighing 89 grams the body is quite balanced.
The display of Nokia C5 is 2.2 inches wide with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels having support for 16 million colors. Image quality is not good and the screen is not clearly visible in sunlight but considering the low price some cons are to be expected.
Though not a QWERTY keypad but the alpha numeric keypad is of good quality with properly spaced and satisfactorily responsive.
On the top of the handset are a 3.5mm audio jack, a micro-USB port and charging jack. The right side contains the micro-USB card slot and the volume rocker control. The battery cover is metal and can be easily removed.

Interface of Nokia C5

Operating system of Nokia C5 is Symbian S60 3rd edition. It is almost entirely same as of Nokia Express Musics OS. The phone book has been synced with your social networking sites- Facebook and Twitter, updates from your friends will automatically appear on the home screen along with the particular contact. You can select your favorite contacts and then customize it so that you can view their updates with just a click from the home screen.

Connectivity and Internet on Nokia C5

Data transfer can be done through the Bluetooth or USB and the Bluetooth headset can be connected for wireless audio transfer. Web browsing is enabled though facility of Wi-Fi is not available. The speed of the internet is enhanced with Edge.
You can set up multiple email accounts and can also switch between them. Support is available for various email services like Yahoo, Google, Hotmail, Ovi Mail and other email services.
Social networking has been fully integrated with sites like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Myspace and Hi5. Instant messaging support for GTalk, Yahoo and Windows messenger is available.
Nokia C5s web browser supports full HTML as well as Flash lite v3.1.

Camera of Nokia C5

Camera of Nokia C5 is equipped with a 3.2 MP camera with auto-focus and flash. The interface of C5 is richly equipped with 4x zoom, photo editor, video editor, panorama mode, manual exposure settings, color tones, white balance and red eye removal.
The image quality is good, bright and crisp though the video quality is moderate. Flash is not strong enough to take good pictures in the dark.
Memory of the phone is 50MB and external can be extended up to 16 GB.

Multimedia Features of Nokia C5

The interface of the media player is user friendly and simple supporting most of the popular formats of audio and video. A equalizer is built in to boost the sound quality. The sound quality in the earphones and the speaker is good. There is also a FM radio built in with RDS feature. Songs can be listened and downloaded from Nokia music.

GPS

Nokia C5 supports A-GPS which can locate your present position within seconds. Moreover this facility is available for free through Ovi Maps for lifetime of your Nokia C5 handset.

Performance and Conclusion

Powered by a 600MHz processor and 128MB RAM, Nokia C5 runs smoothly without any break. The call quality of this smartphone is clear.
The battery is 1050mAh Li-ion with back up excellent for a phone of this price range and category.

Nokia C6 hand on review

Look:
Technology:
Performance:
Value for money:

Good: Stylish looks, attractive and quality display, nice widgets for home screen
Bad: Bad video recording capability, poor battery life, occasionally laggy OS with reports of hanging up
Recommend: No
Nokia C6 is a touchscreen phone with a slider QWERTY keypad which is sure to be liked by heavy texters around the world. Nokia has tried to include all latest features in Nokia C6 like a 5 MP camera, bluetooth, 3G, Wi-Fi, resistive touchscreen and a good battery. Overall the mobile is an all rouder at an affordable price.

Design of Nokia C6

According to the claim by the Finnish company, the body of Nokia C6 has been built from a "high quality material" as in N97. The looks are also quite similar to Nokia N97 mini and Express music. The front of the mobile has been given a special attention but has quite a weight to the set. The total weight of the mobile is about 150gms which is quite heavy on hands as compared to other sets. It is available in White and Black colors.
The resistive touchscreen is quite impressive with satisfying clarity in sunlight and a bright crisp look. It has a number of sensors which are light ambient sensor,automatic UI rotate and proximity sensor for autolock.
Below the screen are three buttons: the call, menu button and end buttons, on the top of screen is a VGA camera, micro USB ports and 3.5mm audio jack are on top of the mobile. On the right are a camera shutter key, a phone Lock/Unlock button and a volume rocker.
Texting is quite fun on C6 with the full physical QWERTY keypad, QWERTY keyboard in landscape and alphanumeric keyboard in portrait mode.

Multimedia Features of Nokia C6

The media player is decent with support for popular audio and video formats. As always you can download a number of songs from Ovi Store and its also suggests music based on your previous preferences. FM radio is also integrated with RDS feature. The sound quality too is excellent.
C6 has an internal memory of 20 MB and external can be extended up to 16 GB.

Connectivity and Internet Options on Nokia C6

Connectivity features are more than one can ask for at this price range. Listen to audio stream directly to your bluetooth headset, transfer files through Bluetooth with A2DP and USB v2.0. Access points for internet are 3G (HSDPA, HSUPA), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, and GPRS. Moreover the speed is enhanced with EDGE.
The web browser of C6 is quite impressive with support for full HTML, WAP 2.0, RSS feeder and Flash lite v3.1.
Nokia has tried to completely integrate it for social networking with launch icons for Facebook, Myspace and Hi5. Mail accounts of Gmail, Yahoo and others can easily be managed.

GPS & Applications on Nokia C6

Nokia as we all know offers free lifetime subscription to its Ovi Map application for all its Nokia customers with a pre-installed shortcut to the application. The C6 has built in GPS receiver and A-GPS receivers. You can also load Nokia maps through PC. You can easily find your position on the maps within a minute due to its A-GPS. Other features include speaker phone, unit & currency Converter, Calculator, Note pad, To-do list, text, multimedia messaging, a timer and a world clock.
You can easily and for free personalize your C6 with wallpapers, ringtones, themes, message alerts and screen savers from Ovi Store. Back up your contacts on Ovi contacts and play new games on your mobile from Ovi for free. Other PC apps are Lotus Organizer, Lotus Notes, Microsoft Express, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft word & PowerPoint, Microsoft Outlook Express and PDF reader.

Camera of Nokia C6

Nokia C6 camera has been equipped with a 5 MP camera with Autofocus, integrated LED flash, 4x digital zoom, Geotagging images and basic editing options of adjusting white balance,color tone, video light and specifics settings for a scene. The front VGA camera is for video calling. You can also capture videos at 30fps in 16:9 aspect ratio. You can easily upload photos to social networking sites or can even store them online at Ovi Share.
The camera is average with unbalanced brightness and the video quality is basi is not mediocre. Carl Zeiss optical lens is absent.

Performance of Nokia C6

Powered on a 1200mA Li ion battery it has a rated performance of 420 minutes of talk time, 400 hours of standby time and 246 minutes of video playback. As already mentioned the sound quality is good while audio or video play and even during calls on both the mobile and with the speaker.