How about an alternate to the X1 -- the Nokia E71?

Okay, so if you're still looking for a super-cool, full qwerty-keyboarded phone, but are unwilling to part with RM 3,199 of your hard-earned cash, what can you do?

Well, if waiting is an option (I think my M600i can go on indefinitely, actually) then that's the surest way of getting the price down. Give it six months and I'm sure it will be in the comfortable side of 2k.

If waiting is 'not' an option, and you really need /want / itch to upgrade the phone, then how about this...

Presenting the kinda new and not quite hot-off-the-shelf, but still top scoring Nokia E71!

Lets start with what it isn't

• it surely isn't the X1 (duh!)
• it isn't trying to be an iPhone killer
  
• it isn't the loser of a wifi-less, boring and bulky Nokia E60/62 as well!! (I almost bought that, yikes!!)

Okay, before you proceed further, I must stress that this is *not* a touchscreen phone. So if you're looking to touch, poke, stroke and write on a phone, then you can forget about the E71.

If you've made it through the caveats so far... then you're in for the alternate coolness that the E71 can offer! Firstly, lets hear what the critics have to say...

• CNET.UK says the E71 has enough finesse to not look out of place, sitting in an Aston Martin. And gives it a 8.9 (excellent) rating for an almost-perfect phone.

• Allaboutsymbian.com says there's a lot to like about the E71, which it calls a 'miniaturised masterpiece'.
  

• engadgetmobile.com summarises the E71 as as "manages it all with style, providing a plethora of features in a speedy, beautiful and minuscule device"

• Boygeniusreport.com boldly calls it "is the best phone Nokia has made to date"

• Brighthand.com concluded its review calling it "probably the best handset available for prosumers" by taking the iPhone features people want and the BlackBerry functions needed and sticking it into a "package that is well designed"
  

Here are a few shots of the E71 from GSMArena .... if you love the BlackBerry's looks, then you'll find this quite irristable!

Source: GSMArena.com

Source: GSMArena.com

Source: GSMArena.com

And this is what you have inside that slim, 10mm metal-clad body -- Nokia's slimmest phone so far!!

• Quad band, 3.5G (3.6mbps), GPRS (100kbps), Edge (296kbps), Wi-Fi (54mbps) and Bluetooth
  
• 16million colour 320x240 display that still looks clear under sunlight
• GPS receiver with assisted GPS function
• Fullscreen browser, FM radio, instant , Vlan, VIOP
• Stable S60 Symbian OS 9.2 with loads of 3rd party software
• Software included in the package: QuickOffice, Active Notes, Dictionary, PDF reader, Skype.... the list goes on!
  

There is, however, one consistent complaint about the E71 -- its Achilles' heel -- the 3.2m autofocus camera. It seems that Nokia had gone cheapskate with this particular component and put in a mediocre camera -- washed out colours, poor contrast, slow shutter, purple fringing... in short, something not at par with the rest of this phone! So phone snappers... beware this point!

So, with all of the above, wrapped up in a nice, handsome package, and a street price of RM 15xx for 'original' and RM 13xx for grey imports.... one would say this is actually a real bargain!

X1 is finally here!!!

Well, that would have been true if I'd gotten around posting this on Saturday, 22nd November!! (sorry for the delay!!)

In my previous post, I'd mentioned that the early birds (i.e. first 50) stand to get between RM 1500 to RM 250 discounts on the X1.

Officially the launch was from 12noon to 3pm that Saturday in 1 Utama new wing. It turned out the first 5 customers got RM1500 discount.... no gimmick, fooyoh! Next got RM 1000 and it slowly tapered down to if you were among the last 50 then the discount shrank to RM 250.

What I hadn't anticipated was that X1 fans had already started lining up in as early as Friday afternoon!! You'd think you only read about this level of enthusiasm in other countries and when it was about the iPhone or another StarWars sequel. In Malaysia you'd hear about people lining up for home ballots.... but for a handphone??!! wow....

To cut the story short... I missed my chance to be the first 50. Even if I were early enough... I seriously had to then ask if I was willing to part with RM 3,199 for the phone??!? As cool as it is (you should see the one in brushed steel... its to *die* for!!!), can you seriously part with what's effectively a month's or a couple of months' salary for many people, just  for a gizmo to say 'hello!' ? 

Evidently, that's an easy 'YES!' for many purchasers of the X1 on that day. I met an Andy who, like me, missed out being the top fifty... but he went ahead and still bought the phone at full price.... "what to do?" he asked disappointingly!

Economy not doing so good you say? Tell that to the tech fans, my friends.... tell that to the tech friends!!!

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 - launching!!

When the first pictures got out early this year, I told myself this is one cool phone to have in my pocket. The crunch came in the WAIT! This phone, would not be available until end of Q3 08 :(

Here's a quickie on the X1's features.... (in no particular order of 'foo-yoh'-ness)

• Sliding form factor, with a curved, sliding QWERTY keyboard
  
• Runs Windows Mobile 6.1 with its unique Xperia panel interface
  
• Displays all that in the full glory of a crisp, 3 inch, 800 x 480 screen
  
• Uses the really useful optical joystick OR touchscreen for flexible navigation options
• Spots a zippy Qualcomm 7200A CPU running at 528 MHz
  
• Carries an auto-focus 3.2 megapixel camera with flash (LED unfortunately, methinks)
  
• Uses Assisted GPS for rapid positioning even when indoors
• And carries the usual 'must-have' features you've come to expect of a killer gadget like the X1: Bluetooth A2DP (stereo bluetooth headphones), WiFi (of course!), Memory Stick Micro slot (another report claims it is MicroSD???), FM radio, 3G quad-band / HSDPA / HSUPA, Opera browser with RSS reader

If you haven't already seen it, here are some pix of the X1... see if it makes you drool (I'm proud to be a tech geek, ok!).

The good news is... for the lucky folks in UK and some parts of Europe, the wait ends tomorrow, as the official launch for the X1 is 30th Sept 2008! For the rest of us in Asia, Latin America and other parts of Europe, we'll have another agonizing wait until the end of the year before we get out grubby hands on this hottie. Friends in the US, AU... sorry, no news on when this babe phone is coming out.

Oh yeah, the above pix were from Sony's Xperia website. If you want to see more of it, they have a series of videos ala-Jason Bourne, where the hero, Johnny X uses the X1 to figure out his true identity. Check it out at the Who is Johnny X site.

To infinity and back... you'll have to wait a bit more for 'beyond'

Lets just say you have USD 200k to blow on a holiday.
And lets say you can afford only a day for that holiday.
Where would you go and still be the envy (or derision) of the rich and famous/notorious?

Sir Richard Branson has the ready answer for you -- A trip to the outer-reaches of Earth on Virgin Galactic (VG)!

You'd have read them in the news by now, about the unveiling of the 'mother ship' called WhiteKnightTwo that will carry your space ship to a height of 18,000 meters (60,000 feet!). There, it will release the actual spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo, where the spacecraft will then fire up her hybrid rocket engines, and continue the journey -- all the way up to 110km in the thermosphere.

110k is the distance from Port Klang to Seremban -- only this time you'd be travelling vertically, from ground zero, straight up! Oh yeah, you, your 2 pilots and your 5 other travelling companions be zipping at over 3 times the speed of sound (4200km/h)! Now that's adventure with STYLE!

Source: Wikipedia: WhiteKnightTwo, carrying SpaceShipTwo between her twin hulls

And how will your ride look like? The pictures above and below look like something straight out of Japanese sci-fi anime. But hey, this is for real! Both these planes were designed by the uber-genius of an aerospace designer, Burt Rutan, and built by his company, Scaled Composites.

Never heard of him? He was the guy who designed the first ever plane -- the Rutan Voyager -- to successfully fly around the globe non-stop, without refuelling. This is also the same guy who designed the first ever, privately-built spacecraft -- SpaceShipOne -- to make 2 successful trips to sub-orbital space within 2 weeks. He won the US 10m-dollar Ansary X-price for his efforts.

Source Wikipedia: SpaceShipTwo, something straight out of reality!

So how, interested? Sorry friends, you'll have to get in line. VG claims the first 100 seats have already been snapped up -- and paid for in full -- for flights that will be happening in the next 2 years. A further 170 clients have paid a deposit for future flights. Eventually, the price would come down to a much 'cheaper' US 20k per pax.

That's peanuts compared to the US 20 million Dennis Tito reportedly paid to be the first tourist in space. Tito is not alone in this elite club. Since then, four other space tourists have also paid hefty sums to experience life as an astronaut.

To be fair, this comparison is like comparing a ferry ride to holidaying on the QE2. The VG flight will last 2.5 hours, let you experience momentary weighlessness, before making a slow decent back to earth. In contrast, the 'real' space flight will see you zipping at 25,000 kmh, spend a few days in the international space station, and make countless orbits around earth!

Still. Going to space is going to space. And whether it costs 20k or 20 mil, not many will have that kind of bragging rights to say they were up there with the gods!

Is your mobile phone ZAPPING your brain?

DUH! Of course it is! Isn't it obvious already?

That's as far as my opinion is concerned anyway. :)
And I don't think I'm alone with that view.


So far, although many researchers have hinted on the link between the phone radiation and brain tumors, you still don't see a Surgeon General's sticker on the side of your phone do you? That's because its either there really still is no conclusive evidence of the fact, or, that the industry including us users are in a state of denial.

Source: University of Calgary wiki

I vote the latter.

But looks like finally, somebody is saying different now!

The LA times blog discussed yesterday, an Associate Press report that the University of Pittsburgh director of cancer research, Dr. Ronald B. Berberman has finally done what nobody else has dared to do: Publish a warning about the possible risk of cancer from frequent cell phone use.

Its actually a warning published to Berberman's faculty and staff, and not a general public warning. But that is seen as a bold step.... and is based on some initial, unpublished data.

Hope Jean-Luc's personal communicator doesn't give him breast cancer!

What does it mean to all of us?

• Keep it away from children -- you don't want to risk messing up their still-growing young minds

• Use the speaker phone function or hands-free / bluetooth headset

• If you really must talk long, use a land line, please!

Source: Environment, Health and Safety Online

I know what you're thinking. Doesn't the bluetooth hands-free emit radiation as well? Think of it this way:

• The bluetooth set only needs to be powerful enough to reach your phone up to 10m away

• Your phone needs to communicate to the nearest base station from anything between 1.5km to up to 40km away! That's a lot more radiation it will have to put out to reach such a distance

• Its the case of the lesser of the 2 evils anyway

Source: Environment, Health and Safety Online

So what do YOU think? We've lived with the tai-kor-tai for many decades now. For the younger ones, its been there since day one of their lives... and cannot imagine life without it. Is it worth the risk? Can we just junk the phone and return to sending smoke signals? HOW?

Leave me a comment.... would love to hear from you!

The amazing pocket rocket

If anybody were to ask me what they should get, if they needed a good point-and-shoot camera, and didn't mind a little bit more bulk, I would wholeheartedly recommend the Lumix TZ range of cameras.

These guys pack a solid 10x optical zoom in a tidy little, metal-encased package. Its quite a beauty! Don't take my word for it. Here's a pix of the Lumix TZ5... check it out yourself!

Image Source: DP Review.com

And how does the camera perform, you say? Again, don't take my word for it. Check out these pictures yourself. Many thanks to AiHua, the guy behind the lens, who kindly agreed to let me show off some of his lovely pictures. The liveware behind the hardware makes the difference!

Oh and by the way, the first 2 pictures were taken at the Ayer Itam Dam, in Penang, Malaysia. Penang is a really great place to be. Visit it if you haven't been there. Its got a lot of old-time charm. Okay, so perhaps quite a bit of its "Pearl of the Orient" aura has been lost to too many years of neglect and mismanagement... but many of us die-hard Penang supports (yep, I'm one of em!) still hope that she will relive her glory days one day soon!!

This next one was shot at the seaside of Sungai Burung, Selangor, Malaysia.

The next set is a composite, showing the difference you can get by playing with the contrast. The top pix of the pair was shot in the original, plain vanilla mode. The bottom one was shot with a notch or two of extra contrast. Its really cool how much more detail can be surfaced with such a simple step. Its really made wonders out of the otherwise bland pictures you usually end up when shooting through the plane window!

All the above were shot with the TZ2. Stay tuned when I get my hands on some pix taken with the TZ5! Till then, cheers!

My digital eyes (Pt 2)

Hmm... this past week has been really nuts. It didn't really help with me loosing the entire previous article as well. So I thought I'd better skip the yarn and get straight to things...

To recap, I had been happily using my Lumix FX9 for almost 3 years, but was beginning to feel frustrated over the limted optical zoom (3x). So I made up a list of features I was looking for in my next camera. In short, we say in Hokkien as "ai parng-ghee, tuar-tay" - literally, I want it cheap and big (in value).

One of my biggest criteria was that I wanted a big zoom range, but didn't want to have to carry around multiple lenses. So that ruled out the SLRs and anything with less than 10x.

Had I tried to look for something like that a few years earlier, I'd have gone mad with the very limited choices!

Fortunately, this time around, there were at least a few more to choose from. They were, in no particular order:

Olympus SP-560UZ

When the 550 came out, I was actually very excited to go try it. A few shops had them and the price was RM1899 (USD 580) or thereabouts. The 10 minute impression was 'OK'. No 'oh wow' or anything magical. However, upon doing some more research, I started realising what was not right.

Pix Source: Trustedreviews.com

What I liked:

• A slightly bigger wide-angle lens (actually meaningless, if I think more about it) at 27mm
  
• ISO starts from 50 and goes all the way to 6400 (although with reduced resolution)
• Nice package with metalic accents -- looks handsome!
  

Show Stoppers (there are actually many, but I'll stick to the worse 3 for me):

• Crappy lens - Barrel distortion at one end and pincushioning at the other! Throw in chromatic aberation and, hello, why bother then? You'd be better off with a shorter zoom that is clear all the way.

• Contrast detection autofocus - my Minolta S304 had that and it was sheer pain trying to shoot in low-light conditions. Have lost count how many party shots I'd gotten totally out of focus. This guy has the same problem as well.

• AA batteries - RED ALERT RED ALERT! The Cantonese have this saying that goes something like "once you've seen a ghost, don't you think you'd be afraid of the dark from then on?" In theory, using an 'open' battery like AAs frees you up to by spares anywhere, any time, should you run low. In practice, if your propreitary battery is good enough (and they tend to be), why would you even need to 'buy spares'? If they say they wanted to support defacto standards, then why on earth still stay with xD memory??

Other reviews: DP Review; Trusted Review


Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd

When news started surfacing about a Fuji superzoom, I was hopeful that they would make one with its famed SuperCCD chip. That, I had hoped, would address the noise issues better than all those crappy 1/2.5" chips that Panasonic tended to like. Alas, they decided to build it around a conventional CCD instead. Fuji must not be very popular in Malaysia, as I really had a hard time finding them in shops. So no hands-on for me here!

Pix Source: Trustedreviews.com

What I read that I liked:

• Okay, I'll just admit it now. I'm a sucker for black bodies with metallic accents. And this, like the Olympus has it! Sigh... can't say the same for the Panny!
  
• A sligtly larger LCD at 2.7" (vs 2.5" for the other 2)... but this comes with a price... the powe conconsumption! (see show stopper)
• Good flash coverage... strong enough for most cases

Show stoppers (not so much show stoppers, but demotivators):

• Not very popular in Malaysia... not heavily promoted as well.... hard to find! (so how to buy?)
• Feels like a 'me-too' camera (I'm sure fuji was not trying to copy anyone!) with no killer feature to distinguish it from the crowd.
• AA batteries -- that again! It would be something if the camera can really last on AAs (I'll be impressed), but if the buyer is expected to say "oh, they're AAs and the lifetime is terrible, I understand"... then the makers must be nuts!
  

More reviews: DP Review, Cameras.co.uk



Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18

When my friend Trish asked me for my opinion about some cameras her sister was considering, I told her up front, that I'm a Lumix fan! So read below with a pinch of salt if you like.... but that still doesn't discount the fact that the FZ18 is still a great all-rounder with good value for money superzoom! Its got its fault (NOISE!) but I still love it.

** If you Panasonic web researchers somehow stumble on this blog.... please, tell your people, fix the noise, forget about the megapixel race!! **

Pix Source: Trustedreviews.com

What I love still (have been using this for 8 months):

• Great interface and usability -- really makes shooting fun. I have a lot fewer missed shots these days as the FZ18 is really fast. Having some dedicated buttons sprinkled around strategic places also help.
• On-lens image stabilization, a.k.a Mega OIS. The other 2 use CCD-shift instead... somehow, i feel that comes out a bit short compared to this. I've gotten away with some silly shots (think: low, low light, no tripod or firm base) thanks to this.
• Nice, crisp images throughout the zoom range with beautiful colours... in-camera purple fringing correction... jpegs come out (near) perfect!
• 1cm macro -- go right up to the incect and say 'HELLO!!'
• Electronic view finder is a godsent on sunny days. The resolution in this is also good enough that you can faithfully see the image without having to peep out and see things 'with your real eyes'... at least in most situations.
  
• For RM 1550 (USD 470) with 4GB card and Raydawn UV filter... its quite a steal!
  

Things I didn't quite like:

• Sigh, noise. Even at low ISOs. If your idea of enjoying photos is blowing them up to max resolution on your monitor, and examining it with inch by inch, then this is *not* the camera for you. Get an SLR (and a life, I think!)
  
• Focusing in low light at the extreme long end of the zoom can occassionally get a bit tricky. Images also a bit soft as you approach max zoom.
  
• Nobody seems to mention this, but the volume (even at max) during video playback is really very soft -- can only be heard in quiet rooms.
  

In short, the FZ18 for me is like a jack of all trades. You get a bit of everything... but doesn't really feel like there's too much of a compromise though. Add that to some features like 18x zoom and user interface that it has firmly mastered, you're left with a neat package with little to complain about! Heh :)

Other reviews: DP Review, Cameras.co.uk


Next -- you're in for a treat. A couple of pals of mine have agreed to let me feature their pix taken on their Lumix TZ2 and TZ15! Stay tuned!

My digital eyes (Pt 1)

In 2001, I paid RM 2300 (USD 600) for one of my first lessons on digital cameras and photography.

That lesson came in the form of the Minolta DiMAGE 304 (D304) digital camera. Again, as with my Olympus iS-100 (see previous post), this hasty purchase was also prompted by an urgent need for a camera. And what was the lesson I learnt?

Read the reviews, do your research first, before plonking your hard-earned cash into anything, dummy!

See, being a techfan and all, I was into specifications. If it says so in the brochures, it ought to be alright... right? Sadly, no.

Don't get me wrong. In its own right, the D304 is a very decent camera. A very capable lens, 3 megapixels, 4x optical zoom, solidly built aluminum body, surprising number of controls for both manual and automatic modes, and, for that price, images that leave one little to complain about. It also had a nice girth in the hands, lending you good stability.


So with so many nice things about the camera, exactly what is it that I'm moaning about then, you ask? Lets put it this way -- where its if battery consumption were likened to petrol efficiency in a car, this guy would put the Hummer to shame!

The camera came with a complementary set of 4 AA alkalines. Out of the box, the fresh AAs lasted me a good NINE (count 'em: 9) shots!!

Fortunately, I had also bought a set of rechargeable 1600mAh NiMH batteries. These guys took a painful 16 hours to charge. And they lasted how long in the camera? 30 - 40 shots (about 1hr plus)! I promptly ran out to buy an 1800 mAh, and eventually, a 2000 mAh set.

Not long after, I was happily on my way to Beijing, armed with these 3 fully-charged sets of batteries -- and with no charger. These 3 sets got me through 2 days! By the time I got back from the 5d-4n trip, I had used up 8 additional sets of hastily-bought alkalines, and had still lost too many opportunities to snap more pix. Bloody hell!

Much of the rest of the 4-year life of the camera was pretty much this routine: Charge plenty early. Bring the bag of batteries. Snap quickly, minimise preview. Hope the batteries last the outing. It mattered little that I had practically employed all known tricks for maximising the battery life. Sigh.

Oh yeah, and speaking of batteries -- have a thought about how you should be disposing them, ok? Help take care of Mother Earth, thanks!

Anyway, I finally had enough!

So I set out to get myself a new camera, with the following wish list:

• 5 or 6 megapixels (yep, am embarrassed to admit that I too was then caught up in the megapixel hype without understanding the physics behind it)

• Slim to the point its pocketable (remember the girth I'd mentioned above? It was getting to me)
  

• MUST have decent battery life (CIPA equivalent of 200 or more shots)

• Fast and responsive (reliable auto-focus especially in low-light conditions, and short lag)

• Image stabilization, focus assist, a nice clear LCD, and a nice price to boot

After much research and indecision, I finally settled on the Panasonic DMC-FX9. Boy, was I really happy! At RM 1500 (USD 400), the FX9 was quite a bargain that largely met the above criteria, plus, had the added bonus of spotting a Leica-branded lens for extra bragging rights.

Gone were my battery problems. I could just leave the camera in the drawer (I know, I know, its not a good idea to leave the battery in the camera!!) and whip it out for a quick shoot, knowing with much confidence that there would always be enough juice for a few shots even at its weakest!


This is what I loved about the FX9:

• The pictures are really something -- nice resolution, lively colours, crisp and clear shots
  
• It is jacketed in a really smart combo of brushed and polished metal. Lovely, lovely!
• It shoots fast! Switch it on and you're almost instantly (1-2 secs or so, at most) ready to go
• 3 words - Mega OIS lens. Gives you a 2-stop advantage that really is helpful in low-light conditions.
• Simple, responsive and non-fussy interface.
  

I had rediscovered the fun of just taking snaps with the FX9. Having it so small meant I could bring it with me wherever I went. Perhaps the only complaint in this respect was that its so... dinky... that some times, I missed the nice, reassuring steady weight of an SLR!

Now, almost 3 years and nearly 12,000 pictures later, the FX9 is still very much alive and well. It still takes good pictures, although some dust has managed to get into the lens -- and is now occasionally interfering with the pictures. Its time I sent it to Panasonic for some much-deserved TLC and got it back to a pristine condition.

As happy as I had been with the FX9, the limitations of the 3x optical zoom were starting to be more than just a bother. I was begining to miss the good old days of being able to reach 300mm with my SLR for those tight shots.

Think: shooting from too far away at school concerts and sports days; losing the spontaneity of the subject because you had walked too near; having your subject of interest as a mere spec in the photo.... and you'll understand what I mean.

So that started me looking for something with a couple hundred more MMs of reach in the lens. And that search was a really fun one!

Ps. New to digital photography? Want to catch up on some tech-speak and impress some geeks? Check out this excellent glossary from my favourite camera review site, DP Review.